‘Not true,’ Scarlett said. ‘Some do, I’ll allow you, but you’ll find most Americans will feel compassion for you and anger at the people who tricked you into coming here under false pretenses. The community will want to help. That’s not to say everyone will be kind or nice. Illegal immigration is a complicated problem. But you didn’t sneak in. You had legal visas when you arrived. I’ve seen the records.’

‘They took them from us,’ Mila said in a trembling voice. ‘Which doesn’t matter now. The visas expired two years ago.’

‘You’ll get new ones,’ Scarlett said with a smile. ‘But you’ll have to trust me.’

Mila drew a deep breath. ‘Where will we have to go?’

‘You can come back with us. My partner and some of his fellow FBI agents want to talk to you about the people who brought you here. They’ll need your help to catch them.’

Mila twisted her hands together. ‘Will you . . . stay with us?’

Scarlett’s heart broke and she had to clear her throat. ‘As long as I can. Marcus will too. And Father Trace.’ She took Mila’s hands in hers. ‘You have friends here. You’re safe.’

‘Where will we live?’ Erica asked, trying hard to make her question sound forceful, but underneath Scarlett heard a scared little girl.

‘We’ll find you a place. It might be a safe house at first, just until we figure out who’s behind all this. That might mean you’ll have a police guard. That doesn’t mean you’re in jail. It just means we don’t want anyone to hurt you.’

‘For how long?’ Erica persisted.

Scarlett sighed. ‘I wish I had an answer for you, Erica. But let me tell you this – Marcus is very, very important to me, and right now his life is in danger every time he walks around in public. Even if I didn’t care about you and your family – and I do care – I’d be trying to solve this as fast as possible to keep Marcus safe. That’s all I can promise, except that I am very good at my job, and so is my partner, Agent Novak.’

Mila was quiet for a long moment while Scarlett held her breath. Then Mila nodded and Scarlett exhaled in relief. ‘We’ll come with you,’ Mila said. ‘But no handcuffs.’

Once more Scarlett’s heart broke. ‘Of course no handcuffs,’ she promised gruffly. ‘You have my word. I’m going to ask Marcus to come back into the room now and we’ll take you to Cincinnati.’

‘That’s what the other guys said,’ Erica muttered as Scarlett turned to go.

Her hand on the doorknob, Scarlett turned back to face the girl. ‘Which other guys? Anders and his wife?’

Mila shook her head. ‘No. The man and woman who met us at the airport and took us to the Anderses. They said they were married and that they ran the business where we’d be working. We believed them.’

A male/female ‘married’ pair to meet a family. It made good sense if you were the traffickers. A married couple would inspire confidence, encourage the victims to let their guard down. ‘Can you describe them?’

‘The man was very big,’ Mila said. ‘And dark-skinned. Maybe forty years old or a little older. The woman was smaller than the man, but bigger than any of us, including my husband. She had blond hair and was much younger than the man. They pretended to be nice and loving for the first day, but then they stopped for the night and . . .’

‘Out came the handcuffs,’ Erica said flatly. ‘The man was big and strong and fast. Trained in karate, I think. He put Tala in a stranglehold when she tried to get away with me and John Paul. My father tried to fight, but the man switched arms and knocked him unconscious with one punch. And then, um . . .’ She looked away. ‘He raped Tala. That was our first clue that we were in trouble,’ she finished bitterly.

Scarlett released the doorknob without opening the door, slowly walked back to Mila and Erica and knelt in front of the girl. ‘Did he rape you too, Erica?’

A hard swallow and a nod.

Scarlett closed her eyes and sighed. ‘I’m so sorry.’ Then her eyes popped open on a frown as Erica’s words sank in. Big, dark-skinned, fast, with an arm-switching maneuver? It was a long shot, but worth a try. She took out her phone, pulled up the video of Phillip’s attacker that she’d shown Marcus the night before and chose a segment that showcased the man’s walk and his eyes through the holes in the ski mask.

Without a word she showed it to the two women and watched them begin to shake.

‘That looks like him, like his walk,’ Mila whispered. ‘I can never forget it. He is in my nightmares all the time.’

‘And his eyes,’ Erica said flatly. ‘He had cold, dead eyes.’

Mila put her arm around Erica. ‘It could be him. He’s the right size.’ Mila’s jaw tightened, her shoulders squaring. ‘She called him Demetrius. He called her Alice. I don’t know if those were their real names or not. Who is the young man with him?’

‘Marcus’s friend Phillip. He was shot a few minutes later, as was another man.’

Mila’s eyes grew wide. ‘Did he kill my Tala too?’

‘I don’t know.’ Tala knew her attacker. She would have known a man who’d raped her, but apparently both this man, whose name was possibly Demetrius, and Drake Connor had assaulted her. Scarlett should have been relieved that she was finally getting some new pieces to the puzzle, but she wasn’t. Her gut told her that something was still missing, and she’d learned to listen to her gut. ‘Let’s get back to the city so that you can give an artist a description of this Demetrius’s face. While we drive, I’ll work on getting you reunited with your husband and son.’

Cincinnati, Ohio

Wednesday 5 August, 11.15 A.M.

Deacon Novak was waiting when Marcus and Scarlett arrived at the Netherland Plaza with Mila and Erica. Scarlett was in full cop mode, her eyes darting everywhere, her body positioned to protect the two women who’d been through so much.

Marcus was also keenly aware that Scarlett was positioning herself to protect him, especially when Deacon joined them in the hotel’s lobby. The two partners created a wall separating Marcus and the women from anyone who might want to hurt them. He wanted to grab Scarlett by the shoulders and yank her behind him, but he didn’t. She was who she was, which was a cop. To deny her the ability to protect him would hurt her deeply, and Marcus couldn’t even consider it. Still, he kept his hand on the grip of the gun she’d loaned him out of her own collection, since his old Glock was locked up in her gun safe.

Deacon towered over the two women just like Marcus did, but – just like Marcus had – the Fed hunched his shoulders so that he didn’t seem too intimidating. He also wore his trademark wraparound shades inside the hotel so that he didn’t startle the women with his odd eyes.

‘Mila, Erica,’ Scarlett said, ‘this is Special Agent Novak, my partner.’

‘Mrs Bautista,’ Deacon said to Mila, nodding at her. To the scowling Erica he gave an encouraging smile.

Erica still hadn’t accepted that she was safe, and Marcus understood that. He knew it would be a long, long time before Erica truly felt safe again.

‘And, Miss Bautista,’ Deacon said. ‘We’re very glad we found you. Please come this way.’ He ushered them all into the elevator, slid a hotel keycard through the reader, then hit the button for the penthouse, standing in front of the doors until they closed. Only then did he and Scarlett relax. Deacon looked at Scarlett over the petite women’s heads. ‘Everything is ready. Just as you specified.’

‘My dad’s here?’ Erica asked in a quavering voice. ‘And John Paul?’

‘Yes,’ Deacon said. ‘And they’re excited to see you. Your dad’s a bit thin, just to prepare you.’

Mr Bautista wasn’t thin, Marcus thought, having seen the photos Deacon had sent for Scarlett to show the two women. He was emaciated. John Paul appeared well fed, so Marcus assumed the father had been giving his son part of his own food rations.