“In Mercy’s situation, a Good Samaritan took her to the hospital after finding her beaten up in a hotel room. We work with other agencies, and often it’s the first responders who come to us with the girls, which is how she was eventually brought to us. Unfortunately too many of these girls don’t find a way out.”
Kayla’s phone buzzed again. She snatched it off the table.
“What is it this time?” Levi asked. If it was Mercy...
A second later she held up the phone so he could see it.
You didn’t listen to me. I told you not to get anyone involved. If you want to keep your father safe, you will do what I say.
She clicked on the attached photo. It was one of her and Levi standing at the window.
“Kayla—”
“They’re watching,” she said, quickly crossing the room to pull back the curtain and peer down again on the darkened street.
“You’re not going to find them,” he said, joining her at the window.
“I know.”
Levi felt his anger simmer as he followed her gaze to the cafés and shops, rows of bikes and pedestrians walking by. But someone was out there. Watching Kayla like they had been when she was on the street. Watching her again while she stood in the privacy of her home. His concern for Max and Mercy hadn’t changed, but now he was worried about her as well.
“If the message was meant to scare me, they’ve done exactly that,” she said. “I’m terrified. What am I supposed to do?”
He drew in a deep breath, mentally going through their options. “I think you should play their game.”
“Play their game? What do you mean?”
“I think you should respond.”
“How?”
He knew it was taking a risk, but anything they did at this point was risky. At least she wasn’t doing this on her own.
“Can I see your phone?”
She handed it to him, and he started typing.
You want me to find Mercy? Let me do it my way. I’ll find her faster if I have help.
He showed her the text.
“So we make him believe we’ll actually make the trade?”
“For the moment, yes. And I think they’ll believe you. Why wouldn’t they? They already believe you’ll choose your father over Mercy or they wouldn’t have taken him for leverage.”
He waited while she mulled over his suggestion.
“What if this makes them mad?” she asked.
“I’d say they’re already mad. Making them think you’re planning on following through with their plan is to your advantage.”
“Okay. Send it.”
He glanced back at the screen, praying his analysis of the situation was correct, and pressed Send. In the army he’d been trained to process strategic intelligence on the enemy. This was really no different. He needed to pull together all the information he could then come up with a battle plan.
He stared at the screen as if that was going to bring a quicker reply. “Do you have any idea who might be behind this?”
She shook her head as she headed toward her bedroom. “I’ve got copies of her file locked up in my safe. I don’t remember any names mentioned in her files, but I do know that she was bought and sold several times. First in Italy. Then here in Holland.”
“So we can’t just automatically narrow it down.”
She came back a minute later with a thin file folder. “I might be able to find something in here, but no one was arrested in connection to her situation. And any names we had were aliases.”
“Which is going to make our job harder.”
Another text came through. Kayla read the text then handed the phone to Levi.
Fine, but you better find her.
“What do you suggest we do?” She heard the impatience in her voice and pressed her lips together. She wasn’t trying to be difficult. She just wanted to find a way to fix the situation without making things worse. And she had no idea how.
“Let’s start with Mercy’s apartment.”
Kayla glanced out the window. “And if they try to follow us?”
“We have to make sure they don’t.”
Kayla dropped Mercy’s file into her bag, then reached to take the keys to her apartment off the table. But the keys slipped through her fingers and onto the floor.
“Kayla?”
“Sorry.” She held her trembling hands out in front of her, then balled her fingers into fists. “I’m trying not to panic. Trying not to imagine what they might do to my father. He’s been through a lot this past year with my mother dying. Not to mention how hard he took my sister’s death. I’m not sure how much more he’s going to be able to endure.”
Levi’s fingers wrapped around hers, an unexpected steadying force in the middle of the storm. “I remember your father and always looked up to him as an honest leader in the community. I can only begin to imagine how hard this is on both of you, but he’s a strong man, Kayla.”
“I know, but now...”
Her words faded. How was either of them supposed to deal with this? Maybe she was underestimating her father, but she’d seen how much he’d lost and how he’d responded to that loss. She’d watched his fight against depression and the numbness that had seemed to consume him. He’d managed to hold on to his faith, but even that had become a day-to-day struggle. She’d hoped his coming to live with her would give him a new perspective, but it had only been recently that he’d started leaving the apartment. Going for walks in the morning, occasionally stopping at a pancake house for a stack of pannekoeken filled with spiced apples, syrup and whipped cream. But she knew that the healing over her mother’s death had barely begun.
“I think you should give him some credit,” Levi said, picking up her keys before pressing them gently against her palm. “He’s lost a lot in his lifetime. First your sister, and now your mom. But that doesn’t change the fact that he will pull through and find the strength he needs to get through this.”
“We got in a fight this morning,” she said. “It was over something stupid. I’d been bugging him to get out more. I thought I was trying to help him, but now...now I’d do anything just to know he was sitting safe on my couch.”
“We’ll find him. We’ll find Mercy, and we’ll figure out a way to save them both.”
“But how? Even if we find Mercy, we can’t trade her for my father. And yet if we don’t trade her, they’ll kill him.” She looked up at Levi and caught his gaze, feeling the enormous pressure of needing answers. “I’m sorry I got you involved in this. Both you and my father.”
“None of this is your fault. I came to make sure you were okay, and just because the threat has changed, my desire to keep you safe hasn’t.”
She wondered why it mattered to him. Why, after all these years, had he taken the time out of his busy schedule to keep her safe?
“Is the place close enough to walk?” Levi asked. “Or should we call for a taxi?”
“We can take the tram.” She pulled on her coat and scarf, then paused in the doorway. “And if you want to come