by R. T. Wolfe
She pulled his arm closer to her chest. "What if I can't get Hurst on board with July 2nd?"
Kissing the top of her head, he said, "What if you do?"
"What if we rescue the children only to have Fu Haizi take more?"
Whether she had slept for hours at the Lyons home or not, she sank into a sound sleep.
* * *
The drive south was long. This was a good thing. Nickie needed time to sort through the past few days and the possibilities that lay in front of her. As the sun tipped over the horizon, she slipped on her sunglasses and rotated the visor to block the glare.
Chopin Internet radio station played low as she activated her hands-free. An occasional car passed her on the northbound side of the highway. "Call Special Agent Hurst, personal cell," she said to the device.
"Calling Special Agent Hurst, personal cell."
The sunlit drops of dew glistened on every surface. She wasn't comfortable leaving Duncan, Eddy and Andy in charge of Parker. Duncan and Andy would be busy sorting through the goldmine of information they hacked from the Fu Haizi site in Peru, and although Eddy was qualified and able to guard a witness in protection, it wasn't fair to dump on him like she'd been doing.
It took Special Agent Hurst six rings before he answered. "Nick," he said in a low voice. "How is everything?"
If he only knew. "Are you alone?" she asked.
"Yes, since you're calling on my personal number, I moved to the hallway."
Trust, Nickie reminded herself. He earned it. "One of your guys planted a device on the witness. We were swarmed. I spotted a total of four vehicles. Black SUVs. And at least six men. Two were sharp shooters."
Silence. She got that. She waited for the long list of questions. Where was the witness now? How did she know it was an inside job? Was the witness given the opportunity to contact an outside source and give away his location?
He didn't ask any of that, but instead said, "Is everyone okay?"
"Parker has a broken nose."
"Where are you?"
Translation: Where was Parker?
"I think we need to speak in person."
More silence. "Where are you?" he repeated.
"I'm driving. I'm going to question my father and Zheng."
"When?" he asked. "I'll meet you there."
"I'm a few minutes away."
"Oh," he said and paused.
She'd waited until mid-morning to tell him about the breach and until now before she told him she was coming to question her father and Zheng. She was scum.
"I'll be there in an hour," he said and disconnected.
"Text Duncan," she said to her hands-free.
The device acknowledged, "Texting Duncan Reed."
Made it here safely. Don't beat up the witness, no matter how much he deserves it.
The place was much like any jail or prison. Increased security through each door, searches that borderlined molestation, empty pockets, sign and wait. She couldn't remember the last time she entered any room without her gun.
A young prison guard stepped into the room and looked over Nickie's head. "Detective Nickie Savage?"
Nickie was the only one in the area. Since the gal didn't call her ma'am, she would give her a break. She stood. "I'm Detective Savage. Shall we?"
The woman nodded, turned and walked back through the same door. Nickie followed and grabbed it before it shut in her face.
The hallway was short. The tile floor, the walls beige painted poured concrete. Tiles broke up the ceiling above her, and the guard stood in front of the door she'd opened and held for her. Nickie knew who was in there. She just couldn't get her feet to move.
Duncan's shrink would have a field day with this. She cracked both sides of her neck, then dug the heels of her boots onward.
The guard clasped her hands behind her back. "Call when you're done. I'll be outside the door."
Nodding, Nickie turned the corner. She might not have recognized him. Same frown. Same defiant posture. But his skin was as gray as the roots of his hair. He didn't look up. She swore he'd lost thirty pounds. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him out of suit pants and a dress shirt.
She forced her feet to move. Pulling out the chair, she said, "Hello, Father," and swung a leg over the top of it. She lifted her foot and set her ankle on her knee. Hopefully, it hid the way her chest expanded and released.
"This is all your fault," he mumbled. His voice was nearly unrecognizable. Hoarse and soft. His eyes darted from place to place around the table but not to her.
"As usual," she said.
"Where is your mother?"
"I have no idea." Or else in Peru coordinating an international trafficking mission.
He tapped his thumbs on the metal table that separated them.
"Tell me about the basement," Nickie said.
He rolled his eyes and threw his head back. It didn't produce quite the same effect dressed in an FBI-issued jumpsuit. "The one you destroyed?"
She sighed. "I don't have all day. We know the basement was used to hold children between sex trafficking operations and sub group crime rings. We have evidence that it was remodeled and painted as a way to cover up evidence thereof."
"That is something you concocted. That's all you've ever done since the day you were born. Dad is a criminal. Dad hurts people." His voice turned childlike. "Dad covered up what I did while I was gone."
"While I was gone?" Nickie sneered. "Is that what we call forced child prostitution now?" She pulled out her picture of him and Jun Zheng standing in front of one of her father's buildings and slapped it on the table.
His chest was still panting from his tirade as he looked down his nose at the picture. "Why are you showing me this?"
"You're in quite a mess, Pops. Earn yourself some leniency. Tell me about your relationship with Zheng."
"Dr. Li? He's a delivery boy. You make it sound as if we are romantically involved."
She filled her lungs, then exhaled. "Is Li an alias?"
"I am done with your questions. Guard!" He pushed the picture away. "You're not making any sense, just like always. I am going to get out of this place, find your mother and sort all of this out."
"How can you possibly expect me to believe you don't know about the room in the basement? About the children that were kept under your roof?" Nickie had never known.
"Guard!"
"You expect me to believe you don't know Zheng's role?"
He lifted from the table. His feet were shackled and his hands cuffed. "You're incorrigible," he barked. "We gave you everything. The finest upbringing." Spittle sprayed from his mouth as he spoke. "How do you thank us? You go and... and... and do those things for those men."
Her arms were like weights. They sat heavy on her thighs. Jun Zheng was next. She couldn't afford to be off her game.
The guard came in and glanced from Nickie to her father and back again. Nickie shrugged and the woman escorted the Edward Monticello as he shuffled his way out of the room.
Her arms still weren't moving. Or her legs, or her heart. The backs of her eyes burned. If one single frigging tear escaped over her lid, she was going to kick somebody's ass.
The sound of an alarm jolted her from her stupor. She checked her surrounds and said, "No. Way." Her head shook back and forth in disbelief, then shook some more at her disbelief that she even had disbelief.
She had her suspicions, but she got her butt off the chair anyway. In defiance of the alarm, she took one slow step after another on the way to the hallway. It was empty, of course. The door shut behind her as the sound of the alarm changed pitches. With this, the sound of doors automatically locked came down both sides of the hallway.
The young guard came jogging around the far end. Out of breath, she stopped in front of Nickie, who swore the gal was about to salute. Standing tall, the woman said, "Sir. Detective, sir. I'm afraid I need to ask you to come with me."
"Jun Zheng?" Nickie asked flatly.
The guard's brown eyes grew wide and her mouth opened in a small O. She didn't answer. Steps came from behind Nickie. She turned and spotted Hurst just as out of breath as the guard.
He dropped his chin to his chest and nodded. "Jun Zheng, yes. He's missing."
"Of course he is," Nickie said.
Chapter 15
It was Eddy's turn to ride the perimeter, and since Andy was sharing a meal off-site with his wife and son, Duncan was in charge of watching the witness. Abigail had turned out to be an exceptional watch horse. With Xena at her heels, Duncan was confident they would signal if outsiders were present.
The sound of the ancient piece of junk Nickie drove pulled up to the house. With earbuds in his ears, Dale didn't seem to hear it. He sat in the adjacent family room listening to a book on tape while Duncan analyzed the sparse text messages Nickie had sent him during the course of the day.
She knocked, then pushed the door open and walked in. Her stride was without the purpose and confidence he'd grown accustomed to from his detective. Dark circles lay beneath her eyes. Her honey wheat hair was straight rather than the large waves she spent considerable time creating each morning.
Without speaking, he rose from his seat at the kitchen table. She made a direct line to him and threw her arms around his neck. Her body was warm, too warm. As she clung to him, he trailed his hand over her shoulders and felt the back of her neck. No fever.
Her face turned into the crook of his neck, and her chest expanded. He waited. Patience. Acceptance. He inhaled and closed his eyes, reading her need. She had not shared the details of her time with her father or Jun Zheng through her phone call or text messages. He would not question and would wait until she was ready.
They stood like this for several minutes, arms clinging and fingers pressing into muscle. Outside the ranch was alive. Whinnies from the horses in the barn. Songs from the birds in the woods. Chatter from the squirrels. The song seemed to soothe her as her body relaxed in his arms.
"I want to hear about the data you compiled from Andy's hack job in Peru."
He lifted his brows.
"And I need to tell you what I learned today," she added.
The door opened without a knock this time. Four paws with nails that needed to be trimmed ran through the mudroom to the kitchen. As she whimpered sounds of joy, Xena walked in a figure eight as she lifted her chin up and down. Around Duncan's legs, then Nickie's, then repeat. Nickie squatted and sat on her heels. "I wasn't gone that long, girl," she said, grabbing the sides of Xena's cheeks and pressed their foreheads together.
Eddy appeared from the mudroom as Nickie turned her chin in the direction of the witness. "You," she yelled to Dale. "Out to the patio where we can see you."
"Xena." She turned to their dog and said, "Go with him."
Parker sighed, shook his head and dragged his feet out the back door. Xena followed but failed to appear as much of a watchdog with the dancing and the tail wagging.
Eddy opened the refrigerator as Xena and Dale appeared through the patio window. Nickie said, "My father was a wash." She slid into the horseshoe bench seat that wound around the table. Duncan positioned himself next to her.
"He's cracked up," she continued. "Not making much sense."
She slung a boot on her knee. There were two times she did this: when she needed to make a specific impression of calloused and brazen during a meeting or interrogation, and when she attempted to convince herself she was calloused or brazen. Duncan assumed this was the latter.
"And he looks like he's got one foot in the grave." She paused before she continued.
Eddy closed the door to the refrigerator with his foot as he popped open the tab of a can of beer.
Rubbing the side of her nose with her thumb, Nickie said, "Jun Zheng escaped again."
It gave Duncan a sudden desire to sling a boot on his knee. Eddy's arms froze away from his body as the carbonation escaped the can.
"I know. I know," she said, "but you have to admit. No surprise there."
Worry crossed her eyes. She checked where Dale sat in a patio chair with the earbuds in his ears. Xena lay at his feet. "Except, I think it happened while I was there. The guards were a mess. Alarms were blaring." She waved her arms in circles above her head. "Hurst showed up. He's feeling like shit about it all. We talked for a long time."
As Eddy slid around the table, he threw Duncan a look as if he worried about his partner. Her eyes grew big and moved to each of them, but she continued. "He led a team of seventy-one to rescue sixty-three children from trafficking only to have them booked through the juvenile detention process." She seemed to have forgotten about her unrefined, brazen façade. She placed both feet on the floor and folded her hands on the table. "The witness protection location was breached by one or more of his own, and now Zheng escaped while under their watch. His hands are tied regarding allowing civilians in on any operations. Hurst feels trapped and at a loss of options. I sense he truly wants to do the right thing, but recognizes the corrupt agents and realizes how much the red tape of the business ties our hands."
It was a lesson that his Nickie had endured almost weekly as of late. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I wouldn't tell him where we're keeping Parker."
Eddy leaned forward. "We gonna have the feds on a massive manhunt for us, partner?"
"I don't think so," she said and stared at a spot on the table. "It was a hard day on both of us. We need some time to process."
"That doesn't make me feel much better, ya know."
"So, are you going to tell me about Peru, or what?" she said to Duncan at the still silent table.
The sound of the opening door in the mudroom was followed by Andy's voice. "You didn't start without me, did you?" Ah, the hacker himself.
"Yes," Duncan said to Nickie. "Let's get started." He turned his chin and spoke louder. "The coffee is decaf." He'd made it that way for his wife.
"What's the matter with you, brother?" Andy opened the door to the cabinet above the coffeemaker. "I'm going to need something stronger than that."
"I can make a cup of caffeinated for you," Duncan said.
"After a visit with my mother-in-law, I'm going to need something stronger than that too." He took out a bottle of whiskey from the top shelf.
* * *
Nickie wondered if all parents were supposed to put the liquor on the top shelf. She should give up and pour a few fingers of whiskey for herself. Duncan set a hand on her thigh and squeezed gently. Damned observant husband.
Andy brought his glass to the table. "I made the mistake of telling my mother-in-law about the botched up trafficking bust, Nick. Bad idea."
Rose's mother was not only married to the NPD captain, she ran dozens of homeless shelters all the way up and down the East Coast.
"She's seen her share of mistreated youth." With the glass of whiskey in hand, he paused. "And from the look on your faces, Duncan did not tell you what we found in Peru."
"What you found," Duncan amended.
"Yeah, you were busy being captured."
"You crawled off into the wind to explore the cable box. I stayed behind the rock we had agreed upon as our hideout."
"And got yourself caught."
"Is this what siblings do?" Eddy asked. "I wouldn't know."
She shrugged. "Me neither."
"Sorry," Andy said and pulled a few notecards from the inside of his jean jacket. "And I didn't get everything. I had to go rescue the captured brother. How are the ribs, by the way?"
Red. Purple. Bruised. She had to make sure and keep her hands on his shoulders in the bedroom while they were—
Duncan would never say. He just lifted a brow.
"I need to get back in there," Andy said and placed the notecards on the table. "I've categorized these into three subjects."
She craned her face closer. They were titled: Customers, Employees and Dates/Locations.
"I hacked into the server using the phone we bought in Peru, so I was only able
to screen shot some lists. They are partial and cut up."
She was trying to listen and read at the same time, but she was distracted by what she was looking at. Names, dates, locations. July 2nd listed several locations and events. Car races in Daytona, boxing in Puerto Rico, horse races in Cleveland and Vancouver, and poker in Vegas and Lima, Peru.
Andy pulled out his phone and unlocked it with his thumbprint. The screen shot was a list of names. She took it from him. Craning her head close, she read several names out loud. "Strong, Lewis, Moody, McKinney, Tanner." All names of crooked cops and politicians.
"Yes," Duncan said. "There are others."
"Special Agents Strong and Lewis," Eddy said and pretended to spit. "The only thing worse than a dirty cop is a dirty fed." He looked over his shoulder and out toward former Officer Dale Parker. He was still on the patio, safe and sound with Xena facing him, alert and in a sit.
"We've got to get back into that server," she said.
"There is no we," Duncan retorted.
She craned her neck and glared at him.
"You are not privy to the location, and I'm not sharing."
It was like an alien had invaded his body. She jerked her gaze to Andy.
He held up his hands. "Oh no. Bros before... well, brothers first, Nick. You understand."
"Like hell I do. This is my—"
"I'm not implying that you will be left in the dark, only that you are needed here. You said it yourself. Special Agent Hurst cannot allow us in on his operations, but he can allow you."
She huffed out a breath and had to force her arms from crossing in front of her. "There isn't any operation. I haven't told him anything yet."
"But you will," Duncan said, "because it's the right thing to do. He works July 2nd from the States. We deal with Peru."
July 2nd. That was less than three weeks away. "We could take a trip down there before the 2nd, just you and me."
"Hey!" Andy interrupted.
Eddy's expression said he felt the same way.
"Okay, the four of us," she amended. Fu Haizi was her case, not her captain's. Not the FBI's. Her entire life's purpose. Her why.