Across State Lines

by C. J. Johnson

  “About 2 blocks away. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. There’s a light on the second floor, but we haven’t seen anyone pass by the window.”

  Chapter 104

  Frankie found the blacked-out SUVs with ease and pulled in right behind them. With only one light illuminated, the building had a dark, ominous feel to it. The air was damp, and there was no breeze to cool the unseasonably warm evening. Frankie and Sam joined the team assembling between the cars. Frankie introduced the new prosecutor to Sergeant Baker and all of the officers. Frankie was relieved to look around the group and see the familiar faces of officers she had worked with and a few from the Tactical Response Team.

  “We think a woman is being held against her will in this building. This man has murdered at least one other woman and two of her associates. We have no reason to believe he will spare this one. My source said there are also young girls being held here. We have already rescued a 10 and 12-year-old but it appears the others are being held in a secret space. We do not know for sure what condition the girls are in, but you can expect them to be scared of the Police. We suspect the young girls are on the 2nd floor and Candi is being held on the 3rd. That does not mean they couldn’t be on the 1st or 4th. Kristoff likes to disguise doors in the wall so search each space meticulously. The man holding these girls is named Luka Petrov. He should be considered armed and dangerous. Any questions?”

  The officers grunted their understanding and began putting their gear in place. Frankie turned to Sam and said, “Stay here. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to make entry.”

  Sam nodded in understanding.

  Frankie led the officers towards the building. At the entrance, officers peeled off and went to the back of the building. The main door was unlocked, making initial entry easy. The layout of the lobby had not changed since the last time Frankie was there but somehow, knowing what she now knew, the entire space had changed. The energy was darker, and she felt an urgency she had not felt before.

  The team systematically cleared the office space housing the ARK Marketing firm. They were about to give the all-clear when Frankie noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

  “What’s that?”

  Craven stopped, turned, and said, “We’re about to find out.”

  Frankie pulled what looked like a piece of wall but was actually a door. She held her breath, wondering what she would find.

  With their guns directed toward the opening the team lined up, leaving Frankie room to step back once the door was open.

  “What the he…”

  Chapter 105

  The wall of the closet-sized room held two giant screens with a live-feed. The first screen broadcast a small room with young women and girls asleep on makeshift beds. The second screen looked like a horror movie playing out in front of them.

  Frankie turned towards Craven, “Doesn’t that look like the fourth floor?”

  “I think so. Let’s go!”

  Frankie followed Craven and Fitz to the elevator. The adrenaline increased with the rising of the elevator. When the doors opened, they each rushed out and stacked two on one side and one on the other side of the door. Frankie reached down and tried the handle of the door, surprised to find it unlocked. With deft precision, they entered the room and began clearing the area. A muffeld scream cut through the silence. Their deliberate steps increased in speed.

  Frankie was the first to see Candi. She was perched on a wooden chair, duct tape holding her upright. Dried blood matted her once-blonde hair to her head. A strip of duct tape covered her mouth. Her exposed skin was bruised and bloody. Luka stood behind her, his back to Frankie. Candi saw them and started to moan. Frankie motioned for her to be quiet. Fitz peeled off and started to circle around to the right. Frankie moved to the left with Craven close behind.

  “Luka Petrov put your hands where I can see them,” Frankie yelled.

  Luka spun around in surprise.

  “Show me your hands!”

  Luke lifted his right hand, and the light caught the reflection of the blade on the knife he was holding.

  Frankie, Craven, and Fitz yelled in unison, “Drop the knife!”

  Luka’s mouth lifted in a demented smile just as he lunged towards Candi with the knife. The sound of gunshots filled the room. Luka’s body jerked from side to side with the impact of the bullets ripping through his body. Later Frankie would say although it happened fast, the way his body fell, it appeared as if everything was moving in slow motion.

  Once Luka’s body was still, Frankie moved towards Candi and Craven moved towards Luka. Frankie took a knife from her pocket and carefully cut the duct tape holding Candi to the chair. When the tape released Candi’s body slumped forward. Her body convulsed in sobs.

  Frankie keyed her radio, “1061 on Center Zone air. Start an ambulance to my location.”

  “1061 copy. Ambulance en route. 2325.”

  “Candi, you’re going to be okay. Can you sit here?”

  Candi nodded.

  “Jim, we need to clear the rest of the floor. We need to find those girls.”

  Frankie barely heard Candi’s voice.

  “They…they…they’re in the hidden room on three.”

  Frankie turned, “Is there anyone else up here?”

  “I don’t think so. Watch…watch…” Candi began to cough. “Watch for tr…tra…traps.”

  “What kind of traps?”

  “I’m not su…sure. They just said if…if…you tr…try to leave, you will get hurt.”

  Chapter 106

  Frankie did not try to hide her surprise as she looked at the changes Luka had made to his bedroom. One corner of the room appeared to be dedicated to different types of restraints. There were various cameras clearly visible, and Frankie suspected a few that were not. Lubricant, condoms, and sex toys littered the bedside table and bookcase near the restraints. A swing hung from the ceiling.

  “Check the walls,” Frankie directed.

  Craven and Frankie carefully examined the wall but found no false or hidden doors.

  Sirens were getting closer.

  “Let’s get Candi downstairs and help search the rest of the floors.”

  Craven said, “Why don’t you take Candi….”

  “1061, I need two uniforms on 4.”

  Frankie shot Craven a look that said, “Don’t mess with me.”

  When the uniformed officers got to the 4th floor, they quickly directed them to get Candi to the paramedics.

  Once the uniformed officers had Candi, Frankie followed Craven down the hall of the loft apartment. It had only been a few days since they had been in the space, but she noted the changes. The room where Julia and Emma slept had different bedding and the dollhouse was gone. A television, video game system and two gamer chairs stood in its place. Frankie grabbed her radio.

  “1061 to 1060 on private.”

  “Go ahead, Frankie.”

  “They either have little boys hidden somewhere, or they are planning to grab some.”

  “Copy.”

  Frankie was about to push the button for the elevator when something made her look to the right. She dashed to the wall and pushed.

  “What are you…”

  “There’s a door,” Frankie explained as she tested the wall to see if it was meant to be pushed or pulled. When the doorway finally gave way, she said, “Give me something to prop it open. I don’t know where this is going to lead and sure as hell don’t want to get trapped in here.”

  Craven scanned the foyer and found a potted plant heavy enough to hold the steel door open. Before Craven released the pot, Frankie was on the move. She made it less than twenty feet when she stopped. Craven started to say something, but Frankie motioned for him to be quiet. Frankie began to move quietly down the hall, the sound of crying becoming more prominent the closer she got.

  Frankie paused briefly at the end of the hall and looked down a short staircase. She moved quickly towards the landing. Frankie looked quic
kly to the left then to the right.

  “Move right?” Frankie asked.

  “Yeah. I’ll hold the hall while you go right.”

  Frankie saw a door about three-quarters of the way down the hall, but something told her to stop. Frankie scanned the area, starting on the right side of her vision and moving to the left, deliberately slowing down.

  “Stop! Get back to the stairs! Don’t touch your radio!”

  Frankie and Craven hurried back to the stairs, taking them two by two, not stopping until they reached the top.

  Chapter 107

  “Everyone out! Do not key your radios or use your cellphones. Get out of this building now!”

  Frankie and Craven led everyone off the floor onto the elevator. They rode the elevator down a floor, getting off quickly as the doors opened. Fitzmeyer got off the elevator with Frankie and Craven. Before the doors closed, Frankie instructed the officers to go a block away and call for the bomb squad, fire department and another ambulance.

  “Dammit, I wish Mia were here. Let’s find the teams and get them the hell out of here. Who knows how many other explosives are in this building?”

  Fitzmeyer took the lead, Frankie close behind, and Craven bringing up the tail. The team moved quickly, only pausing to look in open doorways. They were no longer on a rescue mission, but a search to make sure none of their own got left behind.

  Frankie was following, scanning the halls, walls, and doors for explosives. Fitz passed a closed door but suddenly, Frankie stopped and said, “Wait. Do you hear that?”

  Craven laid his ear against the door and said, “There’s someone in there.”

  “We can’t leave anyone inside,” Frankie said.

  “We have to get our guys out, Frankie. We will come back with the bomb dogs,” Fitz said.

  “He’s right, Frankie.”

  “You guys go ahead and look for Baker and the others. I’m going to get these people out.”

  “We aren’t leaving you here alone, Frankie. Come on, let’s at least finish the floor and come back.”

  Frankie knew Craven and Fitz were right, but she also knew she couldn’t leave anyone behind even if it meant she was at risk.

  Craven looked at Fitz and said, “Hold on. Let’s see if we can get the door open and get these people out. Then we can clear the rest of the floor.”

  Fitz shot Craven a look that said, “you’re an idiot,” but didn’t move. Frankie and Fitz stood back, guns drawn, as Craven pushed the door open. A loud pop and cloud of smoke exploded in their faces.

  Chapter 108

  Frankie’s vision was muddled, and there was a ringing in her ears. She blinked her eyes and tried to clear the noise filling her head. Once the immediate shock wore off, she realized the loud popping and poof of smoke was not an explosion but instead a flashbang grenade, similar to what the tactical response team used in search warrant entries.

  “You okay, Frankie?” Craven yelled.

  Frankie nodded and said, “You? Fitz?”

  “Good.”

  “Good,” Fitz added.

  Frankie led the way through the smoke and haze. The room was dark, the only light coming from the brief flashes of Fitz’s flashlight. The room was narrow and long and smelled of human feces combined with stale urine. The ringing in Frankie’s ears dissipated just as Fitz flashed on the faces of four young boys huddled in the corner.

  Frankie directed the boys out of the room as she asked if there was anyone else in the space. The boys shrugged their shoulders as they walked out of the room.

  Frankie put them on the elevator, and just as she was about to continue the search, she saw Sergeant Baker walking towards her with two young girls close behind.

  “Just in time. Let’s get out of here. Hopefully the bomb squad is on the way,” Frankie said.

  Sergeant Baker started to ask Frankie what she was talking about, then thought better of it. Instead, he said, “No one key up their radio or mess with their phone.”

  Everyone left the building quickly. Frankie thought they were in the clear when out of the corner of her eye she saw a sudden movement by one of the women that had followed Sergeant Baker out of the building. The woman put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a solid black object.

  Frankie turned and yelled, “Sarge!”

  Sergeant Baker turned in time to see the woman raise the object above her head. He lunged towards her, knocking the cylinder from her hand. It rolled away from the crowd, and a cloud of smoke filled the air. Baker brought the woman to her knees and quickly secured her with handcuffs, signaling to officers to secure the others.

  “Put each woman in a different car. Do not leave them alone. Make sure you thoroughly search them.”

  Chapter 109

  Frankie exited the building in time to see the radio car with “K-9” emblazoned on its rear quarter panel. The bomb squad followed close behind. As Frankie walked to the lot where the cars were assembling, she felt as if her legs were full of lead. She looked to her left and to her right; Craven and Fitzmeyer were walking in step.

  “Hey Jordan,” Frankie said.

  Jordan Franklin was one of the specially trained officers assigned to the K-9 Unit. Her dog Ero sat next to her when she stopped.

  “Girl, somehow I knew you had to be involved,” laughed Jordan. “What do we have?”

  Frankie gave a brief synopsis of the case, explaining the connection to Midori and the Shady Lady.

  “You mean those guys from Thanksgiving are involved in this too?”

  “We think…no, yes they are involved. We found four boys hidden in a room and two women who may or may not be victims as well. We also found another girl being tortured on the fourth floor. When we went into the hidden passageway…”

  Jordan interrupted, “Hidden what?”

  Frankie described the hidden door and the device she found in the hall. She shared the warning of traps and the flash bang grenade that was attached to the door where the boys were hidden.

  “So basically what you are saying is there could be proverbial land mines anywhere we go.”

  “I’m afraid so. Is there anything…”

  Before Frankie could finish her questions Detectives Haggerty and Paridis from the Bomb Squad Unit made their presence known.

  Haggerty said, “We can send the robot in. Based on what you are telling us, that seems like the safest plan. Is there anyone else in the building?”

  “I don’t think…I did hear crying from a room down the hidden passageway, but I’m not so sure it wasn’t a trap. The door had a device on it.”

  “Okay, we’ll start there. It sounds like these guys are more interested in preventing people from trying to escape than they are in blowing up their building. We will check the room where you think there may be people and then systematically clear the building from there.”

  Frankie nodded and walked away. When she was certain she was at a safe distance from the building she made a phone call. She was going to need some help after all.

  Chapter 110

  Frankie didn’t know what time it was and was afraid to look at her watch. She, Sam, Fitzmeyer, and Craven had left the scene while Haggerty and Paridis cleared the building. Baker had called her on the way back to headquarters to tell her they had taken two confirmed and two possible explosives from the building. Frankie’s gut had been right; if she had tried to open the door it would have ended badly. And for nothing. The only thing in the room was a video feed of the room the boys were in. No one else had been located in the building.

  Fitzmeyer and Craven interviewed the boys while Frankie and Mia teamed up to interview the women that had been found. What they learned was enlightening.

  The boys had been taken much in the same way as the girls had been taken but with slightly different tactics. Instead of modeling or dancing, they had been lured to the city with promises of freedom, money, and drugs. The boys ranged in ages from 13-15 but seemed, somehow younger and older at the same time. When Frankie watched
them on the videos, their eyes seemed sad and empty. They reminded her of a couple of the kids she worked with in VISION who had been on the streets just a little too long.

  Frankie and Mia discovered the two women Sergeant Baker brought out were part of the new recruitment team, but in their own way, they were victims too. Both girls had rose tattoos but neither had the symbol Tessa had on hers. The girls had been locked in a room but did not seem to understand that it was a crime. Their captors, Luka and Alexandre, had told them to set off a diversion device and run if anyone tried to remove them from the loft. The women told Frankie and Mia they thought Sergeant Baker and the team were part of the DiCapoli family. That seemed illogical to Frankie, but then again, nothing about the case was logical.

  In between interviews, Frankie learned Candi had been admitted to the hospital. She had a few injuries, but none were life-threatening. She was going to be okay.

  When the last interview was completed, Frankie and Mia collapsed in their chairs. Frankie closed her eyes and images of Candi and the flashbang filled her mind causing her to open them with a start. Without a word, she grabbed her bag and started towards the door. Mia, Sam, Fitzmeyer, Craven, and Baker followed close behind.

  Chapter 111

  The crew sat around a table, in an otherwise empty bar, with cold beers in front of them. It wasn’t quite eleven, so the lunch crowd had not made it to the pub. None of them were ready to go home after the stories they had heard. Instead of taking it home, they were going to sit in the bar and decompress.

  “I think I could sleep for a week,” Sam said with a laugh.

  “Can I be honest?” Frankie asked.

  “Of course.”

  “I’m actually surprised you hung with us all night. I don’t think a prosecutor has ever done that. At least not since I’ve been in the unit.”

  “I like seeing things through,” Sam said. “Besides, I can’t let you have all the fun!”