Chapter 3

Charles Du Plessis sat in his office cursing softly to himself, not only was it one of the hottest days there had been in years in Johannesburg and his damned air conditioner was on the blink, he had also just been informed that the agent and consultant who had been with him were reported missing, presumed dead. He had told Sterling to stay the hell out of the investigation. But no, the two had taken things way to personal and then presumed to take things into their own hands with regards a ring of human traffickers. Now he had to please explain to his superiors, not only why one Interpol Agent, and a highly placed one at that was dead and who the hell Nathan Ford was, because according to Interpol HQ no such consultant existed. Now both were dead, and he was left holding the bag.

It had all started a week ago when James Sterling and Nathan Ford had walked into his office and told him they were there to assist in the apprehension of one Jonathan Derby, a notorious underworld figure in South Africa who specialized in the trade of young woman and men into slavery all over the world. Charles had been working on the case for over five years now and felt he was close to being able to make some arrests. The mere fact that Sterling and this other man Ford had been sent to 'assist' him was an irritation on its own. After a few days however it was clear to Du Plessis that these two men were taking it very personally and endangering not only themselves but his own men and his informants by taking risks and exposing themselves. Hell, Ford had even managed to set up a meeting with Derby as a prospective buyer. Not that he had been informed by either of the interlopers of their intensions or actions, no; he had to find out about it through his own informants. Now the two idiots had gone and got themselves killed, or so he was told by his informant in the Derby organization. That was bad enough but when he had reported it he had been told that there was no consultant in Interpol by the name of Nathan Ford. So who the hell was he and what the hell was he doing with a highly placed agent like Sterling, and what the hell were they doing here in South Africa interfering in something they had no right to interfere with?

Charles stood up and grabbed his cigarettes. There were too many questions and not enough answers and he needed answers. The only good thing that had come out of all of this is that they had managed to intercept a large shipment of young girls through the intelligence provided by the two men. There was at least that he sighed to himself as he made his way to the balcony where he could indulge in his habit.

Just as he lit up his smoke and had taken one deep inhale his mobile phone vibrated in his pocket. Fishing for it he pulled it out and answered harshly, he was in no mood to talk to anyone right at that moment.

"Sir, I though you should know we have finished processing the girls." One of his men told him.

"Great." Charles said taking another drag of his smoke.

"Yes sir and I think you will be very interested in one of the young woman."

"Why is that?" Charles asked his interest now peaked.

"Well sir her name is Sterling, apparently she was doing some aid work here in South Africa and was taken a few weeks ago from a village outside of Ixopo."

"Sterling…"

"Yes sir."

"Well that explains a lot. Get the girl over here as soon as possible Pieter, I have some questions for her."

"Yes sir."

"So that is why you were here Sterling. But who the hell was Ford? Ah well hopefully the girl will give me some answers." Charles said to himself crushing his cigarette out in the ashtray and making his way back to his office. The girl was obviously family of Sterling and hopefully she would know who Nathan Ford was, or at least he hoped so.

Thank you all for reading and for your wonderful reviews. Next chapter up soon.