It was quiet for a second, and then Nancy said, “And so your plan is to have us go ahead now and take down the whole operation in hopes that we get both Isabel and Kelli out?”
“Nancy,” I said, “first off, I think Isabel’s there now. I think she’s being held until she either comes around or literally gets sold to another pimp in Las Vegas. And I think Kelli’s next. We know she’s with Crystal. And with regards to Kelli, I don’t have any choice. She’s basically family. I will not stand by and allow Kelli Blair to be subjected to these guys’ torture. She’s young and dumb, and she got herself in a bad position, but I can’t leave her there. I’d prefer for you guys to go in and bust them, but if you won’t move in, I’ll have to go in and get her myself. There won’t be any other choice for me.”
“Hmm,” Nancy said. She thought for a second and then said, “Well, give me something. Give me anything I can use as probable cause-something other than you think Isabel is being held there. I need something solid. Give that to me, and I’ll go downstairs right now and set it up. The problem, as I see it, is that we still don’t have anything solid against these guys.”
“How about the fact that there’s large quantities of marijuana sitting in kilo bricks on a shelf in the kitchen pantry? Or that there’s cocaine and crystal meth somewhere downstairs?”
“Paola told you this?” Nancy said.
“Yes,” I said. This was most of the way truthful. She told me what and where, but I filled in the blanks concerning how much based on personal observation.
“She’ll talk to a judge?”
“She volunteered,” I said.
“Might work,” she said. “I’ll go to the judge and see what happens.”
It’s exactly 1.29 miles from Angel House where Paola was to the intersection of Highway 99 and Forty-Sixth Avenue. It took us thirty minutes to get there. We got on Highway 99 at Forty-Sixth Avenue and headed south. Traffic was heavy but, fortunately for us, it could have been worse. We could have been on 99 headed north. Compared to the cars on that side that were completely stopped, our stop-and-go motion seemed damn speedy. Ten minutes later, we crossed the ship canal, and five minutes after that, I got off on Dexter Avenue-about a half mile from my apartment. We were home two minutes later. In total-forty-seven minutes to cover 3.4 miles. You gotta love life in the big city.
Just as we were walking in the front door, my phone rang. Caller ID: Nancy Stewart.
“What’d you find?” I asked.
“We got it,” she said, sounding as if she barely believed it herself.
“Really?”
“Absolutely. I told the judge about Isabel being a minor and that she’s missing and believed to be held there. I told him about how the NSSB gang is known to be involved in child prostitution. I told him about the dope. I think that pushed him over the edge. He called Annie Hooper, and we had a conference call with him and Annie and Paola. He asked Paola questions, and she gave him straight answers. After he hung up, he told me he was going to issue a no-knock warrant.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Paola also told him they have a lot of weapons there.”
“She did?” I hadn’t seen any except the sidearms the two men wore.
“Yeah. She said the weapons are kept in the basement. After we ended the conference call, the judge said he was afraid that with that much dope around, the NSSB guys might decide not to go quietly. He said they could arm themselves while stalling the cops at the front door. Paola was a very convincing witness.”
I looked at Toni. She was smiling.
“That’s outstanding,” I said. “When do we move?”
“Well,” Nancy said, “that’s the problem. We can’t move until tomorrow around noon.”
“Why?” I asked. I didn’t want Isabel or Kelli to be with these guys even one more minute.
“I don’t know if it’s SWAT or what it is,” she said. “I think it’s probably just too late in the day. I do know we have to bring in our narcotics and gang units. My captain made a couple of calls-but he just called me back and said it’s going to be tomorrow. So that means. .”
“That means it’s going to be tomorrow,” I said. “I spent almost eight years in the military. I know how it works.”
“Good. Why don’t you two come on in to my office at ten tomorrow morning. We’re setting up a planning meeting then. We can use your information.”
“We’ll be there,” I said.
I put in a quick call to Doc. He’d been in the parking lot for a couple of hours with no sign of Donnie Martin, Crystal, or Kelli.
Toni called her mom and explained what was going on while I started working on dinner. Actually, first I worked on pouring us each an African Amber from my growler. The jug was starting to feel a little light-I could see another trip to the Mac amp; Jack’s Brewery in Redmond for a refill in my near future.
While Toni was on the phone, I went out onto the balcony. Outside on a mid-June night in Seattle at 6:15 p.m. and it was still broad daylight. I pulled up a chair and watched the boats on the lake while I slowly sipped my beer. It had been a long day, starting with our hunt at the mall. I’d have liked to have found Kelli today and gotten her home safe and sound, but the reality was, her plan was working-I hoped she was being wined and dined by Donnie Martin right now. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure she hadn’t stopped to consider that the chances of her (the new girl) being exposed to Isabel (the misbehaving girl) were slim to none. At this moment, Kelli was one of the girls Martin was trying to impress. He’d have no reason to show her the dungeon-might scare her before he could get his hooks in her. He needed her to see a good life so that he could guide her willingly into prostitution. I shuddered and took a long draw on my beer.
Anyway, I was sure that Kelli hadn’t thought that far ahead. For her plan to work, she’d have to go deeper undercover than she’d probably considered-certainly deeper than she’d be willing to go. She’d have to get deep enough inside to be allowed access to inside secrets in the same manner Paola had been. But there was only one way to get in that deep, and Paola had paid dearly for the privilege-it cost her four years on the street.
All this said, I felt pretty comfortable that Kelli was okay through tonight-it didn’t seem to be Martin’s MO to start pressuring new girls on the first night. He seemed to have more of a drawn-out game plan. Hopefully, he’d stick to it. Tomorrow, before it progressed any further, we’d bust his ass and get back both girls.
A few minutes later, Toni joined me just as the phone rang. Caller ID: Doc.
“Doc,” I said. As soon as I said it, Toni froze.
“She’s here. They all just drove up-Martin, Crystal, and Kelli.”
Toni watched me carefully. “Hold on, Doc,” I said. “I’m going to switch you over to speaker.” I tapped the little menu button on my cell phone.
“You there?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Doc,” Toni said, “does she look okay?”
“Yeah. They’re inside now. She looked fine. They were all laughing and smiling.”
“Good,” I said. “That’s a bit of a relief.”
“Danny,” Doc said. “My car is the only one in the parking lot here. I’m a little conspicuous. I think I gotta bail or I’m going to run the risk of getting made.”