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“I’m not going to argue your point,” I reluctantly agreed. “I get it. But we’re at a crossroads here. There are innocent women out there in danger. We need whatever you have to find them,” I said to him, letting go of Phoebe’s waist and stepping to the table. I picked up five pics and handed them over to Tyler.
“These women were found this week. Murdered. Bodies were dumped either in dumpsters behind a shopping center, in the woods, floating in the river, and in an abandoned crack house south of the city. They’ve been missing for months. Disappeared without a trace. Can you explain that? How did you get them to safety without anyone seeing you?”
I glanced at Phoebe, then Tyler.
Tyler was the one to speak up.
“Some came to the shelters where Phoebe volunteered. But there were some that we had to get them out of their houses. They were on lock down or didn’t have means to escape their homes undetected. Therefore, I had to make sure whatever we did stayed in the dark. If there were security cameras at the residence or surrounding homes, I would record over the current footage, loop it with a recording that I did about an hour or two…” Tyler trailed off, looking around the room at the sudden incredulous and shocked faces. “What?”
Phoebe spoke up before I could. “We just discovered that the footage at my hotel was looped. Which is the same thing you… just… mentioned. And I know what you all are thinking.” She glanced around the room. “Believe me, I thought the same thing a minute ago, but I know Garrett and Reed. They wouldn’t trash my hotel room or kill those two people. They may be big babies, but they aren’t cold-blooded killers.”
Tyler’s eyes widened when Phoebe explained what we had found. He looked at everyone in the room, stayed on Danny until he nodded, then looked over at me.
“No way. That would mean someone cracked my firewall and I can tell you right now, that’s fucking impossible.”
“Is it?” Danny challenged. “How do you think I got in and downloaded that malware on your computer. I’ve been trying to break past your firewall for weeks, and I haven’t had any success, yet. Now, all of a sudden, I could? Yeah, you’ve been hacked bro. Just like me.”
My own eyebrows rose when Danny admitted to being hacked. However, it made sense. Danny was smart as shit. He’s been able to hack into any system undetected. He prided himself on his autonomy. However, if his system was impenetrable, how could these goons have broken into my house without me or my team knowing? Homer could have been killed, Phoebe taken or killed too, and we wouldn’t have been the wiser. The thought of someone hurting Phoebe made my chest tight. I felt my blood pressure rising, my heart beating the hell out of my chest. My reaction to just thinking about what could’ve happened shocked the shit out of me. Imagine what would have happened if she had actually been hurt?
I reached for her hand and laced my fingers with hers, needing to feel her presence, to be assured that she was standing right next to me, and this wasn’t a dream.
“Fuck,” Tyler mumbled, then opened his laptop, a surge of adrenaline coming over him. “Give me control. I need to see if I can…” he trailed off as Danny went to work.
The two men were quiet for a long time and we let them. Both had just been hacked, and I was sure they felt as if they had been violated in the worse way.
After a minute or two had passed, Tyler stopped typing and reached into a black messenger bag he brought with him. He pulled out a thick manila envelope and dropped it on the table.
“In there is a list of everyone we’ve helped. Danny and I will cross reference this list and confirm that the phones are still active and their owners are where they’re supposed to be. Once we do that, we’ll call out the name so you guys can call them.” he instructed.
Ayana raised a hand. “How do you know the phones will be with them when we call and even when you check the GPS?”
Phoebe took that one. “We have a plan in place for situations like this. The women always have their burner phones with them. When they receive a call from us, they are to drop what they’re doing and bring up the rideshare app on their phone. The app is connected to a specific credit card, so payment won’t be an issue. From there they are to go to the bus station where they should have a go bag stashed in a locker. From there, they are to go to a designated city that has already been communicated to them. Someone from the Shadow Warriors will be at the station waiting for them once they arrived. It’s a little trickier for those with kids. They will have to go to the daycare or school first before heading to the bus station.”
“And everyone knows this?” Sol asked.
“Yes. We drill it into them. Now, if they didn’t take heed to the instructions, I don’t know what else we can do. If they have to go back home, from let’s say work, it could put them in danger. Or if they are seen leaving with bags, it could tip someone off. Therefore, we tell them to drop whatever they’re doing and hightail it out of there.”
“And you trust this process? Do you think it’s been compromised?” I inquired looking at Tyler then Phoebe.
Phoebe shook her head. “No, unless they told someone about it. When we gave them instructions, it was always face to face.”
“Alright, you guys have your assignments,” I announced. “Let’s get started.”
Everyone dug in doing their part to contact as many women as we could. We had learned that some were prepared and were able to act swiftly, but there was an alarming amount that weren’t. It took about an hour before we had contacted everyone we could. Phoebe also sent a few Shadow Warriors to check on the others we couldn’t find.
Out of the twenty photos of victims on the table, five had already met with misfortunes. Another four were unaccounted for, while the rest had taken heed to the warning and were making their way to safety. We wouldn’t rest easy until everyone reported they were safe.
I noticed Phoebe’s body language had changed as she stared down at her phone. I leaned close to her and began rubbing her back, gently massaging her shoulders.
“You okay?”
She fell back onto the chair, relaxing under my touch.
“Not really. I can’t help but feel this is all my fault.”
I pushed back my chair and turned hers so she could face me.
“This is not your fault, Phoebe,” I objected, my brows furrowing close together. “Hey, look at me. This is not your fault.”
