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“What jokers?” Curt asked. They’d used his mountains? For what? Aliya was tougher and braver than anyone he knew, but he instinctively wanted to protect her. He also wanted to protect his friends that passed through. Some were regulars, some he only met once.
“Two white males, approximately twenty-five to thirty years old. These men are masters at changing nationality, accents, and appearance with hair dye or wigs, beards, colored contacts, and even different-shaped noses. Did you ever see the movie The Saint with Val Kilmer?”
Curt and Aliya both nodded.
“Similar to that. Nobody knows who they are or where they are. All they know is they get friendly with female tourists visiting various countries and talk them into going on a long hike with them. Five days to a week is the usual time frame. The women have texted or called work, friends, or family saying not to plan on hearing from them because they won’t have cell coverage. The women are never heard from again.”
He paused and studied Aliya. “I can understand it’s frustrating not to remember what happened yesterday, but if these same men are the ones who targeted you and your friend, even if you did remember their names or faces, I don’t know that it would help us catch them. So please don’t stress about that.”
Curt appreciated Ray telling her that, because she had mentioned numerous times that she wished she could remember and help Gracie. Once the men were caught, Aliya remembering could help with identifying them, but they would definitely be using different disguises and accents than what they’d used with a woman who’d escaped from them.
He felt like his brother was prolonging telling them something really ugly. “You’re certain these are the men we’re looking for?”
“We’re never certain until the perpetrators are arrested, but I’d give it a ninety-five percent probability these are the men. It fits too well with what happened to Aliya and Gracie.”
Curt nodded. “How long has this been their modus operandi?”
“Interpol has been investigating for six weeks. Austria had suspicions maybe a week or two longer. So probably a couple of months that they’ve been targeting and kidnapping tourists.”
“That isn’t very long.” Hopefully it wasn’t one of his friends who’d visited him before. “How many women do they have on the list who are confirmed missing?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“Twenty eight?” Curt and Aliya exchanged a look.
“They’re very good. The cases overlap, so the men target multiple women at once, get them comfortable, then they take them on the hike and …” he trailed off. He clearly wasn’t ready to deliver the gut punch.
Horror filled Aliya’s eyes even though Ray hadn’t spilled all of it. “Is Gracie going to be another missing woman who’s never found again?”
Curt met Ray’s gaze, and he knew …
“The women?” he asked.
Aliya leaned into him, and Curt ran his hand up and down her arm. He hoped his hold was reassuring her. These ‘jokers’ would not get to her.
“No one has found anything until about an hour ago. A small unit of my men had trained dogs with them, and …” He clenched his fists and looked away.
Curt cuddled Aliya close, wanting to shelter her from whatever ugly news Ray needed to tell them. He was grateful he hadn’t seen it himself.
Aliya suddenly straightened and gave Ray a stern look—a schoolteacher look. “I’m a Southern gal who can field dress anything smaller than an elephant. I think you can lay it on me straight.”
Curt was blown away by her. She was so impressive he had no idea how he’d ever let her go.
Ray nodded and said, “All right. Seventeen bodies were found in a two-hundred-foot-deep ravine just over the Austria-Augustine border. It’s only accessible via a cave on the Austrian side that one of my men knew about. The cadaver dogs went nuts above the ravine, so the men explored it.”
Curt knew exactly the ravine he was talking about. He hadn’t known about the cave, which was surprising as he thought he knew every inch of these mountains, but he usually stayed on the Augustine side as that was his property to protect and where the ‘cure’ was supposed to be found.
The more important issue … seventeen women dead. Absolutely sickening.
“Seventeen bodies?” Aliya stayed upright and steady, but her voice was filled with shock. “Was Gracie …?”
“Interpol and various agencies are matching remains with missing person’s reports. It’ll be a little while until we have confirmed identities. I’m sorry.”
Aliya nodded to him. She swallowed and looked as if she were trying to be brave. Curt wished he knew what he could do to help. Would a hug help? He still had his arm around her, but it seemed insufficient for the angst she had to be going through.
“I wonder how in the world I escaped. There have been no other women who’ve reported escaping?”
“No. Which means no sketches or pictures of the men. It also makes me think those men will want to find you and tie up loose ends. So far, there is no one who can positively identify them.”
