Page 19 of Desert Wind

“They were your sisters, in a manner of speaking. You were raised with them, but they weren’t your biological sisters.”

“What about my parents, the people who raised me? Did they really die?”

“The boys back home did some research once they figured out who you really are. A couple fitting the description of your parents were found on the edge of the mountains outside of Tucson. It looked like they were hiking toward Mexico.

“Their death was brutal, Jenna. Not something anyone would want to see, which is why the casket was closed. Their fingerprints matched those of two people who were believed to be employed by the Cipriani family. Victor and Angela Portello. Who else was at their funeral if your sisters had already died?”

“Me. A few people who said they were neighbors. I didn’t really remember them. There were two men who said they worked with my dad. That was about it.” She stared at their faces and realized what they were telling her. They were waiting to see if she showed up at the funeral.

“Did anyone speak to you?” asked Nash.

“The priest. He said he was sorry for my loss. The others just stood there. I walked around and asked who they were. I mean, I’d been gone for so long I had no idea who those people were. But if I’m this lost baby, this kidnapped baby, why not take me, hurt me, bring me home, or whatever they were trying to do?”

“We’re not sure, Jenna,” said Antoine. “They obviously didn’t want to harm you, or they would have. Let the team back home continue to dig into this, and we’ll find out what happened here.”

“What happened?” she said, staring at them. “Are you kidding me right now? You just told me that I’m the long-lost kidnapped child of some French businessman who apparently was doing all kinds of illegal things. Raised by two people hired by my kidnappers, guilted into a life of service at the convent, and now I’m potentially a target as well. I didn’t miss that innuendo, right?”

“No. You didn’t miss that innuendo,” said Nash.

“I want to go back to the house,” she said.

“Jenna, there were cameras at that house, and no doubt someone is there now waiting for us,” said Antoine.

“Why on earth would someone wait forty years for me to return to that house? You are not making any sense at all,” she said with frustration.

“That’s what we need to find out.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Are you fucking with me right now?” said Gaspar. “Jacques St. Martine.”

“DNA doesn’t lie,” said Ace. “She’s an exact match for the missing child. We think, but don’t have the proof yet, that the Ciprianis paid the couple to watch the baby. Somewhere along the way, they fell in love and had three children of their own or could have been married before, making it a believable family. Maybe they thought she would be safe in the convent, or maybe that was part of the plan all along.”

“Did they tell her?” asked Nine.

“They did. She’s confused, angry, somewhat disbelieving, but they’re headed back to the house. She refused to go back to the hotel. She said if there was someone there waiting for them, she wanted to speak to them.”

“Damn,” muttered Ghost. “Well, she’s got Nash, Luc, and Antoine with her. Hopefully, that will be enough manpower if someone is waiting for them. Can you fuck with the cameras?”

“Already done,” said Ace. “They were just cheap cameras bought off the internet. There is something else we need to be concerned about. It was always rumored that one of the reasons the St. Martine baby was kidnapped was because she held the secret to something.”

“An infant? What kind of shit would she have the secret to? It makes no sense at all.”

“I don’t know,” said Ace. “We know that St. Martine and Cipriani had been in a trade and turf war for a while. They were both shipping drugs in and out of Africa and South Africa when one of Cipriani’s planes went down, killing his only brother on board and losing almost twelve million in drugs.”

“I remember that,” said Ghost. “We were actually in Nigeria at the time, and everyone was worried that it would create an all-out drug war in the area.”

“It almost did. Interpol, French police, everyone was panicked about how it would all play out. Then, St. Martine’s infant daughter was kidnapped, and everything stopped. St. Martine’s businesses were suddenly legitimate only, and Cipriani was handling the drug business in the region.”

“He knew that she was alive,” said Nine. “St. Martine. He knew that Cipriani had his daughter, and she was alive. If he thought she was dead, he would have ripped Cipriani’s business apart and taken his head.”

“You’re right,” nodded Gaspar. “But why not pay whatever he wanted and take the girl back? Why not find her on your own?”

“I think that’s what he was trying to do,” said Ace. “Remember that Cipriani was in trouble about thirty years ago. The feds were after him for tax evasion. The Rubio family out of Cuba was disrupting his shipments and causing trouble in Europe. Then, his wife’s brother was arrested for sex with a minor and eventually, convicted of child trafficking and pornography.

“Cipriani was an old man by then. Maybe he ordered that she be killed, and St. Martine went after her. When he found her gone, he killed the entire family.”

“We need to find out what they want with her,” said Gaspar. “Who runs their families now?”

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