Page 32 of Forgotten Girls

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.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

SATURDAY

Invigorated by her work the previous day, Beth stared out of the window just as the sun peeked over the top of the mountains. Although still cold, a deep blue sky spread out forever and she had a longing to get outside and breathe in the cool mountain air. At this time of the morning Styles would usually walk Bear to the park so that he could have a run before being cooped up in the office all day. She grabbed her coat and headed to the door. This morning they would have company. As she headed along the passageway toward his apartment, the elevator grinded to a halt and the door slid open. She stopped mid-stride as Carter and Zorro stepped into the passageway. “Morning, are you going for a walk?”

“Yeah.” Carter ran a hand through his blond-streaked hair and pushed on his Stetson. “I was just dropping by to collect Styles along the way.” He gave her a long considering stare as they walked toward Styles’ apartment. “I figured you’d be snuggled up in bed for at least another hour.”

Beth flicked him a glance as she knocked on the door. “You don’t know me at all, do you? If the weather were a little warmer, I’d be out running by now. It loosens me up some before I go down to the gym to work out with Styles.” She turned to look at him. “It looks like a beautiful spring day and I just couldn’t resist a walk in the park before work.”

The door to the apartment opened and Bear bounced out and did the doggy walk-around with Zorro, who totally ignored him. She looked up as Styles came out pulling on his gloves. “Hi, Beth.” He smiled. “The moment I saw the blue sky, I just knew you’d be waiting out here for me.” He nodded at Carter. “We might as well drop by TJ’s for breakfast. He opens at six and we’ll be through by then.”

“Sure.” Carter turned back to the elevator and punched the button. “I’ll grab takeout for Jo. She likes her sleep and I know she’ll want to speak to her daughter before she heads out for work this morning.”

Steam escaped from their lips as they headed along Main toward the park, and underfoot, ice still crunched on small patches of water on the sidewalk. The wind had died down this morning and only a light but cool breeze brushed Beth’s cheeks as she walked beside them. The men beside her strode along, their long legs eating up the distance with ease, and Beth pulled on Styles’ sleeve. “If I’d wanted a run, I’d have dressed differently.” She coughed as an icy breath seared her heated lungs in a bolt of pain.

“Sorry.” Styles shortened his stride. “I like to keep moving when it’s cold in the mornings and the dogs are anxious to get into the park. I gather you would have worked on your laptop all night, so I’m surprised to see you up so early.” He walked backward to look at her. “Did you manage to create our fake identities?”

Frowning, Beth stared at him. “You’ll end up walking into a street light or falling down a ditch if you don’t turn around.” She waited for him to fall into step beside her. “Yeah, I’ve created some absolutely foolproof documentation and backgrounds for the four of us. In case we make a mistake writing our names, I’ve stuck as close to our normal names as possible without being obvious. Carter and I are Betty and Tim Carson. You and Jo are Steve and June Simons. I followed Carter’s suggestion about being a cattle baron. That worked well, as one of the safe houses you suggested is a large ranch that currently runs cattle.”

“I like it.” Carter grinned and swung open the gate to the park, standing to one side to allow the dogs to pass into the massive area.

“And what story do you have for me?” Styles followed them through the gate and closed it behind him.

Beth had enjoyed creating Styles’ background and tried hard not to smile as she stared at the dogs tearing around like lunatics. “You’re a businessman on the wrong side of the law.” She turned to smile at him. “I made you the owner of a few seedy establishments, since closed. I’ll give you a rundown before you do your thing.” She looked at Carter. “Same with you, but as I’ll be with you, I can cover for you if anything goes wrong.”

“I’m still not clear why you prefer to do this with Carter and not with me, your partner.” Styles tipped back his Stetson and peered at her. “Do I really look as if I would be involved in a pedophile ring?”

Seeing a flash of anger cross his eyes, Beth shook her head. “No, of course not, but then if we could recognize them by face value, they wouldn’t be walking around free, would they? Unfortunately, they come in all shapes and sizes and various occupations, from the lowest paid to the highest.” She lifted her chin and held his gaze. “It’s nothing personal, it’s just that since I’ve known Carter he has this smooth easy way of talking to people. When we get to the adoption agency, he has to come over as extremely rich and very sincere in wanting a baby, particularly a newborn. I honestly think he’s the best person for the job and that’s no reflection on your skills.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Styles frowned and shook his head slowly. “I’ve faced greater challenges.”

They followed the dogs down toward a wooded area and watched them disappear into the trees. As they reached the perimeter of the park, a black SUV stopped at the curb and four men dressed in SWAT gear jumped out. Before Beth could register what was happening, they’d leapt over the fence and were on them in seconds. At once, Beth reached for her weapon only to find it missing. In her rush to meet Styles, she’d left it hanging on the back of the chair by the front door. A heavy body rammed into her, and they tumbled to the ground. Pain from her sore ribs shot through her, stealing her breath. She rolled, and bringing up her elbow, smashed it into the man’s throat. She lifted her knees and gripped her legs around his waist and squeezed. As he gagged and choked above her, she tried to fend off punches.

It was the same as before, a silent attack, no guns. These men considered themselves to be skilled enough to take them down, but Styles had taught her to fight dirty. Screaming a war cry, she jerked forward, headbutting the man’s nose, and heard a satisfying crack. His blood sprayed her face, but she hadn’t beaten him. When his hands went to her throat and squeezed, she reacted without a second thought and jammed both thumbs into his eyes. Her attacker let out a long scream, and his hands dropped from her bruised throat to defend his sight. Bunching her fists, she punched him hard under both kidneys. The effect was immediate. He howled in pain and tried to roll away. She unclasped her legs and pushed him from her. Up on her knees, she stared at him curled up in a ball sobbing. He wasn’t going anywhere. All around her grunts and thuds broke the quiet morning as Styles and Carter defended themselves.

The men they’d sent this time were lacking skills and more like street brawlers than the martial arts experts who had broken into the motel. They didn’t stand a chance. They had expected to take down three FBI agents and ended up facing a serial killer and two ex-military specialists. From the bulges under their coats, Carter and Styles were carrying their sidearms, plus they carried KA-BAR knives on their belts. They didn’t need her help; they were handling the three men with less effort than a morning workout. She stood slowly, searching her pocket for a tissue to wipe the blood from her face and keeping one eye on her captor when two streaks flashed from the forest. The two combat-trained K-9s attacked at once. She held her breath as Zorro’s open snarling mouth closed around one man’s leg and Bear threw himself at the third man, his sharp teeth locked around one arm.

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