Truth or Dare

by Fern Michaels

  “Where did she lose you?”

  “At the mall,” Emily said. “She bought us some ice cream and said to wait till she got back. She had to get her ear fixed.

  “Aunt Betty has a hearing aid, and she wanted to get it fixed. We waited, but she never came back. Andy started to cry. Then Carrie started to cry. I didn’t know what to do. Then two men came up to us and said Aunt Betty said we were to go with them.”

  “When did that happen? How many days ago?” Charles asked.

  “I don’t know. Lots of days. We missed school.”

  “Before the flags,” Emily said.

  “The holiday with the parade,” Carrie said.

  “I think she means Memorial Day, and they were still in school. School doesn’t let out till the middle of June. Oh my God, these kids have been on the loose for several months,” Maggie said as she fought the urge to hug the two little girls.

  “Where did you live all that time?” Charles asked.

  “With all the other kids. Then they left, and more kids came. No one picked us.”

  “No one wanted us ’cause we’re mixed up,” Emily said. “They didn’t like our pictures. That’s what they said, right, Carrie?” Carrie nodded.

  “Oh, crap, I see where this is going already,” Harry hissed in Jack’s ear.

  “Do you know where the place is that you lived in?”

  Both girls shook their heads. “It was full of big boxes and it smelled funny. Not stinky, something else. Like church at Christmas.”

  “Incense,” Maggie said.

  “I don’t know what that is,” Carrie said.

  “What’s your last name?”

  “Bannon.”

  “Do you know your mother’s and dad’s names?”

  “Mommy and Daddy,” Emily said.

  “Their other names. Like what did your daddy call your mommy?” Maggie asked.

  “Sweetie pie.” Emily giggled. “Mommy called Daddy her hunk of love. It always made him laugh.”

  “Do you know your address and phone number?” Jack asked.

  Carrie looked offended at the question. “I’m seven years old. Mommy made me learn it. Emily gets confused. We lived at one-eleven Apple Avenue in Arlington. I don’t know the phone number because it was in my cell phone. I just pressed the number one for Mommy and the number two for Daddy. The people took it away. Emily didn’t have a phone. Mommy was going to get her one on her birthday.”

  “I’m on it, I’m on it!” Ted said.

  “Me too,” Maggie said.

  “Do you know Aunt Betty’s last name?”

  “Smith. She’s Daddy’s aunt. She doesn’t hear good. We have to talk real loud. And we have to help her walk, too, because she has a cane. Sometimes she drops it, and we have to pick it up. She’s old. Daddy said we have to look after her.”

  Ted groaned at the name Smith.

  “Do you know where Aunt Betty lives?” Charles asked.

  “With all the old people. They play games and sing, but they don’t dance. Daddy said they would fall down if they danced. Aunt Betty lives fifteen minutes from our house if there is no traffic.”

  “That’s a help,” Charles said as he zeroed in on Ted to make sure he was getting everything the little girl said. He nodded that he was on that, too.

  “Do you know where your parents work, Carrie?” Charles asked.

  “It’s a secret,” Emily chirped. “You can’t tell a secret.”

  Carrie nodded. “Mommy said if people know what they do, we could get hurt. That’s why it’s a secret.”

  “I’m going to take a wild guess here and ask you if your parents carry guns,” Jack said, fixing his gaze on the little girl. Her eyes almost popped out of her head at the question.

  She turned to look down at her new shoes and said loudly, “No!” It was a lie, and everyone in the room knew it, even Emily, who squirmed on the chair. It was also obvious to everyone in the room that lying did not come naturally to the two little girls. Jack let it go and gave a slight shake of his head to indicate that Charles should continue.

  “Law enforcement of some kind,” Maggie hissed to Ted, who nodded.

  “It should be a breeze, locating Sweetie Pie and Hunk of Love Bannon,” Ted said, tongue in cheek. “That’s right up there with Betty Smith with a hearing aid and cane.”

  “Tell us about the place you lived in before you got away. How many children were there with you?”

  “Sometimes a lot. Sometimes just us and three more. People kept taking our pictures. They dressed up some of the girls in real pretty dresses. Then the girls left and didn’t come back. The monster lady was real mean to me and Emily. Sometimes, she wouldn’t give us food. Then the Hammer Man would slap us. He was mean, too.”

  “Tell them about Funny Eyes, Carrie,” Emily said.

  Carrie put her fingers to the corner of her eyes and pulled the skin back. “Kind of like him,” she said, pointing to Harry. “When Andy cried, Funny Eyes would tell him stories. If the Hammer Man saw him do that, he would kick him and call him a half . . . a halfwit.”

  “How did you get away?”

  “Funny Eyes helped us. A big truck came with lots of kids. Lots and lots of kids. He said they wouldn’t miss us for over an hour, so we should run fast. That’s what we did. We cried because we knew they were going to kick him for helping us. Sometimes so bad he couldn’t walk; then he had to crawl. Then they’d whip him like a dog and call him names.”

  Emily started to cry. Carrie put her arms around her sister and crooned in her ear. “Funny Eyes will be okay. Stop crying now. You’re a big girl, and big girls don’t cry,” she said, her own eyes filling with tears.

  “Son of a bitch,” Jack muttered under his breath.

  “How many days ago did you leave? Do you know? How many times did it get dark at night?” Charles asked softly.

  “Seven. Every day we counted so we would remember. Seven,” she repeated.

  “What did you eat? Where did you hide?” Dennis asked, his expression one of disbelief that three little kids could survive on their own with no help for a full week.

  “Funny Eyes gave us some apples when we left. We got some food out of trash cans. It rained, so we drank the rainwater. We were trying to find a policeman when you found us.”

  “You’re safe now. We’re going to do our best to find your parents and the people who took you away. For now, we’re going to keep you here. How would you all like to watch some television while us grown-ups make a plan?

  “Dora the Explorer?” Emily asked hopefully.

  Charles smiled. “Dora the Explorer it is.”

  Chapter Four

  Maggie settled the kids in front of the TV in the main office before she returned to the guys in the conference room. The team looked at her expectantly. “They’re fine. I think the girls will both be asleep in about fifteen minutes. The good news is they aren’t as scared as they were when they got here. They trust us now. So, let’s get to it and find out what’s going on and how best to help them. For as little and as young as they are, I have to say, they have guts. I’m not sure I could have done what they did when I was their age.”

  The others concurred. “It’s a good thing it’s summer. I hate to think what would have happened to them if it were winter with them on the loose,” Charles said solemnly.

  “Can we get to it? I need to head back to the dentist. My mouth is killing me,” Jack said, his face a mask of misery.

  “Never mind getting to it. Come on, we’re going right now to the dentist,” Harry said, getting up and hauling Jack to his feet. He looked at the others. “You can clue us in when we get back.” No one disagreed.

  Cyrus was waiting at the door. “Sorry, bud, you can’t go,” Harry said.

  Cyrus backed up a step and showed his teeth, and magnificent teeth they were. Harry held up his hands, palms outward. “Um . . . obviously, I misspoke. Cyrus?” He started to explain as though he were explaining the situation to his daughter, Lily
. Cyrus ignored him and simply waited for Harry to finally give up and open the door.

  “Since Cyrus is coming, we need to go in your car, Jack. Where are the keys?” Jack handed them over.

  * * *

  Thirty minutes later, Jack, Harry, and Cyrus exited the elevator on the eighth floor, where Dr. Bruno Sabatini was waiting for them. “What took you so long?” He grinned. He eyed the massive dog and took a step back.

  “He’s a good guy, Cyrus. Stay with Harry. That’s an order,” Jack mumbled. He turned to Dr. Sabatini. “You hurt me, and you’re toast.”

  Bruno Sabatini clapped his hands gleefully. “Let’s get to it then.”

  Cyrus sat in the open doorway. He never once took his eyes off the dentist and what he was doing to his master, to the dentist’s chagrin.

  Ninety minutes later, Jack sat up, woozy but still with it. He wobbled out to the waiting room, Cyrus at his side. To his dismay, he had to lean on Harry. He waved airily as Harry escorted him out to the elevator. The dentist ran after them, a pill bottle in hand.

  “Tell him to take one every twelve hours and to finish the bottle. He’s groggy right now, and he should sleep around the clock. I want to see him a week from today. Any problems, call me either here or at home. Even if it’s the middle of the night. Jack has both numbers.”

  “How you doing, hot shot?” Harry asked, as the elevator door slid shut.

  “I’ve been better. Like I’m really going to sleep around the clock.” Harry grinned, and Cyrus barked. They piled into the car, Jack in the back, Cyrus in the front passenger seat. Jack was asleep the minute he buckled up. Cyrus barked his approval.

  * * *

  Back at the BOLO Building, Harry called Ted to come and help get Jack inside. He was deadweight, and the two men actually had to carry him. A debate followed as to where to put him. Maggie made the final decision to put blankets down on the floor so the cots could be saved for the children. “He’ll be fine,” was her final assessment when she covered Jack with a light blanket. Cyrus took up his position near the door.

  Back in the conference room, Abner was reading off his computer. “Here’s the thing, guys. I learned a lot at the CIA. The main thing is everyone has an alias. For security purposes, of course. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say if the kids’ parents work for some top secret government agency, they probably use aliases. Meaning Bannon probably is not their legal name. Going with first names, Sweetie Pie and Hunk of Love is not going to help us track them down.”

  Ted raised his hand as if he were in the third grade. “Can’t you and your . . . ah . . . club hack into the records? What about that guy Phil something or other? We’re going to need real names.”

  Abner pretended to pout. He responded as though Ted really were in the third grade. “Well, of course I can, Teddie. And I don’t need any help. I can do it on my own; it’s just going to take some time to figure out which agency the parents work for so I can hit the right database. This is the government we’re dealing with, so bear that in mind.”

  Properly chastised, Ted returned to his laptop.

  “I think we should pack up and head out to the farm. Our quarters here are too cramped, and we’re going to need all the equipment we have at our disposal in the war room. This place is good for conferences, quick meetings, and the like,” Charles said.

  “What about the kids?” Dennis asked.

  “They’ll be safer at the farm and have actual beds to sleep in, plus all the dogs to keep them busy. And we can cook nourishing food for them as opposed to takeout and having them eat on the fly,” Charles responded.

  The group batted Charles’s idea around for a few moments before they finally decided it was the way to go.

  * * *

  It took a half hour before everyone was settled as comfortably as possible in the parade of vehicles that would travel to the farm. Maggie was right—the kids were sound asleep and had to be carried to the cars. It took Ted and Espinosa both to drag Jack to his own car, with Cyrus’s hot breath on them every step of the way. Cooper eyed these goings-on before he marched over to Maggie’s car, where the children slept in the backseat. He pawed the passenger door until it opened, then settled himself for the ride to the farm.

  “Guess that settles who is going to ride with me,” Maggie mumbled under her breath.

  The normal sixty-minute commute to Pinewood took a full ninety minutes, given the heavy rain that started to fall before the caravan made it to the interstate. Another hour was used up settling the kids in beds, with Cooper standing guard.

  Ted and Espinosa huffed and puffed as they literally dragged Jack as far as the family room and somehow got him settled on the couch. He never opened his eyes. Cyrus took up his position in front of the sofa. He looked up at the wheezing duo, yipped as if to say, “I have it covered, you can go now.”

  “Damn, that guy weighs more than I thought. And he didn’t even bat an eye—he’s out cold,” Ted said.

  “Wait till he wakes up here and wonders how he got here. They must have given him some kind of super-duper deluxe painkillers to knock him out like that. Even when he wakes up, he’s going to be out of it for a day or so,” Espinosa said.

  “Come on, the gang is waiting for us. We need to get moving. I sure could use a good cup of coffee right now. How about you, Espinosa?”

  “I smell it brewing, so that has to mean everyone is in the kitchen. They’re waiting for us. I hope we can help those kids. It must be awful for them that they don’t know where their parents are. They’ve been through a lot, and now, when they wake up, it’s a whole other ball game. I’m not sure I could ever be a parent. I don’t know how my parents raised eleven of us kids. What about you, Ted? Could you handle parenthood?” Espinosa asked fretfully.

  “I don’t know. I think if you have the right partner, and you’re both on the same parenting page, it’s possible. I’d probably be one of those helicopter parents who hover over the kids twenty-four/seven. You know, eyes glued to them every minute. But that’s not good. Why are we talking about this? We don’t have kids, and it doesn’t look as if there are any in either of our immediate futures.”

  “Everything okay?” Charles asked. “Grab your coffee, boys, and let’s get to work. I think with all the dogs here, especially Cyrus and Cooper, it’s safe to go down to the war room and commence work. Lady will stand guard with her pups here in the kitchen.”

  Chairs scraped back, and laptops snapped shut as the parade moved forward. Charles was the last in line because he had treats to hand out. A treat for doing nothing was something Lady took seriously. It meant she was in charge of her unruly brood and the house they all lived in.

  As always, the minute the lights came on in the war room, so did the free-hanging monster TV showing Lady Justice in all her glory. The team saluted, then took their seats at the special table while Charles and Fergus moved to the dais and the banks of computers that would have rivaled those at NASA.

  The gang chattered, their voices low so as not to disturb Charles and Fergus.

  “Have you come up with anything yet, Abner?” Maggie asked.

  Deep into what he was doing, Abner shook his head.

  “I think Espinosa and I should go check out the Bannon house,” said Ted. “Joe can take pictures of everything. We can show them to the kids to see their reaction. As we all know, no one is perfect. We might pick up some clues. If nothing else, their backgrounds.”

  “I can take on Aunt Betty. Older people like me for some reason, and I have a rapport with them,” Dennis said. “There can’t be that many senior housing compounds within a fifteen-minute radius of the Bannon household.”

  “What about me?” Maggie snapped. “Don’t think for one minute that I’m doing babysitting duty. Charles and Fergus can do that. I’m going with Ted and Espinosa. Besides, we’re a team.”

  And that was the end of that.

  “I don’t know if this is a good idea or not,” Harry said, “but I can call some of t
he law-enforcement agencies that train with me. They like to talk. Brag, actually. Just last month, I took on a special rush class of three guys from Homeland Security. It was some kind of special hush-hush assignment that they couldn’t talk about but did anyway. Jack and I know this one guy at the DEA who’s pretty far up the totem pole. He likes to show off how important he is. He might have some intel he can share. For a price. Meaning dinner and really good wine. That kind of thing. Jack and I both know scores of agents at the CIA and FBI. I’ll throw out some bait and see what happens. When Jack comes back to the land of the living, he can dig right in.”

  “There’s always Jack Sparrow,” Fergus said, taking his place at the table, his arms full of printouts. “Just think about the man’s Rolodex! He was director of the FBI for a good many years. He also knows where all the bodies are buried.”

  “I just sent him a text,” Charles said, taking his place at the table. “Now, boys and one girl, tell me what you all came up with while I was printing out the materials here in my hand. One at a time, please.”

  “It’s a little late in the day to head on out,” said Joe. “I’m all for going home and starting out fresh in the morning. I’ll see what if anything I can dig up this evening and apprise you early tomorrow. I did a Google Map house search, and it appears the Bannons live or lived in a very nice residential neighborhood. The big question is will the neighbors be watching three strangers break into a house and not do anything?”

  “What about the kids’ school?” Ted asked. “I can’t find a trace anywhere of any missing children within a fifty-mile radius of the kids’ home. I’m working on day-care centers now for the little guy. So far nothing. I’m all for heading home and starting fresh in the morning.”

  Dennis agreed.

  “I should go home to do some rescheduling. Choa can handle my classes tomorrow, and I can come back out and get Jack up and running. That leaves Abner here with you and Fergus,” Harry said, addressing Charles. “I think you guys are in good hands with seven dogs here to watch over things.”