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Naughton Butler, who lived in the house we were in with his wife, Bradley, kept a helicopter here at the ranch. I’d seen it earlier this evening, when we arrived, and again just now.
“Thank you,” I mouthed.
“We’ll leave the two of you to talk,” she said, leading Luisa’s mother to the other side of the room.
“It was horrible,” she cried.
I stroked her hair as Sorcha had, soothing her. “We do not have to talk about it now. Not unless you want to.”
She shook her head vehemently. “I can’t. Not ever.”
“Then, you never shall.”
I rocked her in my arms while she cried.
“I don’t know what to do, where to go.”
“We have options.”
“Where?”
“Seahorse.”
She shook her head. “It’s too close.”
“We could return to Napa.”
“Are those the only two options?”
“While we won’t be able to get there via helicopter,”—I smiled down at her—“we could also return to London.”
“I have another suggestion,” said Tryst, approaching us along with Jaicon.
My eyes bored into his. “Are you certain you can achieve the highest level of security?”
Tryst looked at Laird, who nodded. “I can assure you it is thehighest,Press,” Laird said. He rubbed his chin, something I’d seen him do often, and motioned to the door.
“Will you be okay if I step out for a moment?”
Luisa nodded. “For a moment.”
Sorcha and Leah rushed over and sat on either side of her when I stood.
Laird, Tryst, Jaicon, and I went out to the porch. Tank and Zeppelin were there, waiting for us.
“The message originated from the Middle East,” said Zeppelin. “Specifically, Egypt. The device used to contact Luisa was immediately destroyed. However, we’re reaching out for help from our friends at the NRO.”
My mind raced with what I knew about the lettered agency. Far more than I should, as a civilian, albeit one with intelligence connections.
Regardless of whether a device that had been used to transmit a message like the one Luisa received was destroyed, it would’ve still pinged cellular towers. It would be possible for an organization such as the National Reconnaissance Office to use triangulation and overheads—or satellites—to pass coordinates to theater assets—or drones—which could then be used to target the sender. None of this was public information, and it would be impossible to know if the man had what was referred to as “dirty knowledge,” the very thing my mind raced with. If so, he would know what steps to take to go undetected.
I realized Zeppelin was speaking and I’d missed the bulk of it. “Sorry, can you please repeat?”
“Egypt is a tier-two country as far as human trafficking is concerned, but they’re close to tier-three status.”
“Is tier three the worst in terms of governmental intervention?” I asked.
“Correct. Wealthy gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are ranked tier three for abuse,” said Zeppelin. “It’s believed they get their victims in either Egypt or Iran, as does the UAE.”
