by Linda Ladd
When shouting sounded outside, Black jerked around. They were yelling that they’d found a woman. Black headed out the front door, and Novak handed the baby to a deputy and followed. If they’d found Claire Morgan’s body, Black was going to go berserk. Novak felt afraid with the kind of fear he hadn’t felt for years.
It wasn’t Claire. It was a woman they found in a pit behind the barn. She looked about seven months pregnant, but she was alive. The deputies had already pulled her out, but she looked dehydrated and weak. She was conscious, thank God, but she was covered with insect bites and bruises and needed medical attention. Black was on his knees beside her, taking her pulse and looking at her pupils. Novak knelt there, too, while Eldon called for another ambulance. Once they helped her drink from a bottle of water, she revived a little and tried to talk.
“Was there a woman out here named Claire?” Black sounded desperate.
She nodded. Her voice cracked when she spoke. “They took her away last night, I think. They treated her like someone special. I was down there in that awful hole, and I heard a car pull up. I couldn’t see them, but I heard somebody say her name. It sounded like they were carrying her out to that car.”
“Who took her?” Black said quickly. “Did you hear them say where they were going?”
“It was Max’s voice. He’s the one who put me down there.”
Black stood up and stalked a few feet away. Novak slid his arm under the woman’s shoulders and lifted her enough so she could take another drink. She was filthy. Kellen was worse than any animal. “You’re going to be okay now. Just hold on until the paramedics get here. They’re on their way. Nobody’s going to hurt you anymore. How long have you been out here? What’s your name?”
“Eleanor Colwin. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. They gave me these pills. I ran when they took me out of the car, so he put me in the hole to punish me. That’s what he called it. The hole.” She started crying.
“Come on now, it’s okay.” Novak tried to be patient and wait for her to calm down. He couldn’t; it was too important. “Did you hear anybody talking about a girl named Alcina? Or did you see her or her baby, Rosa?”
She just kept shaking her head and couldn’t seem to stop crying.
“You have any idea where they might have taken Claire?”
She moaned and wept harder, so Novak pulled her up against his chest and held her there. He felt sick inside. They’d been so close to finding Claire, and now they had no idea where to even look. She could be anywhere. She could be dead. She probably would be, after Kellen found out about this raid.
As the sun came up, bright and shining, Eleanor and the wounded guards were in ambulances and on their way to the hospital. On the bright side, nobody on their teams had been wounded or killed. The babies were quiet now, and all looked in good health. They had been well cared for. Florida social services had been called and were in the process of arranging foster care until their biological parents could be found. Novak hoped that was possible, but it would be a logistical nightmare. Novak walked back inside the house and searched for anything that might help find Claire. He found nothing.
The babies all looked Hispanic, probably from Guatemala or some other Central American country. It would take months and require international cooperation to match these kids up with their parents. It could be done, given time and effort, but that wasn’t Novak’s problem right now. Leave that to the Red Cross. He feared Alcina had been murdered the night she was taken off his boat. So now his job was to find Rosa Castillo and Claire Morgan and get them back home. That’s all he could think about.
He was anxious but at a loss for what to do next. Black was pacing like a caged lion and speaking angrily on his cell to God only knew who. He was getting more and more desperate. Claire had been his life since the moment they’d met. Novak stood silently and watched him, but he was thinking of Rosa and wondering why she hadn’t been inside that house with the others. Was this simply a holding pen until they handed babies over to adoptive parents? Had Rosa already been adopted? Or could there be more than one house like this? Could Alcina still be alive somewhere? Novak didn’t think so.
Novak was also having trouble believing Kellen’s operation was this big. No way could they have a string of these houses throughout south Florida. Or could they? The idea was inconceivable, but then again the whole rotten thing was inconceivable. The only choice they had now was to find Max Kellen and force him to talk. How? Novak had no clue.
Chapter 18
Claire opened her eyes. It took a few minutes before she remembered that Kellen had taken her somewhere. Still groggy and confused, she vaguely recalled that he had unlocked the handcuff and picked her up. She had tried to resist, but then everything became a blur. He had drugged her food, because she had gotten weak and sleepy after she’d eaten. Vaguely, she recalled riding in a car, but after that, there was no memory of anything. Now she was lying in a different bed inside a different room. She was no longer handcuffed. Why? She felt sick to her stomach and disoriented.
After her stomach settled, she sat up and looked around. This room had no windows. It was empty but for a bed and built-in shelves and drawers. All the walls were painted a blinding white. She could hear nothing that she’d heard in the other place. Here, she could hear no nurses murmuring outside, no babies fussing or crying, and no men’s voices. But she could hear a low thudding sound from somewhere far away. Tossing back the blanket, she swung her feet to the floor. She was barefoot, but her hospital gown had been changed to a pink one. She braced her hand on the mattress and stood up. She wobbled on her feet and had to steady herself. The floor was tiled and felt cold, and so did the room. It smelled of canned air conditioning. Shivering all over, she pulled the blanket off the bed and draped it around her shoulders. Wary now, she made her way to the door and listened. Still nothing; total quiet outside.
Her baby moved slightly inside her womb, and Claire put her hand over where she felt it. She moved again, and Claire knew her child was all right, which was all that mattered. Why had they moved her to a different place? Had Black and Novak gotten too close? Maybe it was simply because she was worth millions to Kellen now. It stood to reason that they’d have to keep her somewhere secure. That made sense, even as punch drunk as she felt right now. These new accommodations were comfortable if not particularly warm. Still, she wanted to know if that door was unlocked and what was outside. She tried the door handle. It turned easily. Shocked they hadn’t locked her up, she stepped out and looked both ways down a hallway. That’s the moment she first felt the slight sway of the floor beneath her feet. That’s also when she knew exactly where she was. Oh God, no, it couldn’t be.
She ran down the hall and encountered no one. When she got to the end, she threw open the door. She stepped out of the interior gloom into bright sunshine. She stopped there, her eyes blinded by the brilliant light reflected off the ocean. Oh God, she was aboard a ship, some kind of big freighter. Now she could hear the low chugging of the engines better, and the sea looked vast and deep and royal blue and calm where it stretched endlessly from horizon to horizon. Heart hammering with despair, she grabbed onto the deck rail and held on, so stunned that her legs went weak and she sank to the ground. That’s when the first contraction hit. She grabbed her abdomen, but the pain ended almost at once. Claire was terrified. She couldn’t let herself go into labor now, not yet. It was too early. The baby would never survive. Looking around frantically, she found Max Kellen and a nurse standing a few yards down the deck. Max smiled at her. “Surprise, surprise,” he called out to her.
“I’m having contractions,” she cried as another one hit her.
His triumphant smirk faded instantly as she bent over with pain. He and the nurse ran toward her. Claire gripped the rail and willed the pain to stop. She could not have the baby; she would not have the baby on this ship. It was far too early, and she was afraid her child wouldn�
��t survive out here. Even if she did, they would take the baby from her. She was terrified that Black would never find her now that she was at sea. Then the next contraction hit her, and she held her abdomen and prayed for it to stop.
Chapter 19
More bad news slammed Novak and Black the minute they returned to Miccosukee Reservation. As they walked in Eldon’s office, he had just gotten off a call with his sons. His youngest boy, Jake, had been attacked and taken on his way home, presumably by the Skulls. In Novak’s mind, this was Kellen’s quick and brutal payback for the dawn raid that was the first step to end Kellen’s baby business. Kellen now held leverage over Eldon and his family, just as he held it over Nicholas Black. The kid had been a good choice that would force Eldon to cooperate, but also a major miscalculation. Eldon Osceola was not a man you poked with a stick, especially when it concerned his family.
By the look on Eldon’s face, Novak knew what was coming next, so he tried to put a brake on the escalation. “Eldon, you need to take a minute and listen to me. Let me handle this for you. Lori and Black and I can get your son out. Please, just step back and give me time to find him. I find people for a living. That’s what I do. I can find out if they know where Kellen might have taken Jake. I can work in ways that you don’t need to know about. Don’t do anything and end up in jail. You’ve got your wife and the other kids to think about. I don’t have family they can retaliate with.” He glanced at Black and Lori, who had remained silent. “Let us find him and get him out. Exfiltration is what we’re trained for. Let us bring Jake home. You’re way too angry right now. You’ll get Jake killed, and you’ll end up in prison.”
“He’s my son, Novak.”
Eldon appeared almost too calm now, a lot more than Black had been when he’d learned Claire had been taken. Eldon came off as a quiet, thoughtful man, and he was. He was also tough as a hundred-year-old oak tree. This time he needed to hang back or his emotions might get him killed.
Looking straight at Novak, Eldon spoke softly but adamantly. “Jake’s twenty years old, Novak. Those bastards are apt to decapitate him on camera. That’s what they do. They send the death video to the victim’s family. I should’ve expected they’d hit my family again. This is my fault for not preventing it sooner. It’s my family, and it’s up to me to get my son back alive.”
Eldon and Black were of the same mind-set: go get the ones they loved and kill anybody who tried to stop them. It wasn’t the smart way to go. Novak shot a look at Lori. She nodded in the affirmative, already sensing what he wanted and ready to go. Black looked angry but eager to act. Novak knew what Black was thinking. Kellen might have taken Jake to wherever they were holding Claire. If it was necessary to beat information out of a couple of bad guys, Black wanted to be the one to do it. Time was running out now. This whole thing was snowballing out of control and plummeting downhill so fast they couldn’t stop it.
On the other hand, the Skulls were not used to being confronted. It sounded to Novak as if they had enjoyed free rein to do whatever they wanted, at least around here. Apparently, they had been kidnapping and threatening and beating and murdering innocent victims all along. Nobody could prove anything and were too intimidated to call police. That was Max Kellen’s Machiavellian motto to live by: better to be feared than loved. He masterminded his minions to create terror. He was a smart guy, logical and crafty and unprincipled, and Novak had a feeling that Kellen had arranged things where he would come out with clean hands while everybody else went down. He was the brains of the outfit for good reason, but Novak no longer cared. He wanted Max Kellen dead. Just like the rest of them, he wanted to kill him with his own two hands.
Claire and Jake were pawns, and they were as expendable as anybody else that tied Kellen to his crimes. It was more than likely they’d end up dead and their bodies never found. They could already be rotting in some shallow grave. Everybody in the room knew it. He tried to check his rampant negative thoughts because he didn’t want to think that way. He wanted to believe they’d find them both. The only hope was the ransom Black was willing to pay. Claire had the best chance of survival, but she and her baby would be dead as soon as Kellen got his hands on the money.
“Eldon, you’ve got to back off. The three of us have personal stakes in this thing, too. We are trained and willing to go up against Kellen. Black’s connections can get us into places where you shouldn’t go, legally or illegally. I can do things you can’t and wouldn’t want to do. Trust me on this, Eldon. Let us get your son back for you. We can do it.”
Eldon held Novak’s gaze. “He’s my son, Novak.”
That was the only way Eldon could frame the picture right now. His child was in danger because he had agreed to help Novak and Alcina Castillo. Alcina was likely dead and her baby never to be found. Novak knew all that only too well. “Yeah, that’s right, he is. So you need to be involved. You can back us up and be on call if we need you. You can observe; you can give advice. I know we can get him back alive if we find out where he is. No question in my mind; we can do that. Same thing goes for Claire.” Novak wasn’t at all sure of that, of course, but he had to state it. “They’re special prisoners to Kellen now. Maybe they’re somewhere close where we can get to them fast. This is what they do. They threaten because it works. So we need to take that away from them. We need to interrogate those guards we caught out at the house. That’s how we find Claire and Jake.”
Eldon shook his head. “I’m going with you. Don’t try to leave me out. Right now, I’ve got to go home and tell my wife that our youngest boy is being held by a pack of vicious savages. Then I’ve got to move her and my other kids out here on the res where they’ll be safe. Then I’ll be back. It won’t take long. You wait for me, you understand me, Novak?”
Novak watched Eldon turn and head out to his car. Eldon already had his wife on his cellphone. Novak wasn’t sure if he could or should wait for Eldon’s return. He glanced at Black, who had been listening silently and venturing no opinion. Now he put in his two cents’ worth.
“I don’t want any restrictions on how we go after these guys. I want to take care of them for good. The law hasn’t been able to, and it looks like this has gone on for years.” Black spoke quietly, quite calm now, but there was still the look of murder lurking inside his pale blue eyes. To Black, abducting and holding a pregnant woman prisoner was the worst crime imaginable, especially when it came to his wife. He was right, too.
After that remark, Lori attempted to inject some rational thought into the conversation. As the outsider, she seemed the only person capable of that at the moment. “Both of you need to get a grip on yourselves, especially you, Black. You cannot help your wife if you’re sitting locked up in a jail cell for murdering some lowlife dirtbag. Right now, chances are she’s hidden away somewhere under guard but doing fine. More likely, and since she’s worth a ton of money, she’s relaxing in a safe house, one they consider impenetrable. But they’ll keep her in good health for the cash and so they’ll have something they can control you with.”
She stopped talking and looked at Black, who didn’t look impressed by her input. Being Lori Garner, she didn’t stop there. “After tonight, they’ll know we’re moving to take them down and are hot on their heels. She’s a dollar amount now, pure and simple, and that’s all she is to them. That means they aren’t going to hurt her. Maybe you can get her back using the ransom alone. Force them to agree to a trade instead of wiring money. They’re greedy enough to comply. That poor girl named Allison? She said they were holding her until her baby was born, but she was ready to give birth. Why would they keep Claire for months when they can get the money right now? Besides that, we’ve already taken down one of their houses. They’re probably pulling up stakes and heading for Central America. Why don’t you just chill for a minute and let us handle this?”
“Because Claire is my wife, that’s why. I’ve got to get her out before they kill her and the baby.” Furious
, Black thrust back his chair, rose to his feet, and stalked from the room, slamming the door behind him. He had lost all chill and wasn’t going to find it anytime soon. It was bizarre to see him this way. He had always been the cool, levelheaded psychiatrist who kept everybody else calm and centered. Not his time. He was spinning out of control.
Novak and Lori watched through the window as he stopped in the corridor outside and tried to pull himself together. He would. He had to.
“Once again, we’re wasting too much time,” Novak told Lori. “Time that Claire and Jake definitely do not have. Kellen’s ploy is working. Eldon and Black are both basket cases right now. So we’ve got to act. We’ve got to find somebody who can tell us where they’re holding them. The guards might know or those nurses. I think the Skulls are our best bet since they’re Kellen’s goons. They do the abductions.”
“Yes, probably,” Lori agreed. “It’ll be the most secure location they’ve got.”
Lori’s eyes remained on Black out in the hallway. The rain had begun again, this time a light and steady drizzle beating on the windows. Novak stood up. They were in a world of hurt now, floundering around and getting nowhere. Fortunately, this time Black didn’t take long to regroup. He walked back into the room, and his voice was quiet. “Where do you think they’ll take them? Do you have any idea?”
Novak had been turning that over in his head. “Claire’s somewhere under guard by Kellen’s men, maybe even in another state by now, but I’m not as worried about her safety. Jake’s the one in big trouble because he’s being held by gangbangers instead of Kellen’s people. I think they’re going to take Eldon’s decision to throw in with us out on his kid before they send him back home, if they send him back at all. I think they’re going to hurt him and hurt him bad. Then I think they’ll dump him at Eldon’s place as a warning about what could happen to his other children. If Eldon goes up hard against them and ends up killing somebody, he’ll be arrested. That goes for you, too, Black. I don’t want either of you to have to pay that kind of price.”