Chapter 21
After Oliver hung up the phone, for a moment, he was unaware that all the Keepers in the room were staring at him.
“Bro!”
He jerked his head around to see Leo’s gaze on him, concern on his face.
“What the fuck is going on?” Leo asked.
He glanced over to Carson and said, “I have a situation, but I’m not sure what to do.”
“Bring us up to speed,” Carson ordered.
Everyone in the room quickly gathered at the table except for Abbie, Jeb, and his girlfriend, Skylar, who stayed at their computer stations with their attention riveted on him. After meeting with the boys last week, he’d already expressed concern over Kofi and Ramzi to the Keepers. Now, he added, “From what one of the girls at the center said, someone is exploiting children to handle their illegal activities. She didn’t know what was happening but had heard Kofi’s name mentioned along with the name Fagin.”
“Fuck,” a number of the Keepers said.
He looked at Carson and didn’t hesitate to ask, “Is there a way for me to see if I can find out from the police if they have any information on this real-life Fagin?”
Carson only took a moment to get his FBI friend on a video call. “Landon, meet our newest Keeper, Oliver Parker. Oliver, this is Landon Sommers, our FBI liaison.”
“Good to meet you,” Landon said. “Parker, huh? Don’t tell me you”re related to Leo?”
Nodding, Oliver said, “I’m Leo’s much younger, much smarter, and much better-looking brother.”
Natalie barked out a laugh as Leo shook his head.
Putting the humor behind, Oliver jumped in to tell Landon briefly about Charity, the youth homeless center, Kofi and Ramzi, and what they’d heard from the girl.
Landon listened, nodding as Oliver spoke, then said, “It’s not as uncommon as you might think for an adult to use young people, even little kids, to run scams and steal. Usually, those situations are often families who use other family members. Obviously, gangs operating in the area would be doing the same—younger and new gang members would be used for the legwork and initiations involving robberies. But for someone to take in kids and train them to scam and steal takes more coordination and a lot of power to pull off. And usually a huge threat to hold over the kids’ heads to keep them from leaving or talking. If someone even hints that they want to stop working for the leader, chances are they would be killed, drugged and sold off, or abandoned somewhere.”
“Shit,” Oliver breathed, his thoughts going to Kofi and Ramzi. “Kofi indicated that he wanted Ramzi to stay at the shelter, and Ramzi was adamant that it would go bad for Kofi if he didn’t stay with his older brother.”
“So they’re probably both involved with the leader,” Landon surmised.
Jeb called out from his computer screen. “I have several police reports dealing with gangs of younger kids. Three of them are with known gangs out of San Francisco. There’s a report from two days ago of the arrest of a man and woman running a prostitution ring with underage girls based out of San Jose.” He turned and looked over his shoulder toward Oliver. “There’s nothing else showing up with the local police.”
“Nothing on the radar of the FBI?” Carson asked Landon.
“The only thing that’s down near the youth center is a recent case an agent friend of mine is working on. He’s looking into bank scams that might be linked to ATMs, but that seems too advanced for someone using kids. I hate to say it, but Kofi and Ramzi seem more likely to be involved in a gang. There are over forty known gangs operating out of San Francisco, many extending to San Jose and lower. But I’ll look for more information closer to where the center is located.”
As Landon signed off from the video conference, Oliver looked at the others, heaving a sigh. “If Kofi is trying to get away from whoever has control over him, what is he facing?”
“Chances are they’ll use Ramzi to keep Kofi under control. He would have done better if he could have gotten Ramzi to stay at the center,” Natalie surmised.
Oliver nodded slowly, then asked, “And the center? Charity is desperate to get the boys to stay there. Would they then be in danger if this person wanted to get their hands back on Ramzi? Or also Kofi, if he comes there, too?”
The silence that followed made his gut clench in a way it hadn’t since one of his last missions where they were drawing fire and one of his Ranger teammates was caught in a building. In that instance, the rest of the team knew exactly what maneuvers to take to get him out and complete the mission successfully. But with Charity and the center? He had no fucking idea how to make that happen against an unknown enemy.
“We’ve got security set up at the center, so the youth and staff should be well protected,” Poole said, then winced as he held Oliver’s gaze. “Of course, during the day when the center is open, anyone could come into the reception area. At night is when it is best protected.”
“With the cameras set up inside as well as on the outside, including the sidewalk and a street view, we can increase the surveillance,” Jeb said.
Oliver nodded, saying, “True, but unless the boys come to stay there, I think Bright Futures Home will be safe. And if they do come to stay, I’ll see if they’ll talk to me about what is going on.”
“Have her contact us the instant one or both brothers come back to the center,” Carson instructed. “We’ll make sure we keep our eyes on them.”
Oliver nodded, more than appreciative of the backing of the Keepers, but he was already thinking of a way to keep a closer eye on Charity and the center. That was… if she would agree.