Generation Lost (Gray Wolf Security #17)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“We got seriously lucky with this group,” said Wilson. “None of them were raped. None were beaten. They were drugged but not with anything addictive. Only sleeping medications were used. Three of the girls were celebrating at a casino for their friend’s twenty-first birthday. They accepted drinks from someone at the indoor pool bar, and that’s the last thing they remember.”

“Thank fuck,” muttered Ghost.

“The others were all random pickups in a bar or club. One was on her morning run, and a guy stopped and asked her a question. That was all she could remember as well. We’ll get them all back home tomorrow. Doug and Savannah are working on a flight schedule to take them where they belong. That’s the other thing. They were all over eighteen. That’s different than most trafficking we see,” said Cruz.

“Did they know where they were taking them or for what?” asked Ian.

“All they were told was that they would be put to work and earn money to return home eventually,” said Wilson.

“I know where they were going to work,” said Victoria, walking in with Code. He had a grin on his face, shaking his head as he pointed to her.

“Victoria, honey, how do you know that? Did you speak with them?” asked Nine.

“Only for a few minutes. I was helping to hand out the food, and then I was giving them phones to let their families know they were okay.”

“Alright, what did you find out?”

“Did you notice anything strange about all the women?” she asked, looking at Cruz and Wilson in particular. Wilson frowned.

“They all had different hair and eye color.” Cruz nodded.

“Yeah. They were all eighteen to twenty-three. Relatively small stature.”

“Keep going,” she smiled. She heard Nine let out a long, slow breath and knew he was getting impatient. She turned to Code, standing slightly behind him. “You were right. They don’t know how hard this is.”

“I’m sorry, Victoria. We’re not good at these things like you guys are. Could you just spell it out for us?”

“Sure,” she blushed. “You were getting there. They were all very small with very small, tiny hands. I noticed it as I was handing out the food. My hands are small, but these women had extremely small hands. We found this photo this morning.”

Sly and Code placed the photo on the screen. At first, it simply looked like a concrete structure in the jungle, but as they got closer, they realized what it was.

“Weapons again. They’re manufacturing weapons in Bolivar,” said Ghost.

“Yes. Weapons that require small hands to make. Instead of drawing suspicion by stealing children, they found very tiny, very small women with slender hands.”

“Holy shit,” muttered Gaspar. “How did you figure that out?”

“The photo. Bolivar doesn’t have the capabilities of building a manufacturing plant like we have here that would be completely automated. They needed help, and we gave it to them, or I should say they stole what they needed from us. Young women. As we speak, there are multiple drones depositing bombs on the roof. Within the hour, it will be leveled.”

“You’ve got a call from the POTUS,” said Sly.

“Of course we do.”

“You know what’s really frustrating for me, Nine? I can never tell if you boys are actually where you say you are or if it’s some sort of damn mirage,” said the president.

“I assure you, sir. We’re at our home office.”

“Which is where?” he smirked. There was silence, and the president just laughed. “You know, fellas, I don’t ask you to stand down very often, but I asked you to stand down on this whole issue with the weapons factories. So did half my damn cabinet.”

“And we did,” lied Gaspar. “We’ve done nothing except help to get those old folks into new homes of their own. We’ve been busy building and moving people. Is there something wrong?”

“You know damn well what’s wrong, or at least I think you do. Another thing that pisses me off is I can’t tell if you’re lying or not.”

“Those feel like things the president should be able to do,” laughed Gaspar.

“Don’t fuck with me, Gaspar. I’m tired, and I’m getting blasted on all ends about this. I can’t always explain everything to you, nor do I feel as though I need to. I asked y’all to back off from this, I damn well expected you to listen!”

“We did listen,” said Nine, grinding his teeth. “You’re right. You don’t owe us an explanation, but you damn sure can let us know why you would allow illegal immigrants from countries who want nothing more than to destroy us come into the United States, buy and sell weapons that are manufactured by these enemies and create chaos.”

“Everything is not what it seems sometimes, Nine.” There was a deathly silence in the room as the men said nothing, just staring at the POTUS. “Early yesterday morning, there was a cargo ship sunk about two hundred miles from Bolivar. The cargo ship had a lot of passengers on board.”

“Passengers on a cargo ship? Why? I mean, sometimes they’ll transport a few, but not ‘a lot.’ Are we being asked to rescue them?” said Ian innocently. The president bit his lip, shaking his head.

“No. There would be nothing left to rescue. The ship was sunk with everyone on board, from what we can tell. The water is too deep to dive there.”

“What was the cargo?” asked Ghost. Again, the president wouldn’t answer them directly. He looked away and then back at the screen.

“That’s confidential.”

“I see,” said Nine. “Well, if you need our help, let us know. Until then, we’re enjoying a nice break with our families.”

“You know, one day, someone will have the same technology that you have. Someone will create things that won’t allow for tracking or recording or all the other gizmos and gadgets you boys have. When that day comes, you’d better be ready.” Gaspar laughed at the man.

“Who says we’re not ready now?”