Chapter Twenty-Five
Braxten
O ut on the front porch of the main house, I sit with my brothers and father, all of us lost in the torment of our thoughts as we discuss what took place in the middle of the night.
Alice, Gwen, and Ryanne fly a kite with Hannah to keep her distracted. She was pretty shaken up after the security breach, they all were, and I can’t blame them.
The bastard is getting ballsier. He crossed a dangerous line by coming onto our land.
What I can’t figure out is why. He knows the place is rigged with security, where his car was parked proves it.
He also had to know he would never make it past us.
So what was his purpose in coming here? And why strike now? It doesn’t make any sense.
It’s all things I have tirelessly discussed with everyone, including Craig.
He and his men were here until the early morning hours, combing through every inch of this place, including that prick, Pierce.
He was the last person I wanted to see, but Craig said he needed the man power.
I didn’t like it, but he stayed out of my way and I stayed out of his.
In the end, the man power wasn’t necessary because as usual there was little to no evidence to collect.
They did, however, manage to get a sample of blood off the road from where I struck the bastard.
Problem is, we need to wait for a DNA comparison and that will likely take weeks. Time we don’t have.
I also know it will not come back as Hobbs, something that Knox also agrees with. We shared that thought with my father and Justice, but I’ve kept it from Alice, not wanting to cause her more fear and uncertainty.
“I still don’t think we should write off Hobbs completely,” Justice says. “All the clues we have been given lead to that night in the barn, something that only involved him.”
“It might have involved him, but it affected everyone at that group home,” I remind him.
“Maybe, but I feel this is too personal for it to be anyone else,” he counters. “Besides, who cared enough about that asshole to go to these lengths to avenge his death after all these years?”
“From what I remember, everyone hated him as much as we did,” Knox says, adding in his own thoughts.
“Exactly. I don’t even think Jones would go to this much trouble, despite being Hobbs’ friend.”
My frustration mounts with all the doubt being thrown around. “I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is the guy we were chasing last night was not Hobbs. He didn’t look like Jones to me either, not from what I remember of him.”
“It’s been a long time since you boys were there,” my father says carefully, adding to the conversation. “You were all a lot younger back then. Maybe your perception of him is not as clear as you remember.”
“It’s possible, I suppose,” Justice muses. “Especially since I didn’t recognize half the files I went through.”
“Yeah, well, some things I will never forget.” A heavy silence falls with my statement.
Knox reaches over, grasping my shoulder.
Before either of us can say more, Hannah comes skipping over with her kite dragging behind her, the rest of the women following the tail end of it.
“Did you see how high we got it, Daddy?” she asks, jumping onto Justice’s waiting lap.
“I did. You did real good, baby.”
“Thanks. We’re going to show Miss Alice how to play croquet now.”
Alice smiles at the announcement, the halfhearted attempt doing nothing to mask the worry on her face.
The shrill sound of my father’s phone ends any further talk.
“It’s Agent Jameson,” he says, hitting the call button. “Mr. Jameson, how are you?” There’s a long pause before his gaze shifts to mine. “You do?”
The expression taking over my father’s face brings on a surge of hope.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to pass you onto my son.” He hands me the phone. “You’re gonna wanna hear this.”
Hope transitions into anticipation.
Justice kisses Hannah’s cheek then tells Ryanne to take her back to play. Gwen follows, but Alice stays, her gaze anchoring on mine as I bring the phone to my ear.
“This is Braxten.”
“Braxten, Ryder Jameson,” the other voice says. “It’s nice to finally meet you, even if it is over the phone. Sorry it has to be under these circumstances.”
“Thanks, me too.”
“Listen, I have some information for you. I was going to call the sheriff with this, but figured it would be best to fill you guys in first.”
“I appreciate that. What do you have?”
“After doing some digging into the group home, I came across a case file we had in our system,” he says. “Turns out, we had the beginning of an investigation started ourselves on the place and it pertained to the man in charge, Fredrick Harlen Hobbs.”
I’m surprised by the revelation. Not only because that place was always held in such high regard, but so was Hobbs.
“I assume this was over the abuse allegations?” I ask.
“It had to do with a lot more than that. A hell of a lot more.”
The transition in his voice puts me on edge. “Like what?”
“Selling on the black market.”
Dread stiffens every bone in my body. “Selling what exactly?” I ask, despite already having a pretty good idea.
Silence spans seconds before he shatters it.
“Underage boys.”
The revelation drops over me like a steel anchor, pinning me in place. “What the hell are we talking about here, Jameson?”
My brothers and Alice watch me closely, my response adding to the nervous energy stirring around us.
“I’m talking about the dark web. Snuff films, child pornography that features torture and rape, especially of young boys.”
The acid building in my gut starts a fiery path up my throat. My gaze drifts to Knox as I realize we unknowingly escaped some of the very things Justice and I promised to protect him from.
“There’s some other really sick shit that I won’t get into, but trust me, it’s bad.”
“And Hobbs was behind all of this?” I ask, struggling to wrap my head around it all. Not because I don’t think he’s capable of it, but I never thought him to be smart enough or connected enough to be part of something like this.
“Not all of it. From what I read, he was just a vessel. A means to the product, but they had hoped he would lead them to the higher ups,” he says.
“The plan had been to put an undercover agent into that home, but they never got the chance before the fire happened. With Hobbs being pronounced dead and Keith Jones going off the grid, the investigation went cold. I’m assuming this is why Jones went to such great lengths to change his name. ”
I tense at the information. “He did?”
“Yep, and this is where I finally have some helpful news to share with you,” he says, bringing a newfound hope to the surface. “Keith Jones now goes by the name Jim Topher and you will never guess where he resides…”
My heart hammers so goddamn loud it pulses throughout my entire body. “Where?”
“Dalton County. About forty-five minutes north of you.”
“Son of a bitch!” I spit. “Tell me you have an address.”
“I do.”
After he rattles off the address, I thank him for his help then hang up and look to the others. “We got Jones.”
“Where?” Justice asks.
“Dalton County.”
Knox’s jaw locks. “Tell me we’re going?”
I nod. “We’re going.”
“I’m coming too,” Alice says.
“No fucking way.”
She flinches at my hard tone, looking as if she’s just been struck.
I pull her against me, feeling bad for the knee jerk reaction. “I’m sorry, Wonderland, but I need you to stay here where I know you will be safe. I have no idea what we’re walking into right now and—”
“Exactly,” she counters, stepping back. “You shouldn’t go either, none of you should. Let Craig handle this.”
I shake my head. “I can’t do that. This is our fight, Alice. I need to finish it so we can finally move on. All of us.” My hand finds the side of her face, fingers grazing the soft skin.
An army of emotions battle across her face, before one eventually takes over them all…acceptance. “I’m going to be worried sick about you,” she mumbles.
“You don’t need to worry about me, baby. I got this.”
“We all do,” Knox says, adding the reassurance.
It earns him a halfhearted smile from her.
“You boys go on ahead,” my father says, descending the porch stairs. “I’ll take care of things here.” He curls an arm around Alice, pulling her into his side. “We’ll enjoy the afternoon with some croquet while we wait to hear from you. Just make sure to keep us updated, ya hear?”
“We will,” Justice assures him.
My gaze remains on Alice, hating the worry reflecting back at me. “I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
She nods.
I leave her with a kiss goodbye. Justice does the same with Ryanne and Hannah, then we gather up our weapons of choice and head for the truck, ready to put an end to this once and for all.