Page 3 of Dangerous Protocol

“No, no.” They both shook their head.

“Grazie.” Maya ran around, searching the entire area, behind every bush, every tree, every bench, calling out her daughter’s name. She stopped and did a full turn to scanthe surrounding area. Her heart slammed in her chest, and her knees threatened to buckle.

Her daughter was gone.

How was that even possible? She was at the shop for less than forty-five minutes, and, as always, she’d reminded Isla to remain indoors until she returned. Her daughter had never disobeyed her before.

Maya ran the short distance to the cottage, threw open the door, and slammed it shut behind her. She charged into her bedroom, dropped to her knees next to the bed, and her hands swept from side to side, but she felt nothing. Maya lifted the bedspread to look, but the backpack containing her laptop was not there.

“Isla.” She pushed up off the floor, ran to her daughter’s room, and looked all around the cramped space.

There was no closet or room for a dresser, so Isla kept her clothes in a tall armoire with four drawers at the bottom. Maya’s gaze landed on a dark strap dangling from the top edge. She reached up and dragged her backpack down. It was unzipped, and the laptop was in a different compartment than she typically kept it in.

Maya set the laptop on the desk, and her hands shook so badly, she had a difficult time opening it. She shook them out and managed to get it open. A generic screensaver instantly popped up on the screen, indicating it had been left on when her daughter stuck it on top of the armoire.At the bottom right of the screen, the battery indicator was red and showed only nine percent battery life.

Maya dug through the backpack, searching for the cord. Her fingers tangled around it. She yanked it out and plugged it in. She tapped the touch pad, prepared to type in her password, but it opened directly to a website.

Her daughter was extremely bright for her age and had somehow managed to find a way around the parental controls Maya had put in place.

“Oh, shit.” She’d gained access to Kids Chat, a kids-only private message board that was anything but.

Maya opened up a new browser page and read about Kids Chat. The site targeted children from the age of ten to eighteen and, supposedly, could only be used with a parent’s permission. It billed itself as a place where kids could have innocent conversations about their favorite toys or games, school, or even to grumble about their teachers or parents without getting into trouble.

She read further and discovered that setting up a Kids Chat account was shockingly easy. All her daughter had to do was provide a first and last name, age, and e-mail address, along with her parent’s name, age, and e-mail address.

Of course, the email address and parent’s name Isla used were ones she’d made up. Unfortunately, shehadused her real name when setting up the account. Kids Chat automatically sent the verification email to that fake account.All Isla had to do was open the email, click “APPROVE,” and she was given unfettered access to the message board. A message board that was nothing more than a gateway for pedophiles and sex traffickers to freely access a treasure trove of young, susceptible people.

On occasion, she allowed her daughter to use the computer but with strict rules and parental controls. And Maya had to be in the room with her whenever she used it. That might all sound unreasonable, but they didn’t have the luxury of lowering their guard or allowing for any vulnerabilities. And accessing this website could very easily have blown the door wide open on their lives.

Why hadn’t she warned Isla about sites like that? Because her daughter would find out about the ugliness of the world eventually, and Maya had wanted to shield her from it as long as possible. Unfortunately, by doing so, her child wasn’t aware of what to watch for to keep herself safe.

For the next several minutes, she scrolled through her daughter’s Kids Chat message board until she came across a chat stream initiated by someone going by the name of Samantha. This chat was very long, and the messages were different, more personal, and every one of them was like a dagger to Maya’s heart. She’d known her daughter was lonely but hadn’t realized justhowlonely.

Her back straightened when she came to a set of messages with a time stamp that coincided with when Mayawas at the shop. She read through them until she got close to the bottom.

S:lets meet today

I:i don’t think i can my mom is kinda strict

S:what about the park by ur house

I:how do u know I live by a park

S:duh u told me please i really could use a friend

I:i know how you feel me too

S: so u’ll come

I:ok but i cant stay long cuz my mom will b back soon

S:yay i will see u at the park in 10 mins i cant wait to meet u in person

I:me 2

This was the asshole who took her daughter. Maya knew it as sure as she knew her real hair color wasn’t brown.

Her lonely, sheltered little girl had been lured away from the safety of their home by the promise of friendship.

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