Page 157 of Depths of Destruction

Zoe comes on camera and speaks in Spanish. The news breaks for commercials.

"What did she say?" I ask Naomi.

Blaise turns the volume down again.

Naomi's face scrunches. "She's sorry for disappointing her fans, is excited to get back to her music, and would like to not discuss anything regarding her personal life over the last fifteen months or going forward. And she asks for the media to respect her privacy."

Where's Dirk?

Naomi swallows hard. "That's all lies. They are forcing her to say those things. I can tell."

"Pull up Zoe Diego on the internet," I instruct Blaise.

He goes to the desk and removes his laptop from the bag and pulls up a search then turns the screen toward me.

Most of the stories are in Spanish, so Naomi reads them. "It's the same as the news channel except it says Zoe appeared on her manager's doorstep yesterday."

"I'm lost. Can someone fill me in on why this is important? And who is Zoe Diego?" Blaise asks.

"She's one of the most famous Latina pop stars in the world," Naomi informs him.

I add, "We rescued Zoe. She was with Dirk, and they were supposed to meet us here."

"Then where's Dirk?" Blaise raises an eyebrow.

My gut sinks."Interpol's orders were to return her to Mexico. She was petrified of going back. Dirk wouldn't have let that happen."

"Why was she petrified?" Blaise asks.

"I don't know. She wouldn't say. Vanessa, Julieta, and Penelope all had their secrets they wouldn't tell. I only know limited information about each of their situations. And we ran out of time to find out more," I admit.

"When did you last see Dirk?"

"In Honduras. They were at Tinker's when the earthquake hit."

Naomi paces.

"Baby, what is it?"

"Something bugged me when we were at Tinker's."

"What?"

"Vanessa was petrified of going to a communist country and warned Julieta and me not to go to one, either," Naomi reminds me.

"She did."

"Zoe told me she met Vanessa before they were both kidnapped."

"When was that?"

"In the kitchen. You were talking to Axel. Zoe mentioned it was nice to see a familiar face when she was brought to the jungle. She and Vanessa met at an embassy party. Penelope then mentioned she was sick when Zoe played in Panama City for a party the British embassy had. And then Zoe said she was embarrassed when she talked to Julieta inside the pit."

"Why?"

"Julieta was the flight attendant on several of Zoe's private planes."

"I thought Julieta said she worked on commercial flights?"