He raises his head, looking straight at me, like he knows exactly where I am. He doesn't have to search the crowd like I did. I walk out the door to where they are standing in the yard.
“Sheriff, I assure you we will use every resource we have to find your daughter,” I address Ben when I reach them. I need to get to Cody and tell him what Tommy has found out. I look through the crowd and see him by the van on his cell.
“We have a lead,” I whisper in Justin's direction before I walk to Cody.
“Dad, I will keep you updated,” I hear Justin say as I walk away. “I'm going with you.” Justin catches up to me.
“Hey, so that was Tommy,” Cody says as I reach him. It is just reaching dawn and the sky is lightening.
“Yeah, he told me. Let's go, I don't want to waste any time.”
“We need to be smart about this. I'm sending Richards and Nelson to stake out the warehouse.”
“Fine, I'm going to the B&B.” I turn to head to the back of the van. Grabbing two bullet-proof vests, I hand one to Justin then put mine on. Pulling out a 9 mm and a holster, I also hand that to Justin.
“Whoa,” Cody says, grabbing my wrist as I head for a black SUV. "What is your plan?”
“I'm going in there and kicking down the door...”
“Ellie, going off half-cocked like this could get Suzy killed,” Justin says as non-confronting as he can.
“He's right, Ellie,” Cody nods. “We're going in, but just need a plan. We have no idea what we are walking into.”
“Fine.” I give up easier than I normally would because what would be the point in fighting Justin and Cody.
“I'm waiting on a call from Carl.” Cody checks his phone. “I don't know why he hasn't called me back.”
“Richards,” Cody yells at Agent Larry Richards who is walking toward the van. “You have strict orders to stay out of sight. Also, do not engage without back-up if something happens.” Richards nods that he understands.
Everything goes silent and we turn to see what is going on. The coroner is rolling Lyle out. CSI has arrived and has taken over the cabin. I already know they aren't going to find anything that is going to lead us to Suzy.
“How did they find this place?” Richards asks after Lyle is in the ambulance.
“Tommy said it was on Suzy's tax returns, that she had it listed as property owned,” Cody answers.
“Wait...she did?” Justin speaks up, shocked by news. “She wouldn't, this is my property, and the title is still in my grandfather's name.”
“That's what Tommy said.” Cody shrugs. Justin is more than bothered by this information.
“I never would have brought her here if I knew that,” Justin says softly to himself. “Why would she do that? It doesn't make sense. It would have been capital gains for her. She would have had to pay taxes on it.” It's like the lines are getting more and more blurred.
“Just another unexplained, Bennett...” Denny shows up smarting off, but stops when he gets all eyes on him.
“Denny, you stay back and help set up at the Sheriff's station. Sheriff Bennett said we can have access to whatever we need,” Cody instructs, and Denny does not look pleased.
“Whatever.” He throws up his hand and walks away.
Chapter 44
Justin
Ellie is chomping at the bit as we wait for instruction from the Deputy Director. I'm trying to stay calm, but I really want to kick some ass right now. After an hour, the van has made it to the warehouse and has reported back that all is silent.
“Cody, let's go.” Ellie is headed toward the SUV. “We are not waiting all day for Carl to decide if it's important enough to call us.” Walking by me she stops and takes my hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. “We are going to get her back.” The look of determination in her eyes is inspiring. Anything my girl sets her mind to is going to happen.
“Fuck, she's right. We can't wait any longer,” Cody admits, getting into the driver side of the SUV. “You coming?” Cody yells.
“So what's the plan,” I ask after I get in. Cody speeds away from the cabin that I will probably never set foot in again.
“There is no plan, we are going in blind,” Cody answers, one hand on the steering wheel the other with his phone up to his ear. “Damn it, voicemail again. What the fuck, he knows how important this is.” Cody slams his phone down in the console.
“Cody, we can't just sit around. Every minute we wait the more likelihood whoever it is will be gone.”
“I know, that is why we are going. Call Tommy, tell him to find Carl and find out what the hell is going on over there.”
“Yes, sir,” Ellie responds to Cody's ordering.
“Sorry, just don't understand what is going on. This all seems so...” Cody stops, like he can't figure out what he is trying to say.
“Coincidental,” Ellie finishes his sentence. Cody is picking up on what Ellie and I are sensing.
“How come you came to Bailey Island?” I ask Ellie and she turns in her seat to see my face. “I mean, it's not like it's a hot tourist spot.”
She has a blank stare for a minute then turns to Cody. The look on her face is like she's seen a ghost.
“Carl,” she whispers. “My boss told me this was a great place.”
“Fuck!” Cody slams his palm on the steering wheel and the car grows silent. I reach my arm up between the door and the passenger seat placing my hand on Ellie's shoulder. I feel her hand touch mine.
We pull onto Orr's Bridge, still no one is saying anything. You can almost hear the wheels of everyone's brain working as we all think what could be happening.
I know what I'm thinking; that just like with LDR, Ellie is being used. I don't want to say it out loud just yet.
“Justin, you and Ellie take the front, I will go around back.” Cody delivers instructions which I agree with. There is no way in hell Ellie is getting out of my sight.
Cody pulls the SUV to a stop on the opposite side of the road and we all get out, not saying a word. Ellie and I wait, hidden from view by the SUV while Cody runs between the houses to the ocean side of the B&B. As soon as he is out of sight we move in, me in front of Ellie. Once we reach the door our guns are out, pointed to the ground.
I enter first, looking around. There is no one, and no sound. Esther doesn't seem to be here. Thank God for that, at least. I see movement coming from the back of the house and notice it is Cody. He is clearing the rooms on the main level. Ellie slides in next to me, heading for the stairs.
I grab her upper arm to slow her down, wanting to make sure the main floor is clear before we go up. She doesn't look happy as she whips around. I mouth to her to wait a minute.
“Clear,” Cody whispers joining us in the main room.
Chapter 45
Ellie
Cody, then I, and then Justin climb the wooden stairs of the B&B. Cody reaches the room I was staying in first and tries the knob. The door swings open and he races in, his gun shoulder level as he clears the room. Justin and I hang back waiting for Cody and he emerges nodding that the room is empty.
The room down and across the hall is the room Esther said the stranger was in. Cody tries the knob, but it is locked. He stands back, looking at us. No words are spoken, but Justin seems to know just what to do. They stand back, and at the same time their knees come up, kicking the door with the bottoms of their shoes. The door flies open and we all enter one by one, guns aimed.
There is a computer on the desk in the back of the room with three monitors set up. Two are the security feeds for the warehouse and one has a file opened. At the top of the screen is the monogram for the DOJ.
“The Department of Justice?” Justin questions, also noticing the monogram.
There is an email pulled up that is dated 2010. I sit in the chair in front of the desk, one hand over my mouth and my gun in the other hanging limp from my rubbery arm as I start to read the email.
March 4, 2010
Department of Justice
&
nbsp; Victor Allen
How is our asset on the ground?
March 4, 2010
Deputy Director Carl Parson
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Asset is in a dead spot. Need a female agent.
March 6, 2010
Department of Justice
Victor Allen
Assumed prefers dark hair, dark skin, petite. Please advise if there is an agent that fits this profile.
March 7, 2010
Deputy Director Carl Parson
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Special Agent Ellie Marks, lacking motivation. New information will be given soon.
March 7, 2010
Department of Justice
Victor Allen
Agent needs placed ASAP, your orders are to do whatever it takes.
This is the last of the emails in this file. I click out of it, my finger on the mouse searching other files. I see one that is marked Agent Marks. When I click on it, there are pictures, so many pictures. My parents' crime scene, me at their funeral. Some from afar, some close up. Flipping through the pictures, there are more and more. Even ones with me on the island. Me lying on the lounger on the deck of the B&B, me walking, Justin and I the day on the beach when he carried me into the water.
I turn in the chair, not able to view anymore and see the same looks of horror and shock on Justin and Cody's faces.
“Was I a fucking pawn?” I don't get any answer back because both boys standing in front of me drop to their knees. I don't have time to react when I feel the sharp sting hit my chest. All I see is a darkness moving in front of me before my world goes black.
Chapter 46
Justin
I awake like I just had the worst nightmare, but can't remember it. I try to move my arms, but I can't. Lifting my head, I am in a chair with my arms tied behind my back. The room is dark, but I can tell it's a very large room.
“Ellie!” I yell out my first instinct. I fight my restraints as my eyes adjust to the darkness. Next to me is another chair with someone passed out. Stretching my neck as far as I can, I see a smaller shape in a chair next to them. On my other side are two more chairs, all with other people in them. I can see well enough to know that they're all out, their heads down lying off to the sides, not moving.
The more I look the more my eyes focus. Next to me is a woman with blonde hair.
“Suzy,” I call out when I realize my sister is tied up next to me. She doesn't stir. I hear a loud moan coming from the seat to my right.
It's the moan of a man waking up. I can see well enough now, my eyes having adjusted to the darkness.
“Cody, wake up, Cody,” I speak in a softer tone.
“What is going on?” He groans as his head lifts and he fights against his restraints. He starts to panic as he realizes he is tied to the chair.
“Cody, look at me.” Him thrashing in the chair still half-conscious will just wear him out.
He turns his head toward me and I know his eyes haven't adjusted to the lack of light.
“Justin?”
“Yes, I need you to calm down and let your eyes adjust. Who is next to you?” I have to know if the smaller person in the chair next to Cody is Ellie. He turns his head toward the next chair.
“Ellie, oh my God, Ellie.” His voice gets louder as he tries to get her attention, but she doesn't stir.
“What happened? The last thing I remember is being at the B&B.” Cody turns to me for answers. I'm just as in the dark and as tied up as he is.
“I think we are in a hangar. Suzy is on my left, she is out also. There is one more next to her, but can't make him out,” I explain what I know so far, which is not very much.
“Were we tasered?"?”
“Tasered with a kick. I don't know what the fuck we were,” I answer, my fingers trying to feel the knot that has my wrists tied. “Can you get out of your ties?” I ask, as I feel one of my knots starting to loosen up. Cody doesn't answer, but I see him out of the corner of my eye struggling with his.
“Well, well, well, look who's awake,” comes a booming voice in the darkness followed by the lights being turned on. It blinds me for a second as the brightness is such a contrast to what we were just used to. I see a figure walking toward our row of chairs.
“Fausto,” Cody spits when the man gets close enough to see. I now see that we are in an airplane hangar, with a small jet in it.
“This feels like Christmas morning to me, boys.” Fausto Alverez, or as I knew him, Alejandro Cortez, stands before us, his face beaming as he looks from Cody to me. He is in his late forties with jet black hair. It is longer and is combed back with hair gel. He looks just as slimy as I remember him.
Cody grunts, knowing just as well as I do that we might all die today, which makes me all the more determined on my knots, working them with my fingers gently so it is not obvious to the man in front of me. Cody is not being so subtle. He is fighting at them, his arms moving, and rocking back and forth in his chair. Fausto watches him with amusement.
“Awe, now, Agent Reed.” Fausto shakes his head at Cody as he takes steps closer to us. “Such an amazing day and so worth the risk coming here. I have the man who killed my brother.” He outstretches his hand to gesture toward Cody. “The man who killed my son.” Now his attention is on me. “And the wife of the man who stole from me.” He walks to Suzy, putting his hand under her chin lifting her lifeless head.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” I yell as loud as I can. He keeps his hand cupped under her chin turning to me with a greasy smile on his face.
I now see four men moving behind Fausto, and I recognize one of them. He was out in front of Suzy's house leading the pack of motorcycles.
“Oh, and your sister, too,” he laughs as he gets more excited. “And over here we have the other man that Jade fucking McGill stole from.” Fausto drops Suzy's head. It falls, her chin hitting her chest. I have to say I am really glad she is unconscious right now.
“Victor Allen. Department of Justice, head of the task force, oh, and also working for me.” Fausto laughs even harder. “The asshole got greedy when Jade stole his payday and tried to dangle what I want most in this world in front of me.” He leans in, talking to the unconscious man next to Suzy. “Thanks to his undercover agent, who is more loyal to me than him, I knew just where to find him.” Fausto pats the tall, muscular man on the back.
“Sebastian?” Cody speaks up, talking of the man who is now walking closer to us.
“Yeah, brother. All along I was undercover next to you, but when LDR fell apart I found myself in a very precarious situation. Let's just say that being a double agent pays a hell of a lot better than being a good boy.” Sebastian laughs with Fausto and turns to him. Fausto lifts his gun, shooting Sebastian right between the eyes, blood splatters hitting Fausto in the face. The bang of the gun is deafening in the hangar as I watch Sebastian fall in a heap on the floor.
Laughing even more hysterically, he pulls a white cloth from his back pocket, wiping his face. The need to get out of my restraints is even greater. My whole world is in this hangar and in the hands of a mad man.
Fausto's laughter ends abruptly as he looks down at Cody and me. “You can never trust a man like that,” he says coyly and with no remorse, motioning for his guys to take Sebastian away. “But, alas, he did bring me the sweetest present of all.” Fausto's eyes travel past Cody to my Ellie, who is starting to stir a little.
“I will kill you. If you touch one hair on her head I will kill you so slowly you will beg for death.” My jaw tight, my words stern as I deliver my warning.
“Oh, but she is the love of my life. How shocking to find out that she was alive and well after I spent the last year mourning her death. Another reason Sebastian had to die, he knew she was alive the whole time,” Fausto says, walking slowly past me and Cody to stand in front of Ellie. Her head is lifting as she wakes up. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I am more vigorous on my knots as I have gotten one loose. I don't
know how Cody is faring, but his jaw is tight and I can see he is fighting with his knots with every ounce of strength in him. He, too, is watching Fausto who is watching Ellie slowly wake up.
Fausto leans in, putting his hands on either side of the chair, “Wake up, angel,” he whispers close to Ellie's face.
Cody's chair comes off the ground with a loud thump as he tries to get up. I'm fighting my restraints so hard that I feel the wetness of blood as the ropes cut into my wrist. I grit my teeth to stay silent, letting Cody take the attention off me.
“Oh, give me a break. Now you care? You didn't seem to care when my brother was having his way with her.” Fausto turns his head toward Cody. “What kind of man allows that?” Fausto stands straight, but still gazes down at Ellie.
Chapter 47
Ellie
I hear his voice as I start to come to. I stir at first when I hear Cody close by, not knowing what is going on, and then hear Justin yell to get his hands off someone. Feeling my hands tied, I keep my head down.
I search my mind and remember the email and pictures then the sting of something hitting me. I feel someone lean into me and keep my eyes closed.
“You don't care for her Agent Reed,” I hear Fausto shout. Cody is struggling next to me, also tied up.
“I swear I will kill you just like I killed your brother,” Cody roars, goading him.
“Do you really think I give a shit about my brother? You did me a favor, his days were numbered. He used this angel as a human shield. You killed him too fast. I would have tortured the life out of him for days.” Fausto's voice is cold and harsh. “But I have her now. I'm taking her away to my country where we will be married, and she will have many of my children.” I get so queasy. Still not completely sure of the situation, and not sure of what I'm waiting for, I open my eyes keeping them down.
Suspicion At Sea Page 16