Page 75 of Bad Rio

“What?” She squinted at him.

“Their general lack of attention. Their devotion to each other and to their video games. It meant they were never in danger like you were. It’s why the bad guys didn’t kidnapthem.”

She considered that. “It’s my job, not theirs, to keep track of the shipping department. They wouldn’t have been responsible for that aspect of our business anyway.”

“Mmm.” Leaning back in his chair, Rio crossed his arms and gazed at her. Big Jim and Sarah both stared downward. When at last Sarah stole a glance at her face, Becca realized they were all waiting for her.

She straightened and cleared her throat. “It’s time to call in the authorities, isn’t it? The Feds?”

Rio nodded in approval. “I don’t know what will happen to your father’s business,” he said. “But it looks like your dad and Tim will be arrested, indicted, and most likely serve prison time. It’s the smallest issue in all of this, but you’ll probably lose your place of employment.”

Becca frowned. “Maybe not. My brothers and I can run the business,” she said slowly. “We’ve been doing it for a long time. I’m not concerned about that part.” She may or may not have a job when the dust cleared. So what? Right then, it was hard to care.

Abruptly, her eyes filled. She put her hand to her forehead and bit her lip. “It’s so difficult to accept,” she said, “that my own father could go to such evil lengths. And do it formoney!” She paused. “Was he ... did he know they were trying to kill me?”

“I doubt it,” Rio said. “He went along with the crookery. He probably never saw you as a problem. That part fell to others. You might say there are degrees of evil.”

She sighed. “Do what you have to, Rio.”

“That settles it, then,” he said. “We’re gonna bust them.”

He took her cell phone, went out onto the screened porch and made a phone call. Becca could hear him explaining everything. The following day, men in black arrived at the ranch.

The Feds.

Chapter Thirty-Two

“Multiple serious feloniesare being committed,” Agent Webster said, frowning. An experienced man in his mid-forties, he’d taken off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and sat down at the kitchen table. He’d told Rio, Becca, Big Jim, and Sarah he’d been with the Bureau for twenty years. Ticking points off on his fingers, he said, “Unlawful possession of firearms, trafficking them across the border. Selling those firearms to neo-paramilitary criminal gangs in Mexico—”

“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will be notified,” the second agent said. Agent Thompson, the other man and also in his forties added, “The ATF will be interested in the gun-running. The drugs. Meanwhile, there’ll be charges for kidnapping, particularly in which the victims are willfully transported in foreign commerce. Those crimes carry mandatory prison sentences. Usually long.”

Rio had shown them a video on the laptop computer of Tim moving the guns, and of the bound girls. “All right,” Rio said. “It’s in your hands now. You have all the information we know.”

“We’ll set up a broad sting, with our objective to nab all the perpetrators at once.” Agent Webster’s frown eased as he glanced at Sarah. “Ma’am, I’d sure love another piece of that wonderful pie.” When she got up, his gaze lingered on her.

Uninterested, she set a plate before him and moved to the sink. Becca figured she must receive more than her share of male attention. If she hadn’t felt so tense, she’d have smiled.

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