Stolen Lives : The Lives Trilogy Book 1 by Joseph Lewis Read Free Book Online Page B

Their names, birth dates, a map with the dates and locale of abduction and discovery, and other biographical data were listed underneath their pictures.  On the last wall were pictures and criminal histories of the kids’ murderers identified by a fourteen year old witness, George Tokay.
    “Here’s what we have,” Summer said, handing out folders to the group.  “Frank Ruiz, served five at Chino for pornography and child endangerment, ten more for sex with a minor, a boy.  He was attacked with a knife in prison and has a scar on the right side of his face between his ear and his mouth.  Ron Szymanski spent time in Chino for child endangerment and for pornography.  Ruiz was paroled in May of ’93.  Szymanski in September of ’94.  As of now, their whereabouts are unknown.”
    “I’m assuming you checked with the LA office,” said Logan Musgrave, the ranking agent in the room and technically in charge of the Kiddie Cops.
    “Bogus addresses on both,” Chet said with a sigh.  “Ruiz worked for a meat packer as recently as five years ago.  Szymanski last worked on the docks also five years ago.  No known employment since.”
    “Anything on the guy in the baseball cap and sunglasses?” Logan asked.
    “Nothing so far.  We’re looking at known associates with similar descriptions, but this guy’s description is so vague . . .” Summer said.
    Turning to Chet Walker, the computer guy, he said, “Did you look for any links they might have had with any of the boys or members of their families?”
    “Nothing.  The only thing I, we,” nodding to Pete, “came up with were with the boys themselves and not much at that, just their closeness in age at each of their kidnappings and the closeness in their physical age at death.”
    Red-haired and freckled, Chet was the youngest member of the team.  He had an aggressive, almost reckless personality and a bit of a nerd about him, a computer geek who could make something out of nothing when it came to computers.  Rumor had it that Chet spent his free time hacking into anything, and everyone on the net and could do it with ease.  More importantly, he could do it without detection.  Or so it was said.
    Pete believed it, and when he mentioned it to him, Chet merely shrugged and pretended not to care.  That was confirmation enough.
    “Just leave my boring, little world alone, will ya?” Pete had said with a laugh.
    “Change your pin.  Birthday’s are way too easy,” Chet had answered not even looking up from the computer screen.
    That stopped Pete dead in his tracks.
    And as if he was reading Pete’s mind, Chet had added, “And stay away from your mother’s maiden name.”
    “Their physical age at their death?” Douglas Rawson asked.
    He was the beneficiary of Affirmative Action.  But that being said, Pete and Summer thought he was a good guy with a good mind.  A bit of a stuffed shirt, perhaps, dressing like a model from Ebony or GQ, but he was okay.  And, he was on the climb, rapidly moving up the ladder in the agency.
    “Our guess is that they executed these kids because they were either too sick or too old,” Summer said.
    “So . . . where do we go from here?” Musgrave asked.
    Almost as one, they turned to Pete, who, though not the most senior agent in the room was the oldest.  The warhorse, as Chet called him.  He hadn’t been listening to the conversation or reports that had been given, and actually sat half-facing the pictures of the boys on the whiteboard.  When he noticed the silence, he turned around, startled that they were waiting for him to speak.
    Logan asked again, “Where do we go from here?”
    “You all know what I think because we’ve been through it ten different ways from sundown.  I believe these kids were victims of human trafficking.  These kids come from different parts of the country.” He turned in his chair and gestured towards the white board with the pictures of the boys. “Monroe from Indiana.  Nelson