Page 115 of Hours to Kill
“But why?” Mack asked. “His deal is only good if we find the girls.”
“Yeah, but this plan gives him a few days of freedom, plus the food he wants, and for that, he might lie to us.”
Mack frowned. “You could be right.”
Zamora suddenly shot forward and squinted at the screen. “Different colored hair and skinnier, but I think this is one of your girls.”
Mack, Sean, Kiley, and Cam ran to the computer, but Addy hung back to let them get a look at the screen first. Addy set down her mug and stepped over to the group. She caught sight of the image on the screen and was fairly certain it was Becky Vaughn looking at them with lifeless eyes ringed with heavy makeup.
“It’s Becky.” Mack looked over his shoulder at his team. “Right? It’s really her.”
“Yes.” Kiley gulped in a breath. “She’s alive.”
“Was, anyway,” Zamora said without any emotion, as if they were talking about a possession and not a person. “My guy seen her two weeks ago.”
“Where?” Mack demanded.
Zamora raised a bushy eyebrow. “Now, getting that information is gonna cost us. He wants ten grand before he coughs up the location.”
“Done,” Sean said, his usually even tone deep with angst. “Tell me how to get it to him, and he’ll have it within the hour.”
“Well, shoot. You guys know how to roll.” Zamora started typing in a private browser window, where he and his source exchanged comments.
“Bitcoin.” Zamora tapped his screen. “Here’re the directions.”
Sean leaned forward. “What about the other girls?”
Zamora shrugged, looking indifferent. Not surprising for a man who willingly trafficked girls. “He didn’t know nothin’ about them, but for this kind of coin you better believe he’ll do his best to find ’em.”
“Tell him we’ll double the amount for each girl,” Sean said.
Addy almost gasped at the easy exchange of large sums of money, but then this team had been looking for the girls for some time, and she would probably do the same thing if she had budgetary freedom like they had. Or if she didn’t, she might even pay the money herself.
Zamora typed in the information about the added incentive. A message filled with emojis and exclamation marks came back. The guy would do his best to find the other girls.
“Move.” Kiley jabbed Zamora. She was even less thrilled that this guy was out of jail than Addy was. “Let me get the bitcoin transaction going so we can rescue Becky ASAP and put you back where you belong.”
Zamora glared at her. “You might want to be nicer if you want to actually see these girls.”
She gritted her teeth. “Please get up.”
“That’s more like it.” He sneered at her and stood.
Addy wanted to wipe that look off his face, but she shoved her hands into her jean pockets instead.
Kiley slid into place. Cam went back to the sofa, setting his laptop on his legs. Addy grabbed her tea and returned to her club chair. Mack settled in the chair nearby, with Bear dropping to the floor between them, his ears perked, eyes closed.
Sean sat on the sofa and looked at Cam. “I’ve never known you to take paperwork so seriously.”
Cam looked up. “You guys should all know. I finally did it. I put my application in for agent a few months ago, and the process is moving along. It’s looking good.”
“That’s great news,” Addy declared.
“Yeah, for you maybe,” Mack grumbled. “But the team is never gonna be the same.”
“Congrats, man.” Kiley grinned at Cam. “I’m gonna miss you, but it’s what you’ve wanted for so long that I can say I’m happy.”
Cam lowered his computer screen. “Maybe I can stay on the team.”
