Chapter 5 Doc
DOC
I slipped out into the hallway and turned back one last time.
Miss Elizabeth was nothing but a bump underneath the covers of the bed, and I couldn’t help but watch for a moment.
There was something odd with my interactions with her.
At first, I figured it was shock and trauma.
Much like how Marla was when she first ran up on us.
But she was in great spirits until Anna busted into her personal space.
Did she not like people in her personal space?
I was in her personal space, and she didn’t seem to mind that.
I made a mental note to talk with her about it later. Her being comfortable in a place that was mine was very important to me. I’d been safe here growing up, and even though I didn’t leave here as an adult, I upkept it in the hopes that maybe one day I’d have a reason to fill it again.
Never thought that reason would be keeping women away from a trafficking ring, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers.
Eventually I was able to pull my way from the view of her beneath those blankets. I closed her door softly behind me, and then took off down the stairs, two at a time.
“Hey! Brutus!” I called out.
“’Bout damn time!” he bellowed. “Kitchen!”
Of course he was in the kitchen.
Brutus was rarely anywhere else.
When I rushed into the kitchen, I realized why he bellowed for me. I found Cap standing at his side, but coincidentally enough, no Ariel.
Which meant something went down.
I walked over to the duo. “What’s happened?”
Cap looked around before he nodded his head. “Back porch. Ariel has prying ears sometimes.”
I crooked an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless.
Brutus took the lead, walking us over to the sliding glass door in the kitchen that led to the backyard.
Up on the hill we were perched on, trees surrounded the large outer perimeter of the place.
The valley was below with the rest of Lockhart nestled inside of it.
The trees blocked our view of most of the town even from our perch point, but if we couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see us.
Which was the point of all the privacy trees.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I turned to face Cap.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “There was a fire in the woods a couple of nights ago.”
I looked over at Brutus before looking back at Cap. “And?”
Cap tilted his head. “And it took the fire department as well as both crews in order to put it out.”
My eyebrows rose. “You said this was two nights ago?”
Cap nodded. “Guess what was on fire?”
I didn’t skip a beat. “One of their hub houses.”
“Told you he’d get it,” Brutus muttered.
Cap just nodded again. “The one where Ariel and I were taken, to be specific.”
Fucking hell, no wonder he didn’t want her hearing about this shit.
“So not the main house,” I said for clarification.
Cap shook his head. “Nope, not that one. It’s clear that whoever set the fire used a cheap-ass accelerant for it. But while the firefighters worked to fight the flames, me, Wrecker, Ghost, and some guys from King’s crew were able to dip into the fire long enough to pull some things out.”
Brutus interjected. “Including DNA from the cages.”
That caught my attention. My eyes darted between the two men. “DNA? It wasn’t burned off in the fire?”
Cap unfolded his arms. “In the place where Ariel and I were being held, the cages were down a level and surrounded by cinderblock and concrete.”
“Aaahhh,” I said with a slow nod of my head. “So you want me to take over testing the DNA samples?”
Brutus blurted it out. “The police are doing that.”
My eyebrows shot up. “The police.”
Cap sighed heavily. “We didn’t have a choice in that matter. But that wasn’t the only thing that we pulled from the fire. We’ve got tech that wasn’t charred that Ranger is going to sift through. If he can even sift through it.”
I grinned. “Have you met Ranger?”
“That’s what I said,” Brutus mumbled.
Cap chuckled. “Yeah, well. Still. He’s handling that, the police are handling the testing of the DNA evidence, and it’ll be good to have not only the firefighters with their eyes on these buildings, but the police as well.”
“Builds a better background for our DOJ contact.”
I read Cap’s mind like a book. “But you don’t like the fact that they’re covering their tracks.”
Cap released a rare grin and shot it my way. “Always quick on the uptick.”
I just shrugged. “Like you said, it wasn’t their main building. But nonetheless, we should figure out what we’re going to do about the other buildings we know about. If they make this a habit, it could mean they’re pulling out of the area.”
“Or re-establishing elsewhere that we haven’t checked yet,” Brutus said.
“Another bright side,” I said as I tilted my head, “the firefighters and the police will have to open up separate files for every piece of DNA they’re testing.
Not to mention, the firefighters now understand that there are illegal buildings built back into the state park. That’ll strike up an investigation.”
Cap nodded. “That’s my hope with making the decision to bring in firefighters and police officers. Any official files that we can start building to turn over to the DOJ will help us push these bastards out for good.”
I blinked. “Wait, you’re the one that called the fire department?”
Cap just stared at me for a second. “When I saw the smoke and what direction it was coming from, it was just a gut reaction, you know?”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I get that.”
“Plus,” Cap said with a short breath, “I heard the sirens in the air before I ever placed the phone call. But yes, I was going to call them. The smoke got their attention first.”
“Him and some of the guys were on bikes before we could even talk about things,” Brutus said.
I looked over at the big guy before looking back at our president. “Sounds like you made the right call.”
Cap pinched the bridge of his nose. “The police will take forever with that DNA evidence, but I told them you might check in from time to time. Just to make sure they didn’t need anything.”
I nodded, understanding the underlying directive. “Consider it done. I’ll keep you updated as they keep me updated.”
“Thanks,” he mumbled as he looked up at Brutus. “And you.”
“And me,” he said with a slow nod of his head.
Cap drew in a deep breath. “You being back here with the girls is just about the only thing keeping the guys’ heads all screwed on straight.
Wrecker was up in arms when we figured out what building was being burned down.
Took me forever to talk him off the ledge of going and finding the main building to make sure they didn’t burn that shit down too. ”
“I don’t blame him,” I muttered.
“We should consider it, though,” Brutus said as he leaned back against the kitchen wall. “Finding that main house again where Wrecker and Amanda were kept. I know this feels like a backfoot, but if they make it a habit of burning down the structures they’ve got, it may present an opportunity.”
“Opportunity?” Cap asked.
I smiled. “I know where he’s headed.”
Brutus nodded. “Bring it home, Doc.”
I lifted my finger into the air. “For once, their focus isn’t us.
If firefighters and police officers were who showed up first to do shit, then there’s a chance they don’t even know some of our guys were at the fire while it was being put out.
That could put the trafficking ring chasing official documents for a while, and not us. We could use that to our advantage.”
Cap nodded as the understanding dropped into place. “Not going to lie, it’s been on my mind.”
“We should hold church about it,” I said as I looked over at Brutus. “You think?”
Brutus just nodded his head, so I looked back at Cap, only to find him chewing on the inside of his cheek.
“Say it,” I said as I stepped up to his side. “There are no answers through the kitchen window.”
Cap blinked a bit and shook his head, as if ripping himself from a trance. “Sorry, sorry. It was just…”
He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. I shot a look at Brutus, and he simply nodded before pushing off the wall and heading toward the fridge.
“Hey, Cap,” I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“Being back at that fucking place was rough,” he whispered. “Even if I did get to watch it burn to the fucking ground.”
“I can only imagine,” I said as I squeezed his shoulder a bit.
Brutus came over with a glass of ice water. “Chug.”
Cap stared him down.
Brutus stayed relentless. “Do I need to feed it to you, too?”
Cap narrowed his eyes and snatched the glass out of his hand. “No.”
We watched him chug the glass of water back.
“Thanks, Brutus,” he grunted as he wiped at his mouth.
Brutus just plucked the glass from Cap’s hand before walking over to place it in the sink.
“Orders?” Brutus asked.
Cap placed his hands on his hips. “Pretty much what you’re doing now. Stay with the girls. Make sure they are buddied up if they leave the house at all to wander the property. Keep doing regular patrols around the acreage of the compound, just in case.”
Business as usual. Got it. “We can do that.”
Cap dug his burner phone out of his pocket. “I’ll send a mass text when I decide to have church on the matter. This is still a developing thing, so I don’t want to pull anyone away from anything important until we’ve got another direction to head in that we have to hash out.”
I tilted my head. “Anything I can help with until then?”
Cap typed across the screen of his phone. “Do you happen to know where Ariel is? I’d like to tell her what happened, but privately.”
“She stays in Amanda’s room a lot,” Brutus said. “Well, when Wrecker isn’t here.”
Cap snickered. “All right. And where’s Amanda’s room?”
I pointed up to the sky. “Go back inside. Up the stairs, second hallway on the right, all the way down to the last door on the left.”
Cap just grinned and shook his head at me. “Your brain is something else sometimes, you know that?”
I just shrugged. “Don’t know how to let it be anything else.”
Cap chuckled before he turned to Brutus. “When’s your next patrol?”
Brutus checked his watch. “Two hours.”
Cap nodded. “Come get me before you start. I’ll do this patrol with you before heading back to the compound.”
“King’s crew is good, yeah?” I asked as the three of us started back inside.
“Oh, yeah, they’re good,” Cap said with another chuckle as he slid the glass door open for us. “Excited to have some action for once. Damn man was ready to hop in there with a fucking hose.”
I smiled as I slipped back into the kitchen. “Sounds like King.”
“How’s Anna getting along while she’s here?” Cap asked as he stepped inside behind us and slid the door closed. “King wanted me to get a sitrep on her.”
Brutus’s face fell. “She likes pickles.”
“She… what?” Cap asked.
Brutus’s face darkened. “She. Likes. Pickles. They’re fucking gross, Cap. And she likes them.”
Cap slowly looked over at me.
I slowly looked over at him.
And then the two of us burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny,” Brutus growled.
I placed my hand against the kitchen countertop and leaned over to laugh. “You’re so bent out of shape over those pickles.”
“She chases me with her pickle breath! After I tell her to stop!”
Cap’s head fell back with roaring laughter. “Holy fuck. I can’t wait to tell King.”
I had to force my laughter down into my gut just to answer my side of the question. “Tell King she’s doing fine. She’s torturing people just how she likes and doing the rounds with Brutus so she doesn’t get too antsy.”
Cap’s laughter eventually cleared. “Good, good. I’m glad. I’ll let King know. And Brutus?”
“What,” he said flatly.
Cap held back his laughter. “Try not to hate her too much. She may not have been attacked or anything, but she’s a woman inside of the territory that this trafficking ring is stalking out.”
Brutus’s arms fell to his sides. “I don’t hate her. She’s just annoying. Tell King they’ve got that in common.”
I couldn’t help the way my head fell back in laughter again.
“Oh my God,” Cap said as he dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “All right, you two. I’m gonna go find Ariel. Keep up with your daily reports to me, and Brutus, I’ll do that patrol with you in a couple of hours before I head out.”
“I’ll make sure I find you,” he mumbled.
“Oh fuck! Ghost! Yes!”
A snarl ricocheted through the floor above our heads before a rhythmic banging sounded. I rolled my eyes as Brutus groaned, but Cap just stared with a grin up at the ceiling. The rhythm got quicker. Steadier. Louder.
“Fuck,” we heard someone choke out.
“Say my name,” Ghost growled.
I had to cup my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
“My God, I’d hate to be the two of you,” Cap said with a smile as he shook his head.
“At least you and Ariel are quiet,” Brutus grumbled.
We all laughed again just before the rhythmic banging ceased above our heads.
I couldn’t help myself as I cupped my hands over my mouth. “Do you prefer the name Ghost!? Or Charles!?”
A large thud sounded above our heads before it made its way toward the stairs.
“Aaaand, that’s my cue,” Cap said as he rushed out of the kitchen. “Good luuuuuck!”
I pointed. “Side stairs are down that hallway to the right!”
I looked over my shoulder to find Brutus, only to see that his big, behemoth existence somehow snaked away without so much as a sound.
Ghost came tearing into the kitchen wearing nothing but a low-slung pair of basketball shorts and his mask cockeyed on his face.
“The fuck you say?” he growled.
But all I did was flash him a smile before I patted his shoulder and passed by him. “Keep an eye out on your phone. Cap will eventually call church.”
“Ranger’s staying the night here tonight,” Ghost called out behind me.
I gave him a thumbs up over my head as I turned toward the stairs. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll make sure Brutus knows.”
“And tell him to ease up on all the damn butter he puts in our fucking food! We’re all gonna die of coronaries before this is all over!”