27. Daisy #2
“And how does that give you hope?” Vinny asks.
“Because that means my daughter is still alive. I need to prove to Brit that she is still beloved and cherished. At first, all I wanted to do was find Brit. Now, I want to tear down Dominion until they’re nothing but a pile of rubble.
Eva seemed to believe you could help her do that. They just take, and take, and take.”
I sit on the bunk bed next to Kenneth’s chair, grab his hand, and squeeze.
“We’re on the same team; I promise you that.
Our team is made up of former federal agents, mostly FBI and DEA.
We have a former Army Ranger, Marine, police officer, and Air Force Pararescue, all of whom are trained in asset retrieval. ”
“And the CIA,” Kenneth says. “I wasn’t entirely sure until I saw your friend, Officer Gray.”
Vinny admits that he and Angel are also CIA, though he’s about to retire and Angel has turned in his resignation.
“We are assisting our friends in the disappearances of girls from national parks but aren’t here in an official capacity.
As you know, the CIA cannot operate on U.S.
soil unless it specifically involves counterterrorism operations and is working in tandem with other federal agencies. ”
Owen nods. “Officer Gray has shared what he’s been allowed to. I find it interesting that he believes you work with a man by the name of Brad Callahan.”
“Officer Gray approached me five years ago when I was searching for Brit in the Saguaro National Park area, and I told him who I was, that I was Brit Larson’s father. That’s when he told me to go home, that I’d only get in the way.”
“But you didn’t,” I say.
“If your child went missing, would you?” Kenneth huffs and continues to explain.
“A year later, he saw me at Mesa Verde National Park after Leilani Clark disappeared and accused me of kidnapping my daughter and being part of a human trafficking ring. He took me in for questioning, showed me a picture of some guy who worked for the park system, and said it couldn’t be a coincidence that I kept showing up within a week of that guy leaving.
I assume that’s who you’re asking about, but I’d never heard of the man or seen him before in my life.
Officer Gray didn’t like that answer, so I was held for a week in a dark room without food, given very little water, and questioned about what I knew of Dominion Atrix Group, which was absolutely nothing. ”
“It’s no wonder you weren’t forthcoming with me when I asked you questions at the diner,” I say.
“My tone was nearly as accusatory for the same reasons as Officer Gray’s because I’d seen you at Saguaro and Carlsbad Caverns.
And while I was at Mesa Verde, my path didn’t cross with yours.
Were you at Yellowstone two years ago, or North Cascades last October? ”
“I was, but I had to hide my face. It’s hard to track someone when you know the CIA is watching you and waiting to pin another abduction on an innocent person. Eva found me sitting at a diner, head in my hands and all hope lost.”
Owen continues his line of questioning. “Did Eva Vidal tell you she is also Maarika Kivem?e, a woman who is wanted by the CIA for the murder of Estonian diplomat Andrus Saaren?lv?”
Kenneth nods once. “She did, but Eva didn’t do what the CIA is accusing her of.”
Owen snorts. “So she didn’t kill Andrus Saaren?lv? It was only her prints and DNA that were found at the crime scene.”
“Dominion framed her because she refused to kill him. Do you know what Dominion does to those girls? What they’re doing to my daughter while we sit here and play games?”
Roger looks up from his phone, which has been recording this entire conversation. “Why don’t you tell us?”
Kenneth looks at me. “According to Eva, Dominion spends years filling their victims with propaganda, photoshopped pictures of their families laughing and carrying on with life only days after they were abducted, and so many lies that they can no longer discern the truth. They’re isolated from human interaction, spoken to through speakers, and pumped with psychotomimetic drugs so they’ll be more receptive to those suggestions.
Those like Eva, who believed in God, were told that the Lord abandoned them.
If they were under the influence of the drugs, that voice would tell them that they’re not worthy.
They were lab rats, Daisy. It took nearly three and a half years before Eva broke. ”
“What happened next?” Owen asks.
“When Eva begged to die, there was a raid on the facility where she was being held. She was rescued by this ‘Dominion Group’ and given two choices: return to her family, a family she believed never loved her and had forgotten about her, or be a part of something greater. To help change the world. To have a purpose.”
My stomach turns when Kenneth shares what he knows of Eva’s story. “Are you telling us that the same group who brainwashed her is the same group that came riding in on a white horse? That’s despicable, and to think she chose to work for them.”
“Like I said, Eva was their first success, and there were more after. Eva was given a handler who took care of her and groomed her for years to be the perfect woman for Andrus Saaren?lv because he had the drive and ambition to become someone of prominence in Estonia. She became his mistress; they shared secrets, and she whispered in his ear ‘suggestions’ that would ultimately lead him to a position of power.”
I excuse myself to pour Kenneth a glass of water, using the time to collect myself.
Eva’s story could have been mine. I’ve always thanked God for keeping me alive, but I don’t know if I ever thanked Him for how He did it.
Spending three weeks in the wilderness and even praying for death doesn’t seem like something to be thankful for.
But the entire time, I never stopped believing that I was loved.
It was my family that kept me going until I could no longer do so.
The hardship I endured changed my life, but it also strengthened me physically, mentally, and spiritually because I knew I wasn’t alone.
Those girls spent years being conditioned into believing they had nothing to live for.
It’s sick and twisted, Dominion playing the “white knight,” rescuing them from the pits of Hell and giving those girls a false sense of security.
I go back into the room and hand the glass to Kenneth, who gulps it down and asks for more. I do as he asks and refill the glass. When I return the second time, I feel more composed. “If Eva didn’t kill Andrus Saaren?lv, then who did?”
“Eva was more than Andrus’ mistress. She loved Andrus with all her heart and had helped him start the Renewal Front political party, per Dominion’s instructions.
It was supposed to be a cog that upset the balance in Estonia, to be the tiebreaker like the role our Independent Party plays.
Instead, Andrus was amassing power on an unprecedented scale.
Andrus was a good man who had the love of Eva and the people. ”
None of us need to say it out loud, but Owen does anyway.
“Let me get this straight. Dominion killed Andrus and pinned it on Eva since she was no longer compliant. They’ve got the CIA and Interpol looking for her, knowing that if she ever surfaces, she’d end up rotting in a prison cell in some foreign country without so much as a trial. ”
“That is correct,” Kenneth says. “I only have Eva’s side of the story, but I believe her.”
“We have to find her,” I say. “She’s already a prisoner in her own life, one she hasn’t been able to escape from. Let’s do what we can so that she doesn’t live in another.”
Roger hangs his head, then turns so our eyes lock. “Daisy, you’re going to have to make a choice. We can find Eva, or we can save the next girl. Which is it?”