Authors: Cathy Perkins,Taylor Lee,J Thorn,Nolan Radke,Richter Watkins,Thomas Morrissey,David F. Weisman
Katya stood up and rifled purposefully through the three inch pile of lingerie on the bed, then pulled out a pile of white froth.
“THIS is what you are going to wear. Rafe thinks he doesn’t want a virgin? Let’s see how he does with this.”
Chapter 21
Rafe paced across the room, rubbing at the tight muscles ringing his neck. He wondered when he’d get to the point where they didn’t ache. For now there was far too much going on. He and the team had been working since early morning, as each report came in from the men in the field, Nicki added it to the information base she’d built. She’d dedicated one of the screens on the wall to each of the young men they were interviewing. Beside each young man’s picture was a detailed biography, and a long list of connections to the kidnapped girls. As new information came in, she added it to the profile, further enriching their data base.
Building on Nicki’s timeline and information she’d gathered, a clear pattern began to emerge. Three of the young men were from Washington D. C., all sons of politically connected lobbyists and lawyers. Dillon and Ethan were friends of Sophie and knew one another. Nick was Cindy’s friend, and had never met Ethan and Dillon until Nicki set up a joint interview. Nicki determined from her conversations that all three boys were basically preppy kids, in over their heads. At least in the beginning, they were more concerned that their parents would find out they were doing drugs, than they were about their girlfriends. All of the boys admitted they used drugs—and were used to paying far above street prices to get the designer drugs they’d become accustomed to. The three each told Nicki in separate conversations that they knew about the parties, but none had attended. All three insisted that they had warned their girlfriends not to attend, either. They had been put off, or more likely scared by the cloak and dagger elements of the invitations and the fact that they wouldn’t know where they were going until they got there. The only information the three boys agreed on was that they knew something was wrong when they didn’t hear from their girlfriends but all of them had lied to Sophie’s and Cindy’s parents when they had frantically called to see if the boys had any information. All of them were horrified when they learned Sophie and Cindy still had not returned home. At that point they agreed to talk to the two ISA agents Rafe put on their tail. Not that they had a choice. Nicki set up the meetings and implied that she would attend. When all three boys waited in the trendy coffee shop where Nicki told them she would be, they ignored the two broad-shouldered men in khaki pants and black t-shirts striding toward them. Taking in the wraparound dark glasses and beard shadows, the young men mistakenly pegged their interrogators for gym rats or tough guy wannabes cruising for babes. Only when the two fierce looking men plopped down at their table and indiscreetly bared the ankle holsters holding their weapons, did all three kids crumble.
~~~
Hillary Chamber’s boyfriends were a different matter. Both Rob Nichols and James Trenton refused to talk with Nicki. In colorful language they suggested she do anatomically challenging things to herself, as well as to get the fuck out of their lives or they would sic the NYPD cops on her.
Rafe pulled at his chin when he listened to the message for the first time. His eyes flashed with anger listening to their gutter talk. Between the two of them they had a virtual thesaurus of ugly words to describe the different parts of a woman’s anatomy and they used all of them in their threatening messages to Nicki.
Rob was particularly descriptive. “Listen you slutty bitch. You ever call this number again and I’ll have the NYPD so far up your ass you won’t walk right for the next five years. And that’s after I’ve given you a taste of what I do to uppity c—”
“Turn it off.” Rafe broke in.
He turned to the group at the conference table and singled out Cameron and Daniel, both of whom were former Delta Force and served with Rafe on numerous missions. Cameron’s military-short haircut, square jaw and stealthy carriage screamed former Special Ops. Daniel’s handsome Hispanic features and soft voice had charmed many women… and misled as many opponents. Except for Grayson and, of course, Rafe, Daniel was the most respected hand-to-hand fighter on their talented team. Neither of them looked like a man you’d want to meet in a dark alley, or a well-lit one. As two privileged young ne’er do wells were about to find out.
“Cameron, I want you and Daniel to set up a private meeting with these two. Take them somewhere quiet where they can get to know you the way I know you. From what Nicki’s learned these assholes are our best source yet. Apparently Senator Chambers was right about one thing; Hillary’s friends are as scummy as he thought they were. Only these two are high class scum. They both went to Groton and are in their first year at Princeton, even though they barely graduated from high school. They’re nineteen years old, and already members of the jet set.”
Dragging on his cigarette, Rafe continued with a thoughtful frown. “There’s a good chance they might have attended one or more of the parties where our girls were. If they did, lean on them hard. Then put them away somewhere for a couple of days where we have access to them and no one else does. I’d have them arrested for screwing a minor, but no sense making it hard for our friends at the NYPD. From what I’ve seen of their sealed rap sheets, these two are as badass as they come. They’d be in prison ten times over by now, if it weren’t for their parents’ money and a corrupt legal system. What makes them interesting is that given their familiarity with the drug scene they might have connections to the gangbangers that our Russian friends have hooked up with. Let’s see if they’re more willing to chat after a couple of days in a hell hole without Daddy running interference.”
As the two men gathered up their files and turned to leave, Rafe followed them to the door. Running his hand through his hair, he tossed them a conspiratorial wink.
“I envy you guys. I’d like to question these two myself. But given that I can’t, I need you to be my wingmen. Give them a taste of how I deal with fuckers who think their trust funds and parents’ social standing gives them the right to disrespect women and threaten a member of ISA.”
Cameron shot him a rare smile.
“Is that any member of ISA or a particular one?”
Rafe quirked a brow.
“You guys know that anyone foolish enough to take on one of my men will wonder what the hell kind of a hornet’s nest they stuck their dick in.”
He hesitated then a wicked grin crossed his face. “But, yeah, I reserve a special level of hell for assholes who threaten ‘particular’ people.”
When the two men returned his grin, Rafe added, “Oh, and Daniel. Leave scars. Visible ones. And some that are not so visible. You know the kind. The ones that will make them think of you for the next year or so, every time they take a piss. And that will make them a less of a draw on the pick-up scene.”
Daniel and Cameron were as effective as Rafe knew they would be. Within three hours they’d learned the last three cities the parties were held, and confirmed that Rob and James were with Hillary the night she disappeared. When asked why they’d left a seventeen-year-old girl, a supposed friend, in a strange city, with men she didn’t know, and not bothered to tell her parents where she was when she didn’t come home, their answer was, “Why the hell should we? That little pu…can take care of herself. All she has to do is put out a little more than usual and she can ‘fuck’ her way out of any situation.”
Their language and their attitude improved after they got to know Cam and Daniel better.
As to why they weren’t concerned when Senator Chambers sent several of his handlers to question them about Hillary’s disappearance, Rafe wasn’t surprised to hear their answer. Apparently James’s father was the Senator’s largest financial contributor and according to James, his father had the Senator’s balls in the palm of his hand—and wasn’t above giving them a good squeeze when necessary.
Rob indicated that his father also had an off-the-record relationship with the Senator. He said with a scornful snort, “They share the same taste in women, frequently the same women at the same time.”
Rafe knew well that blackmail and political favors in return for financial contributions were the life blood of high level political commerce. Even so, Senator Chamber’s unwillingness to rock the boat even when his daughter’s life was at stake was shocking.
By the end of the first day, James and Rob had pissed and cried themselves dry. Listening to Daniel’s crooning voice over the loud speakers in the Cave was almost relaxing until you heard one or the other of the young hoodlums’ screams for mercy. But they’d given up more than their dignity. Rafe’s technical elves were hard at work researching the Russian entrepreneur the boys called Boris Lubvick and checking into his successful import/export enterprise E-Systems, Inc. The ISA team hoped that by finding Lubvick, the host of the extravagant parties, they’d learn the true identity of the elusive Volkov. Unfortunately, in much too short a period of time they learned that both the man’s name and businesses were false fronts, and at least for the moment Volkov was as mysterious as ever.
The boys filled in another missing piece in Nicki’s masterful blueprint. That was how Volkov had managed to seduce party goers to secret locations that even now the boys still could not identify. They knew the city they were in only because they were either given first-class plane tickets, or taken by private jet to the party city. Once they arrived they were led on a lavish scavenger hunt going from one location to another only learning the succeeding location when they arrived at the interim stop. Every stop was unique and unexpected. In one city it included a ride on a Ferris wheel, a trip to an aquarium where they were given a plastic shark trinket that held the finest coke either of the boys had sniffed, followed by a seven-course dinner in a five-star restaurant, with a final stop at a BDSM fetish club. The ultimate location of the actual two day drug ridden festivities was almost an anti-climax. Neither James nor Rob could do more that give a brief travelogue description of the actual party venue. They insisted that their brains didn’t clear until several days after they returned home. They attributed their virtual amnesia to the quality of the hallucinogenics they imbibed. At this point in their broken state, nothing in Daniel and Cameron’s persuasive bag of tricks elicited additional information. Rafe was reasonably confident the boys—so far their only witnesses to the actual events—had revealed everything they knew. Two days with Cameron and Daniel would ensure that the naked and terrified degenerate pair were busted and broken by pros who had interrogated the best of the worst. Then Rafe would send them home, much worse for the wear and not able to do a damn thing about the abuse they’d suffered. For once, all their money and powerful connections were of no value. Worst of all they’d know that at any moment, for any reason, the videotapes of them naked and crying for their mamas would become an overnight YouTube sensation for the entertainment of their peers.
Not surprisingly Nicki’s interviewing style was radically different. She and Katya had spent the better part of two days interviewing young women who were friends of the kidnap victims. Finally they got a break. The chatter in the Cave ground to an immediate halt when Nicki signaled for silence and flashed the webcam picture of the young girl she was interviewing up on the screens.
In a quiet comforting voice, Nicki drew one critical fact after another from the sobbing girl.
“Okay, honey, so you didn’t go to the party with Sophie as you’d planned because you got sick that morning, is that right?”
The young girl held her face in her hands, crying bitterly. After a long moment her tear stained face filled the screens.
“It…it’s my fault. I…I was the one who convinced Sophie to go. She didn’t want to. She was afraid her mom and dad would be mad if they found out she was lying. And now, now she is hurt…and gone…and it’s all my fault.”
A fresh torrent of tears drowned out her words.
Rafe marveled at Nicki’s presence, as she waited until the girl regained some composure then pressed on.
“That’s right, Mindy, you and I both know that Sophie is in serious trouble. But because you were brave enough to tell me what happened you can help us find her and bring her home. Will you do that, honey? Will you help me find Sophie?”
“Do I have to tell my parents what happened?”
“Yes, Mindy we do need to tell your parents and Sophie’s parents. But remember you may be the only person who can help us find her. Now tell me again about the invitation you received to the party this Saturday.”
The silence in the Cave was deafening at the grenade Nicki calmly tossed into the conversation. “Party?” As she continued her gentle, perceptive interrogation, Nicki calmly split the screen and typed in the address and profile of the young girl and her parents. After a quick conversation with Rafe, Grayson began organizing a team of agents to blanket the area surrounding Mindy’s home.
Nicki continued in her calm comforting voice.
“No honey, I won’t be coming to your house but in a little while another woman who will look like a cleaning lady will come to your house. She is going to help you tell your mom and dad what happened and what we want you to do next. Remember, you are not going anywhere. I want you to stay at home where you are safe. In a little while a landscaping truck will pull up at your house. All those men in the landscaping uniforms are actually people who work with me. They are going to keep you and your family safe and help us figure out exactly where the party will be on Saturday night. For right now, before the nice lady comes to talk to your mom and dad, let’s go over what you told me before.”
Between sobs, Mindy recapped the instructions she’d received for the previous party, before she got sick and Sophie ended up going by herself.
Within minutes, the technical crew had tapped into Mindy’s cellphone and were downloading her latest text messages.