Page 52 of Operation: Silent Angel
“Domestic Violence Rescue, Briana Woods’ cases,” Angel clarified. “Shepherd brought her and her operation under the Shepherd Security umbrella at the beginning of the year. A new referral came in yesterday that the Digital Team validated, and the woman is in immediate danger. The team will be heading out right after the debrief on the Cancun Mission.”
“Oh, by the way, any updates on Kaylee and the twins?” Yvette asked.
A huge smile came to Angel’s face. “They are so precious. I was over yesterday. They both weighed six pounds at birth. Can you believe she had twelve pounds of baby in her?”
“No, I can’t imagine, but she was huge. The last time I saw her, a week before she went into labor, I couldn’t believe she was still walking around,” Yvette said with a laugh.
“They only stayed at the hospital for three days and then they all went home. You should see Sloan holding both the babies. He’s a natural.”
“Sloan, the Undertaker?” Mac asked with a crooked grin. No, he couldn’t see that.
“Yes,” Angel said. “He’s off for the next week and a half, and Shepherd will keep him at HQ for another week before he goes back out in the field. Kaylee’s mom is going to come to stay with them for two or three weeks when Sloan goes back to work. I think his sister-in-law is going to come after for a week or two to help. Oh, hey, you probably didn’t hear about Dahlia, did you?”
“No?” Yvette answered. Based on Angel’s cat ate the canary grin; she figured it was good or quirky news.
“She’s six months pregnant.”
“What? How? I just saw her a few weeks ago. She wasn’t showing.”
“She’s still not much. And she just found out this week. Surprise!”
“How can she be six months along?” Yvette asked.
“Is she like really heavy so you wouldn’t notice?” Mac asked.
“No, the opposite. She’s a dancer; her body is long and lean, toned, no body fat at all.”
“She is very long-waisted though,” Angel said. “A lot of room for a baby before it has to pop out front. Anyway, she and Michael are thrilled. They’re going to get married sometime in the next few weeks, whenever Michael, Cooper, and Lambchop are all in town.”
“Michael is Cooper’s brother,” Yvette told Mac.
“That’s right. I forgot this place is nepotism central. I think I knew that Cooper’s brother was working here.”
“He was in Greece last year on the mission you helped with,” Yvette reminded him.
A chime sounded on Angel’s cellphone. She viewed the screen. “That’s Shepherd. You can go into his office now.”
Yvette and Mac made their way back down the hall. Cooper and Madison were just coming into the hallway from the stairs. Shepherd’s office door was open. They all entered to find Briana and Roth seated at the conference table with Shepherd, Mother,Lambchop, and Laura Lee. Garcia rushed into the office behind them and closed the door.
“We’ll be quick,” Shepherd said. “Over eighty percent of the intel we got out of Ruiz in his statement has panned out, and we consider it verified. Different agencies have taken different pieces of it to follow up on, especially on finding and arresting the different players. There is no doubt the world is safer today than it was two days ago before Ruiz sold out all his contacts, suppliers, and buyers. And we’ve seized all the funds in the accounts he identified.”
“I’m sure we could have gotten more had Dyer not executed him,” Cooper said.
“What was he even doing on that DEA plane?” Lambchop asked.
“Dyer has long been a CIA asset in Latin America,” Shepherd said. “He’d tracked Bella Sanguino to Cancun and was just catching a ride with the DEA. As he boarded that flight, he finally checked in with his daughter and Moreno, and they notified him they had Bella with them through text messages.”
“Will there be any consequences that Dyer will have to face?” Yvette asked.
“Unlikely,” Shepherd said. “He’s been very effective in his role in Latin America. I’m sure the CIA will slap him on the wrists for his actions, but I wouldn’t count on anything more than that.”
“Obviously, Ruiz lied that he was dead. Are we sure the integrity of the intel he provided is as high as eighty percent?” Yvette asked. “I’m doubtful.”
“The Digital Team will continue to validate and run down the intel we obtained from him,” Shepherd said. “Team, it goes without saying that this wasn’t the end we were expecting to this mission, but I count it as successful, nonetheless. We shut his network down, got names of people involved in his network, and saved Bella Sanguino. We have the name of the man in Dubai that she and the other girls were to be sold to. He’s now on the Red List and will be barred from entering many countries if he isn’t arrested right away. His days of freedom are numbered.”
“If there were no demand, there’d be no supply,” Madison said. “Just like with drugs. Another network will form in the void to fill the demand, but hopefully we’ve disrupted it for a fair amount of time. Shepherd’s right. Taking Ruiz out made this mission a success. And saving even one child made this mission worth it.”
“What have you heard from Interpol?” Mac asked Shepherd.
