Chapter 36

THIRTY-SIX

After dealing with monsters in her own way for so long, working with a team gave Beth the impression of moving in slow motion. With them, she had to explain every move. She had no choice but to give them the doctor's name as a key player, but she'd keep the fact she suspected him to be the kingpin to herself until she'd removed him from the game. She took her time considering everything they'd said and then nodded. "Okay, as I see it, we have four different avenues to consider at the same time." She stood and went to the whiteboard and pushed it toward the table. It squealed and screeched on its little wheels as she moved it into place. "We need to establish fake identities for us as the intended parents of the child we're planning to adopt. This will take specialist skills. These people will spot a phony in seconds. I can work with Kalo on this, and we can create backgrounds, bank accounts, real estate, everything that you can think of but what we need is a base to work from out at Helena."

"There are safe houses all over owned by the FBI we can use." Styles shrugged. "They're owned by paper companies. You could easily manipulate the paperwork for one of those to make it look legit if you need a place for the happy couple to be living."

"Once that is in place, then I suggest you contact the adoption agency." Jo looked at Carter. "You have the charm to convince anyone how important it is for your wife to adopt a baby."

Beth nodded and added the suggestion to the list. "You're going to need to be able to discuss how you made your fortune. What do you want as your field of expertise?"

"I spent many of my summer vacations on my uncle's cattle ranch before I joined the Navy." Carter smiled at her. "I know the basics and I'll make sure I know the local price of beef just in case it comes up in general conversation. I still remember all the breeds and how to run a cattle ranch." He grinned and then took a bite of his donut. "There's no denying I'm a cowboy. Dressing like a rich cowboy will be easy enough. I'll buy myself a nice new shirt when we get to Helena." He gave Beth a long look. "The thing is, how are you going to act like the wife of a cattle baron?"

Trying without much effort to hide a smile, Beth looked at him. "If I can pass as a pole dancer in a strip club, being the wife of a cattle baron is going to be a breeze." She added Carter's career choice to the list. "Once I've created our backgrounds, you make the call. Offer them any amount to make the deal. The figure doesn't matter. I can make it appear that money is being transferred into their account."

"You can do that?" Carter winked at her. "There's a new truck I've been hankering over. Maybe we need to visit a dealership when we get to Helena. We'll buy a new truck to make it appear as if we're filthy rich."

Beth shook her head. "Ah, no, as tempting as it might be to use other people's money to buy things, I only do this to criminals." She shot Styles a look. "Even though I know you all disagree. I figure anything on the dark web is fair game and better placed with people who need it to help others."

"Oh…" Carter nodded slowly. "I really need a new truck to help others. Does that count?"

"Let it go, Ty." Styles shot him a warning glance. "You wouldn't like Beth when she's angry."

Beth cleared her throat. "We have to assume the same agency is handling the foster kids. This is going to be your angle, Styles. You and Jo will have to go there and try to convince them that you are prepared to take a number of girls and boys under your guardianship for an exclusive school. Say six for a start, with the option for more." She swung her gaze to Jo. "You can handle this any way you like, as a religious cult or whatever. Your intention is to take the children out of foster care to give them a better education and start in life. Anything you can come up with. If these people are honest, they would be questioning why you want so many young children. If they are more interested in the money, then we will be opening up another area of this business that we need to shut down." She glanced at Styles. "I know this is a ton of information, but this is what we do."

"This going undercover and discovering the players will only scratch the surface." Carter shrugged. "What's your endgame here?"

Beth nodded. "First, finding Shiloh because we know she's been sucked into their world. Finding her will get us to Shoebridge or whatever his name is this week. He is a key player." She sucked in a breath. "Getting eyes on the doctor is the key because I know he's a main player. We know he is linked to Shoebridge. I figure from what Ginny said they work together, and the doctor probably has many teams. He travels around when needed and delivers and collects the babies. We must track the doctor to his current home base. I'm convinced he'll lead us to Shoebridge."

"The request for six kids will raise eyebrows." Styles leaned forward, his gaze intent on her. "If we find them acceptable to the idea, I could ask to speak to the person in charge to make an ongoing deal. If this guy is the doctor, as Beth believes, we'll know he is involved with both parts of the business." He looked at her. "The problem is, I figure that asking for that many kids will make them wary of us. On the surface they look legit and we're asking them to break the law. What I need is the name of someone who I can use as a reference to open doors."

"We have names." Jo looked at Carter. "The men Jenna arrested were involved in the baby racket and had girls from foster care. We'll use one of their names and no one can check on them because they're dead." She turned her attention to Styles. "I'll brief you about the case. You can say you go way back. We know the names of his friends too and they were all involved."

"That works for me." Styles reached for another donut. "Okay, Beth. When we track the doctor and locate where Shoebridge is holding Shiloh, we'll need to go in and arrest them without getting anyone killed. The thing is, how do you plan to find everyone in this ring? Two men won't make a dent."

Having the end in sight, Beth leaned back in her chair. "If the doctor is a main player as I suspect, all I need is his laptop. He must have a list of customers or suppliers at hand. They run auctions as well, so anyone invited would be scrutinized before they'd be allowed to participate." She smiled. "I'm good at what I do and so is Kalo. You can trust me to break this wide open, but before they trip any alarms, I'll strip them of operating funds. This will prevent them from retaliating. I can keep the ring in a holding pattern while the FBI moves in to arrest everyone involved. It will look like business as usual because I'll be running the ring via the doctor's laptop. We'll be dealing with Interpol as well for those outside the US." She stood and made more notes on the whiteboard and then turned to look at them. "When it comes to the raiding of their houses and rescuing the kids, I'll leave that part of the mission to our very capable agents." She smiled at Styles. "That is out of my field of expertise."

"Not a problem." Styles brushed sugar from his hands and stood. "Time to get to work."