The Predator (15 page)

“How does it work?”

“Something like this. One of these lowlifes—let’s call him Rick—prowls around these online clubs and lets it be known he has images for sale. Sometimes it’s DVDs, too. That’s where the real money is.”

A look of distaste crossed Brandon’s face. Alex acknowledged it with a terse nod.

“Yep, this is why we come to work every day.”

“I’m beginning to see why you’re so passionate about it.”

“Passionate? Yeah, I guess I am. Although I’d be much happier if the world was rid of this kind of filth once and for all. I’d happily go into retirement if I could be assured another pedophile would never step foot in our world again.”

Brandon’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Death would be too good for them. I’d like to see them go a round or two with one of those Russian KGB interrogators from the ’80s. They really knew how to inflict pain. These scumbags would wind up wishing they were dead.”

Alex shuddered. “I can’t even bear thinking about it.” She drew the piece of paper closer. “Anyway, as I was saying, the Ricks of this world usually set up a legitimate online shop front—an adult shop or something similar, and they let it be known in the chat rooms and clubs that they have other stuff under the counter.”

“So to speak?”

Alex offered a slight smile. “Yeah, so to speak. The legitimate sales are usually one-offs and for smaller amounts. For example, a regular adult DVD sells for around twenty US dollars. Millions of them are sold around the world every day. It’s a thriving business. The illegal ones, on the other hand, sell for much, much more.”

“As you’d expect,” Brandon murmured.

“That’s right. A child porn DVD might sell for as much as five hundred US dollars. Then of course, there are the still images.”

“What are they worth?”

“Anywhere from fifty to one hundred and fifty bucks and we’re talking thousands of transactions.”

Brandon whistled. “That’s some serious coinage.”

“Yes,” Alex agreed. “And that’s why these shop fronts are popping up all over the place. It’s big money. And the demand seems endless. Then there are the website subscriptions.”

“What do they entail?”

“In addition to purchasing single images, you can pay a monthly membership fee, sign up to an Internet site and have unlimited access to their online images.”

“What’s the going rate?”

“Somewhere in the vicinity of thirty to forty US dollars a month. It’s a lucrative business.”

“But what about the clubs? I thought you said members shared their images for free?”

“I did and they do. But not everyone knows about these clubs and not everyone can become a member. In fact, they’re becoming very secretive and selective about who’s admitted. They’ve realized how far law enforcement can and will go to track them down now and they’ve become more reticent about advertising their activities.”

Brandon shook his head. “God, it’s just unbelievable. Until I started working here, I had no idea about the extent of the problem. And given the difficulties in tracing them, it’s a wonder you have any success in bringing them down.”

Alex wanted to bask in his admiration, but was unwilling to let him see how much she appreciated his sentiment. Instead, she offered a shrug.

“Yeah, well, we work hard and we’re good at what we do and each one of us is utterly determined to nail every single one of these scumbags.” She grimaced. “The problem is, for each one of them we put away, another five take their place. Some days it feels impossible.”

Empathy etched lines into Brandon’s face. “You just have to keep on keeping on and hope like hell that sooner or later, you’ll get on top of them. It’s all you can do.”

“Yeah, that and try to educate as many parents and kids as we can about the dangers of sharing information, and particularly photos, online.”

She looked up at him. “I’m glad to hear Tom and Lily have had the talk with Cassie.”

“What do you mean?”

“I spoke to her the other night, at the barbeque.”

Brandon frowned. “I thought she was in bed sick?”

“Yes, she was. Had the flu, I think. But I went upstairs and said hello to her before I left. She told me she’s not allowed on Facebook or Twitter.”

“Good to hear, although I’d expect nothing less from those two. They’ve both seen firsthand how dangerous those social networking sites can be.”

“I agree, but I can’t help thinking that it’s only a matter of time before she breaks the rules. She’s a teenager, after all. It’s what they do.”

“Well, hopefully her parents have instilled enough caution and common sense into her by that time, she’ll be sensible about it.”

“Yeah, I hope so. They’ve done a really good job so far. She’s a nice kid.”

Brandon’s gaze increased in its intensity. “So is Sam.”

Nerves tightened around Alex’s throat. “Thanks,” she managed.

“He’s pretty tall for his age.”

The words struck her like a physical blow. Her mind spun. Had he guessed she’d lied to him? Did he realize Sam was his son? Oh, God. She was
so
not ready for this conversation.

“Right and I guess you’ve been around lots of three-year-olds?”

“You said he was two.”

Alex shrugged and attempted to keep her breathing even. “Two, three—what does it matter?”

“Lily thought he looked older than two.” His gaze drilled into hers.

Alex tried to get a handle on her frantic thoughts. Shit, they’d obviously been talking about her—and Sam. She should never have gone to the barbeque. She’d known it before she’d accepted the invitation. And yet, she’d gone. Now look at the mess she was in.

Plastering a smile on her face, she gave him another shrug. “Everyone says that. What can I say? His dad’s tall.”

Brandon’s shoulders slumped. “That’s what I told Lily.”

Guilt rushed through her and she almost called out at the dejection that clouded his eyes. God, she couldn’t keep doing this.

“I’m sorry.” His apology startled her out of her reverie. Before she could respond, he spoke again, his voice rough with emotion.

“Please, Alex. Forgive me. It’s none of my business. I know I’ve said that before, but I’m saying it again. I’m sorry. I won’t ask you about your past again. We were over. You had every right to be with someone else. I’ve been acting like an idiot. We’re still over. I’m sorry.”

He turned and stumbled away in the direction of the locker room. Alex burned with shame. Every pore in her body radiated heat. She lay her head down on her desk and groaned. Why, oh why did he have to choose
her
unit? Why couldn’t he have stayed safely in the back of her mind, like he had for the last four years—existing, but not
co-existing
? So what if she’d spent more hours than she’d like to admit thinking about him, wondering how he was, hoping he thought of her—if only occasionally. So what if in the dark, lonely hours before dawn she’d longed for him. She’d never imagined it would happen—that he’d come striding back into her life and send everything into a turmoil, awakening feelings she’d forcefully put behind her.

The strain of keeping the truth about Sam from him was wearing her down and she had only herself to blame. She was the one who continued to vacillate over telling him. In the beginning, her mother had urged her over and over to rethink her decision and tell Brandon about the baby, but she’d refused. He hadn’t wanted a child when they’d been together; she’d seen no reason to tell him once they were separated.

She’d known him too well not to know he’d feel duty-bound to stay with her. She’d never met a man with a greater sense of honor. And that’s what had hurt and confused her more than anything. What had happened to that honor the night he’d chosen to walk away from his wedding vows? Only he knew, but their marriage had been irrevocably broken because of his refusal to talk about it, to explain himself, and it had stayed that way.

“You okay?”

Alex lifted her head as Ryan moved up beside her, concern in the dark depths of his eyes.

She managed a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m okay.” She motioned with her head in the direction of the locker room. “Just a few teething problems with the ex. We haven’t seen each other for more than four years. It’s taking a little adjusting having to work with him every day.”

“What’s he doing here?” Ryan’s voice held a note of distrust.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Emotion darkened Ryan’s eyes to black. “Just as long as he doesn’t go breaking your heart again. I haven’t forgotten how you were when you first turned up here still licking your wounds. You could barely string two words together that weren’t related to work. I don’t want that happening to you again.”

Alex smiled and reached out to squeeze his hand, surprised at the depth of his caring.

“Thanks, Ryan. I really appreciate you looking out for me. You’re the big brother I never had.”

Ryan blushed and his voice turned gruff. “Yeah, well, you do remind me of my little sister. She lives in the country. We don’t get to see each other very often. She’s as headstrong and stubborn as you. That makes it even harder to look out for her.”

Alex felt a surge of longing for the siblings she’d never had and for the camaraderie that came with them. And she thought about her son Sam, being raised without his father and cousins… “She’s lucky to have such a caring brother.”

Ryan offered a lop-sided grin, still embarrassed. “Yeah, well, I’m sure she’d agree with you—or not. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I passed Brandon on his way to the locker room and he looked like he was about to murder someone.”

“Yeah, well, that would be me, I guess.”

“If you want me to have a word with him…”

Alex was touched by his offer, but shook her head. “Thanks, Ryan. I really appreciate it, but I’m fine. We’re fine. We just have to give it time, let things work themselves out. It’s probably best if we keep everyone else out of it.”

“I understand. I do. I had to work with an ex once before, too.”

Curiosity tilted Alex’s lips up. “Really? Who was she?”

“No one you knew. She left a couple of months before you started working here. Clarissa Neil. We’d been together a few years, but it didn’t work out. We were both in the CPU when we broke up. It took her about six months to get a transfer. It was pretty tense for the first little while, but as you say, time has a way of working these things out.”

He shrugged. “After the first month or so, people kind of accepted we were no longer a couple and moved on. Once she started seeing someone else, it was almost as if the world had forgotten we’d ever been close, which made it easier to work together.”

Alex smiled. “So, what about you? Are you seeing anyone new? How’s that boat of yours going?

Ryan grinned. “As a matter of fact, I asked out the instructor who took me for my license test. You wouldn’t believe how well she can steer a boat.”

Alex smiled back at him genuinely pleased. “Well good on you, Ryan. I’m happy for you.”

“Yeah, it beats pining over an ex.”

His words struck her hard. Whether he meant them to or not, Alex couldn’t tell, but they reverberated through her head long after he’d moved away.

Was she still pining over Brandon?
Was that what she’d call the all-to-frequent late-night wistful dreamings that things had worked out differently?

Surely not. No, what they’d had together had been great, for awhile. And then it had been awful. Time to put that to bed, once and for all and get on with her life. A life that didn’t include Brandon.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Brandon listened to the rhythmic thud of his running shoes on the pavement and tried to concentrate on the gorgeous Sydney morning unfolding before him.

The sky was clear and crisp with only the whisper of an occasional feathery cloud to break up the blue. The morning sun had enough warmth in it to chase away the overnight chill. The ocean sparkled like diamonds.

It was his favorite jogging route, high above the sand of Bondi beach, and it never failed to lift his mood. On a day like today, with most people kick-starting their weekend, the footpath was crowded with other joggers, mothers with prams, tourists and even older people, all enjoying the unseasonably warm winter weather.

He hadn’t had a decent run for nearly a week. With the investigation heating up, he’d been drawing long hours at his desk and even longer back in his unit. As the new kid on the block, he’d felt an obligation to come up to speed and help his colleagues in any way he could. He’d spent more than a hundred hours of his own time collating the information he’d gathered from chat rooms and other sites and was now comparing it to the people whose addresses had been found on Janssens’ computer.

One name on his list kept coming up: James Gibbons. The name itself meant nothing, but the man had an active presence on the net and was a regular visitor to sites that were known to be frequented by pedophiles. His email address had also been among those found on the hard drive of the computer in Belgium.

Brandon wanted to talk to someone about what he’d found. No, not just to someone. He wanted to talk this over with Alex. But he’d promised to leave her alone and he’d meant it. She wanted to move on with her life. He had to do the same. He had to put aside the yearning that things could go back the way they had been and face the fact he would live the rest of his life without her.

Alex was never going to love him again. She may have forgiven him, but things between them would never be the same. He knew that. In his head, he knew that. It was his heart that still held out hope. Especially after that kiss.

She’d melted against him. He’d felt her hunger. If Lily hadn’t interrupted them…

But then she’d shut him down. She’d even claimed to be seeing someone. It had knifed him when she’d said that, but the more he’d thought about it, the more it seemed likely to be a few throw-away words said in the heat of the moment from a woman desperate to regain control.

His head had been spinning, too. Their kiss had triggered a torrent of emotions—shock and amazement and hope and love—he’d barely been able to put two words together afterwards. He’d known exactly how disorientated she’d have been feeling. He’d felt the same way.