Джеймс Паттерсон - Lost

The other man, whose English was much more accented than Alexi’s, said, “Tell your crazy brother not to do anything stupid.”

Hanna looked hard at the younger man. “I can control my brother only so much. I can tell you’re afraid of him. That means you’re a little smarter than I thought.”

She walked away before he could respond.

Chapter 28

THE NEXT DAY, Hanna and Albert went to check out the port at Rotterdam. She’d decided it was too dangerous to move the load out of Amsterdam. Between the police and the Russians, someone would cause headaches.

In the late afternoon, they arrived back in Amsterdam to the apartment that held half a dozen of the younger people going on this trip. She had two older Indian men and several women at another apartment across town.

The Indian men had paid for the trip up front. They just wanted a fast way into the U.S. Hanna used their money to pay for everyone else’s expenses.

In addition, she had six girls divided among two apartments. The apartments held people going on other shipments with other groups. Hanna and her brother felt it was a way to minimize exposure and keep traffickers from turning other smugglers in to the police.

She and Albert visited an apartment near the Emperor’s Canal. One of the teenage girls she’d stashed there stepped into the main room wearing tiny shorts and a T-shirt that looked like it was made for a little kid.

Hanna greeted the girl and pulled her close to sniff her hair. “Where’d you get shampoo that smells like that?”

The girl just shrugged and said, “The lady that works for you, Janine, bought it for us.”

Hanna said, “Where’s Gregor?”

The girl said, “He’s taking a walk with Freda.”

Hanna grabbed Albert and pulled him out the door. As they walked down the hallway, she said, “First thing I want to do is scream at Janine for buying luxury items for these girls. They don’t need to worry about expensive shampoo until they’re in the U.S. getting ready for a job. And second, I told that prick of a landlord, Gregor, not to fraternize with the girls. Now, when I need to talk to him, he’s out touring the city with one of them.”

They stepped outside the main entrance to the building and saw Gregor with his arm around the shoulder of the teenage girl. Albert said, “I’m guessing someone is about to be yelled at. If you need me to do anything more than that, just nod.”

Hanna wasted no time walking up to the squat, middle-aged landlord. She poked him right in the chest until he took his arm away from the girl. “I told you not to have any social contact with these girls,” she said.

Gregor backed away, raising his hands. Dark hair bristled on his forearms.

Hanna glared at Freda and said, “Get back to the apartment now.” The girl ran into the building.

The landlord said, “I’m not making any money housing these girls. All I want is a little bit of fun. It would be easy for me to go to the police and explain what you’re forcing me to do.”

That was over the line. Hanna turned to her brother and nodded. Albert didn’t disappoint. He pulled out his favorite survival knife and let it dangle from his hand right in front of the landlord.

Gregor stared at the knife for a moment.

Hanna said, “This is a critical time. You will not tell anyone about what we’re doing. Not the police, not your friends, no one. And in case you don’t understand, Albert is going to make it clear for you.”

She had no idea what her brother had planned, but she watched with great interest.

Albert was very casual. He simply leaned forward slightly and flicked the knife up between the landlord’s legs. The sharpened tip was enough to pierce the man’s off-brand blue jeans and catch him right in the testicles.

The landlord grunted, grabbed his groin, and dropped to his knees.

Albert said, “And that was for even thinking about going to the police. Imagine what will happen if you really do.”

As the siblings walked away, Hanna said, “I’ll admit that sometimes you’re more articulate than me.” She waited until they were at the end of the block and said, “This will be our last dealing with Gregor. Once the girls are on their way, make sure he doesn’t talk to anyone.”

Albert just smiled.

Chapter 29

AFTER THE EFFECTS of my single puff of marijuana had worn off and Marie and I had had a decent dinner, she brought me back to the apartment complex she’d shown me earlier. We were at the edge of the Nieuwmarkt neighborhood in the Centrum-Amsterdam borough.

Marie said, “I’ve tried to give you a good overview of the city’s criminal issues. The information I get on the group that tried to smuggle the kids into Miami comes from a couple of sources. The woman who runs the group is named Hanna Greete. She’s managed to keep a relatively low profile, but she deals with Russians, and Russians always talk about their competition among themselves.”

I said, “It’s been my experience they don’t hesitate to talk about their competition to the police too.”

“I haven’t been able to conduct decent surveillance on Hanna’s group because of a lack of resources. All anyone seems to care about anymore is terrorism. Human trafficking has taken a back seat. That’s why I work closely with our paramilitary agency, the Koninklijke Marechaussee. And that’s why I brought you here tonight.”

I noticed the activity at the far end of the block. “You’re taking me on a police raid for our first date?”

She smiled. “No, on our first date I dragged you all around the city after you had traveled for twelve hours. This is our second date. And things will only get more exciting from here.”

“Are these guys going to arrest Hanna Greete?”

“This apartment is used by several different smuggling groups. I got this specific tip from some Russians, which means they’re not holding any people here themselves. We don’t have a lot of information, but we know that the man who owns the apartment building tends to like younger girls. It’s very common among these safe-house owners. And that’s not something our friends in tactical gear down the block appreciate.”

I felt a twinge of excitement. This was a big deal. It also meant that Marie trusted me. She’d gone out of her way to involve me in this. After spending time with the kids we’d rescued from Miami International, I had a genuine interest in watching human traffickers taken down. I wanted to see a whole group rounded up. I wasn’t satisfied with the skinny Dutchman I’d grabbed at the airport.

It was a swiftly evolving, complicated crime, but it didn’t capture the public’s attention as much as terrorism or narcotics did. I’d learned in the short time I was involved with this case how dangerous these human traffickers could be.

Obviously, the Dutch police felt the same way. They were taking no chances. I watched as two different groups of men dressed in black tactical clothes with body armor and carrying MP5 machine guns hustled along the street in the shadows. They looked like a SWAT team from any major U.S. city. This was getting interesting fast.

I said a silent prayer for the poor people in the building who were trying to get to the States. They might not have realized the danger they were in from these scumbags who viewed them only as a source of income.

Chapter 30

I WATCHED AS the SWAT team lined up outside the wide, decorative wooden door that had probably been handcrafted three hundred years ago. They were all precise and quiet, the definition of a good SWAT team.

TV shows make SWAT teams look sexy and glamorous. In real life, it is a tough, physical job with endless training. Critics call them militaristic or threatening without ever considering the decisions SWAT members must make in a split second. And just the sight of a team has saved lives; that alone has made barricaded suspects surrender and dangerous crowds disperse. A SWAT team is the big dog you don’t always have to let off the leash.