Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (classic books for 10 year olds txt) 📕

“Wow,” I remarked dramatically. “It must have been bad if you actually did your own paperwork for once.”

“Shut up,” she smiled and rolled her eyes at me. “I’m kind of jealous, too, I guess. Naomi gets to be part of the mission even though it’s technically supposed to be Charlie and Junior’s.”

“Well, isn’t it because she speaks Hindi?” I asked. “She’s the only one who can really communicate with the kids.”

“Yes, I know,” Miranda sighed. “I already feel guilty about being jealous. Don’t make me feel worse!”

“Sorry,” I apologized placatingly. “Look, it’s already lunchtime. Do you want to go get something to eat? We can stretch our legs and see what’s around the new office.”

“That sounds perfect,” Miranda grinned as she sprung up out of her chair. It was almost frightening how quickly her mood could change.

“Let’s go.” I rolled my eyes as I led the way out of the office. I was happy to pull Miranda out of her funk, and I was glad to have an excuse to take my mind off of the case for a while.

11

Naomi

“So it seems everyone had the same story,” I sighed as I fell onto the couch with much less grace than I normally would have allowed myself while in public. However, after nearly five straight hours of conducting interrogations, I was willing to let decorum fall by the wayside. “They had no idea where the children came from, aside from ‘somewhere in the Caribbean,’ and the Weavers were the ones who handled everything for them.”

“Sounds about right to me,” Junior agreed as he took a seat on the other end of the couch.

“Almost seems like a waste to have done the second half of the interviews,” Charlie grumbled from the chair situated opposite to the couch. “Everyone said pretty much exactly the same thing.”

“We had to be thorough,” I muttered. “Though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. It seems as though all we did was waste our own time with precious little to show for it.”

“How can people just participate in something like this?” Charlie spat. “Without even knowing the details or how it’s being done? All these people just handed money over to the Weavers and didn’t bother asking any questions about where the kids were coming from or how they were getting here?”

“Out of sight, out of mind,” Junior shrugged. “They probably didn’t want to think about it. If they did, they might actually feel bad about what they were doing.”

My skin crawled at his words, and I felt an unshakable need to have a shower. After five hours of hearing people attempt to justify and excuse their abhorrent behavior, I felt incredibly unclean.

“Most people don’t like to think about it,” I frowned. “But the fact is that slavery is far from over. It’s still being practiced in several countries around the world, including the United States. Not out in the open, of course, but it’s happening, nonetheless.”

“I knew human trafficking was a real problem,” Charlie groaned. “But my mind just always went to sex crimes. I’d never really thought about it happening to kids.”

“A lot of people don’t,” I remarked bitterly. “That’s the problem. We can’t stop a crime if no one is even aware that it’s happening. Back home, people were a little more aware of it, but here in the United States, no one even knows it's going on right under their noses. Atlanta and New York City, in particular, are big centers of the human trafficking trade because of their large international airports. It’s so easy for people to just slip through the cracks, especially children.”

It was a somber topic of conversation, and the three of us lapsed into a morose silence after that.

“Agents, there you are,” Wallace announced as he stepped into the break room. “Have you finished the interrogations?”

“We have,” I answered as I sat up straighter. “I’m afraid we didn’t learn very much. At the very least, everyone’s stories seemed consistent. We can conclude that the Weavers were the ones orchestrating the entire scheme. But, since they’re dead, that does leave us at an impasse.”

“I already suspected as much,” Wallace frowned. “Agent Gardner was able to find a phone number on Daniel Weaver’s computer that we believe belongs to the person who was sending the children here from the Caribbean, but unfortunately, she was unable to trace it. For now, I’d like Agent Hills and Agent Patel to go see a woman named Sandra Baker. She runs an anti-trafficking organization called Hope for Children here in Las Vegas that the Weavers were apparently familiar with. It’s possible that Hope for Children knew something about the Weavers, which would explain why they seemed so preoccupied with that group in particular. In the meantime, I am going to ask Agent Gardner to look into the phone number again. Even if she can’t trace it directly, she might be able to find something else about it.”

“We’ll head there right away,” I replied as I stood up.

“Yeah, I could use some fresh air,” Charlie grunted as he followed suit.

“Good,” Wallace nodded. “Agent Chapman, I know you were taking notes on all the interrogations. Could you please compile them into a single document and send it to me?”

“Of course,” Junior agreed readily.

“Excellent,” Wallace nodded. “Let’s get to work then.”

Charlie and I left the office and headed down the elevator and to the parking lot. It was two in the afternoon now, and although the heat had felt unbearably hot this morning, the warmth felt good now after spending such a long time in the air-conditioned building.

“My back hurts after sitting in that chair for so long,” Charlie grumbled as we made our way over to the company car. “I get that they’re deliberately made to be uncomfortable for the purpose of the interrogation, but do we have to sit in them too?”

“It’s not every day we have to arrest an entire street full of people,” I huffed. “Hopefully,