True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1)

by A. J. Carella

  The farmhouse sat on several acres of land which must at some point have been filled with crops. Several years of neglect meant that all that surrounded the farmhouse now were acres of dust.

  This wasn’t good from the SWAT team’s point of view as it meant that their chances of a fully covert approach were low. But it also meant was good Elliott could get a full view of events as they unfolded from his position parked a short distance away.

  “Go!” The shout on the radio signalled that the team was about to go in and they all watched as the black-clad swat team entered the building.

  Elliot’s knuckles were white as he held the radio in his hand, staring at it, willing someone to let them know what was happening. Finally the silence was broken as a voice broke the static. “Clear!”

  “What does that mean?” Michael immediately asked.

  “It means that now it’s our turn to go inside.” Elliot slipped the radio into his jacket pocket and got out of the car. Leaning back through the open window he addressed Michael and his father. “Stay here. Do not move from this car until I come and tell you otherwise do you understand me?” They both nodded that they did, though he could see they were itching to get out.

  Lexi had also got out of the car and he walked over to where she now stood talking to Jenkins.

  “Any sign of him?”

  “No.” Jenkins shook his head. “They’ve cleared the whole house and it’s empty. There are signs that someone had been here recently though.”

  “Dammit! I was so sure he’d be here.”

  “No sign of the women either?” Lexi asked.

  “No. Looks like it’s a bust.” Jenkins sighed. They’re going back through again now just to make sure they didn’t—”

  “We need medics here now!” Jenkins was interrupted by a sudden shout on the radio.

  They had an ambulance on standby and a flurry of activity ensued as two paramedics raced towards the farmhouse. Not waiting for an invitation, Elliot and Lexi took off over the dusty ground close on their heels.

  Inside the house one of the SWAT officers pointed them towards the basement. Following the paramedics down the stairs they saw what had clearly been a hidden door through which another member of the SWAT team was pointing.

  “In there.” His faced looked pale white against his uniform and Elliot wasn’t sure if it was the light from the single bulb or something else. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he muttered as Elliot and Lexi brushed past him and into the tunnel.

  Just inside, the SWAT team commander was directing the medics through a door that led off the tunnel.

  “What have we got?” Elliot asked as he watched them disappear from sight.

  “One of the officers noticed the door on the second sweep of the basement and found this,” he replied. “The tunnel seems to go on forever. We opened the first four doors and found women in each room.” He shook his head as he looked at them. “It’s bad. I’ve got officers further down the tunnel checking for more but it looks like someone was keeping them here as slaves.”

  Elliot wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to his next question. “Alive?”

  The officer nodded. “Yes, the ones we’ve found. If you can call it that.”

  Just then another officer trotted towards them from further down the corridor. “I’ve got six more down there boss. All alive we think, but in bad shape.”

  “That brings the total to 10.” The commander turned to Elliot. “You need to get some more medics down here.”

  Elliot nodded and pulled the radio from his pocket but the commander shook his head. “They’re not working down here; you’ll have to go back up to the basement.”

  Elliot handed the radio to Lexi. “You go and update the boss and get some more medics on the way.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to see if I can find Jennifer. Michael is upstairs waiting for news and I’ve got a feeling if he doesn’t get some soon, he’ll be coming down here himself.”

  Lexi nodded, took the radio and left.

  He’d seen photos so he knew who he was looking for as he looked inside the first room. He’d thought he’d seen everything during his career but he wasn’t prepared for the sight that met his eyes.

  The woman being tended to by the medics had clearly been badly beaten recently and someone had attempted to treat her wounds themselves rather than get her medical attention. Her face was swollen beyond recognition and the gauze that had been placed on the open cuts on her face had done nothing to prevent the spread of infection.

  “She’s lucky she hasn’t died from blood poisoning from the state of these wounds,” the medic looked up from where he was treating her. “Who would do something like this?” Elliot had no doubt he was used to seeing terrible things but it was unlikely he’d ever seen anything quite like this.

  He put a hand on his shoulder. “Just do what you can, we’ve got more help coming.”

  The medic nodded and turned back to his patient.

  Despite being unrecognisable, he knew the woman wasn’t Jennifer. She had dark hair and the woman being treated was a redhead so he made his way out of the room towards the next door along the corridor.

  ***

  He’d checked all the rooms except the last one and he was losing hope that he would find her. Already he was rehearsing in his mind what he was going to say to Michael when he had to tell him that his wife wasn’t there.

  But he didn’t have to. As he pushed open the last door, the lock already smashed by the SWAT team, he found her. She was on the floor with her back against the wall, holding onto a woman who was lying across her lap.

  “You’re too late,” she looked at him as he walked in. Her face was streaked where her tears had run through the dirt that covered it, but he was relieved to see that she looked uninjured.

  “Is she ...”

  She nodded. “Yes, last night.” She sniffed. “They came for her. There was more than one of them, I could hear them laughing above her screams. It went on for hours.”

  She started crying again, shaking uncontrollably. “By the time they brought her back, she was unconscious.” She looked down at the woman’s body and gently pushed a strand of hair off her face. “She never woke up.”

  “I’m so sorry, Jennifer.” Elliot crouched down in front of her.

  She looked at him, surprised. “You know my name?”

  He nodded. “Yes, it’s thanks to your sister and your husband that we started looking for you and found out about this place.” He smiled. “He’s waiting for you upstairs.”

  She shook her head and frowned, her arms tightening around the woman’s body. “No, I can’t leave her here. Not all alone.”

  “No,” he said gently. “I understand. I’ll get someone to come and sit with her.” He had to swallow a lump in his throat. “She won’t be alone. Would that be okay?”

  She nodded.

  Standing up he went to the door and gestured to one of the officers. “Come and sit with this lady until help comes, please.” He gestured at Savannah’s body.

  “But she’s—” he started.

  “Just do it, Officer.” His tone was firm.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Elliot watched as he gently lifted Savannah’s body from Jennifer’s arms before he put his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room.

  ***

  He didn’t know how much longer he could take it. “They’ve been in there for ages, I’m going to go and see what’s going on,” Michael told Patrick. He reached for the door handle.

  “Michael, no. We’ve been told to wait here.” Patrick put a hand on his arm, stopping him. “They’ll come and tell us when there’s any news. If you go out there now you’ll only get in their way.”

  Michael slumped back into the seat. He was right but the waiting was killing him. He’d allowed himself to believe that they would find Jennifer, and find her alive. Now, though, the reality that they might not find her, or not
find her alive, was starting to sink in and he couldn’t bear it.

  “Why would he do this?” he looked at his father. “This can’t be a coincidence can it? My brother the serial killer just happens to come after my wife?”

  Patrick shook his head. “No, not a chance. This was deliberate. As to why? I have no idea.”

  Michael wasn’t listening though. He hadn’t taken his eyes of the farmhouse since Elliot and Lexi had gone inside and he’d watched, terrified, as more medics had arrived and gone into the house. Now he saw Elliot step out with his arms around the shoulders of a woman. He recognized her instantly and with his heart threatening to explode out of his chest he stumbled out of the car. Regaining his footing he ran towards her calling out her name.

  “Thank you, God, thank you,” he sobbed when he got close enough to pull her into his arms. “Jennifer, thank God you’re okay.” The words muffled as he buried his face in her hair.

  “Michael,” she sobbed into his chest. “I never thought I’d see you again.”

  “She’ll need to get checked over by a medic.” Elliot waved one of the newly arrived paramedics over. “But she looks okay.” He smiled at them.

  “Thank you,” Mike mouthed at him over Jennifer’s shoulder.

  Thirty-Six

  The flight to Mexico was the first one that he’d been able to catch that would take him outside the U.S. From there, he would fly to South America. He’d had his escape route planned for years, ever since he’d first started the group and had known that the day would come when he’d have to use it.

  He frowned. It had all worked perfectly but it had happened too soon. He’d wanted Michael’s wife to suffer before she died. All he could hope for was that they never found the farm or that by the time they did, it would be too late. He gave no thought to the other women, they weren’t important.

  Getting his briefcase down from the overhead bin he pulled out the buff envelope that he’d been given by his clerk first thing that morning. He hadn’t yet had a chance to check the contents but now that the flight had taken off he was able to relax a bit.

  There was a single sheet of paper inside. Daniel read the contents, the blood draining from his face. Father dearest.

  He’d never known anything about his father. There had been nothing in the box given to him by the children’s home and his initial surveillance and investigation into Mike had not indicated that he knew him either. A few days ago he had met a man for coffee that his investigators hadn’t seen before and he’d seen him a couple of times since. He’d told them to find out who he was and report back. That report was now in his hand.

  So, I do have a father after all. His jaw clenched.

  He’d been surprised by his own reaction when he’d first been given the letter from his mother. There had been no desire to go and find her, no tug at the heart strings. Instead he felt an immediate anger both towards her, for not keeping him, and towards his twin. His brother was the one that had been kept, that had been loved. Not him. He was the one that got discarded. He hadn’t had the birthdays and Christmases with a mom or someone to care about him when he was sick.

  He was too damaged by that point to think about it rationally, to see that his brother was innocent and could have done nothing to change things. All he saw was this person, this double of himself, who got everything that he should have had. He decided then and there, on the steps of the children’s home, that he would balance the scales.

  He found his mother years ago and over the years had kept tabs on her and Mike. Through the investigator he hired he had regular updates and photographs and never once in all that time had the desire to make contact with her surfaced. Despite that though, there had been something that had stopped him taking his revenge on her. He would never admit to himself that it was love. How could he possibly love someone who had thrown him aside? But whatever it was, he had been unable to act until she passed away.

  When he learned of her death the smouldering anger inside him toward his brother had intensified. It was time.

  “Sir?”

  He’d been staring out of the window at the clouds and hadn’t realized that the stewardess was trying to get his attention.

  “Sir, can I get you anything?” She was looking at the crumpled up paper in his clenched fist and he realized he must have looked angry. Relaxing his hand, he smiled.

  “No, thank you.” He looked down at the ball of paper. “Nervous flyer,” he said by way of explanation.

  “Well, if you need anything, just press the call button.”

  “I will. Thank you.” He turned back to the window as she moved off.

  His demons would never allow him to stop so he’d planned on starting all over again in South America. Some of the other members of the group would still be able to attend, though not as regularly, and he knew there was no shortage of people like him. They were everywhere. He’d been meticulous, leaving nothing behind that would lead them to him and he’d never planned on returning. The note changed things, though; it wasn’t part of the plan.

  Daddy, I can’t just let you go unpunished now, can I?

  Thirty-Seven

  Elliot sighed as he looked at the paperwork on his desk. Looks like I’ll be here for a while. He was leaving for Boston in the morning and he hadn’t even started packing yet.

  It had been several days since the dramatic rescue and the investigation was far from over. All the girls had been interviewed at length as they tried to find out as much as they could about the mysterious ‘Kings’.

  From what they’d been able to glean, it appeared that the ‘Kings’ were Daniel’s brainchild. They were a group of prominent men who knew that they needed to feed their urges, but by doing so they were putting themselves at risk. By carrying out their sick games under controlled circumstances they had greatly reduced their risk of getting caught. All the women had told of other women before them, women who weren’t lucky enough to get out alive and who, once they’d served their usefulness, had been used as bodies in the wrecks to fool the authorities.

  Savannah, the women who had been found in the cell with Jennifer, had been Longley’s sister. She’d been there for three years to ensure her brother’s cooperation and if they had just been able to get there a bit sooner, she might have been saved.

  Unfortunately, they had not been able to recover anything that gave a clue to the men’s identities. They were meticulous in not leaving any paperwork behind, and they nearly always wore masks while they were abusing the women.

  “Do you think we’ll ever get him?” Elliot looked up as Lexi appeared with a cup of coffee and placed it on his desk.

  “I don’t know.” Interpol had been alerted but so far there had been no reported sightings of Daniel. “I hope so. He deserves the death penalty for what he put those women through.”

  “I spoke to Sarah earlier, I’ve arranged for Alex to drop her laptop round to her.” She took a sip of her own coffee. “She says that Jennifer is doing much better.”

  Elliot smiled, pleased. “That’s great news.”

  “So, are you going to tell me what’s really happening in Boston?”

  “I told you, I need to go and testify at a trial.”

  “I know, but there’s more to it, isn’t there?” she pressed.

  Elliot sighed. “Yes, okay there is, but not now, Lexi. I’ve got a ton of paperwork to do before I leave tomorrow.”

  “When you get back then?”

  “Yes. I promise.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.”

  He turned back to his paperwork as Lexi wandered off but he couldn’t concentrate. His mind was on Boston and what awaited him there.

  Thirty-Eight

  It felt strange to be going back to Boston after all these months. He’d never thought he’d be able to call somewhere else home but at some point over the past few months he’d stopped thinking of Boston as home. He could feel himself tensing up as soon as he stepped off the plane. All the things that had happene
d to him here, all the pain he had suffered, seemed to be brought into much sharper focus.

  He only had a carry-on so he was able to quickly clear security and was surprised when he heard someone call his name. Looking up, he saw Frank grinning at him and waving at him.

  “Frank, I didn’t expect to see you.” He grinned as he shook hands with his old boss.

  “Hey, I needed to get out of the office. That new guy I was telling you about is driving me towards an early grave,” he grimaced.

  Elliot walked beside him as he turned and walked towards the exit. “He can’t be that bad.” Frank was the best boss he’d ever worked for but he knew it took a while for him to get to know you, and trust you. Until he did, he acted like you could do nothing right. He was sure the new guy was fine, Frank just hadn’t gotten used to him yet.

  “Well, he’s not you, that’s for sure,” he patted him on the shoulder.

  “Thanks, Boss.”

  “I got your email. Patti won’t hear of you staying in a hotel, you’re coming home with me.”

  He’d booked a hotel near the courthouse as he didn’t want to have to travel too far every day. “I can’t put you out like that Frank.”

  “You’re not and unless you want to put me in the doghouse with Patti, you won’t argue about it.”

  “In that case, I won’t. Thank you.”

  “No problem.” They arrived in the parking garage attached to the airport and found Frank’s car. “Give me your bag; I’ll put it in the trunk.”

  Elliot did as he was told and climbed into the passenger seat.

  “So, how are you feeling?” Frank asked once they’d left the airport and were on the highway.