"Do our eyes deceive us, Jessica Turner is in her cage" Ray said as soon as Bravo entered the team room after running their morning drills to find their EOD in her cage shuffling some belongings around, she had a couple of bags open on her cot she was obviously packing
"Surprised she remembered where the base is" Clay jokingly chimed in
"Had to punch the address into my GPS to be sure I was in the right location" Jess responded smiling as she turned around to greet everyone properly
"How are you going with everything" Jason asked taking a more serious tone
"Getting there, was ready to get out of the house" Jess said as she turned her attention back to the task at hand
"Doesn't matter what the excuse is Bookworm, just glad you're back, you're coming back right" Sonny asked as he indicated to the bags that were sitting on Jess's cot, making sure she wasn't in the process of actually packing up her cage for good
"I'm coming back, just reorganising a few things" Jess said looking at Sonny
"So how long before you're back" Trent asked
"Allowed outside the wire, 48 hours, everything else I'm all good for" Jess responded pointing to the paperwork she'd collected from Doctor Shah that morning
"Great, that means that if we get a spin, you can join us in the briefing and participate being that close to coming back" Brock said happily as Pepper made her way into Jess's cage to get pats and attention from her, she looked at Jess's cot with the bags on it then back at Jess as if to say move them so I can get up and help, Jess immediately moved the bags so there was enough space for the Dutch shepard to get up which Pepper immediately claimed for herself
"If you want to that is, join the spin before the 48 hour period is up" Jason said confirming to Jess that she wouldn't be forced to participate
"Be nice to have something to distract me" Jess said to no one in particular, the tone in her voice told everyone else that there was something wrong
"You thinking about our trip to Australia for the training course" Trent asked curiously, Jess would be doing her first round of maintenance therapy why they were there, a chance to get use to the format before they deployed, nothing had been confirmed yet on their location, but the current scuttlebutt was they'd be heading to Djibouti again to help with the East Africa terrorism issue and piracy
"Just wish we were going to a different base, that's all" Jess said avoiding eye contact with everyone
"Why, what's wrong with the one we're going to Bookworm" Sonny asked curiously, the tone of voice and lack of eye contact on Jess's behalf, something was definitely wrong
"If looks could kill Sonny, you'd be dead on that floor right there" Clay said as Jess suddenly shot Sonny a massive death stare
"Jess, is there a problem with the base we need to know about" Jason asked realising that Jess had a serious issue with the base
"Why should I always be the one to connect the dots for you, you figure it out for a change" Jess snapped at the others frustrated over their ability in her mind to work out something so simple and something she didn't want to talk about
"Okay, we'll back of, looks like we're wanted anyway, you fine to sit in on the briefing" Ray asked as their phones all started beeping, he had a feeling that he knew the issue, but there was no way Jess would confirm it at the moment, not in this mood
"Sure" Jess said as she quickly gathered up everything she needed for the briefing, as well as her backpack that she was currently hooked up to and followed them out of the team room and headed to the briefing
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"Jess, you been cleared to come back" Eric asked surprised to see her walk into the briefing with her equipment she always carried, Jess didn't say anything to her CO instead she just handed him the paperwork from Doctor Shah
"Eric" Captain Lindell said looking at Eric for confirmation on whether Jess was in fact cleared to participate in this mission, and to what extent
"48 hours and she can head outside the wire, she's cleared to resume everything else" Eric said after reading the paperwork from Doctor Shah, meaning that Jess could participate in the TOC, but wouldn't be cleared to leave the TOC and participate in anything else for the next 48 hours
"Alright, we can use Turner's skills with this mission, you may be restricted to the TOC depending on the timeline Turner, you understand" Captain Lindell said looking straight at her, he knew she was unlikely to complain about being stuck in the TOC if the timeline didn't work in her favour, but he wanted to be doubly sure Jess understood what was happening
"Yes sir, I understand" Jess said as she took a seat to begin the briefing
"Alright, Ensign Davis" Captain Lindell said indicating that the briefing was ready to begin
"Who's the scumbag" Sonny asked as soon as the photo of a male appeared on the screen
"Nawriz Hahuzhevy, Turkish national of Circassian decent, he's a human trafficker who specialises in eastern European women for select clientele in the gentlemen's clubs and private purchase, he's recently just purchased 3 new girls, American citizens Isla Williamson, Kamryn Freeman, Milana Hewitt, they are relief workers with MSF in Serbia who went missing 9 months ago" Lisa said running through the basics of the briefing as she switched through the different photos of Nawriz and the 3 American girls
"Serbia is a long way from Turkey, how'd they end up there" Clay asked looking at Lisa
"We believe that they were purchased from a human auction" a male who was wearing a civilian business suit said making his way to the front of the briefing
"CIA agent Grant Thornton the agent in charge of this investigation" Lisa said making the introduction
"You believe Agent Thornton, have you tried tracking this guy's bank accounts, see where his money's coming in and being spent" Eric asked slightly frustrated over the fact that this mission appeared to be lacking some evidence already
"We've tried, but there's a lot fake accounts, we're trying to work out what's legitimate and what's real" Agent Thornton said looking at the Bravo OIC, he knew that this mission was lacking some evidence, but they were on a time critical mission in his opinion, they had to go with what they had
"Maybe Jess and I can take a look at them Agent Thornton, see if we can get them sorted out" Lisa said knowing that Jess had the ability to see her way through fake intel
"Sure, happy to help" Jess said
"Our analysts have been working on the bank statements for the last month, everything is in code and we've been unable to break it" Agent Thornton said explaining the complexity of the intel, he was certain that 2 members of the US Navy would not have any success in getting it sorted if the professional code breakers the CIA had in their employ were unable to break it
"There's 11 accountants in the world who offer encryption as part of their standard service, have you compared their patterns to Nawriz Hahuzhevy's accounts, see if they're a match" Jess said looking at the Agent
"How do you know that" Agent Thornton asked looking at Jess surprised at the knowledge
"I have my sources" Jess said keeping a straight face, truth was that her bank accounts we're also encrypted for her own personal protection, she knew that all it would take would be for someone to get a hold of her bank accounts, they could see what was sitting in her accounts, where the money was coming from, which companies she had shares in, work out where she was most likely living based on regular purchases, all a big security threat to her own safety in her mind, not to mention that Jess had some burn accounts she could use for emergencies that couldn't be traced to her name, she liked to not take any risks
"We have not been able to get copies of the accountants code to compare the codes as we have no grounds to seize their records for comparison" Agent Thornton said explaining that they had no grounds to apply for a warrant as encrypting personal information wasn't illegal
"Have you nicely asked for them" Jason asked looking smugly at the Agent
"Hayes" Captain Lindell said seeing the look that the Master Chief was giving the CIA agent
"Simply saying, Jess and Davis might have more luck getting the accountants to co-operate with the investigation and tracking these scumbags then the CIA simply demanding the information" Jason said referring to the fact that the CIA weren't exactly the most tactful at times when it came to getting people to co-operate
"It was still uncalled for" Lindell said warning him that the behaviour wasn't acceptable
"Are the girls in Istanbul" Ray asked changing the subject
"They're scheduled to arrive in 36-72 hours at a property in Istanbul for an event, so far we have no ID on the property yet" Agent Thornton said looking at Bravo team
"How can you not know what property they're going to be at" Lisa asked curiously, she would be running the mission in the field from the intelligence perspective, so wanted to be sure that she understood what the information that they had was
"We are still gathering intel for the mission, but it's now become time sensitive, we need to get these girls out so they can give us the information on the trafficking circle" Agent Thornton explained
"So how do you know that the girls are headed for Istanbul" Eric asked, wanting to make sure that his team was being sent to the right location
"We have a mole in Nawriz's employ, our information is coming directly from them" Agent Thornton said
"Okay, at least that's a start" Trent said realising that they were light on intel, but at least it was coming from a supposed reputable source
"How many girls are coming, are they coming in a larger group or smaller groups" Jess asked having been jotting down her own notes based on the intel she'd heard in the briefing
"Intel reports that 10 girls have been purchased from Nawriz for a private party at a residence in Istanbul, they're arriving as a group" Agent Thornton said
"Do you know who has purchased them" Jess asked looking up from her notes after a few seconds
"We're still trying to confirm the identity of who has purchased the girls" Agent Thornton said as Jess continued to take her own notes, the team had never seen her take the notes before in a briefing, but they all wondered whether it may have been Jess's way of dealing with brain fog from fatigue, and she wanted to make sure she was asking the right questions
"Do we know if Nawriz provides for any specific client's tastes, if he has a speciality, does he just provide the girls, or does he provide video footage, photography, and do we know roughly what his price range is" Jess said asking more questions about how Nawriz ran his operation
"Jess, this isn't a business pitch" Brock said looking at her, he'd seen the TV shows where people pitched their business ideas to investors to try and get a deal, the questions she was asking sounded exactly like the ones the investors would ask
"No, but by knowing what the finer details are about what Nawriz offers his clients, and his price range, it can help cut down his target market demographics, it may help get us a lead on who the purchaser is by building a profile, Istanbul is a very affluent area of Turkey, if not the most affluent area" Jess said explaining the reason for her questions
"So they're your type of people" Trent said jokingly referring to her being rich
"I don't go buying human beings, but we're talking that these people who own property in Istanbul have a lot of spare money laying around, some have more than others, then there's the inner circle of the city's elite, old money, new money, there's a lot of factors that need to be considered" Jess said explaining the difference in the social groups, old money were usually very conservative with how they done things and kept to themselves, new money were usually more flamboyant and liked to show off, and the two rarely socialised, if you were in the city's elite group, you were expected to have a certain style of accommodation, live in a particular area, there were a lot of differences
"He does cater to specific tastes, male dominance and fear, and the breaking of women through physical pain and torture, and he does produce video and films" Agent Thornton said explaining Nawriz's tastes, Jess was now back to writing her notes
"So the men can do whatever they want to the women they purchase" Eric asked as he looked over at Jess, he was keen to have her back, but he was now feeling uncomfortable slightly about her being on this type of mission for her first time back in nearly 7 months considering her past history
"For a price, as far as what that price is, it starts at $5000 USD for an hour, for that price, the men can beat and drug the women to their hearts content, however they can't do anything that would permanently maim the girl, $50000 is the starting price range to have the girl for the night and do whatever you want to her, that price increases depending on the rarity of the girl, these girls have been purchased for the night" said Agent Thornton
"So if you wanted an American citizen to torture to death, you'd pay more than say a Serbian" Jason asked realising the seriousness of the situation that the hostages were in, there was a lot of people out there who hated Americans that much, they'd probably be willing to pay for the chance to do something like that
"Exactly" Agent Thornton said confirming Jason's deduction of the situation, these girls were worth a lot of money to Nawriz, and were most likely a hot commodity due to how rare they were
"That's disgusting" Brock said making a face in disgust
"Surely the local forces must have an issue with this" Ray asked looking at Jess, knowing that she was the best person to give the opinion on how the local authorities responded in situations like this
"They're probably to afraid to intervene, someone who has the cash flow to purchase 10 girls for a party where they could potentially be tortured to death or physically maimed so these guys can get of, that's some serious cash flow, imagine what else they could buy" Jess said doing the calculations, even at the base price, they were talking about someone who had half a million to spend on buying women to torture, these people were obviously not afraid of the consequences of what they were doing
"They could be paying the local forces of to look the other way" Trent said looking at Jess
"Exactly, or they're more powerful with their connections then some poor local police officer with a family to support, without knowing precisely how much Nawriz was paid for the girls, I am confident we're looking for someone who owns a Yali mansion, which does limit our areas to focus on" Jess said announcing her own conclusions
"Yali mansion" Eric asked curiously
"They're considered to be a symbol of prestige sir" Jess said explaining the reason she suspected a Yali mansion owner, or someone who lived in one as being the purchaser
"So a look at me I've got money to spare" Clay asked looking at Jess
"Exactly, they're extremely pricey, but they'll get you automatic access to Istanbul's elite society just by owning one" Jess said explaining how much of a prestige symbol these properties were
"So these are the type of people, who if they having a party in the next few weeks, other people would know about it" Jason asked looking at Jess
"It's a good chance" Jess said, proving she was right, these were the type of people where it would be impolite to hold a party without inviting other members of the same social group
"Anyone by chance you could ask about whether a party is happening in the area" Lisa asked looking at Jess, considering her family status, Lisa hoped that there was at least one person Jess could contact to get information
"I have a couple of friends I can try, providing that the CIA is willing to co-operate by giving me access to all the information available" Jess said knowing that she'd need that intel to find out who to ask
"You'll have it, but I don't see what good it will do" Agent Thornton said looking at Jess curiously
"Turner has her own unique way of finding out information for us where others have failed, I trust her to get what we need" Captain Lindell said looking at Agent Thornton endorsing Jess's ability and talent to get the job done
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"You really think that this type of case is a good one for Bookworm to be coming back on, considering her past" Sonny asked as soon as they were back in the team room and Jess had gone to talk with Lisa about the mission
"Whether we think it's a good idea or not with her past, we need her and Davis, Lindell is right, Jess has the ability to get information where others have failed through her personal contacts" Ray said to Sonny giving his opinion on the subject
"Ray's right, plus there's the language barriers to consider, face it, we need her" Clay said, he knew there was no way he could communicate with the women if he needed to, Jess had the best chance of identifying a way to communicate with the women
"Who you calling Trent" Jason asked noticing that Trent was on his phone
"Checking in with Luca, finding out what the deal is with the base in Australia" Trent said
"Well I guess if anyone knows what the deal is with the base, it's him" Jason said realising that the issue with the base was most likely playing on Trent's mind, and that this was the best way to sort it out
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"So what do you think about this guy" Lisa asked as soon as they were in the privacy of her office
"The owner who's having the party, or the guy who's selling the girls" Jess asked wanting to be sure they were talking about the same person
"The owner who's having the party, you think we're still looking for a person who lives in one of those mansions" Lisa asked
"I think it's a good place to start, good news is they're limited in numbers, something about this screams a need to show off how important you are, this dominance over women, that they can do whatever they want because of how wealthy and influential they are" Jess said as she took a seat to start reviewing the intel
"That's the line of thinking I had as well, your laptop has some decryption software doesn't it, software that the CIA doesn't have access to" Lisa asked curiously as she got to the bank accounts
"It might" Jess said cryptically knowing that Lisa was fully aware of the fact Jess had designed the programs on her laptop herself, she seemed to be able to do almost everything else from it after all, it stood to reason in Lisa's mind that Jess would have a decoding program
"I'll let you handle the bank accounts, I think that's going to be a big part of the puzzle in getting these players identified" Lisa said handing the file over to Jess
"My thoughts exactly" Jess said as she immediately started snapping photos of the bank accounts to convert them into digital copies she could load into the program on her computer to start decoding
"Jess" Lisa said as she looked at what Jess was doing
"Yeah" Jess asked looking up and pausing her actions temporarily
"It's good to have you back" Lisa said smiling
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