Page 217 of Allegiance

Oh, they were aware.

It took weeks to get in, have an op set up, and to successfully handle it.

“Luckily for us, we had CIA undercover in Bogotá and East Caracas in Venezuela.”

Maura had been in charge of extricating. She knew that from the tone in Elizabeth’s voice.

It wasn’t good.

“But?” she asked.

She told them.

“They took out the men on the list who purchased the children. They are no longer.”

That sounded like good news.

“Again, but?” Jagger asked this time.

She held nothing back, and unfortunately, Elizabeth’s face said it all.

“They found bodies that were buried. Two of the children aren’t coming back. The graves were pretty fresh. They were…”

She hated saying it.

“Lost in action,” she said because the words hurt her heart.

That was all Maura had to hear.

She got up, walked toward the wall, and put her fist through it, surprising everyone.

It wasn’t often she lost her temper.

That was generally a Zayn kind of thing.

“God! I fucking hate people!” she said, walking out of the room.

When Maura was gone, Jagger got up.

“I’ll go help her through this. Rogue, get any intel we need. I’m sorry,” Jagger said to Elizabeth, knowing she’d understand. Any parent would.

“Not as sorry as I am, Jagger. Trust me. We’ll keep going until we find a child who is still alive.”

He believed her.

If anything, Elizabeth would keep fighting for a child who was lost.

When he walked out, she continued.

“We’re cleaning it up, and we’re bringing the two we’ve found home. The Marines on the ground are taking care of them now. They’ll be arriving at the Airforce base in Germany, and will be transported back here. My team will take care of them, in hopes we can find their mothers alive.”

They all knew what would be coming back.

Remains.

That’s who her team handled.

Zayn actually wiped his eyes because there were tears in them. It took a lot to make the big man cry, and this was at the top of the list.