Chapter 24
SPOV
I was sat in that little Italian café, the one that Tomas had brought me to just before the launch at the gallery. We'd been lucky because the owner recognized me so when I asked if he knew when Tomas would there again, I was pleased to hear that it would be that evening, that for the past week he had called in each day.
I'd been devastated when I'd seen the photos of all those young girls that Hector had found on Lando's computers and pen drives. So many photos that made me wonder what had happened to those girls. I couldn't help but wonder if some had gone to Yaser and that was what had me so upset. The problem was that Lando had only implicated Dario through emails so now we needed to find out who else was involved. I'd suggested that Tomas should be the first person to look at because I couldn't believe he would allow the trafficking of women to happen. He had a daughter so surely he wouldn't be involved. Plus, I never had a moment when I felt unsafe with him, when my spidey sense had given out even a small warning that he wasn't who he said he was. Of course, that had Hector running more invasive searches on our Tomas Mele.
I was blown away with what he found. It turned out that the man who I had spent some time with had been employed by AISI – Agenzia informazioni e sicurezza interna (Internal Intelligence and Security Agency). What Hector couldn't find out was why he had left the department four years ago, yeah even Hector couldn't hack into their systems. The only saving grace was that he hadn't been arrested or charged for anything so maybe he'd left for personal reasons. There was no record of what he had done until six months ago when he was employed by Scintillante to head up their security.
I'd spent all day with Ranger and not as you would think. I had a knife down the boots that I was wearing and a gun in the back of my jeans. Yeah, it took most of the day before Ranger was happy that I could use both weapons with some kind of skill. What I wasn't sure of was whether he realized that it would have to be an extreme circumstance before I could ever use either of them to kill someone. I just didn't have that in me.
I smiled as I took another sip of my coffee as Les talked through my ear.
"Hey Beautiful, you know it's kind of cruel for you to making those noises"
"Santos"
Came the exasperated voice of Ranger because we all knew that nothing would ever stop Les from trying to wind up Ranger at my expense.
"Target on route"
Came from Tank who was sat outside another café down the street. Okay this was it, time to see how Tomas reacted when he saw me and time for me to ask him questions. As the seconds ticked by and I anticipated the door opening I had to put down my drink before my shaking hands dropped it. A pep talk was needed, hell it had been my idea to do it this way, so why was I feeling so nervous? I heard the door open behind me and looked to where Ranger was sat at the back of the room, almost blending into the background as he looked to be studying the menu. I knew though that his eyes were on me.
I heard Tomas walk into the café and as the door closed behind him.
"Target is alone"
Told me that he was on his own and that no one had followed him. I waited until he'd ordered his meal and then picking up a glass of water from in front of me slowly got to my feet and walked toward where he was sat at a table at the side of the cafe. I knew that I wouldn't be instantly recognized until I was closer to him, but I wanted to get his first expression as he saw me. Removing the hat and glasses I sat down next to him seeing at little annoyance at first at the intrusion into his personal space.
"Hey Tomas, how are things with you?"
I saw the surprise in his eyes and then the smile as he looked at me, okay, it seemed that he was pleased to see me.
"Stefania, when did you get back? You should have called, and I would have picked you up from the airport"
He'd said all of the right things so far, so I continued to look at him as I made a reply.
"I just got back and just had to come here to taste something authentic"
"Do Allegro and Lucio know that you're back? Hell, where are my manners. How is your father Stefania, I was so sorry to hear that he'd become ill?"
I wasn't sure how to answer that and started to play with my phone on the table, picking it up and turning it over until I sat it on top of Tomas's phone. I was biting my lip trying to give the impression that something wasn't quite right and that I was worried about something which had Tomas holding his hand over mine. Whether it was to stop me from fidgeting or to console me I had no idea, but I wasn't going to be shirking his hand away from mine. In fact, it played into what I was doing perfectly because my phone was busy cloning his, well Ranger's phone was.
"Stefania, what's wrong?"
Okay now was the time to explain to him what had actually happened to me and just hope and pray that he really was innocent of any involvement with Dario.
"I, err, had to do a private visit to an important business man"
I noticed how Tomas frowned at that as though he wasn't quite understanding what I meant.
"As part of Scintillante, with their products?"
I nodded my head feeling that maybe Tomas had no idea that that was happening.
"No one told me about that, I would have come with you"
"Yeah well, maybe I could have used your help. I was left there Tomas, on my own"
This time I definitely had his attention because he let go of my hand and placed both hands on my shoulders and turned me to look at him.
"Left you, who left you, where?"
I could almost imagine Ranger in twenty years time as I looked into Tomas's face, that blank face had fallen into place, but it didn't conceal the anger blazing in his eyes.
"In some isolated house in the middle of Saudi Arabia"
Yeah, that surprised Tomas and it even looked as though he was struggling with what to say.
"How did you get back here?"
That was when I noticed movement from the corner of my eye and watched as Ranger came over to our table and pulled out a chair to sit down. I was almost afraid that Tomas was going to stand up and say something to Ranger so placed my right hand on his shoulder.
"Fortunately, Steph managed to get a call through to me, so I took a team in and brought her out"
Talk about a testosterone filled atmosphere. I ended up kicking Ranger under the table to get him to break eye contact with Tomas. Jeez, talk about alpha males trying to be dominant. Ranger's lips tilted ever so slightly as his gaze turned toward me and maybe Tomas saw that look because he sighed as he sat back in his seat.
"Carlos Manoso, I presume?"
Ranger nodded his head but didn't seem worried that Tomas knew who he was, I was though.
"Steph, when Allegro had me looking after you, I made sure that I knew exactly who you were. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter who also does a lot of work for Rangeman a security company owned by Carlos Manoso"
I looked from Tomas to Ranger wondering if Ranger would be annoyed with Tomas for knowing who he was. I suppose I'd been very naive in assuming that people wouldn't try to find out more information about me, though I was surprised that Tomas had managed to connect me to Rangeman.
"Who was responsible?"
I was relieved that at least now Tomas had returned his thinking back to what I'd told him and was asking the right questions, but it seemed that the conversation was going to be between the two of them as Tomas looked at Ranger.
"Dario, but we aren't sure who else is involved"
I knew that Ranger was keeping what he said to a minimum as a way to find out if Tomas knew anything, but Tomas obviously hadn't made the connection to what I'd been through.
"Let me get this straight. Dario took you to meet a purchaser in Saudi Arabia and then left you there?"
I sat back hearing Tomas ask me that because to me he sounded as though he hadn't a clue what had happened to me or to any other young women.
"Dario has been trafficking young women, taking bids through a site on the dark web. Lando looks to be the one who finds the girls and tricks them into thinking that they're going to become models and then Dario transports them and completes the deal. For some reason Dario decided that Steph was on the menu and left her with an obnoxious amir, by the name of Yaser Asiri"
I could feel the anger emanating from Tomas and he made no attempt to hide those emotions. We were all quiet allowing Tomas to fully digest what we'd said to him.
"I'm sorry, I'm so annoyed with what you're telling me. I had no idea he was doing that. I take it that you're doing something to stop them?"
As Ranger and I looked at each other I felt a smile at my lips because I was pretty sure that we were in agreement.
"I want in, if you'll let me help"
That surprised me because we hadn't actually said that we were actively doing anything and I was expecting Tomas to ask more questions or even insinuate that we were wrong in what we'd said.
"Why?"
Just came from me as I tried to figure out why Tomas would be so keen to help. Was he being honest with us, or would he try to thwart what we were doing because he was in with what was happening?
"Five years ago my daughter disappeared, she was only 17 but the police said that she'd probably run away. She was in Rome with my wife when it happened, but I used my position in my job to track her and discovered where she was. I found out that the man who had taken her was taking orders from someone else. Never did find out who that was, and the man turned up dead. Maybe my bosses thought that I'd killed him, but I was told to resign or face possible consequences"
My mind instantly took me to why Rome four years ago might be important, and I was trying desperately to remember what I'd read about Dario because I was damned sure that he'd been in Rome working after he finished university there. Could it be possible that Dario was kidnapping young girls back then? Was it just a coincidence that he was there back then? Had he changed how he attracted them and trapped them by using Lando?
"Were there other girls kidnapped?"
I know it seemed a weird question to be asking but what if I was right?
"Four young women disappeared in a similar way. No ransom demands and I could never find a trace of where they'd gone. The only thing that they had in common were these raves where they went to. I didn't know that until after I got Jessica back"
My brain was going ten to the dozen as I considered what he'd said. It was such a tenuous link between them that no one would have seen it especially if their parents weren't aware of where they were going. I mean how many times had I lied to my parents about where I was going? There weren't raves then but we never had any trouble getting into some of the clubs.
It also had me thinking along a different line. When Allegro first suggested that I could be the face of Scintillante I'd argued that I was far too old, that they needed someone younger.
"Why me?"
Shit I sounded like my mother saying that, but I was being serious. Hadn't I said to Allegro that there were younger women out there who were prettier and sexier? Why had Dario picked me out or had it been Lando?
"Babe, don't undersell yourself. You have a natural beauty that any man would be attracted to"
Yeah right, I heard what he said but I still didn't believe that so again I was asking myself why had I been the one that Dario had taken to Saudi. It had happened so quickly after the launch so was it something to do with that, or what had happened with Bria?
"Was it you who shot and killed Jade?"
Because I could remember bits and pieces about that evening and was sure that I saw Tomas handing a gun to Enzo. It hadn't been the gun that he normally wore in his holster though, he'd removed it from the back of his trousers.
"No. I heard the shot but was too late getting into the room. Lando was just stood there holding the gun, so I took it from him and when the police came in, I think they just assumed that it had been me"
"Lando shot Bria because he was afraid that she'd tell people what she knew, and Dario took me in case she told me something and I started to put it together"
I sat back after I'd said that pretty sure that was the reason for Bria being killed and me being taken to Saudi. Dario would never even consider that I'd be able to escape let alone get back home in one piece. There was a silence between us, I'm sure each of us taking in what I'd just said and that was when the waiter brought three plates from the kitchen and placed them in front of us. I had to admit that I'd never even thought about food or eating even with all the smells that were around us. I make a big effort to stay quiet as I ate, there was no way I wanted either man to be distracted by me. As far as I was concerned we had nothing to be worried about with Tomas but I was sure that Ranger and the rest of the men would want to be very sure. So what now?
RPOV
As I walked with Steph out of the back door of that café, I took her hand in mine feeling so proud of how she had managed Tomas.
"You did really well with Tomas, Babe"
I could tell from her expression that even that simple compliment embarrassed her and noticed at how she was thinking of what to say, no doubt something that would try and distract me away from what I'd just said.
"Are you annoyed that Tomas knew who you were?"
Ah, I was wondering if she would remember that.
"It was inevitable with the background he has. I'm not annoyed Babe"
I wasn't sure why Steph frowned at my answer, maybe because she was surprised that Tomas knew so much about her yet hadn't let on to her what he knew or maybe because he had heard of me. I had no idea what thoughts were going through her head, but she was certainly too quiet for her not to be deep in thought.
"Babe?"
I knew that she would understand my one word to her and yet she always complained when she thought I had some sort of ESP going with the men when she was actually very good at it herself.
"He never even hinted that he knew who I was"
Maybe I was wrong, maybe Steph was more annoyed at how Tomas had kept her secret, even from her. To be honest if it had been me in Tomas's position then I think I would have stayed quiet as well. What would there to be gained by saying anything except to make her feel uncomfortable. I'd get Hector to check the phone, but I felt pretty confident that Tomas had been straight with us, even shocked with what we'd told him and that he'd had nothing to do with Lando or Dario. Hector would check his story though or I would before I met up with him tomorrow. I just hoped that he didn't do anything stupid in the meantime.
"Beautiful, did you bring me some food?"
I gave Santos a look that had him shutting up as I ushered Steph into the back of the car and watched as Santos began to drive away.
"Tank and Ram will keep him under surveillance"
I knew that was what we had planned so now all that we could do was to see where he went or who spoke to.
"Did you believe him?"
Came from Steph who had obviously been going through that meeting in her head.
"Yes, but we'll check out what he said, and Hector will go through his phone just to be sure"
Maybe Tomas might still have contacts that could be useful and he would know what evidence would be needed to bring Dario down. I was pretty sure there was enough on Lando to have him arrested and sent to prison for a very long time and men like him never did well in prison. I wasn't sure what to do about Yaser, but knew that Steph wanted him stopped, that would have to happen before Dario was arrested, before he got rid of any evidence that he might have at that property, though I was uncomfortable about saying that to Steph. I had grave concerns with what had happened to any young women who he had bought or whether we would ever be able to track any of the other young women and get them home. I knew that Steph thought that it might have been Dario who was responsible for Tomas's daughter going missing and if she was right then he'd been doing this for several years.
As soon we reached the house Steph handed the phone to Santos who went through to the work room, no doubt to see Hector and to help with any searches whilst I led Steph upstairs to our bedroom. She'd had a long day and had been very patient with me as I'd taken her through the basics of using the gun and knife and then practicing. In fact, she'd been amazingly keen to cooperate, not something that I'd expected from her.
As she sat down on the bed and removed the gun from the back of her jeans, I took it from her and ensuring the safety was still on placed it by the side of the bed before kneeling down in front of her. One hand lifted her foot while the other removed the knife, but I dropped it on the floor as I used both hands to pull first one boot from her foot and then the other. I watched as she laid back on the bed and sighed, hell, seeing her laid there had such an effect on me so I started to move my hands up her legs over her jeans until I reached the button and zip. Even that simple action had my cock hardening and I so wanted to make love to her.
I'd said that she had all of the power and that we'd take it at her speed, so I was smiling as her hands swept under my shirt touching and teasing at my skin. Pulling her jeans down her legs gave me the opportunity to slowly kiss and lick my way back up her thighs and push her T-shirt out of the way, giving me access to her pert breasts and hardening nipples. Ever aware of her shoulder and not to cause her any pain I was soon feasting on her, delighting in the taste and the feel of her as she spasmed underneath my mouth. Her sounds eliciting a fervour inside me that needed to be sated. I hadn't intended to spend so much time with her, but I couldn't pull myself away. The more she gave, the more I wanted.
I wasn't sure how long we'd been on the bed but knew that she was well sated and probably extremely tired as she lay over my chest. I felt it when she succumbed to sleep the memory of her words as she screamed them reverberating around in my head. I loved it when she called me Carlos and the smile that erupted over her face when I'd said those four simple words had my heart soaring.
"I love you Babe"
Words that no longer needed any thought to say, words that were so easy to say to her because yes, I did love her very deeply, something that I'd veered away from saying before without disclaimers, because that was what my heart was telling me.
Once that I knew that Steph was deep in sleep, I replaced myself with a pillow for her to curl against and carefully removed myself from the bed. After a quick shower to rid myself of the smell of sex that seemed to permeate the air around me, I dressed and made my way downstairs and through to the workroom. Hector and Santos were both busy at laptops making me wonder what they had managed to find out.
"Anything?"
I asked almost afraid that the news would be bad. I'd actually come round to the idea that Tomas was someone that we could trust.
"No. His story pans out, I tracked back to when the daughter disappeared and found a brief news article where a reporter had picked up info on girls who'd gone missing. The man who was found dead was an Antonio Russo, but no one was ever charged for his murder. What was interesting was that he'd been charged before for grooming kids but managed to get off on a technicality I hacked into the lawyer's company who represented him. Guess who his lawyer was?"
I didn't need to say anything because I could tell from the way that Santos had said it that it was likely to be Dario. At least now we had more threads that tied Dario into abducting young women and girls. I turned to Hector who was sat looking up at me expecting a report from him.
"His phone show only calls between Scintillante or the two owners. He calls a number in Rome regularly which tracks back to his daughter. He looks clean Ranger"
There was one question though that had me concerned and maybe I should have asked Tomas myself.
"What was he doing before he started work for Scintillante?"
There was a slight shrug of his shoulders before Hector gave me what he assumed Tomas had been doing.
"Tomas was part of Arma dei Carabinieri before he moved across to AISI. There are large amounts of money that have been paid into his account that I couldn't back tract to the source. Maybe he's been doing some special op work, training maybe?"
It was possible, though it was something that we needed to find out for definite.
"Anything on where Dario is hiding his money?"
"Maybe. I eventually found who had paid for the contract for Bria's phone and it came back to the name Paul Federico"
I smiled at how simple that was to work out, Dario had used the names of his grandfather to provide an alias.
"I've sent the name to Silvio"
Stated Santos, as though he knew exactly what I would want doing next. It seemed that the second phase of our operation was ready to proceed.
By late morning Steph and I were once again sat in that small café waiting for Tomas to make an appearance. Why so late? Well Santos, Hector and I had spent several hours at Lando's house returning all of his equipment to how we had found it. Hector had made sure that any electronic equipment wouldn't leave a footprint of being looked into and I'd made sure that Lando was still alive. We would need Tomas for this next phase and could only hope that he still had contacts with the authorities for them to do an official search and seize of all the evidence.
"So Lando, he's still alive?"
Had been the first thing that Steph had asked me when she'd learnt where and what we would be doing. I honestly thought that she was of the understanding that we'd made him disappear, permanently.
"Yes. He was scared shitless, so he gave us what we needed to hear without hardly touching him"
I'd replied but hadn't added that him seeing Hector and his knives had been an added incentive.
Tomas was on time but what surprised me was the petite woman who was with him. To me she had the look of an agent, poised in her trouser suit and with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. There had been no indication that Tomas had spoken to anyone, either from his phone or from Tank and Ram watching his apartment.
"I brought Marta with me because she's prepared to help us with what needs to be done. Marta and I worked together at the agency and we've stayed good friends even after what happened"
From watching their body language I'd say that they were more than just good friends, but hey if she could be instrumental in bringing Dario down then I had no problems with her being here, we just had another name to follow up on.
"Tomas told me what happened to you, I am so sorry"
I watched as Steph smiled back to Marta, to me Steph seemed genuine in how she'd greeted her so maybe even Steph was trusting her. I decided to start the conversation as Steph and I had agreed, hoping that this woman would be inclined and interested enough to believe us.
"Bria Abano, the woman who was shot, told Steph some things that didn't add up. Steph being who she is decided to try and find out what she was talking about. After being tricked and left in a foreign country by Dario with a predator she started to investigate and research what was going on. It led her to Lando so she paid him a visit and found some very interesting and damaging evidence"
"You have that research I assume?"
I watched as Steph nodded her head, after all she was responsible for most of the information being brought together. I watched as Steph pulled a file from her knee and placed it on the table in front of Tomas and Marta and as Marta began to skim through the contents. Copies of all of the research that we'd found on Lando and Dario were there along with statements that Steph had put together of what she'd seen and heard. I was aware of Tomas as he suddenly looked at me and was sure he'd just read the connection we'd made between Dario and the man who had taken his daughter, it seemed that Marta was aware of what had Tomas had been through, because her hand reached over and held his.
"Okay. There's enough here to get a warrant"
"Tomas?"
I looked to Steph as she said his name wondering what was concerning her so much that she was biting her bottom lip.
"I don't know if anyone from the police are involved as well, or know about this and are looking the other way"
There it was, she wasn't sure about the man she called Enzo. I knew from the research that we'd done on him so far that we couldn't tie him into Dario's scheme, but he was an old friend of Dario's.
"Don't worry. They won't be involved because I'll only use people from my agency. The girl, Elisa, that you found imprisoned at Lando's, is she okay, is she safe?"
I nodded my head knowing that the girl would probably be questioned, after all she was a key witness against Lando. Though when they discovered the contents of Lando's computers there wouldn't be much doubt of what Lando had been up to or that Dario was involved. It would be up to Marta and her colleagues to discover if Dario's wife was involved or not. They had everything that we had, including screen prints of the bidding site and how to find it, so I was expecting them to do their job and put Dario and Lando away for a very long time. In some ways I was disappointed not to be involved in the takedowns.
"I suggest that you lay low for a few days while I sort this out. I won't let either of them get away with this"
I was pleased now that Tomas had this woman on his side, she seemed like a direct and no nonsense type of woman.
"If we find any other information that is pertinent, I'll get it to you"
Knowing what phase three of our plan was going to entail, a phase that I was both looking forward to and dreading. Steph and I watched as the couple left the café before we ordered something to eat for lunch.
"Salad?"
I'd asked when that was what she'd ordered. I'd expected her to order something like pizza or pasta.
"Yeah. Okay you were right about what I eat and that it would likely kill me. After Dad got ill I did some thinking and have tried to eat better"
"Proud of you Babe"
I kissed the top of her head because I was so pleased that at last she was seeing how poor her diet had been and how it could affect her health as she got older. I had to admit that I'd noticed the weight that she seemed to have lost and that she had more energy, yeah that was apparent last night.
"Do you think it will happen as we want it to?"
I knew that she was worried that now that we had passed on all of our information that the authorities would be able to arrest Dario and Lando before sending them to prison for a very long time.
"If either of them get off the charges or the charges are reduced then I'll make sure they regret every move they made that hurt someone"
Because no one hurt women and especially my Babe and got away with it. I was pretty sure that Tomas would be right next to me if that did happen.
"How are the plans for our next phase?"
Came from Steph as she used her fork to stab up some of her salad. Currently I was hoping that everyone knew what they needed to do and that what we had planned would go off without a hitch. I wasn't going to have Steph worried though with that, she had enough to do just psyching herself up for her part. A part that I was probably as worried as Steph was.
"Fine. Ram managed to get in touch with Torres so he's onboard. We just have to hope that we can bluff our way onto that jet"
You worked it out, our third phase was to travel back to Saudi Arabia and have a little chat with Yaser Asiri, though exactly what we would do with him was still up for debate.
Yaser Asiri was one of those men who had inherited his wealth and his position in a male dominated society. He skimmed below attracting attention to himself as being an outspoken supporter for the law withing the country, laws that were open to interpretation due to their focus on Shari'ah principles derived from the Holy Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. Would a man like Yaser ever be held to account for his crimes against women? I wasn't confident of that. In the past too many victims had been punished along the way.
Once again, we were exciting the café through the back door, keeping Steph's presence in the city to a minimum. This afternoon was going to be devoted to getting prepared for our journey. Once back at the house Tank and Ram, who'd managed to catch a few hours sleep, were with Santos as they repacked our kits. We were going fully prepared and ready for any eventuality given that we had Steph with us, though I would never tell her that. For some reason plans involving her never went exactly as expected so my motto was to plan for the unexpected to happen.
It would take us five hours to fly to Taif in the Mecca Province of southwest Saudi Arabia and given that they were 2 hours ahead of us I wanted us to be arriving at the palace by late evening when it would be dark. That meant departing at 1800hrs and no we wouldn't be parachuting in, instead we were going to be borrowing Yaser Asari's jet. Torres had already found the pilot and after an evening of plying him with drink and a few well chosen drugs Torres had everything that he needed, including how the pilot had managed to avoid being in violation of flying over international airspace.
All of us were going on this trip because all of us were going to be needed. Steph had given us what she could of the layout of the palace and the number of guards that she'd seen. It was almost as if Yaser felt the isolation of its position didn't warrant a lot of men.
I felt Steph gripping my hand as the plane began to move toward the runway surprised that she still felt uneasy flying. As we turned and the engines increased ready for take off I was turning her head toward mine, my lips on hers, teasing and nibbling until she allowed me access. Such sweetness and passion engulfed me before I needed to lean back to catch my breath and readjust myself before I made a fool of myself.
I tapped her nose as she looked down and began to laugh but I couldn't be annoyed at her for noticing how much she affected me and at least it had taken her mind off the take off. I pulled her to me willing for her to relax and go to sleep, time would pass quicker for her before she needed to change.
