Chapter 21 The Terrifying Truth #3
Teddy didn’t have the time or the patience for this douche. Everyone in the dining room had stopped eating to watch the drama unfold, so Teddy decided to use their energy.
He peered around the filled room. “Most of you know me. I’m Tank Santini, the GM. I see a lot of loyal customers.”
“We love you, Tank,” shouted one of the customers.
“This is our favorite restaurant,” called out another.
“This man isn’t happy,” Tank said. “I think he should leave. Why don’t you decide?”
“Get him the hell out,” yelled a man from the back of the room.
“Agreed,” said another.
The man glanced around the room, pushed out of the chair. “I’m out.” He snapped his finger at his date. “Let’s go.” He strode toward the door, but the woman remained seated.
“My dinner was delicious.” She pulled out her credit card. “I’d like an espresso and a tiramisu and I’m happy to pay.”
The restaurant erupted in applause.
“We’ll pay for your dinner,” said a customer.
More applause as Teddy scanned the guests. Sydney had emerged from the office and stood like a beacon of light across the room. Her smile radiated from within and he couldn’t help but smile back.
Teddy thanked his patrons for their help, then said, “Espressos for everyone.”
As cheers erupted, he made his way toward Sydney.
“Handled like a bossman,” she said as she stroked his arm. “Love that about you.”
Back in his office, she brought him up to speed on their plan for Wednesday. Between BLACK OPS and ALPHA, they would be ready and equipped to stop the TSM women from boarding that plane.
He launched the additional code to get into Robby’s account, then he completed the server’s schedule for the following week.
Another “BING!” had Sydney scurrying around his desk to peer over his shoulder.
“You smell good,” he murmured before she kissed his cheek.
“Your hacking skills are wicked good,” she said. “You got into Robby’s account.”
“Looks that way.” Teddy clicked on Robby’s account.
A week earlier, ten million had been deposited from the Bank of Karakistan. There was a message attached to the deposit.
Ten now. Twenty when the first package arrives.
“The first package,” Sydney bit out. “Just when I thought I couldn’t hate Robby more, we find out he’s planning to send over more women.”
Teddy snapped a screenshot and emailed it to Greystone and Cooper with a message of his own.
Make it happen.
AT FOUR IN THE MORNING, Wednesday, the team was in position. The past twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind of nonstop activity. Every op in BLACK OPS and ALPHA had been deployed to Dulles, but the top-secret takedown had to be handled with the utmost of discretion.
There could be no interruption of flights coming into or going out of Dulles. As far as every passenger and crew member would know, it was business as usual at that major international airport on the first Wednesday in December.
But for Teddy, it was a mission to stop a sex trafficking ring from kidnapping five hundred women… and he could not fucking wait.
A fleet of busses were ready to drive the women to a nearby hotel.
There, thirty FBI special agents would collect their information.
Because Teddy and his BLACK OPS team expected a full-on assault from the pilots and possibly their crew, they were ready to take them out.
If this was a terror-organized plot, these international criminals would fight to their deaths.
Of that Teddy was certain.
His theory that the private jumbo jet was headed to Karakistan got confirmed when an intelligence officer with NSA found a third flight plan listing Karakistan as their final destination.
A one-way trip to hell.
Airport security had cleared a hangar, allowing Special Forces to usher the waiting women into the makeshift holding room. All BLACK OPS and ALPHA Ops were dressed in full SWAT gear, which only magnified the gravity of the situation.
At 4:37 am, the first group of women were bussed from the charter terminal into the hanger. The biting cold of January had them hugging themselves. Most were dressed in clothing suited for their tropical destination. Their conversations had risen to a frustrating pitch.
“Excuse me,” one of the women said to Sydney. “What’s going on?”
“We’ll explain as soon as you’re all here.” Sydney directed them to the back of the enormous space.
Forty minutes later, all but four of the passengers had arrived.
Let’s do this.
Teddy motioned to the maintenance workers who rolled a platform over to the entrance.
Sydney climbed to the top, Teddy followed. Together, they stood on a twenty-foot-high platform, looking out into a vast sea of 496 angry women. The cacophony of chatter had Teddy shutting down the sound on his comms, just so he could collect his thoughts.
“Take off your helmet,” Teddy said to Sydney.
“Why?”
“We’re about to become the bad guys. It’ll make you more relatable.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
Teddy regarded her. “Yes.”
She removed her helmet, her long, dark hair flowing down her shoulders and back. “Good luck.”
“We got this.”
“They look like they could rip us apart and eat us for breakfast.”
Despite the seriousness, Teddy cracked a smile before flipping on the mic. “Good morning, TSM.” In seconds, a hush fell over the large crowd of women crammed into that building. “My name is Agent Green. This is Agent Turner. We’re with Special Forces.”
“What the hell is going on?” yelled a women mid-center.
“We know you’re an elite group of employees with TSM—The Sovereign Method—run by King A,” Teddy began.
“The organization’s actual name is To Serve Man and King A is grooming women to be sex workers.
He made a fifty-million-dollar business deal to send every woman in the organization to Karakistan to be trafficked. ”
Most of the women started talking to each other, the low-volume hum of high-pitched voices rising to a crescendo in the enclosed space. After several seconds, Teddy whistled loudly.
“Ladies, let us finish explaining,” Teddy boomed through the mic, and the women quieted.
“The flight you’re scheduled to take to Hawaii isn’t going there.
You were being kidnapped to Karakistan, where you’d be turned over to militants in the Haqazzii terror cell, run by leader Muhammad Haqazzii.
You’re the first group of five hundred. Others would follow. ”
Again, he paused so the group could absorb the magnitude of his words.
“There were three flight plans,” Teddy said.
“The first to Hawaii, a second to Dubai, but the real plan has you flying from Dubai to Karakistan in cargo planes. There, you’d lose your identity, be stripped of your passports, and be entered into the terror cell’s sex trafficking ring where you’d be sold or traded. ”
“This is bullshit!” a woman hollered. “You feds need to keep outta our bus’ness, assholes!”
“We’ve discovered humans remains on King A’s property and believe these are the twelve women who filed a lawsuit against TSM alleging sex trafficking.” Teddy’s booming voice filling every crevice in the large building.
And that’s when the group went dead silent.
He flipped off the mic and murmured, “That got their attention.” He flipped it back on, handed it to her.
“Good morning, I’m Agent Turner, Special Forces,” Sydney said. “I know this sounds crazy, but the team has been following this terror cell for a long time. If you check the hotel in Hawaii, where you’re staying, you’ll find it doesn’t exist.”
“I called the number in the TSM app,” yelled a woman in the crowd. “Someone confirmed our reservations.”
“Any calls were intercepted by the terror cell,” Sydney pushed back. “Google the hotel. It’s fake, like everything else at TSM.”
Every woman in the crowd went heads down on their phones. Silence, while they searched for a hotel that wasn’t real. When they peered up at Teddy and Sydney, the horror of their situation filled their faces.
One of the women hoisted another onto her shoulders. The woman towering over everyone was Tara.
“Hey, everyone, I’m Tara. I’m angry as hell, and I can’t stop shaking, but I know they’re telling the truth. Even if I could get on that plane now, I wouldn’t do it.”
“Thank you, Tara,” Sydney said into the mic. “For everyone who flew in from other cities, no worries. We got you. Once you process out with the FBI, the waiting vans will—”
A roaring engine hijacked Teddy’s attention. He turned to see a jet fuel tanker speeding toward them, two hundred yards away.
“Incoming!” Teddy shouted, his deep voice filled with urgency.