35. Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter thirty-five
N ick was just finishing up with his interview about the shooting when his brother knocked on the front door. Nick saw him on the new video doorbell he’d installed when he returned from town. He’d gone by the hardware store, the garden center, and then hit the grocery store. He hoped taking care of a few things around the house showed Aria that he really was excited about buying the house, making it theirs, and being with her.
“Please excuse me for a second, my brother is at the door.”
Agent Whitson nodded as he typed in more notes from their conversation.
Nick went to the front door and opened it to his scowling brother. “I hate that piece of shit.”
Nick assumed he was talking about Javier and his early morning call. “Join the club. Come in. Be quiet. I’m finishing up my interview with Agent Whitson.” Nick waved Mason toward the kitchen. “Help yourself to whatever, I’ll be done soon.” He took a seat at the dining table he’d moved from his apartment and unmuted his side of the video call. “I’m back. Thank you for waiting. Did you have any further questions?”
“After Javier Lopez threatened you, you said he used Toby as a shield to get away.”
“That’s right.”
“Why didn’t he take the child with him?”
Nick shrugged, relieved all over again that Javier had left the boy behind. “I don’t know. Because it would add another level to a manhunt for him if he had the kid. Toby was also severely injured. He needed medical help. Lopez probably didn’t want to deal with that. When I find Lopez, I’ll be sure to ask him.” Thank God Lopez left Toby behind. Nick didn’t want to think what might have happened to him if he hadn’t.
“And since Javier Lopez escaped after issuing the threat, have you had any further contact with him?”
“First of all, like I already said, I didn’t have a shot with him holding a kid in front of him. And I was in no condition to run after him with a bullet through my leg. But as to your question…yes. This morning Javier Lopez contacted me. He left a note on my back door and called me on a prepaid cell phone he left on the ground.”
“What did the note say?”
“Basically, that he planned to kill my brother and girlfriend to get back at me for killing his sister.”
“And on the phone?”
“He wanted me to know that he’s been watching me and Aria. I’ve submitted the note and details of the call into evidence.”
“Perhaps you should be officially off the case, since you are so personally involved in it.”
“Whether I’m on it or not, Javier Lopez has fixated on me and the people closest to me. He will not stop. His threat is as real as it gets.”
“Yes. I know. That’s why the FBI has provided protection.”
“Exactly. Now if we’re finished, I’d like to get the update my brother came to deliver regarding the case.”
“Do you feel remorse for shooting Julia Lopez?”
“I wish it didn’t have to go down that way. She gave me no other choice when she came at me with a knife after she’d already stabbed me.”
“Her mother feels that you could have disarmed her.”
“Her mother forgets that her son had a gun on me as well. I didn’t have time to disarm either of them. I had him at my front and her at my back. There was nothing else I could do but defend myself. She would have lived if she’d simply let me take her brother into custody. Instead, she tried to kill me so he could get away.” That’s what happened. That’s what he had to live with.
“Thank you for your time, ASAC Gunn. I appreciate your candor. I’ll file the report and my findings. You’ll be advised of the official standing of the case soon.”
The process sucked.
“Thank you.” Nick mashed his finger on the mouse to click the End Call button and sat back in his seat, taking a second to breathe and let go of all the feelings swirling inside him about the shooting, his job, and fucking Javier Lopez, that asshole who kept getting away. Not to mention being questioned about his actions.
He hated having his decisions second-guessed. But the checks were in place to ensure he did things by the book and innocent people weren’t hurt in the course of him doing his job.
But having to relive it was another kind of trauma that he’d have to deal with and learn to live with.
He was a good agent, he reminded himself. He’d done what was necessary to defend himself.
Lopez wanted his revenge. Nick wished he and Mrs. Lopez knew how sorry he was for taking Julia’s life and that he wished it hadn’t come to that in the first place. He understood their anger and upset. He wished they could see things from his side, too.
A cold beer appeared in his line of sight.
Nick grabbed it and took a deep pull. “Thanks.”
Mason dropped into the seat next to him. “I know that sucked, but we have business to discuss, so I need your head back in the game.”
Nick took another deep sip, then met Mason’s cold eyes. “What did you find out?”
“Hell is too good for people like Javier Lopez and Dr. Pike. They deserve the worst kind of punishment for the atrocities they’ve carried out. And yet, Dr. Pike is only getting half the years he should spend in jail and losing his license to practice medicine. Not that it will stop him after he gets out. I doubt anything will stop him from doling out his brand of help .”
“It’s that bad, huh?”
“Worse. When we met with him, he arrived in a van that he’d converted into what you’d assume was like an ambulance, except his vehicle was equipped to help Lopez’s victims. He uses the van to follow the circuit, basically a circle from Montana to Wyoming, through Utah, back up through Idaho, and back to Montana. Lopez has about fourteen stops along the way. He’s got people below him taking groups of kids from one place to the next. The doctor is brought in when kids are beaten, have broken bones, get sick, or need an abortion.”
Nick’s eyes went wide.
“Yeah. Kids getting abortions in some dump of a motel or in the back of that fucking van. The good doctor also admitted that Lopez ‘put several kids down.’” Mason cringed. “Those were his callous fucking words, not mine.”
Nick’s stomach knotted. “How many is several?”
“Seven. Some were hurt too severely to be helped without being in a hospital, a couple had threatened to go to the cops, and one the doctor killed to keep Lopez from finding out that he’d been fucking her without paying. She was fifteen.”
“Fucking bastard. I can’t believe we gave this guy a deal.” Sometimes to get the evidence to put someone like Lopez behind bars, you had to use people like Dr. Pike. It still made him sick.
Mason gripped his beer bottle so tight, Nick wondered if it would shatter soon. “Yeah, well, he knows where all seven of the bodies are buried.”
That was good news. “How does he know that?” They could return the remains to the victims’ families.
“It was one of the services he provided. He told Lopez that he had a guy he used at a crematorium and it would cost Lopez ten grand each, but the doctor just pocketed the money and buried the kids on a piece of property his sister owns. Collateral in case Lopez tried to harm or eliminate him. He gave us a map.”
“And did the doctor admit to anything else besides pedophilia, murder, disposing of bodies, and not reporting child sex trafficking, all while dispensing medical care to children he should have actually saved instead of sending them back into hell?”
“While he’s licensed in Montana, he’s not licensed in the other three states, though that’s kind of a minor point after all the rest.”
Nick smacked his hand on the table. “I hate these cases.”
“Me, too. But you found four of the children. We know where Lopez is operating now thanks to that fucking doctor. We’ll find the rest of them. We’re already putting together agents in every state to start taking these assholes down. We know Lopez is here, so our group will focus on getting him.”
“Aria and Lyric are safe, right?” They couldn’t be safe enough in Nick’s estimation.
“They have agents on them. Lots of people at the bar. No one can get to them.”
“That’s what I keep thinking. How is he going to do it?”
“We’re most vulnerable at our houses, even with all the security I’ve installed. You need to get this place wired up.”
“I’m working on it. I have a guy coming in a few days.” He hoped that wouldn’t be too late.
“Good. Until then, I assume you’re armed.”
Nick nodded, feeling the gun at his back. “And then some.” He’d hidden a couple of weapons throughout the house, guns and knives.
“We’ll get him,” Mason assured him. “He’s going to lose his shit when we take down his network.”
“When is it happening? I assume you’ll try for a coordinated roundup.”
Mason grinned with glee. “That’s the plan. But it’s being done by people higher up than me and you. We’ll get the credit for uncovering all of this, but we’re sitting out of the takedowns.”
Nick settled back in his chair. “Maybe it’s better that way. It keeps us here, where Lopez can find us. And he will. Especially when he loses everything. He’ll blame me. He’ll want that revenge so badly he won’t be able to stop himself from coming for me.”
“That means we need to be prepared, and we can’t let him see that we’re getting ready for him.”
“I know. I just wish this didn’t involve the people we love.”
“We can’t help that now. And they love us enough to trust us to keep them safe.”
“Maybe you should take Lyric and go somewhere safe. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell anyone. Just go. You’ve got a kid on the way. If something happened…” He could barely swallow the lump in his throat or bear to think about it. “I couldn’t live with myself for bringing this on you.”
Mason nearly growled. “Bullshit. You think I haven’t put a target on you in the past because of my undercover work? It’s not your fault, like you always told me it wasn’t mine. And I am going to send Lyric away tonight. I already have it set up. If you want Aria to go with her, just say the word.”
Nick wondered where he’d send Lyric. “Hawk coming to get her?”
“Yes. He’s got a friend who has a remote cabin. No one will know she’s there with him.”
Nick needed to thank Hawk for always coming through for them. “Hawk will keep her safe.”
Mason nodded. “With his life.”
Frustration rose in Nick’s whole body. “Aria’s made it clear she’s ready to face any threat to be with me.” He didn’t deserve her or her trust in him.
Mason leaned in. “We need to make him play our game.”
Nick met his deadly gaze. “Do you have a plan?”
“Not yet.”
“Yeah, well, it needs to be fucking foolproof before I risk one hair on her head.”
Mason fell back in his seat. “That’s why I don’t have a plan, because nothing is foolproof. I don’t want to risk her any more than you do. I don’t want to do anything that risks your future happiness. Or the wrath of my wife.”
Fuck. They were screwed.
Maybe they’d catch a break and find Lopez’s hiding spot before he came after the ones they loved.