Chapter 28
Special Agent Edward Silverstein answered his cell phone as Carmine and Cassie left the room. He instantly lifted his eyes to catch Agent Steele’s attention. “Awesome news, Jace. Let me know when he gets back to you.”
“Okay, that was faster than I thought,” Ed said. “Heard back from one of our main conduits into the gang leadership. Jace had a brother in one of the gangs who got killed in a gang war. So he joined the LAPD.”
“Great, but what does he know?”
“Senior leadership knew nothing about this kidnapping. They’re looking into it. Jace gave them Mateo’s name already. The street captain he spoke to is upset.”
“What does all that mean?” Meghan asked.
“That the gang itself is tracking down your daughter and her captors and that we might, as Dr. Chen suggested, have a chance to negotiate her return,” Agent Silverstein said.
“This is good, right?” Trevor asked.
“The criminals themselves are doing the tracking,” Steele said.
Meghan, her arms crossed over her chest, moved to a window and looked out, then down as she noticed something. “Why does your teenaged agent have four SWAT people around her?”
“Cassie is not an agent,” Steele said. “She’s a special consultant.”
“That you are guarding with heavily armed agents,” Meghan said.
“Let’s go back down to the kitchen and the phones in case we get any calls from the kidnappers.”
Trevor and Meghan shared a look. “We shamelessly begged everyone we knew to help us find our daughter,” Trevor said. “Twisted every arm, called in all the favors we’ve accumulated, and you all arrive… with a child.”
“She carries herself like she’s military, but she’s barely old enough,” Meghan said.
“She’s eighteen,” Kessler said.
The action star of a hundred-plus movies shook his head. “The speed of this is unusual, right?” he asked.
“Yes. Yes, it is,” Agent Steele agreed.
“I thought she was some nosey intern, snooping in my daughter’s stuff,” Meghan said, head tilted, gaze moving from Chen to Steele and back.
“Cassie hasn’t been some anything a day in her life,” Dr. Chen said. “We can’t say… anything. I will say that there is some hope that the Street Demon leadership will not be in favor of the kidnapping of a famous child.”
At that moment, they all heard the phone downstairs start ringing.
Outside, Cassie was studying the gate to the compound, but casting glances at Agent Carmine. Around them, the full contingent of HRT agents were watching outward.
“What?” Agent Carmine demanded after the third glance.
“Feel anything?” Cassie asked her.
“You mean like the creepy feeling we’re being watched?” Rose Carmine answered, glancing around.
“Excellent instincts, Agent Rose,” Cassie said with a grin.
“What do I need to know?”
“There are at least three miniature drones sitting, motionless, in the trees around us,” Cassie said.
Rose started to tense but Cassie held up a hand. “It’s cool. Allies.”
Rose thought about that, then tilted her head, brow furrowed. “From… down south… southeast?”
“Exactly. Told you I had people.”
“Why?”
“Extra layers of protection. It’s excellent training. They won’t be happy that I spotted them, but it also shouldn’t be a surprise.”
Rose glanced at the alert HRT guys, but none had heard their conversation and none of them seemed concerned about anything.
“Isn’t it illegal? Them… operating on US soil?”
“Again, training exercise,” Cassie said with a shrug.
“This one with live ammo?”
“Oh, undoubtedly. As a group, they are vehemently against blanks, inert ammo, or empty chambers. Allergic, almost.”
“I haven’t seen anything or anyone,” Rose mentioned.
“It’s why they’re the best at their trade,” the younger girl said.
“But you see them,” Rose noted.
“We’ve already established that I’m an anomaly.”
The door to the main house opened and Kessler stepped out, caught their eyes, and waved them inward.
The inside of the house was a beehive of activity and emotion—principally hope.
“Let me guess: They called?” Rose Carmine asked Kessler.
“They didn’t call… the leaders called. They have Abby, they want to negotiate her safe return, and they didn’t give this action their blessing.”
“What do they want?” Cassie asked.
“Basically, immunity,” Kessler said. “As you can imagine, Steele doesn’t have a problem with that for the leaders but isn’t as excited about the two kidnappers. Nonetheless, he agreed to it.”
“When does it happen?” Carmine asked.
There was a sudden shout from the kitchen. “I think it just did. They were ready to drop her off at an LAPD station in East LA if he and the parents agreed.”
Kessler led the other two to the kitchen, where the ecstatic and relieved parents were holding each other, both with tears on their cheeks. Steele looked up and saw the three of them. “A pair of cruisers is bringing her home,” he said. “She should be here in under twenty minutes.”
“Awesome,” Kessler said.
“Yes!” Rose fist pumped.
Cassie just smiled a big smile and nodded.
“Thank you,” Meghan said suddenly to Cassie.
“Whoa. Group effort. Mostly your daughter’s efforts. She left a message; we just read it.”
“You… You just read it,” Trevor said.
“I’m just a fast reader. It would have been read no matter what,” Cassie said. “Is she okay?”
“EMTs said she’s in great shape,” Dr. Chen said. “The gang boss gave her snacks and dropped her off wrapped in a blanket. The desk sergeant said she just marched in and told him who she was. No drama, no fear, just relieved.”
“Can we meet her?” Cassie asked Agent Steele.
“I would like to give her a quick debrief to check for trauma,” Dr. Chen added.
“No details, Cassie. I mean it,” Steele warned.
“Yes sir. Op sec rules,” Cassie said.