child care was not provided by the resort.
The Grand Blue Tortoise had contracted an agency specializing in the service. The Blue Tortoise Kids’ Hideaway was a numbered company that vanished in the labyrinth of the local tax system, the maze of Bahamian corporate law and the cloak of complex international banking operations.
The same shadowy entity also provided similar services at resorts in the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Australia, Maldives, Africa, the Mediterranean, Hong Kong, the U.K., China, Canada and the U.S.
Dr. Gretchen Sutsoff and her silent investors owned it all.
But no one knew that she was the invisible force controlling the company. Very few people knew her true identity. No one knew that, for years, she had been living under the alias of Elinor Auden, medical doctor, businesswoman and researcher. It enabled her to work with her international associates as they secretly strived to correct the mistakes of civilization.
“Good morning, Dr. Auden.” Lucy Walsh, the chief executive assistant, acknowledged a young family. “As you know we were expecting Elena and Valmir Leeka, and their son, Alek. They’re from Albania and have been vacationing in the United States.”
“Yes, of course.” Dr. Sutsoff smiled at the boy, squirming in his stroller. “Goodness, someone’s not happy. If you’ll indulge me for a minute, I’ll be with you shortly.”
The doctor entered her office alone, shutting the door behind her.
The quiet was calming.
She turned on her computers and glanced up at the bank of flat screens wired to the cameras monitoring the rooms, the outdoor jungle playground, and the pool where more children played.
Three muted TV panels monitored cable news channels.
No one knew the true nature of her research. No one knew the scope and reach of her operation and what it involved. She did a quick check, scrolling through files.
LA #212005 to New York67
LA #907864 to Texas908
LA #376274 to Minnesota9087
LN #77-487 to Bristol26
LN #F8-787 to Manchester98
LN #FF-879 to Dublin948
LN #00-977 to GlasgowS93
BN #JI-47-90 to Franfurt635
BN #K-489-86 to Munich875
BN #A-34-90 to Hamburg887
And the new ones: PRC #PQ-487-98 to Kunming967 and LA #181975 to Wyoming847.
The Chinese case would arrive soon. Now, she needed to focus on the extensive computer files she already had on the Albanians who’d arrived today with the Wyoming case. She had concerns with the Leekas but would get to them later.
Sutsoff’s dedication to her work bordered on being pathological. Her staff worshipped her genius with zeal and fear. Her enigmatic mystique commanded unquestioned obedience, loyalty and absolute secrecy.
For the “special cases.”
While most of the children at the center belonged to vacationing parents, there were those who were entangled in “complications,” such as international custody disputes or “other matters.”
“Their parents seek our service as a sanctuary,” Sutsoff had told her staff. “For security reasons, these situations must never be discussed.”
Consequently, the staff never questioned her about the strange cases or the cases of children who stayed for weeks, even months on end, as if they’d been abandoned.
Or hidden.
Dr. Sutsoff concentrated on these children, the ones her staff privately called, “the Children of the Hideaway.”
The latest to surface was the Albanian case of little one-year-old Alek Leeka. His medical records had already been scanned into the secure computer system. Dr. Sutsoff had studied them on her island before flying in today. Now, after rereading them and double-checking her secure files, she thought the preliminary work done was flawless. The child’s DNA signature was perfect, the best of them all to date.
But recent mistakes had been made in this case and it was time to deal with them. Sutsoff asked Lucy to usher the family into her private office. Lucy joined them, making notes of the meeting. The baby was on the verge of crying.
“Why so grouchy?” Sutsoff cooed. Then she said, “Hello, Elena and Valmir. You must be very pleased things have gone so well, so quickly?”
They smiled and nodded nervously. Elena was chewing gum.
“We are happy to have a son, finally,” Valmir said.
“The files note that you are both dual citizens of Albania and the United States and that you’re in the process of adopting your new child whom you’ve named Alek.” Dr. Sutsoff nodded to Lucy. “Unfortunately, the boy was orphaned when his parents recently died in a tragic car crash in the United States. Ah, but for every ending there is a beginning. The adoption process has been expedited through an international law firm based in Brazil. Isn’t that correct, Elena?”
Elena, who was working hard on her gum, stopped and nodded.
“That is correct, yes.”
“It’s been a little stressful,” Sutsoff said to