Page 22 of Liberating Mallory

“Aye, we are just down the hall. Opie spoke with the front desk and was able to help get everything arranged.” Marcus confirmed, kissing Raso’s forehead.

“I think he had Brody’s help, more like it.” Pratt laughed, remembering the ‘surprise’ that Brody and Carter mentioned they had for them.

“I’m thinking so too, since they said they had a surprise for us.” Raso agreed. “Anyways, I’m going down the hall to change out of my uniform. Let’s meet with the others, get the new introductions out of the way, so we can feed our faces because I’m fucking hangry, and a damn snickers bar isn’t going to satisfy me.”

“That’s not what ye said the other day, lass.” Marcus commented cheekily, winking at his wife until he had to grunt from the force of her fist going into his stomach.

“I said a snickers, you dipshit, not a fucking sausage fest!” Raso grumbled as she walked towards the door. “That’s for later tonight, when we have time to actually enjoy, without rushing and elbows causing black eyes. Red, I’ll see you guys in ten minutes.”

“Don’t even think on it mister. I need more than ten damn minutes with you.” Pratt warned her husband whose hands started to move towards her ass, causing him to chuckle as he winked down at her.

14

Dinner was a lively affair when Pratt and Raso showed up with their significant others in tow. The men did their manly hug, with the handshake and smack on the back deal. Both men were introduced to Knight and Abbott before being escorted to their tables.

“Glad to see you’ve finally met your match, MacLeod. That other chick you played with when I worked with the team was a piece of work.” Abbott chuckled, winking at Raso.

“You two know each other?” Knight asked his teammate in confusion.

“Not biblically, no. He kept my six safe a time or two on ops and defended my honor when the one I did let my guard down with tried to start something bad. Whatever happened to Oxford?” Abbott asked Marcus, taking a sip of her drink.

“He was dishonorably discharged six months after ye left. He lost favor with the team after the shite he pulled, then got busted when another lass dumped his arse after she caught him cheating on her, in her own bed. He beat the hell out of her, causing her to miscarry the babe she was pregnant with. He’d also locked her four-year-old daughter in her bedroom. If hadn’t been for the lass’s sister coming by, who knows what would have happened.” Marcus’s face turned dark at the memory.

“What happened to him?” Jordyn asked, anger in her voice.

“Before or after the team got ahold of him? I know he did prison time for the assault. He’s out now, left California after his release. I believe he moved to South Carolina.” Marcus answered, tilting his head as if in thought.

“Where are we on Mallory’s case?” Highlander asked, cutting to the chase.

The group went on to catch Highlander and Marcus up with everything they’ve discovered in the last forty-eight hours. Once they laid everything out, including theories, the group got quiet.

“Did Bainfort Jr go to college out of state? Could that be how Hussein and the Bainfort’s met?” Marcus asked, looking around the table.

“Yes, but not the same college. Different countries. Jr was in college at Yale, per daddy’s orders and Hussein went to college at Cambridge in the UK.” York answered, rubbing her forehead.

“When did Hussein come to the US?” Highlander asked, looking at his wife.

“Best we can figure, six years ago. His passport has him flipping between the UK, Mexico, and the US. His job has him listed as an art dealer or whatever it’s called.” Pratt answered her husband, leaning back in her chair, sighing heavily.

“Which gives him access to import/export businesses and ways to smuggle things in and out of the country.” Rameriez guessed as she leaned back, stretching her arms above her head.

“What was Bainfort Jr registered for in college?” Abbott asked, taking a bite of her steak she’d ordered for dinner.

“He apparently went to law school like daddy. Doesn’t say what kind. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was criminal.” York said, as she looked at her watch.

“Yeah, that wouldn’t surprise me too. It would surprise me if that’s what he did for the Sinaloa Cartel, considering he would have been wet behind the ears. The cartels tend to go for someone with experience, someone easy to blackmail or no morals. While Jr has two out of three, that third one, the no experience would keep him out.” Raso advised the group.

“What if he wasn’t the cartel’s attorney, but Sr. was? Selling the daughter to Sinaloa could have been to secure Sr’s spot with the cartel.” Rameriez stated, making everyone pause and look around at each other.

“That would explain Sr, but not Jr.” Raso commented, leaning onto the table with her elbows as she tilted her head to the side.

“Wait, didn’t the daughter state her brother was good with technology? What if Jr was the hacker for the cartel? Remember how much shit we dealt with to get that bust?” Pratt reminded her team.

“Yeah, we had trouble finding anything about the victims in that bust. Turns out that the girls the Sinaloa Cartel were auctioning off were on a special website that you had to have an assigned user id and password. Bainfort Jr. was the one assigning the information to the men that the cartel approved. Bainfort Jr. would do the research on the men wanting to be a part of the auctions and everything. FBI, DEA and any law enforcement had a hard time making a case against them in the US.” Sgt. Brocard advised the rest of the group of what they dealt with on their case.

“Female Bainfort survive?” Jordyn asked, looking at each member of Alpha Squad.

“Yeah, barely. She was touch and go for a while. She was highly ‘medicated’ on meth thanks to the father who oversaw her care. From what we know, daddy dearest liked to watch the cartel enforcers beat her and rape her himself when he wasn’t busy with his position within the cartel. He finally convinced the cartel that she would get a hefty price if they sold her with the other girls they were auctioning off. We only got lucky as hell when SVU busted a guy. SVU called us, we work closely with them on a lot of cases, claiming the guy had a juicey tip that he was willing to give us to get a deal.” York answered Jordyn, picking at her food on her plate.

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