I scrolled through the text, trying to make sense of it but decided to leave it alone for now. I looked over at the bed where she was passed out just to make sure she’d stay asleep. Still, I couldn’t help getting up to walk over to her. I looked down at her sleeping face and felt a rush of warmth fill my chest in the place that sheltered my heart.
I ran my finger gently along her cheek before cupping the soft flesh beneath my palm. Here, alone in the dark, I can smile, I can let my guard down and revel in the happiness that fills me, and I thank her for saving me. “Thank you, sweet Gianna!” With a last touch of my lips to her brow and turned and went back to what I was doing.
The mess caused by the murder-suicide was finally coming to an end, and there was only Luna and her husband left to annihilate, then I’d think of how to dispose of Ricci. I’d promised Memnon, no Track, his name is Track. I’d promised him before they left that I’d coordinate my strike with theirs.
He’d thought of something that I, in my haste, hadn’t given any thought to, and that was finding any children Luna and her people may have hidden away waiting to be passed off to whoever their buyer was. I’m ashamed to say that it never even crossed my mind.
After his assurance that they’d pretty much tracked down most of the children she’d sold off in the last decade or so and knew the names and addresses of the people she and her husband did business with, I thought that was the end of it.
But he informed me instead that they first had to rescue those kids who were spread all over the world and place them back with their families after a short stint in some readmission program one of the people associated with their squad ran. I felt a bit ashamed of myself when I learned all that they were doing and have done over the years.
I guess it's having my own kids that brings it home for me, but I can’t overlook the fact that I was so one-sided and single-minded that I never took the time to see that there was such ugliness in the world and that I was so close to it. I’ve been working with ANONYMOUS for many years now, and not once did I lift my head high enough to care about anything else but my own selfish means, and all the while, children were suffering.
Maybe Lyon and Mancini had asked him to share this with me in a bid to get me on board with them, who knows. I didn’t get the sense that they were the sort, though. Lyon especially wouldn’t stoop to subterfuge to get his way. Mancini, I think, would do whatever it takes to cultivate what he sees as talent.
I spent the next two hours going back and forth with Track, who was keeping me up to date on what was going on, on their end. I had no idea that when they left here that there was another group of men already in motion, gathering up the children that they’d found so far.
It sounded like a lot to undertake, but apparently, their squad had a lot of foot soldiers in place, and like he said, this was nothing new to them. It never entered my mind that to cover their ass, these monsters would’ve eliminated all those kids they’d snatched. Again, that tunnel vision at play.
I went ahead and set up the press release to coordinate with the final rescue. By nine in the morning Sicilian time, the news should break, but not before I pit husband and wife against each other. There will be no united front come morning.
First, I sent a screenshot of a conversation between Luna and some unknown entity in which she places all the blame on her husband while pleading her innocence to her husband. She’d never be able to prove that it was fake because I’d used her phone to do it from a thousand miles away. By the time the story breaks, he’d see the truth in this and turn against her no matter how much she protests.
I was doing everything I could to keep my sister’s name and the names of the other innocents from being released, but there were other ways to expose them, which was made easy by the records they kept. Not sure why they’d keep such meticulous notes on their home computers, but it worked in my favor, so what do I care?
Next was taking down the men and women who’d partook in this vile act, which Track and his people were working on. Apparently, they didn’t just take down the perpetrators, but they went after their finances as compensation for the children and women they abused.