I couldn’t help but grin, because I knew he was probably right.
Within a month I had the job.
I refused to take my work home with me until I met a young man by the name of Bryson Davis. He was doing a stretch, charged as an adult after almost killing his alcoholic grandfather in self defense. I was there because he left a bread crumb while trying to hack into the system from the prison library.
"Why are you trying to hack in?"
" My cousins were with my grandfather when I got locked up. I was trying to track them down, see where they were placed."
He looked stunned, when he realized I was enlisting him for help instead of nailing him for it.
I pulled some strings, got his sentence reduced and he was out. Under the condition that I helped him find his cousins and he helped me bust everyone misusing foster care whether they were using it as a cash cow or trafficking -whatever it was. We were gonna bust them.
These are the people we did our best to bring down. People who exploited children to feed their lifestyles. We set up a network so that the kids would have a safe haven where they could inform us when they were being mistreated.
To the parents, social workers, counselors, anyone who might've been getting something from screwing these kids over - our network looked like a homework site. It was encrypted with a specific keystroke, easy to remember for kids of all ages so if they were in danger, we were at their fingertips to help. There was also a single key "code" that would hide the program in cases of emergencies.
Becoming a parent really does change you. Within three months I was granted a team who were as dedicated as I was to helping these kids.
By year three - Chase, Tyler and I along with a hand picked few were raiding these places saving hundreds of kids every year . Bryson was instrumental in helping our team because he would create false accounts on the dark web and uncover unthinkable amounts of horror.
The kid had a fire inside and with some tips from me about hacking without leaving traces he was like a honey badger on a mission.
With a heavy screening process, we "adopted" some more young misfits and supplied them with gear just like Bryson's and we went nationwide recruiting and training the abused, teaching them how to channel their pain for a greater good.
We had something like “Xavier’s school for the gifted” but, with specially trained badass youngsters who were helping us take down real monsters.
Lastly, Chase and Tyler helped me dig into files of older cases of abuse, and we helped fifteen thirty-somethings graduate law school to prosecute the ones we sought out. We figured if we were gonna nail them, we didn't wanna make it easy for them to tip off the ones we hadn’t found yet…. and there’s always another.
I think child abuse turns mostly everyone's stomach, but when you recruit those who've felt that pain first hand, they're a whole different animal. Dedicated, determined and passionate about finding them all and destroying their lives.
Six years into it we reeled in a big fish and it was news to me that all these scumbags guard each other. The sex offenders, the ones who just wanted a pay day - all of them are just one big conglomeration.
Now that I understood that, I wasn't sure if it would be easier or harder to track them down. Thankfully this particular one was a coward and folded like a house of cards under pressure. She gave us the names of at least five hundred offenders strung across the U.S… looks like we're taking a trip.
When we got to the states, Chase had already built a good rapport with the agency there. They asked him how we got our source to give it up so quickly to which Chase just turned to me and grinned.
" That's all her. Mama's has always had a knack for that."
They looked confused, as they should and he just muttered that it was an old nickname from our seal days.
We didn't claim to be orthodox but we always got the information we needed. After all, we never felt like they deserved the special treatment most gave them… tiptoeing around their feelings while there were victims
out there begging for an out. We always operated on more of a "welcome to your karma" stance when it came to people like that. No mercy when you show no mercy type of deal.
"Megan, we were wondering if you could spare Chase and Tyler for our team here in Tampa."
Before I could even open my mouth, Chase put them in their place.
" We're a team and we need to stay in Tralee. Our families are there, I don't think any of us have interest in splitting up. We have other agents who may be interested in relocating but my team stays in Ireland, together."
I pulled Chase aside.
"Easy killer. They just asked."
"Ask all they want, I'm not disbanding m- our team because they like to walk on eggshells for lowlifes."
"Chase."
He looked at me, more than a little annoyed.
"Alright, "Papa". Calm down."
He smirked at me, but it quickly moved to a smile.
"Uh huh…. How do you like it?" I laughed as we rejoined the others.
" I have some other agents who may be interested in relocating but that's the best I can do."