Nellie reached out and gently brushed back Jewel’s hair. The other woman looked exhausted. Her face was puffy, and her eyes were red. One cheek was swollen, and old bruises colored half her face. “How are you feeling?”
“Pretty rough.” She looked over the two men. “What about the kids and the other women?”
“We got you away first,” Aiden explained and walked closer. “You went unconscious as soon as we got you into the car, so I’m sure you have no idea that we were fired upon several times, while trying to get away.”
“No, I don’t remember that,” she murmured, “but kids are still there, like my daughter, and other women.”
“We’re on it. It’s not just us. We have teams out there.”
She sagged in relief. “Dear God, I sure hope this is over now.” She looked around. “Can we call anybody? Can we call families and friends?”
“Not yet,” Corbin said instantly.
Immediately Jewel’s gaze switched to the men, and she frowned suspiciously. “What? Why not?”
“Because we don’t know if there was any connection from those in your lives to the people who did this.”
Her gaze widened. “Oh, God, are you serious?”
He nodded. “Until we have a little bit more in the way of answers—or, at least, until we have the kids and the women picked up, we stay alert. Nobody gets wind of anything yet.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay, fine, but their rescue needs to happen fast.” She swallowed several times. “I just want my daughter back.”
“How old is she?” Aiden asked quietly.
“She’s one,” Jewel replied, pain in her voice. “She’s just one. And they’ve been trying so hard to wean her away from me and to make it so she doesn’t even remember who I am or cares about me.” Her voice broke. “They told me today that they had a family where she would go, and she’d be so much better off without me.” She started to sob, … big noisy sobs. “I know I haven’t been the best mom. I’ve been trying hard though. I really have. I’m trying to get back to school and to get a better job, and it’s just so damn hard.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Nellie said quietly, gently rubbing her shoulder. “That’s not today’s issue. You were doing the best you could. It wasn’t their right to take your daughter away from you.”
She started to cry even more.
Nellie looked over at the two men. “Is there any coffee? Food? We were kept on short rations but it was enough to keep us alive.”
“I’ll get something.” Corbin pulled out his phone and started sending texts.
“And we need,” Nellie added, as he turned away, “clothes, showers, anything will be appreciated.”
He nodded. “Give us a minute and remember. We might have to still run fast again.”
She winced. “Right. This is just a place for the moment, isn’t it?”
“Possibly, but let me see what we can do.” And, with that, the men left Nellie and Jewel alone.
Nellie looked down at Jewel and gently rubbed her shoulders. “We got this far. Let’s go the distance and trust.”
At that, Jewel gave her a brief smile. “There’s that optimism of yours again. I didn’t even think we’d get out of there alive.”
“Well, I figured we would.” Nellie grinned. “And we’re here now. Obviously it’s not a done deal yet, but we’re in a hell of a lot better spot than we were, not even an hour ago.”
“We are,” Jewel murmured, “but nobody else is.”
“I know, and I’m trying hard not to think about all that because we can only do so much. We took the chance to escape, so we can get help for the others. Just remember that.”
Jewel looked over at her. “Do you think that guard left the door open on purpose?”
She nodded. “Yes, I do. What I don’t know is whether they killed him for it.”
At that, Jewel’s gaze widened and then nodded. “I can see them doing that—assholes.” She shifted uneasily on the bed. “In the kidnappers’ minds, they won’t think even their guards had a choice. When you think about it, loyalty will be everything. And if they were already slimming down their own numbers …”
Nellie shook her head. “Plus, for their criminal enterprise, selling children would be more expedient than waiting for me to give birth. That takes more time, more money, a lot of patience, and no guarantees that the baby I have later will meet their requirements.” She frowned. “I looked at adopting myself—from a legal entity of course. However, they have stringent governmental regulations and requirements, and not everyone can get approved.”
Jewel looked at her in surprise. “But why? Obviously you can get pregnant.”
“Sure, I know that now. Yet back then, the thought of going to a sperm bank was kind of revolting.”
The woman stared at her. “Is that how you got pregnant?”
She nodded. “Yes, only no one knows.”
“Oh, my goodness.” She shook her head. “That’s not at all what I imagined.”
“No, I’m sure nobody did,” she murmured. “But I had just about had it with relationships going nowhere. Men who seemed to be complete losers. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Jewel muttered, with a headshake. “I never had any luck in that department either.”
“I always figured that pregnancy wasn’t something that I wanted to fool around with. I also wasn’t sure about a sperm donor either, but then—when I got to pick so many different things about the genetics—well, it almost became like candy.”
“I’m not going to lie, but that sounds weird,” Jewel said, staring at her.
“It is weird. It’s a very strange process,” Nellie agreed. “Yet it works and, in my case, works well. It had the very much desired results.”
“And does the father get to know about your baby?”
She shook her head. “No. He gave the sperm, was paid, and signed forms, giving away all rights. So he did his part of the bargain, and I bought the result.”
Jewel just stared at her. “That’s such a weird concept.”
“It was for me too for the longest time, but, whenever I had a relationship, and it blew up in my face, I just couldn’t see myself missing out on one of the best experiences of life. I really wanted children. And failing at the relationship thing and with my father against me getting pregnant in particular,” she added, “I didn’t let it stop me.”
“No, I can’t see anything stopping you.” Jewel laughed. “You’re very determined.”
“When I found out I was pregnant,” she confessed, “I was alternately horrified and thrilled and then horrified all over again. And, of course, I went through that whole I don’t deserve to have kids judgment. I don’t deserve to be a mom at all. I beat myself up really bad then,” she noted, more to herself than to Jewel. “Life beats us up, and, if it doesn’t,” Nellie said cheerfully, as she slowly stood, “we beat ourselves up. Come on. Let’s go sit with the guys.”
“Sure, why not?” Jewel added in a dry tone. “It’s not like we have anything else to do.”
“Have some faith. A little bit goes a long way.”
“I sure wish I could have seen the look on your face when you saw who it was that came to the rescue.”
Nellie laughed. “I have to admit that I didn’t really believe my eyes for a moment.”
“Will you tell him that you were mooning over his picture?”
She felt the color sweep over her cheeks. “Heavens no,” she gasped, looking at Jewel in horror. “And I wasn’t mooning over him.”
“Absolutely you were.” Jewel snickered. “You had it bad.”
“No,” she corrected, “I was a little desperate for a rescue, but I wasn’t acting like it.”
“I wonder,” she muttered. “It’d be interesting to see how he feels about you.”
“He doesn’t even know me.” She glared at Jewel. “Please don’t make things awkward while we’re here.”
“No, I won’t.” Jewel waved her hand. “I shouldn’t even tease you, but it makes me feel better so …”
“Hey, anything right now to make us feel better is worth gold.” Nellie smiled in understanding. “But I really don’t want something like that to be brought up, especially not in front of him.”
“No, I understand that. God, we’re all such a mess, aren’t we? I just want my daughter back.”
“Come on. Let’s go see if there’s coffee.”
At that, Jewel stared at her. “Like coffee, coffee?” Then she shook her head. “God, I sound weird even to me.”
“I don’t know for sure if there’s coffee, but maybe we can get some. Come on. Let’s go find out.”
“You know I’d kill for a cup of coffee.”
Nellie winced at the phrase but ignored it. When they walked into the living room, Aiden was pouring four cups. “Oh, good Lord,” she murmured. “I was really hoping for coffee, but I wasn’t really expecting it.”
He looked over, smiled. “Hey, we aim to please.”
“You saved us already. It’s hard enough for us to ask for anything more.”
“On the other hand,” Jewel said, “I’ll ask, and, if it’s a no, then it’s a no.”
Aiden looked at her. “What can you use?”
“You mean, outside of rescuing my daughter and the other women and children? I need food,” she said bluntly, “clothes, more food, and a shower. Maybe after that we’ll have some idea how to get this nightmare behind me, and that’ll only happen if I can get my daughter back safe.”
“And you said that the kidnappers had found a home for your daughter to go to?”
She nodded. “They’re selling the kids,” she stated bluntly, “and I think somebody requested a newborn.” She sent a sideways glance over at Nellie.
Nellie felt the color sucked out of her cheeks. “Well, they’re not getting mine.”
“No, they won’t,” Corbin confirmed, coming up and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, tugging her gently to him. “I promise you that.”
She stared up at him, feeling the same sense of security and relief when she had seen him for the first time. “Please promise me that, whatever happens …”
He nodded immediately. “I have no problem promising that. They aren’t getting the baby.” And he gently patted her tummy.
She wrapped her arms around him and murmured, “I’m not supposed to have very much coffee, but I could really use that cup.”
“A couple cups a day probably are not an issue, and sometimes—well—nothing will do the job but coffee.”
She nodded. “Absolutely.”
He nudged her toward the dining table. “Sit down and relax. You need to take a load off those feet of yours.”
She smiled. “These feet have been through a lot already, but I will survive.”
“But they didn’t hurt you, right?”
“No, not at all.” Nellie looked over at Jewel. “In fact, they treated me probably better than anybody.”
“That they did,” Jewel confirmed. “It was a bone of contention for me at first, but I quickly realized that they were trying to keep her pregnancy healthy.”
“Which, if they already had a buyer for the baby, would make sense,” Aiden agreed.
Nellie immediately reached her hand down and gently stroked her belly. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
Corbin looked at her. “Any idea what it is? Boy or girl?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t want to know, as I don’t care. As long as my baby is healthy, I’m good. Surprises in this instance are a good thing.”
He placed a cup of coffee in front of her. “Now we only have dry goods here. We can order you something in a little bit, but, if you’re really hungry,” he noted, “there’s bread in the freezer. We can make toast for you.”
“That’s a start.” She looked over at Jewel for her input, then back to Corbin. “Is there any canned tuna?”
He nodded. “Yep, if that’s what you want.”
“It’s a start.” But something was off with him. She eyed him carefully and asked, “What are you not telling us?”
“Let’s just say that the group has disappeared. I haven’t received a full report yet, so I can’t say more than that for now.”
“Of course they’ve disappeared,” she murmured, as she looked over at Jewel, who’d shoved her hand to her mouth to stop from crying out. Nellie immediately reached out a hand to Jewel. “Wait until we get more news. It doesn’t have to be bad news.”
“I know that some people have been rescued,” Corbin shared, “but I’ve held off telling you until I know exactly who and what we know so far.”
“Children?” Jewel asked quietly.
“Some children. I don’t know who it is yet,” he repeated, with a warning look.
And Nellie looked over at Jewel to see her sitting there, her eyes stricken. Nellie nodded. “Then we’ll wait and see.” She gripped Jewel’s hand in hers. “We came this far. Let’s stay strong.”
As days went, this one had a better middle part than it had started out. Now if only they could end the day by pulling a few more miracles from the hat.
Corbin studied the two women, the one he was quite impressed with and the other one—obviously much more traumatized and had been a prisoner for much longer. After he gave Jewel a cup of coffee and put the toast on, he studied Nellie. “Healthwise you seem okay. Were you given any injections?”
She frowned at that. “I don’t know. Maybe at the beginning, but I seem to have been okay afterward. I didn’t cause any trouble. I just thanked them politely for the food and the water that I was given. Originally I was drugged, starting with the kidnapping, and then later with the food, I think. That seemed to ease off.” She hesitated, then added, “I think one of the men may have helped us to escape.”
At that, Aiden turned and looked at her in surprise. “Can you describe him?”
She looked at him and asked, “What difference does it make?”
“Because, if an ally is inside, we would want to go easier on him.”
Immediately she said, “He’s tall. Maybe early thirties, red hair, curly mostly. Caring.”
“So what’s he doing with that group then?” Jewel snapped. “He treated me like an asshole.”
“Did he ever hit you? Did he ever hurt you?” Nellie asked Jewel.
Jewel frowned and then shrugged. “Honestly I don’t remember if it was him or the other guy.”
“The other guy”—Nellie looked back at Corbin—“he’s big, maybe six-two. … Rough, you know? Kind of a bodybuilder, but he doesn’t seem to have the muscle definition. He’s just big.”
He nodded. “And that happens if somebody stops going to the gym on a regular basis.”
“Right. He’s mostly bald. He’s a little bit older, maybe late thirties, early forties.”
“Any recognition or resemblance between the two?”
She stared at him in surprise, looked over at Jewel, and slowly shook her head. “Not that I could see. If you’re asking if they were brothers or cousins or something, I couldn’t really tell.”
As he thought about it, Corbin looked over at Nellie. “Did you ever hear the two men interact?”
“Yes, at least at the end. The second guy, that meaner older guy, came around and didn’t come out and say anything clearly, but it was implied that the younger man wouldn’t be allowed to make my life any easier.”
“Do you feel like that good guy was still there, or did they do something to him?”
“I don’t think they did something to him right after I overheard that conversation because I think he’s the one who opened the door and let us out. Whether he’d already been threatened, and that was his way of reacting, I don’t know.”
Corbin nodded. “We see all kinds of relationships on both sides of the law. Some that bond through killing. Some bond through blackmail. Some bond by sticking it to the one person in question. All kinds of people are out there who are absolute shits on the inside.” Corbin had seen a lot of them. But it made him wonder not only what was the relationship with these two men and what would it have taken for this guard to have let them go free.
She quickly explained about the door being obviously unlocked.
“So a passive move,” Corbin noted.
“Which,” Nellie added, “if he thought he would get caught, then even that move was taking a big chance.”
Corbin nodded at that too. “Any chance you could work with a sketch artist?”
She stared at him. “I think so, yes.” She looked over at Jewel. “What about you?”
Jewel huffed. “Absolutely. I’ll see their faces in my nightmares for years.”
Corbin reached for his phone. “I’ll get one in.”
“You can just do that?” Jewel asked, frowning at him.
He smiled. “We can get anything we need.”
“Well, I need fried chicken,” Jewel said immediately.
He stared at her in astonishment. “Okay then, that’ll be next.”
She returned his stare, then her gaze narrowed. “Are you just teasing me?”
“No, you want fried chicken, and you can have fried chicken,” he stated simply. “I was planning to ask you what you want for lunch anyway.”
“Are we staying?” she asked. “I thought we were potentially moving.”
“Potentially, yes, but, so far, Aiden hasn’t found any sign that our location has been compromised.”
“So we’re safe here?” she asked.
He nodded and smiled. “Yes, we’re safe. For the moment. Until I hear otherwise.”
“I would like to call my father,” Nellie whispered. “Hopefully today.”
“Absolutely today.” Jewel glared at Corbin. “Do you think we got out of one captivity to turn around and be captives again?”
At that, he slowly turned and looked at her. “You’re not a captive. The door is right there. Feel free to walk.” She frowned at him, and he frowned right back.
“So why are we here?” Jewel snapped.
“Because we want to make sure that we weren’t followed getting here. You don’t remember, but an awful lot of bullets were flying during our retreat.”
“Sure, but you also said nobody found us, so why isn’t there a full contingent of police here to get us out?”
“We can call them, if that’s what you want.” He tilted his head to the side. “As long as you’re 100 percent sure that the kidnappers are not coming after you. Remember. They may not have been physically following us in another vehicle to this location, yet they could have tracked us via air.”
At that, Nellie smiled. “I’d like to stay here.”
He nodded approvingly. “Good decision.”
But Jewel was not deterred. “There’s absolutely no reason for the kidnappers to come after us.”
“Sure there is,” Nellie replied instantly. “We can identify both of them. Why do you think Corbin wants to bring in an artist?”
“So, if that sketch artist is with the cops, then they’ll protect us too?”
“Yeah, like the cops found us before.” Nellie stared Jewel. “How long have those women been there?”
“I don’t know,” Jewel answered slowly. “I’ve been there just over two months, … I think.”
“Right, and the cops didn’t find you in that time frame. Would you trust them to keep you safe now?”
At that, Jewel frowned. “I want my daughter.”
“And that’s another reason why I want you here. Our teams need to go in and to get the last of the captives out safely and to take down the men involved, so they don’t set up shop somewhere else.”
“And yet you haven’t done that?”
“A search of the premises is in progress, plus a hunt is on for those who left.”
“What did you mean earlier, when you said, via air?”
“Satellite. Street cams,” he said simply. “You saw only two men, but I’m not sure that’s all who were there or who are involved in this enterprise.”
“No, there should be more involved,” Nellie agreed. “It’s too sophisticated for only two men, especially those two.”
“Exactly, and we don’t want to get just those two. We want to get everybody in charge, and we want to free the women and children.”
“Can’t you just free the women and children and go for the men afterward?” Jewel asked anxiously.
“We did that and managed to free several, as I told you, but they have gone back in for another look. That building is empty, but we think a second building might be connected to these guys. We need access to see if anyone is there.”
“And then what?” she asked and stared at him intently. “Those who escaped, can you track them?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “A team is being pulled together now.”
“Including the cops?”
“Yes. Aiden and I work underground. We do the job that’s needed to be done, and the local PDs get the glory.”
“Isn’t that what the FBI is supposed to do?”
“Probably, but we operate with a whole lot fewer rules and a whole lot more autonomy, and honestly our system works a hell of a lot better. Besides, there’s no FBI here in England.”
“Until my daughter is in my arms, I won’t believe anything.”
“I don’t blame you,” he said cheerfully.
Just then came a knock on the door. He held a finger to his lips as he walked over, put his ear against the door, and then made a series of tapping sounds. When it was answered on the other side, he opened the door and let in a stranger. “Hi, I’m Corbin.”
“I’m Mitch, sketch artist,” the young man replied. “Where’s the person I need to talk to?”
“There are two of them.” And Corbin led Mitch into the kitchen and introduced the two women. “This is Mitch, the sketch artist.”
At that, Nellie straightened. “That was fast.”
“That’s what happens when you have resources,” Corbin explained. “Now let’s get an image of these guys as fast as we can.” At that, he walked over, poured himself a second cup of coffee and one for the sketch artist, adding, “I’ll be in the other room, getting logistics together. If you need me, you know where I am.” And, with that, he walked out, Aiden at his aside. Once on the couch, he asked, “Any update?”
“It’s all quiet at the initial warehouse.”
“Do you think they’re still there? I don’t. I imagine they have a second location to lay low, while they figure out what the fallout will be. And those who left before, have they returned?”
“No way to know,” Aiden noted. “I’m sure the bad guys are putting plans in place, just in case. Surely they have a second warehouse or the likes.”
“Exactly, and I imagine they’ll move fast. We got one woman and two kids out of the initial warehouse, didn’t we?” Aiden nodded. “I’m considering going in there tonight to make a final sweep—maybe we’ll unearth their alternate location by that time too.”
“Not alone,” Aiden snapped. “I’ll come with you.”
“What about the women?”
“They should be safe here, if we leave them locked up.”
“They won’t like that. Hell, I don’t like it. We need security for them.”
“Maybe they won’t be safe, but, if they know we’re going after the children, they might be okay with it. You can’t go in alone. There are too many variables.”
“Yeah, both of us going would be the best.” And, with that, Corbin brought up his laptop and ordered security for the two women. He checked his watch and asked Aiden, “Time frame?”
“I would give it another two hours, then move. I’d like to get there before the cops’ planned raid.”
With that, Corbin glanced toward the kitchen. “The sketches need to be done first.”
“I don’t know if he can be done that fast.”
“No, that’s a good point. Why don’t you go see how they’re doing?”
Aiden got up, walked into the kitchen, grabbed a coffee, while Corbin watched. Aiden came back out. “They’re doing pretty well.”
“Good, so maybe two hours would be fine.” He confirmed the time frame for the security and then ordered copies of the satellite feed. As soon as that came through, he brought it up and started searching the kidnappers’ warehouse. “We need blueprints.” He added that into the request for the team. It took another few minutes for that to show up. After he had that, he requested security camera access to the intersection at the one corner adjacent that building.
“Do you think the kidnappers will be coming through that intersection?”
“Somebody will have. They might remember to change up their route a time or two, but these guys? I doubt they would remember every time.”
“Good point.”
Corbin pondered the video feed.
“You know the cops will want to go in first,” Aiden suggested.
“Yeah, well, we can tell them about it, but we’re going in ahead of their time frame.”
“How much time ahead?”
“Why don’t you tell them to come in two hours after us? Put them on alert for earlier. We’ll let them know how it goes.”
And, with Aiden working in the background to set that up, Corbin studied the blueprints and the city camera feeds at the intersection for just the last week, since Corbin and Aiden were on a tight schedule. One vehicle Corbin saw partially on a regular basis. But it always stayed just out of the camera’s field of vision. Until one time when somebody else parked at the front of the warehouse, so he had to go around, closer to the sidewalks, and, at that point, the camera caught a better picture of his vehicle.
“Bingo,” Corbin whispered. He quickly punched the make, the model, and the license plate into the Mavericks’ Chat window. When it came back later, he froze. “Now that would be stupid.” He got up, disconnected his laptop, walked into the kitchen, and held up the screen to Nellie. “Is this him?”
She stared at the picture, and her eyes widened, and she nodded immediately. “Yes, yes.”
He turned his laptop to Jewel, who nodded too. “Yeah, that’s the one who was nice to her.”
Corbin turned toward the sketch artist, who nodded when he got a look at the face on the laptop screen.
“Good,” Mitch said, “then we only have the other sketch to do.”
“We’ll work on this guy,” Corbin stated. “You guys keep working on that other guard.” And he turned, headed back to do his laptop work in the living room. He looked up to Aiden. “This is the guy who helped the women escape. Tell the local authorities too. We need a full rundown on who this guy is, his known associates. They’re trying to get a sketch of the second guard right now.”
“Good.” Aiden grinned. “Even getting this much is huge.”
“Yes, this is the break we needed. Now we must pick up this guy.” Just as he went to make a phone call, Corbin’s phone rang.
“We ID’d your guy with facial recognition pinging his DL. One Frankie Taylor. However, this guy has no record, not even a speeding ticket,” Hatch said, without preamble, “not registered with any kind of school, university, or any educational institutes. And I checked US and UK databases. What’s worse, he has no business affiliates, so it’s pretty hard to find anything about him.”
“And that’s likely why he was picked for this. He kept a very low profile.” Corbin sighed. “We need a list of all family, including cousins and best friends, everyone in his circle.”
“Well, he has no social media presence, so that narrows that down.”
“I suspect that he has some kind of relationship with the second guard, who wasn’t quite so friendly,” Corbin shared. “I’m not sure just what kind of a relationship though.”
“How friendly was this guy?” Hatch asked.
“The women think Frankie left the door deliberately unlocked, so the women could escape. And they took advantage of it and left the building, so we could scoop them up, while we were peppered with bullets—which could also mean this Frankie guy is no longer on this planet.”
“It’s possible, but only if they suspect it was him who set the women free. If he made it look like the other guard did it, … who knows? If he made it look like an accident, well, I mean an accident might be forgivable, but, if they lost two assets, chances are he’s done for anyway.”
“I was wondering that too,” Corbin noted.
“We’ll check the morgue.” With that, Hatch rang off, with a long list of things to be checked.
Corbin studied the blueprints of this big warehouse, where Nellie and Jewel had been held. Much of it steel and concrete. It was also a fairly isolated large building on a big commercial lot, which worked to the kidnappers’ favor. Nobody was close by to hear screaming. There was easy access, and the kidnappers could bring their victims into the warehouse and out again, without being easily seen.
Corbin stared at the blueprints, shook his head, and muttered, “Assholes.”