Chapter 31

THIRTY-ONE

Styles insisted on driving to TJ's Bar and Grill. He gave the excuse that the weather was cold and miserable. Insisting that Beth take the ride rather than walk to the bar in her condition would never have worked. Admitting to being unable to do her job was never an option for Beth. They left the dogs in the office, although Carter's Doberman, Zorro, gave the best impression of sulking he'd ever seen. Beth had insisted she was fine, but the bruises on her neck were getting blacker by the second, likewise the very painful marks across the backs of her wrists. She moved slower than normal, indicating that her ribs were more painful than she would admit. They took a quiet booth at one end of the bar and ordered their meals. He added fixings to his cup of coffee and looked at Carter. "Did Kalo get back to you?"

"Yeah, but not about the abductions. All the info on those is on the server." Carter removed his hat and pushed a hand through his shaggy blond hair. "He has a theory about the missing babies, but not the girls taken from foster care. He figures because the girls are taken from foster care and reported as runaways, they're never followed up on. He said it was impossible to distinguish which girls had actually run away from those who had been sold into slavery. In the majority of cases, neither have ever been found. So he concentrated on running the DNA profiles of the men who are known to be the fathers of some of the babies through some popular databases. He started his search when Jenna and Dave exposed the baby-selling racket in Cottonwood Creek."

"Yeah, I know about those sites." Beth leaned forward in her chair resting her hands on the table. "Many adopted kids are using it to find their real parents. Did he find anything interesting?"

"Oh, yeah." Carter added cream to his coffee and smiled. "The three men involved in Jenna's case had sired five children listed on the database. So this goes way back." He stirred slowly and raised both eyebrows. "Five we know about. All old enough to be seeking their parents. This was only one of the databases. Since that hit, Kalo has expanded his search." He narrowed his gaze. "This is Jenna's case, but she handed over the hunt for the missing babies and the location of the foster carers to the FBI. The foster parents of the three missing girls they found were doing jail time but the investigations died there. No one would talk about any involvement with a pedophile ring and all took the blame for the scheme."

Styles shook his head. "I'm not surprised. They'd be aware whoever is masterminding the organization would have murdered them before they opened their mouths."

"So it would seem." Carter leaned back in his chair and blew out a long sigh. "Thing is, they all died in jail within a month of being sentenced. Same with the daddies of the babies. They're all dead. Someone cleaned up real well."

"So, the kids' searches would have met a brick wall." Beth lifted her gaze from her cup. "But Kalo would have their names and contacts. That's how these sites work: kids and parents leave contact details. If we have names, we can discover who adopted them. The judge involved in the case would be on file as well. The parents are the people we target. We'll discover which agency they went through and which judge signed the adoption papers." She shook her head and raised both eyebrows at Styles. "I told you a door would open. I'll contact Kalo and get right onto this today. I'd bet dollars to dimes the parents had no idea of the circumstances that led to them adopting their kids. They likely paid a huge amount to push the adoption through and believed them to be legit. If they hadn't, they'd have never allowed their kids to be DNA tested, but when we explain, I'm sure these respectable families will give us the information we require to bring down the organization behind the illegal adoptions."

"It's gonna be dangerous." Carter rubbed his chin. "I figure you're going about this the wrong way."

"How so?" Beth stared at him.

"Maybe hunt down one family but keep well away from them." Carter's brow creased into a frown. "If they're innocent, we don't want them murdered. Maybe call them and say you're the mother of a friend of one of the kids. Ask if she can recommend an adoption agency."

Styles stared at him. "What good will that do? They'd cover their tracks or make it all look legal."

"You have one of the best undercover agents, sitting right there." Carter indicated to Beth. "She can create a backstory, an entire new life that no one will question. Don't forget to add your ability to pay any amount to obtain a baby or two. Wherever this agency is, make an appointment. Maybe to add another level of security we'll swap partners. I'll go with Beth looking for a baby. We need to know who is involved. We'll need to see a birth certificate or insist we meet the doctor who will be delivering the baby. We'll offer double what they want for a newborn and see if money talks."

"I can manipulate Bitcoin accounts over the dark web." Beth nodded slowly. "Once they give me their wallet details, I'll be able to track the money. What we use won't actually exist, and I'll be able to drain their accounts dry in seconds."

"What exactly do you mean, Beth?" Jo turned her concerned expression on her. "You're not planning on stealing from this organization, are you?"

"Not stealing, removing." Beth's eyes flashed but she smiled. "They need a currency to pay everyone along the way. Removing their funds will cripple them." She shrugged. "It will appear to vanish into cyberspace. In truth, I'll make sure charities get a boost." She looked around the table. "Think about it. Who would ever know outside of this room? I didn't need to tell you, did I? My way means people in need get it. Kids needing lifesaving operations, the cancer foundations. I can donate to them anonymously and everyone who really needs the money benefits."

"It's against our code." Jo blinked a few times and then shrugged. "It's Bitcoin, right? So only you really know how much we're talking about, am I right?"

"Yeah. Well, Kalo might as well." Beth rubbed the end of her nose. "I guess I could hand it in, but it seems such a waste and it will only go to pay politicians."

"I don't want to know the value." Carter blew out a long sigh. "Hand it in and sleep well at night."

"I always sleep well at night." Beth met his gaze. "My heart tells me to give it to people who need it." She suddenly frowned. "The thought of it going to buy weapons, when it was made on the suffering of children, hurts my soul." She let out a long sigh. "Okay, Mister Incorruptible, I'll make sure Uncle Sam gets the loot."

Not believing that for a second, Styles gave her a long hard look, recalling another time she'd taken money from crime and dropped it into a local homeless shelter. She met his gaze and shrugged. He'd talk to her later. He rubbed the scar on his chin. "Okay, that covers the baby racket, but what about the kidnapped girls? We can't prevent that happening and then there's the girls missing from foster care."

"That's a tough one, but I figure they're all tangled together. We have opportunistic abductions and the foster care racket, but from what we know from the past cases, both must be involved in the same scheme. If I work with Kalo, we might find an auction site." Beth refilled her coffee cup from the pot on the table. "They're not watching Kalo, and if he tracks them down, he might be able to put in an order. I can arrange the Bitcoin payment. That will appear legit. Then we wait." She looked around the table. "We need to go big to bring the players out of the woodwork. I'm thinking we ask for six girls between ten and twelve. We can offer a massive amount, make it appear we have an ongoing business of some type, an exclusive brothel or similar. When they deliver, we'll insist on a meet to transfer the rest of the payment and to establish an ongoing agreement for supply. They'll want the big bucks and the easy sales. We'll have them."

"If the person who abducted the missing girl Shiloh Weeks is a player, it could be a way to find her abductor." Jo nodded. "I can't think of another way to locate her if she's been taken out of her county. It might be worthwhile speaking to Sheriff Alton to see if she was able to get any information from Styles' sister, Ginny. I know she planned to speak with her."

"I figure taking the soft approach is a mistake." Carter shrugged. "By all means go along that route, but you're relying on the abductor to talk and I doubt he will. Beth has a valid point. It would be dangerous but could offer the shortcut we need."

Considering the implications, Styles looked at Carter and raised both eyebrows. "The director will never agree to taking a risk like this. If we do it, we'll need to do it alone and play our cards close to the vest. One wrong word, one mistake, and I figure we'll be setting ourselves up for a quick and violent death."

"Amen to that." Carter shook his head slowly. "So are we giving it a try?"

The rush of the hunt shivered through Styles and he smiled at Beth. "Absolutely."