Chapter 18 #2
“Yeah, I stumbled upon something that I couldn’t unsee when I was on a job in Peru.
” She closed her eyes, remembering the moment she walked onto that man’s compound and had heard the cries.
Pitiful, heartbreaking cries. “Animals,” she said, nearly under her breath.
“I was there to recover artifacts that belonged to the people of Syria. And I discovered the guy who’d purchased them was a wildlife trafficker.
He smuggled animals. And seeing all those beautiful animals, some on the verge of extinction, on his property as he prepared to sell and transfer them across the ocean—I’ve never been able to erase the image from my mind.
I felt so powerless. I couldn’t save them. ”
Chris’s eyes were closed now, most likely absorbing what she’d just revealed. He may not have said it out loud, but Rory instinctively knew that Chris considered the life of an animal sacred. He would understand the horror and pain she’d experienced that night three years ago.
“Wildlife smuggling is one of the most profitable forms of transnational organized crime in the world. Ten to twenty-five billion a year in profits. The highly coveted trade routes alone are worth a fortune,” Roman threw out a fact she knew well.
“Risk is low. Profit margins are high. Little chance of getting caught. And going after these smugglers, well, the attempts are underfunded, and many smugglers end up with a fine and a slap on the wrist.”
“And yet, these people are destroying biodiversity. Essentially ruining the balance of the planet. And so many animals die before ever making it to their destination.” Rory’s voice trembled, and her vision blurred with unshed tears. “Some are killed long before the journey and used for parts.”
“The snakes at Santiago’s home,” Chris began, “he was going to smuggle them out of the country?”
Rory nodded.
“Are you telling us you’ve been hunting wildlife smugglers for the last three years?” Chris stared at Rory, brows lifting.
“Someone has to do it. There’s a lot of money and resources out there to go against the other types of smugglers, but animals .
. . the planet . . .” she explained, choking up a little.
“I once heard someone say we can’t fight twenty-first-century crimes with twentieth-century tools.
So, I came up with my own plan to hunt traffickers—see how they liked being the prey instead of the predator.
” Chills continued to coat her skin, and she eased her body so close to the flames she nearly burned herself.
Harper walked around the fire to get closer to her, drawing Rory’s attention. “What exactly do you do? How do you find them?”
“I took the methods I learned to hunt treasure and applied them to hunting smugglers. A lot of research is involved. I sneak onto their property one or two times, depending on the situation, to get what I need. I’m gone before they know I’m there.
Afterward, I give the evidence to an agency or group who can take them down. ”
Chris had his back to her now, his hands once again situated on the nape of his neck.
Rory peeked at Roman, who remained unchanged. His back against the tree. Arms still crossed.
“I’ve worked with only a handful of people in the last several years, and I did my best to protect my identity. The work I did was risky. And I was okay with the risks I was taking but didn’t want my choices falling back onto my family. But early on, I discovered someone known as The Italian.”
“The Italian?” Roman pushed away from the tree, and Chris spun around.
“You were hunting him?” Harper asked, eyes wide with shock.
“Yeah, you’re familiar, then?” Rory shivered at the shocked looks on their faces.
“No one has been able to confirm his real identity,” Chris finally spoke. “A legend in the world of smuggling. Basically, an overlord of illegal trade routes.”
Roman stroked his jaw as he looked to the ground, the first real reaction Rory had seen from him since she began opening up. Now they knew the real danger of being around her.
“When I first started, I stumbled upon a woman targeting the same smuggler as me in Cartagena. She also saved my life.” Rory lifted the hem of her shirt to show the scar from her knife wound, and Chris briefly squeezed his eyes closed, his jaw locking tight.
She waited for Chris’s gaze to find hers again before she continued, “Jolie and I formed a partnership and quickly discovered one person was connected to dozens upon dozens of smugglers and trade routes. Smugglers on the Dark Web referred to him as The Italian. We had a list of twenty-five targets to start with.”
“You went after all twenty-five names?” Chris asked, eyes wide with surprise.
“I only managed to get to fifteen names from the list in the last three years, plus another smuggler connected to The Italian I found more recently.”
“Fifteen?” Chris’s mouth rounded in continued shock. “I’m out of words to express my awe.”
If only she had gotten to them all. “It wasn’t easy, especially after Jolie died six months into our collaboration.
Well, technically, she disappeared, but I’m certain The Italian had Jolie killed.
” Rory’s stomach knotted, anger hurtling through her at the loss.
So much of Rory’s mission was owed to Jolie.
Chris gave her a reassuring nod, which helped her find the strength to get through this conversation. To relive past pains. The wins and losses.
“I had to continue with the mission, though. No way could I stop. There were so many names. I did my best to dismantle and disrupt The Italian’s trade routes by going through the list of smugglers I believed were all tied to him.
But I always knew The Italian himself needed to be taken down to achieve any kind of lasting change.
Cut the head off the snake, figuratively speaking. ”
“Santiago,” Harper whispered. “Did The Italian orchestrate the ambush of the CIA’s transport? If so, why? To rescue Santiago or to get rid of him before he could talk?”
“But the guys who took Santiago spoke French.” Roman seemed to be reminding Harper of intel they already knew. “I mean, that doesn’t rule out that the men who took Santiago don’t work for The Italian, though.”
“Santiago has ties to The Italian,” Rory said a second later.
“You probably knew Santiago as a human trafficker, but he dealt with animals as well. Snakes. Macaws. But it was elephants that led me to him in the first place. Ivory is often sold to fund armed groups in Africa, like the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The price they can demand for tusks once they’re outside African markets is exorbitant.
Santiago sold the tusks in Latin America and the U.S.
, but he was using The Italian’s Atlantic Ocean network to transport them to El Salvador. ”
“I read a story about this very thing,” Chris spoke up. “National Geographic hid GPS trackers in the tusks to follow the smuggling supply chain.”
“I applied similar tactics to identify the starting and ending points of various trade routes, and I used that information as evidence to help take the smugglers down. Often when I broke into someone’s compound for the first time, it was to plant a tracking device.
” A dull, achy pain struck her as she thought about the fight she’d given up.
“So, after you breached Santiago’s compound, what happened?” Harper asked, her voice soft.
“I was played by someone. I fell for their bait. I walked right into his trap in France.”
“France?” Chris’s brows drew inward as if he were considering a possible connection between the French-speaking men who’d freed Santiago and whoever had lured her into a trap.
“The man bested me,” Rory went on, not sure what to think about why Carter Dominick would ever free Santiago.
“I was led to believe he used one of The Italian’s networks, so I was there to find evidence, but I wound up tasered and tied up in a room.
” She thought back to that night, lying on the ground by the pool, completely incapacitated.
Looking up at the night sky, thinking This is it, I’m gonna die tonight, and then the image of a man with a stunning smile appeared in her mind.
Chris Hunter. And here he was now like they’d come full circle. It was all so unbelievable.
Chris’s anger flared up again. “Tasered?”
“He’s the reason I gave up my mission. In no uncertain terms, he pointed out I was putting my family in grave danger. He said if he was able to find and catch me, it was only a matter of time before The Italian would, too.”
“What’d he want?” Chris stepped forward, placing a hand under her chin, directing her eyes to meet his.
“He wanted me to help him. Said he’d let me go if I agreed. And as much as it pained me, I had no choice. But honestly, after three years, my time was probably running out. It was bound to happen. I can’t imagine the consequences if someone else had caught me.”
“That’s why you had no choice but to settle down.” Chris shifted out of her reach, a solemn look on his face. “So, who is this guy, and what did he want with you?”
“Carter Dominick.” Rory let go of a deep breath. “He wanted my help finding the man responsible for killing his wife.”