8:18 A.M.
MOUNTAIN LAKES MEDICAL CENTER
CLAYTON, GEORGIA
An hour ago, Jacob, Stockwell, and DD had arrived at the Mountain Lakes Medical Center’s emergency doors. Upon learning of the girl’s ordeal, staff had taken the teenager into a patient room where she would be seen by a doctor and given a full examination.
Once the doctor had arrived, and the door to his daughter’s exam room had closed, Jacob had asked for a secluded room, so he and Stockwell could make private phone calls.
For the last forty-five minutes, the two agents had nursed cups of coffee while claiming chairs in opposite corners of a small consultation room. She had been updating Assistant Director Brolin on the operation while Jacob had been sharing the good news with his ex-wife, the mother of his child.
Stockwell sipped her beverage. “That’s right, sir. I’ve already sent you the coordinates for Sheriff Winston’s location. You’ll find him bound in the trunk of his cruiser. He had knowledge of what was going on at that compound. He may have even been part of it.”
*******
Sighing, Jacob uncrossed his legs, leaned forward, and held his forehead in his hand. “Look, Livs—” he waited while his ex-wife spoke. Hearing her take a breath, “Liv—”
She cut him off.
He massaged his temples and waited for another pause. Sensing another breath coming, he pumped his open hand outward and sat straight. “Olivia, there’s no need for you to fly out here. A nurse,” he poked a finger at the room’s closed door, “just told me she’s doing remarkably well and will most likely be discharged in a couple hours.”
*******
“Yes, sir. I understand.” Stockwell took another pull on her coffee. “Yes, sir. I’ll come by your office the first chance I get.”
Moments passed.
She glanced at Jacob. “I’ll pass along your sentiments.” She listened for a few seconds, “Thank you, sir,” then clicked off.
*******
“By the time you buy a plane ticket, drive to the airport, and get down here, Olivia, I’m guessing we’ll already be in the air...maybe even on the ground in New York.”
Stockwell finished her drink, got her man’s attention, and wiggled her empty cup.
His eyes popping out of his skull, he nodded his head vigorously.
She chuckled at her frustrated man and left the room, returning a few minutes later with two cups of fresh coffee.
“I promise, Livs, as soon as the doctors have finished, I’ll put you on the line with her.” Jacob slouched in his chair, looked up at the ceiling, and scratched the back of his head. “Maybe I can even find some way where you two can video chat.”
Her hands full, Stockwell kicked the door and winced when the heavy wooden barrier slammed shut with a bang.
Jacob spied her.
She froze in place and hunched her shoulders before miming ‘Sorry’ to him.
“I will.” He grinned at her while stretching out his free hand. “I promise. You’ll be the first one I call when she’s done with her exam.” A beat. “Just try to relax, Olivia. This is great news. Our daughter is alive and well, and...”
Stockwell handed him a cup.
“...and she’s coming home to you.” He glimpsed her, accepted his gift, and whispered, “Thanks,” before turning his concentration back to his call. “Like I said, she’ll be there before you know it.” He sipped. “All right. See you soon. Bye.” He tapped the ‘End’ icon, dropped the mobile onto his lap, and let his head fall back against the wall with a thud.
Stockwell sat on his left and crossed her legs—knee on knee, left over right. “She’s just acting like any normal woman—mother—would act like under these circumstances, Jake.” The FBI agent curled both hands around her cardboard container and blew on the liquid inside. “You need to cut her some slack.”
“I know. I know.” He sat upright, put his coffee on a table to his right, and picked up his cell again. “She’s a terrific mom, and I understand what she’s feeling, but it makes no sense to come out here...and then just turn around and head back again.”
Stockwell ogled him. “What would you do if you were somewhere else, and you knew your missing daughter had been found?”
He spied her.
She curled up one side of her mouth.
He opened the ‘Contacts’ on his phone and tapped ‘Higs’ from a list of names. “Oh, you think you’re just so smart, don’t you?”
She gently sent her bobbing, topmost foot into his lower leg. “Isn’t that why you’re with me?”
Through his phone’s speaker, Higs’ voice: “It’s good to hear from you, Mr. St. Christopher. How are things progressing?”
Standing, Jacob whispered in her ear, “Of course that’s why I’m with you...” then kissed her on the cheek while gliding his palm up her outer thigh, “among other things.”
Snickering, she playfully swatted away his advance and sipped her coffee.
He turned his back on her, stepped away, hooked a thumb into his waistband, and pressed his phone to his right ear. “I have an update, Higs...an awesome update.”
Jacob shared his news, and the men had a thirty-second back-and-forth, before the former Army Ranger wrinkled his brow. “You don’t sound very happy, Higs. You did hear me, right? The Miranda girl turned out to be my daughter. DD’s alive. DD’s safe.”
“I did indeed. I’m quite pleased at the outcome.”
“Actually,” Jacob mulled over the conversation from a minute ago, “you don’t sound very surprised.” His scowl deepened. “Did you know my DD was being held at that compound?”
*******
STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK
ST. GEORGE NEIGHBORHOOD
NONDESCRIPT OFFICE BUILDING
(THE “KEEP”)
Seated at the end of a conference table, Higs looked down at his laptop.
At the top of the computer’s screen, lined up horizontally: the five photos of the missing teens.
At the bottom of the screen: a photo that had not been included with the five that had been sent to Jacob and Stockwell’s phones at the start of the mission.
The singled-out image showed an aged, digital representation of what thirteen-year-old Deanna St. Christopher would have looked like at around age sixteen. Beneath the image, “79% MATCH” blinked in a red-colored font.
Higs removed his glasses and wiped a hand down his face. “Yes, Mr. St. Christopher. I had strong reason to believe your daughter would be among the others at that location.”
“And you didn’t tell me! You son-of-a-”
*******
Hearing Jacob curse, Stockwell flinched in her chair, spilling coffee on her pants.
“You lied to me.” Jacob pointed at an imaginary Higs. “You told me when I started working for you that I’d be the first person to know if you found anything on my missing daughter. I can’t believe this. You lied to me.”
“I did not deceive you, Mr. St. Christopher. I merely withheld information, information that—”
“Don’t play your damn word games with me, Higs.”
“Fair enough. I made a decision then. Knowing how you reacted a month ago, when I informed you that I had received an alert of a girl’s body being discovered in a shallow grave, I felt it best not to divulge the possibility that your daughter might very well be alive and in Georgia.”
Jacob gripped his phone tighter. “I’m a big boy. I could’ve handled it.”
“I beg to differ.”
“So now you’re shielding me from the truth?”
“This was never about you. My primary concern was for young Miss St. Christopher’s well-being and safe return. If she was at that compound, and you were in a position to rescue her, then I needed you to be at your best. I needed the calm-and-steady-Army Ranger-and-SWAT team-leader Jacob...not the father-of-a-missing-daughter Jacob.”
Jacob shook his head. “You had no right to keep this from me, Higs.”
“I was fully aware that my choice would put a strain on our relationship. Please know that I did not come to this resolution without carefully considering the outcome. I do hope you and I can move beyond this tension.”
“Tension?” Jacob ran fingers through his hair. “Tension doesn’t begin to describe how pissed I am right now.”
The door opened, and a nurse poked her head into the space.
“And, as far as our little partnership is concerned,” he chopped the air with a lateral strike, “I’m done.”
The nurse recoiled.
Stockwell stood, grabbed her man’s arm, and pointed.
Jacob turned around to see a wide-eyed woman in the archway. He glanced away, “Consider this my resignation...go to hell,” before mashing the ‘End’ icon and acknowledging the medical woman. “I’m sorry about that.” He stabbed his chin at her. “How’s my daughter doing?”
The woman forced a quick smile. “You can see her now. She’s doing very well.”
He nodded, “Thank you,” then put away his phone before pressing the meaty part of his palms against his temples.
The nurse backed out of the room.
“You okay, Jake?”
He faced his woman and swallowed. “No.” A beat. “But I need to be...for my little girl.” He put a hand on Stockwell’s lower back and applied gentle pressure. “Let’s go see her.”
∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞
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