Free Topping the Alpha: Trident Security Series by Samantha A. Cole Page B

knowledge about where the package goes. Each contact only knows who they got the package from and who they handed it off to. That way only one person knows the final destination, and anyone searching would have to go through a hell of a lot of people to find the package. The contacts randomly pick who they pass off to, so there’s nothing routine.”
    Swallowing a mouthful of food, Nick washed it down with a swig of soda. “What about Wagner himself? There’s got to be a way to put him behind bars for this without her testifying. Maybe there are other victims—I doubt she was the only kid he did this to.” He glanced at Alyssa to make sure she was sleeping, but lowered his voice just in case. “Did she ever say if there were pictures or videos? Most of the cases like this I’ve read about, the fucking perverts like to have souvenirs.”
    Sighing, Jake nodded. “Yeah, there are. Nothing we’ve been able to find on the internet—I had Brody do a search—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. The geek was able to get on a bunch of private pedophilia and snuff porn sites without leaving a trace he was there and he wasn’t happy about it. I think he took a three-hour shower afterward and then got drunk.”
    “Don’t blame him,” Cain mumbled.
    “Neither do I. Anyway, the photos and videos Wagner took are somewhere…my guess is in a safe at his house. And at this point, I highly doubt we’ll be able to get a search warrant.”
    Finished eating, Nick crumbled up the empty paper which his sub had come in. “Too bad we don’t know a cat-burglar who knows how to crack a safe.” Jake froze with his almost finished sub halfway to his mouth and Nick stared at him in confusion. “What?”
    A shit-eating grin spread across Jake’s handsome face. “I like the way you think, Nicky-boy. And I know just the right person to contact. If he can’t do it, he’ll know someone who can.” He stuffed the last of his sandwich into his mouth and brushed the crumbs from his fingers before grabbing the jet’s phone. Dialing a number every member of the team had memorized, he relaxed back in his seat. When the call connected, all he heard was the usual short beep sans greeting. “Dude, it’s Jake. I’ll be landing in Spartanburg in about three hours. Give me a call because I need your super-spy skills. Ciao .”
    Hanging up, Jake proceeded to fill Cain in on the team’s good friend and U.S. black-operative, T. Carter.

Chapter 9
    Oliver Wagner stared at his right-hand man with fury written all over his face. “What do you mean she got away? Those shit-for-brains idiots I hired were supposed to kill both of them, then get rid of the bodies! I can’t have either one of them popping up again!”
    Shifting his stance, Craig Allen didn’t wither under the Tampa businessman’s glare. “That’s what you get when you don’t leave these things to me. But they recovered your wife’s phone and found Alyssa’s cell number in it. I was able to trace the last few numbers she dialed. The last outgoing call she made was to a number here in Tampa.”
    “What?” His boss’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”
    “Belongs to Trident Security.”
    “What?” Wagner’s face got even redder. “Why would she be calling the company I hired to find her last year?”
    “My guess is Trident helped with their disappearance. Or someone who works for them.”
    “Donovan.” The businessman pulled a manila file from his desk and flipped through it. “The guy Ian Sawyer assigned to find Alyssa was named Donovan or something. Here it is, Jake Donovan. Start with him.”
    Allen nodded and turned to walk out the door. Behind him, Wagner added, “And no more fucking screw-ups. Find my little bitch of a daughter…and kill her. And anyone else who gets in your way.”
    * * *
    At a quarter after nine at night, a few miles from downtown Maggie Valley, Jake steered the Ford Expedition up a winding dirt road leading to the safe-house. Trident had a