Chapter 26
26
ALEC
T he sound of Velcro ripping, magazines clipping into automatic rifles, and the low murmur of male voices filled the back of the SWAT van. As we loaded up ten minutes ago, one fucker suggested I watch from the sidelines. A part of me felt bad for his resulting bruised spleen.
The tires bumped along, hitting every damn pothole on the street as the driver steered us to a known dealer’s location as fast as he could without tossing us around in the back. It’d been a while since I took part in any type of tactical assault, but if you’d done it once, your muscle memory set in place, allowing your body to move as if you went through training the day before.
My hands flexed and tightened, reopening cuts and abrasions lingering on my knuckles.
“Bronson.” Charlie’s voice crackled through the radio waves, tickling my ear. “I have a name.”
Every man in the van stilled. Eight sets of eyes focused on me as they listened to the same message pouring through the community channel.
“The DNA got a hit. They sentenced Jared Kent Stark to ten years in jail for possession and intent to sell meth. Arrest record shows the arrest happened here in Sweetcreek, and he was released eight months ago.” My gut tightened. We were close, so close. “His record is extensive.” Attention focused on Charlie, I didn’t miss the strain in his voice. “I unsealed his juvie file, and fuck, man, this guy had a rough life.”
I checked my watch. Ten minutes until our expected arrival time at the dealer’s location. “Tell me everything.”
“The birth certificate is genuine. His birth date coincides with the date and time of Rae’s. There was nothing on him until age six. Hell, even his vaccines were up to date, and at five, they enrolled him in kindergarten. A year and a half later, someone alerted CPS to his mom’s apartment. Looks like a neighbor called about the kid. The statement says she left the boy alone often, and he’d become malnourished and sullen. Huh, looks like his mom started getting in trouble right around that time too. Drug charges, even a few for prostitution. CPS investigated and….” Charlie’s angry curse had us all jumping at the sudden loudness in our ears. “They took him to the hospital for evaluation. The report reads of clear physical and sexual abuse, and abrasions covered the length of his neck. Some old, some new, like someone repeatedly wrapped a cord or cloth around his throat. There are pictures, up-close pictures, and those scars look exactly like the ones around our victims’ necks.”
“Fuck,” I said on a whooshed breath.
“My thoughts exactly. Report says Jared didn’t speak a single word, but they had enough with the physical evidence.”
“What happened to him?” I asked, fully engrossed in the poor kid’s horrifying life. “Was he moved into foster care?”
A pause. “Looks like he vanished from the children’s home about a week after they processed him into the system. The police searched the mother’s apartment but came up empty. After a couple weeks, the trail went cold, and… well, they stopped looking. He didn’t appear again until they found his fingerprints in several home invasions around town, and one clinic burglary. A couple years later, at the ripe age of seventeen, Jared Stark broke into Rae’s home and murdered her parents.”
I hung my head, nostrils flaring with a deep calming inhale. Could I have ended up the same way if I didn’t have Rae, Mom, and my sister to show me love? Maybe that was why Stark focused on her. He held her responsible for not being there for him.
“We can only assume his life after CPS gave up looking for him was worse than before. They hid him from authorities.” Nausea rolled my stomach. “Where is he now?”
“I’m looking for anything to tie him to a location.” My knee bounced with impatience as I waited for his search results. “The only solid lead I have is the trailer park where they arrested him. I have an address, but it’s not much to go off?—”
“Send it to the SWAT lead,” I ordered. Releasing my tight grip on the AR, I banged a clenched fist on the metal wall separating us from the front. “Change of location. Check your phone.” My tactical pants slid along the metal bench as I turned back to face the other men. “What are the odds we’ll find Stark there, Charlie?”
“From what I can tell, it’s the trailer they raided and arrested him in. There’s still consistent electric use, and water and cable bills are in good standing too. It’s a rental, but I guess the renter pays in cash because I can’t find anything to match the woman’s name on the utility bills. I’m running her name through the system now, but I don’t know what you’re walking into, Alec. Be careful.”
The soft static in the background silenced when he cut off his side of the line.
“Twenty minutes,” the team lead called from the front seat.
Resting back, I shut my eyes and focused on breathing deep and the soothing beat of rain against the top of the van. A name. We had a name and a location. This was good. One step closer. Yet a deep pit of worry gnawed at my gut, saying this was too easy. Instead of relaxing, my mind played new darker scenarios of Rae under Stark’s cruel hands.
With an annoyed snarl, I leaned forward, pressing both elbows into the tops of both thighs, and held my head. I needed to stop thinking the worst or the worry and fear would drive me crazy.
Fumbling for anything to take my mind off the unknowns, I reached into my side pocket for my phone only to catch on a piece of paper. The side sliced across my fingertip.
“Damnit,” I grumbled. Ripping the offending paper free, I snapped it open. Squinting at the small font, I held it closer to read the various lines. Categories grouped everything with each missing woman’s name listed beneath who fit that parameter. The grouping with the most women, but not all, was a certain grocery store chain. “Fucking nothing fits all the women.” Shadow of additional print on the back had me flipping it over. Fully expecting the same inconclusive results on this side, I briefly scanned the information and started to crumble the useless paper when the very last category caught my attention.
I flattened it out against my thigh and angled it toward a light. I read it twice. My eyes widened further with each pass.
“Holy fuck,” I cursed under my breath.
“Charlie,” I snapped while pressing the side of the radio.
“Yes, dear?” he responded, tone dripping with sarcasm.
“I looked at the information you gave me earlier on the missing women. Seven used a credit card at the library. It was a minimal amount charged, probably something like an overdue fee or used book purchase, but it’s there. All different days.” I paused, skimming each line. “The years vary too. I’m willing to bet the ones without a charge have a library card.”
“That’s the connection. Wait, do you think…?” Charlie trailed off, knowing we were on a public channel.
“Yep. We’ll talk about this later.” I ended the call and stared at the paper.
Talk to Charlie, yes. Spank that fine ass of Rae’s for being reckless, yes. Why didn’t she just tell me? Especially after learning about my background. She had to know I would be sensitive to those women’s desperation for an escape.
The weight of my own words the night before was like a kick to the balls.
I understood why she ran today instead of opening up about her illegal smuggling of abused women out of Sweetwater. My dumb ass told her I became a Ranger to serve justice no matter what. To be the law. No wonder she ran, so I wouldn’t have to choose between her and the law.
Rae ran for me, not from me.
Anger boiled my blood, my skin itchy with the building heat. I was a damn idiot.
When I found her, I’d tell her I understood. Hell, I found what she bravely did on her own fucking amazing. Now I just had to find her so I could fall to my knees and beg her for forgiveness.
“Approaching the new location. Be ready,” said the man beside me.
I nodded in acknowledgment. On autopilot, I palmed the magazine, ensured it was fully loaded, and slammed it back into place. I repeated the motion with my sidearm and spare strapped around my thigh.
Eight men swayed forward as the van came to a hard stop. Piling out of the back, we lined up along the side of the van that faced away from the trailer. I peeked around the bumper. A few feet separated us from the small front yard of the single-wide trailer. Lights glowed from every window, including a single front porch light.
“Someone’s in there,” I said over my shoulder.
“We’ll clear the trailer,” said the team lead. I readied to tell him to fuck off, that there was no way in hell I wouldn’t storm the trailer with them, but he shot me a firm glare, stopping me. He hitched his chin toward me. “You’re too close to this. If we find him inside, you’ll put a bullet between his eyes before we locate Rae Chapin.”
Valid point.
“I’m not sitting this out,” I ground out.
“Take Pensin and check the property. The satellite photo that Fed of yours sent me showed two structures in the back.”
I nodded and tapped the man he indicated. “Let’s get into position.”
My boots sank into the barren yard as we prowled through the chain-link gate. Six SWAT team members stayed straight, headed for the trailer. Pensin and I veered off toward the side yard. The rain had slowed from the earlier monsoon, but thick droplets still assaulted the top of my head and blurred my vision. Thick gray clouds blocked the fading sunlight, making visibility complete shit. Too bright for night vision but too dark to see anything beyond basic shapes.
Not ideal, but time was running out. We couldn’t wait for the ideal conditions; who knew what that fucker planned to do… or did?
A dog slammed into the neighbor’s chain-link fence with a ferocious bark. It startled me back to the present and the task at hand. Gun raised, I swung it around, looking through the scope, but found only the dog ready to maul my nuts off. Swinging back straight, I jogged forward, knees bent and ready for any signs of Rae or Stark.
We crept along the fence. The shape of a shed or barn materialized through the rain. Fist raised, the man behind me stopped in his tracks.
“I’ll take this one, you the other,” I said over my shoulder. In my ear, the other SWAT members shouted as they entered the home.
Ignoring the chaos going on in my ear, I stepped on silent feet toward the building I needed to clear. Ears straining, I listened for any sign of Rae or the bastard holding her captive.
I paused at the metal shed door. Rain continued to slick down my face, soaking me to the bone, but that didn’t matter. Every nerve, sense, and cell focused on the shed as I reached for the metal bar securing the double doors. Black glove wrapped around the handle, I adjusted my grip and huffed three breaths in quick succession.
A twist and pull and the door flung open, the entire latch ripping from the thin metal with the force and flying into the center of the soggy yard. The double doors squeaked open, revealing only darkness. Not a single hint of light. Throwing the doors wide, I stepped inside, my boots landing on dry plywood. It groaned with each quiet step. The end of the barrel swept through the small area as I checked every nook and cranny for any signs of Rae.
“Clear,” I said into the radio. Seconds later, a chorus of the same word poured through the earpiece.
My stomach dropped with disappointment. Not a single mention of finding Rae or her brother filtered through the back-and-forth conversations.
Raindrops splattered against my face as I stepped out of the shed and back into the storm. To my right, the other SWAT agent strode across the grass, his head shaking.
“Damnit,” I roared, the sound swept up by a hard gust of wind.
“Bronson.” My name crackled over the radio. “You need to get in here and see this.”
Gun draped across my chest, I jogged toward the trailer. The back door stood open, the SWAT team lead holding it open as he watched me climb the three rotten wooden steps. I gave him a questioning glance as I passed by and stepped into the trailer.
Mud and water soaked onto the floral floor mat. Unable to keep up with the amount of water sliding off me, little rivers ran over the rubber rim and onto the fake wood laminate floor.
“What is it?” I asked the team lead, catching the kitchen towel he tossed my way. The soft scent of fabric softener wafted up my nose as I scrubbed my face. Lowering the towel, I took in the details of the trailer. Clean pictures hung along the walls, dinner on the stove.
This was a home.
I followed his pointed finger down the narrow galley kitchen into the living room. Blinking, I studied the woman sitting on a plaid couch, her thin arms wrapped around two wide-eyed children.
A boy and a girl about the same age. No, the same age. They had to be twins.
A girl who had a mane of dark hair and petite features, both similar to another woman I knew all too well.
I swallowed hard and weaved through the crowded trailer toward the small family. The mother tightened her arms, curling the boy and girl tighter to her side. That protective move softened my vibrating tension.
Her tired face tilted up to meet mine with a determined look.
Right, towering over her was probably making this worse.
The coarse fabric of my soaked pants chafed across my clammy skin as I squatted to her eye level, keeping a couple feet between us to help put her at ease.
“I don’t know where he is,” she said, voice trembling. “I told them that when they broke down my front door.” She shot the team lead a hard glare. “I haven’t seen him since—” She stopped and pursed her lips. “It’s been a while. And no, I haven’t seen him since his release.”
“How did you know him?” I asked. Removing the gun, I blindly handed it to one of the other SWAT officers.
“Can they go to their room?” I nodded and gestured down the hall I assumed held the bedrooms. She murmured something to the two kids and gave their shoulders a squeeze. Only once they disappeared down the hall did she turn her focus back to me. “They know about my past, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy talking about it in front of them. Jared was my dealer, but he never wanted money.” Her voice was so soft, I leaned closer to not miss a word. “He liked kinky shit, and only a few of us would agree to it. I never told them about him, about who he is and what he’s done. Didn’t want them to know their daddy is one scary guy who I screwed for drugs, you know.”
Her frail fingers wrung together.
“I swear I haven’t seen him. After I found out I was pregnant, I stopped doing that stuff. I changed, I swear.” Her eyes pleaded with me. “I’m doing all I can to take care of those two on my own. I wouldn’t mess it up by turning back into who I was.”
Her words and tone spoke true. I believed her, but that didn’t leave me much. Good for her turning her life around. But I needed to find Stark.
“Were you here during his arrest?”
She nodded. “Sometimes he dealt out of here and I was too high to care. They went easy on me, only eight months in jail, then probation. I found out I was pregnant in jail, and he was inside too, so….” She shrugged like that said it all.
But it didn’t. I needed more.
“Has he reached out to you, stopped by?” I fought to stay calm, keep my voice even, but I needed more. Needed to know where this fucker was keeping my girl.
Thin bleached hair swayed with the shake of her head.
I needed a fresh line of questions; these would get me nowhere.
“Does he owe you child support?”
Her face paled. “He doesn’t know about them. Please don’t tell him. He’s… not a good person, and I don’t want him around my kids.”
I held up both palms to calm her clear worry that I might tell the psychopath he’d fathered twins.
Twins.
“Did he ever mention a sister?” I asked.
She nodded. “I never met her, though. One time when he was high, he mentioned her. But nothing specific.”
Another dead end.
My knees popped as I stood to full height. With a smile of thanks, I strode from the trailer out into the evening air. I popped the earpiece out and pressed the smooth cell phone screen against my cheek.
“Did you find her?” Charlie asked, desperation in his tight voice.
“No.” I worked my jaw back and forth. “We need another angle. I was calling to ask about the woman it lists on the utility bills. Find out everything you can on her and her two kids. Nothing urgent, but I need a full report later.”
“On it. Think she’s hiding something?”
“No. Call me if you find anything else we can use to locate Stark. The clock’s ticking, Charlie. We have to find her soon.”
I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket. Dogs barked and howled all around me; the sound of thunder rolled in the distance. Dark gray clouds covered the stars and moon, making it darker than normal for eight.
Almost twelve hours we’d searched for Rae and still nothing.
A name was all we had to show for our efforts.
We needed to find her soon. Every hour that passed without us locating her lowered the probability of us finding her alive.
Worry clenched my gut.
What if we were already too late?