tastes. And those with not so exotic tastes. Men and women were brought in—often against their will—to “service” the partygoers. It was nothing less than sexual slavery. It took place so far beneath the surface, most people had no idea it was happening.
But it was.
Most Americans refused to believe it could be true—surely not in their country—or, if they did believe it, they turned a blind eye. But it was an epidemic. Thousands, maybe millions of humans lived in bondage.
It infuriated Natalia—and only partly because she’d once been one of them.
“Donovan was very specific in his requirements.”
A chill ran down her spine. “What?”
Gregor cleared his throat. Looked away. “Under ten.”
“Ten years?”
“Yes.”
Hell. Bloody hell. Her pulse thrummed. Sweat beaded on her brow. Oh. She wanted to kill him. Kill him now.
“Calm down, dorogaya. You won’t do anyone any good if you lose your temper and make a stupid mistake.”
“He’s not getting them.” Children. Babies.
“If you interfere, you would blow your cover.” Damn, he was right. “What’s more, you could lose your chance at Nurelnikov.”
“Just shut up, Gregor.”
He smiled, but it was a sad offering. “Remember the big picture here. If you remain patient, you will have all you hope for. You will find Nurelnikov…and you will destroy Ming Kow.”
“And Donovan?”
He stood and patted her on the shoulder. “Dorogaya, Donovan is for another day.” With that he kissed her on the forehead and murmured, “Get some sleep,” and he left.
Chapter Five
The view was exquisite from Ming Kow’s half-moon stone courtyard overlooking the bay. Motorboats, sailboats and sampans bobbed in the falling twilight. Cooper took a second to catch his breath and enjoy the view. It had been a hell of a climb up the hill through the foliage with all his gear on his back, but he was excited he’d finally made it. That his plan was ready to unfold.
He’d spent a week studying Ming Kow’s guards and he’d learned their schedules. They were creatures of habit—most security people were—and they were also lazy. Cooper had noticed that when Ming Kow was not in residence, they tended to short their shifts and spend time in their quarters playing cards, rather than making their rounds.
He’d broken into the offices of the architect who had designed the house and stolen a copy of the plans, studied them and figured the best way in and out. While the guards were focusing on the gates and the perimeter, he’d be sneaking in through an access panel that serviced the pool. From there, he would make his way through the staff corridors to the far side of the house, where he would emerge just outside Ming Kow’s office, where the vault was hidden behind a bookcase.
That was the easy part.
The hard part would be deactivating the multiple alarms and opening the safe without anyone discovering him.
“Okay. I’m ready,” he said into the mic on his cheek. Sterling was running interference for him, albeit from the state-of-the-art satellite room in Texas. Effortlessly, his buddy guided Cooper through the staff quarters and—
“Hold up, Cesium,” he said all of a sudden. “I have two heat signatures around the corner.”
Coop eased back into a niche, with his weapon ready, should they turn in his direction. They didn’t and when Sterling gave him the all clear, he breathed out a gust of relief.
He was getting too old for this shit.
But seriously? What else was he good for?
“All right. You should be clear all the way to the office,” Sterling said into his ear, and Coop didn’t waste a second. He scuttled down the hall and around the corner, stopping at the double doors.
He knew better than to just open them. Instead, he pulled out his infrared scanner and did a pass for electronic signatures and, when he found, not one but three, quickly disabled them.
No doubt Ming Kow had the best security systems on the planet—he could certainly afford them—but no security system was foolproof, if one had the right equipment. Coop bit back a smile. Titanium made sure they all had the right equipment.
Once in the office, he sprayed for the laser trips and nimbly avoided them, crisscrossing his way to the bookshelf. Now, here was a puzzle. The original plans had not included how to open it. It took Coop a while to figure it out. He tried all the usual methods and finally discovered that it wasn’t a mechanical lever, but an electronic one. It took him a while longer to figure out the correct sequence on his encoder.