Four days later, Tag got into her car at Jay Yardley’s office in Niagara and sat for a minute. Was this even real? She was actually here, in northern Wisconsin. Last weekend’s meal with her family still felt like a dream. The familiar smells of the house, their voices, even the squeaky front door sifted through her memory. There had been so many moments when she’d been sure she’d never see them again.
She drove toward the Crooked Lake Resort where the task force was staying. AJ had placed her and Grace in the business suite, a large meeting room in the middle with a bedroom on each side. All of their computers were on the long desk in the big room with a large table for meetings or group meals. It would work well for their purpose.
The motel where Frog and the girls were being held was less than a quarter mile from the resort. She slowed a bit for a better look at the place. After midnight last night, she and Sam had tricked out the place, giving Grace many angles on her computers.
In the daylight, the motel looked a bit run-down, but the parking area was clean, the grass mowed, and the colorful flowers well tended. The old box truck was there and another vehicle. A new black Lincoln sports sedan.
After she topped the hill ahead of her, she pulled off to the side of the road and dialed AJ on their group phone.
“Tag?” AJ said. Tag could hear her shift the delivery van.
“There’s a new car at the motel.”
“About time,” AJ said. “I’m at the gas station on the north side of town. What’s the quickest way to get there?”
“Take a right at the first big intersection with all the lights. That road takes you past the motel. I’m on my way to the resort to change clothes. The new car has a rental license plate.”
“I’ve got a delivery at the motel. I’ll see it. I want a meeting in your suite around seven o’clock tonight. Find some pizza and beer for us,” AJ said and disconnected.
Tag looked at the roof of the motel in her rearview mirror. She had lost girls in Afghanistan, but she was not going to lose this group. She stared at the phone. She’d heard nothing from Maddie about her possible testimony in Washington DC regarding the information her group had found on base. She’d done what they’d instructed—stay quiet and as out of sight as much as possible. She dialed Maddie but got her voice mail and left a message.
Tag pulled back onto the road and turned toward the stables. Grace might be there. After being together every day in Milwaukee, the days up here apart had been an adjustment, and she missed her. Grace’s new pickup was there, a big reddish-brown Dodge. She’d been over the moon with this truck, like a kid at Christmas when they’d shopped at the dealership.
Tag grinned at the memory and got out of her car, feeling the tiny bite from the cooling sun. Autumn was on its way. The sumac in the woods and the trees around the lake were beginning to turn. Afghanistan might have had trees but nothing like the ones that surrounded her now. She loved this land she’d grown up on with all her heart. With a deep breath, she imprinted the scene on her mind.
The sound of hoofs echoed through the stable. Grace and Crow raced around the ring in an ever-tightening circle. Grace was golden in the sun against Crow’s shinning black. She pulled the reins and the horse skidded to a stop, but Grace’s agile body hardly moved. She rubbed the horse’s ear and then nimbly dropped to the ground. Crow’s ears perked up. Grace patted the horse’s neck and turned, shielding her eyes against the sun.
“Hey,” she called out.
“Having a workout?” Tag grinned.
“Long day at the computers and I needed some fresh air. How was your day?”
“Lots of people, but I had some quality time on Jay’s office computer. Not a bad day but busy. I’m on my way to shower and change clothes. AJ wants a seven o’clock meeting. I’ll order pizza. Do we have beer?”
They walked back to Crow’s stall and Grace shoved the horse inside. “I made a run to the little grocery store down the road and picked up some things, including beer. Hope you like apples.” She jammed her gloves into her back pocket and turned with a smile that left Tag breathless.
“You know I do.” She rubbed Crow’s nose, letting the horse get her scent. “Can I give her an apple?”
“She’d love it. Go ahead.”
Tag laughed as the horse snapped it up. She picked up a second apple, and Crow shifted toward her, pushing Grace into her, a full-on body slam.
“Darn it, Crow,” Grace said and reached for a brush with another lean against Tag.
Tattooed by the firm body and breasts against her, Tag’s heart stuttered. “I’d better go clean up,” she said, stumbling a little.
“Don’t use all the hot water.” Grace grinned, turning to the horse with the brush.
* * *
AJ swung the delivery van across the road into the motel parking lot. She’d intentionally scheduled this as the last stop of the day and engaged the van’s security camera. She placed cartons on her pushcart and entered the lobby and office. A plump matron, older with gray hair, stood up behind the desk as she entered.
“Can I help you?” she said with a friendly smile.
“Adams Delivery,” AJ said and placed the clipboard on the counter.
“Where’s our regular driver?” the woman said as she checked the order on the clipboard.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m new.” AJ shook her hand. “Anne James.”
“Donna Seesom. I own this place. We’ll see each other a lot. Adams Delivery is my lifeline.”
“I’m new to the area and the job,” AJ said as she checked the cartons with her tablet.
“Are you staying in town?”
“No, at the resort, but we’re looking for a place. Any recommendations?”
“Are you interested in buying?”
“Well, maybe. We wanted to leave the city, so it’s a possibility.”
“I have a place between here and Niagara. Four-bedroom ranch with a nice big yard.” She pointed out of the window behind her. “I’m redoing this place so I can live here.”
“Just starting, I see.” AJ looked at the grassy area behind the motel that backed into the forest. There were piles of new lumber and construction equipment.
“We’ve begun on the inside of this place.” She signed the papers and handed the clipboard to AJ. “I was born here, moved away, married, and now I’m back. Must be karma.” She grinned. “The house I’m selling belonged to my parents. I came back from Green Bay after my husband died.”
“It’s a beautiful area,” AJ said and grabbed the handles of the cart. “If we want to see your house, who do we contact?”
“Oh. Me, of course.” Donna laughed. “I’m not a real estate agent, but there’s a For Sale sign in the front yard.”
“Write down the address for me and your number on there. We’ll take a look at it.”
The woman wrote the information on a notepad and handed it to AJ. “I’ll look forward to it. I put both of my numbers on there.”
AJ backed the van out of the lot and drove toward Adams Delivery to clock out. That woman looked like someone’s grandmother, not a part of anything as dark as trafficking, but who knew? She’d talk to Henry Adams and his wife before she left work. Grace would have the video with the new car’s license plates on her computer.
* * *
Sam opened a beer and slouched into the chair. Grace sat in front of the computers, and Tag stretched her long legs onto the coffee table. They were waiting on AJ or the pizza, whichever came first.
“How does your eye feel?” Tag said.
“I saw the doctor the day after we settled in here and had the stitches out.”
Grace turned so Tag could see. The black eye had faded, and her skin shone as it had when Tag first met her. The stitches were gone, leaving a thin red line intersecting the eyebrow in their place. Tag remembered Grace’s body against hers at the stables and swallowed hard. “It’s almost gone. What do you think, Sam?”
“I agree, but remember I’ve only known you with a black eye.” He squinted at Grace. “Probably all that time in the sun with Crow.”
“And while I was enjoying that sun today, I met your sister.” Grace grinned at Tag. “Why didn’t you tell me Emma is the Crooked Lake Resort veterinarian?”
Tag straightened. “I didn’t know. We were all so happy to see each other that all I know is that she’s got a new boyfriend. He’s a vet too but from Iron Mountain.”
“She’s shorter than me,” Grace said. “Her eyes are really dark, like yours, but her hair is about the same color as mine.”
“It’s her hairdresser,” Tag said with a laugh.
“No way,” Grace said. Sam laughed at them as AJ walked in with two boxes of pizza. She set them on the long table in the middle of the room.
“What’s funny?” she said, opening one of the boxes. “I met the delivery guy in the elevator. Now he thinks I’m you, Tag, but he’ll never know. I paid in cash.”
Grace leaned over the food with a happy sigh. “We were laughing because I met Tag’s sister today at the stable. She’s the resident vet here.”
AJ opened another box and raised an eyebrow at Tag.
“I didn’t know, but no harm done.” Tag grabbed a slice. “Emma only knows I’m working for Jay. Grace was laughing because Emma’s a blonde. I teased her at the family dinner, so I got to hear all about her hairdresser.”
“After our experience with Katie’s sister and our hair, I’ll believe anything,” AJ said.
Tag checked AJ’s appearance. It definitely was a different look. Less business, certainly more casual.
“How’s things at Jay’s?” Sam said, leaning over the pizza.
“He has me out in the country. It’s a week-long mini-poll for the state as the governor ramps up for another run.”
AJ shook her head. “I haven’t met a single person that likes him.”
“Jay didn’t have a choice, and he’s not happy. He said I came along at a perfect time. When it’s over he’ll find something else for me.”
“What kind of questions are you asking the people you interview for the poll?” AJ took another slice of pizza. “Anything our group can use up here?”
“Not really. Just general questions like how each home is doing, are they happy with the economy, what about education and health, those kind of things. Oh, and do they have any suggestions to help Wisconsin.” Tag laughed. “Most say they’d like a new governor.”
Grace put her pizza down and turned to a computer. “There’s an online questionnaire from the newspaper too. Several other groups are doing these questions as well, and they’re publishing the results.”
AJ balanced herself on one knee on a chair, reading the article. “The newspaper is published once a week, right?”
“I bought a paper today to read later,” Sam said.
“Grace, what did you find out about the tags on that new car at the motel?” AJ sat down next to her.
“You won’t believe it. It’s a rental under the names of our parking lot guys, the ones we think burned our vehicles and Home Base. I forwarded everything to the chief. They used the same fake names they were using in Milwaukee. Here’s the rental information. They used John Owens’s house for an address.”
AJ studied the screen. “Damn. That means they’re tied to Frog’s group.” She took another bite. “The chief is still working on that.”
Grace hit a few keys and checked the motel surveillance.
AJ took a beer from the well-stocked refrigerator. “Here’s what I found out at the motel.” She related the conversation with Donna Seesom. “Put this information on the computer,” she said and handed Grace the handwritten note the woman at the motel had given her. “Sam and I talked with Henry Adams and his wife when we clocked out. They knew the owner of that house that’s being sold, John Badger, and they don’t believe Donna Seesom is his daughter. They thought the daughter had died.” She looked at Sam. “Didn’t Henry’s wife say there was a car accident years ago? The husband owned a construction company and died in the nineties. The widow, Mary Blanche Badger, was a nurse at the local hospital, so you should be able to track her easily. Tag, work with Grace on this. You can casually ask Jay about this woman and her house and her so-called parents. I don’t want to alert anyone we’re looking at her.”
Tag watched AJ again. She hadn’t just changed her appearance. There was a softer way she interacted with people. The way she walked, almost always behind Sam.
“I didn’t see Greg’s or Jeff’s vehicles at the motel. They’re not there now either,” Tag said.
“They’re meeting with the DHS in Iron Mountain, but they’ll stay at the motel. Have you talked to the DHS, Sam?” AJ turned to him.
“Yes, in Park Falls,” he said, “but this is different. I’ve never seen a truckload of kids. It’s like they’re waiting for something to happen. Maybe they were waiting for these two guys?”
AJ nodded. “Remember what Maddie said, how they gather their victims? What if that’s what these two men do? Find and abduct people?”
“And make a lot of money off the abduction,” Sam said and shook his head.
“I saw it in Afghanistan.” Tag made a disgusted sound. “That money’s everywhere. I’ve seen kids like Maddie’s victim, Happy, or women like Sandra. We can’t feed people, but by God we always find money for sex. Or weapons of mass destruction.”
“How much of what you did in the military was involved with this?” AJ said.
“It wasn’t our focus, but I saw it constantly. It was their country, not mine. Intel says America’s one of the top destinations for the world’s sex trade. That so disgusts me.”
AJ nodded and yawned. “Girls, get on Donna Seesom. Sam, scour the newspaper. It’s right in front of us, but we just haven’t recognized it.” She picked up her bag. “Tag and Grace, remember to leave your inside doors open so you can both get to the computers.” She smiled at them. “I need a shower. See all of you tomorrow.”