Page 61 of Allegiance

Elizabeth continued.

“She, like the other woman, had no family, but she was smart enough to tell her friends that she had gotten a magazine gig, and she was going to be on the front page in Saudi Arabia. Sound familiar? It’s clear that the woman didn’t do her research or understand that they would NEVER put a Western woman on the cover of anything there with her hair out and wild.”

Jagger got it.

“Then, she never came back?”

“Nope. She went missing. Again, a cop came to her door—the friend who called in the MPR, and he said she’d been reached and was living the good life in Saudi Arabia.”

“Said no woman ever,” Maura admitted. “That’s the world’s capital of oppression for women. It looks civilized on the outside, but under the truth is a darker secret.”

Exactly.

“I’m aware. There have been four sets of friends who have contacted the FBI because of this. They didn’t feel it was legit, and no one liked how the cops handled it.”

“And no contact back?” Maura asked.

“They’ve been texting, and getting one to two-word replies back like yes, no, or I’m good. They aren’t getting any resolution, and that sounds hella suspicious to me. It immediately made me think of Chevy and how we have a sex trade issue here.”

Gene laughed.

Oh, and not in the funny way.

“So he cracked the code on how to sell women and under the radar,” Gene said. “Where El Gato abducted by force, he’s conning them, and it’s working.”

She nodded.

“Yep, and they get right on the plane not thinking anything is wrong. They get paid upfront, they get a first-class flight out of the airport on a private jet, and they are never heard from again—according to what they told the friends.”

“And the airport?”

“It’s a private one where the records have suddenly gone MIA…”

Yeah, that was suspicious.

“So we’re back on the sex trade boat?” Zayn asked. “I really thought we scared the shit out of anyone who tried to do that here.”

She hated to break it to them.

“Well, you haven’t.”

That meant they had to deal with that on top of finding Chevy. It was like locating two specific needles in a haystack made out of needles.

“Where do we start?” Maura asked.

“Page five,” she said, as MATE went there. Maura was right behind.

Elizabeth continued to break it down.

“There are five cops that we’ve compiled onto a list and think are part of this. I’m going to bet that they are on Chevy’s payroll. He’s smarter than El Gato, and he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. Clearly.”

Yeah, they could see that.

And that sucked for them.

“We have the name of the businesses. The friends were smart enough to get the information from their missing friends and google it. Here’s the issue for the FBI. They are legit businesses.”

“And the FBI cares about the legitimacy of a business?” Zayn asked.

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