Identity Unknown

by Terri Reed

  As Mederos was escorted from the courtroom, he’d looked right at her, winked and smiled. The memory sent a chill racing through her body. She’d convicted hardened criminals before as the county district attorney, but this one was different. In his black eyes, she’d seen pure evil lurking behind the swagger he presented to the world. Finally, an angry father had come forward to testify against the man who ran a biker gang and murdered the witness’s only son.

  Her hands ached from gripping the steering wheel so hard. She pried them away and rubbed them together. When she’d become the DA six years ago, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t bring home her cases and ruin her time with her daughter, Michelle. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard and quickly gathered her briefcase and purse, then exited her car.

  She was later than she thought and hoped as pre-arranged when she was running behind that Michelle had caught a ride with her best friend, Emma, to the junior varsity’s basketball game at the high school gym.

  At fourteen, Michelle’s world revolved around boys and playing basketball. It was times like this that Tory really missed her husband, Derek, who died two years ago. He was the one who’d gotten Michelle interested in basketball. After he’d come home from work, they used to play together most evenings. Her daughter adored her father. His death had been so hard on both of them. But especially Michelle.

  Tory unlocked the garage door and hurried into the kitchen. In case Michelle hadn’t gotten a ride, Tory shouted, “Michelle, are you here?”

  Silence greeted Tory. Relieved she had time to change out of her suit and high heels before going to the game, she scanned the kitchen and saw evidence—a plate and glass by the sink—that her daughter had come home after school as she usually did every day, especially on game night, and had called Emma down the street when Tory wasn’t home by the designated time. As a working mom, Tory was thankful for Emma and her mother being able to help her out occasionally.

  Tory set her briefcase and handbag on the counter, then walked through the dining room and living room to the entry hall where she gathered the mail Michelle had put on the table near the front door. Heading down the hallway to the bedrooms, Tory flipped through the mail. Nothing important. She looked forward to relaxing and watching Michelle play basketball.

  Tory opened the first bill and reviewed the credit-card expenses. The sound of the shower running caused her to pause at the bathroom. Michelle was still here? She’d be late. Her daughter was the one who always kept Tory punctual.

  Tory knocked once, then hurried inside.

  Came to a dead stop.

  Shards of the large mirror over the counter crunched beneath her shoes.

  But what caught her full attention was the blood all over the sink and ceramic top. Bile rose into her throat. She put her palm over her mouth and turned away.

  “Michelle, what...” Heartbeat racing, Tory yanked the shower curtain back.

  Water pounded against the tub and swirled down the drain.

  No Michelle.

  Tory ran into the hall. Bright red drops trailed on the floor all the way to Michelle’s closed bedroom door. Tory charged forward and gripped the handle, then burst inside her daughter’s room.

  It was chaos. The clothes from Michelle’s closet were flung all over the room along with the contents of every drawer in her dresser and desk. Her basketball trophies, photos and books were swept off the bookshelves. Then Tory’s gaze fell upon a skull and crossbones painted in red on the wall over her daughter’s bed. Fear flashed down her spine.

  Get out! screamed through her mind. As she spun around, her heart thumping against her rib cage, her gaze fell on the window, the lower glass pane shattered. Tory raced into the hallway while fumbling for her phone in her jacket pocket. She made a call to Michelle, but it went to voice mail. She really wanted to believe that her daughter was probably fine and on the basketball court, her cell phone left in her locker in the girls’ dressing room. She tried Emma’s mom’s number, but it went to voice mail too. Tory didn’t have a good feeling about this.

  The image of Mederos with the skull and crossbones symbol tattooed on his arm as he strutted from the courtroom entered her mind again. He was behind this. He had to be.

  As she rushed into the kitchen, grabbed her purse and headed for her car, she called the police chief, Paul Drake. When he answered, she slid behind the steering wheel and started her SUV.

  “Paul, someone has broken into my house—” she took a gulp of air “—and trashed my daughter’s bedroom. The bathroom... There’s blood everywhere.” She tried to shake the image from her mind. She couldn’t.

  “Tory, where are you now?”

  “I can’t get hold of Michelle. There’s a skull and crossbones on the wall in her bedroom. That’s Mederos’s gang symbol,” she rambled while she drove as fast as she could.

  Tory saw the stop sign too late and slammed on her brakes as a driver at the intersection pulled out to cross. She jerked the steering wheel to avoid the vehicle and sent her Chevy into a spin.

  “Where are you?” Paul asked in a firm, no-nonsense voice.

  “I...” Tory tried to control her panic. All she could hear was the thunder of her heartbeat in her ears.

  “Tory! What happened?”

  Pull it together. “I almost had a wreck.” She backed up and turned her car in the right direction, her sweaty palms slipping on the steering wheel. “I tried calling Michelle. She didn’t answer. I’m going to the high school gym and praying Michelle wasn’t at the house when someone came in.” Praying she isn’t kidnapped or worse. She banned that last thought from her mind.

  “I’ll send some officers to your house. I’ll meet you at the gym.”

  “Hurry.” Mederos has retaliated before against family members of people who have opposed him.

  But she didn’t say that out loud. Going after her or her family members wouldn’t really help Mederos’s case. There was always another prosecutor who could take over. It made more sense that Mederos would put his effort into intimidating the star witness, but then she had the father in hiding and guarded. Few people knew where—except her and the US Marshals.

  Would Mederos have her daughter kidnapped to find where the star witness was kept? The image of the skull and crossbones over Michelle’s bed mocked that question. Mederos would do whatever he pleased.

  Tory sped up, praying to God to keep her daughter protected. She didn’t know what she would do if she lost another loved one, especially her daughter.

  * * *

  As Cade Morgan drove toward his family ranch on the outskirts of El Rio, Texas, he realized it was later than he’d thought. He had only fifteen or twenty minutes to grab something to eat, check on his dog to see if she’d given birth yet and then head back to the high school gym for the basketball game. This would be the first time he’d see Michelle playing on the Mustang High School girls’ freshman and sophomore team. Seeing his daughter was the reason he’d taken the job in El Rio, covering this part of the state as a Texas Ranger.

  He couldn’t be part of her life openly, and years ago he’d accepted that, but he still wanted to be involved with her as much as he could be. He needed to talk to Tory, his high school sweetheart, about what that could possibly be. He’d been back home for only three weeks, and in that time he’d been helping the police chief and sheriff to strengthen the case against Mederos that had gone to trial a couple of days ago.

  If he was honest with himself, he’d been putting off talking with Tory. When the Texas Ranger position came up, he’d wondered if it had been a sign from God that it was time for him to return home to live after seventeen years.

  As he turned onto the highway that led out of town, his cell phone rang. “What’s up, Paul?” The police chief in El Rio, a town with a population of twenty thousand and the county seat, had been a good friend
when Cade grew up here. It had been nice renewing that friendship.

  “I’ve sent two officers to Tory Carson’s house. She just called. Someone broke into her house and trashed her daughter’s bedroom. One of the windows was broken. She said blood is everywhere.”

  Michelle’s room! Cade made a quick U-turn and headed back into town. “Where’s her daughter?”

  “Tory is hoping at the basketball game. She’s heading to the high school gym to see.”

  “I’m already heading that way. It shouldn’t take me long.”

  “I’ll meet you at the gym. If you find Michelle before I get there, call me and I’ll go help the police officer secure the crime scene.”

  When Cade disconnected the call, he pressed his foot on the gas pedal. Is my daughter missing? The question froze him to his core. Criminals like Mederos would stop at nothing to walk away from his trial without a conviction.

  Ten minutes later he raced into the high school lobby to find Tory rushing to a set of double doors that led into the gym, her mouth set in a firm, determined line. Her gaze locked with his right before she slipped inside.

  Cade hurried his pace, entering the gym seconds behind her. He caught up with her and halted her progress. “Where’s Michelle?”

  She yanked her arm from his grip. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a quiet but furious voice.

  “Paul called me to help.”

  Her eyes swept around the gym and scanned the floor where the game took place. “Just stay out of my way.”

  Several people glanced at them. Cade buttoned his tan suit jacket so his gun or his badge didn’t show and moved up behind her, searching for Michelle over Tory’s shoulder. “I don’t see her playing,” he whispered, realizing they were already making a scene.

  “Or sitting with her team.” Tory shoved her way through the spectators until she broke free of the crowd around the doors and quickened her steps toward the team members and coaches on the sidelines.

  Then two players on the opposing team parted and revealed Michelle out of bounds, throwing the ball into play.

  His daughter was safe. Some of his tension flowed out of him.

  Tory kept going while his daughter ran toward her team’s basket. A Mustang player passed the ball back to Michelle. Cade wanted to watch, but he needed to catch up with Tory while he called Paul and let him know that Michelle was safe.

  Tory stopped at the edge of the home team’s bench. Sounds of cheers erupted around Cade, and he looked out onto the court. Michelle had scored. It had been years since he’d been in this gym. He’d been looking forward to seeing her play tonight. But the moment he’d been looking forward to was now tainted with a threat to Michelle because of Tory’s job.

  “I wish they would take a break. Michelle would never forgive me if I ran onto the court and snatched her off it.” Tory stood rigid next to Cade, her arms folded over her chest, while following her daughter’s every move. Tension poured off her, her teeth digging into her bottom lip.

  A minute later, the fans jumped to their feet, yelling, “Go Mustangs.” Forgetting for a few seconds why he was here with Tory beside him, Cade added his encouragement. A girl threw the ball to Michelle who had a better position to take the shot, and she tossed the ball into the air.

  The swish as it passed through the net set the crowd off again, and Cade cheered, grinning as though he’d made the shot. “That’s the way to play.”

  Tory threw him a piercing look. Cade sobered.

  The visiting coach called a time-out.

  “Finally.” Tory charged toward the head coach as the players came off the court.

  Cade followed.

  “Coach Bates,” Tory called out.

  The balding man glanced in her direction, his forehead wrinkled. He took several steps to Tory. “Is there something wrong, Mrs. Carson?”

  “I need to take Michelle out of the game,” Tory said while Cade scanned the crowd for any threat, many fans watching what was happening between the coach and Tory. “There’s been a threat.”

  “Against the team?”

  “No, my daughter. She’s in danger.” Tory finally pointed to Cade. “This is Ranger Cade Morgan. He’s here to escort her from the gym.”

  Cade spied Michelle marching over to them, her cheeks red, her blue eyes so like his own, darkening with questions. He touched Tory’s elbow and nodded toward Michelle a few feet away.

  “What’s wrong, Mom?”

  “You need to leave with me now. I’ll explain everything outside.”

  “But I can’t. The game just started. We barely have the lead.”

  “Sorry. This isn’t up for debate.” Tory grasped Michelle’s hand, then looked at the crowd still bunched around the exit.

  Cade stepped forward. “We’ll use the back door.” Then to the coach, he asked, “Is it still locked from the outside, but we can leave through it?”

  The man nodded, still bewildered.

  “Let’s go.” Cade took up the rear while indicating the exit at the far end of the gym where fewer people stood. “Wait at the door.”

  Cade continued to assess his surroundings. The man Tory was prosecuting right now was ruthless. But he wouldn’t let his daughter—or Tory—be Mederos’s victim. Tory paused at the doors leading into the back hallway where the weight room and a smaller gym were located. Michelle stopped and turned to watch the game.

  Seeing the two together was like staring at a younger version of Tory, except for Michelle’s blue eyes. Both had long, curly blond hair, a thin build and an oval face with a sprinkle of freckles across their pert noses.

  “Let me check the hall first.” He went through the double doors first, inspecting the corridor on both sides. Empty. “Okay, let’s hurry.”

  Cade trailed right behind Tory and Michelle, frequently glancing behind him. When they reached the rear exit, Cade went out first, checking the area. Now all they had to do was round the building and make it to his SUV in the parking lot.

  He gestured in the direction they should go, his grasp on his gun. Tory grabbed Michelle’s hand and headed to the left side of the gym.

  A few feet from the corner, Michelle halted and tugged her hand free. “What’s going on? You’re scaring me.” She looked over her shoulder at Cade. “Who are you?”

  He pulled his jacket open. “I’m Cade Morgan and you two are in danger. I’m here to take you to your house for Chief Drake.” He wanted to say so much more. But there was no time for that right now.

  Michelle’s eyes widened. “Mom, is that true?”

  Tory flashed him a penetrating look, meant to stop him from saying anything else. “Yes. We had a break-in at the house.”

  But Cade would say or do whatever was needed to keep them safe. He stepped around the pair and peered around the corner. “It’s clear. My SUV is on this side of the parking lot. We’ll head for it.”

  The exit door they used opened. Cade ushered the two around to the side of the building before anyone saw them. He peeked at whoever was coming outside. Three teenage boys, dressed in sweats, left the rear of the gym. They didn’t appear to be members of the biker gang.

  He quickly covered the short distance between himself and Michelle and Tory.

  “Why can’t we drive home in our car?” Tory asked as she halted at the front side.

  “Because it’s been sitting out in the parking lot for the whole town to see and have access to.”

  “So is yours.”

  “But I’m not the one they’re after.”

  The color drained from Tory’s face.

  “Who are they?” Michelle plastered herself against the brick building, distress taking over her expression. “Mom?” She glanced between him and Tory.

  “I’ll tell you later. We need to do what Cade says. He
was your dad’s best friend in high school. He has our best interest at heart.”

  “But why would—”

  The sound of motorcycles roared through the air, coming nearer as riders entered the school parking lot, all wearing the skull and crossbones emblem on their jackets.

  Trapped.

  Copyright © 2016 by Margaret Daley

  ISBN-13: 9781488008702

  Identity Unknown

  Copyright © 2016 by Terri Reed

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