The Trade

The Trade
Shirley Palmer

Matt Lowell never set out to be a hero…but he wasn't given a choice.As a wildfire rages in the canyons around Malibu, Matt Lowell races along the edge of the surf in a desperate attempt to reach his house and save his dog, Barney. But as he runs he stumbles upon a horror that stops him in his tracks: a newborn baby abandoned in the sand. And before he can get her to safety, the baby dies in his arms.When the police find the baby's teenage mother dead on the side of the canyon road, her body covered with wildflowers, Matt can't ignore the unexpected sense of duty he feels for these innocent victims. And so he decides to get involved, a decision that will set in motion irreversible consequences–and lead him straight into the midst of an unspeakable crime ring of greed, slavery and murder.Matt Lowell is about to find out that doing the right thing could be the last thing he ever does…

PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR SHIRLEY PALMER

“A first-rate, nailbiting hardcover-debut thriller…

Admirably paced and plotted, with the kind of guns-a-popping denouement that begs for transfer to the big screen.”

—Kirkus Reviews on Danger Zone

“With its taut plot, [Palmer’s] African thriller makes a suspenseful follow-up to her previous book,

A Veiled Journey.”

—Publishers Weekly on Lioness

“This romantic thriller…explores the complexities of culture as well as those of the human heart.”

—Publishers Weekly on A Veiled Journey

“…a suspense thriller…[with a] frenetic tempo and myriad plot twists.”

—Publishers Weekly on Danger Zone

Also by SHIRLEY PALMER

DANGER ZONE

LIONESS

A VEILED JOURNEY

The Trade

Shirley Palmer

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

This book is dedicated to those who suffer from this most heinous of crimes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My thanks go first to editors Dianne Moggy and Amy Moore-Benson for their patience and continued support during the past year. Thanks, too, to Ken Atchity at AEI; to Andrea McKeown for her invaluable input; to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department homicide detective Sergeant Ray Verdugo, ret.; and to Hae Jung Cho, former director of the Coalition Against Slavery and Trafficking in Los Angeles.

Finally, this book could not have been written without researcher/editor Mignon McCarthy, who not only contributed the facts upon which the entire structure rests, but gave unstintingly of her time, her literary expertise, her enthusiasm and her words. It gives me much pleasure to acknowledge the work she has done.

All errors, of course, are entirely mine.

This is a work of fiction.

The events described did not happen.

No such club exists in Malibu, nor has there ever been a breath of rumor to indicate otherwise.

To serve the story being told, the author has taken some liberty with the topography of this small, treasured Southern California town.

For this she begs indulgence.

In the perception of the smallest is the secret of clear vision;

In the guarding of the weakest is the secret of all strength.

—Lao Tse

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 (#uf56ee87e-f65d-5d8b-b8e5-6f17a3bf7811)

CHAPTER 2 (#u55e5bcd4-0d2a-58c8-b246-75bc073b3772)

CHAPTER 3 (#uc286facf-f57c-5d7b-bfcd-9498bd86a58b)

CHAPTER 4 (#u24d79343-92e5-58ba-a074-102e73a0f615)

CHAPTER 5 (#ucc9f3eb2-c644-5db3-9901-47e6fabf517d)

CHAPTER 6 (#ubd272ab9-92a5-5d23-bebd-00e18fae903a)

CHAPTER 7 (#u8b92d1a5-4180-5b2a-91ae-cf75d2fd7e45)

CHAPTER 8 (#u0b0192df-c5a8-574c-9ddc-28f70623a277)

CHAPTER 9 (#u58644790-4704-56c3-85c7-1529bd92b7fd)

CHAPTER 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 16 (#litres_trial_promo)