Awakened (The Belladonna Agency Book 2)

by Virna DePaul

  The walls of the bath changed shape again, lengthening in one direction and widening in the other. She could actually lie down if she wanted to. Even float.

  Cautiously, she extended her legs and sat. Then she lay back. The knot in her hair came loose and her hair floated free, weightless in the water.

  She arched her neck, letting the water cover her ears, listening to the bubbles pop. There was a rumbling sound. After a few seconds, she understood that it was a voice and lifted her head out of the water.

  “Jane.”

  It was the same man who’d spoken to her the first time. The one with the angry eyes. She sank down until the words became rumbles again.

  Louder this time.

  Fuck it. Fuck him. Jane forced her entire body under the surging water, held her breath until the tip of her nose was under it, too. The water covered her eyes. Death spa, she thought, almost cheerfully. It wouldn’t be a bad way to go.

  The water gurgled, sucked back into the walls almost instantly.

  Jane sat up, angry at herself.

  There was only the man’s voice this time. Not the screen with his eyes. Maybe it was busted.

  “You can’t drown yourself. You can’t hurt yourself in any way.”

  She said nothing. There had to be a way. She wanted him to burst through these goddamn walls. She needed something to slash them with. Slash herself while she was at it. Blood would be a relief from the glaring white.

  “What a little peach you are. We wouldn’t want to bruise you.”

  She stood and grabbed the chemise, using it to dry herself. Then she looked up. The screen was working now. His gaze was frightening. Hard. Intense. Cold.

  Jane bit her lip, hard. She was cold but she refused to shiver. She went back to the sleeping alcove and lay down, her back to the eyes.

  Somehow, some way, she was going to break free. Another memory, not the one she’d strained to recall, came back. And not the unknown woman.

  Her mother.

  Weak but alive. Talking to Jane with the last of her strength, trying to reason with her. Unless Jane was hallucinating her voice to drown out the one emanating from the wall.

  Jane, listen to me. Please listen. If something bad ever happens, I won’t be there to come get you and bring you home. You have to take care of yourself. You’ll have Ginny and Malcolm, but— She had broken off, grabbing an oxygen mask, breathing it in from the tank by her bed. What about them? Jane had asked.

  Never mind. Just remember that I love you. Remember when life was good. Hold on to that. Hold on to your memory of me—

  The man’s voice broke in. “I don’t like being ignored, Jane. And soon, you won’t have any choice but to give me every ounce of your attention.”

  The sly menace in his voice sickened her. She refused to look at his eyes. Prying. Watching. Judging. Let him watch, then. She didn’t have to respond.

  A silence fell that echoed off the white walls. Several minutes passed as she lay there, mute.

  When Nick’s ancient laptop finally came to life, he sat down in front of it and proceeded to give her a crash course in cybersurveillance and real-time hacking. She’d stared at rapidly scrolling code flashing over the laptop’s screen for at least an hour, not understanding it, while he talked.

  Barrett got the gist. U.S. data on trafficking victims and sex criminals connected to a global spiderweb of evil. Drug cartels. Illegal arms trading. Murders and assassinations. The National Security Agency collected information on all of it through cybersurveillance. Terrorism had well-established links to global crime.

  A division—Nick knew the woman who headed it—had been investigating SexFlash. The code on the screen had taken them into the site and out again. Now he wasn’t sure where he was.

  Suddenly the scrolling stopped.

  Blocky pixels got smaller, shifted around. A white room resolved in high definition on the screen. Within it, curled up in some sort of nook, was a slight girl with wet hair. It was hard to tell what color it was. Darkish. Her back was to the camera providing the live-streamed feed, barely covered by a damp garment not much bigger than a rag.

  “Oh my God. Is that Jane?” Barrett whispered.

  “You tell me.”

  “Nick—I think so! I have to get her to turn around—but where is she? What is that room all about?”

  Nick shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  The girl turned. There were tear streaks on her face and a deep bite mark on her lip. It looked like she’d done it to herself. And not long ago. Her eyes rolled wildly.

  “Oh, God. That is her! Oh dear God. She’s been beaten—or tortured somehow—”

  The video shut off abruptly. The screen went black.

  She glanced at Nick.

  He seemed as stunned as she was.

  The hysteria that she’d barely been holding at bay since Nick had arrived swelled out of control. “We have to get her out of there! Now!”

  Nick grabbed her arms again. “Calm down, Barrett. We have to find out where she is first. Then we can come up with a plan. Now sit down and put your head between your knees. Breathe deep. Jesus, you look like you’re going to pass out.”

  Barrett obeyed him. It took several minutes before she felt calm enough to raise her head. Her gaze instantly went to the laptop. “There must be a way to pinpoint her location.”

  “Not instantly.”

  “How long can you stay?”

  “Another couple of hours. Then I have to report in. And I actually have something to report.”

  Barrett was taken aback. “What do you mean? Report to your superior? But there’s no connection between The List and Jane …” Her words drifted off at the look on his face.

  “There is now,” he muttered. “But I wanted to wait to explain everything so I could help you out first. I needed to see how far I could get with the code. I never thought we’d find her so quickly.”

  “We haven’t,” she said without thinking. “You didn’t go far enough.” She knew her words were unfair and she didn’t mean to sound so bitchy, but Jane had looked terrified. And Barrett was terrified, not just for Jane but about everything Nick had told her.

  He rubbed his eyes. “Barrett, I’m doing what I can.”

  And he’s probably just as freaked out as me. Maybe even more since he probably knew more he hadn’t told her. “I know, Nick. I’m sorry. So why do you need to report to your superior?”

  “A name came up while I got started on this with my NSA contact. Before I came here. She believes it’s the same person who’s coordinating the movement of underage girls out of SexFlash and into this setup.”

  Barrett could guess. But she had to ask. “Who is it? Malcolm Prescott?”

  “No. Not anyone you know. Gil Mansfield.”

  Barrett threw him a puzzled look. “And?”

  “Gil Mansfield is on The List. He’s number seventeen. And I’m supposed to kill him.”

  Chapter 12

  “You can’t kill him.” Barrett drew in a sharp breath. “Gil Mansfield could be our link to finding Jane.”

  She kept her tone calm, controlling her inner anguish. Even so, she couldn’t erase the vision of Jane’s tear-streaked face from her mind.

  “Maybe. First I have to find him.” Nick adjusted the position of the laptop. “Anyway. About Gil. SexFlash is a big operation and he’s not even one of the top guys.”

  “The NSA wouldn’t be tracking him unless he’s up to something really bad. They must have given you solid info.”

  Nick didn’t say anything. Barrett prodded him. “You can tell me. You have to tell me.”

  “I don’t. For many reasons.”

  She wasn’t going to let him slide. “I want to know what he looks like and what he’s done. Come on, Nick. Photos and physical descriptions, prior arrests if any, last known whereabouts—what do you know?”

  Nick finally answered, but reluctantly. “All of the above. I don’t have his dossier in my possession, I only read throu
gh it. He was being contained in some kind of holding cell at an FBI-run facility along with other turneds. He was kept isolated because he wasn’t deteriorating yet; he seemed normal, but that was expected to change any time. One day, he was sent to the labs for testing. During transport, he attacked his guards and drank their blood. All of it,” Nick added in a flat tone. “The others couldn’t stop him. Anyway, during the break someone on the outside used a remote hack to disable the alarms and open the gates.”

  Barrett sank her head into her hands and tried to think. “But how could they do that? Unless it was someone working from the inside. Someone within the FBI.” She closed her eyes briefly before looking at him. “On a prior mission, one of our agents was told she’d been set up. We weren’t sure by whom, but we’ve had to consider the possibility it was someone in the FBI. This supports that theory, don’t you think?”

  “It’s one theory,” he agreed. “With everything we’re dealing with, of course it’s possible there’s a mole in the FBI. Especially when we’re talking about the kind of money involved in these types of operations. SexFlash is making major bucks. They sell franchises, believe it or not. Strictly cash. A quarter million buys the right to use the name and setup for online sites, but they have to follow certain rules. Anyone who wants more than that, pays more.”

  “Sounds like someone is talking,” Barrett said. “An informer?”

  “I heard it from my NSA contact.”

  “And who is that again?”

  “I never said. She uses the name Adrienne Wong.”

  Something about the way Nick said her name irked her. “Do I get to meet her?”

  “That’s not a good idea. She’s high level.”

  “Oh.”

  And I’m just a little FBI girl, Barrett thought, annoyed by the tone of his reply. Selling cookies to raise money for new filing cabinets and get my junior-law-enforcement badge. Okay, whatever. He wasn’t going to volunteer how he knew Ms. Wong? She wasn’t going to ask any more questions. It wasn’t like she needed to keep tabs on every female Nick knew or worked with.

  “And Adrienne’s really not supposed to be doing me any favors.”

  Barrett let that go.

  “Apparently SexFlash is laundering about a hundred million a year through different banks. So there has to be infighting. Thugs versus thugs, vampires versus thugs, vampires versus vampires. Gil was taken into custody once other turneds started to deteriorate, but before that, who knew what he was doing. Who he was talking to.”

  “But you think he was talking to whoever has Jane?”

  Nick hesitated, seemed to consider something, then sighed. “Listen up. I wasn’t sure so I didn’t say anything to you right away. But after a while I had the feeling all that code we were looking at wasn’t random. The holes in it were tagged, for one thing. Like detour signs. Danger! Do Not Proceed! Giving me no alternative to do so, if you know what I mean.”

  “You mean someone wanted you to find the code?”

  “I don’t think so. I was avoiding the detours. Refusing to fall for them. Then, wham, it was like someone got impatient. That white room appeared. And disappeared.” He met Barrett’s eyes. “I didn’t just stumble on it. That glimpse of Jane was bait. Someone had us on the hook and cut the line.”

  “That room exists. We didn’t hallucinate it.” She pushed the laptop back in front of him.

  “I can look again but I don’t know what we’re getting into.” Nick leaned forward and tapped at the keyboard. Barrett gasped silently when the screen filled with white. He pulled back using a negative zoom. “See what I mean? That was too easy,” he muttered.

  The room was empty.

  “Now you see her. Now you don’t.”

  Barrett took a couple of deep breaths, collecting herself. She had expected to see Jane. “Maybe she’s—outside the frame.”

  There was not the faintest shadow of movement in the room. The whiteness seemed unreal.

  “It has to be a trap,” Nick insisted. “We’re being tricked into staying connected.”

  “But we can view the room. Use the zoom again,” Barrett said.

  “What for?”

  “Just do it.”

  He covered every corner of the empty room in slo-mo. “What are you looking for?”

  “Blood.” She hunched over the screen, peering at the gleaming white walls and floor. “If Jane got dragged out, she’d fight back. Biting and clawing.”

  Nick shook his head. “My guess is that she didn’t. See anything?”

  “Not a drop. Maybe they cleaned it up.”

  Nick studied the screen. “This could also be an identical room that never had Jane in it.”

  Interesting. That hadn’t occurred to her. Nick had always had a knack for thinking like a bad guy, while never crossing that line himself.

  As far as you know, she amended the thought.

  “Like I said, SexFlash is a big operation,” he continued. “And while I’m on that subject, she can’t be the only girl for sale.”

  As far as Barrett was concerned, Jane was the only one that mattered right now. That there were others held against their will as sex slaves was a fact that required no confirmation. But they were faceless as yet, not part of the deep claim on her heart and her conscience that Jane evoked.

  One rescued victim could open the door to free many more.

  He was only being practical, Barrett reminded herself.

  She would need him more than ever, if he had access to NSA intel.

  “That’s true. But she is the one they decided to show us,” Barrett pointed out. “So that makes her the most important. And I’m not just saying that because it’s personal.”

  “Okay, so we’re up against an intelligent enemy who seems to know a few of our weaknesses.”

  Nothing had changed when they both looked back at the featureless white of the room and fell silent for several minutes. Until the screen went black again.

  Nick took the chance to stretch his fingers. “Over and out. She’s gone. They have our attention. I’m not going to tell you not to worry, but my guess is that Jane won’t be physically harmed at any point.”

  “Good.” Barrett’s tone was iced with cool efficiency. “But I don’t care who or what has her hostage. I’m going to hurt them badly.”

  “Hold on there, Rambo. First, fill me in on the Prescotts and these papers.”

  She did. She told him everything. And Nick came to the same conclusions about Malcolm Prescott that she and Justine had.

  “So the Prescotts reported her missing, right?”

  “Yes. And posted a fifty-thousand-dollar reward.”

  He gave a low whistle. “The Prescotts aren’t fooling around.”

  “They could have used a more recent photo,” Barrett said. “She still has braces in the photo they used for her missing poster. And her hair was much shorter then.

  “It’s from her middle school yearbook. I happen to have it in a frame. Her mother sent it to me.” Barrett scowled. “Seriously, why that one? It’s the wrong choice. I’m beginning to think that the Prescotts are being purposefully unhelpful.”

  “Don’t read too much into it,” Nick said in a low voice. He shut down the laptop. “I’ve got to take this back to the NSA and let the experts deconstruct the hard drive. See if they can track down whoever’s playing us.”

  “You can’t do that yourself?”

  “I could, but the laptop will be safer there and I don’t want to risk destroying anything that can lead us to Jane.”

  “Safer.”

  Barrett echoed him. “Not safe.” She knew she was obsessing to the point of being irrational. But she didn’t want to let the laptop out of her sight.

  “Exactly.” Nick interrupted her racing thoughts. “Safer. Would I lie to you? I hope they can pull data we can use,” he added. “Because I need to check Gil off my list.”

  “What does that mean? You’re going to kill him?”

  He had a good grip on the lapto
p. It wasn’t like she could wrestle him to get it back.

  Barrett stepped closer to him, jabbing a finger into his chest. “Just keep in mind that a young girl is in mortal danger. Don’t kill him before you exhaust all possibilities that he can somehow help us find her.”

  He scowled. “You don’t have to tell me how to do my job, Barrett. I’m here. I got you this far. What else do you want from me?”

  “Total commitment.”

  “Don’t you get it yet? What am I if not fucking committed?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Nick—”

  “I’ve always been committed to you, Barrett. You were just too fucking scared to trust in me. Well, despite your suspicions, I’m going to do my damn best to find Jane. I just can’t make any promises. No one can guarantee anyone’s safety, and that’s certainly true of me. I tried to guarantee yours and I fucked up. I tried to guarantee my …” He hesitated so long she placed her hand on his arm.

  “What?”

  He stepped back, rejecting her touch. He shook his head. “Never mind that. The point is I’m going to do what I can. I might fail. I hope I succeed. The real question is, whichever conclusion we’re left with, when these things with Jane are settled and we’ve halfway gotten our bearings back, if that’s even possible, are you going to run from me again or are you going to finally fucking trust me? Are you going to commit to me?”

  She was so shocked by his words she simply stared at him.

  And when she tried to answer, she couldn’t. She couldn’t say a single word.

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured,” he said with a look of disgust on his face. “So don’t talk to me about commitment. This thing between us, whatever it is, it’s on the back burner. We’re finding your girl. We’re figuring out who’s playing us. Too bad for the both of us that we have to do it together.”

  He packed up his things, stalked to the door, and threw it open. Then he looked at her over his shoulder. “Since we have to work together anyway and you clearly don’t trust my level of commitment, you should probably come to NSA with me. I’ll wait in the car.”