by J. M. Madden
He glanced through the windows to Mike’s blue truck. Andrea sat inside, a haunted expression on her pretty face. He hated to see it there. It reminded him of the funeral. As soon as she’d seen the body her face had paled. “They’re gone,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” he agreed, “but I’m going to check.”
When the detectives got here they were probably going to rip him a new asshole, but as of this second no one on the scene outranked him. One of the perks of working for Uncle Sam.
He looked at the bags and lunchboxes the kids had left on the seats. Nothing actually stood out until be spotted a Navy SEAL trident sketch on a loose notebook. Had this been Dylan’s stuff? He leafed through a few papers, spotting the name. He grabbed up the notebooks and world history book. No lunchbox in the seat. Maybe he ate at school. But one thing was missing. Leaning against the seats and looked along the floor for any dropped items. Nothing. He ran his fingers through the crevice of the seat. Nothing. There was a chance Dylan still had his phone.
Surely the kidnappers would check for that?
He climbed up into the truck but Andrea wouldn’t even look at him.
“Hey,” he said softly.
She blinked, her eyes focusing on the covered body on the street, then down to the white-knuckled hands in her lap. They were twisted around her cell phone. Maybe this hadn’t been the best place to stop, he thought, regret rolling through him. He hadn’t even considered it. This was the third dead body she’d had to deal with in two days.
“Andrea, look at me,” he said firmly, reaching out to cover both of her hands with his. She finally glanced up, the blue of her eyes brilliant in the light of full day. “Dylan is going to be okay. There was no blood on the bus and more importantly, no cell phone. They want these kids alive.”
He waited for that information to sink in. Her eyes flickered. “He might still have his phone?”
Jack nodded, pulling Si up on his own phone and dialing. “Get the mother to sign off on a trace of Dylan’s cell phone,” Jack said before his boss could even say anything. “He might still have it on him.”
“Will do. The other abduction never occurred. A clever school resource officer heard the call and forced the last few buses to pull back into the school. The kids on those busses were all locked down there.”
Andrea sighed out a breath. “Thank goodness.”
Six kids had been abducted, though. “Any other word on the team? Or what they’re doing?”
“I have a contact on the ground with them now, or at least he should be. They’re in the deepest part of the Korengal Valley, so it isn’t like it’s a five mile hike to drop off a note. It’s deep in enemy territory. They have a target but I haven’t been given a name yet.”
“We have another issue,” Andrea murmured. She pulled something up on her phone and handed it over.
Hello ANDREA. I did not expect to see you here. Yet again, you’ve ruined my carefully laid plans. I’m going to have to think about what to do to you when I finally get you alone.
Fury surged in him and he wanted to crush the phone in his hand. The fucker was going to die. He would see to it personally.
Andrea had typed back a message.
Big talk for a spoiled little man that kidnaps children. You are the lowest of the low.
Who is the big man with you?
Your worst nightmare. Come meet him.
No thank you. Maybe another day.
Jack tried to look up the phone information but it came up as unknown. Damn it.
He read the messages off to Si.
“Do you need more men, Bishop?”
Andrea shook her head. Adamantly.
“Nah, I think we’re good right now. Might be smart to have a team on standby though. You know where we’ll be. Call as soon as you have something.”
“And you do the same.”
Jack punched the phone off and glanced around. It was obvious there had been some kind of lookout. The op had been planned very carefully, and he suspected that there had been several dry runs. The kids had probably been followed many times. If the terrorists were a sleeper cell from Fredericksburg, it would be an easy jaunt down to Norfolk to surveil the kids in shifts and still maintain their cover. They’d done everything exactly as he would have done, although he’d never kidnapped kids.
“There was no blood on the bus?” she asked again.
“Not a drop,” he affirmed. “They want the kids healthy. At least for a while. I have a feeling when we finally hear back from the SEAL team, they’re going to confirm they’re after a target, or an entire cell. The Korengal Valley is lousy with the worst of the worst. If the target is worried that they’re getting close, this is a great way to throw a wrench into the plans. No matter how much training you have, those guys are not going to be completely focused if they find out their own kids are in danger.”
Andrea nodded, looking out the window. “So, six were taken.”
“Yes,” he said softly, knowing that it would hurt her heart because she felt so responsible. “Si is going to track Dylan’s phone. If the kid managed to slip it by the kidnappers, he’s really something.”
She nodded, still looking a little lost.
“He’s going to come after me again,” she said softly.
Jack reached out and touched her, turning her to face him. “And if he does, we’ll be waiting. I can tell you not to worry but I know you will anyway.” A glimmer of a smile ghosted across her lips. “But I can promise you I’ll be with you the entire time, Andrea. We’ll finish this together.”
Jack wasn’t even aware of the decision to pull her into his arms, he just did it, and when she softened into him he was very glad he had. Andrea’s life had changed and she wasn’t used to this stuff anymore. It had been years since she’d even been up close and personal with all the military rigamarole, but she was hanging in there. The text messages hadn’t shaken her like Mustafa had hoped.
She was a badass, just like he’d always known.
“We should talk to the mother. She’s going to be frantic.”
Sighing, he sat back from her. “Are you sure? We can let someone else deal with it. Or I can go talk to her.”
She shook her head, her eyes concerned. “I think we both should.”
Yeah, she was probably right.
Heidi McCollough, tall, blonde, and controlled, must have been watching out the window because as soon as they pulled into her driveway she was running out to meet them.
“You were the ones trying to get to my son,” she said, eyeing the truck. “There was news chopper showing footage of you until they said you were in an unmarked police car.”
Jack gave her a slight smile, trying to be friendly. “Yes, ma’am. We got there immediately after the kidnapping. I’m sorry.”
She tipped her chin up and her eyes filled with tears. “I understand.”
Andrea stepped forward, her hands outstretched. “I have to tell you what a brilliant young man you have. I was talking to him the entire time. He didn’t panic, and I think that’s what’s going to keep him alive.”
Heidi’s face crumpled, like she couldn’t hold in the emotion any longer. “He’s such a great kid,” Heidi said in a tight whisper as she fought to regain her composure. “I know every parent is proud of their child, but he’s different.”
“I would agree,” Andrea said, smiling. “Can we come in for a minute?”
Heidi led them into her suburban home and motioned toward the couches. “Please.”
Jack and Andrea sat next to each other, so that Andrea was closer to the other woman.
“I know how hard this is. My husband was a SEAL for more than twenty years. We raised two kids together and I know how hard it is to be a single parent for most of your marriage. I get it. But there’s nothing you could have done to change this. Your husband’s team is poking a hornets’ nest and we believe the hornets’ family is reacting. That was why the children were taken. Six have been taken in total, all
from Team Ten operators.”
Heidi covered her mouth with her hand as she paled. “Who else?”
Jack pulled out his phone and paged through a few screens. “You know the Johnson kids. The abduction took place before they made it home. Two Carlotta girls, Sophia and Isabella, and Logan Williams. Six kids total.”
She broke down, sobbing, and Andrea reached out to stroke a hand down her arm.
“I know them all,” she said between sobs. “I need to call their families.”
“There are people talking to them,” Andrea told her. “But it would be smart to gather together to share information, maybe.”
Heidi nodded, reaching for her phone.
“We’re going to do everything we can to get your son back, ma’am,” Jack told her, his hard face softening.
They left the house with Heidi on her phone, calling the other mothers who had suffered losses that day.
“What are the chances they’ll try another day?” Andrea asked as she circled the truck to the driver’s side for him to help her in.
Jack’s broad hands wrapped about her waist and lifted her up easily. Andrea marveled at his easy strength as she shimmied across the seat. He didn’t appear to be in any pain from his gunshot wound. She watched as he lifted one foot high to the step and pulled himself up with his left arm, the bicep bulging. He settled into the seat and turned the key. The truck rumbled to life, ready to run again, and she wondered what damage had been done to it. Had Jack even looked? In the scheme of things it didn’t matter, she supposed.
Jack continued to hold her attention, though. Physically he was stronger than any three men she would throw together, but his heart was tender. It had hurt him that Heidi’s son was taken.
“I don’t think they’ll try again. There’s too much focus on the kids now. I think they’ll hunker down and wait until they need to use the kids as leverage. It’s why they ordered food to keep them fed.”
“So, what do we do now?” she asked finally.
He glanced at her, his hard eyes covered with a pair of sunglasses. “I think we go talk to some of the kids and get an idea what they saw. Maybe one of them noticed something.”
Andrea nodded, knowing that kids could be amazingly observant at times.
Chapter Eleven
When they returned to the scene of the abduction nothing seemed to have changed. The kids were off to the side of the blocked off street and some of the parents had arrived, their arms wrapped around their kids. The thought of having a child kidnapped, let alone two, was terrifying.
Exactly what the terrorists wanted.
Cops had created a perimeter around the kids, but Jack was through with a flash of his badge. That thing must be an all-access pass to everything. She’d never seen anything like it.
“How do you get through so easy?” she hissed.
He flashed her a roguish grin, something she didn’t see from him very often. “Bone Frog Division of the Department of Homeland Security has the president’s blessing to derail stuff like this in any way we have to, up to and including overruling local police. Yes, sometimes we make a mess, but it’s usually easier to clean up than what could have happened, so he lets us get away with a lot.”
She shook her head, impressed. “I had no idea you’d joined them.”
“It wasn’t what I planned to do, but I missed being part of a team. And the concept was interesting. It was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done, though. Stuff like this,” he waved a hand at the chaos around them, “happens more often than you think.”
She totally believed that. “I have no doubt. And the protectors do what they do best— protect.”
He frowned a little and looked away. He nodded toward a group of kids. “If you talk to those kids, I’ll talk to these.”
They separated to talk to the kids and parents. Overall she struck out, until she talked to one little girl sitting under a tree alone.
“Were you on the bus?”
The little girl nodded. She couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, still a little baby-faced. She was eating from a bag of carrots. Andrea knelt down beside her, then sat on her butt.
“What’s your name?”
“Alexa,” the girl answered. She looked Andrea up and down. “Are you the police?”
Andrea shook her head. “Nah. I’m just helping out a little. Did you see what happened?”
Alexa nodded. “Two men came on the bus and took the kids away. They had their faces covered, but one’s name was Dan.”
Andrea tilted her head. “How do you know that?”
“Because his jacket opened up when he bent over to grab Emily off the floor and I saw it on his shirt.”
Andrea didn’t know if she dared believe it. “Was there a company name?”
It was Alexa’s turn to tilt her head. “I don’t think so. I think it was just his name.”
“Did you notice anything else?”
She scrunched up her little face. “I don’t think they were friends. They were yelling at each other. I didn’t understand the words but they sounded like how my mom gets sometimes when people aren’t on time.”
Andrea nodded like she understood. Assuming they were speaking a Dari or Pashto language from Afghanistan, there was little to no chance the kids would have understood anything, perhaps just tone. “They sounded mad?”
She nodded her head, blonde ponytail bobbing. “Like really mad. I think they knew the cops were coming because they kept looking out the back.”
“Which way did they leave? Did they tie the kids up in any way?”
One finger pointed down the street, ahead of the bus. “They went that way. And yes, they tied them up. And checked their pockets. They made them leave their stuff behind.”
They had known that but it was good to have confirmation. “Okay. Alexa, this is very important. The man whose name you saw, did you recognize the shirt? Have you seen it before?”
She frowned, chewing slowly. “I don’t think so. It kinda reminded me of the air conditioner man that came to our house once.”
“And what did they drive the kids away in?”
“A white van,” she said firmly. “But there weren’t any words on it.”
Same as the other abduction. “Alexa, you did an incredible job remembering all those details. Well, done.”
Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Will you get Emily back? She’s my friend.”
“We’re going to do absolutely the best we can to get her back. And all the other kids.”
When she and Jack were sharing details about their conversations later, he seemed impressed by Alexa’s observations. “That’s pretty good,” he admitted. “I had one kid tell me he thought there was a second vehicle involved, which is kind of obvious. One vehicle would be in front and be the one to stop the bus. The second would take the kids away. And it would explain Mustafa seeing you. I’ll bet he was the trigger man.”
Andrea nodded. Yes, that would make sense.
They grabbed a quick meal to take back to Mike’s house. Andrea wasn’t hungry but she knew she needed to eat. It was just so far from what she wanted to do right then. The kids who’d been taken had to be terrified. She would do anything to save them.
Mike was still in the same position as when they’d left the house and he fell on the food ravenously when Jack set it beside him, listening to them talk about the kids they’d interviewed.
“So, now they have six kids. We need to figure out what the hell they did with them. The school resource officer remembers a van following the bus, but didn’t think to get a plate, so that’s a strikeout. But,” he said grinning, “There is a camera at the intersection right in front of the school. If we can get access to it I bet there’s something there.”
“Call Crash. He’ll get you access or someone to talk to.”
As the men talked, Andrea settled back into the armchair in the corner, trying to get all the details they had in line. If they had little kids, they wouldn’t w
ant to travel very far probably. They would stay in the Norfolk, Little Creek area, she assumed. Or maybe they would haul the kids back to Fredericksburg.
“You don’t think they’d head up north, do you?”
Jack looked at her, hands on his hips. “Their cover is pretty much blown up there. Mann saw to that. And you, of course.”
“They would still have an apartment up there or something,” she said firmly. “They were staying somewhere. And we only know one guy right now, and not even his real name. I don’t think Mann blew as much as you think. It hasn’t been on the news as far as I know. Branson cleaned it up, yes?”
He nodded.
She drew out her phone and looked at the local news for Fredericksburg, but nothing jumped out at her.
“Mike, do you have a laptop I can borrow?”
Mike staggered a little as he pushed up and away from the desk. “Oh, man, I’ve been in one spot for too long.”
He crossed to a bookshelf on the side of the room and pulled a laptop down. Returning to the desk, he powered it up and logged in, then created a second user account for her. “Do what you need. It’s up to date on everything.”
“Thanks. Mind of I sit in the back yard and work a while?”
He shook his head. “Go for it. Take Goose with you, would you? He needs to go out anyway.”
The dog was right there as soon as he heard his name, making her laugh. Andrea led him through the house to the back door, the laptop under her arm, and he bounded out. There was a picnic table in the shade. She could sit there and do what she needed to do.
Logging into the security system of her business, she went into the archives. The accumulated recordings for the past couple of years were kept at another offsite server, but she could at least look back through the past thirty days on her system. She punched in the date code and began going through hours upon hours of security footage.
Almost immediately, she found a section with Mustafa in it. He was sitting with an older woman and it looked like they were talking over a cup of tea. At one point the woman looked up almost directly at the camera. Andrea froze the video and snapped a screenshot, then saved it on a file on the desktop. She began scrolling again but didn’t see anything other than an illicit quickie two of her customers had in the men’s room and one of her former employees pocketing some cash. He hadn’t worked out and had already been let go, so that wasn’t a worth worrying about.