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David cut in here and added, “Manos looks to be the boss if all the documents we’ve managed to intercept are any indication. He’s calling the shots here, and it looks like he’s setting up business in the States. They have a ship arriving at a location on the eastern seaboard in five days, leaving from the same port as the one that brought these victims to Greece. Seems they’re expanding their operations.”
Sophia’s ears perked up and she questioned, “Whereabouts on the eastern seaboard? I’ll need to inform my boss.”
“The Department of Homeland Security has an Arrival Notification system that says they’ll show up in the Port of New York and New Jersey at one of their six terminals. I’ll let John-john deal with that mess. He’ll keep us appraised.”
Sophia stood and leaned over so she could be closer to Sam who sat at the head of the table. “I want any information you have to be passed over to my boss ASAC Bruner at the FBI headquarters in Washington. Can that be put in place? He’ll want to be kept in the loop, especially since he was the one who became involved with Maureen and Manos in the first place. Plus, any assistance you might need from the local authorities, he can arrange.”
“Will do. I’ll contact him about our systems and get him involved. Right now, since that ship’s still at sea, we need to solve this matter about the trafficking here in Greece.”
“You mean in Rhodes.” Sophia had a bad feeling about his answer. She knew the assholes wouldn’t make a huge pile of money by having just one house filled with captives working for them. Now that she understood the size of the operation and how long they’d possibly been at their dirty business, there had to be more… a lot more.
Sam looked at her, the seriousness of his expression had her heart dropping. She’d hit the fucking nail on the head. There were more places.
“You’ve already figured it out, Sophia. We know of at least five other houses in different areas of Greece: two in Athens, one each in Crete, Santorini, and Mykonos. From the hundreds of millions of dollars John-john has managed to scope out hidden in various accounts, money Manos and his partners have accumulated over the four years they’ve been in business, they’ve had to not only increase their numbers but move to different locations to earn that kind of moolah.”
“Then you know who he’s working with? It can’t be a one-man operation.”
“I do, yes. We’ve delved into his background with a fine-tooth comb and found the people he has working for him on all the other islands and in Athens. He also has a firm of questionable bankers laundering the money into real estate in the U.S. for him.”
“Do you know where these other houses are?”
“We know of the ones in Athens. I have two men watching his partners there. We just found his property in Santorini and we’re closing in on the one in Mykonos. I’ll have that location by tomorrow.”
“Gentle Jesus, the man’s worse than I envisioned, and I already had him sized up as lower than a mud-covered slug.”
Joining in with the laughter all around, Sam agreed with her estimation and then added, “From what John-john has been able to put together, theslimeballfirst gathered investors on some crazy scheme for tourism in Greece and used that money to fund his set-up. And he was able to get to those wealthy stakeholders through my sister’s connections.”
“Whoa. So, now it’s personal.”
“You bet your sweet ass it’s personal. I’ll not stand by and see him continue with his dirty business when I can put a stop to it.”
“I’d never expect you to. Right now, my job is to get the twins away from Manos and back home to their mother. As much as I’d love to be in on whatever you’re organizing to bring the prick down,” she looked around to all the others at the table, “I can’t be seen to have anything to do with it. Just know, I care as much about Stasia and her friends as anyone. If I’m to get any sleep in the next few days, I need to be updated with whatever is happening.”
“Oh, don’t you worry. We won’t be making any moves until you’re safely on your way back to the States with Jack and Casey. Then we’ll hit all the places at once. And you’ll be the first to know what’s taking place.”
***
Sam couldn’t believe how happy it made him to think about Sophia safe and out of the way of the shit he knew would be going down when they made their move on the house. Men who were willing to turn youngsters into laborers and make them do the horrific kinds of things these hostages were made to do wouldn’t sit back easily and let it all be whisked away.
He’d taken steps on the other islands and in Athens to find men who were legit, men of integrity willing to help put a stop to the crap in their countries. He’d withheld the final info about the locations of the houses and would share them all at the same time so the operations would take place simultaneously as soon as Sophia and the kids were free.
He loved his niece and nephew. And the thought of them being unhappy or worse yet, injured in any way, made him ill. But just thinking about anything happening to his white-haired beauty made the world instantly turn into a black void of pain.
A place where he wouldn’t want to exist without her. How the hell he’d let his feelings become so invested, he couldn’t say. Maybe it was the warmth of her body behind him while riding the motorcycle. Her chuckling when he took a fast hill or a wild curve.
Or maybe it was her eyes so guarded, often cold, and seldom welcoming. Until he snuck under her guard and put his hands and lips on her.
Then he saw the wildness, the heat, and deep, deep inside her, he felt the glorious affection of a woman who would be a faithful champion forever. This girlwouldn’t give her devotion easily, but when she did, my God, she’d mean it from the bottom of her very soul.
By accident, looking for a pen at her house, he’d found some of the notes she’d sent to her Yaya. Her declarations of love and tenderness, how much she missed not being there with the older woman, and how very much her Yaya meant to her.
If he was ever lucky enough to win a place in her heart like her grandmother, then hell… he’d be the luckiest man alive. Considering they didn’t have a lot of time left in this paradise to learn about each other, he would be using every precioussecondhe had to get her feeling the same way about him… starting tonight.
