That’s what he says.
I stand and switch to business mode. If he’s on his way here it means it’s important. I hope it pushes me closer to finding Robert.
“Is everything okay?” Summer asks looking worried.
“Nothing to worry about. I’ll see you later.”
She watches me intently as I make my way into the bathroom. Something in my gut tells me I’m not going to like what Borya found.
He was vague. He does that on purpose when he comes across something that will piss me off.
* * *
The instant Borya walks into my office, and I see his face, I know I’m right about my assumptions.
“I’m going to be real with you,” he begins as he tilts his head to the side. “You aren’t going to like this.”
“What the fuck has happened?” I hate suspense of any kind.
“Micah and Robert were in L.A and now they’re gone,” he replies and the blood drains from my body.
“What the fuck are you saying to me?”
“We missed them by a fucking day,” he answers.
Jesus Christ. This is all I need to send me over the fucking edge of madness. I pick up a glass on my desk and launch it into the wall. It smashes on impact.
Fuck.
So this means my tracker didn’t work. It didn’t fucking work.
“There’s more shit Boss,” Borya states. “The lead we found from Luke led me to a bunch of guys on a job for Micah. Looks like they’re up to something bigger. Take a look at this.”
He pulls a Manilla envelope from his jacket pocket and takes out some documents, laying them on my desk.
There is a set of images of five men standing by a freight container next to the docks. I recognize the area straightaway as San Pedro Bay.
There’s also a Profit and Loss document which shows an income of seven million dollars but no details of where it’s coming from. The last document is a shipping confirmation slip from Brazil.
Both documents have signatures on them.
“I took the pictures. The man in charge of the crew I was tracking had those documents on him,” he explains. “He was able to confirm that not only was Micah Santa Maria and Robert here in L.A. days ago, but they were also in Brazil two nights ago at one of the shipping ports Alejandro owns. That’s where that shipping document is from.”
“Fuck. This is shit.”
“Yes. They’re up to something. I just don’t know what yet. The men in the pictures are from the Mexican Cartel and they’re known human traffickers. We checked them out. They’re the best of the bunch and they work for Riccardo Santiago’s Cartel. The guys we tracked met with them at the port. All I got were pictures but I have the men looking for them now. I caught up with the other guys after their meeting and ‘questioned’ them.”
By questioned he means tortured and I expect them to be dead.
“What did the guy in charge say?”
“Not a lot and that’s the fucked up thing about it. He and his crew met with Micah and Robert in Brazil and travelled with them to L.A. Of course, as our fucking luck would have it, he didn’t know where they went next but they left on a private jet. The whole meetup was to organize transportation via ship for the cartel guys from both L.A. and Brazil. The guy just didn’t know what they were transporting, but it’s not rocket science.”
“No. We’re dealing with human traffickers so it’s reasonable to assume Micah’s trafficking women. A lot of women too if he needs a ship from L.A. and Brazil,” I reply. “And the seven million. Aside from drugs, the flesh trade is what would give you seven million dollars, especially if they’re virgins.”
I’ve seen this kind of shit before.
“Yeah exactly.”