Free Old Growth & Ivy (The Spook Hills Trilogy Book 1) by Jayne Menard Page B

then we switch and
repeat."
    ***
    In Bern, the team was reviewing
suspect email traffic in and out of Sofia and laying out scenarios for how the
arrest operation might happen.  Bern was close enough for monitoring and
to jet in to the target city when needed, yet distant enough to escape
detection.  Steve had a one-bedroom suite, using the living room for
meetings, as well as for their computers and surveillance gear.  Early the
second Tuesday, Mathew was reading decoded texts and emails to and from the
perps in the surveillance area.  Another agent named Trina was working on
her scenarios.  The plan was for her to lead a meeting with the
perps.  She seemed to be on a mission with this case and was very intent
on having every detail right.
    "Check this out, Big Guy,"
said Mathew.  He had taken to using that soubriquet since he heard Ivy
call Steve by that name during their brief meeting at the airport.
      "Twenty Snežanas and six Zvezdans are ready for new
homes.  The orphanage is full." 
    Trina crowded over next to
Mathew.  "Snežanas are Snow Whites or Virgin Girls and Zvezdans are
Stars or Innocent Boys," she echoed annoyingly, as if Steve could forget
the perps’ sick code words. 
    "If their orphanage is full, then
we need to go in now with our proposal for a new network child porn centers in
smaller Midwestern cities," Trina continued.
    "Tell us something we don't
know," Steve said, lacing his comment heavily with sarcasm. Sometimes
Trina could be a blunt instrument on the communications side.  She seemed
to think with her mouth.  It could make her risky in the field.  That
was one of the differences between her and Mathew.  He never stated the
obvious. 
    That
morning they worked at role-playing with Steve taking the part of leader of the
perps, a woman referred to as Matka in the emails the agents decoded.  It
meant "Mother" in the Slavic language used by a broad range of
peoples across multiple countries in Eastern Europe.  Mathew took on the
role of the man they suspected to be Matka’s next in command, a henchman they
dubbed Dragomir, which is a Slavic name composed of the elements dorogo meaning
precious and mir meaning peace, making the combination literally mean
"precious peace”.  They liked the irony of the meaning, but mostly
they liked the dull, threatening sound of "Dragomir" when they said
it.   
    Trina was playing her role as the lead
on their team and Brian was acting as the main negotiator.  Brian was
stalwart, never making a misstatement and never showing that he had been caught
off-guard.  His performance made Steve proud.  While Trina had been
flawless, by the end of the morning she was beginning to glow with nervous
perspiration.  Steve continued to play Matka as the sophisticated
executive, who might be selling fine Slavic art, collectible heirlooms, or gold
threaded fabrics for plush interior designs.  Instead, the perp was
selling kids.  He made a lousy Matka, but he could do the conversation.
    "Now that we have talked, perhaps
you would like to see a sample of the goods.”  He nodded at Mathew and
smiled in the cold way he had learned early in his career.
    Brian and Trina were not privy to the
next scenario.  He wanted to see what they would do.  Mathew escorted
what appeared to be two teenagers into the room.  One was a female
prostitute, younger in appearance than she was, flat chested and with
short-cropped hair.  She portrayed a certain waif-like innocence. The
second prostitute was a boyish young man with blond hair cut close at the sides
but left long on top so that it tumbled down over his forehead.   It
irked Steve to test the two agents this way, but it could happen and he had to
see their reactions. 
    He had made sure the two hired
prostitutes were not underage by American standards and he interviewed them to
be sure they were not coerced into their work.  Both were students at the
local university who were earning their tuition money with their