Page 8 of Master Vidar & Vali

Nayan was the man responsible for running most of our new client background checks. From Linc’s ominous tone, whatever he was about to share next might get our employee more than chewed out. If he had missed something bad enough he would be demoted or terminated. Gabriel lacked empathy when it came to the safety of his people and our organization.

“The Aziz group is a legitimate business, but only in the strictest sense of the word. Mihal Aziz is the nephew of the head of one of the largest mafia families in Albania. His mother married out of the family and apparently he has been trying to get into the inner circle from the moment he became an adult. Obfuscated by their surface business, his telecommunication company launders money and works as a cover for weapons and drug smuggling.”

“Shit.” I knew I hadn’t liked the guy but honestly hadn’t thought he could be that dirty.

Lincoln nodded. “I’m not going to lie, I don't have any good news for anyone. I had one of my contacts call over and ask to speak to Zara. I figured if she was actively in danger I could have someone extract her while we were on the flight over.”

“What did she say?”

Linc glared at my interruption. “She wasn’t there. I was told she was no longer employed by the company.”

The news was like a physical blow. Had she left? Was she safe? Lincoln would have started with that information if he knew it. He wouldn’t hold back knowing how badly my previous indecision was eating at me.

Rose leaned forward. “Where was she staying? Did she have an apartment or was she living at a hotel?”

Lincoln hit a key on the computer and a list of transactions was projected onto the wall. “According to her credit card receipts, I think she’d been staying at the Tirana International. No room charges but she ate at the restaurant enough times that it would make sense if the company was paying for the room. I called them but all they would say was that there was no guest currently checked in by that name.”

Rose pulled out her cell phone. “I have a friend who works the concierge desk there who may be able to give me more information.”

My mind was whirling with all the possibilities of Zara’s potential location. It was a form of torture waiting while Rose spoke in another language to someone on the phone. The tone was friendly and too casual for my taste. I knew she was working her magic, but I wanted her to hurry. Every slow tick of the clock was another minute spent in torment.

Rose ended her call and turned back to face us. “She was there for a few months, but the day after you left the country, some men came and packed up her stuff. That can’t be good.”

“So you think she’s being held against her will?” Or had been sold off. The thought made me sick to my stomach.

“Maybe.” Lincoln hesitated.

“Maybe what?”

“Look I haven’t had a lot of time yet to do too much creative computing, but I was able to find that someone using her passport got on a red eye flight to Greece. I think she took a train from there and headed west but it is going to take some time to track it down since whoever is using the passport is paying in cash.”

“So you don’t think it’s her?” I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be true at this point.

“It could be or it could be someone covering their tracks. I need more time to figure it out.”

I punched the table, pissed at myself for not going with my gut in the first place. Not knowing if she had gotten out or if she was being held prisoner was going to eat at my sanity. I closed my eyes and the image of her resigned gaze filled my imagination.

“There are some things you should know about your girl as well.”

Why the fuck was he calling her my girl? My throat was too tight to give him the reply I wanted to hurl at him, so I just nodded. The screen on the wall switched to display three pictures surrounded by what looked to be criminal records. I didn’t recognize the two on the left but the one on the right looked like a very young version of Zara.

“Zara Foster was born Sue-Ann Thomas to Lucy and Mark Thomas. By the time she was sixteen she had over thirty arrests for shoplifting, larceny, and vandalism. Her parents’ rap sheets read like a standard con man resume. They are currently seven years into a ten-year sentence down in Georgia. At eighteen Zarafiled for a name change and got her juvenile records expunged so that she could attend college.”

“If she got them expunged how do you know about them?” Rose looked confused.

Gabe kissed her on the cheek. “That’s what Lincoln means when he says creative computing. If we don’t ask then we can’t get in trouble for it.”

“Oh. So she’s a con woman?” Rose asked.

Lincoln shut off the display. “I don’t know if she is one or not. From what I’ve been able to tell so far, she has spent the last six years on the legitimate side of the law. But that could just mean she is good enough not to get caught. She was a known accomplice in many of her parents’ crimes and it’s suspected she took the fall as a juvenile for them on multiple occasions. But once they got locked up and she ended up in the foster-care system I can’t see any signs of her following in her parents’ footsteps. She managed to graduate high school at nineteen and got a four-year degree on scholarship in business.”

Writing her off because of what we had learned would be easy, but I didn’t think I could do that. Thing was how much time and effort would my friends be willing to do for someone they didn’t know, who may or may not be involved with the Albanian mafia, but at the very least, had a criminal record. For myself, I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until there was proof she was okay.

Rose looked around at all of us. “So what do we do now?”

Chapter Four

Zara

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