Page 19 of Dangerous Protocol

“Bingo.” Casey sat forward, tapped a couple of keys, and a screen on the wall to his left flashed on. “He was the one telling Sherborne what to say to Isla.” He opened the familiar website with its bright colors, animated unicorns and dinosaurs on the homepage. After a few more clicks, a series of messages popped up on the screen. “Right here, you can see where they’re discussing your daughter.” He clicked the mouse and circled the text in red.

“He’s telling him what to say and wants to turn her against me.” Maya glanced back at Jeffrey.

“Nadim is smart. He knows if she’s mad at you and blaming you, she’ll withdraw and stop trusting you.” Jeffrey’s anger rose.

These two assholes were talking about his daughter like she was nothing but a pawn in their sick game.

“Making her more vulnerable to outside influences.” Maya tightened her arms around herself. “This is all my fault.”

Jeffrey moved up, shoulder to shoulder with her. It almost caused him physical pain not to wrap his arm around her and pull her close. But he wasn’t prepared to open himself up to her again.

“Let me show you where they start talking about luring her away.” Casey hunched over his desk, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

“Why wouldn’t Al-Mansoori just set up an alias and communicate directly with Isla? Why have Sherborne do it?” Maya asked.

While Casey worked his magic, Jeffrey explained things to Maya.

“Our working theory is that Nadim wanted to avoid having a traceable line of communication between himself and Isla. And he likely knows by now that you’ve gained access to Isla’s Kids Chat messages and will be monitoring them, just in case she happens to log in to her account.” Jeffrey was counting on it. “When he does, Casey will be there, in the background, monitoring the messages and tracking the IP address.” He was certain it would be traced back to the Qadiran Embassy.

“So we’re supposed to just wait?” She spun on Jeffrey. “That could take hours, days, even, and all that time our daughteris—”

“Whoa, whoa. Hang on, folks.” Casey snapped his fingers to get their attention. “We’ve got a message coming in.”

Jeffrey and Maya looked up at the screen. The avatar for Sherborne’s fake account blinked a few times before a message appeared.

S:Hello, Ms. Corbett. I assume you are seeing this message or will be very soon. I have been looking for you for a very long time. You see, I have something that belongs to you and am willing to arrange a trade. I will give you until midnight tonight to respond to this message. I know you are on the east coast of America, so that gives you exactly eight hours and thirty-seven minutes. To ensure you understand the urgency of my request, I am sending you this …

The avatar blinked until a video attachment appeared in the message.

Keys clicked as Casey scanned the attachment.

“It’s clean,” he said.

Jeffrey glanced at Maya.

She blew out a breath and nodded.

He internally braced himself for what they might see and said, “Open it.”

Casey opened the video and clickedplay.

The video panned slowly from left to right, showing a massive wardrobe cabinet with intricately carved doors inlaid with a gold filigree design in the shapeof—

“Stop there!” Maya walked up closer to the image frozen on the screen. “That’s the official crest for the Qadiran royal family. See?” She traced the design with her fingertip.

Jeffrey walked over to stand next to her. Her body crackled with frustration, anger, and worry.

“That confirms it’s Nadim who has Isla.” He gave Casey a nod, and the video started again.

“Did you see how careful the person recording the video was to avoid showing their reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror?” Jeffrey could hear the rustle of clothing, the shuffle of feet on the floor, and the camera operator’s labored breaths.

“Is that …” Maya strained to hear. “It sounded like someone whispering.”

Casey rewound it, cleaned up the sound, and played it again.

Someone whispered “Mama” before being shushed.

“That sounds like a kid,” Casey said.

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