Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Twenty-four hours after Joy and Precious were released from Sheriff O’Grady’s custody, the fire chief lifted the Titans’ suspension. They celebrated by throwing a party. Yolanda baked cupcakes, and Moira bought ice cream at a nearby store. She opened a music app on her cell phone, and they danced and indulged themselves with junk food.
But their celebration ended when an emergency call sent them running for their gear. Another dangerous fire, large enough to require two fire stations to respond, had broken out south of Chino Hills and threatened a community. The Titans assisted with evacuating the homeowners and fighting the fire. During the chaos, Barbie and Susan corralled lost and frightened pets and reunited them with their frantic owners.
Several homes caught on fire. Moira and the Titans focused on saving them and rescuing anyone trapped inside. In a two-story home engulfed in flames, Tawny spotted a child’s white face at a window on the second floor. The little girl was crying and pounding on the glass. Without thinking, she rushed into the burning house.
Flames swirled around her. Tawny covered her mouth and nose with a bandana. Smoke stung her eyes, and she could barely see anything. Flames licked at the staircase, and it disintegrated beneath her as she scrambled to reach the second-floor landing. Burning beams fell. She dodged them, but one hit her, and she staggered to maintain her balance. When she reached the bedroom overlooking the street, Tawny had to kick open the door. The child screamed.
“Stay where you are! I’ll come to you!”
The floor caved. Tawny jumped across the gaping hole. She reached the little girl in two strides and knelt before her.
“Hi, I’m Tawny. What’s your name?”
“S…Serena.” She clutched a stuffed bear to her chest.
“Serena. That’s a pretty name. I’m going to take you to your parents. Understand?”
She nodded and wiped her runny nose on the sleeve of her shirt.
“Okay. Get behind me.”
More beams crashed. The flames surrounding them grew hotter, making it more difficult to breathe. Tawny grabbed a small wooden rocking chair and swung it at the window with enough force to shatter it. Air rushed in. She brushed aside the jagged pieces of glass and looked down. Guessing her intention, Moira had the Titans ready with an inflatable cushion.
Tawny lifted the child into her arms. “Serena, see that giant cushion?”
She gazed down into the yard and whimpered. “Y…yes.”
“You and I are going to jump on it like a trampoline. It’s not far to jump. No farther than a really tall slide at the park. Now, hang on tight. One…two…three…”
Tawny jumped from the windowsill. Behind her, she heard an enormous crash as the bedroom floor gave way. She and Serena landed safely, bouncing a little. Dee and Debbie helped Serena off the cushion and handed her to her anxious parents. Serena’s older siblings rushed over to hug her. Yolanda and Terrin pulled Tawny off the cushion.
“Jesus, that was brave,” Yolanda declared in awe.
“Brave but stupid,” Terrin added. “You, of all people, should know better than to run into a burning building without backup.”
“I know, but?—”
Serena’s parents approached the trio with their daughter.
“Thank you,” Serena’s mother began, her voice choked with emotion. “Thank you for saving our little girl. We thought she was with one of us when we rushed out of the house. We…we feel so ashamed.”
“Don’t. The main thing is your family is alive and safe.”
They watched as firefighters sprayed Serena’s home with water, now a burnt husk. Another team of firefighters doused the roof of the house next to it.
Serena held up her teddy bear. “I want to give you Mr. Brown Bear.”
Tawny smiled. “Aw, sweetie, that’s very kind of you.” She leaned down and pretended to listen to the bear. “But Mr. Brown Bear told me he loves you too much to ever say goodbye to you.”
She hugged the bear. “I love him, too.”
Serena’s parents thanked Tawny and the others again, gathered their three children, and moved with solemnity down the street to huddle with their neighbors.
It took the rest of the afternoon to put out the fire. The firefighters saved as many homes as possible, but the ones that lined the street's left side along the block were a total loss. At least no one was hurt or injured, and their pets were safe and sound. And this time, no one made snide remarks about their being inmates or not wanting them out in public. They proved themselves. Pride filled their hearts and fed their starving souls.
At camp, they took showers and cooked dinner. Around the table, they discussed what they’d learned at the scene and what they could do next time to improve their performance.
“Experience is the best teacher, as I said before,” Moira commented. “I can teach you fire science and show you how the equipment works, but until you actually have to do it, it’s only knowledge, not skill.”
They lifted their cups of iced tea or soda. “Amen.”
“You know, I used to have nightmares when I was a kid about my house burning down,” Debbie remarked. “Today…watching those people lose everything, all those childhood fears came flooding back.”
“Me, too,” Ronette added. “I think everyone experiences those dreams. Right?”
Almost everyone agreed. From there, the conversation segued into a lively discussion about dreams in general. When Debbie shared another one of her nightmares about one hundred beheaded cats on her back porch, forks clattered onto plates, and their mouths fell open in shock.
“Girl, are you crazy?” Yolanda demanded.
“No, of course not! I can explain the source of my dream. My cat, Foxy, got hit by a car that broke his back. The poor thing crawled through a hole in our screened-in porch, and we found him under the barbecue grill.” Her dark green eyes filled with sadness. “We had to lie to Animal Control about Foxy being our cat so they’d take him and put him down ‘cause we didn’t have the money for a vet, and we didn’t want him to suffer anymore.”
“God, that’s the saddest story I’ve ever heard.”
Stories about pets followed as they finished eating and cleaned the kitchen. Afterward, they played cards and listened to music until Moira had to leave them alone with Whitcomb and Macintosh, the new guy whom Tawny intuitively disliked.
She walked with Moira out to her car. “Any news?” she inquired in a low voice.
“Colfer wasn’t a corrections officer. He did fifteen years in the Army. Hard to believe someone got the jump on him like that. Jiena suspects he’s related to one of the missing or dead women.”
“And this new guy?”
“Nothing on him yet, but beware, Tawny. He’s probably connected to the organization.”
“Got it. What about Joy and Precious?”
“Cameron said Stoltz threw them in solitary. He doesn’t know for how long.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” She paused. “How’s my man?”
“Worried sick about you. No one is happy that your cover was blown with Yolanda and Terrin. Jiena wanted to pull you out, but Marcus convinced her to trust you. Don’t prove him wrong.”
“I won’t.”
“Macintosh is staring at us. Gotta go. See you tomorrow.”
As Tawny drew near the redwood picnic table, Macintosh approached her. “You and Captain Finnigan looked pretty chummy. Somethin’ goin’ on between you and her?”
“Yeah. She’s my captain, and I’m her Number One, you know, like in Star Trek: The Next Generation ? She trusts me to look out for the crew when she’s not on deck, you know?”
“Fuckin’ idiot,” he muttered as he stomped away from her and returned to his post outside Bunkhouse B.
“You wish.”
Tawny went inside the main bunkhouse and played Monopoly with the others until they grew sleepy and called it a night.
Finnigan, Jiena, Justice, and Hutch gathered around the computer screen at LA SWAT’s command center and greeted Tex as he came online.
“I did a deep dive on Gary Colfer. Turns out after his stint in the Army, a private, well-funded security company snatched him up. Guess who?”
“Oh, my God.” Jiena shook her head. “Tex, are we talking about the company Maverick Stone works for?”
“FILO. First In, Last Out. They’re mad as hell that he went rogue and got himself killed. But your theory was right. He was related to one of the women at CIFW who disappeared. Nixie Carmichael.”
“No wonder we didn’t make the connection. They have different last names.”
“Colfer was fifteen years older and had a different father. Nixie and Gary’s mother was a train wreck before she died of alcoholism. You can assume that’s how he learned about his younger sister. His father either kept Nixie a secret, or he never knew about her in the first place since Gary was a teenager when she was born. The mother didn’t marry either man,” Tex revealed.
“Whoever murdered him covered his tracks well. No fingerprints on the rock, and so far, no DNA hits.”
“I’ll keep digging. No one can remain a ghost forever. It’s possible one of the rescue workers was an imposter.”
“Tex, do you have any information on the guard named Macintosh?” Finnigan asked.
“I’m running the name, but it would be helpful if we could get a license plate number. There aren’t any traffic cameras up there.”
“I’ll tell Moira to snap a picture.”
“Keep me posted, and I’ll do the same.” Tex ended the video chat.
The Wendy Corrigan/Director Dickinson angle came up, and they discussed why he lied about her being his niece.
“This beating around the bush is fucking nonsense,” Finnigan complained. His frustration over their lack of progress colored his tone. “Why can’t we just ask him why he lied? He already knows Tawny is undercover, and how the hell did he recognize her, anyway? We scrubbed her online presence. Is Wendy Corrigan undercover, too? I mean, Jiena, is there another op we aren’t aware of? Like the DEA, for example.”
“I don’t know. Cameron’s brother should be able to answer that question for us.” Jiena pressed Cameron’s number on her cell phone, and a moment later, they heard a ringtone behind them. They turned to see Cameron striding toward them with a grim expression, phone in hand.
Justice stepped forward to meet his father-in-law. “What’s wrong? Is it Brielle? Is she in labor?”
“No, Justice. Brielle is fine. I was just informed that Joy and Precious overdosed and died. They were discovered in the greenhouse after they missed lunch. The needles were still in their arms, and packets of heroin were found in their cells.”
Jiena pounded the center console with her fists. “This is my fault! I should have planned to get them to safety. It was a mistake on my part to think nothing would happen to them.”
Hutch wrapped his arms around his fiancée and held her still. “Listen, sweetheart, it wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have foreseen this.”
She whirled around in a fury. “It’s my job to foresee things like this! They were witnesses to a murder, for God’s sake. And not just anyone. An employee of FILO. Now they’re going to insinuate themselves into my investigation.”
“I’ll call Maverick and tell him to convince his boss to allow us to handle it.”
Jiena shook her head. “No. It’s over. I need to pull Tawny and Moira out before I get them killed.”
“You can’t do that.” Finnigan’s voice held a hard edge. “Tawny is too invested. I’ve seen her interact with those women. She’ll never agree to leave them behind. And neither will Moira. She’s as stubborn as I am.”
“Finn is right,” Hutch agreed. “We’re so close to solving this case, baby. See it through to the end. You can do this.”
Jiena let out her breath and squared her shoulders. “All right. Cameron, where are those packets of heroin supposedly found in Joy’s and Precious’ cells? And one more thing. Will you ask your brother if the DEA is running an op the FBI isn’t aware of?”
“Good question. I’ll go to CIFW and pay Warden Stoltz a visit. Put the fear of God in him. I’ll let you know what I find out. And I’ll call my brother on my way there.” Cameron squeezed Justice’s shoulder as he left.
“Moira said that the guards are rotated on the weekends,” Finnigan pointed out. For whatever reason, there’s only going to be one guard this weekend, and it’s going to be me.”
“How will you pull this off?” Hutch asked. “You’ve already masqueraded as a firefighter.”
“With blue eyes and a fake name. This time I’ll go as myself. Since we don’t know whom Stoltz or whomever is sending, we’ll have to lay a trap for him.”
“I agree. Stoltz won’t be the wiser. In fact, I doubt he’s calling any of the shots. Once we nab the replacement guard, we’ll get him to talk.” Jiena gazed at the group. “Let’s work out the logistics.”
Finnigan didn’t shave for two days. The rough stubble on his face disguised his features so that it would be harder to equate him with the firefighter the women met briefly or to remark on his resemblance to Moira. He’d call himself “Mark” if anyone asked, but Moira had explained that the women tended to ignore Whitcomb and Macintosh. It was likely they’d ignore him, too.
On Friday night, Finnigan, Jiena, and Hutch sat in a fully loaded surveillance van a few hundred yards outside the fire camp. When Moira called to tell them that Whitcomb and Macintosh were leaving, they waited until the guards passed by before they pulled out of a hard-packed dirt sideroad and drove toward the fire camp. Whitcomb and Macintosh must have been notified that their replacement was on his way because an old Honda Accord approached the van in less than five minutes after the other two passed them.
Jiena jumped out of the van and flagged down the Honda. It stopped, and the driver rolled down his window.
“Is something wrong, ma’am?”
“Yes! Oh, thank God, you’re a cop! Please help me! I think my husband is having a heart attack!”
“But I’m not?—”
“Please help! Our phones died, and please! We’re wasting time!”
“Okay, okay.”
He followed her to the side of the van, and she slid back the panel door. Finnigan and Hutch yanked him inside. Jiena climbed in behind him and closed the door.
The guard gazed around in confusion. “Hey, what is this?”
Hutch took his gun, his badge, and his cell phone. “Hold out your hands.”
The guard complied, and Hutch secured his wrists with a zip tie.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“I’m Special Agent Jiena Cofield with the FBI, and you’re being held on suspicion of drug trafficking.” She met Finnigan’s eyes. “Go. Do you have everything you need?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“We’ll be here in shifts all weekend.”
“Copy that.”
Finnigan wore a uniform like the guard’s. He opened the side panel and jumped down to the ground with a gym bag in his hand. He slid behind the wheel of the Honda and continued to the fire camp. In the rearview mirror, he watched the surveillance van make a U-turn and head in the opposite direction.
When he parked on the gravel section of the yard, he sent a quick text to Moira.
I’m here.
She replied with a thumbs up emoji.
Finnigan exited the Honda and shoved his cell phone in his back pocket. He checked his service weapon and surveyed the area. It appeared empty. He gazed upward and turned around in a 360-degree circle. Finnigan didn’t spot any security cameras. Odd for a camp full of inmates, but not if you were using the women to run drugs and wanted to keep it a secret. He’d search the area later. Right now, there was only one thing, one person , on his mind.
Tawny.
His stomach tightened with excitement at the thought of being with her again. As he approached Bunkhouse A, Finnigan forced himself to imagine the most unsexy scenario to avoid a telltale bulge in his pants. Outside the door, he took several deep breaths before he pulled it open and stepped across the threshold. The women were in the middle of cleaning up the kitchen. They halted in their tracks when they spotted him. Somebody dropped a plate, which clattered against the sink dishes. He glanced over and...
Oh, God. Tawny.
Her hair cascaded down her back in red flames. Finnigan swallowed the hard lump of emotion rising in his throat and fought against the urge to sweep her into his arms.
It grew quiet. Everyone stared at him, including Moira, who obviously couldn’t disguise the mirth shining in her brown eyes.
“Uh…hi.”
Tawny burst into laughter. “We don’t bite. Then again, Yolanda might. She’s Team Edward all the way.”
Yolanda snapped her arm with a kitchen towel. “It’s a damn sight better than runnin’ with a pack of smelly dogs.”
“Wolves, Yolanda. Wolves .”
Jesus Christ. The way she said it made him hot and hungry for her.
Tawny ignored him as she and Yolanda teased each other and resumed washing the dishes. The others took their cue from them and returned to what they were doing before he interrupted them.
Moira slung an overnight bag onto her shoulder and addressed the women. “Titans, I’ll be back Monday morning unless we get called to an emergency. Enjoy the weekend. And please leave this poor guard alone.” She turned her attention to him. “Step outside with me for a minute?”
“Sure, Captain.” Finnigan followed her a good distance away from the bunkhouse. “Something going on?”
“Yeah. Right after Colfer was replaced with Macintosh, it started with Barbie. She’s become quiet and withdrawn, and she’s always tired as if she’s not getting enough sleep at night. She’s also really pale. Half the time, she looks sick. Now Dee is starting to exhibit the same symptoms.”
“They’re running drugs.”
“That’s what Tawny said. Both Barbie and Dee sleep in Bunkhouse B. She wants to switch bunks with Barbie.”
Finnigan frowned. “I’ll discuss it with her tonight after everyone falls asleep.”
“Okay.” Moira turned toward her car.
“Wait. God, I don’t know how to tell you this but straight up. Joy and Precious died from heroin overdoses.”
Moira swayed a little on her feet. “Oh, shit. No, no. My God. That’s horrible.”
“Keep it to yourself for now.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t even know what to say.”
When his sister left, Finnigan took up his post outside the bunkhouse. He could hear the women bustle and laugh and assumed they were settling in for an evening of fun and games. Two of them emerged from the bunkhouse and gave him a wide berth. He glimpsed their pale, frightened faces and assumed they were Dee and Barbie. If he didn’t get them to safety, they’d probably be dead in a few days like Joy and Precious.