A Disappearance

There are two avenues into the world of human trafficking: be forced; or volunteer. And to be clear: no one really volunteers. When young Sofia is snatched from in front of her home in Moscow, she begins an unimaginable journey into the depths of human cruelty. Were it not for her godfather, Alexander Popov, a senior officer in the Russian internal security services, her plight would have been hopeless. His hands are tied when it comes to locating her, but he knows that Reynolds Merrill, the chief of clandestine services for the CIA, maintains a dark operation in Europe that finds people, and so he issues a plea for help.

Dark operatives Robert Chase and Samantha D’Aubrisson live a quietly in the South of France when they are not on assignment. When called back to duty, they can slide unrecognized across borders and locate almost anyone. Correction – anyone. Sometimes the ops are messy; in others they arrive and disappear like ghosts. Chase has a forgettable face and an ability to look like almost anyone at a moment’s notice. Sam remains a mystery. She has a hard edge at times, and more about her past is to be revealed in this story. Let us just say it involves firearms.

Sofia is quickly spirited halfway across the world to a prostitution finishing school in Mexico. Her sad future is to become a plaything for a wealthy Chinese mobster, but the mistress at the school must first break her spirit. This never quite happens. Sofia is a fighter and knows her ability to escape will improve as she is sold to someone else and moved elsewhere. That person is Lung Hong-li, a member of the infamous Big Circle Gang that runs extensive crime operations in China and the United States. He believes he is untouchable. We will have to see if that is true.

While the operation to recover Sofia is taking place, Chase is abducted, creating a dilemma for Samantha. Should she abandon the girl to save her partner, or should she do things sequentially and risk Chase’s life to save another? Success in whichever she chooses is not guaranteed.

The action rages across Mexico, Southern California, Macau, and Russia. In the end, no one is safe.

Coming Soon to Amazon