21

Upon exiting the building, John turned to Savannah. “Grayson can take the computer to our IT team at headquarters, while I take you home.”

She stared at him. “I’m not going home. We finally have a lead, and you expect me to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs?” Sure, she was a little shaken by how John had intimidated the photographer to secure her compliance, but it had produced the right results. Now she knew why the police had suggested she hire Scanguards: they weren’t bound by the laws the police had to operate under. Scanguards could enter somebody’s home without a warrant and threaten people to make them answer their questions.

“Figures,” John said finally and exchanged a look with Grayson, who was carrying the laptop. “Meet us in the computer lab and check with either Thomas or Eddie, see if one of them can look at the laptop right away. Don’t have them delegate this to one of their staff. I want the best.”

“Understood,” Grayson said and got into his car.

Savannah walked to the passenger side of John’s car and reached for the handle.

“I don’t suppose I can change your mind,” he said.

She looked over her shoulder and saw him approach. “No. Frankly, I don’t know why you even need to hand the laptop over to your IT guys. I can just as easily figure out if it was hacked.”

“I know you can, but just as a heart surgeon doesn’t do surgery on his own heart, I’m not going to have you do this. We don’t know what we might find. And I don’t want you to, uh—”

“Fall apart?” she finished his sentence.

His look told her that it was exactly what he’d wanted to say.

“Because of what Grayson said?” She shook her head, though hearing somebody actually say it out loud had chilled her. “Do you really think that this thought hadn’t crossed my mind? From the moment you told me that Buffy wasn’t the only little girl who’d disappeared and that all the others were girls her age too, I knew what it meant.” She sighed. “It was considerate of you not to say it, but we both know why children are trafficked, what these bastards intend to do to them.”

John put his hand on her forearm and squeezed it. “Doesn’t mean somebody has to remind you of it constantly. And I have good reason to believe that they haven’t touched her yet.”

“You don’t have to lie to me.” She made a motion to turn away, but he didn’t let go of her.

“I’m not. The picture they sent you. She looks frightened in it, yes, but she hasn’t lost her innocence yet. I’ve seen children who’ve been through this. You can see it in their eyes, see the horror they experienced. I don’t see it in Buffy.”

A glimmer of hope blossomed in her heart. “You’re not just saying that?”

He shook his head lightly. “Trust me. If this is a child trafficking ring, it means they’ll have to transport the children to a secure location where whoever bought them will take possession of them. And these people want their…uh… want them in pristine condition. Not damaged. The traffickers are generally not the end users. Their job is to deliver the kids, nothing more.”

“I hope you’re right. I hope we’re not too late.”

John let go of her arm and opened the car door to let her get in. Moments later, they were driving back to Scanguards, back into the parking garage. But this time they didn’t return to John’s office. Instead, they remained on one of the basement levels, where John led her through a maze of corridors, until they reached a large room with a multitude of computer workstations. To one side, behind a glass wall was a smaller room, most likely climate-controlled, were rows of servers were located. On another wall, dozens of screens were mounted. Together, they formed one large screen, the kind one would find in the control room at NASA.

To Savannah’s surprise, virtually every workstation was occupied. She glanced at her wristwatch. It was almost midnight, yet this room was humming with activity like a freeway during rush hour. Several of the men and women working here turned their heads and stared at her as if she’d entered a place she shouldn’t be at. But when their gazes fell onto John next to her, they turned their attention back to their computers.

“There’s Grayson,” John said and pointed to a workstation toward the far end of the room.

As they walked to join him, Savannah noticed that he’d already set up the laptop, booted it up and was speaking to a tall, blond man wearing leather pants and a white shirt, whose sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. She couldn’t help but notice how well those pants fit him, and how physically fit he appeared, when he suddenly looked over his shoulder as if he’d sensed her eyes on him. Piercing blue eyes scrutinized her—but not in the way she was used to being eyed up by a man. He didn’t linger on her breasts or check out her legs, but kept his gaze locked on her face, before he shifted it, seemingly satisfied, to John.

“Hey, John,” the man said.

“Thomas, thanks for coming so quickly,” John replied and shook his hand. “This is Savannah Rice. Savannah, this is Thomas Brown-Martens, Chief of IT at Scanguards.”

She’d never seen an IT guy who was as muscular as this one. And she’d met a lot of computer geeks. How had he made it to the top and still had time to work out?

She offered her hand, and he shook it. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“Did Grayson get a chance to fill you in on what we’re looking for?” John asked.

“The basics, yeah. I’m sure anybody on my staff could handle this.” Thomas tossed a quizzical look at John. “Care to explain to me why you need me for this?”

“Because you’re the best and the fastest,” John said, emphasizing his Southern accent.

“Flattery, I see. How about you teach Eddie that accent, and we’ve got a deal?” Thomas sat down in front of the laptop. His hands flew over the keyboard with a confidence that stunned even Savannah. She’d always thought that she was good, that she knew her craft well, but watching Thomas unlock bits and pieces of information from the photographer’s laptop made her feel like an amateur in comparison.

She turned her head to look at John and caught his gaze on her.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“Did you have dinner?” John added.

“No, but that’s okay.”

“It’s not.” He looked at Grayson. “Call my cell the moment you guys have something. We’ll be in the H Lounge.”

“But I’m not hungry,” Savannah protested.

“Give me thirty to forty minutes,” Thomas said, glancing over his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers. “You can’t do anything here right now anyway.”

John took her arm and led her outside. “You might not think you’re hungry, but I can’t have you collapsing for lack of energy. You’ve been up all day, you’ve been through a terrible ordeal tonight, and then—” He stopped himself as if he’d been about to add something he knew he shouldn’t mention: what they’d done earlier.

“Fine, I’ll eat,” she said quickly to prevent an awkward silence.

She didn’t want to be reminded that only a couple of hours earlier she’d had wild, hot sex with John, a man she barely knew. Surely he didn’t want to be reminded of it any more than she did. After all, it had been a mistake. A lapse of judgment on both their parts. Entirely a product of the danger they’d been in.

John led her to a large room on the first floor and closed the door behind them. They were the only people here. Savannah looked around. The place looked like a first-class airport lounge. She didn’t really know what she had expected. Maybe a cafeteria? But this was much more than that. There were comfortable seating areas, dining tables, a bar, and along the walls, refrigerated shelves with pre-packaged food of all sorts, as well as fresh fruit, chocolates, and other sweets. There was something for every taste.

“This is the cafeteria?” she asked, giving John a surprised look.

He shrugged. “We just call it a lounge. Employees come here between their shifts or on their breaks. It can be a stressful job, and there are days we don’t have time to go home. Management knows how to keep everybody happy.” He pointed to the food. “Take whatever you want.”

When she walked toward the shelves stacked with yogurts and fruit, she noticed that John sat down on one of the comfortable sectionals. “Aren’t you having any?”

“I had dinner earlier. But don’t let that stop you. You need your strength.”

She chose a yogurt, a bowl of mixed fruit, a bottle of water, and a bar of fancy looking chocolate, and joined John on the sofa, sinking into the corner at the other end.

“That doesn’t look like a lot,” he said with raised eyebrows.

“It’s more than I can eat right now,” she assured him and dug into the yogurt. Only when the food hit her empty stomach did she realize that she was famished. She’d polished off the yogurt, the fruit and most of the chocolate, when she looked up and realized that John had gotten up and fetched more of the same.

“Eat,” he simply said and put the items in front of her. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She nodded and watched him leave the room. The soft music coming from speakers in the ceiling felt soothing, and for a short moment, she leaned back into the comfortable cushions and closed her eyes to relax.

John and his colleagues at Scanguards had impressed her. They were efficient and extremely capable. Thomas was clearly an IT genius, and John knew how to get information out of anybody. She knew she was in the right hands. Scanguards had achieved more in a few hours than the police had in the weeks since the first child had gone missing.

She sighed. Would this nightmare be over soon? Would Scanguards be able to keep its promise to her? Would they bring Buffy home?