Chapter 14
W hen Taryn woke, she was being bounced around on a rough road again. She moaned and heard a soft voice telling her it was okay and to go back to sleep. She slept again. When she woke the next time, she was assaulted by bright lights, with white curtains surrounding her, and she was up against a heavy weight. She rolled over gently to find Cassie curled up at her side. She wrapped her arms around the little girl and pulled her into a gentle embrace. She just held the child, who looked exhausted and seemed to have crashed.
The curtain was pulled back to the side, and Alex walked in. He took one look and smiled. “Sorry about that. I saw her curl up beside you, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that you might need some space.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, “and I’m so damn grateful that she’s okay and that she can stay right here.”
“She is okay, but we’re still trying to find her brothers.”
Tears came to Taryn’s eyes, but she brushed them away impatiently. “That just reminds me what an asshole Jeff is.”
“Well, he is here in the hospital as well, but under guard, so there is that. Apparently you guys did a good number on him with the rock.”
“We were trying to get free of him, which wasn’t that easy, considering we were tied up,” Taryn shared. “I struggled to get my own bonds off to secure him but couldn’t. So, if he had woken up again, before you got to us, I don’t know what we would have done,” she muttered. She groaned as she rotated her body ever- so-slightly. “I don’t know what the hell he did to me, but, man, I hurt.”
“Well, to start with,” Alex replied, with half a smile, “he probably tranq’d you, letting you drop out of a tree. Rolling around the back of that van on that dirt road while tied up and unconscious couldn’t have helped either. Plus, according to Cassie, Jeff also tried to beat the living hell out of you, after you hit him with the rock.”
“Yeah, there is that too,” Taryn muttered, glaring off in the distance. Then she looked down at Cassie and smiled. “She’s a strong little girl. You should have seen her tag him with that rock to get him off me.”
“She is a strong one, no doubt,” Alex agreed, with a nod. “I’m sure her uncle Bruce would be very grateful for all you’re doing.”
“Cassie’s an innocent little girl, and she had a mother who loved her, and I know her mother is looking down from heaven and is so grateful that Cassie is safe now.” Taryn stared at Cassie, struggling to control her tears. “Just as I would be if she were mine.”
“I know.”
“Yet having a child of my own has never really been on my radar,” she shared. “And, after all this, a part of me says absolutely no way I would even want to try to raise a child in this totally psychotic world, with dangers around every corner. But then I think about having somebody as special as Cassie close to me, and it’s something that I desperately want.”
Alex smiled. “There’s both good and bad when it comes to raising kids, the love and the fear,” he noted. “You do the best you can and hope they have the tools to become decent human beings. Although, somewhere along the line comes these assholes, like her uncle Jeff, and I still struggle to understand why. I can’t believe that he was the one who did this. I do realize that sometimes things go horribly wrong, and society ends up with a piece of crap like him to deal with, but still…” Alex shook his head.
“How could her uncle Jeff have kidnapped us?” Taryn whispered, looking up at Alex. “He drove off with Jack and John in his truck from the house, so where the hell are her brothers?”
“We’re assuming Jeff had a second vehicle hidden on the property. We didn’t know about that, and then we didn’t know about the one guy who left in Jeff’s truck, that was clearly a decoy. I was looking for the kids, not confirming Jeff was the driver. The truck may have been Jeff’s, but he was not the driver. Whether that driver knew we were on to him doesn’t really matter. However, when Cassie slipped out of the house, maybe not even knowing that Uncle Jeff had a second vehicle, he either followed her on foot or had a way to track her. We checked her over for some tracking device in the ambulance, and so did the hospital staff here. Short of taking X-rays for an under-the-skin tracker, nobody found a tracker.”
“But if her uncle Jeff was at the house as his truck left the property, Jeff could have easily followed Cassie right to me, while I tried to figure out what our plan was. He could have taken her at that point in time and wouldn’t even need a tracker. It’s almost more sophisticated than I can see that asshole being.”
“That is a consideration as well,” Alex agreed, with a nod. “We’ll get to the bottom of it eventually.”
“But will we find Jack and John?” she whispered. “I can’t just take one of these kids back. What will I say to Bruce? And how will I face Cassie?”
“I know.” Alex’s heart ached for her. “Maybe you can just focus on you for a change.”
She shook her head and then groaned. “Oh God,” she whispered one hand reaching up to her head. She took several deep breaths, while she tried to control the pain. As she looked up at him, she saw the wry look on his face and nodded. “I get it. I’m not exactly in good shape right now.”
“Nope, you’re not. Yet you won’t stay in the hospital tonight.”
“Good, I want to get Cassie someplace safe.”
“We’ll stay in a hotel close by because the doctor wants to see you tomorrow. You’re only being released because I knew you would fight him hard to get out.”
She looked up at him. “You mean, I can leave?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yes, but we can’t go very far away.”
“That’s fine,” she replied, trying to sit up without waking up Cassie, and then she froze. “Is Cassie not allowed to leave?”
“Cassie is not allowed to leave in your care. So, we’ll all go to a hotel, but we’ll have some FBI agents with us.”
She stared at him in shock. “What? Why not?”
He hesitated and then shrugged. “First, we don’t have any proof that you are related because you’re not. It might be possible if you had Bruce’s permission to take on Cassie, but again he’s not able to do that at the moment. So, from a purely legal perspective, even Bruce has no legal claim as of yet. Of course the authorities want to make things as legal as they can and confirm that they’re doing everything right by Cassie. Second, there is your response to the ad to buy the children.”
Taryn grimaced.
“Yeah,” Alex noted. “That’s problematic. Therefore, the Feds don’t want to give you permission to take Cassie out of the country. Not on your own and not without doing their due diligence.”
“Of course they don’t,” she muttered, staring at him. “But they have to believe that she is Bruce’s niece, right?”
“No, they don’t. Not just on your say-so. This is law enforcement we’re dealing with, and, no matter what we know, the laws are designed to confirm that the child is safe and secure and in the custody of someone with the legal authority to have her.”
Taryn let out her breath in a harsh whoosh . “Now that will just piss me right off.”
He nodded. “I know that, and I’m just telling you, for the moment, that you don’t have custody of her. You can’t take her to Bruce, and you can’t do anything in any way, shape, or form without getting the law on your side first. In this case, the law is saying that they need proof that you have permission to look after Cassie. They aren’t trying to take her away from you,” he added, keeping a hand on her shoulder to console her, “so keep that in mind. Cassie has made it very clear that she doesn’t want to go with anybody else but you, so this FBI custody-guardianship is a temporary arrangement, until we can figure out a permanent solution.”
“What about Bruce? Can anybody contact him?”
“That requires that he’s awake and cognizant enough to talk and able to talk at a level that can convince the FBI he’s capable of looking after the kids and making decisions on their behalf. But you and I both know where he’s at right now.”
“Then what? Can we get them out of here or not?” she asked.
“First off, we only have one child in hand at the moment, and we do need to find the two boys and see to their immediate medical needs,” he explained. “Then I imagine it’ll require tons of paperwork and reports, but considering Uncle Jeff tied up both of you, and, yes, I vouched that you were completely tethered when I found you and that Cassie said Uncle Jeff had already seriously hurt the little boys,” he clarified, trying to calm Taryn. “That’s all adding weight to our argument.”
Then suddenly it hit her, and she realized that, if they couldn’t prove that Jeff had done something to deserve what he got, she herself could be in trouble for harboring Cassie and assaulting him. “You do know the law is messed up, right?”
With perfect timing, one of the FBI agents stepped in just then, looking at Taryn, all stern and businesslike. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Pretty shitty, hearing there is a question about letting Cassie stay with me. Do you understand what she has been through?”
“We’ve worked out an arrangement for a little while,” the woman stated coolly. “But you do understand that we have to do our own due diligence too, right?”
Taryn took a deep breath and nodded. “I guess that sounds about right. Bruce has already been to hell and back, without having this headache on his shoulders as well. It’ll be hard for him to accept what has happened already, so the sooner he can wake up and talk to you, the better. Their uncle Jeff, on the other hand, is a real piece of work.”
“Oh, I can assure you that we agree on that. Assuming the story checks out, if this Bruce guy is their uncle, and, given the situation here, I’m pretty sure he’ll have a very good case for custody.”
“A good case?” Taryn asked, staring at her. “Surely there is no possibility that the children could be forced to return to their abusive uncle Jeff?”
At that, the other woman shook her head. “No, we’ve identified quite enough from the crime scene to realize that the little girl’s life has not been comfortable for some time. If nothing else, she was being verbally abused and criminally neglected. We have also established that you were attacked and kidnapped, and that too will weigh against Jeff.”
“That is all fine, but… eventually he’ll wake up and say all kinds of things,” Taryn replied bitterly, “like I stole Cassie out of the house, and he was just trying to get her back again.”
“I’m sure he will,” the agent agreed, eyeing Taryn carefully. “For that matter, are you up to giving us your side of the story?”
“ My side of the story? As if there is another ?” She stared up at the agent, Taryn’s heart sinking, realizing that she really could get into trouble over all this. She looked over at Alex. “Did you talk to them too?”
“I told them exactly what I knew, and they’ve also already talked to Levi and Terkel.”
“ Great , and yet they still want to talk to me.”
“Of course they do,” he replied. “You’re the one who was there when Cassie came out of the house. You’re the one who was there when you were attacked, and you’re the one who woke up in the vehicle, tied up with ropes.”
“I don’t suppose you caught any images of that, did you?” she asked. “I already feel as if they won’t believe me otherwise.”
“Are you kidding? You have rope burns and bruises, which they can easily match to your skin on the rope that we secured Jeff with,” Alex told her. “Remember that the FBI agents aren’t the bad guys.”
Taryn groaned. “It feels as if everybody out there is a bad guy right now.”
“And you’re not wrong in the sense that a lot of bad guys exist,” the agent acknowledged, “but we are not among them, and we will not let anybody else abuse this little girl.”
Considering that was exactly what she wanted for Cassie, Taryn nodded, then slowly and as distinctly as she could, she explained what had happened from the beginning and how she had contacted Levi and then plans had been set in motion.
“Okay,” the female agent said, “and now I just have a few other questions.”
And, with that, the questions and answers continued for another twenty minutes, until Taryn felt her brain throbbing, things getting fuzzy. “I can’t answer any more questions right now,” Taryn gasped, as the pounding in her head started to build. “God, my head is killing me.” She moaned softly as she shifted in the bed.
A little voice beside her whispered, “Are you okay?”
“I will be,” Taryn lied, looking over at Cassie to see her waking up. “How are you doing?”
She stared at the people in the room, then wrapped her arms around Taryn and whispered, “Who are they?”
“Well, you know Alex,” Taryn replied, pointing to where he was half hidden. Immediately Alex stepped forward into sight, and Taryn reached out a hand to him.
He grabbed her hand and looked over at the agents. “Maybe you should identify yourselves to Cassie as well.” They quickly did that.
Immediately Cassie’s eyes grew wider. “Will my uncle Jeff hurt us anymore?”
“No, he won’t,” the agents replied simultaneously. So many voices spoke at once that Cassie frowned and turned to Taryn. “If you tell me so, I’ll believe you.”
“Your uncle Jeff will not hurt you and your brothers anymore,” Taryn stated firmly. “Right now, he is already in serious trouble for a lot of different things.”
“He needs to be in trouble for hurting Jack and John,” Cassie wailed, and then her eyes widened. “Did they find my brothers?” she asked, struggling to get up off the bed. “Did you find my brothers?”
Delores, the female agent, shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, sweetie. We’re all still looking for them.”
Cassie’s face scrunched up, and her tears flowed freely. Taryn grabbed Cassie and held her close. “They’re looking, and friends of ours are looking too. We’ll find your brothers. I promise.”
She sobbed. “But will you find them before they are dead?” Cassie asked.
At that question, everyone looked at each other, and Delores added hurriedly, “If you are ready and able to leave, we do have a place for you for the night.”
“Good.” Taryn slowly pulled back the blankets and slipped out of the hospital bed. She looked over at the others, then said in a waspish tone, “Clothes of some sort would be nice.”
“I’ve got some for you,” Alex replied, stepping forward and handing her a small bag. “I also have your purse and your carry-on.”
She smiled up at him gratefully, then looked over at Cassie. “I’ll just go to the bathroom.”
“I have to go too,” Cassie whispered.
“In that case, we’ll both go.” She held the little girl’s hand gently. Trying to put aside her own pain, Taryn led them into the bathroom, past all the agents. There, the gals washed up, used the facilities, and, with a somewhat tenuous smile on Taryn’s face, she opened the door and announced, “We’re ready.”
*
Alex frowned as he watched Taryn. She really wanted to leave the hospital, but Alex wasn’t so sure now that she should have. Alex helped her and Cassie out of the vehicle at the hotel, but Taryn was clearly woozy and not walking well. The three FBI agents were right behind them. Alex glared at Taryn, as she stiffened and glared back. He smiled. “I didn’t think you wanted to go back to the hospital.”
Her glare increased in voltage. “No way,” she muttered. “Besides, if Cassie is out, I’m out.”
He snorted at that. “In that case, you better not collapse on the way to the hotel room.”
“I’ve got some high-powered painkillers in my system, so cut me some slack here.” He gave her a wicked smile. “And here I thought you were concerned about me and not just your back.”
He laughed. “Believe me that I’m concerned about both. Yet I want confirmation that nobody has any reason to order you back to the hospital.”
“Ouch. That would not be fun.”
“No, but it would be well within their rights if you collapse.”
“I’m not collapsing,” she declared.
“Good, because the FBI agents have you in their sights.” Alex nodded but kept a close eye on her as she made her way to the hotel room. As soon as they were inside, Taryn walked to the couch and collapsed on it. “What would really help is some food.”
“That can certainly be arranged,” replied the FBI agent, Delores. “I can get something for you.” She looked over at Cassie. “What about you, little one? Are you hungry?”
Cassie nodded. “Yes, please.” She had slipped into being this formal, polite little ghost that reminded Alex very much of the little girl at the convenience store.
Delores immediately left, but one male FBI agent remained in the hotel suite with them, while the other excused himself to stand guard outside the hotel room door.
“It’s all right, Cassie,” Alex said, standing at her side. “You’re safe now.” She just stared up at him, and he could see her fatigue. She hadn’t even had a chance to process any of this, on top of worrying about her brothers. It was all taking a toll.
She just nodded and didn’t say anything.
Taryn reached out a hand to Cassie, who gripped it like a lifeline, and the two just clung to each other.
Considering what they’d been through, it made sense. Alex did worry that Taryn would have some problems dealing with Cassie when she got to Terkel’s place. Bruce had been away for a long time, so neither Taryn nor Cassie had a close or even recent contact with him. Alex asked Taryn about this telepathically, since an FBI agent remained in the room. Will this be a problem for Cassie to live with Bruce, after not seeing him in so long?
She almost shook her head, then winced but regained her control again. No, not at all . Cassie remembers me and Bruce and understands how I know her uncle Bruce and that I knew her mother a long time ago too. We just need to get things wrapped up over here, so we can get to Bruce in England .
And that will happen, but it’ll take some time .
Taryn frowned. What about passports and all that?
That’ll be a hiccup because we need passports for all three of the children, possibly visas too, and we’ll do both to be overly cautious. Plus, we’ll need to file all kinds of related paperwork , Alex shared. We also need Bruce to be awake and aware .
Taryn winced. Great. As much as I want to expedite that process, I want to be sure it’s foolproof and prevents Cassie’s uncle Jeff from ever coming back after us. I don’t want any of this in the children’s heads as a memory .
Alex watched as Cassie clenched her fingers around Taryn’s. This wasn’t a conversation to have with a little girl right here, even telepathically, if she could pick up on their own exchange here, but it was obvious that Cassie had already been privy to far too many adult conversations. Alex smiled at her. “You’ll be fine, Cassie,” he said out loud. “I know that we keep saying that and that it’s hard for you to believe, but it will be okay.”
She looked up at him. “Did you find my brothers?”
And that completely brought the conversation back around to what was most important to her. He smiled. “Not yet, but we will.” She didn’t say anything and just stared steadily at him. He realized how hard it was to convince a child who’d already been treated badly by the adults who were supposed to protect her, not to mention the fact that she’d been lied to, time and time again. From her perspective, just because Alex said they would find Jack and John didn’t mean they actually would. It didn’t mean that at all.
He sighed, then looked over at Taryn. “Do you want a nap?”
“I need some food first,” she replied.
“It’s coming. Then afterward you can have a nap.”
“After that I’ll have a shower.” When he frowned at her, she glared back. “I haven’t had one in a very long time,” she muttered.
“A bath maybe, but I’m not sure that standing in a shower with that heat will be good for your head,” he noted. “It might feel great, but it could also make you pass out.”
She stared at him, then shrugged. “I don’t care. A bath will do. I just want to be clean again.”
“Got it.” Alex tilted his head at the little girl. “How about you, Cassie? After some food, do you want a nap?”
She shrugged. “I don’t care,” she replied, almost listlessly, as if the adult conversation was now too much for her to handle. She literally didn’t care, and he could relate to that.
Another ten minutes passed before Delores returned with food, and a lot of it. All different kinds. Delores shrugged. “I had no idea what anybody wanted,” she began, “so I just brought lots.”
She hadn’t exaggerated a bit, as she had everything from fried chicken to sandwiches to burgers. Cassie picked up a burger and ate it slowly. Taryn had fried chicken, and Alex went first for a burger and then fried chicken.
The other FBI agents shared in the feast as well. By the time they were all done, there wasn’t a whole lot of food left.
Alex watched as Taryn yawned several times.
She caught him looking at her and glared again. “I’m not ready to go to bed yet.”
“I was wondering if you wanted to try that bath.”
She did appear to assess her energy level, and then her shoulders sagged. “I really want one, but I think you’re right. I just might be a little too tired.”
“Maybe a nap and then a shower?”
She nodded, then looked over at Cassie, who even now started to fade again.
“Cassie and I will go lie down,” Taryn announced, as she slowly got up. Cassie immediately went along, joined at the hip from the looks of it. With no argument from anybody else, the two headed into a bedroom, but, when they got closer, Cassie turned and looked back at Alex. “Are you coming?” she asked.
He frowned at her for a moment and asked, “Do you want me to come?” She immediately nodded. Smiling, he got up. “A nap sounds good. I’m tired too.” He walked into the bedroom, and the three laid down, with Cassie between them. He pulled a blanket up over them, then whispered, “Now both of you get some sleep.”
Cassie immediately closed her eyes, and—almost like magic, as if somebody had flipped a switch—she went to sleep.
Alex whispered, “Now that is the innocence of a child.”
“It’s damn sad, whatever it is,” Taryn murmured. “Thank you for coming in here with us. It’ll likely be a while before Cassie sleeps well.”
“It’ll be a while before anybody puts this nightmare behind them,” Alex stated. “She will need some help down the road to sort it all out.”
“And that’s fine,” Taryn agreed, with a yawn. “At least she’ll have that opportunity. However, she won’t truly rest until we find her brothers.”
“I understand that,” he replied. “If you’re okay for now, I’ll slip out and see if I can get some updates.”
“Good,” she whispered, as she yawned again. “You do that, and maybe you’ll have something for us when we wake up.” And, with that, she drifted off.
Alex slipped out of the bed, then stood for a moment, watching them. Shaking his head, he walked out into the living room. One of the FBI agents looked up at him, one eyebrow arched. Alex shared, “They’re both asleep already. I don’t suppose we have coffee, do we?”
“One of ours just left to make a run,” he replied. “Meanwhile, we’re writing up our notes and asking for an update on what’s happening on the chase of the little boys. We have several other agents helping out your… agent ,” he explained, with a wry tone.
“You can call Riff a war agent, a government agent, a private agent, or whatever you like,” Alex noted. “What I call him is a skilled brother-in-arms. I would trust him with my life any day. Since these issues typically come down to good versus evil, I never can understand why it always seems as if the FBI considers us to be on different sides.”
“Not different ,” Delores clarified. “We’re on the same side. There’s just not a whole lot of communication.”
“And that is sad too,” Alex agreed, as he settled in a chair. “I have my laptop here and need to get some work done as well.”
“What are you working on?” Delores asked suspiciously.
“Catching up on reports, just like you,” he said. “I have a boss too.”
The agents just nodded and didn’t say anything in response to that.
“Have you worked with Terkel very much?” Delores finally asked.
Alex smiled. “Terkel is kind of a law onto himself.”
“In many ways, yes,” she agreed, “but he’s not lawless by any means.”
“Of course not. He works within the law, but he does a broad range of work all around the world.”
“Right. Is it true about his being psychic?”
“Absolutely it is, but I’m not exactly sure what that term means to you,” Alex acknowledged, with a smile. “You have to realize that his abilities really do defy the definition of what is considered normal, even for a psychic, even for an uncommon man.”
Delores considered that, but her gaze was wary. “Can he read minds or anything?”
Alex burst out laughing at that. “I don’t really know about that, although I wouldn’t put it past him, considering he’s been known to talk telepathically. However, I do know he can assess a situation pretty damn quickly and can make decisions that I won’t say are always exactly right, but, in my experience, they are mostly spot-on.”
She nodded. “We’ve all heard rumors about the secret agency programs he was involved in, and his name is kind of legendary, even in our circles,” she admitted. “Yet none of us really knows what he does.”
“Well, in this case, he simply supplied manpower to help make this happen,” Alex shared in a friendly tone. “You guys were working in the background on a sting, but we needed to be on the ground.”
“Well, it would have been a hell of a lot better if we had been on the ground, too, with you.” Delores glared at him. “Yet certain people didn’t tell us fast enough.”
“Oh, certain people told you all right, but it has to filter down through so many layers of red tape that, by the time you get wind of something that’s happening, it’s already happened.”
At that, one of the male FBI agents turned to Delores and nodded. “Don’t even bother arguing. You know how it works.”
“I do know,” Delores admitted, “but it’s damn frustrating. We could have been on this a lot earlier.”
“Yet a lot earlier doesn’t mean that we even knew about it,” one of the male agents pointed out. “And Alex is right. They are the ones who found out about this problem and brought it to us. They had a better system to jump start this op, but we’ll bring it to an end.”
Delores added, “It’s not as if we have eyes and ears all over the country. Therefore, we can’t keep track of every child who goes missing. It seems as if we never get close enough to keep track of any of them,” she complained, “and that just sucks. I guess I’m tired of always being too late.”
“Well, I’m still hoping we’re not too late in this instance,” Alex replied. “I need to confirm those little boys will make it through this.” The agents frowned at him in confusion. “According to what Cassie told us, the twins weren’t doing very well. What she described were symptoms of a concussion,” Alex explained, “but we can’t really base our actions simply on her information alone. She’s just a child herself, and she’s clearly been traumatized. It could have been any number of things, but her uncle Jeff is culpable in all of it, and I want to ensure that all three of these children are protected from Jeff regardless.”
“We all want that,” one of the agents replied. “We also need to know who Jeff was selling them to.”
Alex sighed. “I understand you have agents trying to meet up with Riff’s pursuit.” When Delores nodded, Alex continued. “I presume you sent a team to search Jeff’s house?”
“Yeah, with a fine-tooth comb,” Delores replied cheerfully. “We haven’t got anything back yet.”
“And again we’re back to that slow process of working with you guys.” Alex smirked, but Delores again glared at him. He smiled and replied, “No offense intended, but it’s the truth. I’m just saying, when you have private money involved, we seem to get results a lot faster than the red-tape-involved government agencies.”
“But you haven’t got any results either,” Delores pointed out, “so it’s not as if you’re doing any better than we are.”
“It’s not a competition,” Alex noted, staring at her. “All I’m saying is that private money offers opportunities to get out of the gate much faster.”
She sat back and frowned at him. “But is your money going into processing the scene? Otherwise you’re not bringing anything to the conversation.”
“I did get Taryn and Cassie back. Plus, Riff is working on rescuing her brothers.” Alex could have gone on, but considering Delores was obviously quite pissed off about something, Alex just shut up and settled back to work on his laptop. He needed to find Jack and John.
*
Terkel sent out a message. Riff, you there?
Yep , still driving. What the hell is going on here? I feel as if I’m in a search circle, only going wider, not narrower.
It appears you have a decoy driver, or, at any rate, somebody else we don’t know about. Oh, and a heads-up for you. Jeff’s brother, the children’s long-lost father, has been located via satellite and facial recognition. He seems to be in your neck of the woods too.
So our unknown driver may be circling to finally cross paths with the children’s derelict father? So a handoff, maybe, or a brief meetup, or just joining our mystery driver and the twins? Regardless, that can’t be good news.
We notified the nearest PD, and I understand a BOLO is out for Jeff’s brother. Plus, two Fed cars are trying to catch up with you. So if you hear sirens or see two standard black government SUVs, remember we have a relative on the loose out there and the FBI on your tail.
Great, and I heard you’ve got Cassie. Is that true?
We do have Cassie, and you have the trail on the little boys.
Do we know what the hell is going on here yet?
I’m not sure, but we need you to keep on it.
Oh, I’m on it , Riff muttered. No thanks to this asshole up ahead. I don’t know how his truck has even gone as far as it has without needing more fuel, but he was obviously fully tanked up and committed to driving. I did stop and get gas and that slowed me by ten minutes, but I caught up to him. Maybe he gassed up too at some point. I had my feelers out for the little boys, as I got back on their tail, in case our driver dumped them somewhere along the line, when I didn’t have eyes on him. I got no notice of that, and I’m still getting multiple energy readings off the truck ahead of me.
No visual sighting of the little boys?
No. I’ve seen no signs of the twins , Riff replied in frustration. I still don’t have a clue where this guy’s heading. Wait.… Hang on a minute. The driver took a turn up ahead. With that, Riff changed highways. Well, that’s interesting. Looks as if we’re leaving the Greater Houston area .
Okay, keep an eye out and share with me when you can. Meanwhile, we are tuned in on that tracker on Jeff’s truck , Terk noted. Since you are in Levi’s neck of the woods, do you need some help? A backup? A relief driver?
What about Alex?
He’s standing guard over the two gals.
Lucky him , Riff muttered, followed by a yawn.
Yes and no. He’s also dealing with the Feds, and they’re in the same hotel room with them.
At that, Riff gave a harsh laugh. Oh, Jesus. Alex can keep that job then. Trapped with the Feds? You know I don’t handle bureaucracy well.
Yeah, I don’t think Alex is that comfortable with it either, but somebody has to stay with Taryn and Cassie.
I hear you. I don’t trust anybody right now, particularly not when I don’t know who’s behind all of this in front of me.
What about Merk? He can spare you some time, so you can hopefully sleep at least once every forty-eight hours.
Ha. I will take you or your twin brother anytime. You did run down that license plate off this truck, didn’t you?
Absolutely, and you are following Uncle Jeff’s truck. The van he himself was in to kidnap the gals is being worked up by the Feds, checking for fingerprints, etcetera. We thought it might be stolen, but it seems to be Jeff’s too. He just hasn’t registered it or insured it for a long time.
Which just makes him suspicious as hell.
It all makes him suspicious, but, if he’s been planning this for a while, he would have taken a lot of care to confirm he didn’t get caught.
Right. Riff opened up the car window a bit to get fresh air in to stop him from getting tired. I’ll let you know how this end works out, but you keep an eye on that little girl. I hate to say that they’re worth more than little boys on the black market, but this is apparently not a case of dumping the twins. It’s looking more to be somebody buying damaged goods at a somewhat reduced price, who fully intends to make good use of the purchase , Riff suggested, his tone harsh.
Terkel sucked in his breath. I sure as hell hope not. Watch for Merk. Lucky for us, as part of Levi’s crew, he is currently in town .
Great. How far out is he?
Give him about thirty minutes, and he should be on your ass. And, Riff, I know you don’t like handing off the wheel, not being in total control, but do a pit stop, will ya? Leave your car on the roadside and jump in Merk’s vehicle. Let him drive to give you time to close your eyes and to recharge.
As long as Merk’s moving it, I’ll consider it. Our mysterious driver can’t keep his vehicle going without fueling up soon, and believe me that he won’t get another chance to get into that vehicle. I would have already run him off the road if we didn’t think those little boys were in there.
Yeah, don’t do that , Terkel warned.
No, I won’t, but no way in hell I’m letting him take those little boys any farther once he stops, so our pervert can just piss off. Riff closed the connection, but he grinned because Terkel knew him, and Riff knew Terkel. They had maintained a relationship over the years as both of them dealt with their various abilities, bouncing back and forth off each other. Riff just hadn’t been government material way back when, and, now that Terkel was private, maybe it changed things enough,… but maybe it didn’t.
Terkel slammed him with his response. Of course it does. You’re just too damn stubborn to admit it.
Damn right I am , he agreed, with a ghost of a smile. It’s kept me alive too .
That’s not living, Riff , Terk stated. What I have now is living, and I already know for sure that what you have, which is what I used to have,… is only half of the life you could enjoy. You live for the job, so you’re not out there working on yourself.
Don’t need to. Been there. Done that. The pain is too much.
And yet it’s not over.
I understand, and I sure as hell still want to know what the hell happened to her.
We’ll get there… soon.
When is this soon you keep talking about? Riff snorted. We haven’t had the tiniest break in my case to date. No matter who did this job, whoever killed her seems to have done it in a way that none of the rest of us can trace it back to him . Riff’s tone was filled with fury. That pisses me off more than anything.
I know it does. You hate being beat even temporarily, but this case is much more than just being beat. It’s not getting the answers that you need in order to move on after losing your fiancée. Those answers are out there, and one day soon we will find them . And, with that, Terkel finally stepped out of Riff’s mind and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Riff focused intently on the getaway truck driving down the highway about a mile in front of him, shook his head, and called out in frustration, “Keep driving, asshole. You’ll run out of fuel eventually, and it’ll happen long before I ever give up. No way in hell you’re taking those little boys anywhere out of my reach.”
What Riff didn’t want to admit was—and in his heart of hearts was the one thing that terrified him right now—what if those hurt and bleeding little boys weren’t inside that truck? Or worse, were slowly dying in that vehicle? That would be a worst-case scenario. Riff couldn’t help thinking about it now that he was drained and tired, yet no way he dared put any further thought into such a possibility. Still, he knew that, somewhere along the line, they might have missed something. For all they knew those little boys were already buried in the backyard of Jeff’s house.
Riff didn’t want to stop Jeff’s vehicle, only to do a full search and find it empty. He punched his foot down on the gas pedal and moved up closer behind the driver of Jeff’s truck, hoping the asshole would finally slow down, but no such luck. And, with no other choice, Riff kept on driving into the night.
And just seconds later, Merk flew past him and immediately pulled to the shoulder.