“Yeah, him. Through a weird set ofcircumstances, he foiled a kidnapping attempt of his now partner, Marie. There were other incidents that happened but didn’t quite add up to someone being after her. We deduced that Marie wasn’t the actual target, but Isaac was, so it led us to believe what happened to her might’ve been a robbery attempt gone wrong.” He paused and took a drink of water.
“As it turned out it, they wanted Marie, but not in a way we thought. It was a new way of taking people off the streets. Problem was they chose to do so right out the front of our building. Isaac was there to stop it all. His actions got him on an enemy’s radar. Someone who wanted revenge for past things Isaac had done to him.” A picture of a man appeared alongside Ox’s face. “The person of interest is Victor Koznovic, Russian Bratva. He has his fingers in a lot of pies, including human trafficking. At one stage, Viktor was working with Gomez Ramirez, and Isaac gave us intel to stop a human shipment from leaving LA. Two women rescued from that raid were work colleagues of Angel’s wife, Teresa. That was how we got involved.”
Andy whistled low. “This is almost getting incestuous.”
Ox sighed. “Trust me, we’re feeling the same way about it. It seemed Viktor’s new system ofgetting women was to use a flaw with the driverless car rideshare service. They were blocking the cars, preventing them from moving. They’d then take girls in the cars. It seems they were just starting using this when Isaac saved Marie.”
The hairs on the back of Andy’s neck prickled. There was no way that they were connected, but the similarities between what happened to Narelle and Marie were too close for him not to say anything. “Do you know if Viktor has any connections in Indonesia, specifically Bali?”
Viktor’s picture disappeared from the TV, and Ox’s serious face filled the screen. “Yes.”
“Fuck.” Andy couldn’t help the curse from exploding out of him.
“You’re not thinking…?” Damon left the rest of his question unsaid. He didn’t need to elaborate. Everyone in the room, bar Ox, very aware of what he was suggesting.
“Someone care to clue me in?” the American queried.
Steve waved for him to address the question. Andy gave Ox a quick rundown of what Narelle went through in Bali, and the subsequent attempts on her life.
“I’ve seen too much shit in the last couple ofyears not to think that what happened with Narelle in Bali could be connected to Viktor. It’s the perfect setup.” Ox rubbed a hand down his face.
“I know. It’s lucky Narelle listened to her instincts and got away.” Andy was extremely grateful that she had.
“Right, but with what you’ve told me, it would suggest that she was targeted for a reason. And if there was a buyer waiting for her, then they’re going to do everything they can to get her. Although it’s weird they’ve gone underground,” Ox mused.
“Could it be because of what happened with Isaac?” Chris, a former Delta and American as well, asked.
“It’s possible,” Ox stated. “Viktor got Isaac, but we got to him before it was too late. Viktor got out before we could get hands on him. As it is, being Bratva makes it more complicated. We don’t know how many police and government officials might be on his payroll.”
“Or if he’ll come after Isaac again,” Andy said, feeling sick to the stomach that Narelle may now be on the Russian mob’s radar.
“Exactly. But we think that he may not try, considering he wasn’t successful, but we’re all on alert. Especially as we have wives and children whocould be targeted.” Ox’s attention flicked to something off screen. They were all aware that he had a young son, Angel had a daughter, and Growler had twin boys.
“What do you need us to do? You know we’ll do anything we can. I can bring Bayden in the loop as well, especially after what you did for him in Bali, Andy.” Steve tapped at the tablet in front of him.
“What was that?” Ox asked, his focus back on the screen.
“I eliminated a two-bit drug lord in Bali a few months ago. From the intel the AFP had on him, he wasn’t involved with trafficking anything other than drugs, but it’s possible he could’ve been.” What had seemed as if it was a simple operation now could have a bigger impact. “What if…” He swallowed, hating where his thoughts were heading. “Someone saw me eliminate Bintu Dunang, then saw me with Narelle, and decided to punish me by taking her away, even though we’d only just met? They may not have known that at the time.” He pushed away from the table and started pacing around the room.
God, was that even possible?
What if he was the reason for everything happening to Narelle?
What if this was payback?
He needed to get out of there and back to Narelle.
“Steady, Andy, there’s no reason to think everything’s connected, but it’s something we can look into.” Steve’s calm demeanor did nothing to ease his agitation. “I can also contact Jude Cadmon and see if we can use some of the connections he made in Southeast Asia when he was looking for his sister.” Steve gave Ox a quick rundown of how Jude and his friends had used the connections from being Freemasons to track down his sister after she’d been taken.
Power Security had been involved with her rescue. It was something Andy and the team had been happy to be a part of. They didn’t take down the traffickers; their main goal had been to get Renee back. But the network of traffickers was intertwined, so some of the information Jude and the others had gotten then could be helpful now.
The very idea of Narelle going through what Renee had gone through, soured the coffee Andy had drunk. No one should have to endure the despicable things Renee had.
His phone pinged, and he latched onto the sound like lifeline to stop his spiraling thoughts. He checked the screen and he saw he’d missed Margot’smessage stating she had the laptop and was headed to his place, and he had a recent alert from his security system.
He accessed his camera feed. The seconds it took to load seemed interminable. When it finally did, his blood turned cold.
Chapter
