The Devil's Work

by Linda Ladd

  “Thea. That’s what I heard them call her. She gets here real fast, so maybe she lives close. Please, let me go home now.”

  “Of course you can. We will make sure you get there safely. Do you want to call your husband?”

  “I don’t have a husband anymore. He was killed in Iraq. I live with my parents now.” She looked back at Black. “Do you think those pills they gave me will hurt my baby?”

  “I don’t think they would’ve given you anything that hurt the baby. That’s what they wanted, a healthy newborn. We need to get you to a hospital and let them examine you. Maybe your parents could meet you there.”

  “Yes. I know they’re so worried about me.”

  “We’re calling in ambulances for you and the other girls. That okay? We acted on our own, so we’re going to ask you not to tell them we were here. They’ve got my wife, Jessie, that’s why we came out here. If you tell the cops anything, they might stop us from freeing other women in your situation. Please don’t do that.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  “You won’t be here long before the EMTs get here. We’ve got men watching the road in case the guys who took you try to come back. We won’t let them find you here, okay? Trust me, you’ll be safe until they get you to the hospital.”

  “This is a goddamn baby factory,” Lori muttered to Novak as they left the house. Her face was flushed. “Every single one of these guys ought to rot in jail for the rest of their lives. Or worse.”

  Black agreed. “There could be more of these places. Kellen could be doing this in other states.”

  The idea was appalling. “Well, we won’t know until we bring down Kellen. We also need to find this woman named Thea and force her to talk. She could finger the whole adoption ring, names and places, I bet. It looks to me like Max Kellen lets others do the dirty work for him.”

  They left Rango’s men to wrap things up and rode back to the airstrip in silence. They had saved lives that night, true enough, but that didn’t help Claire. They would never find her without finding Kellen first. How to find him was the problem. Novak did not know what to do next.

  Chapter 21

  Not long after they got back to the Safari grounds, Black received a call from Jose Rango. The squad cars and ambulances had made it out to the Skulls’ ranch within fifteen minutes. The cops picked up the gangbangers who had been left there alive. According to Rango’s informant inside the police, they spilled their guts for leniency and gave the police everything needed to raid Kellen’s other houses, which included two in Miami, two in Fort Myers, and two in Daytona. They had the goods to throw the book at Kellen, so he was done for good.

  Problem was, Max Kellen seemed to have suddenly disappeared, and nobody knew where. Wherever he was, he wouldn’t get far with a BOLO out on him across the state of Florida. Neither Claire nor Rosa had been seen or heard of during any of the busts. Black had grown despondent. Novak knew his friend felt he’d never see his wife again, that she was dead and so was their baby, his whole family wiped out. Novak knew how that felt. There was nothing anyone could say or do to make Black feel better.

  The day after their raid on the ranch, word came back that all of the kidnapped women had been reunited with their families. Novak and his team were back at the Safari with Eldon and his family. Pedro was doing okay and eager to know if they’d found his sister. Novak tried to be positive with the boy but he now believed Alcina to be dead. Jake had been checked out and treated in the ER and now was back home with his wife. He was doing as well as could be expected. He could walk on his own, and his sutured flesh wounds were painful but would heal. The rest of them sat down around the conference table. This time they were all quiet and introspective. None of them knew where to go or what to do next. Black was poring over a map of south Florida, looking for anything, any kind of clue as to where Claire might be. He was sick at heart but hadn’t given up yet. None of them had. They had not received further ransom demands and had heard nothing helpful. The hours were ticking by, and Claire was still gone.

  It took one more anxiety-ridden, depressing day before the awaited call came through. Black snatched up his cellphone the minute it vibrated. “It’s FaceTime. I know it’s him. He’s boxed in a corner now and ready to deal.”

  Black hesitated a second before picking up, and Novak knew why. If Claire was dead, he didn’t want to know. Then he picked up the call.

  “Kellen?”

  The first thing they heard was a woman groaning. Novak jumped up again, wanting to see Claire. Eldon and Lori remained seated. By the look on Lori’s face, she didn’t want to see what Kellen was doing to Claire. Max Kellen’s face showed up on the phone, his voice coming through loud and clear.

  “Guess what, Dr. Black? Your wife has gone into labor, and a good deal too early, I’m afraid. Guess all this stress was too much for her. Sorry you’re not here to help out. We could use a good doctor.”

  All color drained from Black’s face, but Novak kept his eyes riveted on the screen as Kellen turned the phone around to show the bed. Claire was lying there, holding her belly as a contraction wracked her body, but she looked okay, otherwise. There was a woman standing beside her. She was wearing blue scrubs, and Novak was pretty sure it was the doctor named Thea.

  Black became openly agitated. “It’s too soon. She’s three months from full term.”

  “You should’ve kept a better eye on her, Doc, kept her home safe with you instead of letting her get in my face. You been busy busting up my houses, but guess what? I’ve still got your wife, and she may be the one to pay for my losses. Right now, she’s having your baby and you’re nowhere to be found. I’ll let you watch her for a minute, if you like.”

  Black gripped the phone so hard his fingers went white. His face was tortured, but his voice sounded calm. “It’s too early for the baby. Get her to a hospital, because if she delivers now, the baby’s going to need a full prenatal unit or she won’t survive. Get her to a hospital. Now, damn it!”

  “Oh, man, I wish I could, believe me. I’m afraid that’s impossible at the moment, so you better hope these contractions stop soon. We’re going to give her something that’s supposed to stop them, and for your sake I hope it works.” He brought the focus in close on Claire’s face. “Your interference in my business has changed things a bit. Now the ransom is double. Ten million. Five for mom, five for the kid. Get it together, and I’ll give you the details later.”

  Kellen clicked off before Black could say another word but not before Novak heard something in the background. He looked quickly at Lori for confirmation. She nodded and said, “That’s a ship’s horn. They’ve taken her out to sea.”

  “I hope to God that nurse knows what she’s doing,” Black ground out between clenched teeth. “She’s got to have a prenatal team or she’ll lose the baby.”

  “She’ll be all right,” Lori told him. “She’s got a doctor right there, and she’s strong and healthy. They said they had something to give her that will stop the contractions. Mother and child will be okay. You’ve got to think that way. We’ll get to her soon and this will be over.”

  Eldon was angry. “If that’s the woman named Thea there, she’s had lots of practice taking babies away from their mothers.”

  “And then murdering their mothers.” Black was calm but intense.

  “Kellen won’t let anything happen to them. He’s greedy, and his operation is finished here in Florida. He needs that money to build a life wherever he’s headed,” Novak said.

  “You really think he’s going to hurt her with all that at stake? We just can’t hand over that money until we’ve got her back.” That was Lori, still trying to calm down Black. She went on. “It could be false labor due to stress, couldn’t it? And that usually stops.”

  “Yes, and I hope to hell that’s all it is,” Black answered. “We need to find out where they are and where they’re going.
”

  No one commented, because there was nothing left to say. They knew she was on a ship, but which one and where was it heading? They had to wait until Kellen called back or one of the guards or hostages started talking. Novak was ready now to make that happen.

  Hours crawled by with no news. Sheriff Walsh would not let them interrogate the captured guards but said he was doing it himself. They heard nothing back from him. Nothing from the women who had been reunited with their families, either. They paced and worried and tried to sleep and eat the fast food Eldon brought in. Nobody was hungry. Nobody could sleep more than a restless doze. When they all had nearly given in to collective despair, they got the break they were looking for. Kellen had a silent partner. His existence was revealed by one of the captured Skulls who wished fervently for Jose’s men to stop interrogating him inside a garage in Hialeah. The partner’s name was Al Bartow, and none of them had ever heard his name mentioned before. Now they had his home address, and that’s all they needed.

  The address given was on Captiva Island. They took the helo back to the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers and rented a white Acura to take them across the bridges onto Sanibel. Captiva was just north of Sanibel and connected by another bridge. It was late afternoon by the time they reached Bartow’s property. The beach house was built a good distance from the water across about thirty yards of sand and inside a natural thicket of palm trees and tropical flowers.

  They parked their car down the street and separated to surround the house. Novak and Black took the French doors facing the beach, and Eldon and Lori covered the street side in back. This guy was not getting away. The house was a nice big place, shaded by all those towering palms, which were tossing wildly in brisk sea winds. It was a hot day; the sun was blazing. The property was spread out in three wings making a big U around a huge pool. The place had cost Bartow a ton of dirty money, all right. He had to be getting a hefty share of the haul Kellen took in illegally. No more. He was going to be dead broke soon.

  Novak was in complete control of his emotions, but they were simmering underneath his cool. Anger and frustration had built up inside him as Claire’s time ticked down. He was beginning to feel Black’s rage but tried to control it better. If Black could stand this, he should be able to. He felt tense and twitchy, fighting an almost overwhelming desire to kill anybody who got their hands dirty inside Kellen’s filthy operations. He hadn’t felt this angry in a long while. But Claire was helpless to get herself out of danger. It was the same emotion he had felt after 9/11 when he went home alone after the towers had come down. He remembered picking up his wife’s hairbrush. It had smelled of her strawberry shampoo. Helplessness was always the worst thing to bear, at least for him.

  Black, on the other hand, had regained frigid, steely mind control. Now, as he stood waiting in the shadows outside Bartow’s beachfront door, he looked serene as if they weren’t about to force a man to talk. Once Black had seen Claire on that phone, living and breathing and needing him so desperately, he had turned into a cold-blooded weapon, just waiting to be unleashed on whoever had put her there. Novak tried to follow his lead and fix his concentration on that goal but had no such luck. He kept hearing Claire’s groans, seeing her while that monster of a human being made decisions on whether she lived or died.

  Claire needed better care than she could get at sea. His worst thought was that they hadn’t been able to stop the contractions and the baby was already dead. Or they’d panicked and killed Claire, despite the ransom money. They could dump her at sea and go into hiding, and Black would never know what happened to her. After what he’d seen of Kellen’s work, nothing was below him, nothing bad enough to be off-limits. So Bartow was going to have to tell them what they wanted to know. He was going to talk because they were going to make him talk. Time had run out. By the look in Black’s eyes, Novak would not like to be at his mercy. Black rapped on the door, and they stood on either side and waited, weapons drawn.

  After a few minutes, someone peeked out the blinds. That’s all the encouragement Black needed. Taking a step back, he kicked the door wide. It was Bartow, whom they recognized because Lori had found a photo of him on Instagram. Once Black grabbed him and jerked him around, they knew they had the right man. Black was so ready to kill him that it was unnerving to watch. Novak’s own hunger to hurt somebody was more alarming because he was having a hard time controlling it. The two of them were dangerous right now, and it was a hell of a good thing Lori and Eldon had come along.

  Now Bartow was screaming for help, but Black was too strong and too furious. He had him in a grip the man couldn’t break. The rage had been slowly building for days, and he finally found its release. Bartow had done a lot of terrible things, and he was about to pay for them. The vision of Claire in that bed was their motivating factor, alone and in labor, tended by crazies who could do anything to her and the baby.

  Novak didn’t want to, but he had to be the one to hold back Black. Black had Bartow by the throat as he dragged him into the living room. Novak quickly checked out the other rooms. No one else was there, which was a good thing. He moved quickly to the street door and let in Lori and Eldon. His heartbeat had returned to normal, and his hands were steadier now that he had regained perspective. He had to do the same thing for Black or he’d kill the guy.

  “Lori, you and Eldon need to go outside and stand watch. Neither of you need to see this.”

  Lori gave him a look. “Like hell we will. What we’ll do is secure the videotapes on all these security cameras he’s got around this place. Meanwhile, you two need to pull yourselves together, Novak. You can’t up and kill this guy. I’ll say this again and I hope you’ll hear me this time. Maybe it’s time that you remind your friend Black that his wife and baby are depending on him to show up and save them. He can’t do that dead or in jail, and neither can you.”

  Eldon was the only calm one. “Look, I know exactly what you’re feeling, but don’t be stupid. You held me back the other night, and I thank you for that. Take your own advice. That goes double for Black.”

  Novak wasn’t going to do anything stupid, nor would he allow Black to commit cold-blooded murder, not that he wouldn’t be tempted. Time had come for Bartow to pay the piper, and Black was the piper. He had dragged the struggling man into the garage, and by the time Novak got there, Bartow was screaming bloody murder from underneath the duct tape Black had slapped over his mouth. His hands were taped to the arms of a camp chair. He had looked out the window wearing nothing but boxer shorts, so he was bare chested and barefoot. Maybe he was thirty, but looks could be deceiving. He was probably older. Bartow was not exactly handsome but almost good looking in a slicked-back, arrogant surfer kind of way. With all that long, sun-bleached blond hair, he was the kind of guy who would drive women crazy and could pick up a different girl at a different nightclub every night of the week. Such a pretty boy he was—but one who would cringe if his face might be damaged. Good luck with that right now, buddy.

  Black walked over to a tool bench behind Bartow’s black Lexus and came back with a claw hammer. Bartow’s eyes bulged, and he became more frantic under the duct tape. Black glanced at Novak, and then he squatted down right in front of Bartow. He ripped the tape off his mouth. His voice was deceptively calm. “Where’s my wife?”

  “Who are you? What do you want? You’re not gonna get away with this!”

  If Bartow thought he could intimidate Black because he was cute and lived in a great big house on the ocean, he was damn stupid. Black would have to get his attention the hard way, but it was Bartow’s own fault. Black wasn’t playing games. He brought the hammer down hard on Bartow’s left kneecap.

  Bartow screamed so long and so loud that it was a good thing he could afford a house without close neighbors. He was writhing in that chair like an injured python in a death throe. Black grabbed him, held him still with one hand, and sent his doubled right fist hard into the
bridge of his nose. Cartilage crunched and blood gushed, and Novak stepped aside to avoid the fine spray. Bartow screamed some more, his eyes rolling back in his head as he almost passed out. Trying to get away, he overturned the chair, still twisting and crying and begging and bleeding. It hadn’t taken much. He was not a hero. Black jerked him back up, chair and all. Blood streamed down the man’s chest, but Black had succeeded in getting his attention. Bartow was sobbing loudly and pitiably. Black got down close to his face. “Okay, can you hear me now? You are going to tell me everything I want to know, you understand that, everything I ask you.”

  The guy moaned and dropped his face down until his chin lay on his chest. Black raised his head by grabbing all that beautiful blond hair. Bartow started choking on his own blood and seemed incapable of coherent answers, so Black dropped his hold and let him spit out the blood in his mouth. Novak walked to the utility sink by the tools and filled a glass with water. He brought it back and tossed it in the guy’s face. Bartow sputtered and choked some more but came around a little. Now he appeared ready to chat, considering as hard as he was bawling. “Please, please,” he muttered. “Don’t hurt me anymore. Oh God, my knee. I’ll tell you everything, go ahead, ask me. I’ll do anything you want. Oh God, I’m gonna be sick.”

  Black hunkered down close to him again, and Novak stood behind him. They didn’t need to do anything else. Bartow was a coward and couldn’t hold up to a mild beating. He would say whatever he needed to say to stay alive. If it would be the truth was the question. Novak didn’t want to waste time. He wanted Black to get the information they needed and get off the beach before somebody came to the door or heard this guy screaming.

  Bartow sat there, groaning and trying to suck air through his broken nose. Each breath made a little whistling wheeze. Okay, confession time.