“About three hours ago. I tried calling you earlier,” Leo answered.
Julio checked his phone. Leo called him directly after Rebecca left a message. “What did she say?”
“Tell Shadow Avie’s in Greenville, Maine. Matthew has the precise location. What’s going on with Rebecca?” Leo asked.
“She’s missing,” he announced. “I came to her apartment tonight to find it ransacked. Her partner showed up, and as I questioned him, two men attacked us. They dusted for prints.Her partner says she gave a report this morning, and that was the last time he saw her. My gut’s churning, man,” he said worriedly.
“Listen, we’ll retrieve Avie and her son and then head your way,” Leo assured him.
“No. Stay with them. Rebecca wants her safe, or she wouldn’t have called Shadow and you,” he protested. “Jameson and I will find her.”
“If you need us…” Leo said, not bothering to mask the concern in his voice.
“I’ll find her,” Julio said with conviction.
“You have my full team at your disposal,” Leo vowed.
“I appreciate it, man. As soon as I know more, I’ll tell you. I may need Matthew,” he added as an afterthought.
“You have him,” Leo said before disconnecting the call.
Rubbing his forehead, Julio noticed a missed call from the burner phone he gave Rebecca and an unread message. His finger trembled as he hit the button.
At first, he felt relieved at hearing her voice, but turned into fury as he replayed the message again. Her breath sounded heavy as if she were running and her voice trembled as she left the message. Julio heard the dogs barking in the background.The trafficking ring caught her. How?His heart pounded in his ears as he pulled out his computer and arranged a private flight to Berlin, New Hampshire.
With the holiday, flights seemed scarce, forcing him to wait four hours before heading to her last location. Julio sighed as he went to take a shower. The hot water refreshed him as he went over his conversations with Rebecca. Did she inadvertently tell him where she left Avie? Or did she name who might’ve taken her?
Nothing seemed significant, yet he clung to every word he recalled her saying. They carefully tracked the organization.They knew the players and buyers in each city, thanks to Jameson. Did Rebecca stumble upon something else?
Knowing sleep eluded him, he took out his briefcase and pulled out the maps he and Rebecca reviewed together at his apartment. He scanned the marked areas and made a few notes. Circling Greenville, Maine, he calculated the distance between the town and Berlin, New Hampshire. There must be a connection. After discovering the mole in his office, he trusted no one but Leo’s team and Jameson. Julio repacked his go bag and headed to the airport.
Once he boarded the plane, he tilted his hat down, determined to get some sleep and hit the ground running. Rebecca’s face floated before him as soon as he closed his eyes. A vital piece of the puzzle seemed missing. Until he held Rebecca in his arms again, nothing would ever feel the same.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rebecca moaned as she turned over, finding herself in a strange bed. She sat up, scanning her surroundings. From the fluorescent lights, she assumed they took her back underground.
Seeing the robe she wore the night before slung over a chair, she wrapped it around her body. Rebecca felt better having something else covering her in addition to the flimsy gown. Knowing she’d find it locked, Rebecca approached the door and jiggled the handle.
Turning around, she searched for something to use as a weapon. The cameras blinked in the corner, reminding her they watched her every move. A buzzer sounded, and the lock disengaged, allowing Jim into the room. He narrowed his eyes and a sly smile appeared as he stepped inside. Harrison followed behind him and shut the door.
“I’m not telling you where Avie’s located,” she spat, braced for whatever her former partner prepared to do to extract the information from her.
Harrison leaned against the wall, watching her like prey.
“Director Jackson insisted you deserved the job he passed me up for,” he said jealously. “Do you know how humiliated I felt when he announced your promotion after I worked my ass off for the last two years? You’re only a woman who used her assets to gain your position. I often wondered if you slept with Jackson as an incentive, but the douche seemed devoted to his wife until the very end. Tell me how he thought this when you didn’t even connect me to the organization?”
“You knew our every move,” she gritted out. “How can you do this?”
Harrison moved toward the center of the room and she took another step back, putting space between the two men.
Harrison took a cigarette from his jacket and lit it. “Poor Jackson didn’t stand a chance. I came up with the brilliant idea of blackmailing him. He didn’t want to go along until I ordered Jim to hold a gun to his wife’s head. Don’t worry, she never knew a thing.”
“He said Trish’s condition improved,” she said, confused.
Harrison chuckled. “Oh, I forgot about the part where we took her stiff body with us. You can do a lot with AI these days. The idiot believed we sent her to Switzerland for treatment. We sent him videos. He asked me to have them authenticated. Yet he didn’t feel I was ready to take the lead. If only he could see us now.”
“You did all this because of a job promotion?” she asked incredulously. “Maybe Jackson saw this part of you more than you believed. It sounds to me like you’re the one he fooled.”
