Unleashed

by Jami Alden

  “What happened to the girl?” Caroline countered.

  “I expect the same thing that’s going to happen to you. Killed, her body stripped of any identifying marks before being suitably disposed of. Now what was in the safe?”

  He was crazy. She could see it in his wild blue eyes. “The only things we found were a flash drive and some printouts that looked like bank statements, but there were no names on the accounts, just numbers.”

  “And what’s on the flash drive?”

  “We don’t know yet.”

  Kate yelped in pain as Patrick brought the butt of the gun down on her head.

  “I swear!” Caroline yelled. “It had something on it, a virus or something, like a booby trap. And all the data is encrypted.”

  “You’re lying. What was on it?”

  “We couldn’t get any information off it before I left. I have no idea what’s on there.”

  “You swear. You swear on his life,” he yanked Michael away from Kate and pressed the gun to the little boy’s temple. “There was no information on there about me, or my family? Anything about Jennifer?”

  “I don’t know if there is or not,” she said, pleading. Through the fear and rush of adrenaline that stole the warmth from her veins, she finally saw the truth. “Jennifer isn’t yours.”

  Patrick’s mouth tightened. “She’s as much mine and Melody’s as any child. She looks enough like Melody that no one ever questioned it. I made sure of that.”

  He was right. Melody’s blond hair and small, fine features were so similar to her daughter’s it had never occurred to Caroline that Jennifer wasn’t their biological child.

  Then another blonde with pretty, delicate features flashed in her head. “You took Emily Parrish’s baby. That’s why you wouldn’t let her back out of the deal.”

  “It was all Melody wanted.” Pain flashed across Patrick’s face and for a moment, Caroline caught a glimpse of the man she’d thought was her friend. “I would have done anything to make her happy.” His mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed. “Who has the flash drive, Caroline?” Patrick pressed.

  Caroline swallowed hard. If she told him, she was likely putting Toni Crawford in danger. Caroline knew Patrick wasn’t working alone, and some of his colleagues were ruthless killers. But if she didn’t tell Patrick, she was going to put Kate and Michael through more pain. At least Toni had all those big strapping ex-military types to watch her back. “It’s at the Gemini Securities office. They’re working on it right now.”

  Patrick’s face relaxed a little and he released a sobbing Michael. He came to stand over Caroline, his legs spread in a sickeningly triumphant stance. “We better hope I get my hands on it before they crack the code. But thanks to your cooperation, I’ll keep my promise and make it quick for them.”

  She could barely hear Kate and Michael’s sobs through the roar in her head. She had to do something. Caroline leaned back on her elbows, and using every bit of core strength she’d built up in endless hours with her personal trainer, she brought her bound, booted feet up squarely between Patrick’s legs.

  He emitted a choked groan and fell to his knees.

  “Run, Kate! Get out of here!” she yelled, rolling to the side as Patrick squeezed off a wild shot. “Go!”

  Kate staggered to her feet and grabbed Mikey’s bound hands in her own as she slipped through the stall door Patrick had left partially open.

  Caroline squeezed her eyes shut and said a little prayer. Please please please let them get away. She opened her eyes to the sight of Patrick’s gun, trained straight at her face.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Easterbrook?”

  Patrick’s eyes widened with what looked like fear at the clipped, accented voice. Caroline dragged her gaze away from the gun and saw a tall, lean man with caramel colored skin and the coldest yellow eyes she’d ever seen. He held Kate by one arm, Michael by another and was flanked by two goons that closely resembled the three she’d seen earlier on the porn set.

  “I think we’re getting close,” Kaylee said as she peered out at the rain soaked hills that lined the road. “I definitely remember that rocky field.”

  The fenced off pasture on the east side of the road was dotted with gray boulders that stood out against the deep green grass like giant moon rocks.

  “You got that?” Danny asked Ethan, Alex and Ben who were still on the line. They all answered in the affirmative.”

  “Let me check in with Toni, see if she can come up with something,” Ethan said and clicked over. A few seconds later he clicked back on the line. “Danny I’ve got Toni on with me.”

  “Where do we need to go, Toni?”

  “I don’t have the house,” she said, excitement evident in her voice, “but I managed to get into the documents on the flash drive. James Medford was working with Patrick Easterbrook. He was the doctor who delivers all the babies and falsifies their birth certificates.”

  Son of a bitch. And they’d gone straight to Easterbrook’s house and tipped their hand. “Kaylee, what did the doctor who examined you look like?”

  Kaylee’s eyes were wide and haunted. “Old, with a lot of gray hair. Blue eyes. And big. Not fat, but like a big guy who maybe used to play football. I saw him a couple times before that too, when he was there doing deliveries.”

  “There’s some stuff in here too about someone named Marshall who worked at James’s law firm, along with a list of names, birthdates, hair and eye color of the birth mothers.” Toni’s voice grew more serious. “There are a lot of names on this list, Danny, going back a lot of years.”

  An ugly legacy Patrick Easterbrook was willing to kill to keep quiet.

  “Any mention of anyone named Gates?” Danny asked.

  “Hold on,” he heard her click. “I haven’t had a chance to go through all the documentation.” There were a few seconds of silence and then a soft, horrified, “Oh, God. He’s described as the ‘supplier.’ James wrote that Gates set up a facility to keep ‘selected gestational carriers’. He describes the procedure—”

  “Yeah, I have a good idea what’s going on,” Danny said as he swallowed back bile. “Where’s the facility?”

  “It doesn’t say. James wasn’t allowed to go on site. Patrick met James or Marshall at another location to hand off the baby….

  “There’s one other thing, Danny,” Toni said. “According to James’s notes, not all of the babies were adopted by outside families. At least one stayed in the inner circle. Eighteen years ago Patrick Easterbrook and his wife kept a baby girl for themselves.”

  Dread curled in his gut as the answer hit him full force. But just to be sure, he asked. “Does it list a birth date?”

  “Just a month and a year. June 1991.” If money wasn’t enough to motivate Patrick to kill, protecting the circumstances of his daughter’s birth certainly was.

  Patrick Easterbrook and James Medford had taken Emily Parrish’s baby and killed Anne Taggart to keep their secret. Rage burned in Danny’s veins. At the years he’d lost hating his mother, thinking she’d left him. Letting that lie fuck up his entire world and costing him the only woman he’d ever loved.

  Rage for the pain he, his brothers, and especially his father had endured in their exhausting, fruitless searches.

  Every sinew screamed for revenge. James was dead. It was too late to do anything about him. But Patrick was about to learn the hard way that you don’t fuck with the Taggarts or their women.

  “We have to find Patrick Easterbrook, now.”

  “On it,” Toni said and clicked off.

  Danny switched lines and called Melody Easterbrook. “Where’s your husband?” he said, barely giving her a chance to say hello.

  “Who is this?”

  “It’s Danny Taggart. We spoke the other night. I need to know where your husband is.”

  “He’s out of town on business,” she said testily, “and I don’t think I appreciate your tone.”

  “And I don’t appreciate that
he killed James Medford and tried to pin it on Caroline, so we’re even.”

  Shocked silence echoed over the line. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Come on, Melody, the game’s up. I know who your daughter’s real mother is.”

  “Sh-she was a single mother who wanted to give her baby up for adoption,” she protested, voice cracking.

  “Her name was Emily Parrish and your husband and James Medford kidnapped her and killed my mother to keep it a secret. Then once the baby was born, they killed Emily, too.”

  “No, no. James helped us with the adoption, but Patrick would never have been involved in anything like that.”

  He could hear the doubt creeping into her voice. “Then why keep Jennifer’s adoption a secret, if you and Patrick don’t have anything to hide?”

  Melody’s voice broke on a sob. “I didn’t want anyone to know that I was…deficient in that way. When James said he knew a girl who wanted to give her baby up for adoption who looked exactly like me, we immediately said yes and promised to keep it a secret. But it was all James, it had to be,” she protested. “Patrick would never—”

  “I need to know where he is,” Danny said firmly, trying to keep Melody from disintegrating into full-blown hysteria.

  “Fine, talk to him yourself. But I’ll have to call his office to find out exactly where he’s giving his seminar today.”

  Danny bit back a curse. He had no time to wait to retrieve what was no doubt bogus information. Maybe they could use his cell phone to track him, or—“Does his car have a built-in navigation system?”

  “Yes,” Melody said, confused.

  He already knew Patrick drove a BMW 5 Series. “What’s the license number?” Melody quickly told him.

  “Thanks. That’s all I need to know—” he was about to hang up when she interrupted him.

  “Wait. You’re not going to tell anyone about Jennifer, are you? She has no idea, and if what you say is true…”

  Danny grimaced. He believed in his gut that Melody didn’t know the truth about where her miracle baby had come from and knew this was going to be painful for her and her daughter. But he couldn’t protect them anymore. “I think you need to get yourself a good attorney and prepare yourself for a long, hard discussion with your daughter.”

  He quickly dialed Toni and relayed the information. He pulled over and stopped his slow cruise up the Highway. Ethan, Alex, and Ben quickly followed suit. Once Toni hacked into the network, they’d be able to pinpoint Patrick’s location. He prayed Caroline was with him, and still alive by the time they got there.

  Caroline inchwormed her way to where Kate and Michael sat huddled in the corner. All three watched tensely as the man Patrick called Gates laid into Patrick. “Why am I getting calls that the shoot is going bad? And what the fuck happened to him?” Gates said, toeing Marshall’s body as though it were a sack of meat. “Although I suppose I should thank you for saving me the trouble. I swear to God, the three of you have caused me nothing but trouble this past year. First James thinks he can blackmail me into letting him out, then we have her,” Caroline flinched as his cold yellow gaze landed on her huddled form, “with more fucking lives than a cat. What is she doing here, anyway? What are they doing here?” he asked, indicating a trembling Kate and a sobbing Michael.

  “I needed to know how much she knows. If James was telling the truth.”

  “I think it’s safe to assume if she and Taggart found their way to the set, they know too much.” He nodded to one of his goons. His gaze pulled back to Caroline. “I’m going to do something I haven’t done for a long time and kill you myself. I should have done you myself a long time ago and saved all of us a bunch of trouble. Now get those two,” he said, indicating Kate and Michael, “inside, and get them ready to transport with the others.”

  Toni had quickly homed in on Patrick’s location, only five miles from where Kaylee had led them. As they approached, Kaylee’s already pale face had gone chalk white. “That’s it. Right down that drive.” She pointed to a narrow dirt driveway marked only by a mailbox, destroyed a long time ago. Brush grew thick on either side, making it difficult to see from the road and discouraging anyone who might be inclined to investigate.

  They pulled their cars off the road about a quarter mile past the drive and got out. “Ethan’s going to take you to the police station, and you tell them everything you told me,” Danny said.

  Kaylee nodded, wide eyed as she watched Danny, Alex, and Moreno load up with their arsenal. In addition to the knife strapped to his right calf and his Glock tucked into his shoulder holster, Danny also carried a Taser, and a derringer in an ankle holster. Alex and Moreno were similarly armed, their muscular bodies bristling with weapons.

  Danny squatted down next to his car. Taking direction from what Kaylee remembered, he drew a diagram of the huge house and surrounding grounds and went over the plan one last time. “We need to go in as quick and quiet as possible,” Danny said, though he didn’t need to remind Alex or Moreno of anything. The big Latino and even bigger half Croat were two of the best soldiers he’d ever worked with. They’d performed similar extractions in a lot scarier places. Despite their size, they could move as swiftly and silently as death as they snuck up on the guards and took them out.

  “And I’ll come in leading the cavalry,” Ethan said, just the faintest whiff of derision in his voice. But if he didn’t like the idea of having to wait to come in with the police, he knew better than to say it. This was Danny’s op, and he needed Ethan to go with Kaylee, not only to make sure the local police knew exactly what they were up against, but also to give Danny, Alex and Moreno enough time to get Caroline and the other girls out safely. Danny had a bad feeling that if the cops came blazing in, sirens blaring and lights flashing, it could turn into an ugly hostage situation in the blink of an eye.

  He would get them out safely, Caroline included. He wouldn’t acknowledge the possibility that Caroline could already be dead.

  Danny heard the rumble of Ethan’s engine fade in the distance as he and the other two men took off at a fast clip down the side of the road. Fortunately traffic was nonexistent, and they made it to the driveway before anyone could see them and wonder what the hell three heavily armed men were doing running down a rural highway in the central valley. When they turned down the driveway their pace slowed and they went on high alert, listening for any cars or other signs anyone was approaching.

  They made it down the drive without incident and ducked into the brush, out of sight. Sure enough, Patrick Easterbrook’s car was parked in the muddy drive in front of the rundown house. A sleek, black Jaguar was parked in front of it, and a black Mercedes SUV had pulled up behind.

  A lone guard stood at the front door, a gun in his slack grip as he leaned against the wall looking half asleep.

  Danny did a quick scan of the front of the house and saw no signs of security cameras or other surveillance. He nodded at Alex, who started thrashing around the bushes with enough force it sounded like a bear was trapped.

  On cue, the guard straightened, yawned, and peered across the drive to the thick brush that flanked the drive. Alex let out a low, weird sound that could have been human or animal. Danny could feel the guard’s curiosity pique. Shifting his grip on his pistol, the guy walked slowly to where they were hidden. Using his gun hand, he parted some branches for a closer look. Danny came around from behind and Tasered him right as he caught sight of Alex and Moreno. Danny quickly bound him with plastic flex ties, gagged him, dragged him into the bushes, and tucked the guard’s gun into his own waistband.

  They skirted around the house and took out two more men guarding the back door. It would have been a hell of a lot easier shooting them than it was waiting to get close enough to take them out with Tasers, but he and his brothers had left enough dead bodies in their wake in the past several months. Danny didn’t want to add to the pile.

  But Danny didn’t plan to be so merciful with everyone. When Danny
found him, Patrick Easterbrook would meet the barrel of Danny’s gun, or better yet the blade of his knife so Danny could experience Patrick’s fear the moment before he died. He’d never felt like this, this blood lust, but he wanted Patrick to experience what his mother had felt the moment before Patrick killed her. Wanted him to understand the crippling fear that had been Caroline’s constant companion.

  Danny wanted him to pay with his life.

  Focus on the mission. Do not let emotion take over, he warned himself. He couldn’t give in to his rage, not yet. When that happened he got reckless and sloppy, and he had to keep his head in the game if he wanted to get Caroline out safely. She was the number one priority. Not his revenge, not even those poor girls trapped in that house.

  They entered through the back door and moved silently down a dark hallway. Closed doors lined the hallway. Danny nodded and Moreno tried the first one. The door swung open to reveal a hospital bed along with some kind of electronic monitor. Danny moved in to take a closer look. A cabinet across from the bed held shelves full of glass vials, IV bags, gauze, and other medical supplies. On a corner table rested a tray of surgical instruments.

  Birthing room. His skin prickled as he imagined the kind of pain and fear that permeated the walls. He suppressed a shudder and silently backed out. They continued down the hall, past what looked like an empty office, then a TV room. Low voices could be heard, and as they rounded the corner Danny saw two women working in a large kitchen. He nodded for Alex and Moreno to continue through the front entryway and up the stairs.

  “Excuse me, ladies,” Danny said, his tone conversational, the Glock he leveled at them all business, “can you tell me where I can find Patrick Easterbrook and somebody named Gates?”

  The women looked up, freezing in horror as they caught sight of the gun. They both shot their hands up in the air, chattering shrilly in Spanish all the while. Danny repeated his question in Spanish.

  They shook their heads, feigning ignorance. “I don’t know anyone by those names,” the first said. “We just help take care of the girls. Nothing else.”