Shielding Aubree (The Shield #1)

Chapter 17

17

A ubree wanted to scream.

She wanted to kick.

She wanted to bite.

She wanted to do anything she could to get free, but she was at a disadvantage.

She was in the trunk of what appeared to be a New Mexico Police Cruiser.

But she knew it wasn't.

Her memories were flooding back so quickly she felt like she was sinking under the surface of water and that was kind of an apt description given that she couldn't swim.

The trunk latch clicked and released, and she laid there in the trunk, as still as she could.

When the trunk lifted up, she heard the rusty squeak of metal just above her head.

She listened as carefully as she could while keeping her expression blank and unmoving.

Still meant that she wasn't drawing unnecessary attention to herself.

Inwardly, she smiled like a loon.

Unnecessary.

He'd fucking kidnapped her.

She did what she did because she wanted more than just survival.

She wanted enough information to hang him out to dry.

To put him in jail.

Throw away the damn key.

"You don't have to pretend to sleep."

She heard the smile in his voice.

"It'll be much more fun if you're awake."

He was taunting her.

And enjoying it.

"And I think I want to have some fun."

She wanted to have fun, too.

But her fun meant that he'd be in cuffs in the back of a police cruiser.

"I said to stop pretending!"

Pain knifed through her side as he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her upright.

She fought back the pain enough that she didn't call out.

Still, she couldn't seem to hide the wince of pain at the sudden movement.

He saw it though.

It was painted across his features in the shit-eating grin on his face.

"See?" His smile turned into a sneer. "Was that so hard?"

She lifted her gaze to meet his and let her anger bleed through into her eyes.

She recognized him.

Not a name.

Or a rank.

But she recognized the general aspects of his face.

His build.

She'd seen him around the station, but had never interacted with him directly that she could remember.

His smile deepened.

"Isn't it funny," he explained, "how you can work in an office for weeks and not know that the people you're walking past, the ones who grab you a cup of coffee , the ones who step out of the way when you're rushing off to do something... important, are the very people who want you dead?"

His words were terrifying.

The implication of his words and the tone of his voice were dripping with malice.

She moved her mouth and jaw, trying to see if she could get the tape across her face to loosen.

He smiled at her. "Want to say something?"

She nodded and held her breath, waiting to see what would happen.

He didn't even look around before he leaned forward and tore the tape from her mouth.

The pain was excruciating.

He'd gotten her hair wrapped up in the tape.

While he was smiling down at her, she managed to keep her temper in check.

The pain actually helped.

You didn't have the kind of cramps she did on a regular basis and have a quick stab of aggravating pain reduce you to tears.

"What do you want from me?"

"Is that you want to ask me?"

She kept her head still. "For a start."

"Oh. Direct. I like it."

"I know the kind of man you are."

Her head rocked to the side from a cracking slap across her face and she leaned back, hitting the back of her head on something metal.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back until she was sitting up.

"You don't know a damn thing, Off-i-cer."

She glared at him and his smile broadened.

"So you're a fighter."

She moved her arms and tested the tape that was wrapped around her wrists. It was still too damn secure for her to try to tear it off. "You can take the tape off and give me a fighting chance against you."

"This isn't about giving you anything." He lifted a brow and shook his head. "This is about me, finishing what I started."

She dragged in a deep breath readying herself to scream but he shook his head. "You scream, bitch, and I'll end this now." He reached across his body and gripped the butt of his pistol. "I'll put a fucking bullet in your head."

"Yeah," she grumbled, not quite under her breath, "real big man."

"You'll see," his eyes were cold, "you'll see."

Ruben jumped out of the passenger side of Finn's truck and met Aubree's mother at the door. "Any news?"

He already knew the answer for that since he hadn't received a call or text from Antonio, but it was more of a reflexive action. Something he just had to do to keep himself sane.

"They've set up in one of the conference rooms inside. It's like someone kicked a hornet's nest."

He reached out to her and Aubree's mother took his hand. "That's good. That's really good. We'll get her back."

Liria stopped short, her hand squeezing his like a lifeline. "We have to. I can't... I can't lose another child."

Ruben pulled her into his embrace and hugged her tight, not just for her but for himself as well. "You're not going to lose her. Not now. Not while I have breath in my lungs."

Liria sighed and leaned into his shoulder. "From your lips to God's ears."

"We'll get her back."

She leaned back and managed an almost smile. "I'm trying to keep the faith."

"Faith is good," he agreed, "but you raised a fighter. She'll come back because she doesn't know how to give up."

Aubree felt her stomach turn as soon as he explained where they were.

She knew the area surrounding Los Alamos and Espanola. Working and living in the area for her whole life gave her a vast amount of knowledge about the surrounding area, especially as she worked in law enforcement. Working for the state, she'd also spent a good amount of time on the roads.

The location as he described to her made sense. He'd wanted a secluded area.

Well, he picked a damn good one.

Granted, she couldn't see the full area around the car, but if he was telling the truth, they were out in the middle of nowhere with a chaser of nowhere to boot.

"Up until me," she was trying to boost his ego a bit, "you've only done two killings in each state. Is this just because I drove up to check on you?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Is that what they're saying about me? Just two in each state?"

Aubree felt her heart clench in her chest. "Are there more?"

"Kills? Sure, but it's not the only kinds of crimes I've done."

She nodded. "Okay..."

"They are the most satisfying crimes, though. The most memorable."

"So what can I do," she swallowed down the bile that washed up onto the back of her tongue, "to make things better for you."

There was an ease that came over him and while she met his gaze straight on, she felt her heart squeeze in her chest.

"You can be afraid, Officer Cueva. I want to see your fear."

Ruben hated the atmosphere in the conference room.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a hive of activity, but the tight knot of stillness at the center of it was the worry of a family which had already lost too much.

Pablo, Aubree's little brother, sat in a chair beside his father, his hand gripping his father's arm as if he was just trying to reassure himself that he had someone to hold onto.

Pablo saw Ruben first and he leaned into his father and gestured at the doorway.

Ruben saw the shock on Antonio's face.

The other man had aged years since the last time that Ruben had seen him.

When he started to get out of his chair, Ruben could see how unsteady he was, and Ruben closed the distance to Aubree's father. "How are you doing?"

A bit of gratitude touched the other man's expression before reality sank in again. "I want my daughter back."

The words unspoken were there, hanging in the air between them.

Ruben nodded, understanding all too well the helplessness that Antonio was feeling. "We're going to get her back, Antonio."

Ruben looked around the room, hoping to find someone he could talk to.

"No matter where she is, she knows we're going to find her."

"No matter..." Antonio's voice drifted off for a moment before his head snapped up and he nailed Ruben with a look. "They said they have her purse and keys."

Pablo seemed to understand more than Ruben did. The teen pushed through the milling LEOs and demanded to see the things they'd recovered.

Antonio moved to the table and Ruben got up beside him. The officers seemed to have the same looks of confusion on their faces as Ruben had on his, but they brought over a couple of plastic bags and set them on the table.

Antonio pulled a pair of latex gloves from a box on the table and snapped them on his hands with practiced ease.

The lost look on his face had disappeared entirely and there was a look of utter determination on his face.

Ruben looked to the side when someone touched his arm.

Liria Cueva handed him a pair of gloves and he put them on without question.

Antonio opened the evidence bags, tearing open the tape that sealed the tops without a care.

Ruben didn't blame him.

If he knew there was something in the bag that could bring Aubree back to them, he wouldn't care about the evidentiary value of it.

A grim smile touched his lips because he knew Aubree would.

Antonio talked as he worked through the bag. "I need to find it."

He lifted his head a moment before he turned the bag in his hands over and spilled the contents on the table.

One of the uniformed officers opened his mouth to protest, but Antonio glared at him. "Back off, Matteo."

The uniformed officer with chevrons on his shoulder stepped back with his hands in the air.

Antonio picked up Aubree's phone and held it out.

Ruben took it and set it on the side, trying not to feel angry that whoever took her had dumped her phone. It made sense. A suspect with as many bodies as Alara had attributed to him, didn't get there without having some kind of intelligence.

"Dad, her keys."

Ruben's head snapped up and he looked at the key ring on the table.

He saw her key ring with a half a dozen keychain charms on it. He recognized her apartment key and even the key to her car that had been totaled in her accident.

Her father picked it up and looked through the charms and when he'd gone through them, he tossed the key ring at Ruben who caught it.

"Liria. Open my phone por favor."

Ruben set the keys back down on the table and took out his own phone preparing for... what? He didn't know.

She handed the phone to Antonio and Ruben leaned in.

Antonio had already opened an app for a GPS Tracker. "I gave Aubree and Pablo keychains that have tracker chips in them."

"Does Aubree know what it is?"

Pablo chuckled, the sound was music to Ruben's ears. "She wouldn't care. It's a thing from a movie we all love."

Antonio turned the screen around and showed it to Ruben. "The tracker is pinging here."

The uniformed officer who had backed away earlier was holding his hand out for the phone, and Antonio handed it over.

The officer looked at the screen. "Can this give us a more precise location?"

Antonio's express fell a little. "It was expensive to have this kind of range as it is. I don't think we can get any closer."

Ruben switched to speed dial and tapped on RYLEIGH.

The phone dialed and less than two rings later, the call picked up.

"Leon? You okay? Drake said that Aubree is missing."

"Ryleigh," he held out his hand for Antonio's phone, "can you help us pinpoint a GPS tag? Aubree's father gave her one and it's showing-"

"Is it on Antonio's phone?"

Ruben saw Antonio's shocked expression.

"Yeah. He has the app open and-"

"Got it." Ruben heard her hum under her breath for a moment. "I've got the tracker information and plugging it in now." She was crazy good at what she did.

Ruben felt his heart pound painfully against his ribs.

"Borrowing from a few... satellites and I'll- Got it."

The room started emptying out as every cell phone in the place started to ping with alerts.

"And now," Ruben swore he could hear her smile, "so does everyone else."

"Everyone?"

"Spencer's getting the others together. Call him when you know what the police want to do."

Ruben was pacing along with the others in the hallway, heading for the parking lot.

"Thanks, Ryleigh."

"No thanks need, Leon."

He started to lower the phone, but Ryleigh spoke again, drawing his attention.

"I sent a message to Special Agent Aparicio. She'll want to know."

"Yeah," Ruben nodded. "She will. Thanks."

Antonio took hold of his arm and stopped him for a moment as Pablo and Liria continued on with the rush off officers down the hall. "I don't know who that was on the phone, but when we get Aubree back, I'm going to want to thank her."

Ruben reached out and clasped Antonio's shoulder in reply. "You will. And Aubree will be there, too."