Chapter 45

Where was Nate? She had been in this hole for over twenty-four hours. In that time she had eaten a hamburger and a cheeseburger. Apparently their idea of variety was springing for the cheese. Not only did Ashley long for sleep but she longed for her own bed and her own clothes. And above all her own bathroom. The corner behind the door was the best they had and with no toilet paper or way to cover the odor there was no way to get away from their own excrements.
Julia groaned. She had been out all day and Ashley feared the worst as night closed in. Not that she could tell the time for sure but at their last “feeding” the day seemed to be almost gone. There had to be a way out of this place. But so far nothing Ashley had done had worked. She just wasn’t strong enough to fight her way out and they had given up on signing long ago. If anyone was out there they certainly weren’t watching. How could the FBI not have seen them? Of course “port” and “water” were pretty vague even if they were spelled correctly.
Maybe that was it. Maybe she just needed more information to share with Nate and the FBI. But how to get that? The only one who left the container was Julia and then she was blindfolded.
“Miss Ashley?” Julia asked into the darkness.
“Yes, sweetie, I’m here.”
Julia landed in her lap. Well, she probably didn’t land there exactly but without the benefit of her sight Ashley wasn’t able to see her moving towards her so she was started when Julia suddenly laid her head in Ashley’s laps and wrapped her arms around Ashley’s midsection. Ashley eagerly returned the affection.
“I’m scared, Miss Ashley. I don’t want to be here. I want to go home to my daddy.”
“I know, I want to go home too.” Ashley didn’t know what to say. For once the counselor had no words. She couldn’t promise it would be okay, she didn’t know if it actually would be. She could hope and she could pray but God had let lots of other people die so there was no way to know whether they would live or not.
“I can’t go back there. I fought so hard and still they…” Julia paused as though not sure of what to say.
“It’s okay Julia; you don’t have to say it. I already know.” Ashley sat quietly with Julia smoothing the girl’s hair away from her face. Her movements had a calming effect on Julia who quieted down to the point that Ashley was sure she had fallen back asleep.
“Julia, do you see anything when they take you?”
Ashley waited to see if she would answer and was surprised when she did, “No, they blindfold me. I don’t know where I’m going till I get there.”
“Do you go to the same place?”
“No and it’s, um, its different men. Gross men.”
This wasn’t the time or place for Ashley to work through those issues with Julia. If she survived she would need years of therapy and help and now wasn’t the time to start. “Julia, when do they blindfold you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do they do it right when they take you out?”
“No, it’s in their car.”
“Then you can see outside of where we are?”
“Yea, but there’s nothing to see. It’s just ugly metal containers,” Julia said. “Ours is red. Some of the others are green or brown. Does that help?”
“Did you see any writing on our container?”
Julia was quiet before answering. “Yea, I remember big numbers on the outside but I don’t know what they mean.”
“Do you remember any of the numbers?”
“I remember a few it was like 792.1 something but I don’t know what that something is.”
“That’s good. What about words? Are there any words?” Ashley asked.
“I think it said Tate’s. Something like that. Does that mean something? Does that help?”
“It just might, sweetie. Do you think you could sign that for the camera?”
“I’m not very good at numbers,” Julia said.
Ashley couldn’t help but smile at her innocent reply. “Its okay sweetie, all you have to do is make them like you normally would, everyone will understand.” Julia sat up next to Ashley. Not being able to see her Ashley could only assume Julia was signing for the camera. Being unable to sign all Ashley could do was pray and hope that that would be enough.

Everything was pointing to Michael Fleming. Everything including the information they had received from David Rappaport. Yet something didn’t feel right. Somehow all the pieces didn’t fit. Why would Michael risk everything by kidnapping his daughter? Maybe he had already crossed the line with her and needed to cover his tracks. Maybe he didn’t want Gina to leave him. Though having her killed meant she was gone forever.
“Nate, you’re going to want to see this,” SSA Annabeth Porter stuck her head into the door of the conference room where Nate and Eric were staring at the white board once again. Nate sighed and turned away from the board. Hopefully Annabeth’s news would help them.
“What do you have Annabeth?”
“Look, Julia is signing again,” Annabeth said and pointed to Kayla in the video feed.
“What’s she saying?” Nate asked to anyone who had an answer.
“She’s saying ‘shipping container’,” a redhead sitting in front of the monitor said. Nate didn’t recognize her. She must have been the interpreter. “Then she says ‘Tate Shipping’ and the numbers 792.1. Does that mean anything to you?” The redhead turned around and looked at Nate. Her face was covered in freckles and she wore bright blue eye shadow.
Nate just smiled at the redhead and said nothing. Tate Shipping did mean something to him. He remembered it from one of the bank accounts. Nate had yet to determine whether that was a real company or not but if their name was painted on the side of a shipping container they were certainly trying to make someone think they were.
“Eric we need to trace Tate Shipping. Who owns it? Real or fake? Could just be a front for something else.”
“I’m on it,” Eric said. Nate followed him back to his desk and watched Eric work on the computer. Nate was going to have to be savvier when it came to technical things but he had yet to get beyond working his own computer. Some guys turned to computers and some guys turned to guns. Nate was certainly the latter. All his life he wanted to be a police officer. Went to college just for his parents but then it was on to the police academy. He would to have graduated the top of his class but he missed it by one. Eric Walker had graduated ahead of him.
Funny how life worked out. Eric was his partner when Nate walked the beat. They picked up drug dealers together. A few murderers. Lots of gang members. After three years together Eric moved on to the FBI while Nate went on to be a detective. After six years Eric talked Nate into applying for the FBI. Two years later they were assigned as partners once again. Nate was grateful. Good partners were like good spouses. They were very important.
“I may have found something,” Eric said after an hour of internet searching. Nate was on his second cup of coffee and he was almost through that.
“Please tell me its something good.” Nate threw his empty coffee cup in the trash below his desk. He rolled his desk chair over to sit next to Eric.
“Okay, Tate Shipping International is not exactly a real company.”
“No surprise there.”
“Well, it exists but it’s more a front to launder money through.” Eric pointed to his computer screen. Nate looked at where he was pointing but the words made no sense. “Okay, here is Tate Shipping International. Here is Gorrin International.” He pulled up another website that looked identical to the first.
“They’re the same.”
“Yes, and this is the same.” Eric pulled up a website for JK Associates.
“What does that mean?”
“Means none of these companies are real. They were probably just used to move money through to the fathers so that no one, like us, would put two and two together.”
“Okay, but how does that help us?”
“Here,” Eric flipped from site to site pointing at a telephone number on each one. They were all the same except for the very last digit which was probably the way the operator told them apart. “We call that number I bet we can find something out.”
Nate nodded and called the first number. A young woman answered, her voice sounding pleasant, “Tate Shipping International, how may help you?”
“Yea, hi, ma’am, I’d, uh, like Tate to ship some boxes for me.” Nate put on a thick southern accent.
“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t do that sort of thing. We ship large containers worldwide. Would you like to look into that?” Nate knew she was smiling as she talked on the other end. She also probably got out of bed with a hop, skip and a jump. Annoying.
“No, thank ya, sorry to bother ya. Ya’ll have a nice day now.” Nate hung up the phone only to pick it up and dial the same number again except for the last digit.
“Gorrin International, how may help you?”
Nate repeated his request this time with an English accent and got the same cheerful reply. The third time around when the woman identified herself as working for JK Associates Nate used his own voice. “Ma’am, I’ve now called three times. You’ve answered very time with a different place. May I ask who you really work for?”
“Oh, um, I’m sorry what is your request?” Nate was certain her smile was gone.
“Ma’am, this is Special Agent Nate Zimmerman with the FBI. I am asking you who you actually work for?”
“I don’t know if I should answer that. Will you hold please?” Nate imagined her perfectly manicured hand poised over the hold button.
“No, no, please don’t do that. All I’m asking is who you work for? You’re not in trouble.” But your boss might be.
“LRI.”
“What does that stand for?” Nate struggled to keep the irritation out of his mind.
“Lawson Rawlings International.”
“Thank you; you have been most helpful.” Nate tried to mirror the woman’s initial cheerfulness.
Nate repeated the information to Eric who quickly did a search on his computer. What came up shocked Nate more then he would have guessed. A large picture of the CEO flashed across the screen. Nate finally knew who he was looking for.