Chapter Four
“E xplain this shit to me again, Holden. What led you to believe Hastings is a perp and how the hell do you think Seneca can stop him?”
He’d lost his cool the moment he’d handed Holden back his tablet. Actually, the fact that he hadn’t thrown the damn thing at him was proof Colton was showing way more restraint than he believed he had.
“Those two have a history that goes back to her days in the state penitentiary. He was the head prison guard on her cellblock. We believe he used his position to somehow abduct parolees upon their release.”
Holden awakened his tablet and tapped the screen a few times before he replaced it on the table.
“We think someone is using programs like Pathways to abduct parolees all over the country.”
“For human trafficking,” Aja whispered. “That’s why you think they’re taking them, right?” Colton noted the tremble in Aja’s voice, and dread ran through him. Holden hadn’t explained the worst of it yet and this was already negatively impacting her.
“We know that Aja only accepted two parolees: Brooklyn Osborn and Seneca Daniels. But we have documentation that seven parolees were released into Aja’s custody under the Pathways program. That’s five people unaccounted for.”
Aja tapped her finger on the tabletop as she stared at the documents on Holden’s tablet. He could see the guilt settling into her features already.
“We believe the parole officer assigned to the Pathways parolees forged Aja’s signature on those five release forms.”
Colton looked at Jackson and saw the harsh bob of his throat as he swallowed his coffee.
Considering Ryan had stalked and tried to kill Aja, the iron grip Jackson had on the ceramic cup in his hand was amazing self-control.
Fortunately, for everyone involved, Ryan was now keeping company with the devil and hopefully enduring every form of torture that fallen angel could manage to inflict.
“Any idea how they got this done? Ryan couldn’t have accomplished this on his own,” Jackson added.
“He didn’t,” Holden replied. “He had someone from corrections or local law enforcement helping. It’s the only way he was able to do it without any red flags going up.
There’s only one person we can connect to both the prison, the Pathways program, and local law enforcement whose name also came up in those encrypted files on Ryan’s hard drive. ”
“Wait one damn minute,” Colton barked. “How the hell do you know that? Our cyber department hasn’t even finished unlocking those files yet.”
Holden shrugged. “They reached out to us in Quantico to get some help. Our people noticed the connection and sent me a copy.”
Holden and his secret-agent bullshit were beginning to get on Colton’s nerves. “Why do you think Seneca can stop him?”
“He used to extort favors from the inmates for protection and benefits. We have reason to believe Seneca was one such prisoner. We believe through her interactions with him, she may have uncovered some information that will help us shut him down.”
“My God,” Aja huffed. “Did he…” Unable to speak the rest of the words, she let her unspoken meaning float through the air.
“I’ll fucking kill him.” Colton’s hand instinctively itched for the spare pistol he kept attached to his ankle. “What did he do to her?”
Colton could hear the thudding of his heartbeat between his ears like a bass drum in a marching band. Unsavory things happened in prisons. It was a thousand times worse when the people hired to keep order were the ones perpetrating the unnecessary evil.
“Colton.” He heard Aja’s soft voice breaking through the fog of his rage. “Colton, if she wanted us to know, she would tell us.”
He took a breath, trying his best to clear his head between deep breaths in and out. “You’re right,” he relented. “But I’m still gonna kill that son of a bitch.”
His stomach churned and for the first time since he’d had the pleasure of eating Aja’s cooking, he regretted tucking into his food so fast.
“As far as I can tell, he was using her hacking skills to steal money. We think he may be after her to do the same again.”
The pounding of his heart in his chest nearly drowned out the rest of the sound in the room, leaving Colton on edge.
“What has he done?”
Holden scanned his face. Not like a friend looking at a friend, but as an investigator trying to put the unknown pieces together to make the picture make sense.
“I’ve got eyes on him. He cornered her last night when she was entering the diner. The conversation didn’t look friendly. She looked shaken enough that she might just have a vested interest in helping me put Hastings behind bars.”
Things began to click into place. Her refusal to get past his lies. They weren’t just about Colton, they were about another law enforcement agent who’d lied and screwed her over yet again.
“My team is currently looking into the backgrounds of the missing parolees,” Holden continued. “We’re seeing who visited them during their stints in prison, contacting any family members. It’ll be tough because many of them either weren’t close to their families, or don’t have any to speak of.”
“If they did get caught up in a trafficking scheme, the lack of family and support would make them prime pickings for one of these sleazebags running an operation like this,” Jackson added. He was right. People on their own made great targets for manipulators looking to exploit the vulnerable.
Colton pointed to Holden. “On paper, that sounds like the only difference between Seneca and Brooklyn and the missing five. Seneca has her mom in Georgia. Brooklyn’s mother, sister, and niece are still in New York. Maybe that was a deterrent for taking the two of ’em.”
“Probably,” Colton added. “But we also looked as far back as their court cases too. Both Seneca and Brooklyn hired private counsel for their trials. During their parole process, Aja acted as their attorney of record. The other five women were represented by different attorneys, but all those attorneys were part of one firm. Edwards, Crane, & Mitchell.”
“It’s one of the most successful firms in Texas,” Aja added. “They tried to recruit me when I came down here. They’ve got offices in every major city in the Lone Star State.”
Colton nodded. “They also represent one Eli Bennett. The man currently serving time for vandalizing Aja’s ranch.”
“That’s mighty convenient,” Holden said.
“These women didn’t come from any significant means before they were convicted.
Seneca and Brooklyn were each pulling six figures from their day jobs before their legal troubles.
But not these five. How could they afford an eight hundred dollar per hour mouthpiece? ”
“Even rich lawyers are required to put in some pro bono hours,” Aja added. “But unless a judge assigned them to the case, it’s not likely a high-powered attorney would get caught up in anything but white-collar or petty crimes.”
“Agreed,” Holden replied as he stood and retrieved his tablet. “I really hate to eat and run, but the sooner I can talk to Seneca, the sooner I can take down Hastings. Is she around?”
“She’s—” Aja began.
“She’s not here today,” Colton interrupted as Aja served him a sharp glare. “We don’t know when she’ll be back.”
Holden’s skepticism was evident by the etched lines in his brow.
But he didn’t say anything. He simply pulled two cards from his pocket, handing one to Aja and one to Colton.
“When either of you sees her next, please tell her to call me. If I’m not available, have her leave me a message.
Good seeing you, boys. Hopefully it will be for fun next time. ”
“I know your end of this case is closed, Colton. But I wouldn’t mind your help on this. I’m going undercover in the sheriff’s department. It would be great to have someone I trust to have my back.”
The memories of growing up with Jackson and Holden flooded his mind. At one time the three were inseparable. But Holden was family, and it didn’t matter how long family was gone, you never turned them away.
“You get in a pinch, don’t hesitate to call me. Those FBI boys will never take care of you the way the rangers will.”
Holden smiled and opened his arms to give Colton another back-slapping hug. When he stepped back, he handed Colton the phone he’d been holding. “It’s a burner. The only number programmed into it is mine. If I need you, I’ll call on this.”
Aja stood and walked Holden to the front door. Colton pulled out his personal phone to tap into the ranch’s security system and watched Holden pull his sedan through the front gates. Satisfied that he was gone, Colton headed for the back door.
Colton fixed his eyes on Jackson’s face, preparing to speak, when his friend and boss held up a hand and said, “No.”
“You haven’t even heard the ask, Jackson.”
He shook his head more firmly. “The answer is still no, Colton.”
“If we open up our own case, we can stop Hastings and keep Holden from putting Seneca in harm’s way too.”
Jackson leaned back in his chair, trying to relax his body language before he focused on Colton again.
“Listen, Colton, we don’t have cause to open an investigation on him. Whatever evidence there is that Hastings is dirty, Holden already has it and won’t share it. Not to mention, if we go near his case, he’ll pull jurisdiction so fast, it’ll make your head spin.”
Colton could feel his rage bubbling underneath his skin, and Jackson’s focused calm was beginning to piss him off.
“We can go to Hargrove and ask him to open a case, at least see what he thinks about it.”