Page 49 of John’s Yearning

She quickly scribbled a number on the back of the card and handed it back to him.

“One other thing: what happened here tonight, anything we told you, or you told us, not a word to anybody about it. Not to your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your best friend. Do you understand? If you tell anybody about what we suspect, I’ll have to assume you’re trying to warn them. And then I’ll have to come after you.”

“Yes, I understand.” Ms. Young nodded quickly, her lower lip quivering.

He hated scaring women, but in this case it was important to make it clear to her that she couldn’t tell anybody that they were following this lead. Any leak might tip the people behind this off and they would disappear before he could snatch them.

21

Upon exiting the building, John turned to Savannah. “Grayson can take the computer to our IT team at headquarters, while I take you home.”

She stared at him. “I’m not going home. We finally have a lead, and you expect me to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs?” Sure, she was a little shaken by how John had intimidated the photographer to secure her compliance, but it had produced the right results. Now she knew why the police had suggested she hire Scanguards: they weren’t bound by the laws the police had to operate under. Scanguards could enter somebody’s home without a warrant and threaten people to make them answer their questions.

“Figures,” John said finally and exchanged a look with Grayson, who was carrying the laptop. “Meet us in the computer lab and check with either Thomas or Eddie, see if one of them can look at the laptop right away. Don’t have them delegate this to one of their staff. I want the best.”

“Understood,” Grayson said and got into his car.

Savannah walked to the passenger side of John’s car and reached for the handle.

“I don’t suppose I can change your mind,” he said.

She looked over her shoulder and saw him approach. “No. Frankly, I don’t know why you even need to hand the laptop over to your IT guys. I can just as easily figure out if it was hacked.”

“I know you can, but just as a heart surgeon doesn’t do surgery on his own heart, I’m not going to have you do this. We don’t know what we might find. And I don’t want you to, uh—”

“Fall apart?” she finished his sentence.

His look told her that it was exactly what he’d wanted to say.

“Because of what Grayson said?” She shook her head, though hearing somebody actually say it out loud had chilled her. “Do you really think that this thought hadn’t crossed my mind? From the moment you told me that Buffy wasn’t the only little girl who’d disappeared and that all the others were girls her age too, I knew what it meant.” She sighed. “It was considerate of you not to say it, but we both know why children are trafficked, what these bastards intend to do to them.”

John put his hand on her forearm and squeezed it. “Doesn’t mean somebody has to remind you of it constantly. And I have good reason to believe that they haven’t touched her yet.”

“You don’t have to lie to me.” She made a motion to turn away, but he didn’t let go of her.

“I’m not. The picture they sent you. She looks frightened in it, yes, but she hasn’t lost her innocence yet. I’ve seen children who’ve been through this. You can see it in their eyes, see the horror they experienced. I don’t see it in Buffy.”

A glimmer of hope blossomed in her heart. “You’re not just saying that?”

He shook his head lightly. “Trust me. If this is a child trafficking ring, it means they’ll have to transport the children to a secure location where whoever bought them will take possession of them. And these people want their…uh… want them in pristine condition. Not damaged. The traffickers are generally not the end users. Their job is to deliver the kids, nothing more.”

“I hope you’re right. I hope we’re not too late.”

John let go of her arm and opened the car door to let her get in. Moments later, they were driving back to Scanguards, back into the parking garage. But this time they didn’t return to John’s office. Instead, they remained on one of the basement levels, where John led her through a maze of corridors, until they reached a large room with a multitude of computer workstations. To one side, behind a glass wall was a smaller room, most likely climate-controlled, were rows of servers were located. On another wall, dozens of screens were mounted. Together, they formed one large screen, the kind one would find in the control room at NASA.

To Savannah’s surprise, virtually every workstation was occupied. She glanced at her wristwatch. It was almost midnight, yet this room was humming with activity like a freeway during rush hour. Several of the men and women working here turned their heads and stared at her as if she’d entered a place she shouldn’t be at. But when their gazes fell onto John next to her, they turned their attention back to their computers.

“There’s Grayson,” John said and pointed to a workstation toward the far end of the room.

As they walked to join him, Savannah noticed that he’d already set up the laptop, booted it up and was speaking to a tall, blond man wearing leather pants and a white shirt, whose sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. She couldn’t help but notice how well those pants fit him, and how physically fit he appeared, when he suddenly looked over his shoulder as if he’d sensed her eyes on him. Piercing blue eyes scrutinized her—but not in the way she was used to being eyed up by a man. He didn’t linger on her breasts or check out her legs, but kept his gaze locked on her face, before he shifted it, seemingly satisfied, to John.

“Hey, John,” the man said.

“Thomas, thanks for coming so quickly,” John replied and shook his hand. “This is Savannah Rice. Savannah, this is Thomas Brown-Martens, Chief of IT at Scanguards.”

She’d never seen an IT guy who was as muscular as this one. And she’d met a lot of computer geeks. How had he made it to the top and still had time to work out?

She offered her hand, and he shook it. “Pleased to meet you.”