Page 49 of Wed
Xander held a cup of coffee in his hands as he slumped into a chair. "Matt made me get up."
Matt walked in behind him and laughed. "You were the one who woke me. Don't try and blame me." He sat down in the chair next to Xander's. "What do we have?"
Bryon passed the folder Carter had given him over to Matt. "More than we have time for."
"Damn." Matt raised a brow. He looked at Carter. "This all from the thumb drive?"
"Yep, and there's more I'm still digging through. I told Bryon it was up to you guys if you go in tonight. My only worry is that going after Roger last night will have everyone involved on alert. We've got your back if you want to go in. The location is easy in and out. Not a lot of traffic cameras in the area. Archer and I drove the area yesterday and saw only one home with obvious security cameras which will be easy to avoid." Carter passed over another folder to Kacey. "Let us know what you want to do."
Kacey glanced at Xander. "I'm in."
"So am I," Xander agreed.
"Read the file first to be sure, but we'll plan on going in tonight." Bryon looked at Archer. "What have we found on Wagstaff?"
"Jason and Jared Wagstaff will be harder. Their condos are secure and there's no way you can get in or out without being seen. If we're going after them, it's not going to be at home. They work together in an office just off the strip, near the courthouse. It's a large property management company. I don't see a way in there either." Archer shook his head. "I say we pass off the information we have to someone and hope they'll follow up on it."
"So after tonight we're done?" Bryon asked.
"Seems so. There's not a possible way to go after Diaz. I've already sent that information to one of the bigger organizations who are already working on taking them down. It would be suicide for us to try. I think we've put a big enough scare into the people around here. Taking down two of their men will have them all sweating. We looked into going after Beth Hudson, but since she's married to one of Diaz's men, it's too risky. Besides, we only have evidence of trafficking and rumors of beatings, we have nothing to confirm she's sexually abused the kids herself. Our team has always been firm that we don't go after anyone we can't confirm has abused kids sexually, so we're going to have to hope the trafficking ties are enough to bring her down once we hand over the information. My guess is she'll hide within Diaz's group so no one will find her." Carter sighed.
"Okay, so let's gather what we need to go in tonight after Ron Croatz. Then we'll figure out what we're doing with Tera and Geo and head back home in a few days." Bryon glanced at the group. "Any questions?"
'We're good." Kacey glanced at Xander. "We'll gather supplies and be ready to go around one in the morning."
"Perfect. I'll get with Becca and find out what's going on back there. Carter, you work with Parson on finding a home for the kids. I'll talk to Geo today and see what he wants to do. I refuse to leave him here if he's at risk of ending up back on the streets." Bryon was determined to see these kids get a better life than they'd had. "I'm going to go call Becca. Yell at me if you need anything or if we get any new information." He stood. "Right now, I need more coffee."
As he walked out of the office, he was glad the end was in sight. He wanted Becca back in his arms. The sooner he had her, the sooner the world would be right again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Becca pulled a tray of cookies from the oven and set another one in. "Let them cool a bit, then you can have one." She glanced over to where Eric, Lenora, and Andy were sitting at the kitchen table. They'd snuck enough cookie dough as they made the cookies, they probably didn't need any of the final product, but they were having fun and she got the sense that doing simple things like baking cookies was helping the adapt to the new surroundings they found themselves in.
"Do I smell cookies?" Beau walked into the kitchen.
"You do, but they're still too hot. You'll have to wait like the rest of us." Becca narrowed her eyes at him. "The kids worked hard on these, and I promised they get the first ones."
Beau held up his hands. "I'm happy to just sit here and enjoy the smell for now." He sat down beside the kids. "How's everyone doing today?"
"Hungry," Andy groaned.
Beau laughed. "Didn't you have tacos for lunch?"
"That was hours ago." Andy sighed.
Becca grinned. She'd loved having the kids with her, but now it was time to sit down and talk about what they were going to do next. She'd asked Beau to join them for the conversation since he'd bonded with the kids over the last few days.
"How's the arm?" Beau asked Eric.
"Okay. Don't like the cast."
"I know, but you'll get used to it. You won't have to wear it forever. Just a few weeks. We want your arm to heal and be strong so you can play." Beau glanced up as Parson walked in and sat down.
"You guys baked me cookies?" Parson teased.
"No, we baked us cookies," Andy said with a serious voice.
"But we'll share with you," Lenora told him.
