Mila fought tears, but they streamed down her face as Special Agent Lucas Hawk escorted her into an interrogation room.
He’d been careful to explain where they were and that she was in federal custody.
She didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know if Izzy and Roberta were dead or alive.
Pain mingled with panic at the thought.
If she talked, those terrible men would hurt Izzy.
Agent Hawk placed a bottle of water on the hard surface of the table in the room. She’d seen enough crime shows to know that she was being watched. That they’d record whatever she said. That they’d get her prints from the water bottle.
Sweat beaded on her upper lip and forehead, trickling into her hair.
It had been hours since she’d eaten or drunk anything. Hours since those men had broken in and threatened her. Hours since she’d started the surgeries that would enable that monster to escape.
Agent Hawk was watching her with steely eyes. Another agent named Hoover stood by the door, his arms folded, expression condescending as if he’d already tried and convicted her.
Agent Hawk’s boots clicked on the hard floor as he crossed the room. He narrowed his eyes at her as if dissecting her, then removed a key from his pocket and uncuffed her hands.
She breathed out, grateful to be free of the heavy metal on her wrists so she could reach the water. Feeling dehydrated, she turned up the bottle and drank half of it in one long gulp.
Water trickled down her chin, and she wiped at it, then glanced at her fingers. Even though she’d worn gloves during the surgery, the stench of the ugly man’s blood lingered.
“Dr. Manchester,” Agent Hawk began. “You know the reason you’re here?”
She nodded, then looked up at him, but she couldn’t stand the accusations in his eyes, so she jerked her gaze back to her hands.
He slapped a photograph of Arman DiSanti onto the table. “You performed plastic surgery on this man today at your clinic?”
She chewed her bottom lip. He knew that or he wouldn’t have arrested her.
“Answer me,” he said, his tone cold.
She gave a slight nod. What good would a lie do when he’d practically caught her red-handed?
“Arman DiSanti is the man we suspect to be the ringleader of a human trafficking ring called the Shetland operation,” Agent Hawk said bluntly. “This group has abducted dozens of teenage girls in Texas this past year.”
She willed herself not to react. But Izzy’s sweet face crying as that man snatched her taunted her. Where was her little girl now?
The agent paced in front of her, then spread several pictures on the table. “These are photographs of some of the teens abducted this year. At least these are the ones we rescued.” He named each girl, then pinned her with an accusatory look as if she was responsible. “No telling how many more victims he’s had kidnapped.”
She swallowed back bile. She knew what a horrid man he was. That was the reason she’d taken Izzy from her mother to raise her.
The agent laid another photo on the table then another and another. The first one showed a dark building with a cage in it. Blood dotted the floor.
Another photo revealed pictures of chains attached to a pole. Then another yielded a close-up of the words Help us crudely etched into the wall.
“He chained them to the wall and locked them in a cage like they were animals.” The next picture showed two young teens dressed skimpily as they stood in front of what appeared to be a camera. Both girls were glassy-eyed, drugged.
“Then he sells them at an auction like they’re cattle. That’s where he got the name Shetland for his operation.” He tapped DiSanti’s photograph. “This is the man you helped escape the law today, Dr. Manchester.” He slapped one more picture on the table, this one of a dead girl, her skeletal figure decaying.
Mila bit back a gasp.
“This is a girl named Louise Summerton. She was murdered when she tried to escape the man who bought her.”
Nausea welled in Mila’s stomach.
She fought it, but her stomach heaved. Panicked, she covered her mouth, her chest convulsing. The agent at the door must have realized she was going to throw up because he grabbed a trash can and shoved it in front of her.
Emotions overcame her, and tears rained down her face as she retched into the trash can.
* * *
BRAYDEN BROKE OUT in a sweat as he watched Mila Manchester purge the contents of her stomach.
“Look at her,” Charlotte cried. “Something’s terribly wrong, Brayden. Tell Lucas to stop this right now. I want to see Mila.”
Brayden gritted his teeth. Lucas was not going to allow that, not until he was satisfied he’d gleaned all the information from Dr. Manchester that he could. He’d been trained in interrogation techniques, taught not to allow emotions to interfere when questioning a suspect.
They’d both also been taught how to read body language. And this woman’s body language screamed that she was frightened.
Charlotte reached for the doorknob, but Brayden placed a hand over hers. “Let me handle it.”
Tears blurred Charlotte’s eyes as she looked at him. “She didn’t do this, Brayden. Tell Lucas I know she’s innocent.”
Except she had operated on the man. Had given him a new face.
She hadn’t denied that.
Charlotte lifted her chin. “Tell Lucas I hired you to represent Mila.”
Oh boy. That was not going to go over well.
“I don’t want to come between you and Lucas—”
“You won’t,” Charlotte said. “But I have to do what’s right. Mila and her mother helped so many people that it’s time someone helped Mila.”
Maybe she was right.
He stepped into the hallway. Harrison met him, his expression concerned. “Deputy outside Austin spotted the van, but men shot at him, and he lost them. Looks like they’re headed west.”
“Let’s pray they catch them,” Charlotte said from behind him.
Harrison nodded. “Did Dr. Manchester give Lucas any information?”
Brayden shook his head. “Not yet.”
“I hired Brayden to represent her,” Charlotte said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Maybe she’ll confide in him.”
Harrison’s frown was exactly the reaction Brayden expected.
