Chapter 42

Since I was asked about writing more after this I will answer :) This is actually the third novel I've written but I am hoping for it to be the first book in my Ashley Park's series. This book is tentatively entitled Embrace No Evil - my second book will hopefully be Repay No Evil (this one I have written but need to re-write to include Ashley's character). I may continue this blog with that book after that since I will obviously finish this novel before the year is out.

I also wanted to note that my first article came out in the most recent issues of SUPERTWINS magazine :) Yea! It's in the middle on pages 34/35 for those of you who receive that magazine and my title is listed on the front cover which is pretty cool. It's not the article I thought they were using this time but it's still pretty cool!

Now for another chapter:

Wednesday morning dawned with an overcast and gloomy day. It had been steadily drizzling since the sun had come up. The air was more humid then usual but it was surprisingly cool for October dipping into the lower 80’s. Nate inhaled the fresh air deeply then sipped his coffee. He had slept for three hours in the office couch. It was a mutual couch so four agents had taken turns getting rest.
After his “interview” with Michael, Nate had made his way out to the area where Ashley’s car was recovered. The Toyota Camry was found with a large dent in its front bumper and the air bag had been deployed. There was no sign of Ashley or Kyle but the crime technicians had found blood in the back and front seats but not enough to know if Ashley or Kyle were badly hurt. The good news was that they hadn’t found any bodies and it was likely that both Ashley and Kyle were still alive. Nate could only pray that was still the case.
Nate leaned against the exterior wall of the FBI Field Office in Tampa and let the slight breeze from the rain and ocean blow through his hair. He would give anything to be on the beach today instead of at work tracking down a kidnapper and murderer. From the field office Nate could see only parking lots, buildings and flat land full of trees but he knew just beyond that was the Gulf of Mexico and its beautiful beaches. Nate stepped out into the parking lot and let the rain wake him up while he imagined himself on those beaches, swimming some morning laps in the ocean.
But it wasn’t long before his mind was right back to work. No matter how hard he tried he wouldn’t get away from it until his job was done.
The pieces of this case were not fitting together. Why would fathers sell their daughters? To who? How would that be initiated? How did Jimmy Livingston fit into the picture? The man had threatened Ashley multiple times. Was it him who kidnapped Ashley and Kyle? Nate doubted it. He was sure her disappearance had something to do with the case especially given the similar way she was taken.
An hour after Nate’s talk with Michael, Michael’s lawyer arrived. Mr. John T. Goldberg III made his presence known from the moment he walked into the field office. The man stood a few inches taller then Nate’s six feet with broader shoulders and a rounder belly. His head was devoid of most of his hair but what little was there was combed over to cover his balding forehead. He wore black glasses over his black eyes. Nate was sure it was to cover his black soul.
On advice from his lawyer Michael had spoken no more. The only additional question he would answer was to tell Nate that he had no idea who Jimmy Livingston was and no idea how he was connected.
And that’s when Nate knew Michael was lying.
Surely Ashley would have told him about Jimmy especially after all the threats. Did Michael not think that Nate and Ashley talked? Why would he lie? What would he gain? Did he think Nate would not notice his downcast eyes? His inability to make eye contact?
“Nate, we’ve got something.” Nate looked to the building’s door and saw Eric stepping through it, his dark complexion blending in with the day. His bald head having no sunlight to reflect.
“What is it?”
“You’re going to want to see this.”
Nate jogged out of the rain and into the building, the cold air conditioning blasting his face.
“I think we may have something,” Eric said as he pushed the elevator button. Eric and Nate stepped on when the doors opened and rode the elevator to the third floor. Making his way through other agents desks Nate reached a crowd that had gathered around Eric’s desk.
“What are they looking at?”
“You have to see this,” Eric said.
Nate found a place next to Annabeth and looked at Eric’s screen. Once again he was seeing Kayla in green vision but wait, there was something else. Someone else. As he looked closer he recognized Ashley.
“What is she doing?”
“She’s signing something. Not that I know what it is,” Eric said.
Nate repeated the waving motion. “Water. I think she’s talking about water. Maybe they’re being held near the water.”
“That’s not a lot. This is Tampa, everyone is near the water,” Annabeth said.
“Wait, who is that?” Eric pointed to the screen as another form crawled over next to Ashley.
“Looks like Julia.” Nate leaned closer in to the screen. While they could make the girls out on the screen the green color and the darkness did not make their features easy to see. “Yes, it is Julia.” Nate stood back up so those around him could also see three of their five missing persons sitting side-by-side.
“She’s signing too,” Eric said. “Any idea what she’s saying?”
“She’s spelling. I don’t know my sign language alphabet.”
“I do,” a female agent stepped forward and looked at the screen. Nate recognized Vivian Nash as an agent from White Collar Crimes. It wasn’t surprising to see agent’s out of their given fields in a case as large as this one.
“She’s spelling ‘port’,” Vivian paused. “That’s boat and water.”
“But which port?” Eric asked.
“We have to start with the Port of Tampa. They ship internationally and are big enough to hold cruise ships. There’s no reason that they would hold them anywhere else,” Nate said. “We’ll need warrants before we go.”
“But where do we start?” Eric asked. “I doubt Michael has any ties to the Tampa port. This is more organized then that. This isn’t one man. This has to be a group of traffickers moving the girls. We have no idea who would even be doing this.”
“I agree,” Annabeth said.
“Michael’s our first real lead. Did we get anything from his house?” Nate directed the question to the agents standing around. While the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department detectives would have served the warrant and searched the grounds, one of Nate’s agents was to be present.
“I was there while you were sleeping,” Eric flashed Nate a large, white smile. “Nothing yet. We’ve come up empty but we did take his computer. If he’s hiding anything we should find it there.”
“But how long will that take?” Nate said.
“We have a rush on it,” Eric said.
“We have a rush on everything. Hasn’t gotten us very far.”
“Don’t rush to judgment,” a female voice came from the elevator. Nate looked up to see Leslie Rawlings stepping out of the elevator holding up a manila folder. “I may have something you want.”
“The location of a shipping container where three missing people are being held?”
A questioning look crossed Leslie’s face. Nate waved his hand for her to ignore his question and get on with what she came there for. “I have the DNA results from Jessica Rappaport.”
“You know who the father of the baby is?” Nate asked.
“After we found out she was pregnant we took DNA from Jessica, the fetus as well as samples from all males in Jessica’s life prior to her abduction.”
“You found a match?”
“I have a match.”
“Well, spit it out,” Annabeth said from behind Nate.
“It’s the stepfather. Well, I guess the father now but only by adoption.”
Nate found his notes on his desk and flipped back to the interview. “David Rappaport?”
“That’s him.”
“I knew that guy was a creep when I met him. He didn’t care at all that his daughter was dead. Claimed she’d been sleeping around,” Nate said.
“More like he was raping her,” Leslie said. “No doubt he’s the father.”
“Maybe that was the secret,” Nate said.
“What was?” Leslie asked.
“Before Michael’s attorney came in Michael said that he was being blackmailed. That somebody had something on him that was enough for him to be willing to sell his daughter,” Nate said.
“And you think the same people knew that Jessica was pregnant by her father and blackmailed him with it?” Eric finished Nate’s thought.
“Possibly but that doesn’t explain why she ended up dead. We found her almost discarded with no sign of recent rape. Maybe they had something more on David Rappaport.”
“Or maybe he just wanted money and didn’t care who he hurt,” Leslie said.
“Now you’re thinking like an agent,” Nate smiled at Leslie and watched a pink color creep into her cheeks. Nate turned from Leslie to Eric and the other agents. “We need to look at all the father’s a little closer. What did they have to gain from losing their daughters? I know most of them had a rocky marital relationship but how rocky? I want forensic accountants going through their finances line by line. I will contact Detective Williams to pick up Mr. Rappaport. Maybe our interview with him will go better then with Michael. Come on people. These girls are still alive we have to find them.”
Six agents stepped away in six different directions each knowing what was required of them and setting out to do it. But all Nate could think about was Kyle Fleming and Lizzie Andrews. There had been no sign that either of them was still alive.