Seduced in the Dark (41 page)

Rafiq sighed deeply and shook his head. “I
never said such a thing,
Khoya
.” He removed his foot from
Caleb’s chest and cocked his weapon one more time to take the
bullet out of the chamber. “Things are….”

“I know,” Caleb whispered. Their revenge was
close at hand and Caleb had jeopardized it. Rafiq had every right
to shoot Caleb where he lay. The pain in Caleb’s chest suddenly had
nothing to do with being held down. He had betrayed the one person
who’d never judged him for the things he’d done, for the sake of
the one person who loved him in spite of the person he’d become.
“I’m sorry,” Caleb said again, knowing Rafiq couldn’t yet guess how
deeply his apology went.

He realized there would be no reasoning with
Rafiq, no compromise over his fate or Livvie’s. There was only one
option left and Caleb had always known it might come down to it all
along. One of them would have to die.

***

“Celia?” the man repeated. I held the gun in
my hands, but didn’t know what I meant to do. I looked toward
Celia.

Her eyes were wide as saucers, but she held
up her hands and kept calm, “It’s Felipe. Please, put the gun
down.”

“Caleb said not to let anyone in. I think
that includes Felipe,” I said. I felt faint, my world blurry at the
edges as I considered shooting my way out of the room.

“Please, Kitten! Don’t be an idiot. Felipe
will never let you out of here alive if you don’t put the gun
away,” she pleaded.

“Tell him to go away,” I hissed.

“He’ll know something’s wrong. I would never
tell him what to do,” she said.

Loud knocking and a string of Spanish came
through the door, “Celia, come to the door now or I will break down
the door.”

I nearly vomited in my mouth as I considered
going up against Felipe. I looked to Celia and she frantically
wiped tears from her eyes. “Go to the door,” I said.

“What will you do?” Celia sobbed.

“Ask him where Caleb is,” I urged.

Celia nodded and slowly crawled toward the
door, “I’m in here with Kitten,” she said. Her voice seemed calm
and considering her face was puffy with tears, I was impressed.

“Why is the door locked?” Felipe’s angry
voice asked through the door.

“Caleb was worried,” she said. “Where is
he?”

“Downstairs with Rafiq, open the door,” he
said. It sounded like a command.

Celia looked toward me with a pleading
expression. I weighed my options for a few seconds and decided to
let Celia open the door, but there was no way I was giving up the
gun. I put it on the ground next to me. “Open the door,” I
said.

“Be calm, Kitten,” Celia said, “Felipe won’t
hurt you unless you make him. Trust me.” She waited until I nodded
and then turned the lock. She opened the door slowly and Felipe,
gun in hand, stepped inside to the side of the door.

“What’s going on?” he asked Celia, but kept
his eyes on me. I was still on the floor, taking cover next to the
bed.

“Tell her Caleb is alright,” Celia said. She
placed herself between me and Felipe.

“Why have you been crying, Celia? What
happened here?” Felipe asked. His tone was deadly and calm.

“Nothing, my love. I’ve just been keeping
Kitten, company. She’s scared, Felipe. Tell her Caleb is alright.
She’s worried about him,” she pleaded.

“He’s fine. He and Rafiq are having a drink.
He should be up here shortly. We can all wait for him,” he said,
but didn’t lower his gun.

“Why didn’t he come himself?” I
screeched.

“He couldn’t, not without raising
suspicions. As it was,
I
suspected something might be
happening up here. Why were you crying, Celia?” Felipe asked. His
tone hinted at his anger.

“It’s just girl talk, Felipe. Please don’t
make a fuss. She was terrified you were coming to hurt her and it
made me think about….” Celia’s voice trailed off. Slowly, she
raised her hand and caressed Felipe’s face, “Don’t you remember
what it was like in the beginning?”

Felipe’s eyes turned sad. He lowered his gun
and kissed Celia’s forehead. “I’m sorry she made you remember,” he
whispered. “Especially when I’ve tried so hard to make you
forget.”

“I have Felipe, I promise you I have,” she
whispered.

Celia still stood between us and while I
didn’t necessarily trust Felipe, she had proven herself a friend by
remaining between me and certain death. I remembered my
conversation in the dungeon with Felipe. He had taken Celia as a
trophy and by his own admission had not treated her kindly. Looking
at them now, it was difficult to picture a time when Felipe was
cruel to Celia. Then again, I didn’t know either of them very well.
Celia didn’t seem to have a clue as to how much Felipe loved her.
It looked fairly obvious to me.

Felipe nodded and pulled Celia into his
arms. She sobbed loudly into his chest as he stroked her hair and
whispered reassuring things. Seeing them made me ache for
Caleb.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I didn’t mean to cause
any problems.” It was true. I didn’t want to cause problems. The
only thing I wanted was a way out for me and Caleb.

Felipe looked up at me, “Go wash up, sweet
girl. You’re master should be coming back any minute and I suggest
you’re ready for him when he does. You don’t have much time
together.”

“What do you mean?!” I blurted.

Felipe gave me a wry smile, “I wish there
was more I could do for the two of you. I’ve enjoyed watching your
relationship unfold. Good luck to you, Kitten.”

As I sat, stunned and with my mouth agape,
Felipe led Celia out of the room and shut the door behind him. I
had surrendered my hostage. I had surrendered my guide. I had
surrendered to whatever fate awaited me once the door opened.

Chapter
Twenty-one

Day 10: 11pm

Matthew had had a sick feeling in his
stomach for the better part of the last hour. The feeling wasn’t
necessarily new; it had accompanied him many times on certain
cases. The world was a sick, fucked-up place and he dealt with it
more than most, but this case was shaping up to be a nightmare he’d
remember forever. Every agent had a case that haunted them. Olivia
and her Caleb would be his.

Some interesting hits had turned up via
facial recognition, nation-wide records searches and the Homeland
Security database. Matthew, along with a few other agents had
started putting the pieces together over the last five hours.

“I think Karachi makes the most sense given
the intel,” Agent Williams said. She’d flown in from Virginia once
the sensitive nature of the case became clearer.

“I agree. The boys at the FIA aren’t going
to like what we have to say, but it looks like Muhammad Rafiq has
been making use of military resources to cover-up his human
trafficking ring,” Matthew said.

Karachi was a coastal city, accessible by
air and sea. It was an ethnically and socio-economically diverse
area, capable of camouflaging rich and poor alike. According to
information from SSgt Patel, who had access to the passenger
manifests and air traffic control documentation, several high
visibility persons of interest would be arriving in the next two
days. Many were already in the city. Unfortunately, none of the
names on the list were Vladek Rostrovich or Demitri Balk. Still,
Matthew reasoned, he could be traveling under a different alias.
One thing was certain though; Muhammad Rafiq would be in
attendance.

He thought about Olivia Ruiz and everything
she had been saying over the last several days. She had no idea how
deep Rafiq’s involvement in the slave trade ran. Based on the pile
of information on Matthew’s desk, he was beginning to suspect,
Caleb, had no idea either. Rafiq had been in it for the money for a
very long time. The evidence suggested he’d been a key player since
1984.

Matthew held up a picture of Vladek
Rostrovich and Muhammad Rafiq taken in Pakistan that same year.
Rafiq wore his military uniform and pointed to a table full of
Russian weapons, his arm slung over Vladek’s shoulder.

Matthew’s best guess was that Muhammad Rafiq
had acted as Vladek Rostrovich’s arms broker during his missions in
other parts of the world, most notably: Africa, Turkey,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Perhaps guns had begun the connection,
but it hadn’t ended there.

Another photograph from 1987 showed Rafiq
and Vladek at a Pakistani military dinner. Vladek sat at the
officers table with Rafiq, also in attendance was Bapoto Sekibo. He
was notorious for razing entire villages, killing men, women, and
children in the pursuit of natural resources and valuable
territories for corporate projects coming in from other countries.
Some of the corporations even had roots in the U.S. In fact, all
three men had been photographed at one time or another with U.S.
Senators or CEO’s of major companies.

Matthew wasn’t surprised sex, guns, and
money were interconnected. Even Vladek’s African diamond mines
didn’t come as a shock. No, the most shocking piece of information
was an unsolved missing person’s case from 1989 sitting on the
pile. He couldn’t resist picking it up and staring at the picture
paper-clipped to the file.

“Pretty fucked up, huh?” Agent Williams
whispered from across the desk.

The sick feeling in Matthew’s stomach flared
and he rubbed his stomach. As he stared at the photo, he wondered
what, if anything, he should do with the information. “Yeah. It
is.”

“You okay? When’s the last time you ate?”
Williams asked.

“Hours ago, and just a salad. Been on a
steady stream of coffee since then,” Matthew said and offered a
watery smile. It was nice working with someone, even if Agent
Williams was a little too young and bright eyed for his tastes. She
still got excited about the job and didn’t hide it very well.
Matthew didn’t really get excited anymore, solving cases was an
obsession, locking the bad guys up, satisfying – but he’d stopped
being excited a long time ago. No matter how many cases were
resolved, or how many villains were brought to justice, there were
always new cases and new bad guys. It was a vicious circle.

“That stuff’ll kill you,” Agent Williams
said through a smile. “I still have half a turkey sandwich in the
fridge if you want it?”

“No, that’s okay. I’m not hungry,” he
said.

“You keep staring at that picture?” she
hedged.

Matthew couldn’t stop thinking about Olivia.
She was mourning the loss of a man she didn’t really know and for
the first time, Matthew was beginning to understand why she fought
for him so strongly. “The witness says he died helping her escape.
I’m wondering if it should just stay there. I mean, I wish I didn’t
know this. I can’t imagine how the mother would feel.”

“I try not to think about that stuff. Not
really our priority, you know?” Williams said. “It’s going to be a
bitch getting a team into Pakistan. I’m trying to just focus on one
thing at a time. Some kidnapped kid who turned out to be a serious
prick isn’t really on my radar.”

Matthew looked up at Williams, “How old are
you, Williams?”

She stiffened, “Twenty-four,” she answered.
“Why? Are you going to give me shit about my age?”

He held up the photograph. “James Cole was a
few months shy of his sixth birthday when he was taken. Just try to
imagine your life the past eighteen years and how different it was
compared to the hell this little boy had to live through.”

Williams stared long and hard at the
photograph before she turned away to mess with the files on her own
side of the desk. “It’s sad, Reed. I know it’s sad, but there’s
nothing we can do for that kid. And the man he turned out to be?
He’s better off dead,” Williams said.

“I’m not trying to defend him. Trust me;
I’ve spent the last week doing exactly the opposite. It’s just…she
has a way of making me think about things. She basically talked her
way out of being sold at the auction.” Matthew smiled. Olivia was
certainly unlike any person he’d met in his thirteen years on the
job. He would never forget her, or Caleb, and the boy he’d been. He
would never forget this case and for whatever reason, he felt the
need to take a moment and preserve the memory of it correctly.

“Pretty smart girl. Except for the falling
in love with her captor part,” Williams said. “
Although
, if
you’re going to fall for any kidnapper, good
gawd
, he should
be as handsome as this son of a bitch.” Williams lifted Caleb’s
surveillance photo from a few years back and waggled her
eyebrows.

Matthew laughed. “You’re sick. You know
that, right?”

Williams shrugged. “I don’t get out
much.”

“Why’s that?”

“Eh, the job, I guess. I don’t really get
off on dating other agents and normal guys can’t deal.” She
shrugged again.

“Do you think we should let his mother know
we found him?” Matthew asked.

“It’s been twenty years, Reed. She’s
probably thought he was dead for a long time. I don’t think telling
her we found her son and he just so happens to be a human
trafficking son of a bitch who died in a botched escape attempt
isn’t exactly consoling,” Williams said, wryly. She and Matthew sat
in silence for a few moments, before Williams added, “She’s better
off believing her little boy died innocent, you know?”

Williams had a point. “Yeah. I just wish…I
wish I’d been in the bureau back then, maybe I could have found him
before it was too late.” He thought about Olivia and her grief. It
was sad, knowing she was the only one who would miss Caleb. She was
the only who would mourn him.

“Wait!” Williams said suddenly, and startled
Matthew.

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s not really relevant, but…” She
handed one of her files over to Matthew. “Vladek went to college in
the U.S. He went to the University of Oregon,” she whispered.