Chapter 21
Jonathan Jacobson was in the wind. In the ruckus of trying to catch the helicopter before it took off, the man had slipped away and disappeared. Cheesy had no more information about who purchased Olivia. All he knew was she was a special order from a foreigner.
Detective Coopersmith was not happy with the events of Friday night and had no qualms in telling Bruiser and the team how he felt. As they turned Cheesy over to the police, along with a copy of Jayden's sketch with everything they knew about the goings on at Precious Treasures, he expressed his displeasure.
"This isn't a sanctioned military mission. You should have come to me the minute you found out about this guy," he shook the paper in Bruiser's face. "Maybe if you had, we'd have your girlfriend back by now."
The team knew better but didn't press their luck. As it was, Coopersmith wasn't going to report their activities since nobody had gotten hurt. He did, however, insinuate that Jacobson's escape was all their fault. Whatever. The man disappeared the moment the team breached the roof. By the time they searched the building, he was nowhere to be found. Coopersmith assured them he would be caught. His considerable assets were frozen, giving him little ability to move around. Bruiser wasn't sure he agreed with that statement. Weasels like Jacobson had caches of money hidden in case of this type of situation.
PT that Monday morning had sucked. It was going on day six since Olivia had gone missing. The late nights, compounded with worry, had all of their nerves frazzled. Even though Hick was still on medical leave, he had joined them on base. Now, they were sitting in one of the situation rooms, discussing their next move. After going over the events for what felt like an eternity, Cowboy's cell phone rang.
"Digger, talk to us," Cowboy said as he placed the phone on the table and punched the speaker button.
"I did some digging around and found JRJ Corporation owns two other companies. I'm pretty sure Jacobson uses them to launder some of the funds coming in from trafficking. One of them is a real estate brokerage with properties in several countries. That is most likely how he's moving the women. The second is a touring company complete with various aircraft. One of them is a Hawker 400 XP. This top-of-the-line luxury jet has all the bells and whistles, including leather seats, plush carpeting, handcrafted inlays and its own state-of-the-art media center."
"Yeah, that sounds about right. The auction house was decorated similarly," Finch agreed.
"I may have accidentally taken a peek into the air control logs for the area and found a Hawker 400 XP leaving a small airfield outside of Palm City a little after 1:00 am on Friday. It’s the same one owned by JRJ. I was able to track it to Suriname where it landed at approximately 11:00 am on Saturday."
"Do we even want to know how you got that information?" Bruiser asked.
"No, you don't," Digger admitted. "And if asked, you know nothing."
"Roger that," they all said in unison.
Railroad, always the one to be most in stoic of the group, asked the question on their minds. "Do you know where is she now?"
"Negative. I've got some feelers out and have called in a few favors. Give me a little more time, and I'll see what I can do. Anything else?"
"Yeah, get all the information you can about the area. One way or another, I'm going down there," Bruiser growled.
"I'll get right on it. Digger out." The phone went dead.
Bruiser grabbed Cowboy's cell and tossed it to him. "I'm done with playing cat and mouse with these perverts. She's not in the country anymore, so the locals can't do shit. It'll be another day or two before they call in the FBI and who knows how long it’ll be before something is done. By then, she'll be long gone. Time to go talk to the CO."
An hour later, they had briefed their commanding officer. He was sympathetic but would not budge on official channels. "Look, Bruiser, I appreciate the situation you are in, but I can't sanction an op to Suriname. I'm sorry your girl is missing, but I can't send the team in without official backing."
"I have to get down there, sir. Olivia needs me." Bruiser paced the office again.
"I've already told you, this is out of our bailiwick. Unless orders come down the pipe, we can't act on this. I can try to get something started, but I can pretty much guarantee it's not going anywhere. You remember that woman that got kidnapped a few years back? Look what it took to go in and get her. The best you can do, officially, is to drum up some attention and hope the State Department listens. Until then, there's nothing I can do. And when I say to drum up some attention, I mean to have her family do it. I don't want to see any of you on the nine o'clock news giving interviews."
"Dammit!" Bruiser sat and rubbed his face with his palms. Olivia was still missing; he had intel on where she may be, and he was sitting here twiddling his thumbs because the bureaucrats wouldn't get off their collective asses and do something.
Their CO cleared his throat. "I said there's nothing official I could do." He raised an eyebrow at the team.
As usual, Railroad caught the motion. "Then what do you suggest?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "You bunch of reprobates are still out of rotation for a minimum of ten days until Hick gets his clearance to return. As upset as Bruiser is, I don't think putting you back would be a good idea, so I'm extending that to two weeks. I suggest you all take a nice little vacation. Calm down. Relax. Maybe try out somewhere tropical and leave the missing girl to the official channels. By the time you get back, they may have her home again." He paused and gave Bruiser a hard look. "I hear the fishing in Suriname is excellent. Silver croaker and peacock bass run in that area. I always enjoyed fishing for bass." He picked up a stack of papers and dropped them on the other side of his desk. "Make sure you sign those leave requests. We need to have everything in order before you go on your vacations."
Bruiser picked up the papers and distributed them. Pulling a pen out of his pocket, he signed the request. "I think you're right, sir. We need a break to get things into perspective. Pack up your gear, boys. We're going fishing."
With the official paperwork filed, the team grabbed their gear and drove to Bruiser's apartment to make plans. Parking his SUV, he was surprised to see River leaning against the picnic table outside.
"Hey, Riv, what are you doing here? I thought you had gone home by now."
"Jos and I decided to extend our stay a little longer. She's going to spend some time with Natalie and Jayden. I hear you guys are going on a little trip."
Cowboy did a double take. "Who told you that?"
River shrugged. "A little birdie. Got room for one more?"
"We can't ask you to go along, Riv. You have a wife and business to run." Hick pointed at him. "I don't fancy having to tell Joselyn you're not coming back. This isn't going to be easy."
"Then cover my six, and I'll cover yours. Besides, the only easy day was yesterday." River shrugged as he quoted the SEAL motto. He picked up a large duffel bag and dropped it on the table. "Joselyn thinks I should go. She's pretty smart. Oh, and she's the one funding our fishing trip."
"Wait, what do you mean she's 'funding our fishing trip'?" Cowboy made air quotes with his fingers.
River laughed at the shocked look their faces. "I mean she's backing it. Look, one thing I learned in the time I've been lucky enough to call that woman mine is not to argue with her when she sets her mind to something. We had already decided to stay in town for a few more days, and I woke up this morning to her dropping my bag on the bed and telling me not to get dead. The woman is uncanny in knowing what's going through my mind - I was going to discuss it with her today and damned if she didn't beat me to the punch. So here I am."
"You're one lucky S.O.B., River." Finch shook his head with laughter. "That's an amazing woman you have there."
"Don't I know it. Smart, beautiful and talented as hell. Her books stay on top of the lists. She has studios begging for movie rights and through it all, she just does her thing as if nothing phases her. Then again, I suppose after being stalked by a serial killer/rapist, it takes a lot to shake her. Anyway, enough about my incredible wife. We have a flight leaving for Suriname in two hours. There will be a charter boat waiting for us in Paramaribo, fully stocked with all our favorite... uh, lures and tackle."
"How... when... we just found out we were going ourselves less than an hour ago!" Toad wrinkled his nose in confusion.
"Digger." Railroad exclaimed. "It had to be him."
River winked and placed a finger on his nose. "It's ten hours to Paramaribo; plenty of time to get our plans together. By then our friendly neighborhood data tech should have more information on where we should concentrate." He tossed his duffle in the back of Bruiser's SUV.
Bruiser squeezed River's shoulder gratefully. "Thanks."
"You'd do the same for me." River replied before turning to the others. "What are you waiting on? Engraved invitations? Move it, people! We have a plane to catch."