Precious Cargo — Clyde W. Ford

Charlie Noble, former-Coast-Guard-officer-turned-marine-PI, is back. This time, he is hot on the trail of a human trafficking scheme that begins in Mexico...and ends in murder.

Still reeling from the untimely death of his wife, Charlie begins to warm to the idea of a second chance at true love with new girlfriend, Kate Sullivan. But these plans are quickly docked when yachting friends Marvin and Angela Baynes come to him with a horrifying discovery--the body of an unidentified young woman impaled on the flukes of their boat anchor. The Bayneses themselves lost a child years ago. No stranger to loss, Charlie finds it impossible not to help them--even though it could mean putting his romance in jeopardy.

Having enlisted a new friend, a Native-American salvager named Raven, Charlie dives Puget Sound to seek out any clues that can help identify the dead girl. He and Raven find more bodies--all young, all female, all Hispanic. Soon Charlie finds himself navigating a course that leads him through the choppy waters of human cargo being freighted in his home waters, and right into the seedy world of he Northwest's sex trade.