Chapter 17
EVELYN
“Okay, let’s get started,” I said when everyone had taken their seats.
Liam and Izzy were on the large screen at the end of the table. They were at one of our safe houses we had converted into a temporary office space while we figured out what to do with HQ. Insurance was dragging their feet, and we had bigger things to worry about right now.
“What the hell happened with the cameras at the rail yard?” Adrian asked. “We were flying blind last night.”
“I want to know as well,” Marcus said. He was sitting next to me, his hand on my thigh. The weight was comforting, grounding, and I interlaced my fingers on top of his. “I thought Drake gave us access to them?”
Alexander typed furiously on his phone. “He did. I messaged him this morning. He said the whole system experienced a glitch last night, and he forgot he gave us access to them. He apologized for the inconvenience.”
“Did you tell him what happened?” Dominic asked.
“I didn’t. I figured it would be better to keep the loop tight on that one.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Liam, is there a way to figure out what the glitch was or where it originated?”
Liam frowned. “Doubtful. The link we have is just to view the cameras. I would need back-end access. I could hack it, but it would take a lot of time.”
“So is it possible that Kingfisher hacked it?” Adrian asked. “Is he why the cameras glitched?”
“It’s possible,” Liam said. “But sometimes systems just go down too. It must have frozen on yesterday’s earlier footage. It’s hard to say without access. I can try hacking it.”
I hesitated. “I would rather you stay focused on our other projects,” I said. “I don’t want to spread you too thin.”
“Sounds good, Boss Lady,” Liam said.
“How are the girls settling in?” I asked Izzy. She had been in contact with Imani and Patty.
“As well as can be expected.” Izzy said. “Of the ten girls, six have families they can return to. The other four either don’t have anyone or are saying it wouldn’t be safe for them to return.”
“What happens to them then?” Marcus asked.
“We help get them set up with new lives,” I said. “New identities if needed and resources to get them on their feet.”
“What if they’re under eighteen?” Adrian asked.
I bit my lip. “This is where it’s a gray area.” While the guys knew we operated in gray areas, knowing about it and witnessing it were two different things. Especially for Marcus and Dominic.
Marcus squeezed my leg softly. “We’re all in,” he reassured me.
Dominic nodded. “Same. No judgement here.”
I looked at Izzy, who nodded as well.
“It depends on the situation,” I started.
“If we think the parents will sign over rights voluntarily, then we have them sign them over to a few foster families we have in our network. If they don’t sign them over voluntarily, then we create a fake case file which shows the child is removed from the home and placed with one of our foster families. ”
“Basically, the end result is the same,” Izzy said. “But how we get there varies by situation. For one of the girls, Milena, she said her family sold her to the traffickers.”
“They fucking what?” Sebastian straightened in his chair. His jaw was tight, the easy warmth that usually lived in his expression completely gone.
“Unfortunately, it’s more common than you think,” I admitted. I had heard this story before, in different forms, and it never got easier. The day it got easy was the day I needed to stop.
“Does anything happen to the families who do that?” Alexander asked. His expression hadn’t changed, but his hands had gone very still on the table, which I had learned was worse than if he had reacted outwardly.
“Not usually,” I said. “Unless the authorities are involved, which is rare in our cases, nothing happens. I wish we had the resources to go after them, but we don’t, and I won’t risk the children’s safety over seeking revenge.”
I had to prioritize the Archers’ limited resources, and destroying the lives of the families who sold their children, as satisfying as that would be, unfortunately wasn’t a priority over ensuring the children’s safety and wellbeing.
The table was quiet in a way that made the back of my neck prickle.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Alexander said, but his tone said differently. All of them had weird expressions on their faces.
“You’re all looking at me weird.”
“We’re admiring you,” Sebastian said, completely unabashed. “Let us admire you.”
“Please don’t.” I was no hero. Just a broken girl trying to absolve myself of the guilt and shame I felt from my past.
“The work you’ve done…” Adrian said, quieter than the others. “The people you’ve helped… It’s…” He shook his head. “It’s remarkable, Evelyn.”
I opened my mouth to redirect the conversation back to something useful, but Izzy beat me to it, which was somehow worse.
“None of it would exist without her,” Izzy said, looking at the guys rather than me. “I want you to know that. Every person we’ve helped, every kid we’ve gotten out…that’s her. She built this from nothing.”
“Izzy.” My voice came out sharper than I intended. It wasn’t just me. It was a team effort.
She shrugged. “I’m just telling them the truth.”
“We can debrief on the operation, or we can do this,” I said, gesturing vaguely at whatever this was. “We can’t do both.”
Marcus’s mouth curved. “We can do both.”
I looked at the ceiling briefly, my cheeks burning. “Can we please just get back to work?”
“Don’t worry, we have a lifetime to teach you how to accept a compliment,” Sebastian said cheerfully.
“Anyway…” I stressed. “Moving onto the warehouse. What did Jasper and their team find after we left?”
“Nothing obviously incriminating for Kingfisher,” Izzy said. “Definitely where the girls originated, and there’s probably a ton of DNA evidence, but we don’t have a way to process that.”
“Any paperwork in the office?” Marcus asked.
Izzy shook her head. “No, nothing. I doubt they have a paper trail. It’ll all be digital.”
Liam hummed. “I don’t know. Digital logs can be hacked. I would bet there’s a paper trail back up somewhere. Probably with Kingfisher himself.”
I inclined my head as I thought about it. Liam was right. Kingfisher was smart. Digital trails could be traced and hacked. But still, one paper log for an entire operation didn’t make sense either.
“What about the numbers we found etched on the wall?” Adrian asked. “And that symbol? Anything with that?”
Liam shook his head. “Nothing so far. Whoever did it was a bit shaky as the numbers are jagged and squiggly.”
“It was important enough that whoever they are risked being discovered doing it, though,” I pointed out.
Izzy nodded. “Agreed. I had Imani ask the girls we rescued last night if any of them did it or knew what the numbers meant, and none of them had any idea. They weren’t there long, apparently, only a couple of hours.”
“We’ll keep working on it.” Liam said. “I’m also tracking where the girls were taken from and how they got to the warehouse. It’ll just take some time.”
I bit my lip. The warehouse was a dead end unless we could process some of that DNA. “What do you think about calling in an anonymous tip to Detective Patel and letting the police department process the warehouse?” I asked the table.
Izzy’s eyebrows shot up. “You want to bring in outside help?”
“We don’t have to—”
“No, I think it’s a good idea. I was just surprised you suggested asking for help,” she teased.
I rolled my eyes. “I can ask for help.”
Adrian and Marcus snorted simultaneously, but I ignored them. I could ask for help. Sometimes. Maybe. When I really needed it. And unfortunately, unless we bought a DNA lab, we had no way to process all of the physical evidence at the warehouse.
“I’ll call Detective Patel later today,” Izzy said. “I’ll confirm with Jasper that there won’t be anything in the warehouse that traces back to us first.”
We had worn gloves, so I wasn’t too worried, but better to be safe than sorry.
“Where are we at with the profile of Kingfisher?” Alexander asked.
“We’re still sifting through data,” Dominic said. “But I think we’ve got a solid foundation. We’ve found—”
The conference room phone rang. I routed all calls to the other assistants on the other floors, so this had to be important. I clicked the button to answer the call, putting it on speaker.
“Stone Dynamics Security, this is Evelyn.”
“Miss Harper, this is Roy down here in the lobby.”
“Hi Roy,” I greeted. Roy was the older gentleman who worked at the reception desk in the lobby. “Is everything okay?”
“Well, I’ve got two police officers here, and they have an arrest warrant for Dominic Hayes. Something about impersonating a federal agent?”
The room went very still.
Dominic’s jaw tightened for just a second before his expression smoothed out. “It’s fine,” he said, pushing back from the table. “It’s just a misunderstanding. I’ll get it cleared up at the station.”
“I’ll have our lawyer meet you there,” Alexander said, pulling out his phone.
“That’s not necessary—”
“It’s not up for discussion,” Alexander said firmly.
Dominic looked like he wanted to argue but nodded. He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and paused at the door. “I’ll call when it’s sorted.” His eyes found mine for just a moment, then he walked out.
I got up and walked to the windows. A lone police car was parked at the curb. A minute later, Dominic exited the building, flanked by two officers as they escorted him to the car. Something heavy settled on my chest, heavy and still. I couldn’t take a deep breath.
“Okay,” Alexander said, attempting to get us back on track. “Where were we?”
I heard him, but I couldn’t move from the window as I watched the police car pull out of the parking lot. My heart dropped when it turned left and not right.
“Evelyn,” Izzy’s voice was careful. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”
“I know what he said.” The pit in my stomach grew bigger. My gut had never let me down before, and it was screaming at me that something was wrong. I pulled out my phone and texted Detective Patel.
Is there a warrant out for a Dominic Hayes? Impersonating a federal agent?
The response came back in under a minute.
Nothing in the system. Why?
The bottom dropped out of my stomach.
“Liam.” My voice came out steady even though nothing else felt that way. “Track his phone. Now.”
“On it.” Liam said.
I turned back to the room. My guys were staring at me, their faces concerned. They didn’t question me, just waited for my next order.
“He’s not heading towards the precinct.”
Fuck.
“Where is he going?” I asked, already moving towards the door. Chairs scraped against the floor as my guys rose.
“North. Outside the city.” Liam said. “And moving fast.”
“Let’s go.” The words weren’t necessary.
We moved as a group toward the elevator. My phone pinged with a link from Liam showing Dominic’s location. I kept my eyes on the screen as the dot on the map moved farther and farther from where it should have been.
Kingfisher had people everywhere. I knew that. But somehow, I had let myself believe that knowing it was enough protection against it. And now Dominic was paying the price.
The elevator doors opened, and we piled into two SUVs. I slid into the passenger seat, and Adrian took the driver’s seat. Sebastian slid in behind me. We peeled out of the SDS lot, Marcus and Alexander hot on our heels with the other SUV.
I gave Adrian directions as I watched the dot move on the screen. I tried to breathe through the cold, specific fear that had settled in my chest. If something happened to him because he was working with us, with me…
I pressed my fingers against my knee and focused on the dot.
He had to be okay. He had to be, because I wasn’t ready to examine what it meant that the thought of him not being okay felt like this. Like something load-bearing inside of me had been knocked loose.
I had told Adrian I needed time to think, to process the possibility of being with Dominic. But I was done processing. Done telling myself it was complicated or that I already had enough boyfriends or that wanting more was greedy.
When we got him back, I was all in.
Hold on, Dominic. I’m coming.