Ocean of Lies (romantic suspense)

Chapter 5

"U.S. Virgin Islands."

Luke's heart dropped as he remembered a series of photographed faces on the missing persons list for the past five months. Monique Creston. Ginny Fredericks. Bethany Florence. Amanda Westfield. All of them were taken to the same cluster of islands in between St. John and St. Croix. There could have been more that passed under the radar. He'd had a bullseye on that part of the Caribbean since Amanda had been taken from a Rutland nightclub in early May.

It was now September, and there was no sign of her since that day.

"Same airport surveillance? Same ferry?" Luke asked.

"Yes." Valerie slid over a photograph with a timestamp of 1017 yesterday morning. It was a blurry picture of two men walking on either side of a young woman toward the exit of the Cyril E. King International Airport on the island of St. Thomas. It was clear enough Luke recognized the dirty blonde hair, curved nose, and freckled cheeks of Callie Winchester. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt instead of the dress, but he noticed the similarities all the same.

"Their passports weren't even flagged. They were able to leave the airport without incident," Valerie explained. "They took a ferry from St. Thomas to St. Matthew after that, using the same route as the others missing women. We have several witnesses who were able to confirm."

Luke groaned. Those men had transported at least those four other girls using that same method but no one had been able to stop it. Whatever the kidnappers were using for identity protection had to have been flawless. They were probably bribing customs agents as well.

"What's the play? Can we go there now?" Luke asked. Valerie had been patiently combing through the evidence ever since Amanda, but the trail always went cold after the victim made it to St. Matthew. Since there were three other islands in the cluster and an unknown number of water vessels that passed through the area, Valerie had wanted to narrow down their search area before sending agents that far.

"Yes."

"Oh. Awesome."

"The reason I've been training more recruits is so we have the manpower to go on bigger missions like this," Valerie explained. Her operation, which was only ten agents strong when he started, had grown to around thirty in the past couple of years. "I know waiting has been tough but rescuing these girls has always been a top priority, Luke."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"We can also take down Daniel Reiter and stop him from hurting anyone else."

Luke tensed. He'd been trying to track Reiter for years but still didn't have a clear face to attach to the name of the man kidnapping women and moving cocaine around the Caribbean. Random surveillance images from various islands only caught partials of men who could be him, but it was hard to be sure with the hat and sunglasses. He was one of those high-up drug lords who was so good at being a criminal he'd been doing it for years. Maybe even decades.

But, just because the legal system couldn't touch him due to lack of evidence didn't mean a vigilante group like Valerie's couldn't. He was going down. Soon.

"I have received intel that he will be in the Virgin Islands as early as this week. He doesn't turn up often, so we need to act fast. Failure to intercept him could mean the victims are moved and lost forever. Including Callie," Valerie continued.

That was another reason Reiter was still a free man. He seemed to hardly be in the place the crime was being committed. Valerie had gathered intel over the years showing his name popping up on islands all over the Caribbean, and Luke guessed he spent most of his time setting up deals or working on logistics with his business partners.