“I’ve been reading all about women being traded and sold from Tokyo to Riyadh,” she said. “Breaks my heart and it pisses me off. Alex, we’re talking some of the worst slavery in history. What’s with you men?”

I looked at her. “I don’t buy and sell women, Monnie. Neither do any of my friends.”

“Sorry. I’m carrying around a little extra baggage because of Jack the Rat and a few other husbands I know.” She looked at her computer screen. “Here’s a choice quote for today. Know what the Thai premier said about the thousands of women from his country sold into prostitution? ‘Thai girls are just so pretty.’ And here’s the premier on ten-year-old girls being sold: ‘Come on, don’t you like young girls, too?’ I swear to God, he said that.”

I sat down next to Monnie and peered at her computer screen. “So now somebody’s opened a lucrative market for suburban white women. Who? And where are they working out of? Europe? Asia? The U.S.?”

“The murdered couple could be a break for us. Russians. What do you think?” she asked.

“Could be a ring operating out of New York. Brighton Beach. Or maybe they’re headquartered in Europe? The Russian mob is set up just about everywhere these days. It’s not ‘The Russians Are Coming’ anymore. They’re here.”

Monnie started to spit out information. “The Solntsevo gang is the largest crime syndicate in the world right now. Did you know that? They’re big here too. Both coasts. The Red Mafiya has basically collapsed in their country. They smuggled close to a hundred billion out of Russia, and a lot of it came here. You know, we’ve got major task forces working in L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, New York, D.C., Miami. The Reds bought banks in the Caribbean and Cyprus. Believe it or not, they’ve taken over prostitution, gambling, and money laundering in Israel. In Israel!”

I finally got a few words in. “I spent a couple of hours last night reading the files from Anti-Slavery International. The Red Mafiya comes up there too.”

“I’ll tell you one other thing.” She looked at me. “That kid who was grabbed in Newport. I know it’s a different pattern, I get it, but I do believe he’s part of this. What do you think?”

I nodded. So did I. And I also thought that Monnie had great street smarts for somebody who rarely left the office. So far, she was the best person I’d met at the Bureau, and here we were in her tiny cube trying to solve White Girl.

Chapter 47

Chapter 47