Page 16 of Wed
She grinned. "I love you too. Go pack, and no peeking at my wedding dress as you do it. I still plan on marrying you when this is over, even if we have to go back home to do it."
He couldn't risk holding the wedding here now that people would be looking for her. He forced images of her being shot wearing her wedding dress from his mind.
"It doesn't matter where it happens. This is more important right now." She ran her hand down his chest. "Our time will come."
He nodded as he swallowed the ball of emotion she always caused and turned away. "I'll be back around nine to walk you to the car."
He left the room and hurried down the hall to his own suite. He had a half-hour to pack it up and be ready to go. As he walked in, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, seeing Dyson's name on the screen. "Hey, Dys. What ya got for me?"
"The tattoo you sent a picture of belongs to the Diaz group. They're known for their auctions of young girls and boys, including infants if someone desires. They work mostly out of Vegas but have been known to run some prostitution rings in other sections of the country. Their customers are mostly rich businessmen and politicians. Rumor is he's got some blackmail on several senators and congressmen. Think Epstein, just on a slightly smaller scale. He has parties, unknowingly records people doing very bad things to children, then holds that over their heads to get what he wants. It's guessed he runs about fifty to a hundred barely legal prostitutes in Vegas, along with holding auctions and filling special orders," Dyson told him.
"Of course, this couldn't be easy." Bryon sat down on the couch.
"You knew from the moment you saw she had a tattoo that this wasn't going to be some street pimp," Dyson said. "What are your plans? Are you going to follow up on this?"
Bryon sighed. He was out of town, away from all his computers and equipment. He had no idea how to do things in Las Vegas. With cameras on every corner, there wasn't a way to stay out of sight. It was suicide to push things here without extensive planning. "For now, I'm going to see if I can find her brother and see if there are any family or friends of her parents who might take her. We'll see what we can find out about Diaz. If we get a location or can figure out a way to go in for the other kids, we'll do it, but I just don't see how we can. When we take on someone this powerful, we usually have months of research behind us. She said a cop picked her up and delivered her to Diaz. That tells me not to trust the local police. I'm positive this is a typical foster care trafficking case. Find kids who have no one and let them get lost in the system. Nobody is going to miss them or notice when they suddenly disappear. We know it happens every day across the United States. This is hardly the first case like this one."
"Wish I had some great advice, but you're right. It's insane to take on someone like Diaz without a shitload of planning. Jeremy is looking into what information we can find on him and seeing if there is anything we can use, but unless we can find a way inside to see how he runs things, we're not going to get much. And there is no chance of talking to anyone who used to work for him. You work for him until he decides you don't, then your body is found somewhere. There is no retirement plan from the organization," Dyson informed him.
"Great, that gives me warm-fuzzy feelings knowing he's going to be looking for Becca and Faith." Bryon wondered if he should just send the girls home. He could have Beau and Parson drive them back.
"Got to give the girls credit. They did what they had to do and did it right." Dyson laughed. "I've got Marshall hacking the hotel system now trying to see if we can find a video of it. That's something I want to see for sure."
"While you're in the hotel system, see if you can find where the men were before and after the incident. Maybe get me a license plate number or something? Let me know if they went straight to hotel management to find the video for themselves to hunt down Faith and Becca."
"We're gathering it all. One of the rescue teams that's been working the border region took on Diaz a few years ago. I think Carter might remember Neil from the organization called Bring Them Home. I'm going to give him a call and see what he can tell us. If I remember right, one of his team got inside the organization for a while before he was found out and Diaz had him killed. Hopefully, he can give us something to work with."
"I need to go get ready to move. Thanks for getting on top of this. I know you guys have your own cases to work on. I appreciate the help. I'll give you a call once we're settled at the safe house." Bryon stood.
"Anytime," Dyson said. "Stay safe out there."
"Always." Bryon ended the call. As he stood to start packing, he wondered just how involved he wanted to get and exactly what he would do with Lenora if there really wasn't anyone to take her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Becca looked up as Archer walked into Faith's suite followed by the rest of the guys. "Luggage is in the cars and they're waiting on us. You guys ready to do this?"
Becca smiled at Lenora, who had been nervously fidgeting on the couch. "You're going to be just fine. We aren't going to let anyone take you. If anything happens, just grab onto one of us and we'll get you to safety."
"Nothing is going to happen. We're going to walk down to the cars as a group. If you stay in between us, no one will even see you," Xander told Lenora. "Just keep hold of Becca's hand."
Becca offered her hand to Lenora. "Once we get to the new place, we'll be able to relax. I know I'm tired. I bet you are too."
Lenora shook her head. "I'm okay."
Becca hadn't missed the yawns and the way Lenora had been rubbing her eyes. The girl was tired. Becca wondered how long it had been since Lenora had slept in a normal bed or had been able to sleep well without fear she'd be called upstairs to be used by the men. That kind of stress was something no child should ever have to face.
"Okay, let's do this. We take the elevator down as a group. It will be tight, but I want us to stay together. Once in the lobby, move as a unit to the front doors. You'll see three black SUVs parked to the left of the doors. Those are ours. Go to the front one first and get the girls in. The rest of you move to the other cars. If anything happens, get safe and call in." Bryon and the men moved into position.
Becca stood and with Lenora's hand in hers, she moved to stand in between the group of men. Faith stepped in beside them and took Lenora's other hand.
"Let's go." Bryon opened the door.
Becca focused on keeping up with the men but also making sure she wasn't dragging Lenora too quickly. The narrow hallway had them spreading out more than she liked as she kept her head low to avoid having her face shown on any of the cameras. The baseball hat that Lenora wore helped to hide her face, but if anyone was watching, it would be very obvious they had a child with them. Hopefully, if anyone was watching the security camera footage, they'd think Lenora was a boy.
Once at the elevator, they stopped. "You okay?" Becca glanced down at Lenora.
"Yep." Lenora didn't look up and the slight nod of her head was enough.
