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“Exactly. That points to an inside—”
“It points to anyone with half a brain. They’re hardly hidden, and they’ve been spaced so far apart that an army could slip inside undetected. The company that designed this security system should be shut down for negligence, and your men should all be retrained.”
Vance cut his eyes to Shaw.
“If that’s her take, then you should listen,” Shaw said. “If you asked her to slip inside this house right now with every man watching the security monitors, even doubling your patrols, she’d find twenty different routes inside. She’s slipperier than an eel. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of us have the time or the energy for a demonstration.” Shaw turned to Lila. “And whatever sarcastic little comment is knocking around in that brain of yours? Don’t.”
Lila closed her mouth.
“Okay, Chief Randolph,” Vance said. “The kidnapper broke into the house and drugged the chocolate so that the family would be asleep when they broke in a second time and actually took the girl? Is that your theory?”
“We don’t know if the chocolate is drugged, but it wouldn’t be the worst plan in the world. Could be that drugging their food or drink was just a dress rehearsal. This is a workborn dwelling. It’s a joke to break into. Why my father decided to stash a future oracle here is beyond me.”
“Where else would we put her? Only six highborn families live in Sioux Falls, and all are minor families at best. None of them have seats on the La Verde High Council, and only one has more than three compounds in the region. None of them wanted to take responsibility for the daughter of an oracle. They claimed not to have a large enough militia to protect her. They said there’s too much risk involved without a reward.”
“Except for bragging rights, excellent PR, and the eternal gratitude of the workborn faithful who have to buy their products from somewhere? No wonder the idiots haven’t grown beyond Sioux Falls.”
“Well, your father didn’t want to place her in Norrington,” Shaw said. “He didn’t think it would sit well with the oracle.”
“Yeah, because stealing her daughter didn’t bother her at all.”
Lila studied the scene for the next hour, walking throughout the structure with Chief Shaw. They poked a little more in the house and yard, then spoke to the Thomases once more.
The group had a quiet ride back to the airport. Chief Vance sat across from her, messaging his acquaintance at FPS.
The chief bowed respectfully to Lila before she trundled onto the plane. Though Lila spent the flight home clearing her inbox of messages and reports, her fingers stalled more often than they worked. She needed to get the samples to her lab quickly. She knew they’d find drugs in one of the samples, she just wasn’t sure which one.
She wasn’t sure that it would lead to the kidnappers, though.
After she forwarded her last report to Sergeant Jenkins, she let her mind drift. If tracers showed up in one of the samples, then Tristan’s idle, impulsive guess was right. And if German mercs had taken Rebecca, Lila wasn’t sure how they’d find her. It was bad enough that she couldn’t find Oskar, but adding a few more children into the mix gave her pause.
She drummed her fingers on her armrest, staring at Teresa Bailey’s ID.
She would fail the missing children in the end. This time, no matter how hard she tried, she just didn’t have the answers, and she didn’t have them quickly enough. Usually, she snuck into compounds, most of the time with permission. She downloaded whole databases or stole jewels with the intention of returning them. Other times, she sniffed out illegal sales of drugs and booze and found blackmailers among the highborn.
She’d never had to save someone before, not like this. Not racing against a clock to find victims who might have a gun to their heads, a gun loaded with bullets rather than tranqs. She’d only ever had to dart forward, brandishing her Colt, popping off a tranq to clear a path for her own escape.
She had no adrenaline to aid her this time, only exhaustion and dread. Dread that the girls might be in a dog’s cage, just as Oskar had been with Natalie.
Or—
Gods, what if they’d been taken as fodder for Natalie’s brothels? Two of the girls had been kidnapped near New Bristol. What if Natalie had taken Rebecca as a last fuck-you to the prime minister and the same government that wished to try her for treason?
Lila stole so many looks at Chief Shaw that his mustache twitched. Should she tell him now? She had a good list of possible locations for Natalie’s brothels, but was it good enough?
If Rebecca had been taken by Natalie, was she there yet?
Lila rubbed her eyes and looked away, feeling stupid. She couldn’t send Bullstow to the brothels until she knew every location, else boys like Phillip might disappear forever. She couldn’t risk losing so many children, not even for the daughter of an oracle.
Besides, what possible use would Natalie have for oracles? By that same token, why would the Germans target the girls? Most Germans who had enough money to hire mercs believed that the oracles had no abilities, except to con people out of their money.
Tristan was grasping at straws.
But if Natalie and the Germans hadn’t taken Rebecca, who did? Anyone could meet with an oracle for free. Sure, they might have to wait awhile to be seen—they might even have to wait days if the oracle kept ignoring them—but they’d be seen eventually.
Who couldn’t be bothered to wait?
People generally committed crimes for only a few reasons, revenge and punishment among them. Could that be the reason why Rebecca was take
