Grabbing his phone, he pulled up Wolf’s contact information and called him. “Pick up, pick up, pick up,” he muttered, pacing the floor.
“Hey there, Ghost. It’s a little early for drinks, don’t you think?” Wolf joked when he answered.
“It’s not about drinks,” Ghost said. “My sister was taken.”
“Taken? Like kidnapped?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “Where are you now?”
“Still at the hotel. Think you can meet me here?”
“Yeah, just text me the address and I’ll be there ASAP.”
“I’ll get that sent and meet you in the lobby.”
“Roger that,” he said and hung up.
Ghost clenched the phone in his hand as frustration washed over him. He should’ve been more careful and attentive. He was going to find his sister, even if he had to turn this city upside down in order to do so.
Chapter 8
“So what do we know?” Wolf asked as they sat in the corner of the hotel lobby.
“I was told that she got a text from the guy and snuck out of that cafe,” he pointed toward the cafe, “and met him outside of the hotel.”
“Were you able to get a look at him or anything?”
Ghost sighed, riddled with guilt. He should’ve been watching her more closely, especially after he’d noticed the guy following them around all morning. They hadn’t even been in Paris for a full two days and everything was already falling apart. His carelessness could cost her her life and if anything were to happen to her, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He was supposed to keep her safe; he should’ve trusted his instincts. If he couldn’t find a way to get to his sister, she was doomed. The police were no help; the only thing they’d done was take down the information he gave them and told him to file a missing persons report. He wasn’t going to America until he found her, dead or alive.
“No, I didn’t,” Ghost answered. “I didn’t even see when she left.”
“I see. Did anyone else see anything?”
“Yeah, one of her friends that left with her. She said that it was the guys I’d saw at the market.”
Wolf thought a minute. “The ones you were harassing when I saw you?”
He frowned, his frustration bubbling over. “Yeah, those guys,” he said and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. “I was supposed to protect her. If anything happens to her—”
“We’ll find her, Ghost,” Wolf reassured, clasping his shoulder with a firm hand. “We just need a plan for extraction.”
He nodded with a sigh, noticing a man watching them as he walked back and forth. “Yeah…” he said, glancing back at the man before turning his attention to Wolf. “Anyway, she posted a picture of the guy on her Instagram this morning from breakfast. Think Tex can find out who he is if we send it to him?”
“I’m sure he can. Send it to me and I’ll pass it along,” he said. Ghost screenshot the picture and texted it to Wolf, looking up to see that the man was now a little closer to them than he was before.
“Do you see that guy?” Ghost murmured to Wolf.
Wolf looked up and back down. “Yeah. He’s been lingering around for a good while. I noticed him when we first started talking. Think he has something to do with it?”
Ghost looked at the man again. He was bald with pale skin, a scar across his left cheek. His eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses and his mouth was fixed in a permanent frown. He had the image that would make him look as if he could be a part of something nefarious, but if he were, Ghost was sure he wouldn’t have stuck around after Josephine was taken.
“Nah,” Ghost replied. “But I do think he may want something.”
“Just keep an eye out on him,” Wolf said, glancing up at the man once more. “So did the girl see the kind of car they left in?”
“She just said they were put into a blue van.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down much,” Wolf muttered.
The man finally approached them, coming to a stop next to Ghost and looking down at both men. He didn’t say anything at first, which made Ghost uneasy as he slid to the edge of his seat in case he needed to get up quickly.
“I’m sorry to intrude, but I overheard you talking about someone being taken,” he finally said.
“Yeah, my sister,” Ghost replied flatly. Who was this man and why did he care? “Did you see what happened?”
“No, but from what I heard, it sounds like something that happened similar to my daughter when we were on holiday in Switzerland,” he said, taking the empty seat across from them. “I’m Léon.”
“I’m sorry about your daughter, Léon,” Ghost said. The man took off his glasses and put them in his jacket pocket, pulling out in cell phone instead.
After going through it for a few moments, he held the phone out to Ghost. Ghost took it from him and viewed the picture on the screen. A beautiful teenage girl stood smiling with the same man in Josephine’s photo. “That’s a picture of my daughter and the man I think is responsible for her death,” Léon said.
A sinking feeling settled in Ghost’s stomach as he looked up. “She’s dead?”
“Her body was found two weeks after she was taken. They try to tell me it was suicide, but I know my daughter. She would do nothing like that,” he said, his hands clenching into fists. “I’ve done my research on that man. From what I’ve learned, he’s a sex trafficker. He takes girls and abuses them until he can’t anymore and then kills them. I’ve been following him to try to catch him myself since the police can’t seem to.”
Wolf’s phone rang. “It’s Tex,” he said and accepted the call. “Talk to me, Tex.”
“Wolf, I got some info about the guy in the picture,” Tex said. “He’s Sebastian Moreau and it looks like he’s pretty popular in Europe for sex trafficking.”
Ghost looked at Léon, who simply nodded in agreement.
“What countries has he hit?” Ghost asked.
“He’s wanted in the Ukraine, Switzerland, Greece, Ireland, and Norway. He’s adapted the nickname ‘the Chameleon’ because he easily blends in, which makes his escape easy when authorities are on to him. It looks like he’s wanted for questioning for a murder of a girl in 2004 that was reported missing while she was on vacation in Switzerland.”
Léon bowed his head at the mention of his daughter, causing Ghost’s heart to drop at the thought of that happening to Josephine. “Thanks, Tex. We’ll call you if we need anything else,” Wolf said and hung up.
“I have to find her,” Ghost said, hearing the desperation in his own voice. “I don’t know how, but I have to.”
Adrienne crossed the lobby toward them, her face filled with despair, angst, and guilt. She walked over to the men and sat down next to Ghost, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Have you guys found anything out yet?” she asked.
Ghost shook his head. “Not too much. Just found out who the guy is, but no way of finding out where she is.”
Adrienne thought for a moment. “She has an iPhone, doesn’t she? Maybe you can track her phone with that Find My iPhone app?” she suggested.
He shook his head with a sigh. “Nah, that would only work if I signed in with her Apple ID,” he muttered. No sooner than the words left his mouth, a light bulb went off in his head. A couple of years ago, he’d grounded Josephine for a month when she snuck out of the house in the middle of the night and lied about where she was when she was caught. To ensure that she only went to school, her volunteer sites, and home while he was on duty, he’d installed a tracker on her phone to be able to watch her every move until her punishment was over, only forgetting to uninstall the tracker afterwards.
“You’re a genius,” he said to Adrienne, kissing her on the lips. She looked at him in surprise, the realization of what he’d done kicking in. “Shit…I’m sorry. Got a little excited about the news.”
“It’s okay,” she said softly, a slight smile pulling at her lips. “But I’m a geniu
s?”
“Yes. I think I can still track her phone from the tracker I left on there a couple of years ago. I forgot about it until you mention the Find My iPhone app.” He grabbed his phone and found the app. “As long as she’s somewhere with a signal and her phone is turned on, I should be able to get her location.”
Relief filled him when he saw the blue dot pop up on the screen with an address. He would be able to find her. Her blue dot wasn’t that far from his red dot at the moment, but he wasn’t sure how long he had before she started moving again.
“Dealing with sex traffickers can be dangerous business,” Wolf said. “We have no weapons, back up—”
“I have weapons,” Léon mentioned. “Guns, knives, you name it.”
Ghost looked the man in the eyes. “You’ll help us?”
Pain flashed in Léon’s eyes for a brief moment before he nodded. “I couldn’t save my daughter, but I will do everything I can to help you find your sister,” he said.
“We should get going then. There’s only a few hours of daylight left and it’s easier for them to hide at night. Let’s move,” Ghost said to the men and stood.
“We can take my car to my warehouse. It’s not far from here,” Léon said as they walked toward the door. When Ghost noticed Adrienne following behind them, he stopped and turned around.
“No, no, no. I need you to stay here,” he said.
She furrowed her brows as she frowned. “What? Why?”
“Because this isn’t safe.”
“But I can help you. I’m just as responsible for her on this trip as you are—”
“You need to stay with the other students. I’ll be back so—”
“I’m coming with you, Myles,” she said firmly, holding his gaze.
He stared at her and grit his teeth. It was bad enough that Josephine was in danger because he wasn’t paying close enough attention to her, but he couldn’t risk putting the woman he was gaining feelings for in harm’s way either.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Adrienne. Just wait here.” She opened her mouth to object, but Ghost silenced her with a kiss and rested his forehead on her. “I’ll be back. And I’ll bring her back, too.”
Adrienne looked up at him, her eyes filled with worry. He wondered if she looked at her late fiancé that way whenever he had to leave for work. “Please be safe,” she whispered, her voice shaky. Caressing her cheek with his thumb, he gave her a small smile.
“Always. I’ll let you know when we find her. Call Pia’s parents and let them know what’s going on,” he said.
“Yeah, I did that after I called the police,” she said with a nod, wrapping her arms around herself as Ghost turned to the two men.
“Alright, guys. Let’s move.”
***
Ghost marveled at the different guns and knives on the table before him. “Where’d you get all of these?” he asked Léon, picking up a sniper rifle and looking through the scope.
“I’ve bought most of them for hunting, but after my daughter…” He swallowed hard. “I started to use them for a different reason afterwards.”
“Well, it’s a pretty nice collection,” Wolf said. “So what’s the plan, Ghost?”
“Follow the tracker to get to Josephine. It’ll be better if she’s still in the van because then we’d only have to stop it. It’ll be a whole different story if they take her somewhere that’s guarded.”
“Then let’s grab what we need and get going,” Wolf said, picking up an AR-15 and a Beretta M9. The warehouse filled with a distorted voice, putting Ghost on edge.
“What the hell was that?” he asked.
Léon pointed to the box sitting on a card table across the room. “Police scanner,” he replied. “When I heard that a teen girl had been kidnapped at the hotel, I went there to see if my guy had struck again. Looks like he has.”
“What do you do besides chasing this maniac around?” Ghost asked.
“I used to be an architect.”
“Why don’t you do it anymore?”
“It’s hard to concentrate on anything else when your daughter’s murderer is running around free. Maybe I’ll get back to him once that bastard is caught,” Léon said through gritted teeth. He nodded to the gun Ghost held. “Do you think the sniper rifle is necessary?”
Ghost shrugged. “I need to have a clear aim for a moving vehicle if my sister’s inside of it.”
“Good point,” Léon said, grabbing two hand guns. “Let’s go then”
Chapter 9
“Okay, class, please settle down,” Adrienne said. She’d gathered all the students and chaperones in her room to explain the situation to them. Her mind still reeled from the situation. The trip was already going to hell in a hand basket. It had taken her a long time to get the trip approved in the first place; to have students in danger on her first trip abroad wasn’t a good look if she planned on having more class trips out of the country. On top of worrying about Josephine and Pia, she now had to worry about Myles. He’d made her stay behind, which was the logical thing to do considering that she’s the main one in charge, but it made her uneasy to know that he’s going around chasing a bad guy with backup that may or may not be reliable.
She wondered if something would happen to him while he was out, whether he’d be hurt or killed by going out to find Josephine instead of letting the police do their jobs. Part of her wanted to be upset with him for not being patience, but she also couldn’t help admire his courage and determination to find her himself. Guilt overwhelmed her as she looked into the confused, scared eyes of her students. She should’ve been more responsible. Though the damage had been done, the only thing they could all do for now was try to find a solution.
“So I’m sure most of you know that Josephine and Pia have gone missing,” Adrienne started.
“What do you mean missing?” Troy asked.
“Well, in better terms, they’ve been kidnapped,” Adrienne reiterated. The room immediately filled with panicked murmuring as the students reacted to the news. Adrienne clapped her hands to get their attention. “I know we were supposed to be going to the museum today, but unfortunately I have to cancel it. In fact, all activities for the rest of the day has been canceled until further notice. No one is to leave the hotel until we’re able to find Josephine and Pia.”
“Seriously?” a couple of students shrieked, the murmuring starting once again. She couldn’t blame them for being upset. They’d all spent a good amount of money to come here and it wasn’t fair to them that they were essentially being punished because two students decided to sneak out and get themselves into trouble. She sighed. She couldn’t even put all the blame on them. Had she been properly doing her job and watching over them, this wouldn’t have happened at all.
“I’m sorry, guys, but it’s for your own safety. Pia and Josephine were taken by someone that’s allegedly linked to human trafficking. Does anyone know what that is?”
“It’s when you sell people for sex, isn’t it?” Tabitha answered.
“Yes,” Adrienne replied, watching as their eyes widened in shock. “We just want to make sure no one else is taken and it allows us to be in one place in the event that the girls make it back. Let’s hope that we can find them today and resume the rest of the trip as planned.”
“How were they taken anyway?” another student asked.
“From what I was told, they snuck out of the hotel when they were supposed to be going to the bathroom—”
“But where were the chaperones? Where were you?” Tabitha asked.
“I was in the cafe with you all, but I still didn’t see them leave,” Adrienne admitted.
“Look, guys. It doesn’t matter anymore now. All we need to focus on is finding the two girls and making sure everyone is safe,” Beth finally said. Adrienne gave her a small smile. She’d definitely have to thank her later.
“So for now, let’s just have everyone go to their rooms until we figure out what’s happening,” Adrienne said. The st
udents grumbled as they got off her bed and the floor, moving toward the door. Beth lingered behind as the last of the students filed out of the room before giving Adrienne a hug.
“You can’t beat yourself up about it,” she coaxed. “This could’ve happened whether or not you were there.”
Adrienne shook her head. “But I wasn’t paying close enough attention. And Myles…” She cleared her throat. “I can’t even begin to imagine how he feels right now.”
“Probably the same as you. I wish I would’ve watched them more closely as well, but we can’t have eyes everywhere. The same way they got past me and the other chaperone, they probably could’ve gotten past the two of you. I’m sure her brother will find them.”
“But what if he doesn’t?” she asked, her eyes burning as tears formed. “Or worse, what if he does find her but she’s…she’s—”
“Positive thoughts, Adrienne,” Beth said with a soft smile, giving her trembling hands a gentle squeeze. “He’ll find them and bring them back safely.” Adrienne nodded and wiped away a stray tear.
“Yeah, you’re right,” she managed to say and watched Beth walk out of her room.
She locked the door behind Beth and moved over to her bed, flopping down on it with a sigh. It was so crazy how a few minutes could change everything. She could still remember his smile and their conversation they’d had just an hour ago. His kisses, although a surprise, were still fresh in her mind, as if he’d only been here mere seconds ago. She wished that this was all a nightmare, that she’d wake up and have him comfort her and tell her that everything was fine and that the girls were safe. Instead, she was trapped in another nightmare. If anything happened to Josephine and Pia, she didn’t know if she’d ever forgive herself. And if Myles couldn’t get to her in time, she didn’t know if he’d ever forgive her either.
Grabbing her phone, she found Melody’s contact and called her. She was sure it was pretty late in America, but she needed someone to talk to before she came apart completely.
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