Chapter 34

I wasn't sure how long I slept but as I turned onto my back, I realized that it was the first sleep that I'd had without dreams for ages. That had my spirits lifting making me keen to get up and talk to the others. I dressed in shorts and a strappy top with a swimsuit underneath and went out to find where people were. The living area was quiet, but the coffee was hot so after helping myself to some I filled a bowl with some cut fruit that I found in the fridge. My intention was to sit outside and maybe then I'd spot what the others were up to.

"Morning Steph"

I looked around to see Ellie sat at the table wondering what was going on.

"Stanley said everything went really well"

"Yeah it did"

I replied before I started on the fruit, though I was watching and listening to what she was going to say next. As I finished eating, I knew that something was wrong and was actually getting worried as to what it was.

"Okay, spit it out. What's wrong?"

Ellie sat forward with a mug in her hands before she started to talk.

"We're running low on cash Steph. It isn't expensive living here but we're gonna have to somehow find some finances"

I knew that we'd used most of the cash that had been in Joe's bag in the trunk of the car, but I suppose because I never actually spent anything I just hadn't realized. Stanley was letting us use his cabin and I suppose it was costing him to use the plane and pay for incidentals.

"I have those bank cards, maybe we could withdraw some money from those accounts"

I wasn't sure of how much there would be, but it might give us enough to tide us over.

"No. I'm sure that those IDs are known now, they'll be watching for any movement on those accounts"

She was right, and I was pretty sure that Ranger would be one of those people keeping a constant watch on them.

"We talked about it yesterday when you came back. I'm sorry, but you were out like a light and Stanley wanted to get back north"

From the way that Ellie was talking I was sure I wasn't going to like what they'd talked about.

"Stanley suggested we looked for something that carried a large reward for doing a job"

"Those exist?"

Because I'd never heard of anything like that.

"Yeah. Rich people who feel that the police have given up. The type of work that we're good at.

I laughed as she said that, all sorts of ideas coming into my head.

"Like diffusing bombs or stealing from arms dealers?"

"No, well I hope not"

Came quickly from Ellie, but I saw her smile as I'd said it.

"Mainly people who've gone missing or even been kidnapped"

I sat back as she said that wondering if it was something that we could actually do. I knew that I'd found Ellie, but it was one thing to look for someone in an area that you knew with people who you could ask for help. To be in a city or even a country that you weren't familiar with could be really hard and maybe dangerous.

"Steph, look at who we are. You have amazing instincts for finding clues and you always found your FTAs. Lizbeth did this when she was working at home with Stanley and Stanley has a lot of contacts"

"Would Ethan be part of this?"

I asked, knowing that he really was amazing with computers and systems. Ellie nodded her head and finished her coffee, placing her mug on the table.

"I'm the weak link. I have no experience of finding people"

"Ellie you are really good at planning things out. I'm terrible at that which was why I was always getting myself into trouble. I didn't think ahead and just rushed in"

"So you're okay with looking into a job that we could do?"

I think I was. I mean with the four of us and Stanley behind us maybe it was something that we could do and be good at it.

"Yes. I think it's a pretty good idea"

As Ellie made to get up, I suddenly remembered about the boat that we'd seen moving down the Delaware and what I'd seen.

"Ellie. As we left Trenton, I'm pretty sure that I saw the boat that was using that warehouse. It looked as though they were loading it up but. It looked as though it blew up once it was in open water"

"Markovic is dead, so maybe someone decided to call it a day and get rid of any evidence"

That could have been the case if there hadn't been so many men on board.

"I don't think so. There were a lot of men on that boat but there was also a man on the dock watching them. I just have a feeling that maybe some loose ends were being taken care of"

We'd somehow assumed that Markovic had something to do with that operation, but now I wasn't too sure. What if the man I'd seen was in charge and it was him who had sent the ransom note to Markovic? That would make sense and seeing as Markovic was dead then he couldn't use a new organ as a way of getting hold of the detonator.

"I took some photos. Maybe we can find out who that man was"

Ellie nodded her head as she stood up and left but I couldn't tell if she was worried about what I'd said or not. I'd download the photos later and take a better look and possibly ask Ethan how to follow up with that. Maybe I needed to extend my IT skills from just running searches on a basic program. That decided after I'd washed up my bowl and mug, I was going to soak up some sun and go for a swim.

I loved to swim and had decided that I really needed to keep up with the new fitness that I'd started. Swimming used every muscle in my body, and I used it to push myself until I was definitely feeling the ache in my muscles. Maybe I should suggest to Ellie that we tried to get a pole. I spent the morning relaxing not realizing just how stressed I'd been preparing and going to New York.

It was after a light snack for lunch when I found myself at the table outside with the camera and a laptop. The sun was too strong to be out in it anyway. I was thankful that I'd put the camera in my bag for safekeeping and that Stanley didn't have it with him. There were a lot of photos to look through but the ones that I was most interested in were the ones that had captured the name and number of the boat and the ones with that mysterious man.

The problem that I was having was that the definition wasn't as good as I would have wanted. Okay the details on the boat gave me what I thought I needed, but the man was further away.

"What you up to Steph?"

I jumped at the sound of Ethan's voice behind me and turned to stare at him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to surprise like that"

I now had Ethan leant against the back of my chair obviously looking at what I was doing on the laptop.

"I think this was the boat that was used by the group of organ thieves. Is there any way to find out who owned the boat?"

Ethan pulled a chair next to me and I watched as he opened an app and then scrolled down to registration documents.

"That program will search through various data bases for registration or permit applications. You can use the same program for vehicles as well"

Him mentioning vehicles had me thinking of the car that the man was stood next to, but it was also one of the photos that was the least clear. I minimized the search app to bring up the photo of the man and looked up to Ethan.

"How do I make this clearer?"

I spent the next two hours with Ethan taking me through various programs and processes to provide me with a focused image. It wasn't as easy as it looked because Ethan would highlight small sections at a time to work on, but I felt that we were making process. I now had a car plate and a pretty good image of the man.

"How can we find out who he is?"

"That's not as easy, I may have to hack into a few sites"

Looking at the image that we had I was seeing a face that looked older than me with strong definition of his jaw and cheek bones. It was difficult to judge the color of his hair because it had been swept back from his forehead.

"Look there Steph"

Ethan was pointing to just above the collar of his white shirt, but to me it definitely looked like there was a tattoo that came part way up his neck, almost as if it was the tendrils of fire, weird.

"Leave it with me Steph and I'll set it up to run through some programs, it may take a while depending on whether there's anything to find"

Ellie came from the cabin and was soon also looking at the man, maybe she would recognize him.

"Is that the man who was at the dock in Trenton?"

I nodded my head as she continued to look at it and was almost disappointed when she stood up and walked away.

"We need to look at a couple of possible jobs that we could do"

I knew that sorting out our cash flow problem had to be done but wasn't going to forget about what I'd seen, somehow, I had an awful feeling that we'd be seeing that man again and that it wouldn't be good for us.

"Stanley has two jobs that we could do. One of them looks easy enough and might just be a question of tracking someone down. Kirk Lawley is 26 years old. His father died 8 years ago so he grew up with his mother. The father's will had the mother receiving a monthly allowance along with the family home with the rest of his estate going into a trust fund for the son as long as the son worked his way up the family business in preparation to take it over. The mother disappeared two years ago. The police wouldn't do anything because there was no evidence of foul play. Kirk received a ransom demand, pay 1 million dollars or his mother would be hurt badly and killed"

I wasn't sure that story rang true. I mean where had the mother been for the past two years and why hadn't she come home or contacted her son? Then again I knew that there were men out there that basically kept people locked up, especially women and children, but why was someone getting in touch now?

"Has the son access to his trust fund?"

It was Lizbeth who was asking the question that most of us were thinking.

"Yes. There are two scenarios. She was kidnapped and held prisoner and the kidnapper knows that the son has access to money, or"

"Or she ran off with another man and they've run out of money and see it as an opportunity"

I finished the sentence for Ellie because to me that seemed the most logical answer.

"Yes. The son is scared that if he doesn't pay then he could be condemning his mother. He doesn't want to have to live with that, so he wants some answers and if need be, his mother rescuing"

"How does he know his mother is being held by someone?"

An appropriate question I suppose because it could just be someone trying to scam the son. It made me think of all the missing children I'd looked through with Eddie when I was looking for Ellie. Were there people out there who took advantage and made demands for their safe return in exchange for money? Probably. It was something that I'd never really thought about before. It would be so heartbreaking to have your hopes raised, pay over some money but never see your child again.

"How did the son get the message?"

Finding where she might be would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Maybe I could nosey around and perhaps get some more information on the mother, get a feel for who she was because I was sure that the son's version wouldn't be as reliable.

"Email. It should be arriving at the team account. The son used the IT department at his company, but they told him it was impossible to trace"

"Where did they live?"

Praying that it was nowhere near Trenton or Miami

"San Francisco. So, what do people think, are we going to accept it?"

Everyone was nodding their heads in agreement that it was something that we could do. I was about to suggest a way forward when Ellie held up her hand and turned her laptop so that we could all see the screen and Stanley's face.

"Afternoon Angels"

I was used to Stanley calling me Angel as a name of endearment but hadn't thought whether or not he used the same expression for Ellie and Lizbeth. I looked at Lizbeth and then at Ellie, giggles rising from my throat, until all of us were laughing out loud.

"Err, why are you laughing?"

Came from Stanley as he gave a look that indicated that he was totally confused.

"Charlie's Angels, Stanley. Does that make us Stanley's Angels?"

"Maybe we can use that, you know as a team name?"

I was guessing that Ethan wasn't too pleased with what Ellie was suggesting and I heard him grunt in response.

"Joke's over, what's the second job Stanley"

"Jasmine Ricci, daughter of one of the family dons in Italy came to the US with her new husband. They had a daughter, but the marriage was a sham. The husband was abusive, so she threw him out. Anyway, about six months ago he started to visit her, swearing that he was a changed man who wanted to make amends and get to know his daughter. He started to take the daughter out for a couple of hours a week. On the fourth visit he never came back and is demanding money from Jasmine, knowing that she would ask her father. If she doesn't pay up, he's said that he'll sell the daughter"

I knew that I was frowning as the story unraveled, the word don and family meant that Jasmine's father was a very important man in the mafia.

"Why isn't the father sending his people to sort it out?"

"His men wouldn't be allowed into the country, besides it's thought that the father, Alessi, is maybe involved with one of the gangs in Mexico that traffic women and children. His men wouldn't be able to get anywhere near and would probably start a war down there, something that the don wants to avoid. Plus, they'd have to get the kid back to the mother, not a job for a group of Italian thugs"

I could just imagine that and maybe there was also the issue of not upsetting the cartels where drugs might be travelling from to Italy. Oh boy, this was so much more complicated and not only were we dealing with the Mafia from Italy we also had some gang in Mexico to contend with.

"How would we get the daughter out?"

"Ricci has tried arranging for his daughter and granddaughter to return to Italy from the States. The problem is that because Jasmine never divorced Alessi, it's not easy to get the child out of the country"

So what Stanley was saying was that Alessi still had rights as the father, which was possibly why Jasmine had never gone back home sooner. It was Ethan this time that tried to sum up what he thought we were being asked to do.

"Correct me if I'm wrong. We have to locate the child, remove her and then get her to Miami so that she and her mother can leave the country"

"Almost, but you'll be bringing her south into Belize. I'll fly Jasmine down here then they'll fly direct up to Calgary. There's a direct flight to Rome from there"

The basic principle was simple enough it was actually removing the daughter from wherever her father had her that might prove to be more difficult. It really depended on how close Alessi was to this human trafficking gang and where abouts he was keeping her. Hell, it could be a small apartment or a house within a compound.

"Well, what do you think?"

I knew Stanley was probably wanting us to take on both jobs, or he wouldn't have suggested them to us. To be honest the idea of that little girl being sold horrified me, in fact the whole idea of trafficking children made my skin crawl. Maybe we could do a bit of damage control while we were there, like get rid of the men doing it. That was when I remembered the story that Ranger had told me about when he had rescued that boy. Was what I was feeling what he felt every time he did a job like that? Did he see killing those men as a dark weight that he carried? I hoped not, because I was beginning to see why some men shouldn't be allowed to live.