Alessia (Casella Cousins #4) - Kathryn Shay Page 0,25
The last one was SBt1020B55P. SB as in Stuart Breed?
He carefully entered the information of all five notations into his phone, rechecked it once, twice, three times. He closed the computer down, and crept out of the office. He needed to get to Grant so they could decipher what this meant.
* * *
Alessia met Adam Barone at the movie theater Thursday night. She’d forced herself to fuss with her appearance. She put on casual jeans, her fur-lined boots and a sparkly sweater. Over it she wore her down coat. He smiled when he saw her enter the lobby. “Alessia, hi.”
“Hi, Adam.”
“You look cute.”
“Thanks. So, you’re a James Bond fan?”
“Fanatic, if you ask my brothers. I like the cinematography, the outlandish feats Bond performs and the love story, of course.”
“Then let’s go.”
He insisted on paying for the tickets.
She insisted, “Then I’ll buy popcorn and drinks.”
They settled into the plush, push-back, reclining seats in the new Hidden Cove Cinema Complex.
“Were you happy with the skating party?” he asked her before the movie started.
“I thought it was great. Better yet, the kids raved about it. You did a nice job.”
“Now, onto Movie Night this weekend. Is, um Pete coming?”
“Do you know he’s grounded?”
“Yeah, I hear the kids talking.”
“The sentence ends tomorrow.”
“Ali, if you ever need an adult to talk to about your teen, I’m available.”
“Thanks. I’ll remember that.” She didn’t say she had brothers and cousins for the role of confidant. It would have been rude.
The movie began. Initially, Alessia immersed herself in the special effects: James Bond rappelling off a bridge, a motor cycle chase that had her nearly choking on her popcorn.
But when Bond started to romance an old flame who’d betrayed him, a woman who hadn’t told him who she really was, Alessia’s stomach got queasy. Man, she just couldn’t escape Derek. And against her will, she wondered where he was, what he was doing tonight. But when an image of Jane Carlin intruded, she cut off the thoughts. She had to be strong.
“Did you like the movie?” Adam asked after it ended. “You got a little quiet.”
“Just enjoying the romance.” Not. “Did you like it?”
“What man wouldn’t?”
Would Derek? She’d never get to know.
“Want to go for a drink?” He checked his watch. “It’s still early.”
Because the images of a man who shut her down kept coming, she said, “I’d love to, Adam.”
* * *
Under the cover of darkness Derek walked into the FBI Task Force on Human Trafficking at eight that night. Grant Wilson looked up, brows raised, even though Derek had called him to say he needed to talk. “It must be important for you to risk coming here.”
“It is.” He handed Grant his phone where he’d recorded the series of five numbers and letters. “I think this is a list of kids taken.”
His dark brows formed a vee. “Where did you get this?”
“Off Jane Carlin’s computer.”
“You hacked into it? We tried every which way to get that. It’s encrypted.”
“No, I broke into her office. I called this up from a buried file.”
Grant frowned. “Wasn’t that risky?”
“No, I don’t think so. I thought it was low-risk because she’s out of town for two days.” Grant was still frowning. “I covered my tracks well. Only an IT guy would be able to find out I was there. Besides, what’s she going to do if she figures out somebody broke into the file? Reveal what was stolen?”
“I guess it was worth the chance. But you should have gotten permission first.”
“Agreed. I will next time.”
“This is a new file. They’re getting sloppy by using her office computer.”
Grant stood. “Let’s go to the table. See what we can figure out.”
They started with the first letters alphabetically. ZA, AP, AT, LP, SB. Once in the right frame of mind, they studied the list carefully, then said together, at the same time, “The letters of the captives’ first and last names.”
Grant sighed. “ZA would be Zahra Abdul. We know she’s missing. No clue where she is.”
“So, the rest of the code should give clues to everybody.”
They identified the others, then brainstormed for an hour the first entry. Zahra t 12/19. T means the date she taken, Au is where, and location of the victim. And O means owner?”
“Let’s do Stuart Breed next. Whatever happened to him, he isn’t going to last long.”
SBt1020BYoAv55. Stuart Breed, taken 10/20. B? is the location? What does that mean?”
“Belgium, Brazil, who the hell knows.”
“Let’s stay in the city.”
“Broadway. Bronx. Bellevue Avenue?”
“Wait a sec.” Grant stood, checked something on his