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“Papa, they don’t know where we have the girl. She was just sighted on the dock with the shipment.” Rosa was half running and half skipping to keep up with her father’s long strides.
“We still need to get her away from here.” He stopped and she almost ran into his back. Then he swung around. “Are you sure you didn’t hear more?”
“Detective Solomon called me in. He had a lead on one of his cases. His source had seen his girl. He wanted a composite to show around the dock.” She shrugged in frustration. She’d never seen her papa so angry. “That’s all, I’m sorry. I would have questioned him, but he would have been suspicious, especially since they know someone has been feeding you information.”
“No, no, little Rose, you did what you were supposed to do.”
He turned and finished eating the distance to the waiting car. He held her door as she climbed in, then walked around and let himself in.
“Take us to the offices.” Her father leaned over the partition to tell the woman.
There were no men on the island other than clients. Even the gardeners and maintenance people were women. Beautiful women. Rosa had only been there one other time. Her papa didn’t own the island and hadn’t wanted any connection.
Once they entered the building her father went straight to the registration desk. “Has Bianchi arrived yet?”
“Yes sir, he took our new payroll manager to her office and then intended to go to his. Would you like me to ring him?” The young girl’s voice dripped with politeness.
Creepy.
Sort of like stepping into a Stepford Wives movie. Everything and everyone so perfect and beautiful.
Except they were all so young.
Rosa studied the polite young woman talking to her father. She’d once been a new young girl. Rosa remembered her on one of their first shipments. She’d chosen to stay. Rosa knew Bianchi gave all of them a chance to leave once they were too old to be a companion.
She loved her father and was glad he’d never visit a place like this. A shudder ran down her spine, some men were just perverts. The girls couldn’t complain though, she didn’t feel sorry for them. They had everything money could buy at their fingertips.
They just had to sell their bodies for a few years and the rest of their futures were made. A scholarship when they left, or a long career on a tropical island.
Oh no, she wasn’t going to feel sorry for any of them.
“Rosa, do you still have the picture?” Her father startled her out of her thoughts.
“What?” Oh, the picture of the girl. “Yes, it’s right here.”
Rosa reached into her bag, pulled out the sketch and handed the paper to her father. He looked at the likeness and then showed the receptionist.
“Has she been chosen by any of the new clients?”
“I’m sorry sir, even if I knew I couldn’t give you the information. Let me call Mr. Bianchi for you.”
Rosa put a hand on her father’s arm to calm him down. The staff protected the clients’ privacy at all costs. No one was going to tell him anything except Bianchi, because he would understand the need.
“I spoke with his assistant and Mr. Bianchi will meet you out in the garden in ten minutes. He apologizes for the delay.” She gave him a polite smile and directed the two to the doors leading out into the garden area.
*****
Robert helped Gabe and David exit the plane with no one the wiser. It had been tricky, but they’d made their way to the beach and were keeping close to the foliage lining the path at the patios of the private villas. The tricky part was staying out of sight between the patios.
At least dusk had fallen to help them keep to shadows. The aerial satellite view had given them a distorted perception. The villas and ground layout looked different on the ground. Gabe hoped they were going in the right direction.
*****
Shaun looked up at the darkening sky. The girl’s shoulders slumped as she gazed over the ocean, as if wanting to wade out to let the waves sweep her away. When would they be coming to place the device?
Should he take her in? There was a salty breeze off the water, very nice and relaxing. Carmen had said he could call for dinner whenever he wanted, so it wasn’t like they had to return to the villa.
The problem was, if security watched, eventually they were going to wonder why he wasn’t touching the girl. For the past several minutes, Josey had been casting quizzing looks at him herself, as if she wondered the same thing.
A rustling, not caused by the breeze, in the bushes drew his attention. He glanced in both directions but couldn’t see anything. Slowly releasing his breath, he reached out to grasp the girl’s hand.
“Let’s walk a bit.”
She tugged at her hand until he let go. When he did, she looked up at him in surprise. Clearly, she expected him to put up a fuss.
“Josey, I’ve told you I’m not going to hurt you. If you don’t want to hold my hand, that’s fine.” He headed in the direction where he’d heard the noise, he wanted to investigate. But he didn’t want to leave Josey.
“Mr. Kincaid you keep saying that. But I was brought here to service you, and I know that’s going to hurt. It always does.”
Those pitiful words stopped him in his tracks. For some reason he’d got the impression she was a virgin. From the little bit the department had on DeLuca, along with the young prostitutes, he captured innocent girls and sold them at top dollar because of their virginity.
“So you’ve been with one of the clients before?”
“No. The monster and his bitch whore daughter who sent me here think I’ve never been had before, but they don’t know my old man.” She turned and ran in the direction he’d been leading her.
Correction, she tried. The sand made running impossible. Her speech and cursing surprised him, all the girls he’d heard speak on the island had cultured voices. Knowing the variety of backgrounds, he’d assumed each had been tutored how to speak. Even given that, he knew most probably knew how to curse; he didn’t think they did within earshot of a client.
This girl was damn lucky to be with him. She must trust him more than she was willing to admit or she wouldn’t have said the things she did.
“Wait, Josey.” His longer legs helped him to reach out to grasp her arm, careful not to hurt her. “This monster you speak of, do you have a name?”
Her eyes widened in dread. She yanked her arm to pull free. His grip won the war. She cast a frightened look around the area. Her arms shook.
Damn, she was afraid of talking now.
The rustling in the bushes grew louder, distracting him from his questioning. Making sure he kept her arm firmly in his grasp, he followed the noise.
Two shadows materialized out of the foliage. He took an involuntary stepped backwards looking both ways trying to figure out which way to run. Apparently, there were guards he hadn’t known of, he should have thought of that.
“Shaun.” He heard the whisper as he turned.
Startled, he jerked around, losing his grip in the process. Josey took off. The shadow who hadn’t spoken ran after her, catching her after a few long strides.
Shaun sighed in relief when he recognized Gabe and David. Josey struggled and opened her mouth to scream. David anticipated and put his hand over her mouth.
Shaun asked what they were doing, but David’s yelp covered the question. “You bit me!”
“Let go, now or I’ll scream.” Josey stared at the three men.
It was obvious to Shaun she thought the other two men were clients also. He reached out and took her other arm.
“We need to get you both to the plane.” Gabe led them the way they’d come. “DeLuca and his daughter are here.”
“Rosa? You’ve seen the only picture I have. I’m not sure I’d recognize her. At least Rosalee is home in New York oblivious to all that’s going on.”
Josey wasn’t making it easy for him to pull her. She kept digging her heels into the sand. David, apparently frustrated, finally picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. The breath left her with a whoosh.
“Be quiet or I’ll call Carmen and complain.” Shaun felt bad about the threat, though it was for her own good.
“They’re here to get her,” David said, tilting his head to the girl over his shoulder.
“Siena Peters, the police artist, is none other than Rosa Hancock, AKA Rosa DeLuca.”
“Rosa knows about this place?” Shaun felt his ears ring, and he swore he felt a slash rip through his heart.
How was he going to tell Rosalee? He’d been terrified how he’d break the news to her about her bastard of a husband, but his little Rosa too? The last time he’d seen his granddaughter she was jetting off to Europe to attend school.
They’d shared letters for a while, but then the correspondence had dwindled to nothing. Did his daughter know Rosa was even in town, or had DeLuca kept the news from her also?
“I heard his plane come in, there was another one also. Did you see who was on that?” Shaun would worry about his granddaughter later.
“Oh yes. Keira Cavanaugh was on the plane, and we assume Dominic Bianchi met her.” Gabe looked at him and grimaced. “Cap’s sending some international agency to help. He and Tyler are on their way here.”
The small private airport had come into view. Gabe cautioned them to keep to their cover. He dropped to the ground and disappeared around the corner of a building.
After what seemed like hours to Shaun, knowing at any moment Josey could give them away, Gabe returned. Putting his finger to his lips, Gabe waved them to follow.
Once they were in the hanger, where his plane was, they had to be extra careful. Gabe and David looked around for the guards. The stairs dropped down as they reached the small jet.
Robert appeared at the top. The three men hurried up, Josey still slung over her perch. The pilot secured them inside. Shaun led the way to the hold, no one spoke until Robert had shut them inside.
“Now, how do we get out of here?” Shaun looked out the small window at the closed hanger door.
“What are you going to do with me?” Josey asked.
She looked around at all the technical equipment with wide eyes. She turned to David. “Who are you guys?”
“I’m Detective David Solomon and this is Federal Agent DeSpain. I think you know Shaun.” He flipped a switch and the monitors flickered on with their view of the main building.
“We need to figure a way to get Keira.” Gabe told Shaun. He pointed to the place where they’d last spotted her. “She’s in that building, we haven’t seen her or Bianchi come out.”
David sat down, “DeLuca and Rosa entered the same building.”
“Oh, look there they are.”
Gabe pointed to the screen where Bianchi, DeLuca, and Rosa all exited the building. The three walked around the side to the paved path that led to Shaun’s villa.
*****
“What do you think grandpa’s doing here?” Rosa asked, but she really didn’t need an answer.
Somehow, the FBI and the NYPD had coerced him into helping trap his own son-in-law. She couldn’t remember much of him, she hadn’t seen him or her mother since she’d returned to the states. She’d missed her grandfather. She was too different from her mother. She hadn’t really missed Rosalee at all.
“I’m sure he volunteered to help bring me down.” Her father’s voice dripped in disgust.
Rosa’s heart did a little flutter. Could her father be right? Before she left, they had always seemed to be such good friends. What had happened?
Her grandfather had chosen the girl from her sketch. Now she, Bianchi, and her father were at his villa. What had her grandfather told the girl?
His being there had complicated everything.
Bianchi knocked on the door. “Kincaid, open the door.”
They waited, after several moments nothing happened, Bianchi opened and walked in. Rosa raised her brow in question.
“No locks on any villa doors.” Bianchi continued to walk from room to room.
“He’s not here.” DeLuca struck a vase off the table.
Bianchi threw him a dirty look but didn’t comment. Rosa watched with a sinking heart, everything was coming down around her ears. Her papa was losing control. The trouble all started with Batt’s carelessness.
He’d gotten too cocky.
“Could he have taken her for a walk on the beach?” Rosa’s suggestion broke the uneasy silence that had fallen over the two men.
After all, her grandfather was a widower. Maybe it was just a coincidence he’d chosen the girl they sought. Her father had no clue what type of men visited the island. Shaun Kincaid could be a regular for all they knew.
They were standing on the beach, no sign of her grandfather or the girl. Bianchi walked to the villa. Rosa and her father followed.
Once they were inside Rosa decided to ask. “Has my grandfather been here before?”
“I would have to check the records, I’m not on the island all the time. I haven’t met him before. Not uncommon for me not to meet clients though.” Bianchi had opened a cabinet that housed a video recorder. He pressed the rewind, then the play on the tape.
“See anything?” DeLuca asked impatiently.
“Nothing new. He took her hand and led her outside. From this angle I can see they stayed on the patio for a while before heading to the beach and out of range.” Bianchi straightened from the video equipment to face Rosa and her father. “Let’s go to the office and see if security has them on surveillance.
*****
Keira had met Bambi, her trainer. A tall, blonde-haired woman, well endowed as the name conjured. Keira had used all of her self-control not to burst out laughing. Did no one use their given name? Or was Bambi her given name?
Since Bianchi had left her at her office she hadn’t seen one man.
Freaky.
Time for the day to end, anyway, she hoped. She could see Bambi traversing the maze of cubicles.
Bambi walked in without a knock, but then what would be the purpose. Keira had seen her coming.
“Time to show you your apartment, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.” The woman about-faced abruptly.
Keira tried not to look at her swaying butt. Damn, she couldn’t help it. Red silk accented every muscle as she walked, announcing the hard workouts she must endure on a daily basis.
Bambi led her through a small beautiful courtyard, splashes of color everywhere. Exotic fragrances from the blooms followed in their wake. Good thing she didn’t have hay fever or she’d have been miserable.
Miss Bodybuilder opened the door with a flourish, allowing Keira to step through first.
Wow.
The only word to describe her new digs, decorated in island colors, light and airy, and she loved everything. Or she would have if it wasn’t part of her luxury prison.
Not that anyone had told her she wasn’t free to go anywhere. But the locked door of her office was her first clue.
“You need to be in the office by nine in the morning.” She started to leave then must have thought of something and stopped. “Will you be able to find your way back?”
As if she was an airhead or something. How would she get lost, it was one path from the building. “I believe I can manage.”
“Good, you have everything you need in the cupboards. Have a good evening.”
The door shut with a snap and a turn of the lock. They had locked her in again.
At least at the office, Bambi and other staff had left her to work.
That she had.
She’d had to look hard to find the documents. She hadn’t taken the time to find anything, she’d done blanket save of all the files. The NYPD techno geeks could find the information.
Not wanting to lose any evidence so vital, she thrust the small drive in its hiding place, in the flap at the bottom of her bag, and pulled the purse up under her arm.
At least she could call Tyler. Bag still firmly in place she wound her way through to the sliding glass doors leading to the beach.
She glanced around the room one last time for anything out of the ordinary. In the corner was something resembling a little camera. Like the ones in department stores.
Keira returned to inspect the gadget. Good thing she hadn’t pulled out her phone for all to see on tape. She pivoted on her heel intending to call from the beach.
She tugged on the latch. Didn’t budge. She pushed up the lever on the lock. It still didn’t move. Yanked on the handle to make sure nothing was stuck. What torture to see the rolling waves and not be able to go stick your feet in the water and enjoy cool water.
She wouldn’t be able to examine the information she’d downloaded onto the thumb drive she’d managed to smuggle onto the island.
Or call Tyler.