Chapter 14

I had no idea that there was an airfield near to where we were. We stayed for another night at the cabin that gave Xander the time to liaise with Gregory. Gregory apparently totally agreed with us going to Atlanta and he would speak with the manager there giving him our reasons for being there. The cover that he was using was that we were employed by Gregory and were going to be helping that office to track down a man who was responsible for trafficking women into the state. I was fine doing that because to be honest anyone who trafficked women was repulsive to me and needed stopping. Gregory also paid for our flights and arranged for Xander's bike to go into storage until he needed it again. I got the feeling that Gregory felt responsible for someone looking for me and maybe that I could actually find that man, so he was more than happy to help.

The plane, a Boeing 737 wasn't that big but big enough to make me feel uncomfortable. We lifted into the air at 2.20 and had to endure a stop over in Denver before flying on to Atlanta. That meant two lift offs and two landings with only short durations of being airborne in between. I tried very hard to quash down the fear that came over me, but Xander must have seen the expression on my face or how I was making indentations in the armrests.

"I love flying. I see it as part of the journey. I also reckon that the pilot doesn't want to die today"

He was probably right about the pilot but that didn't take into account an accident. Maybe if I flew more then I'd get used to it, but my only experience of a long flight had been to Hawaii, and I had no desire to allow that vacation to upset me. That whole week had been an illusion, okay a very enjoyable illusion but the ending had been traumatic for everyone concerned. It had been a week where I spent every day and night with Ranger. I was supposedly with Joe then, but he couldn't get away from work. I wasn't going to throw away free tickets, courtesy of a murderer so set off on my own. That I'd seen a high bond FTA that had supposedly disappeared had me call Ranger to help with the capture. We never did catch the Rug and spent our time together only to have Joe turn up toward the end of the week.

Tempers were high as they got into a fight and like a coward, I'd left them both to fly home. No one ever mentioned anything about that week, not me, Ranger or Joe which only reinforced the time as an illusion. Hell, the whole dynamic of the three of us must have created so much rumor and speculation to those looking on.

I'd actually told myself that I loved both men but that had been an illusion as well. Joe Morelli, Trenton detective had always been in my life, and I had never seen how he had tried to manipulate me my entire life. Okay, he was good looking and wasn't seen as the bad boy that he had been when he was young and like an idiot I had fallen for his charms. Then there had been Ranger, definitely the bad boy, but oh so sexy, and I really thought that he respected me for who and what I was, unlike Joe. I'd been stupid, no doubt about that, but even my mother was trying to weave her web to have me become the daughter who succumbed to being a good Burg wife and mother. Her vision was having Joe as my husband, something that I could never quite feel happy about. Maybe I used Joe as a constant in my life because Ranger, well he certainly used me.

"Deep thoughts"

That brought me from my musings as I heard Xander. I was sure my cheeks heated up as I thought about what I had been thinking about but as I'd been practicing for a while now, I ensured that my face was unreadable when I turned toward him.

"Impressive. You look totally closed off, cold even"

I didn't reply because that was how I wanted to be, had to be really if I was going to discover who the hell was looking for me. It was 10.30 at night when we landed in Atlanta and as we only had carry-on bags we were soon walking out through the main exit. I followed Zander as he walked over to a car noticing that it was an SUV but not really seeing what color it was. A man in a suit opened the back door for me to get in and then I watched as he and Xander got into the front. Riding in the dark gave me no impression of Atlanta and to be honest I didn't want to look just in case I saw similarities to Trenton.

The car stopped in front of a tall building where the suited man left us in the reception area. We didn't wait for long before another suited man opened the door and came over to us. So far, I was relieved that everything that I'd seen bore no resemblance to Rangeman. There were colors on the walls, patterned carpet and men in dark blue suits. Okay the men looked solid as though they worked out but hell, they had smiles for us.

"Welcome. Gregory explained why you were here. We sure need all the help that we can get. My name's Ben, we use first names here, well management do, and you'll only come across management in this building"

I stepped forward and offered my hand for him to shake, not surprised how firm his hold was.

"Annie, and this is Xander"

Xander followed my example and without any more talk we were soon being led through a door and then into an elevator.

"You'll be working on level four, I have a room already set out for you to work in. There are rooms for you on level five which is where I'll take you now. Level six are private apartments and on three we have a small gym and also a rec room where food is provided"

I was curious to know what happened on the lower floors but decided that it didn't matter. I certainly wouldn't be leaving the building until I figured who was looking for me and also made some progress on finding that man. The elevator stopped on level five with Ben leading us to a room.

"This fob will operate the elevator for where you need to go and also controls your door. Goodnight Annie"

As I stepped into the room I watched as he had the same conversation with Xander and then turned and closed the door behind me. It was a simple room with a bed and chair. A door opened into a small closet, that looked to have clothes inside, and another led into a simple bathroom. It was warm and looked comfortable if a bit basic, with my first thought being that I hoped that I wasn't here for long. Deciding that anything could wait until morning I showered and dressed in a strappy top and panties before falling into the bed.

I must have been tired because I knew that I'd slept well, and no dreams which was unusual. Waking up I groaned as I looked around the room that I was in and knew that I had to get up and dressed, even if it was to find some food. I opened the closet again and this time inspected the contents. I assumed that Gregory was responsible for the styles and choice of the clothes hung up wondering why he thought that being dressed in a suit would make any difference to how I worked. Then again it was maybe so that I fit in better with the other people in the building, I wondered whether Xander would be wearing a suit.

Once dressed I made my way down to level three feeling a little anxious as to who would be there. Along the corridor were double doors that were open and looking in I saw men and women sat around tables quietly chatting. I kept my head down as I walked across to the table where a selection of food was spread out somehow not surprised at all of the healthy options. What was it about healthy eating?

"Bit limited, isn't it?"

I smiled as I heard Xander behind me and resisted turning around to look at him. All that I could really stomach was some fruit and yoghurt while Xander looked to have a plate full of bagels. As we sat down and ate, I noticed how jackets were on the backs of chairs and blouses weren't tucked into skirts and trousers. I was curious exactly what position these people played here at the company.

"What goes on here?"

"These lot? Pen pushers. Some will be lawyers, others accountants, computer analysts and maybe those who meet with clients"

Okay, maybe that type of person was needed by any company but it felt strange.

"Gregory took over this company with other partners. These people probably work only on this floor so maybe there'll be others who we'll meet upstairs"

I suppose that made sense which made me keen to get upstairs to where we could work. That happened quickly when Ben came into the room expecting us to finish up and go with him.

"Sorry, I need to fill you in with what we have so far. I have to be out today"

The room, that he called a conference room, was large and filled with computers but empty of people.

"Gregory asked that you had the room to yourselves, that you work better without other people fussing around. If you have any updates, then I need to know straight away"

Sheesh, talk about being totally isolated. Was that what I wanted? I suppose that it was if I was going to be following through on research that was personal. I found myself looking at a board full of faces and searches, some of them had me flinching as I realized that some of the young women and men were the victims being brought into the country. I knew now that I had to put my own personal searches on hold because there were young people out there dying.

"They are promised a better life. Parents pay up thinking that they are helping, never knowing that their children will end up in slavery. We always seem to be one step behind him. When we get too close, he kills them and disappears"

I saw the photos of containers with young people laid down, it was almost as if they were sleeping, their arms and bodies interlocked together.

"We don't even know who the main man is, he keeps a layer below him, those who do the dirty work. Any of the lower tier villains that we catch up with don't know anything other than what their job is"

I started at one side of the board looking at the men and women who Ben had already discovered, their arrest dates and then what had happened to them. I was pretty sure that each person would only know what he needed to know giving another layer that couldn't be infiltrated. I had to close my eyes as the full impact of what was happening to those young innocent people hit me and focus on what was important. Find the man who was heading this up with enough evidence to have him locked away for a very long time.

I spent the rest of morning just trying to get a feel for how things were organized. Where the young people had come from, the ways in which they were transported and in some cases, where they had ended up. Most of the young people seemed to originate from South America with some coming from as far away as Asia, though those numbers weren't as high. Those that had been found looked to have been abandoned and left to die as though news of an impending strike was known about while some had been traced to whore houses. It seemed that this operation was spread up and down the eastern coast, from the border with Canada down to Miami, though I was sure that Miami could be an ideal place to bring some of the people into the country. I'd always told myself to start at the beginning but that wasn't going to work for this, or was it?

The more that I read the more that this whole setup looked really well organized like a well oiled machine. It would have taken years to have set up the contacts and the subterfuge and I didn't think that the person who was running things was an old person.

"Okay. Xander can you pull up men older than seventy who have a record that starts as a pimp when young and then escalated to whore houses and maybe even trafficking young women"

"Dead or alive?"

"Dead"

What I wanted to do was to find out when it had changed from only women being taken to include men. I needed to look further back on the searches that Ben had already run so went over to one of the computers next to Xander. He was already busy so with the original search in my hand I went into the search apps to find it. Once I found it, I changed the date parameters to span thirty years to the present and then let it run. Okay I knew that would take some time to work so pinning the original report back on the board moved further along. I didn't think that where the young people came from was important because if I was right that network was well established, and the boss would only oversee that it ran smoothly via the men who were tasked with it. Some routes had been closed only for others to open up, giving a changing flow to the whole thing. It grew and morphed over time, replenished and changed.

"Your search just finished Annie"

Reading through that search gave me the information that I expected. Young men became more prevalent fifteen years ago. That had me thinking that someone had taken over fifteen years ago, and I had a gut feeling that we were dealing with a woman, a woman who was hiding in plain sight.

"These are the men that you asked for. What are you looking for?"

"One who had a daughter who would be between thirty five and fifty now"

Okay maybe it was a long shot but hey since when did I follow anything logically? Following the money had always been a way to identify the perpetrators and Ben's team had done a lot of work on that. That had been how they had managed to find some of the men responsible for moving the young people and eventually finding them. The problem was that the trail ran cold as they had progressed up the chain. Were they using cash and drop off points? Probably, along with a system for communication.

I rearranged the information on the boards to try to build up a pyramid of where each of the men had figured within the organization but of course that still didn't give me any ideas on who the top people were.

By the time that Xander had finished finding daughters of known felons we were left with a staggering number, so I knew that we had to reduce our options.

"Remove any where there was an older brother"

Working on the premise that a father would want his son to be his successor. I almost thought of focusing on where the mother hadn't been around but decided to leave that as a last option.

"Annie, you do realize that the list covers the whole of America"

"Mmm"

Okay, I hadn't realized just how many there were.

"Where are you going with this?"

I looked over to Xander as he asked me that and acknowledged that he deserved an explanation. He was more than a computer geek and may have something more to suggest.

"I think that the business was well established a few years ago and that a successor is now in control. That young men were slowly brought in made me wonder if the boss was actually a woman"

A boss that we knew nothing about and needed to find. How many men would be happy knowing that they were working for and answerable to a female? Was that why she kept their identity so well guarded?

"They wouldn't want to be associated with a father who had been identified as someone who trafficked women. All that we can do is to find out where they are now and illuminate each one"