Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Rowan left the barn at a fast walk, the gravel popping under his boots as he cut across the yard toward the house.
Trident barked from somewhere behind the bunkhouse, a high yipping bark that said he was excited about something he was hunting.
Rowan stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder to yell, “You better not be chasing them chickens, Tri, or Gael’ll be pissed. ”
If he ignores me, I’m going to boot Gael in the balls. He’s spoiled them dogs way too much.
He blew out a frustrated breath when Frog joined in with Trident, and detoured toward them to see what was going on.
“What the heck, guys?” The dogs were worrying and digging at the woodpile.
“Come away from there. All y’all probably trapped a damn rattler.
If you get bit, don’t come whining to me to pay your vet bills.
” He snapped his finger, “Enough, shh.” He grabbed their collars and pulled them away.
“Go on, git. Dumbasses, both y’all weren’t present the day they gave out brain cells, that’s for sure.
” To his surprise, the dogs kept struggling to get to the woodpile.
It’s got to be a rattler.
“Come on, y’all come in the house with me,” he tugged them back, then cocked his head to one side when a noise coming from the stacked wood caught his attention.
That don’t sound like no rattler.
The sound sent the dogs into another frenzy of barking and pulling.
“What the fuck are you two—” Gael came around the corner of the building, “—what’s wrong with them?”
“There’s something in the woodpile, and they’ve lost their damn minds.
” Now his brother was here, he let go of the dogs’ collars, because while they ignored every word that came out of his mouth if it didn’t involve food, they worshiped the ground his brother walked on and would jump backward somersaults if he asked it of them.
“Sitz.” Sit, Gael pointed to the dogs, and both immediately put their butts on the ground, “Blieb.” Stay.
This was exactly why he had so much trouble getting them to do anything he told them to. “You’re an asshole for teaching them all the commands in German.”
“Shut it.” Gael scowled at the woodpile. “You’re just pissed that they won’t listen to you, no matter what language you speak to them in. What set them off?”
He gestured to the woodpile. “It’s probably a rattler or something.”
“Then get the shovel, dumbass, because we can’t have rattlers here in the yard. One of the boys or a horse will get bit, and then you’ll be bitching about vet bills.”
“I was on my way to the house to see Theo…”
“Cross will wait a couple of more minutes.” Gael pointed him toward the tack room. “If it was urgent, he’d be blowing up your phone already. Get me that shovel, and I’ll start moving logs.”
“Be easier to fucking shoot the damn snake than to whack it with the fucking shovel.” Grumbling to himself, he went back to the barn for the shovel before returning to Gael.
“What the hell are you doing?” His brother couldn’t be that stupid, could he?
“Why the fuck is your hand shoved into a hole in the woodpile?” He bunched his fist into the back of Gael’s shirt and pulled him back.
“Have you lost your damn mind? If you get snake bit, I’m—” He narrowed his eyes at the object in his brother’s hand, “—What’s that? ”
“A kitten.” Gael cradled the tiny creature close to his chest, while Trident and Frog shuffled closer, all the while trying to keep their butts on the ground. “It’s not a rattler, it’s a baby kitten.”
Fuck my life. He’s gonna want to bring it in the house.
“Put it back.” He didn’t want to be an asshole, but it was a recently born kitten if its closed eyes were anything to go by. “Its momma will be looking for it.”
“I think it’s Momma might be the dead one we saw on the road yesterday.” Gael scrambled to his feet. “It’s the same color anyways.”
Shit.
I knew it.
He’s bringing it in the house.
Newborn orphaned kittens belonged at the vet’s, right? They needed foster moms, or experienced handlers who knew what they were doing, right? They didn’t need broken-down Operators turned ranchers whose only experience with cats was the mousers in the barn. “What are you gonna do with it?”
“Bringing it to the kitchen, and I’m gonna call the vet.”
Thank fuck.
“Ask her what I can do for it.” Gael was already walking away, “Hurry up, Rowe, I thought you said Theo was looking for you.”
Shit.
“I guess we now own a dang house cat.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and glared at the dogs, “This is your fault,” he told the hounds before yelling after Gael. “You want to let the dogs off their stay, or do they got to stay right here until dinner time?”
A piercing whistle was the only reply he got, but Trident and Frog bolted past him as they chased after Gael.
“I should have known the kid who rescued rabbits and squirrels would have a damn menagerie as an adult.” He might mutter and bitch about Gael’s soft heart, but he was grateful he still had him.
War and the horrors that came with it, including too many close calls to count, had a way of reminding a man to smell the freaking roses and put up with the indoor cat his brother brought home.
Rowan kicked his boots on the step to knock the dust off them and made his way into the house. He staunchly ignored the kitten mewling in Gael’s hand as he made a fast stop in the kitchen to wash his hands and grab coffee before he walked through the house to Gael’s office.
“What you find, Theo?”
Theo had his phone to his ear. He lifted one finger, asking for silence.
“One minute, Mr. Moore,” he said into the phone.
“Rowan just came in. I’m going to bring him up to speed.
” He punched a button on the phone and placed it on the table.
“Enya Moore just called home.” He turned the laptop so Rowan could see the map and tapped the screen where a single green dot pulsed over a street somewhere in what looked like Guatemala.
“I didn’t say that.” Theo pulled the laptop closer to him. “She called from a payphone in Chiquimula. She only had time to say one word before the call ended.”
“What the heck is she doing down in Guatemala?” Rowan wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed. Once he’d talked himself into taking the job, he’d been looking forward to getting back in the field.
That doesn’t make sense.
Unless she escaped, but got caught.
Damn.
He really didn’t like the sound of his own thoughts.
If she were in trouble, had escaped, and been caught, there would be consequences.
That didn’t bode well for her. The factions who would kidnap a woman in that part of the world weren’t exactly the please-and-thank-you kinda people. He snorted in his head.
They are more the cut-your-throat-for-looking-at-them-sideways kind.
He braced his hands on the desk. “What word did she say?”
“‘Momma.’” Theo drummed his fingers on the desk next to the phone, telling Rowan that he was itching to start digging through the back channels and dark spaces on the web for any hint he could find about what happened next. “Then her mother said she heard Enya scream.”
A cold, focused stillness slid through Rowan’s chest, and he quirked up an eyebrow. “Scream?”
Dude, don’t make me shake the intel out of you.
Theo clearly saw Rowan was starting to get irritated with how slowly he was getting the information, as he changed tactics and launched into debriefing mode. “Yeah. Her mom says she sounded panicked or scared. She says it sounded like there was more than one person screaming, though.”
That’s not good.
“Was that why you called me to come up from the barn?”
Theo shook his head, “No. I found a bunch of intel that sorta matches another case in New Jersey, and I wanted you to look at it.” He nodded to the phone, “You want to talk to the father? I’ve had him on hold for a bit.”
“Put him on speaker.” As soon as Theo hit the button, Rowan spoke. “Mr. Moore, it’s Rowan. Tell me what happened.”
Camden Moore’s voice shook with emotion. It sounded like he was trying to swallow down tears and wasn’t quite managing it. “She screamed for her mother, and then… and then the line went dead.”
Rowan walked around the desk and sat in Gael’s chair.
Out of habit, he lifted the lever and lowered the chair to its lowest setting.
Even when he was focused on the job, annoying his brother was second nature.
“Mr. Moore, listen to me. Your daughter survived long enough to escape, most likely when they were transporting her. She ran. She found a phone. She called home. That takes guts most folks don’t have.
” He decided it was better not to mention how much worse her situation would be if she’d been caught.
There was no point in upsetting the Moores further.
A harsh, shuddering breath rattled over the line. “But they caught her.”
Unlike him, Theo didn’t soften the truth.
“Yes, sir, from what you said, it sounds like they did. You said the call didn’t end because she hung up, but because someone pulled her away, and that you heard a man yelling in Spanish before the line cut off.
That’s what you said before Rowan came in. Is that what happened?”
A woman’s soft sob filtered through the phone. It sounded like Camden’s wife was barely holding herself together. “She screamed my name. I heard her.”
Rowan closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again with resolve carved deep under his voice. “She called because she believed you’d answer. That means she was still fighting.”
Camden’s breath came unevenly. “Where is she now? Do you know where they took her?”