CHAPTER TWENTY
“Do we need to bring him home?” asked Luke to his brother.
“If you do, he’ll be worse than he is now. Just let us see how he does today,” said Ben. “He’s eating breakfast with the rest of the guys right now. He seems in good spirits.”
“Alright. Keep me up to date,” he nodded, turning off his screen.
“Okay, who all is going to Baltimore and the lovely jail?” smirked Kiel.
“I think Tanner, Hiro, and I should go to Baltimore,” said AJ. “Wyatt, you, and Ben should take the Internet Crime office. Maybe our girl has decided to come in today.”
“If not, we’re going to hunt her down. She could be our source for all of this,” said Tanner.
“We don’t know anything yet,” said AJ. “Only that she’s a woman and that could be half the population. It could have been any one of those young women last night. Who knows?”
“We’re about to find out.”
They found themselves once again stuck in the Baltimore traffic, unable to move more than a few inches at a time. Like a storm that suddenly clears, within a few minutes, it was as if all traffic had ceased to exist. The cars were moving and people were whizzing along the interstate.
“I’ll never understand this traffic,” said Hiro. “I almost hate driving anymore.”
“Same,” said AJ. “When I was little, Dad was nervous behind the wheel. He said he was scared that he’d have a panic attack.”
“Man, your Dad is the goat, brother. I’ve never known anyone with a brain like his, other than some of our other geniuses. I can’t begin to imagine what he went through as a child.”
“I don’t think I know that story,” frowned Tanner.
“Oh, well, he doesn’t talk about it much but he’s okay with people knowing because he came out the other side. He was found living in a dog cage in a closet. His parents would allow people to come over and poke at him. He rarely had clothing or food.”
“Holy fuck,” muttered Hiro.
“Yeah. One of their ‘guests’ had a conscience and called the police. The officer that found him, John Mills, fostered him for a while and then eventually adopted him. Dad said that he slept on the floor with him because he was too scared to sleep in a bed. He never pushed him to do anything he didn’t want to do.
“Obviously, he was always different, on the spectrum but genius. In high school, he wanted to participate in sports but couldn’t stand people touching him. That’s when he found his love of running,” smiled AJ.
“I would have never guessed any of that,” said Tanner. “Your dad hugs you all the time and certainly is affectionate with your mom.”
“He is now. He says all the time that he owes that to Ghost and the rest of the men who took him in. Dad nearly lost his career in the Navy by feeding intel to Ghost and his team when they needed it.”
“Sounds like you,” smirked Hiro.
“I guess it does,” he chuckled. “Lots of men can say they love their fathers, but I can genuinely say that mine is my hero.”
“Rightfully so,” nodded Tanner. “I don’t really remember mine but I know that he and my mother gave their lives so I could get out and come to America. I can only imagine what they had to do to get me to safety and the courage it took to let me go with a stranger.”
“That’s fucking wild,” said Hiro. “I had both of my parents for a long time, and of course my grandfather, Yori.”
“You still have him,” laughed the other two men.
“I do and I’m so damn grateful. My parents didn’t understand either one of us but I know what he did to get out of Japan and save me.”
“We’re so fucking lucky,” said AJ thoughtfully. “We’ve had amazing examples of men in our lives and continue to have them every damn day.” He went quiet and Hiro and Tanner watch him carefully.
“AJ, we’ll find who killed that young sergeant.
We promise,” said Hiro. “I’ve made a lot of promises over the years.
The most important was to my beautiful wife.
I gave her my word that she’d be safe from the club that held her for so long, especially her grandfather.
I kept my word and I’ll keep my word with you as well. ”
AJ was quiet again for a while, then tapped the dashboard and clapped his hands.
“I’m hungry again. Pull in for a breakfast sandwich and coffee. My treat.”
Hiro and Tanner just laughed but did as he asked then got back on the road. When they pulled into the parking lot of the county jail, they never expected to see chaos.
“What the fuck happened?” asked Luke. “All of them are dead?”
“Every last one of them,” said Tanner. “The sheriff said they were all given dinner last night, as usual. There were four or five other inmates but these guys were two to a cell. They were all fed the same thing. Around 0400 a guard checked on them and noticed that one of them was laying on the floor. When they opened the cell, he saw the blood.”
“Fuck me,” said Cam. “Stabbed?”
“No. Poison. The food is prepared and delivered from an outside service. It’s searched for weapons but not tested for drugs or poisons. The other inmates are fine. These guys were targeted.”
“They knew something, even if they didn’t think that they did,” said Hex.
“Some, or all, knew something about the woman they were working for and we need to know what that was. Go back and search the house. See if we missed loose floor boards, anything. Check to see if they had permanent residences anywhere. Maybe their parents homes, a girlfriend, something like that.”
“We’re already on it,” said AJ. “We’re headed to the house now. I’ve called Wyatt and the others to have them warn the women we met. If she knows we spoke to them, she might go for them as well.”