by Matt Lincoln
“More clever than you foolish agents,” he responded calmly.
“We’ll see how clever you are once you’ve been extradited to the United States,” I smirked at him. I felt a jolt of satisfaction as the smile slowly slipped off his face.
“What nonsense are you saying?” he snarled. “You don’t have any proof I’ve done anything wrong.”
“Do you think I care?” I hissed, leaning down to speak to him quietly enough that I wouldn’t be overheard by anyone else. “I told you, Davis. This is a game, and I won’t be satisfied until I win. And if I have to cheat a little to do so, then so be it.”
“What are you--” he stuttered.
“Planting evidence wouldn’t be that difficult,” I muttered darkly. “It’s not like the police here would look too deeply, anyway. If an American federal agent told them something, they’d believe it without question.”
“You’re lying,” he growled.
“Am I?” I asked sarcastically. “Who do you think it was that allowed me to continue with this investigation? The police chief was emphatic that he ‘wanted this criminal out of his country.’ I mean, look at the situation you’re in right now. Agent Hills physically attacked you and would have continued to attack you if I hadn’t pulled him away. And yet here I am, continuing with the interrogation as if nothing happened.” I was bluffing, obviously. I’d had to fight and negotiate to keep the investigation intact, but Davis didn’t know that.
“You’re bluffing,” Davis correctly guessed, but there was a tremor in his voice.
“I’m really not,” I smiled devilishly. “Do you know what happens to men like you in prison? Men who hurt children? It won’t be pleasant for you. And banish the thought of protective custody, of course. You’ll be tossed into general population with the rest of the dregs of society. I’ll see to it personally.”
“You can’t do that,” he protested indignantly.
“I can do whatever I want,” I taunted. “The same way that Agent Hills did what he wanted without having to face reprisals. Your life is in my hands now, Davis.”
He shifted nervously, and I watched with pleasure as his face ran the gamut of emotions from shock, to anger, to denial, and finally to fear.
“I’ll talk to you,” he finally mumbled. “If you agree to let me go after.”
I actually cackled with laughter at that.
“You must be joking,” I jeered. “You think I’ll just let you walk? Agent Hills must have done more damage than I thought.”
“What’s in it for me then?” He grumbled. “You can’t expect me to just talk for nothing.”
“How about this?” I began. “You tell me what I want to know, and I won’t tell everyone in whatever prison you eventually wind up in that you were involved in crimes against children. Do we have a deal, Davis?”
I waited anxiously. Truthfully, I didn’t have anything on him aside from the word of one of his employees. I was banking everything on a bluff, and if he decided to call me on it, we’d hit a complete dead end.
“Fine,” Davis scowled. I had to fight to keep the elation I felt off of my face. “What do you want to know?”
“For starters,” I began. “Where’s Amber?”
“Heck if I know,” Davis shrugged. “I just told one of my men to grab her to throw your partner off his game. I didn’t really give him any directions beyond that. For all I know, he killed her and dumped her body somewhere.”
I glared at him, careful to keep my expression neutral. Whether he was telling the truth or not, it was clear he was trying to get a reaction out of me with his callous attitude. Still, it was difficult not to become enraged over what he was saying.
“Alright,” I answered flatly. “And the identity of this man?”
“Elliot,” Davis responded immediately. “Elliot Thompson, or something like that.”
“You aren’t sure what his name is?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“It hardly matters,” Davis shrugged. “He does what I tell him and doesn’t ask questions. I don’t care about his personal details.”
“I see,” I responded. “What about your partner in the US?”
“What partner?” Davis scoffed.
“We know you’re working in tandem with an individual based out of the United States,” I answered. “We were able to trace the majority of the children we located back to this person.”
“Oh, her,” Davis replied. “She’s not my partner. Just a point of connection between interested buyers and me.”
“So you’re taking sole responsibility? How noble of you,” I remarked sarcastically. It was practically a confession, though, so I wasn’t about to complain. “How did she find out about us?”
“What do you mean?” Davis asked.
“We know she’s been tracking us,” I explained, quickly running out of patience. I was beginning to wonder if Davis was trying to mess with my head or if he really wasn’t aware of the American supplier’s actions. Perhaps he wasn’t as in charge as he thought. “She sent someone to attack some of our agents, and I’m assuming she’s the one who found out where Agent Hills’s niece was. Am I wrong?”
“No, it was probably her,” Davis responded. His use of the word “probably” wasn’t lost on me. So he really wasn’t aware of the supplier’s movements. “My men interact with her regularly. When I ordered him to go after the agent’s family, he probably went to her for the information.”
“Are you really the leader here, Davis?” I asked, partly to rattle him and partly because I honestly wasn’t sure anymore. Davis’s face contorted with outrage.
“Of course I am!” he roared, slamming his hand against the table. “I built his group. I’m the one to calls the shots. That woman is just another one of my workers. She answers to me!”
Somehow I doubted that, but I didn’t want to antagonize him so much that he’d stop speaking to me, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
“Tell me where your base is, Davis,” I changed the subject.
“In the capital city,” he responded sourly. “Hampton. In a red building on Front Street.” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. That was a well-populated and touristy area. It was extremely out in the open for a group that was doing something so illegal.
“It’s easier to hide in plain sight,” Davis smirked, likely sensing what I was thinking from the look on my face.
That wasn’t good. I’d done a good job thus far of keeping my emotions hidden. I was beginning to slip, so this was definitely my cue to wrap this up.
I stood abruptly before stalking away from the table and to the door.
“He needs to be kept in solitary confinement,” I insisted to the blue-eyed police officer who was still waiting on the other side of the glass. “Until I or another United States federal agent comes to fetch him, he needs to be kept under constant supervision. There’s a chance a member of his organization might attempt to come to his assistance.”
“I’ll relay that message to my superiors,” the young officer replied.
“Hey!” Davis barked from his seat at the table. I turned around reflexively. “I’m not done talking to you!”
I couldn’t help but snicker at him. It was pathetic watching a washed-up career criminal trying to maintain some semblance of power by getting the last word in.
“I have nothing else to say to you,” I sneered before turning away and walking briskly down the hallway. I could hear him yelling behind me, but I ignored him. I had more important things to focus on. Namely, calling Wallace and organizing a plan to attack the base tomorrow.
32
Junior
Eliza fell asleep at around midnight. It seemed like speaking with Nelson actually had helped to calm her down, as I’d even heard her laughing a few times before she finally fell into a fitful sleep on one of the break room couches. It was clear that she wasn’t actually getting much rest since she kept jolting awake and glancing around frantically, as if she thought she might suddenly spot Amber.
It was awful to watch, especially knowing that there wasn’t much we could do without a ransom note or anything else to go on.
After she’d fallen asleep, Miranda and I had decided to head to the hospital to visit Harry. We might be able to get more useful information out of him, and even if we didn’t, I still wanted to check up on him. Harry had been incredibly kind to me ever since he’d met me. When he’d heard that I was planning on spending the previous Thanksgiving alone, he’d insisted that I join him and his family. My own father had been abusive, and my mother had cut contact with me when she’d learned I was following in his footsteps to become a police officer.
I’d made peace with losing my parents, and I’d gotten used to spending holidays alone, but Harry’s gesture still touched me.
I grew more nervous the closer we got to the hospital. We really had no idea what we were heading into. Eliza had been so frantic about not being able to find Amber that she hadn’t been able to focus on Harry. She hadn’t said much at the office, so we didn’t know how bad the damage was.
“We’re here,” Miranda gently nudged my shoulder. I snapped my head up at her voice. The harsh white lights on the hospital’s exterior were casting garish shadows across her face. I hadn’t even noticed when we’d pulled into the parking lot. I was too lost in thought, worrying about Harry and Amber and Eliza.
“Sorry, I was distracted,” I muttered as I unbuckled my seatbelt.
“I get it,” she responded quietly. “Everything’s such a mess. And it’s almost one in the morning now. My eyes are stinging so badly.”
“Maybe you should take a nap when we get back to the office,” I suggested as we climbed out of the car and headed toward the entrance of the hospital.
“Yeah, right,” Miranda snorted. “Like I could sleep with this going on. Could you?”
“No,” I smiled bitterly.
The electronic sliding doors slid open with a mechanical whoosh that seemed too loud against the quiet stillness of the night. The brightly lit lobby was completely empty save for a single woman behind a massive desk, which gave the entire place a creepy atmosphere.
“Can I help you?” The cheery receptionist at the front desk asked as we approached her.
“Agent Chapman, with MBLIS,” I said flatly as I presented my credentials to her. I didn’t have the energy to be polite right now. “We need to see a patient, Harry Monroe. He was found in his home earlier this evening by his daughter.”
“Of course,” the woman nodded, quickly turning to type something into her computer. There was no doubt that visiting hours were over, but being federal agents granted us access and privileges we otherwise wouldn’t have. The receptionist’s cheery smile had fallen, and I felt a little guilty about that. “He’s in room six-seventeen. He’s on the third floor. Take this first hallway on the right. The elevators will be on the left. It should be easy to find, but if you have any trouble, just head to the nurse’s station at the end of the floor.”
“Thank you,” I smiled at her before heading off in the direction she’d indicated.
“You okay?” Miranda asked as we stepped into the elevator. “Sorry, dumb question. I just feel useless right now, you know?”
“I know,” I agreed. We walked in silence the rest of the way. It wasn’t until we were standing outside his door that it occurred to me that he might be sleeping. It was the middle of the night, after all, and it probably wouldn’t be right to wake him up if he was resting.
Miranda, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any qualms about it. Or maybe she was just so tired now that she wasn’t thinking clearly. Either way, she barrelled into the room without hesitation. I followed her in and was dismayed to see that Harry was sleeping. The creaking of the door seemed to have startled him, though, as he was now blinking blearily at us.
“Hey, Harry,” I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry we woke you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he responded gruffly as he snatched the respirator off of his face. “Get this dang thing off of me. Bunch of nonsense.”
“Oh, I think you should leave that on,” I argued as I moved toward the bed. I reached for it, but he waved my hand away.
“You back off,” he groused. “I’m a grown man. I think I can take care of myself.”
“Of course,” I smiled. “How are you feeling, Harry?”
“Eh, I’ve been worse,” he chortled. “What’s a little gunshot wound to the lung?”
“The lung?” I asked in shock. “Then you definitely need to keep this on.” I reached for the respirator again, but he held it up out of my reach.
“Is that all you got?” he asked as he continued to move the respirator just out of my grasp every time I tried to take it. “They don’t make federal agents the way they used to.”
I sighed in defeat. I knew he was only joking, and honestly, I was happy that he was feeling well enough to fool around like that.
“Who’s this one?” Harry asked, nodding at Miranda.
“Oh, this is Agent Castillo,” I replied. “She’s--”
“Charlie’s girlfriend,” Harry interrupted before I could continue. That wasn’t at all what I was about to say, and it took me a moment to process the words.
“Kind of,” Miranda shrugged as she stepped forward to shake Harry’s hand. “Miranda Castillo. I’ve been partnering with Junior for our current case since Charlie ran off to Jamaica with Naomi.”
“Hah!” Harry let out a short bark of laughter. “Ran off with another woman, huh? That boy’s always been trouble.”
“Wait, really?” I asked, snapping my head around to look Miranda in the eyes. “You and Charlie?”
Miranda just threw me one of her impish smirks and shrugged again. I’d heard Naomi complain more than once about Miranda’s devil-may-care attitude, and I could see now what she meant.
“Anyway,” she drawled, turning her attention back to Harry. “We didn’t come here to talk about me. We were hoping you could tell us what happened earlier today.”
Harry’s face fell at the question.
“It all happened so quickly,” he began. “Pretty pathetic for a former chief-of-police, huh? Anyway, I went out to check the mail like usual. I was just coming back inside, but before I could push the door closed, a man shoved his way in behind me.”
“Do you remember what he looked like?” Miranda prompted.
“African-American,” Harry shrugged. “Tall, maybe six foot. Broad-shouldered, muscular. He was wearing a dark jacket with the hood up, which, now that I think about it, is suspicious on its own given the heat. At the time, though, I wasn’t really thinking about that. I was just scared because Amber was in the house.”
“What happened after that?” I asked.
“He knocked me out of my wheelchair,” Harry replied bitterly. He sounded so ashamed that someone had been able to take advantage of him like that, and my heart ached for him. “Picked it up and threw it clear across the room. I tried to drag myself over to it, but I wasn’t making any progress. He started walking around the house like he was looking for something. I thought about yelling for Amber to run or hide, but it worried me that doing so would just tip him off that she was there.”
“Anyway,” he continued, “she must have heard the commotion because a second later, there she was, standing at the base of the stairs. I wanted to tell her to run, but before I could say anything, he walked over and just scooped her right up. I yelled at him to leave her alone, but he just started walking toward the door. Then he turned around and shot me, right in the chest. The doctor says he got me right in the lung.”
He leaned back against the pillows on his bed as she finished speaking, looking forlorn.
“Did he say anything at all?” I asked. “Anything that might help us figure out where he took her?”
“So you haven’t found her yet,” Harry stated. My blood ran cold as I realized he must not know anything about what happened after he was attacked. “I figured as much, but I was hoping…
Anyway, no. He didn’t say anything at all. He just barged in, took Amber, shot me, and left. I have no idea who he was or what he wanted. Heaven knows I’ve got plenty of enemies. I was on the force for almost forty years. There’s no telling what kind of grudges people are holding against me.”
The three of us lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Miranda and I exchanged a glance as we tried to figure out how to reveal the truth to him.
“We know why she was targeted,” I finally admitted. Harry’s eyes widened in surprise. “The case we’re working right now revolves around a group of child traffickers. Unbeknownst to us, they’ve been trailing us ever since we started investigating. Charlie thinks he was followed the day that he came up to see you last week. Regardless of how they found out where Amber was, it’s clear that the trafficking group is behind this. We received word earlier tonight from one of our other agents that the leader of the group admitted to having her kidnapped in an attempt to distract Charlie from the investigation.”
Harry’s face had grown increasingly horrified as I spoke, and I had to look away as I finished my explanation.
“So, she was taken by human traffickers?” he asked flatly.
I swallowed painfully as I nodded. I didn’t know what I could say to that.
“Where’s Charlie?” he croaked.
“He’s on his way back,” Miranda said gently. “He got on a plane as soon as he heard what had happened.”
“It’s my fault,” Harry rasped as a tear rolled down his eye. “I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t do anything but lay there on the ground while that scumbag took off with her.”
“No, Harry,” I started. “You can’t blame yourself. This wasn’t your fault.”
“And what exactly are you two still doing here?” he suddenly yelled angrily. I jumped back in shock at his outburst. “Quit wasting your time with me and go find my granddaughter! Isn’t that your job?”
“Harry, I’m not--” I started to say, but Miranda gripped my arm firmly.
“We should go,” she muttered quietly but firmly.
I nodded in resignation before turning back to Harry.