Chapter Ten
Stace and Shep spent the rest of the afternoon combing through maps and sites online for all camping sites within the entire state. They would start close and work their way outward. They were printing pictures of everything available, hoping that when Ally recovered and came downstairs, she might be able to recognize one of them and narrow their search.
They’d already weeded out the places that were actively running. It had been apparent from what Ally had said it had to be someplace where there was no fear of anyone seeing them. In theory, that should have made things easier. It didn’t. There were several summer camps that were closed for the year or abandoned. There were also a few family camping sites that were closed for a multitude of reasons.
Shep was printing out the last batch of stuff while Stace put everything in piles with the photos on top. They’d narrowed it down to the ten most likely possibilities. Stace had lived most of her life in the area and had never heard of a lot of the places they printed. They were organized by proximity and size. With their history of locating missing people, Stace and Shep both felt the group would be kept in a smaller location. They’d be easier to guard that way.
At least, now, they knew why there’d been no threads left to tug on. Traffickers would know the consequence of leaving any discernable trail. What Stace didn’t know was how or where they’d crossed paths with her sister. They’d obviously tried to use her medical training to treat whatever illness was being spread in the group they’d taken. Only now, according to Ally’s vision, Chloe was sick too.
“How long do you think we have?” Stace finally ventured to put her fear into words. “How long do you think Chloe has? She’s sick, running a fever.”
“It sounded like what Ally saw was in the moment and not the past,” Shep answered. “If that’s true, it would mean Chloe just fell sick.” He stood from where he’d been sitting for the last few hours and pulled Stace up and into a tight hug. “Don’t lose faith. Ally gave us our first and only lead.” He leaned back to look into her eyes. “She found her. Chloe is alive, and it’s only a matter of time before we find her.”
“Why would these men take her to help the others?” Stace asked, drawing away to pace the room. “That’s what I don’t understand. We both know how these operations work. The people they take are nothing more than a commodity to them. If they get sick, they’re easily replaced. Why go to the effort of kidnapping someone to help the ones who are sick? Why a nursing student? I swear if we find this guy I will take extreme pleasure in hurting him for what he’s done. To my sister and those people.”
“He’s not the villain you see him as,” Ally said softly from the doorway. Stace’s eyes flew to her, and she was happy to see a little color in Ally’s face. Blake stood close behind her, his body embracing hers while Ally leaned back into him.
“Are you okay?” Stace asked.
“I’m fine now,” Ally offered with a nod
“I’m so sorry I touched you,” Stace said as Shep slipped his arm around her waist. “I never meant to hurt you.”
Ally moved forward and took Stace’s hands in hers. “You were only trying to help me. I appreciate that. The connection was strong, very strong, and I know why. Before I was pulled from the connection, I was able to connect not just with Chloe but with the man who took her, as well. We share the same gift.”
“He’s psychic, too?” Stace asked.
“Clairvoyant, and yes,” Ally said. “That’s how I know he isn’t a bad man.”
“He kidnapped my sister,” Stace countered. “That makes him bad in my book.”
“He first saw your sister in a little café she visits just off campus,” Ally shared. “He witnessed her save a man from choking one day and overheard her and a friend talking about nursing school. The friend said Chloe should go on to medical school like she wanted and become a doctor.”
“I didn’t know Chloe was thinking about medical school,” Stace admitted.
“She loves you, respects you and wants to make you as proud of her as she is of you,” Ally said.
“You picked up on all that?” Stace asked.
“Your sister was thinking of you when we connected,” Ally admitted softly.
Stace did her best to fight the tears that wanted to spill. Chloe was thinking of her? Was she wanting her sister to come save her? “I’m already proud of her.”
“I can tell,” Ally assured her. “This man, he used his gift to find people who have been taken and are being held against their will. He has a group that helps him go in and rescue them. This time, the people were all sick. They were left in an abandoned truck bed, discarded like garbage. He was desperate to save them, so desperate that he followed your sister and, with the help of two of his men, took her, hoping she’d know how to treat them. Instead, Chloe became ill.”
“Because he knew she was in school for nursing and was thinking of medical school?” Stace asked, shaking her head. “Why not a doctor from somewhere else? A paramedic or someone already trained?”
“Because he saw your sister and from what I could tell,” Ally sighed and shook her head, “I think he was hoping to find a companion soul in Chloe, someone to work at his side, helping him. He never anticipated Chloe getting sick. He wouldn’t have taken her if he’d suspected that would happen.”
“But he did take her,” Stace said, hardening herself against the softness she was starting to feel for this guy. There would be time to forgive him later, after her sister was found and recovered from whatever illness she now had. “We have to find her.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Ally promised. “Right before I lost the connection, I connected with him. He showed me where they were, where he’d hidden them. I didn’t get to see everything, but hopefully, I got enough for us to find them.”
“Oh, God,” Stace said. “I’ll never forgive myself if my actions keep us from finding Chloe.”
Ally shook her head. “They won’t, and it isn’t only Chloe. He’s leaving the people there in hopes we can get them the help he couldn’t.”
“Wait. He’s gone?” Shep asked, and Stace felt his hand against the small of her back, a firm support.
“He’s gone,” Ally nodded. “He’s moved on to find another group.”
Stace understood what he was doing, believed in it with all her heart, but she couldn’t, no wouldn’t, be able to forgive him until she saw Chloe laughing and smiling once more.
“We have pictures of several sites we found. The most promising are spread across the table.” Shep pointed toward where he and Stace had laid out their hours of research. “Maybe, you’ll be able to recognize something from one of the pictures.”
Ally immediately turned to the table. She leaned close, taking her time and studying every photo. She picked up several and shuffled through the stack of photos and information before setting them down. Stace felt the clock ticking and worried her bottom lip between her teeth, watching as Ally finally narrowed it down to two sites.
“I know it’s one of these two,” Ally told them. “They look so similar in the photos. Can we pull these two up again and let me see if maybe something on the websites will trigger for me?”
“Absolutely,” Shep agreed and took a seat in front of his laptop. He quickly logged on and brought up two tabs, each holding one of the sites. He stood and held the chair out for Ally.
They all moved in close. Stace, Shep and Blake hovered over Ally’s shoulder looking at the screen with her, though only Ally could point them in the right direction. Shep and Stace had only printed out photos showing the cabin sites in full, thinking that would be their best bet. But obviously Ally was looking for something in particular, either something she’d seen for herself or something the man had shown her. Stace hoped Ally found it.
“Here,” Ally finally said, pointing to a tiny hand-painted sign that once led the way to a children’s summer camp that had been closed for years. “This is what I was looking for. We’ll find Chloe and the others here.”
Blake moved back, cell phone already in hand. “I’ll put in a call to the authorities and let them know what we might be looking at. The nearest hospital to that site will need to be prepared staff-wise for the number of people who’ll be coming in. Ally, do you have any idea what they might have? Did you pick up anything from him or Chloe on that?”
Ally shook her head. “Neither of them knew for sure what was causing the fever. Chloe was run-down and exhausted when she succumbed to it. She’s been surviving the last few weeks on little to no sleep, and though, he would demand she eat, she didn’t always comply if he wasn’t there to make her.”
Blake moved away as he put his phone to his ear.
“Chloe always puts others before herself,” Stace said. “She has a great need to nurture and care for others, thus her call to nursing.” Stace smiled. “I guess medical school, too.”
“Contact made,” Blake said, stepping back over to them. “They’re making calls and setting up now. They’re sending a few medical staff out to the site to get an idea of what we’re looking at. We’ll need to mask when we get there.”
Stace nodded.
“Ready?” Shep asked.
“Weeks ago,” Stace said as they all moved toward the front door.
“We’ll follow behind,” Blake said as Stace shut and locked the door.
“Good call,” Shep agreed then glanced at Stace. “Blake has emergency medical training and keeps it up to date.”
Stace nodded, unable to focus on anything but finding Chloe. She’d been waiting for this moment since arriving home and learning her sister was missing. She wished she’d just once in all that time thought of contacting someone like Ally. But it hadn’t entered her head.
“Almost over,” Shep vowed, eyes locked on the road ahead. “Soon, you can put this nightmare behind you.”
“I’m just praying Chloe pulls through whatever this fever is,” Stace replied. “Once she recovers, I’ll make sure she knows how important she is to me, how much I love and admire her.”
“Those things are very important,” Shep agreed.
“Will you need to head back right away?” Stace asked. “I mean with your job. You’ll probably need to get back to Legacy once this is all over.”
“I have some time off due,” Shep said, glancing over at her quickly. “Are you saying you’d like me to stay?”
Stace took a deep breath and nodded.
“I’d really like you to stay,” she said softly.
“Then I’ll stay,” Shep said. “I’ll give Jack a call later and let him know what’s going on and that I’ll be staying a little longer.”
“Thank you,” Stace said. “I need to be here for Chloe. I’ve failed too often in the past, and I can’t let her down this time. But I don’t want you to leave. Not yet.” Maybe not ever.
“It’ll all work out,” Shep promised. “It’s easy to see how much you love your sister. I’m betting she loves you just as much. Plus, I was already planning to stay. I won’t get in the way.”
“You couldn’t,” Stace said, knowing he wouldn’t. She’d never met a man more in tune with the people around him and what they needed. Hell, he read her like a book, no matter how much she tried to keep buried.
Who would have thought her sister’s kidnapping would bring a man like Shep into her life? Stace hadn’t been looking for a relationship. She’d been ready to leave her job and finally focus on family and making friends, sticking closer to home. Now, she felt as if she had at least two friends in Shep and Ally. Once she had the opportunity to get to know Blake better, she anticipated they’d be friends, as well. Funny how life worked sometimes.