Page 20 of Wild Temple
"You’ve got to do something," Brooke demanded. "They kidnapped Hannah!"
"Are you sure she's not romantically involved with one of these men?” he said with doubtful eyes.
Brooke’s jaw flexed with anger. Steam was about to come out of her ears. "No! She's not romantically involved with one of these men. Have you not heard a word I've said? They injected her with something! They attacked both of us. I escaped.”
He regarded her with skepticism, then glanced at me. "Who are you?"
"He's a friend who saved me from these assholes," Brooke said, her face red with rage.
"Like I said, we’ll look into it. I'm sure your friend will turn up.”
"How is she going to turn up if she was drugged?”
"Does your friend have a history of drug use?”
Brooke did her best to keep her cool. “No! Neither one of us uses drugs. Are you not listening? I'm telling you, they injected her with something.”
The officer scribbled a few more notes on the page. "Is there anything else?”
"We met Bayu at Nomad.” She pointed to the street. "Less than a block from here. I'm sure he's going to be back on the street recruiting more unsuspecting girls. They're clearly part of a trafficking ring.”
The officer made another note. "Do you have a picture of your friend?”
Brooke launched the photos app on her phone, found an image of Hannah, and sent it to the officer's phone.
"I'll put her picture up on our website and get the word out to all the local officers and agencies. In the meantime, I would contact the US Embassy.”
"So, that's it? That's all you're going to do?”
He gave her an annoyed look. "What do you want me to do?”
"I want you to send a squad of police officers out to the waterfall and search the jungle for my friend.”
"If your friend has been abducted, I doubt she’s still in the jungle. You told me they left in a white van. But you don’t have a license plate.”
Brooke growled at her wit’s end. “No. I don’t have a license plate. I never saw them leave in the van, but the van was gone when we got back to the parking lot.”
“So she could have left with the men in another vehicle?”
“Anything is possible. And she didn’tleavewith them. She was taken.”
The officer scribbled more notes.
I put a comforting hand on Brooke’s shoulder. "Let's go to the Embassy.”
I thanked the officer and asked him to check recent arrests for anyone named Isabella. It was a long shot, but worth checking. She’d likely be traveling under a cover identity,but might stick to her first name. It was common practice in undercover or covert situations.
No one with that name had been arrested in the last week or so.
I escorted Brooke out of the police station, and we stepped onto the sidewalk. Tourists strolled up and down Sunset Row.
Brooke sobbed. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I gotta call Hannah's mother and tell her that her daughter has been kidnapped. How am I supposed to do that? This whole trip was my idea. It's all my fault.”
"It's going to be okay," I said, having no business making such assurances. I felt bad for Brooke. I couldn't just leave her in the lurch. "I'll do everything I can to help you find Hannah.”
Brooke looked up at me with grateful eyes. "You've done so much already. That would mean the world to me.”
"I'm already searching for one person. Why not make it two?”
