Nemesis: Innocence Sold by Stefanie Ross

it was different. Frustrated, Mark closed his laptop and looked at Sven, who rubbed his tired eyes. “And?”
    “Nothing. None of our cases would have provoked the attempted kidnapping. The only person we might have suspected is the guy Dirk arrested today—Rachow—and we can eliminate him. It just doesn’t fit for this act to be directed at Dirk. Only real insiders know his name and know of his participation. It’s almost impossible to find out his address.” Sven thought for a moment. “If this had something to do with our cases, I’d be the target, not Dirk. And in your case? The same is true, right?”
    “Yes. Almost no one knows you three have worked with us. There are no indications that anyone has gotten access to Navy data, and in the final analysis it’s the same as in your case: my family or Jake’s would have been the target. Nicki was there, after all, but due to the age difference we can rule out the possibility that someone confused the two boys.”
    Stephan stood up and stretched. “It’s about time you stopped looking for something you’re not going to find.”
    “What do you mean?” With concern, Mark noticed how pale Stephan looked.
    Supporting himself with one hand on the window frame, Stephan stood motionless and looked out at the dark garden. “You’re heading down the wrong track. Why? Because it’s easier? Or because you don’t want to see the obvious?” With a deep sigh, Stephan turned around and held his laptop so everyone could see the picture of Tim laughing and being lifted up by his father.
    “Tim’s damned rascally and clever, and although sweet is not exactly the word we usually use, he is also extremely sweet. His charm, the laugh, and also the unusual combination of dark eyes and light hair. There are enough sick puppies out there who would pay a fortune for such a child. After all, Tim has talked about how frightened the driver was when he found out his father’s a policeman. If this had been directed against Dirk, they’d have known what they were taking on. Think of how many children disappear every year. Both boys and girls. Some cases result in headlines, others, particularly when the victims come from lower-class families, are mentioned only in snippets, if at all.”
    Stephan nodded to Jake, who cleared his throat and took over. “Stephan’s right. We’re not talking about individual incidents here but about a flourishing economic sector. And people who can afford something like this don’t exactly belong to the poorest strata of our society but have enough money and in some cases even enough influence to avoid prosecution for their perverted desires. Do you want more details, or is that enough to start? Come on, people. I’d almost prefer an act of revenge myself, but I don’t believe this is one. What do you say, Sven?”
    With closed eyes, Sven nodded. “You’ve just put words to what’s been going through my head for hours. But the idea is so sick I didn’t want to believe it.”
    “Same here,” said Mark, thinking of the criminals they’d confronted in the past. Far too often they’d encountered criminals to whom human life meant nothing, and their families had already been in their crosshairs, but he refused to contemplate what would have happened to Tim. “I can live with terrorists or greedy criminals, but this . . . If this has occurred to us, it’ll occur to Dirk, too. I’m going to drive over to his place. I’ll send a text or call, if it makes sense for more of us to show up.”
    Reluctantly, Sven nodded again, and Mark felt a huge sense of relief. The close friendship between Dirk and himself had already been the cause of tension between himself and the officer from the LKA, but this was the wrong time for petty jealousies.
    Stephan’s face still looked pale. With unusually heavy movements, he pulled his cell phone from the breast pocket of his designer shirt. “I’ll get us an appointment with the department head who’s