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“Yes. Things are moving at light speed down here, and we’ve got people working on it day and night. It has to happen that way, because once this all gets out to the media, the public won’t be happy if it looks like we dragged our feet with an underage sex trafficking ring. You can imagine theuproar.”
“Yeah, Ican.”
“Anyway, we wanted to get every single Network member’s name before we thought about bringing any of the men in,” he went on. “Because if we only charged the fifteen unmasked men from that video you shot, and none of the others whose names we don’t know yet, it’s pretty safe to assume the unknown ones would flee. So even if one of the fifteen cracked and gave us a list of every single other man in the Network, it’d be too late to nab ‘em. They’d all be halfway to a non-extradition country before we even got the arrestwarrants.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t sound so disappointed. We have our ways of getting things done,” Armstrong said with a light chuckle. “We decided to target the girls instead, and you made it easy for us by giving us those photos of that book of theirs. Full names, contact details, and everything else we could possiblyneed.”
I frowned. “How would that work?” I asked. “The girls are all brainwashed. They’d run straight back to the Network and warn them about the investigation, wouldn’tthey?”
“We were worried about that, yes, so we had to choose carefully. We figured the older ones were less likely to crack, seeing as they’ve endured years of brainwashing, and the youngest ones simply wouldn’t know enough,” he said. “So we needed someone young enough for us to easily crack, but at the same time, they had to be able to provide us with the information wewanted.”
“Who did youpick?”
“The current president of the so-called Medusa Society. We brought her in a few daysago.”
My brows shot up. “CamilaValmont?”
“That’s theone.”
“But she’ll never tell you anything. She’s one of the worstones.”
“You’d be surprised how easily we can get people to talk once we’ve convinced them that they’re totally safe,” Armstrong said. “She resisted at first. Stubborn girl. But after a few sessions with our deprogramming therapists, she started tocave.”
“Deprogrammingtherapists?”
“They’re kind of like psychological exorcists,” he explained. “They’re trained to reverse the effects of brainwashing and return people to their old identities and belief systems. It’s very effective with people who’ve been forcibly indoctrinated into cults or criminalorganizations.”
“Right. And it worked onCamila?”
“Yes. Like I said, she was very stubborn at first, but our therapists got through to her in the end. They convinced her she was completely safe—that’s a very important part of the process—and they also managed to convince her that it was all going to be over soon, especially if she provided us with everything we needed from her. She really needed to know that she didn’t have anything to lose. So as soon as we gave her that feeling of security, the damburst.”
“How do you know she isn’t just faking it?” I asked. “She could run right back to the Network and tell them everything as soon as you cut herloose.”
“Not possible. We’re keeping her in a witness protection house while this is going on, and she has no way of communicating with the outside world. We had to take those measures just incase.”
“So that’s where she’s been this week,” I said, looking at Laney with an arched brow. “Everyone thinks she’ssick.”
“Yes, we sent some messages from her phone to explain her absence.” Armstrong coughed and went on. “Anyway, she’s been extremely helpful. She was able to name every single male member of the organization, and we matched all the names to the list of initials in the society ledger photos you gaveus.”
“But she could’ve been making up fake names, right?” I said, narrowing myeyes.
“No. She provided the same names that you did for the fifteen unmasked men in the video, so from that alone, we were quite certain that she was cooperating and identifying everyone correctly. Just to be sure, we traced the burner phone numbers in the ledger and confirmed their locations. Every single one could be traced back to the homes or offices of the men shenamed.”
“Wow.” My brows lifted. “So she reallycracked.”
“Yes. It was the exact breakthrough we needed,” Armstrong said. “And now we know the identities of every single malemember.”
“What about Vera and Lindsay, and the possible murders?” I asked, forehead creasing. “Did Camila say anything aboutthat?”
“No. She actually seemed confused when we brought that up with her,” he replied. “When we told her what you told us—about that threat she made to Laney—she said we had it allwrong.”
“How? She literally said: ‘you don’t even want to know what happened to the last girl who ran out of chances with us’. Sounds like a death threat tome.”
“Yes, and she admitted to saying that. But apparently Laney misinterpreted it. It wasn’t supposed to be a threat ofviolence.”
“Then what wasit?””
