3 The Chain of Lies (21 page)

Peter looked at the girl cowering next to the woman. Then he turned his attention back to the madam.

“I would like to have sex in my own hotel room, not here. I’m sure I would enjoy it a whole lot more.”

“But she is here, you are here, the bed is ready. What is problem?”

“I want you to bring a girl to my hotel room. Can you do that? I’m willing to pay extra.”

“How much extra?”

“I’d pay five hundred dollars.”

“Five hundred?” The woman’s eyes widened at the number.

“Yeah, but she has to be an American. No offense to you Asians, but I really prefer a Caucasian girl, you know, a white girl. I’d be willing to pay you twice that, but she has to be young. I don’t want any worn-out hookers.”

“One thousand dollar?” She sounded incredulous. “You pay me one thousand dollar if I bring a young American girl to your hotel room?”

“Yes, that’s what I want.”

The woman looked hard at Peter for a moment, then she looked at the girl cringing beside her. “You give me half now and half when I bring the girl.”

“Five hundred now and five hundred tonight?” Peter asked, rubbing his jaw. “Let me see.”

“Do it, Peter,” Ellis directed. “You have enough on you, but make her work for it.”

“Let’s say I give you the first five hundred dollars but then you don’t show up? I’m out five hundred big ones.”

“You know where you can find me. No worries, I show up,” she assured him.

“Still, I’m taking a risk here.”

“No, no, you have my word. I am honest business woman.”

“Oh, brother,” Emily sighed.

“I don’t know,” he stalled, fidgeting with his towel.

“Peter, don’t make her work that hard. Close the deal,” Ellis said.

“All right, lady, you have a deal.”

“Very good, mister.”

“Now let me get dressed, and I’ll give you the cash and my hotel information on the way out. Okay?”

“Okay.” The woman grabbed the girl by the arm and all but dragged her out the door.

Peter’s hidden video camera caught the girl casting a fearful glance over her shoulder at him as he stood watching her leave, wearing nothing but a towel. As soon as she was out of sight, he turned away and stepped behind the tri-folding changing screen, grabbing the glasses on his way. He quickly dressed and left the room, finding Ratana waiting for him behind the reception desk.

As he stepped up to the desk, he heard the crinkling of paper behind him in the small waiting area. Peter turned to see a stocky Asian man, dressed in black slacks and a black polo shirt sitting in a chair reading a newspaper.

“That’s the driver!” Emily bolted out of her chair. “He brings the girls from the house down to the massage parlor.”

“Peter,” Ellis called out, “try to get the guy to look up at you so we get his face on tape.”

“Mister,” Peter said, “is that today’s paper?”

The man looked up briefly and nodded his head at Peter.

“You want newspaper?” Ratana asked.

“Nah, that’s okay. Now that I think of it, there’s probably one in my hotel room.”

Peter dug the full money clip out of his pants pocket and pulled off five one hundred dollar bills. She handed him a pad of note paper and a pen, and he scrawled down the name of the hotel and his room number.

“There you go.” He held out the money and the note but did not release them when she tugged on them, getting her attention. He lowered his voice to a quieter, more serious tone and dipped his head down closer to hers. “You will bring the girl to my hotel room at nine o’clock tonight, right? Because I don’t like being made a fool of.”

She leaned to the side and peered around Peter, presumably at the man in the waiting room. Was she seeking his confirmation?

“Yes, yes, I bring her. Nine o’clock.” Ratana yanked the money and note out of Peter’s hand as he loosened his grip on them. “No worries. I bring her.”

CHAPTER 18

Peter stepped up into the FBI van to a round of applause. With one hand in front of his waist and one hand behind, he took a dramatic bow.

“Great job, MacKenzie,” Ellis praised.

“It was all for Molly.”

“You could always become an actor if the reporter thing doesn’t work out,” Colin kidded as Emily elbowed him lightly in the side.

“I’d say Oscar worthy,” Isabel added with a few claps of her hands.

“Too bad you couldn’t get that girl’s name,” Colin said.

“I think the girl knew she was being watched,” Peter said. “You know, the camera over the door.”

“Yeah, you have to be very careful when a camera is on you,” Colin smirked, clearly referring to Peter looking at his shoes. “Forgetting can leave you, shall we say,
exposed
.”

Peter’s cheeks flushed red.

“Oh, Colin, stop that.” Emily playfully slapped his leg. “Peter, you did a great job.”

“Now, about my car.” Ellis stuck out his hand and Peter tossed the car keys to him.

Emily swiveled her seat to face Tony. “Now what?”

“Now we move on to phase two.” Ellis stood and addressed the group. “We mobilize our respective teams, stick to the plan, and we rescue those girls.”

Molly’s image flashed in Emily’s mind. A stillness fell over the van like a hush. From the somber looks on the others’ faces, she suspected they were likely thinking about her, too. Time was ticking away. As important as it was to set the other girls free, if they didn’t rescue Molly that night, she may be lost to them forever.

~*~

Colin, Emily, and Peter got in position at the Paradise Valley Hotel. Colin had called earlier in the day and made arrangements for the hotel to clear a block of eight rooms on the third floor, hoping to keep any other guests from traipsing through their operation. He brought along three of Paradise Valley’s young police officers, dressed in street clothes.

FBI Special Agent Tony Ellis took charge of the entire operation, and he had outfitted each of them with state-of-the-art earpieces with embedded microphones. Peter retained his glasses, both for continuity and for taping their end of the takedown.

Emily sat in the lobby with two of the plain-clothes officers, out of the way but with a clear view of the entrance, anxiously waiting for Ratana to deliver Molly. Colin waited with Peter and the other plain-clothes cop in the third-floor room. The plan was for Colin to move to one of the vacant reserved rooms as soon as Peter was alerted their guests had arrived. The plain-clothes cop was to hide in Peter’s closet until he was needed.

At five minutes to nine, Ratana and one of the Thai girls walked through the hotel’s entry, escorted by the husky Asian man. Seeing Molly was not with the woman, Emily’s heart began to race and her palms became sweaty, horrified at what that might mean.

“Colin,” Emily said as she faced one of the officers seated next to her, leaning toward him as if she was having a conversation with him, “Ratana is here but she did not, I repeat, did not bring Molly with her.” Her voice cracked as she fought against the tears that rushed to her eyes. “She brought one of the girls from the spa.”

“Damn!” she could hear Colin shout.

“She didn’t bring Molly?” Special Agent Ellis asked through the earpiece.

“Oh, it gets better. She brought a body guard. Colin, you better alert Peter and get out of there.”

~*~

“I heard you, Emily.” Peter stared at Colin. “Now what?”

“Agree to accept the girl, but I have to get out of here before they show up.” Colin walked toward the door and the other cop stepped into the closet. “Heads up in there. Not a peep. I’ll let you both know what to do next through the earpieces.”

The officer slid the closet door shut as Colin slipped out and down the hall.

Within minutes there was a knock at Peter’s door.

“They’re here,” he said quietly into the mic before he opened the door. “Hi, come on in.”

Ratana pushed passed him, pulling the dolled-up girl behind her. The Asian man remained in the hallway.

“What’s this? I told you a white American girl. You promised me.”

“I know, I know. I don’t have one for you. I know you want American, but not possible. So sorry.”

Peter crossed his arms and glared at the woman, then at the girl, showing his displeasure at the change. In truth, he was trying to cover his mounting fear and crushing disappointment at the diminishing chances to rescue his niece. This would have been his opportunity to save her, but now her rescue was in question.

“But this one will give you great pleasure. And it will only cost you five hundred dollar. See, I save you money this way.”

Peter looked at the girl whose eyes were lowered. She was dressed in a short, tight, red satin dress with black stilettos and way too much makeup. Her midnight-black hair was pulled up in a twist, held in place by two chopstick-like mahogany picks. She reminded him of a little girl trying to play dress-up.

He put two fingers gently under her chin and slowly lifted her face, revealing her big brown eyes. He was certain what he saw in them was utter fear and soul-wrenching pain. “Okay, she can stay.” If he couldn’t save Molly, at least he could save this one.

“I leave now. I be back in one hour.”

“One hour? Five hundred dollars for only one hour?” Peter feigned surprise. In reality, he was glad to have the ordeal over in an hour instead of dragging it on through the night.

“You want longer, it will cost more.”

“No, one hour is fine.”

Ratana said something to the girl in her native language and the girl nodded, then the woman was out the door.

“Did you get that?” Peter asked, knowing Tony Ellis was monitoring the video feed.

“Got it.”

Peter looked out the peephole to make sure Ratana and the man were both gone. All he saw was the back of the man’s broad head. “That woman left the hulk to stand guard outside the door.”

“We’ll put our heads together and get rid of the guy,” Colin said.

“I’ve tapped into the hotel’s video feed. I can see the woman in the elevator,” the special agent informed the group. “Andrews, make sure one of your men in the lobby watches for her when she gets off the elevator and stays with her. We have to keep eyes on that woman.”

“He’s already been given his orders, Ellis.”

Peter turned back to the girl who was seated on the edge of the bed, unbuttoning her dress. “No, no. Don’t do that,” he said, waving his hands at her.

“I don’t understand.” Her expression told of confusion mingled with fear.

“I’m not having sex with you. I’m going to help you.”

“Help me?”

“That’s right.”

“No one can help me,” she said sadly with a slight shake of her head.

“What’s your name?”

She shook her head again, looking down at her hands worrying in her lap.

“Trust me, no one will hurt you.”

She raised her head and looked into Peter’s face, as if she was considering whether to believe him or not. “Maliwan,” she said softly.

“Okay, Maliwan, just sit tight. There’ll be people coming and going, but you’re safe here with me. Understand?”

She nodded.

“And you might hear me talking to myself, but I’m actually talking to someone else in my ear.” He pulled his earpiece out and showed her.

Her eyebrows wrinkled together and she cocked her head, then she sat in uneasy silence.

“Peter, this is Colin. I have a plan, but I need you to distract the hulk so I can sneak out of this room.”

“What do you want me to do?” Peter asked, distancing himself from the girl.

“Take the ice bucket to the door and ask the guy to get you some ice. Of course, he won’t, but it will sway his attention for a few seconds.”

“I can do that,” Peter replied.

The girl watched as he grabbed the ice bucket off the dresser and went to the door. As Peter opened it, the large man spun around and glared at him. Holding up the bucket, he asked, “If it’s not too much trouble, big guy, would you mind getting us some ice? I think the machine might be by the stairs, but I’m not sure. Here’s the bucket.” Peter held it out to him.

“Me get ice? No. You want ice, you get it.” He shook his head as he turned back around and retook his post.

“Never mind.” Peter slowly shut the door.

“Give us a few minutes, Peter. Emily and I have a plan. You might hear a ruckus outside your door for a second. Don’t panic.”

“You have things under control over there, Andrews?” Ellis asked.

“Yes, sir. We’ll give you an update as soon as we get this goon out of the way.”

~*~

The elevator tone dinged as the doors slid open. Out stepped Emily clinging to Colin, pretending they’d had too much to drink and were on the way to their room. Laughing and staggering down the hallway, they kept an eye on the Asian hulk. They stopped at the room directly across from Peter’s.