“You didn’t happen to find Kai Nakoa on board, did you?” Hayden asked.
“Sorry, no, but his name is on my list of questions for the Chinese nationals we apprehended.”
“When will you be questioning them?” Jude asked.
“Soon as I can make my way out there, and we can get a solid interpreter on scene.”
“Keep me updated,” Hayden said.
“You know I will.”
The call ended, and Hayden took a measure of his teammates’ reactions. “Not the information we were hoping for, but it’s good to know the ship’s occupants were arrested.”
Gabe growled. “It’s unlikely it’s the top men in the Chinese organization.”
A murmur of agreement traveled around the table.
The door opened, and Mina marched into the room, likely saving all of them from a pity fest. She looked exhausted. Nolan must’ve thought so, too, as he hurried to the door to wrap his arms around her. Not something he’d ever done in front of the team when they were in business mode, but everyone who’d participated in tonight’s rescue deserved unlimited hugs.
She allowed it for a short period of time before pushing away. “Mind if I grab a cup of Reece’s excellent coffee I’m smelling?”
Reece got to her feet. “Sit. I’ll grab you a cup.”
“Thank you,” Mina said, and Nolan led her to a chair next to his.
Reece poured a cup of coffee and cut a huge piece of a cinnamon swirl coffee cake she’d thawed from the freezer and took them to Mina. “Eat this too. The sugar will help.”
Mina raised her head and smiled. Reece squeezed her shoulder, then went back to her chair.
Mina took a sip of the hot coffee, then another before setting the mug down and looking around the group. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you all for your work in rescuing the women and children tonight. I never imagined Collins would do such a thing. I probably should’ve considered he’d do anything to escape prosecution, but it never came to mind.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Hayden said. “None of us could’ve anticipated he would do something so heartless.”
She took another pull on the coffee mug. “You’ll be happy to know ICE was involved when the Coast Guard stopped the ship. You may have noticed it’s theRed Dragon VoyagerOlive and Percy told us about.”
They nodded their understanding, but no one asked any questions. Mina’s eyebrow went up. “You already knew about ICE’s involvement.”
“My buddy at ICE just called,” Hayden said.
“It’s helpful to have people you can call on, and with such a large team, your contact list must run deep.” Mina forced a tired smile. “I interviewed Collins. Just as he told you, he readily gave up Cody Palmer as the person who hires him to ferry the women from the ship to shore.”
“Did he mention any other names in the organization?” Abby asked.
She broke off a piece of the coffee cake. “He thinks there might be someone above Palmer, but he didn’t know who. We’ve brought Palmer in for questioning, and I’ve obtained a warrant to search his home and business.”
“He talking?” Abby asked.
“Spilling his guts. Says he’s not going to take the fall for this, and he instantly ratted out our county commissioner, Odin Ivers.” She paused and looked at the others. “Your lack of shock over a high ranking official being involved tells me you knew about this too.”
Nolan rested his hand on hers. “We couldn’t say anything without jeopardizing his prosecution.”
“Got it,” she said, not at all seeming angry. “Palmer hid the key on the boat after Ivers beached it. Palmer said Ivers has gotten out of control, so he put the key there for us to find the documents to implicate him.”
“But if he did leave that evidence, he risked Ivers snitching on him too,” Gabe said.
“He said Ivers reported to a Chinese organization and figured Ivers would be too afraid of them to say a word.” She popped the coffee cake into her mouth and chewed quickly. “There’s really nothing else I can tell you about tonight that you don’t already know, other than the last woman rescued is still in the hospital. Thanks to Hayden’s quick thinking, her prognosis is good.”
Hayden felt his face color at being singled out. “I was in the right place at the right time to see her and didn’t do anything everyone else didn’t do.”
