“Why?”
“We’re about to become the bad guys. It’ll make you more relatable.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
Teddy regarded her. “Yes.”
She removed her helmet, her long, dark hair flowing down her shoulders and back. “Good luck.”
“We got this.”
“They look like they could rip us apart and eat us for breakfast.”
Despite the seriousness, Teddy cracked a smile before flipping on the mic. “Good morning, TSM.” In seconds, a hush fell over the large crowd of women crammed into that building. “My name is Agent Green. This is Agent Turner. We’re with Special Forces.”
“What the hell is going on?” yelled a women mid-center.
“We know you’re an elite group of employees with TSM—The Sovereign Method—run by King A,” Teddy began. “The organization’s actual name is To Serve Man and King A is grooming women to be sex workers. He made a fifty-million-dollar business deal to send every woman in the organization to Karakistan to be trafficked.”
Most of the women started talking to each other, the low-volume hum of high-pitched voices rising to a crescendo in the enclosed space. After several seconds, Teddy whistled loudly.
“Ladies, let us finish explaining,” Teddy boomed through the mic, and the women quieted. “The flight you’re scheduled to take to Hawaii isn’t going there. You were being kidnapped to Karakistan, where you’d be turned over to militants in the Haqazzii terror cell, run by leader Muhammad Haqazzii. You’re the first group of five hundred. Others would follow.”
Again, he paused so the group could absorb the magnitude of his words.
“There were three flight plans,” Teddy said. “The first to Hawaii, a second to Dubai, but the real plan has you flying from Dubai to Karakistan in cargo planes. There, you’d lose your identity, be stripped of your passports, and be entered into the terror cell’s sex trafficking ring where you’d be sold or traded.”
“This is bullshit!” a woman hollered. “You feds need to keep outta our bus’ness, assholes!”
“We’ve discovered humans remains on King A’s property and believe these are the twelve women who filed a lawsuitagainst TSM alleging sex trafficking.” Teddy’s booming voice filling every crevice in the large building.
And that’s when the group went dead silent.
He flipped off the mic and murmured, “That got their attention.” He flipped it back on, handed it to her.
“Good morning, I’m Agent Turner, Special Forces,” Sydney said. “I know this sounds crazy, but the team has been following this terror cell for a long time. If you check the hotel in Hawaii, where you’re staying, you’ll find it doesn’t exist.”
“I called the number in the TSM app,” yelled a woman in the crowd. “Someone confirmed our reservations.”
“Any calls were intercepted by the terror cell,” Sydney pushed back. “Google the hotel. It’s fake, like everything else at TSM.”
Every woman in the crowd went heads down on their phones. Silence, while they searched for a hotel that wasn’t real. When they peered up at Teddy and Sydney, the horror of their situation filled their faces.
One of the women hoisted another onto her shoulders. The woman towering over everyone was Tara.
“Hey, everyone, I’m Tara. I’m angry as hell, and I can’t stop shaking, but I know they’re telling the truth. Even if Icouldget on that plane now, I wouldn’t do it.”
“Thank you, Tara,” Sydney said into the mic. “For everyone who flew in from other cities, no worries. We got you. Once you process out with the FBI, the waiting vans will?—”
A roaring engine hijacked Teddy’s attention. He turned to see a jet fuel tanker speeding toward them, two hundred yards away.
“Incoming!” Teddy shouted, his deep voice filled with urgency.
