Roman and Trevor sat in his office on the second floor of the penthouse. Though they were several miles away from his staff, it appeared that they were all in one room. An expansive paneled screen showed the inside of the conference room at Gray Enterprises. Vera and T-30 were all seated, laptops and PDA's open waiting to share and receive information about Mission Zara.

"You all remember Trevor. He's been with us on a few assignments," Roman said. "We're going to have his team on call."

The staff greeted Trevor. One of them said, "And who is that?" While the rest laughed at the baby asleep on his shoulder.

"This is Glory Rose. She was my surprise Christmas gift when I got back home," he said, having a huge 'proud papa' grin on his face. A strange feeling came over Trevor. This was the first time having a business meeting with a baby on board. It was a reminder of how his priorities must shift. Trevor knew that he would not renew his medical missionary contract. This young life changed everything for him.

"So you didn't know?" said Vera.

Trevor shook his head. His mind flashed back to the day he heard Glory Rose cry and the shock that hit him finding out that he was a dad. Even sitting in the office thinking about it brought chills. Reality sunk in, but it was a slow process. He looked at Vera and sighed. "My family was afraid that I'd get distracted. In my line of work that's not something that I can afford to do."

"Wow! What a precious gift," she said.

"It's been an incredible experience - now, let's talk about the bad guy."

The closest members of Roman's team were T-5. They kicked the meeting off. The members were Sean Paxton, Max DeVaughn, Allison Winters, Jeremy Talbot, and Jean Cantrell. They each had exceptional technological skills. Four of them had been in technology defense in the military. Though Jean Cantrell did not have that experience she was in the top ten of her class at MIT. This was a formidable team.

Allison was the first to speak. "Ethan Gains is a narcissistic name meaning he wins and everyone else loses. In this rich boys club, they all use the same name, Ethan Gains. They send their victims to the same website which shows affluent persons. The entire profile of Ethan Gains describes a successful businessman."

"The average person would look at the site and think that it is legitimate," Jeremy continued. "Everything looks normal, and they even have an active phone number. When a call comes in the victim's number matches with the particular Ethan Gains they are involved with."

"So, as I suspected, there is no Ethan Gains. He could be the president for all they care," said Roman.

Max adjusted in his chair and turned towards Roman. "Yes," they are politicians, doctors, lawyers, and businessmen making over six figures. They all use the name, Ethan Gains. They have the technology to keep this farce well organized."

Roman sat listening to his team share details of the operations. The more that they shared, the more that he knew this was a group that needed to go away - fast. They had connections to black-market arms deals - sending weapons to countries banned by the United States. Also, they funded other operations like Ethan Gains, all targeting affluent women. In these operations, the women were funding the lifestyles of members in their organization. They had many other bad dealings escalating as the conference call went on.

Roman's head throbbed at the news. He rubbed his temples. I hope that we can plow through, and end it. "Ok," he paused. "I've heard more than I can handle. How is this all going to affect my wife?"

The staff got silent - all with astonishing looks. Roman glanced up, and then grinned at Trevor, who was shaking his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We got married over the weekend."

Laughter broke out in the conference room. All knew about Zara and also about how she'd resisted him over the years. They were happy to see that they'd gotten together after such a long time. "Well," said Allison, "that was a pleasant surprise. It's about time. Congratulations! Now, about how this affects Mrs. Gray."

Allison began a long discussion about setting up strategies. The most important thing was for them to be able to get information from a source that Ethan wouldn't suspect. It would be a high-risk situation to place Zara as a plant, but it needed to happen. She needed to get close to Ethan and infiltrate information. Roman's organization had much high tech surveillance. But they could only go so far without getting exposed.

"We would protect her, just like we protect everyone else, Roman," said Sean. "I know that this situation is so close to you that it will be difficult, but we need to get in quick and if you allow it, she's our link."

Roman ran his hands through his hair, feeling his stomach knot. He knew that this was coming, but didn't want to think about it. He'd finally gotten Zara in his life, now he would risk having her out of his life - perhaps even forever. This is way too much. "I know that I have to be objective. This is a hard call."

"We'll all be there, Roman," said Max. "She'll never be alone during the entire operation."

Jean Cantrell stepped over to the projector. "I think once you see how much this organization damages women, it will help with your decision. We've been dripping information out of their company files so that we go undetected. This video was from a Christmas party a few years ago." She clapped twice and the lights dimmed in the room.

The video started with group shots of about 50 children. The children appeared to between eight months to two years old. Several photographers buzzed about the room. They took group shots, with smiling parents. The parents dressed in white tie for the occasion. The children wore red outfits. The head of the organization stood with a one-year-old on his hip.

"That's Reynaud Russo," Jean said. "He's the head of the operation, and currently, your wife's - Ethan. From what we can tell Russo targeted Zara because she's an influencer online." Walking around the conference table she pointed to a screen. It showed the statistics on the impact of Zara's company. The results showed an outstanding reputation in the online world. The influence was huge. "Zara's company helps big companies to put their products in front of wealthy women. The women are of the age where the biological clock is ticking. That is the demographic that they want."

Max got up and stood next to Jean. "We think that he plans to get Zara out of the way and take over her company. This will open the floodgates through a legitimate source to expand his illegal operation."

"Like money laundering," said Trevor. "But instead of it being money, they are leveraging their ability to gain public favor and influence. Wow!"

Jean pressed the remote and another statistic popped up on the screen. It showed the last five years of Zara's corporate finances. The results were outstanding. Roman had no idea of the magnitude of her company. He knew that she'd done well, but not like this. She had a twenty-four hour, seven day a week business that reached millions of women. This was in addition to her personal influence on line.

Max tapped his computer and pulled up more data. It astonished Roman about what she did with a small company. Max sent a text link to Roman while he spoke. "He wants to expand his networks by funneling the woman that she has reached back to them. Doing this will expand his company exponentially. With Zara's reputation, no one would ever think that any corrupt information gets released."

Roman's jaw clenched, and his face reddened. Anger rose from the tip up his toes, burning it's way to the bile in his throat. "Get Zara out of the way? How?"

Jean fast-forwarded a video. "Listen to this, Roman." Within moments the screen filled with conversations between Russo and people in his organization. Tension rose as they listened to the flippant talks. There was an unnerving arrogance with this group of high rollers.

***

Russo huddled in a group talking to some men in his organization. Each man had a child in his arms, while their wives were engaging on the other side of the room.

Russo: This last child that we got was the easiest of all. The birther was a doctor in the Methodist Hospital. We made it look like she was running drugs by overprescribing opioids. As soon as she was under investigation, we took her to court. The Douglas family got full custody of the baby.

Man 1: How long had they been trying to have a child?

Russo: Five years. The birther got buried in red tape from the investigation for a long time. We don't have to worry about her anymore."

Man 2: Russo, I don't know how you came up with all this, but it is genius. The birther that you set me up with did attempt to fight me in court. I reported the situation to your organization since they asked that we provide information on any problems. A few days later, I saw on the news - university professor missing.

Russo: I fail to see the connection.

Man 2: The smile on your face says something else, Russo. Let's just say that my wife considered it a most fortunate coincidence.

***

"Birther! That is the most degrading word for a mother. This is unbelievable." Roman snatched out of his chair, slamming his fist down on his desk. Knowing that Zara was in the middle was pure grief. All he could think about is how once this was over she'd no longer be under the influence of her past. Zara was a changed woman, living in her new reality.

"This whole thing is systemic," said Max. "Cops are planting false information to get the women arrested. Most of them wind up with felonies."

Jean had traced several of the women to the county jail and their story was incredible. Russo has a system to 'dispose' of problems. The women were never seen again. Courts played along, meaning that some corrupt judges were making money off of this.

Trevor turned to Roman. He hated to agree with the staff but they needed to move forward with the mission. He told him that he would join them, taking leave from the medical field. With a heavy heart, he said, "We can only get so close. We need Zara on the inside."