Page 39 of Preying Heart
“Remi, we’re not the ones you should worry about. But we have contacts in this entire world of human trafficking. We hear things. We sift through rumors. This morning Heath and I figured out who’s behind the million-dollar bounty.”
“Who?”
“You’d better sit down,” Heath says, steering me to the table.
I plop onto the chair and brace myself against the table. “I’m ready. Who?”
“We don’t know his name, but he’s the guy funding our rescues,” Lucy says.
“Is he associated with the Greasleys? They’re behind Operation Persephone.”
“They’re only the figureheads,” Heath adds. He sets the table and spoons scrambled eggs, hash browns, and fruit salad on each of our plates. “The money behind it comes from the same crypto wallet that buys and sells secrets on the dark web.”
“Not just secrets, but hired help,” Lucy says. “Wet works, drug trafficking, sex trafficking.”
“In other words, bad stuff,” Heath adds.
It feels to me like the two of them rehearsed all of this, the better to pull the wool over my eyes. I have to keep thinking what’s in it for them.
“Did you contact the Million-Dollar Dude? The one who says he knows you have me?” Spikes of panic prick the backside of my heart. I can’t get enough air but at the same time, I can’t let them see me panic.
“We did, but we didn’t let on that we’ve seen you,” Heath says.
Since when did Punch and Judy become “we”? But I’m distracting myself.
Focus. Focus. It’s two against one, and they have all the knowledge.
“So how do you know his crypto wallet and who he is?”
“Heath made him pay one Bitcoin to show he has the money,” Lucy says.
“Why would he pay if he didn’t suspect you already caught me?” I hope my questions sound smart enough.
“There are eyes and ears everywhere,” Lucy says. “And mouths.”
Heath doesn’t meet my eyes, choosing to swirl his coffee as if the answers lie in the dregs.
“So he’s closing in. Who is he? And what are you two going to do, just hand me over?” It’s hard not to panic, but I manage to keep my voice low.
“He doesn’t want us to hand you over,” Heath says. “He wants the baby to be born, and then you’re going to give the baby to him.”
“What? Who is he? Why would he want my baby?”
“We only know his crypto wallet address,” Lucy says. “But we went through the blockchain and found it used in other places. Heath has friends in one of those lettered agencies, the ones who keep track of all electronic transactions.”
“Didn’t they use a VPN?” I’m not that out of it when it comes to computer networks. Gavin required me to use a VPN, or virtual private network, whenever I went online. It ensures that no one knows my physical location and can be randomized between sessions so I can’t be always traced to a particular address.
“Of course he used a VPN to access the blockchain, but the blockchain is public,” Heath says. “Everyone can browse the chain and identify transactions and addresses. We just don’t know who is behind the addresses. We do know Operation Persephone’s address since they post it for Bitcoin donations. We also know some of the other addresses he transacts with because some of the endpoints are compromised.”
“In other words, they’re agents posing as traffickers,” Lucy explains.
All of this is spinning my head until I fixate on something they left out. “Wait a minute. You said I didn’t see the news. Of course I didn’t. You have me blacked out on all communication. No TV. No internet. No phone. What news?”
A look of concern passes between Heath and Lucy. It has me more worried than ever. Was my brother caught? Or worse, is he dead? The communication blackout I’ve been under means the world could come to an end, and I could still be sitting in Heath’s kitchen having breakfast with his ex with his dog under the table.
“Your foster father is dead,” Heath says with a grave expression on his face. “He was pinned to the headboard of his bed by a dagger through his throat.”
“What?” My head feels light and if I wasn’t already sitting down, I would have crumpled to my knees. “Did they give a reason?”
