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Chapter Three
Sam Reagan felt the pain that oozed in waves from his only sister, Governor Maureen Reagan. It filled the room and couldn’t be dismissed as a minor issue, not when her heart was breaking. The blonde-haired woman hurt bad. The horror of having her children snatched from her arms had eaten away at her control so much so that anyone with any empathy sensed her grief.
He’d noticed wrinkles that had suddenly appeared around her light-blue eyes and the way her mouth stretched into a smile rather than in the past when the smile lit up her whole face.
The anger he felt at the man who did this to his sister made his stomach cramp with painful knots that he couldn’t ignore, not when this person mattered more than anyone else in his life. She was all he had left, and he’d do anything to keep her and her kids safe and happy.
Words broke from him that he regretted as soon as they aired. “I told you he was an asshole when you first introduced me to him before the wedding.” Sam’s frustration showed clearly in his tone.
“Sure, you did. Five minutes before the ceremony.”
“I was on a job and barely got my ass back in time to give you away. Christ it still drives me crazy thinking I missed your whole relationship leading up to the big day. It didn’t help that you kept it from me. And then rushed the wedding.”
“You know why. I found out I was pregnant. He insisted his children would be born legally. Like most Greeks, Manos grew up a strong catholic. Look, you were on a dangerous assignment and worrying about me wouldn’t have done any good. Besides, his persuasive powers were incredible.”
“Maybe. But you were a District Attorney at the time. You saw through people, had the knack of winning case after case. That’s what earned you the vote when the big day came. Young as you are, people trust you. And you work your heart out for them.”
“Maybe that’s my problem. I worked so hard; I forgot my family needed me too.”
Sam used a stern tone, his manner abrupt, “Jesus, Maureen, you did nothing to deserve this behavior.”
She covered her face, her hands trembling. “We had a good marriage at the beginning, Sam. Manos treated me fine for the first few years, especially because of the babies. He adored them. But I obviously didn’t know the real man. His acting skills were that good. Eventually, he showed his true nature.”
“How so?”
“He became abusive and mean. I made excuses – he worked too hard, had to be away from the family so much that it made him crazy. All the same excuses he whined about after he took out his irritation on me.”
Sam roared his fury, “He hit you? That dirty, cheating bastard hit you?”
“He was building up to it. In the end, he’d push me and overpower me with his body trying to scare me.” She couldn’t tell Sam of the rape the last night they spent together. Her brother, her protective bodyguard from the time she was a little girl, would change from a man incensed to a man possessed. He wouldn’t stop until he had revenge, and all she wanted was her children. She’d let the good Lord worry about the retribution Manos deserved.
“Scum like him don’t change, Maureen. They can hide their spots, but they never completely disappear.”
“Yes. And now my babies suffer because he’s an arrogant, manipulative beast.”
“I wished you’d confided in me earlier. You know I’d never have ignored a plea of help. I would have left the job and come home.”
“He did too. It scared him. The thought of you returning and finding out about our life. I believe it’s why he left when he did. I never told him you were on your way, but I found out later, he’d been reading my text messages. Probably got into my emails too. Thank God, the official ones are in a different laptop, under a separate code that’s impossible to open without both a password and my handprint.”
“It wasn’t government secrets he was after. I told you, he’s involved up to his scrawny neck with a human trafficking gang headquartering in Amsterdam. They have a whole network throughout the poorer countries in Europe. The funds involved are mind-blowing.”
Maureen’s eyes grew cold. She grimaced and shook her head. “It’s ridiculously hard for me to believe the man who’s so crazy for his own kids, the religious person I know could possibly be involved in such a horrendous crime.”
“Human trafficking takes on all shapes and sizes. Most people believe their victims are young girls sold into prostitution. But that’s no longer the case. They sweet-talk all kinds of people into leaving their countries to come to the States, work for rich folks who will pay their expenses. Sure, there is the hooker angle, both for the males and females, but many come to a life of pure drudgery. They toil for years earning low wages. It’s cheap labor. They’re told they can pay back the accrued costs of their journey and then find out after a nightmare trip those costs are astronomical, and it would take them many more years than they expected to repay what’s owed. They basically become slaves to the bastards who turn a blind eye to get bargain help.”
“How can humans treat other humans so callously? What kind of a world looks the other way? It breaks my heart to think I lived with a man, loved him at the beginning, only to find out he’s part of such a disgusting scheme.”
“People like him learn to play roles, sis. You’ve seen it in your work.”
“Sure. But it’s only supposed to happen to other people – not me. That prick used me for five years.”
“Yeah, well it happens. Accept that it’s his bad, not yours. Remember the refrain that as officers of the law we learned from day one. It’s about the money… always is. People like him never think of the victims, just the profits. We’d been tracking this particular group for some time, so when I stumbled upon his name, I gotta admit, it freaked me out. That’s why I came home.”
“Thank God you did. I tried to find you after I couldn’t get to the children myself, but you were in deep undercover on some mission. It’s why I turned to Bill Bruner, an old friend. He promised the FBI will send in one of their best agents who, from what I understand, owns a house in Rhodes and can come and go without there being any flags put up at the airport. Manos obviously has connections on the island who’d contacted him to let him know I was arriving last week. I told you he put a stop to me, his own wife, getting past security. I was devastated when they forced me to return home.”
Sam’s voice vibrated with sympathy. Wanting to concentrate on the good news, trying to give her some hope, he said, “FBI? Good idea. They’ll have no reason to suspect him. Agents travel a lot to different countries. Neither will they stop me. I’ll use an alias. My firm sets them up all the time for the men when we need to go undercover. I’ll be there, in the background and watching everything the agent does.”
Maureen ran into his open arms and hugged him intensely. “I knew you’d help. It’s why I haven’t totally lost my mind.” Tears appeared, and she had trouble talking while they filled her throat and gushed from her swollen eyes. “You know those two kids mean the world to me. I can give up anything else, my home, my job, but I beg of you, Sam, don’t make me live the rest of my life without them.”
