hand shook as she passed him the phone. He watched the ten-second video of Max sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind him as he spoke.
“Kayla...I’m so sorry. They’re demanding that you hand over one of your girls—Mercy—in the next twenty-four hours. Or they’ve said they will kill me.”
The street below blurred as Kayla stared out her apartment window. Car headlights streaked by, houseboats moored on the canal bobbed in the water and the endless rows of houses were lit up by hazy streetlamps and porch lights. Her mind tried to work through the logic of what she’d just seen on the video. How in the world had this happened? Someone had entered her apartment, snatched her father and was now threatening to kill him?
“Why take my father?” she asked, speaking her thoughts out loud to Levi. “He has nothing to do with my work.”
“They need leverage. They’re using him to get to you.”
So those were the consequences they’d meant. If she didn’t find Mercy, they’d kill her father.
How did a job helping people come to this?
She studied the pedestrians and bikes passing below. Were they out there, watching her apartment? It seemed impossible to tell in the darkness. No one looked out of place, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. A chill blew through her, raising goose bumps across her forearm.
If they were out there now...watching her...
Maybe she was just being paranoid. They’d given her twenty-four hours to find Mercy, which meant for the next twenty-four hours it was to their advantage to keep her father alive. Because right now, he was the only leverage they had.
And when she found Mercy? What was she supposed to do then?
Levi crossed the room, stopping beside her. “Tell me about Mercy. Who is she?”
“One of the girls we’ve been working with the past few months. About eighteen months ago, she was brought to Italy from Nigeria with promises of a job and money to send back to her parents. Once she got there, she found out that everything she’d been told was a bunch of lies.”
“And now her previous...owner...wants her back?”
Kayla nodded. It was an impossible trade. An impossible situation with no easy resolution. Trade Mercy for Max, or let her father die. How was she supposed to do either one?
There has to be another way, God.
“She’s only seventeen years old, Levi.”
“I don’t think this is something you can fix on your own, Kayla.” He stepped up next to her. “You need to go to the police. It’s the only way out of this.”
“They told me not to go to the police.” She was trying not to panic, but while she’d always known there were risks to her job, everything had suddenly spiraled out of control. And now her choices were causing consequences in other people’s lives. People she loved. “I can’t risk them hurting my father.”
“And do you think that not going to the police is going to help?” Levi asked. “At least we’d have more resources on our side.”
“We?” She took a step back, immediately regretting the sharp tone of her voice. “I’m sorry, but you don’t need to get involved in this. Two of my coworkers, Evi and Abel, are on their way back to Amsterdam right now. We will figure out something.”
“I thought they told you not to get your coworkers involved. Besides, the moment I got on that plane to Europe, I was involved. And whether your life’s at risk because of my brother or a bunch of human traffickers doesn’t really matter at this point. There’s no way I can just walk away.”
“What about Adam?” she said. “Do you know where he is?”
“I haven’t been able to get a hold of him.”
She glanced up at him, suddenly grateful to have a familiar face next to her right now. This was the Levi she remembered. The man she’d always known him to be. Fiercely loyal, he would never walk away from ensuring the good guys won. It was what had propelled him to join the military in order to serve his country, as well as what had motivated him to return home when his family needed him.
But still. How could she expect him to help fight her battle?
“I need to see if I can get a hold of Mercy. Then I need to come up with a plan to get my father back as well, because...because I don’t know what else to do.” She pressed her lips together. She was rambling. A habit she had when she was nervous. She grabbed her phone off the table then caught his gaze. “And, Levi...thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad I’m here.”
Kayla dialed Mercy’s number, praying she picked up. The phone went straight to voice mail.
“Her phone’s off.”
“Tell me more about the connection to your job. I know you work with International Freedom Operation, but all I know is what’s on their website.”
“Many of the girls we help, like Mercy, lived in extreme poverty before making the journey here. When they learn of travel brokers offering visas and a plane ticket to Europe, they believe they’ve found a way to support their family.”
“And yet it’s all a lie,” Levi said.
Kayla nodded. “They’re now indebted to the people who smuggled them into the country and forced to work in the sex trade. We help those who have been able to escape with a place to live, job training, language classes and sometimes even citizenship.”
“So this is probably about someone who believes you’re getting in the way of what they’re doing?”
She nodded. “I know what they can do, Levi. They won’t hesitate to kill my father if I don’t do what they say. Or kill me if they don’t get what they want. Three months ago, one of our girls was found dead. The authorities concluded it was an overdose, but I never believed that. She’d been clean, happy and was doing well in our program. I talked to her the day before she went missing. She was excited about her future. I’ll never believe she simply went back willingly to the men who’d trafficked her.”
Levi caught her gaze and held it. “Like your sister, Lilly?”
Kayla took a sharp intake of breath at the mention of her sister.
“I’m sorry, I just know how personal this must be—”
“No,” she said. “It’s fine. I just... I miss Lilly so much. Next week is the seventh anniversary of the day we found her. Sometimes it still seems unreal. And Mercy...she reminds me so much of my sister. Funny, outgoing...”
Her mind shifted momentarily to the day the FBI came to their door to tell them they’d found Lilly’s body. The moment that had erased any hope they’d find her alive.
“I only know what my mother
