Briefing

David stood at the back of the room, as the lights dimmed and the projector showed the omnipresent PowerPoint slideshow. I took a seat next to Badger, who was still flipping his toy, so I reached over and stopped him.

"While most Americans are enjoying the Memorial Day weekend, such is not the case for this group of girls," David began.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw Mira's picture show up in a row with five others.

"These six women were reported missing late Saturday night. The first woman," he said, flipping to a slide with a blown up driver's license and a better photo, undoubtedly taken from her social media profile, "is the most valuable hostage of the group, from a financial standpoint. Her name is Tiffany Parker and her father's net worth is probably around forty-one million dollars, though my impression is that the vast majority of that is heavily tied up in investments, leaving only two or three percent liquid and available for an immediate ransom, which hasn't yet been received.

"Second, we have Diane Covington, who, in addition to being the most attractive of the group, also has parents worth eight-point-two million dollars. That's not much compared to the Parkers, but it's enough that she could be worth ransoming.

"Next, we have Courtney Roscoe, who is probably the brains of the group, so much as any group of teenagers has brains," at which, everyone except me chuckled coldly.

"Fourth, is Tanya Barrington. Poor girl is the least attractive of the group and doesn't have anything distinguishing about her, nor would she make a good ransom, so it's likely that she's going to be seen as a commodity," David stated, as though it were some terrible proclamation that I didn't understand. This was confirmed when I saw Maria clenching her fist hard enough to crack the cheap plastic pen she held.

"Fifth, we have Christy Álvarez, who is the only one in the group raised in a bilingual home and probably served as the group's interpreter. Parker and Douglas, who we'll get to next, both took Spanish lessons in high school, but nothing indicates that they reached a real level of fluency," he said, glancing at me for confirmation and I shook my head.

"Okay, that brings us to the last of the abductees, Miranda Douglas. Pretty typical girl. A 'B student' in high school who tagged along with the rich girls, but wouldn't make a particularly good ransom. She's cute enough, for a girl next door, but she's not on Diane's level, which might be enough to keep her out of the commodity trade. Really, the most interesting thing about her is her sister, who was not with them at the time of the abduction, but was nearly taken at a later point," he said, flipping to the rather unflattering picture of me on my ID.

"Special Agent Alexandra Douglas was supposed to meet the abductees Saturday evening, unknown hours after they were taken. Agent Douglas made contact with whom she thought was her sister and arranged a meeting. When she arrived, this man, Miguel Gutiérrez, attempted to abductor her, as well," he said, putting up a mug shot of Miguel. "{if carCrash > 0}Mister Gutiérrez initially succeeded in subduing her and loaded her into his car. During the drive to an unknown destination, Agent Douglas woke up and fought for control of the vehicle, leading to a crash that killed Mister Gutiérrez.{else}When Mister Gutiérrez attacked Alexandra, she fought back and managed to kill her assailant.{endif} Following his ****, Agent Douglas copied Mister Gutiérrez' phone and returned to the United States, hence her presence here.

Every eye turned to me and I really didn't appreciate the way that David had just sprung this information into his briefing. {if investigateSailboat > 0}Though his other information was surprisingly accurate, I felt that I needed to add the information that I gathered at the marina. "Actually, I didn't come straight back the the US. I looked through the photos on Miguel's phone and discovered a photo of him, three other guys, and the six girls on a dock in front of the sailboat they were supposed to be using. It was Dock F of the Cabo San Lucas marina and I went to investigate. When I arrived, I discovered a few things. Firstly the sailboat they used has the name 'Paraíso Perdido'..."

"Paradise Lost," David provided.

"The boat had a depth tracker that recorded depth over time and I took pictures of the previous journey. I'm hoping that it can me matched to some map or chart to figure out where they went. And, I discovered a supply of ****, including rohypnol, in a locked area below deck. Finally, when I was leaving, I spotted two of the men who were in the photo with the missing girls. They boarded the boat and set sail, but I had no way of following."{endif}

"So, you're not just the finance girl," MJ commented with a grin.

"No, she's also the trouble magnet," Maria added, which I felt was pretty unfair, but decided it was better to say nothing than fight the agent in charge.