Page 48 of Deliverance

“Which we’ve already been doing,” Liam said, spinning his laptop around. He jerked his head toward Maya. “We matched the profile to eleven names. And I think you’re going to be very interested in who’s on the list.”

CHAPTER 20

MARCUS

Evelyn sat up straighter, her sharp hazel eyes narrowed on Liam. I had noticed her eyes first, back when she was still just my assistant, and I was still pretending that’s all she was.

“Who’s on the list?” Adrian asked.

Adrian had a mind that worked like a blade, clean and precise with a tactical edge that made him successful in the military. SDS had definitely been a step down for him after his years of running special ops, and I worried he would get bored working with us. He had never complained, but he seemed settled these last few months in a way he hadn’t prior. Maybe that was due to having Evelyn close—she had that effect on all of us—or maybe he had found the work he really loved.

Liam started listing off names. “Victor Hale, regional logistics and freight company owner. Some of his freight liners pass through the rail yard. Conrad Mess, a retired federal judge with lots of political connections in all the areas where Kingfisher has been active. Elliott Beaumont, a wealth management firm partner who made his wealth through unknown, possibly questionable means. Raymond Wick, a private security contractor who’s protected some pretty bad guysin the past. He could be using his security connections to act as the middlemen.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Alexander said. “I’m not saying it couldn’t be him, but he’s not at the top of my list. He doesn’t have the…acumen to run an empire like this.”

“Is that a fancy way of calling him dumb?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

I had met the man before and agreed with Alexander’s assessment. So far, none of these people stuck out as a match. Victor Hale could be interesting, especially with his connection to the rail yard, but I had a feeling that wasn’t who Liam was talking about.

“The next few, I’m not sure about, but they do fit eighty percent of the profile, so I included them,” Liam said. “Thomas Aldridge, a commercial property developer. Stephen Voss, a regional hospital network administrator. He has hospitals in all the areas Kingfisher operates. Marcus Webb, a city council member and urban development advocate. He has family in all those areas and fits the rest of the profile weakly at best, but the algorithm flagged him. Graham Sutton, a university board member and private equity investor.”

Liam stopped and blew out a breath. “The next two are interesting. Daniel Hargrove is a nightclub and hospitality group owner. It’s possible that’s how he’s sourcing the girls. Patrick Callahan is an import/export business owner. He has a vast network of logistics, which would make it easy to move girls.”

“That’s ten,” Evelyn said. “Who’s number eleven?”

Liam looked at Izzy before responding. “Nathaniel Drake, real estate developer and philanthropist.”

Nathaniel Drake? Why would he give us access to the cameras if he was the Kingfisher? Unless that was to throw us off.

Evelyn tapped her fingers on the table, staring out the window.

“I doubt it would be Drake,” Alexander said. “He gave us access to the cameras at the rail yard.”

“The cameras that glitched,” I pointed out. They went down on the one night we needed them. We had been flying blind and without an extra pair of eyes because of it. What if Evelyn had been hurt? Or any of my brothers?

“Yeah, but that was a system-wide glitch,” Alexander said, but I knew him. He didn’t look convinced.

Adrian inclined his head. “Of that list, Victor Hale, Conrad Mess, and Patrick Callahan stick out to me the most.”

“Conrad Mess would have pull and connections at the federal agencies as well,” Dominic agreed.

Conversation moved onto the other names, but Evelyn didn’t participate. She frowned down at the table, her eyes moving across it like she was mentally mapping something.

I leaned over and murmured. “Penny for your thoughts?”

She looked up at me, frowning. “I don’t know yet. Just a feeling.”

“Trust your gut,” I murmured. “It’s always been right.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Liam, can you pull up the rail yard footage?”

Her commanding voice cut through the chatter at the table, and conversation stopped. Liam nodded. He pulled another laptop out of his backpack and fired it up, connecting to the rail yard footage within seconds. Maya and Izzy didn’t say a word, their trust in Evelyn absolute.

Chairs scraped on the floor as everyone gathered closer so they could see the screen.

“Go back to four days before we found the car full of girls at the rail yard,” Evelyn instructed. Liam typed, and the screenchanged. Four views of the cameras filled four boxes on the screen. “Now speed it up.”

Evelyn leaned forward, her chin resting on her fisted hands as she stared at the screen.