And they were good-or at least as good as they could be as they were marched at gunpoint into that warehouse, here on the edge of an airfield, in the middle of nowhere.

The phone rang.

Izzy's phone. The one he hadn't been able to use for quite some time, because it was holding open the line to Eden and Jenn.

It wasn't Jenk or Lindsey, because Jenk was already talking to Dan. Jenk was confirming that the signal from the cell phone Eden had been using had stopped moving. He was verifying the directions they should take to arrive at the same location.

And he was rea.s.suring Danny that everything was going to be okay-that he and Lindsey and Jay Lopez were on their way. If everything went just just right, they'd travel most of the way via helo, and arrive in two and a half hours. right, they'd travel most of the way via helo, and arrive in two and a half hours.

Izzy didn't recognize the number that was on his cell phone's screen. But it had a 6-1-7 area code, which was..."Good morning, Boston," Izzy said as he answered, one hand on the steering wheel as they continued to zoom through the night. "Jules Ca.s.sidy, I presume. How's it hanging, bro?"

"It's...hanging with no small amount of trepidation," Ca.s.sidy, a high-ranking agent in the FBI, said. "Where are you, Zanella?"

"Approximately twenty-five-twenty-four-minutes now from the place where my wife, her little brother, and a dear friend are being held hostage," Izzy said, "by some very nasty people."

"You have no no idea how nasty," the FBI agent told him. "Do me a favor, and put me on speaker so that Dan Gillman hears this, too." idea how nasty," the FBI agent told him. "Do me a favor, and put me on speaker so that Dan Gillman hears this, too."

"Is that necessary?" Izzy said, lowering his voice so Dan, who was finishing up his call with Jenkins, wouldn't hear him. "He's...wound a little tight. Understandably so. He got married tonight and...Someone stole his bride."

"I know," Ca.s.sidy said. "But really, Zanella. You both need to hear this information."

Dan had ended his call with Jenk, and was ready to listen in as Izzy pulled his phone from his ear and punched a b.u.t.ton. "You're on speaker, Ca.s.sidy."

"Hey, Gillman," Ca.s.sidy said. "Congrats-I heard about the wedding. I've met Jenn, you know. She's great. You're a lucky man."

"Yeah," Dan said. "Lucky might not be precisely the right word to use at this exact moment." might not be precisely the right word to use at this exact moment."

"I hear you," Ca.s.sidy said. "And I understand your anxiety. There's something you both need to know, and you also also need to know that I've been encouraged need to know that I've been encouraged not not to divulge some of this information to you and there to divulge some of this information to you and there are are definitely things that I cannot tell you. As it is, I'm going out on a bit of a limb by telling you this, so...factor all that in, okay?" definitely things that I cannot tell you. As it is, I'm going out on a bit of a limb by telling you this, so...factor all that in, okay?"

Izzy glanced at Dan in the light from the dashboard. This was not not going to be good. That was one h.e.l.l of a cryptic message, and Jules Ca.s.sidy was usually a straight shooter when it came to telling it like it was. going to be good. That was one h.e.l.l of a cryptic message, and Jules Ca.s.sidy was usually a straight shooter when it came to telling it like it was.

"With that said," Ca.s.sidy continued, "I first want to inform you that I've been in contact with Field Agent Kathy Gordon, who's been working a case there in Las Vegas. That picture you took on your cell phone, Zanella? That one of the two men who came to Ben's house, looking for him, because they were trying to track down the girl, Neesha? They allegedly work for an organization that specializes in international s.e.x trafficking. We're talking the sale of women and children to buyers who are...Well, they're in the market to buy buy women and children, so that pretty much tells you all you need to know. Except maybe that some of them are snuff enthusiasts, which is pretty much just another name for serial killers who happen to be really rich men, who can purchase victims who won't be missed." women and children, so that pretty much tells you all you need to know. Except maybe that some of them are snuff enthusiasts, which is pretty much just another name for serial killers who happen to be really rich men, who can purchase victims who won't be missed."

"Jesus," Dan breathed.

"That's just one branch of this booming business, but it's one I thought you should know about, in terms of the danger that Ben, Eden, and Jenn could well be in."

Izzy couldn't believe what he was hearing and he drove a little faster. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"I wish I were," Ca.s.sidy said. "But there's a whole nother side to this, and it's the more immediate subject of this FBI investigation, because this organization also deals in the sale or trade of girls-and I'm talking really really little girls, seven, eight years old-to brothel-type businesses, here in the U.S. One of those esteemed establishments is believed to be northwest of Vegas, just over the Clark County line. The children are nearly all brought here from outside of the country. Most of them are sold by their families, some of them thinking that they're going to work as maids, others knowing exactly what their daughters are going to be doing. Others are orphans. Some are kidnapped-some are from families of illegals who are living here in the United States. They can't go to the authorities to report the disappearances and...Well, bottom line, these little girls are easy to exploit, because they don't exist. And when they grow up or if they cause trouble, they're sold at a discount to one of those snuff fans who'll kill them and dispose of the body. Neat and tidy, two birds with one stone." little girls, seven, eight years old-to brothel-type businesses, here in the U.S. One of those esteemed establishments is believed to be northwest of Vegas, just over the Clark County line. The children are nearly all brought here from outside of the country. Most of them are sold by their families, some of them thinking that they're going to work as maids, others knowing exactly what their daughters are going to be doing. Others are orphans. Some are kidnapped-some are from families of illegals who are living here in the United States. They can't go to the authorities to report the disappearances and...Well, bottom line, these little girls are easy to exploit, because they don't exist. And when they grow up or if they cause trouble, they're sold at a discount to one of those snuff fans who'll kill them and dispose of the body. Neat and tidy, two birds with one stone."

Dan spoke. "So you're telling us that Neesha's one of these girls."

"We believe so," Ca.s.sidy said. "Yes. And securing her as a witness, to testify against the men who run this operation? That's the priority of the AIC of this investigation. I've been asked to obtain from you the girl's location, so that she can be brought into custody as quickly as possible-"

"We do that," Dan interrupted, "and those very dangerous people who have Jenni and Eden and Ben? They're going to know it, and they're going to kill them. They've got a man watching-"

"Neesha doesn't go anywhere," Izzy cut him him off. "Until we get our family out of harm's way." off. "Until we get our family out of harm's way."

"I suspected you'd say that," Ca.s.sidy said evenly. "And, in antic.i.p.ation of that, I've been instructed to inform you that an FBI task force is being created to rescue your family members, if possible." He paused so his words could sink in. "We have access to the GPS signal from Gillman's cell phone, too, and have pinpointed their location. From satellite images, they appear to be in some kind of storage-type structure, alongside an airfield."

"An airfield?" Dan's voice cracked.

"Correct," Ca.s.sidy said. "The belief is that this is one of the locations where the children are transported into the country. And where...others are transported out. If you arrive at the airfield and there is an aircraft on the runway?" He paused, again very deliberately, and then said, "Report that information immediately. But I am to insist that you remain back, out of danger, until the authorities arrive. At which point you will be taken into protective custody-"

f.u.c.k you, Dan started to say, but didn't get more than the F-sound out before Izzy reached over and whacked him in the chest. He shot Izzy a what the h.e.l.l what the h.e.l.l look, and Izzy answered with a hard look and the hand signal for look, and Izzy answered with a hard look and the hand signal for silence silence. This man was not not their enemy. their enemy.

"-while the team determines the best option for apprehending the suspects and rescuing the hostages."

It was no mistake that he'd again mentioned the apprehension of the suspects as being the FBI team's priority.

Izzy had to work to keep his voice even. "Task Force ETA?" he asked.

"Best guess," Ca.s.sidy said, "is they're about thirty minutes behind you." He paused again. "Do you understand what I'm telling you, Zanella?"

"Sir, yes, sir, absolutely I do. Any other info you can share from the sat images?" Izzy asked. "Any infrared?"

"You don't need that information," Ca.s.sidy said. "Unless you can rea.s.sure me that you'll limit your partic.i.p.ation to surveillance only." He cleared his throat rather loudly.

"Cross my heart," Izzy said, "and if I lie, sweet baby jeebus can poke me in the eye."

"Fabulous," Ca.s.sidy said dryly. "I'm completely rea.s.sured. And in that case, there are what appears to be four guards outside the structure, eleven people inside-but it's difficult to discern which are the prisoners and which are the bad guys. Sorry. I know you have concerns about Ben's health and safety, but I don't have access to moving images and can't begin to speculate which green dot belongs to Jenn, Eden, or Ben. If this information changes, I'll...text you."

Text, not call. Because Ca.s.sidy knew d.a.m.n well that Izzy wasn't going to be able to pick up while he was dispatching those four guards and kicking down the door of that storage facility.

"Thank you, sir," Izzy said.

"I thought I was your bro, Zanella."

"No, sir," Izzy told the man. "You're the kind of leader I would follow into h.e.l.l, should the need ever arise."

Ca.s.sidy cleared his throat. "I'll keep that in mind," he said quietly, then added, "Good luck, guys." And with that he ended the call.

Dan looked at Izzy. "Did he just say what I think he said?"

"He certainly did, and he could lose his job for it." Izzy glanced back at Dan. "But if there's a plane on that runway? s.h.i.t, even if there's not...He just told us we shouldn't wait for anyone. As soon as we get there? We're going in."

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.

Izzy and Dan knew where they were.

Jenn held on to that thought as the man named Nathan held her tightly by the arm as he half pushed, half dragged her with him into what looked like a warehouse.

There was a sign-a small one-on the side of the building: A&B STORAGE AND DISCREET PEST CONTROL A&B STORAGE AND DISCREET PEST CONTROL.

There were windows in the structure, but they were up along the roofline. They were more like air vents that opened to keep the building, with its nearly flat metal roof, from getting too hot in the daytime.

Although, that that was an impossibility. When the sun was out, this place would literally cook. It was crazy. The construction looked new. Who would build something like this, out in the middle of the desert, and expect to be able to store anything here at all? was an impossibility. When the sun was out, this place would literally cook. It was crazy. The construction looked new. Who would build something like this, out in the middle of the desert, and expect to be able to store anything here at all?

Although there were large garage-bay-type doors all along the side of the building-large enough to accommodate a small plane or a fleet of trucks.

The place had what looked to be a relatively low-tech security system. There were two cameras-at least that Jenn could see-each mounted at a corner of the building, but they were fixed in place. They were seemingly consistent with the type of security at a storage facility-enough to lower the insurance, but not enough to break the bank. But, incongruous with a typical storage facility's security system, there was also a very large guard out front, carrying a very large a.s.sault rifle.

"You need to get the bag with the insulin and the needles," Eden was saying again, but then she screamed, and Jenn turned quickly back to look at her.

Jake had her arm twisted up behind her back as he told her, "What you you need to do is to shut the f.u.c.k up." need to do is to shut the f.u.c.k up."

She didn't. "Ow! He could die without it! Ow! Ow!"

"Keep it moving." Nathan gave Jenn a nudge that nearly knocked her over.

"Do I look like I give a s.h.i.t?" Jake asked.

"You should," Eden gasped. "Because Danny's going to ask for proof of life."

"And you're going to tell him that you're all hunky-dory," Jake said.

"He's not an idiot," Eden argued. "He's going to ask to talk to Ben."

Jenn was pushed again, past all the bay doors, past that very large guard, who spoke into a cell phone. "They're here."

There was a large metal door down at the end of the building, and it opened before they reached it, before Nathan knocked.

The man who opened the door could have been Nathan's twin, they looked so much alike, with those same blue-gray eyes and lean faces. This new man greeted them without any words, and barely even a glance. He just stepped back to let them in.

Nathan gave Jenn another nudge, so she stepped inside.

And yes, it was a warehouse, and absolutely, it was extremely hot in here.

A large thermometer on the wall advertised the fact that it was 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite that, a series of fans up in the high metal rafters moved only very slowly, and only a few of the window vents were open.

And yes, there was a fleet of trucks inside-if you could call one truck and two vans a fleet. They, too, bore the name A&B Storage on their sides. No doubt the discreet-pest-control part of the business was so so discreet that it wasn't advertised on the trucks. discreet that it wasn't advertised on the trucks.

It was weird in the warehouse, though. Most of the big dimly lit room was empty, but there were huge wooden crates, wrapped in plastic and perched on pallets, distributed haphazardly throughout the vast, shadowy s.p.a.ce.

One would think they would've been stacked neatly, in one corner, but they weren't.

It made the place look spooky.

"Bedbug remediation," Nathan told her as he saw her confusion. "It's a growing business. Heat over a hundred and seventeen degrees kills 'em dead."

"Bedbugs," she repeated. She knew they were a problem, particularly in urban areas...Still, it was mind-bending. An organization that ran a child prost.i.tution ring and dealt in the purchase and sale of human beings also managed a bedbug remediation service...?

Although it gave them a reason to be here-to have trucks and a warehouse in the middle of the desert.

Or maybe the people who owned A&B Storage were similar to Jenn and Eden and Ben. Maybe they'd also gotten involved in a bad situation purely by accident.

Eden was still pushing Jake about Ben. "We want to see him. And there's a device in the bag? That you didn't bring in from the van? It'll test Ben's blood sugar levels so I'll know how much insulin to give him."

Jake pushed Eden, hard, at Nathan's brother. "Get them photographed and secured in the back. And someone call Todd. Tell him to get back inside that apartment-find out why the sailor hasn't called us yet."

By sailor sailor, he meant Dan.

Oh G.o.d.

Jenn met Eden's gaze. The younger woman was terrified, too-Jenn could see it in her eyes. But she was fighting it-and she was going to keep on fighting it. Jenn could see that, too.

"He's probably not calling because he was drunk before I hit him," Eden lied. "You better let him sleep it off, or he's going to be useless."

"Todd just called to check in," Nathan's brother volunteered. "He says the sailor didn't leave, so he couldn't follow him to find the girl. He says nothing's moving, no lights have gone off or on, n.o.body's come near the place."

Jenn raised her hand. "Excuse me," she said, trying, like Eden, to distract. But she couldn't keep her voice from shaking. "I'm so sorry, but I need to use the bathroom."

Jake had had enough. "Forget the photos, just take them to the back," he ordered Nathan and his brother and two other men who'd come from somewhere to join them. "And call Todd, and tell him to get the h.e.l.l over there and wake that a.s.shole up. We are running the f.u.c.k out of time." He looked at Eden and Jenn. "We're not going to give him proof of life. If he doesn't tell us what we want to know, we'll give him proof of death. Flip a coin, girls. One of you, or the kid, is going to die."

They'd gone as far they could risk going in via car, but they still had about a half a mile of ground to cover before they had to slow their pace and move covertly.

Normally, a half-mile run would've been a piece of cake. But Dan hadn't done more than very short spurts of fast movement for quite a few weeks. Running half of a mile seemed as daunting a task as running a full marathon immediately after eating a huge Thanksgiving dinner.

Izzy was on the phone again with Jenk as Dan hauled Izzy's bag out of the backseat of the car that they'd driven off the dirt road and down into a gully, where it wouldn't be seen by any casual pa.s.sersby.

The sun was going to come up soon, and the sky to the east was already giving off the start of a predawn glow.

It was actually a good time to approach a guarded facility. If the guards had NVs-night-vision gla.s.ses-they'd have to take them off. Even just that little glow from the sky would prove to be too bright and would distort their vision. But without the NVs, the desert would seem otherworldly. Heat would stir and shimmy. And darkness and shadows would prevail.

Now, if the guards had infrared gla.s.ses, able to pick up the heat signal from a human being...Then they were completely screwed.

Because Izzy and Dan had, between them, a series of kitchen knives, each blade duller than the last.

Dan would have preferred an M16 or a grenade launcher.

Izzy snapped his phone shut as they headed briskly south. "You know Tess Bailey? She works at Troubleshooters with Lindsey? She's their comspesh. She's got mad hacking skills."

"I've met her," Dan said. "Yeah."

"Jenk says Tess is using her home setup to try to access those satellite images, give us a better read on how many tangos we're up against."

"She can just hack into a high-clearance FBI-"

"I'm not asking questions," Izzy cut him off. "When people want to help, I say thank you. If you you want to be a Boy Scout-" want to be a Boy Scout-"

"No," Dan said, working hard to keep up. "I'm just impressed. I didn't think anyone besides WildCard could do that." Navy SEAL Chief Ken Karmody, nicknamed WildCard for obvious reasons, was currently OCONUS, with most of Team Sixteen. So Tess Bailey would have to do.