Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
“That was my first thought,” Ten said. “But I’m surprised because of the location of the crime. Sierra Leone is peaceful compared to a bunch of places on the continent. ISIS and al-Qaeda don’t have a big foothold here. Poverty is a problem, but the government is stable.”
“You think they took Anya’s body?” Steph asked.
He slipped his hand into hers, satisfied when she didn’t move away from him.
“All I found was a shoe,” Ten explained. “The nurse’s cabin was the only one where not everything was perfect. The door had been left open and it looks like she lost her shoe while they were taking her out of there. I talked to a couple of the village kids who saw the group as they were leaving town. One of the kids said there was a blonde in the Humvee and she looked scared. I don’t think they killed your girl. I’m going to look into her and make sure there’s no way she’s got something to do with this.”
“Anya wouldn’t,” Steph shot back. “They’ve got her and I need to figure out what they want and give it to them so we can get her back.”
“We will,” Brody promised.
“Bingo,” Adam said, looking up from the second laptop. “I think I’ve got a name. Is this our guy?”
Steph looked down and the minute she saw that face, she backed up. He moved behind her, letting his arms go around her.
“Is that him, luv?”
She nodded. “That’s him. How did you find him?”
“You found him,” Adam replied. “You let Kori sketch him this afternoon. She’s not as good as an actual sketch artist, but she’s good enough for a piece of revolutionary software.”
A groan came over the line. Ten was shaking his head. “Stop the self-congratulations, Miles. Who is it?”
Adam frowned. “But then she wouldn’t understand how perfect the match is. You see I took that sketch Kori made and put it through my own proprietary software. This sucker is why the company Jake, Chelsea, and I are forming along with Si, Jesse, and Phoebe is going to be the premiere missing persons firm of the future.”
“I don’t care why it’s perfect,” Steph said. “I just want to know his name.”
A long sigh issued from Adam’s mouth. “Fine, but the source code on this sucker is brilliant and no matter what she says, Chelsea did not take the lead on this.”
“Adam,” Brody began.
“His name is Hans de Vries,” Adam said as his fingers clicked on the keyboard. “He’s a Belgian national. He was in their Army.”
“Aww, I know the man.” Ten groaned over the line. “Damn it. I need to study this more. De Vries left the Army and almost immediately started up a mercenary unit. He’s worked around the African continent and some in the Middle East. He’s usually got about twenty men on his team. I’ve got files on most of the mercenary groups, but they change up pretty fast. I’m never completely current. I need to figure out who he’s working for right now.”
Brody had worked on the continent enough to have an idea. “If he’s Belgian, he’s likely working for a diamond company.”
Ten nodded. “Yeah, that was my first thought, too. I think we should expand the search a bit. I would bet that journalist wasn’t actually working on a story in Sierra Leone. Not if de Vries is working for who I think he’s working for. I’ll call Penny and tell her to start asking around Antwerp.”
“You think they were working for a company?” Steph asked. “Not one of the governments? I’ve seen a lot of the governments hire outside mercenary groups as security.”
“I don’t think that’s the case here.” Brody’s mind had hooked the likeliest suspect. “In that part of the world, they’re most likely muscle for a corporation. Since they’re Belgian, likeliest bet is some form of resource mining.”
“Diamonds is what he means,” Ten said, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Antwerp, Belgium, is the diamond capital of the world. Everything runs through the big diamond merchants. If you buy an engagement ring in the suburban US, you can bet it came from Africa and went through Antwerp.”
“I think you’re right,” Brody said. “We’ll call Penny in the morning. She needs to know we’re searching for someone who was looking into the diamond mines. Maybe the journalist’s editor will know something.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get anything off the sketch of the journalist.” Adam stood up, shrugging back into his jacket. “I’ll narrow the parameters, but given the damage to his face, it could be difficult. Pair that with the fact that sometimes journalists go off the grid for months at a time and we’re going to have trouble. Our best bet is Penny. If he wasn’t supposed to report in for a while, no one is missing him yet. And we have zero idea what his nationality was.”