Page 12 of Pain
"Yeah."
"We aren't selling anything. In fact, we're here to see if we can help you." Carter glanced at Xander.
"Help me how?" Matthew asked.
"We're aware of what happened to your daughter and we think we can help," Carter told him.
Matthew sighed. "The cops warned me there would be people showing up trying to scam me by making promises. Thanks, but no thanks." He again tried to shut the door.
Carter wedged his foot in the doorway.
Xander didn't have the patience to pussyfoot around. "We know about the dark web. We can help."
Matthew's face paled and he stepped back.
"Don't worry, we aren't here to hurt you. We know how well you've covered your tracks," Xander continued. "Believe me when we say we are on your side. We want to help find Faith."
Matthew shook his head. "How did you find me?"
Carter grinned. "You're one of the best hackers I've ever seen, but I'm better."
Xander sighed. "Can we please take this conversation inside? This isn't something I want Pauley Peeper to hear about." He gestured with his head to the little old lady peeking out her living room window at them.
Matthew shook his head. "No way. You're not coming in here." The fear in his eyes was intense, but the rest of him was standing strong and in control as if he'd fight if they tried to enter.
"Listen, Matthew. We are on your side. We want to help you learn how to deal with the dark web. You're deep enough now that one wrong move could get you killed. Let us help you. We've been doing this for years. My team and I have been taking down these creeps for a long time. We can help you, even add to your cover if you let us." Carter held up his hands. "If you'd rather talk here, we can, but we have to be careful. What we have to tell you isn't stuff we want public either."
"Why should I trust you?" Matthew glanced at Xander.
"You shouldn't. It's a damn good thing you aren't just opening your door up to us. I wouldn't either. I mean, hell, would you look at him?" He gestured to Carter. "Would you trust a face like that?"
Carter groaned, but Matthew smiled.
"Seriously, Matthew, you shouldn't trust us, yet, but you should hear us out. If we wanted you dead, we wouldn't have shown up at your front door. Once you hear what our team can do, I think you'll consider working with us. We can't make any promises that you'll get your daughter back. I wish we could, but working together, we might find her, or we might help someone else get their child back." Xander shrugged. "The choice is yours. Tell us to fuck off and we're gone."
Matthew stared at the two of them for a long moment before finally opening the door. "If you're here to kill me, then let's get it over with. If not, then talk fast." He turned and walked away from the door, not even waiting for them.
Xander smiled at Carter as he stepped inside. "See, you've just got to be honest with them."
Carter mumbled something Xander couldn't catch as he followed him inside and shut the door.
They found Matthew in his living room, sitting in his computer chair, but the computer screen turned off.
"Have a seat if you want one." Matthew gestured to the couch and chair against the other wall.
"Thanks." Carter took a seat on the couch.
Xander sat down in the recliner, relaxing back with a sigh. "This is comfy. I need to get one like this." He reached down, pulling the lever on the side of the chair, causing the footstool to pop up.
Matthew watched him with an amused look. "If you're comfortable enough, why don't you tell me who the hell you are and what you want?"
Carter cleared his throat. "For now, we are going to keep who we are to ourselves, but I will tell you what we do. We have a team that works on taking down pedophiles. We take down the worst of the worst. We aren't looking for the nineteen-year-old who is caught with his fifteen-year-old girlfriend. While we do frown on that, it's a case for the cops, not us." He gestured to the computer. "We have people, who like you, are deep into the dark web with fake identities, trying to take down the trafficking and sex rings we find. We focus mostly on children under the age of twelve, but we do get involved in the adult cases if we have enough information. We go in and do what the cops can't or have failed to do. We look for the creeps who have been given a chance already, served time, and been released. Once they have proven they aren't going to stop hurting kids, we jump in and either take them down before they can physically hurt a child, or we go in and rescue the child after taking the perpetrator down."
Matthew narrowed his eyes. "Take them down how?"
Xander smiled, wondering how Carter would answer this one.
"Well, we don't kill them, but we do go in and make sure they will never be able to rape another child again. We then leave them secured with files about all of their cases, both new and old, and let the cops deal with them once we've eliminated the possibility of them raping again." Carter ran his fingers through his hair.
