Page 5 of Pain
"How did you find out about all this?"
"One of the other parents in a support group. His son was taken and sold. They found evidence of it, but have never found his son. He gave me the information to get in. He's deep inside the rings too, trying to find his son. It was only because he'd been working for two years to earn their trust that he was able to pull me in as a friend and have the groups have a little more trust in me than they would have if I'd started on my own." He stirred his spoon in his potatoes, still not having bothered to take a bite.
"And if you find her there?" Trish wiped tears from her cheeks.
"I don't know. I'd like to say get the police to follow up, but the truth is, most of these men are so well hidden that the cops would never find them. The only thing I could do is try and buy her. I honestly don't know."
"Fuck, are you listening to what you are saying? Buy your own daughter?"
"In a perfect world, this wouldn't be happening. Faith would be sitting here with us, stealing all the drumsticks. It's not a perfect world and Faith isn't here. I have to do whatever I have to do to find my daughter and bring her home."
"So, this is why you haven't answered your phone? You've disappeared."
Matt nodded.
"Hell, this isn't good. It's going to kill you."
"If I don't get Faith back, I might as well be dead anyway. I would never forgive myself if she was taken by these monsters and I didn't look for her there. There are so many kids, Trish. So many women who have been forced into this. It's disgusting."
"Why haven't the police shut all this down?"
"I don't know. I've seen talk of raids, but honestly, it's too big. These people move constantly. I'm sure it's impossible to keep up with them. And they don't trust anyone. I've had to create a whole new identity and hack into my system to change my information, so they can't track my location and find out who I really am. I've broken the law doing this, but like I said, it doesn't matter if I don't get Faith back." Matt leaned back in his chair.
"This is insane."
"A nightmare," Matt agreed.
Trish sighed. "You still have to take care of yourself. Please eat just a little. I can't have you get sick too. It's too much. Please, for me?"
Matt stared at the food, his stomach turning, but Trish was right. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten anything. He'd lived off coffee and water for the last few weeks, only eating when he started to feel dizzy because he hadn't. Even then, it was only a cup of soup or crackers. He forced himself to take a bite of the potatoes, hardly tasting them. The smile of relief on Trish's face was worth it. Maybe, just maybe, she would lay off now and leave him alone to do the things he needed to do.
As he forced himself to eat and listened to Trish talk about her week, his mind drifted back to the dark web. If Faith was out there, he would find her, and he would stop at nothing to bring her home.
CHAPTER THREE
Xander glanced over at Becca, watching as she set a stack of files down on the desk. As much as he appreciated the work she did with the team, he longed for a day where she would drop by without any files in her hands. Files meant work, and in his business, work meant kids were being hurt. "That's a large stack."
"Two cases. I'll brief you when the others arrive." She swept her long, blonde hair back from her face, tying it in a ponytail before falling down onto the couch across the room. "What a long day."
"Judge Harrison again?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, I don't know what I did to end up in his courtroom this week, but I'm done with it. He needs to retire. He spends more time snapping at the court clerks than dealing with his caseload." She pulled her vape out of her pocket and took a long drag off it.
"Is he running for reelection?" Xander asked.
"He hasn't decided. He has to submit the paperwork next week if he is." She stretched her legs out on the couch.
"At least with him being so lost in his own head, it gives you time to dig through the cases for us." He admired Becca. She risked everything alerting them to every child abuse case that came through the local courts. It was one way they were made aware of pedophiles who had been charged multiple times or given light sentences for horrible crimes.
His team only dealt with the worst of the worst, but once someone was on their radar, his team made a file on them to keep watch. Sadly, most would offend again, often taking things to another level.
Becca was only one of eight on the team besides Xander. Carter was their computer expert. Xander hadn't found a system Carter couldn't hack into. He was a genius when it came to programming, and they were lucky he was on their side and not the other. Beau was their physician. He trained them in how to handle the surgical side of what their team did and made sure they had the drugs they needed to keep the perps compliant. He was the one who trained Xander on how to cut off a man's balls and penis. It had taken practice, but after doing it so many times, Xander was nearly as good as Beau would be if he went out and did it himself.
Kasey and Dyson also worked with them. Like Xander, they were the ones who made contact and dealt justice to the men and women they hunted. They were called the muscle of the team because they did the dirty work, the physical part of the job that many others couldn't stomach.
Trenton and Bryon spent most of their time online, researching and building their cases, and saving information. Trenton was in charge of making sure the files and information were accurate, possibly the most important member of the team. Bryon had the hardest job of all of them. He was deep into the dark web, a well-trusted member of some of the worst circles that existed. He put himself into the sex trafficking community, personally taking the time to appear an active and interested member. It was because of him that the team got the information they were able to. They did everything that they could to keep him safe and make sure that when they did take down a person or group of traffickers that Bryon stayed protected. They couldn't risk him being exposed. They would lose too much information if he was uncovered as a spy.
Together, they worked hard to take down pedophiles and the underground rings that exploited children. They focused mostly on protecting children under twelve, finding the men and women who desired them to be the most dangerous and vile people alive.
