“Okay, then,” Josh said.“We’ve got it.”
“Got what?”Liam asked.
“Our route,” Stirling said frankly.“See, we knew Kadjic had a hard-on for Prague, which, you know….”
“Nice city,” Liam said, because there was no denying that the jewel of Czechia was very pretty—the old-style architecture, the bridge and the lights spanning the river.Almost every window held a view of old-world charm mixed with modern amenities.
“Really pretty,” Josh said, nodding.“I hadn’t been to Prague before.What I’ve seen so far?I can see why Danny loves it.”
Liam listened carefully for any bitterness or any anger when Josh mentioned Danny’s name.It wasn’t like he’d heard any before—apparently Josh had been masking his real feelings of hurt even from himself—but now there was an appreciation of the man and what he’d done with his time while he’d been gone from his family.
“I want to come back,” Stirling confided.“Tienne is in love with it here.He’s been parkouring all over the place, and then he’s found a studio where he can rent time, and he paints by the hour.It’s really fun to watch.”
Liam grinned at him.“Good plans to make,” he said, and it occurred to him that the crew—all the crew—seemed to have a handle on things.This was a big project, but it was not the only project or their last project.There would beafterthe project, and since all of the crew seemed to have found their match, thatafterwould come with happy romantic adventures.
The thought cheered him.The infusion room was an atrium, full of natural light, with a view overlooking the Charles Bridge.While not a port, the graceful stone arch was a landmark, and underneath it swanned the riverboat cruises that seemed to showcase so much of the charm of eastern Europe.Watching the riverboats come and go was a particularly stately pastime, so it wasn’t like the place was dreary.But the sun sparkling off the water and the promise of a crisp nearly autumn day seemed beyond Josh’s fingertips today, and Liam knew that had to be bringing him down.
“So we all agree, Prague is wonderful, and between Danny’s apartment and the Mozart, we’re being spoiled rotten,” Josh said primly.“So do you want to hear about Hamburg?”
“Sure,” Liam said.“You can wow me about Germany anytime.”
“Well, to start with,” Josh said, “we thought we’d be searching one of the major ports—Praha Smichov or Praha Radotin.But those ports aresobig, they all have their own police units, and while human trafficking takes place through the big ports, there’s a lot of big busts.And Kadjic doesn’t traffic droves of people.He tends to traffic….”He swallowed, looking uncomfortable.
“High-value sex workers,” Stirling filled in for him without inflection.“Boys and girls—and yes, I meanboysandgirls.The average age of the workers under Kadjic’s men in America is fifteen, which means….”
“Oh God,” Liam muttered, feeling sick.“Yes.We’ve known this, but also that they are… well, pretty.”Kadjic’s people recruited for classic Eastern European beauty—and apparently for youth.
“Until they get hooked on drugs or get murdered or jump into a river on purpose,” Josh said grimly.Well, his friend Nick wouldn’t have spared Josh the details as they’d been rooting through Kadjic’s activities in the States.
Liam wouldn’t have either, but that didn’t make him hate Nick any less.
“So we’renotlooking at the major ports?”Liam asked, going back to their main points.
“Decin,” Josh said decisively.
“Decin?”Liam was surprised.The port of Decin was a resort of sorts, attracting close to a million tourists of the yacht and sport boat variety a year.When one thought of human trafficking, they thought of miserable filthy conditions in packing containers with the inhabitants freezing or suffocating or otherwise dying of exposure.One didnotthink of Decin, where the rich and beautiful kited about on yachts, thousand-dollar sunglasses in place and silk scarves streaming behind them in the wind.
“Think about it,” Josh murmured.“Leon’s yacht in the Caribbean.It’s large—it accommodated twenty passengers, twelve crew easily—but it was small compared to some of the yachts in Decin.Take one yacht that size and super-stuff it with… well, human beings.That’s easily eighty passengers, and they would only need the boat crew and maybe ten or twelve overseers with weapons.And….”He looked sick.“I understand the training is… uhm….”
“Yeah,” Liam said.He’d worked a case involving large-scale trafficking six or so years ago.The victims were repeatedly assaulted in the name of making them numb to whatever a client would do.“It’s fucking brutal.So you think the training is accomplished on the yachts between Decin and Hamburg?”Because that wasn’t very far.
“No,” Stirling said.“They’re funneled through Decin and Rotterdam and a couple of other ports, and they consolidate in Hamburg, and then they’re on for a twenty-five-day ocean voyage to New York or New Jersey or Florida.”
“You tracked all this?”Liam asked, and he shouldn’t have been surprised.
Stirling gave him a beleaguered glare.“What do you think Danny and I have been doing as you two have been throwing Lightfingers shade all over Europe?”
“Paris and Stuttgart,” Josh said.“Not all over.Anything beyond that was Tor and Marco and you and Tienne.”
Stirling chuckled.“Yeah, well, we did PR.You two did the actual theft/replacement things.”
“It’s Grace who’s been the real hero,” Josh said.“That pocket square thing was genius.And now with Kadjic’s pocket squares becoming one of Molly’s fashion creations—”
“And the original copy of Gustav Klimt’sThe Maiden,” Stirling added, like that was no big thing.
“Oh my God,” Josh muttered.“That was supposed to bemyjob!”
“It’ll be like the Art Institute in Chicago,” Stirling said soothingly.“You’ll sit in the truck while Grace, Carl, Tienne, and Danny pull the job.”
