by Alex Ander
Higs removed his glasses and wiped a hand down his face. “Yes, Mr. St. Christopher. I had strong reason to believe your daughter would be among the others at that location.”
“And you didn’t tell me! You son-of-a-”
*******
Hearing Jacob curse, Stockwell flinched in her chair, spilling coffee on her pants.
“You lied to me.” Jacob pointed at an imaginary Higs. “You told me when I started working for you that I’d be the first person to know if you found anything on my missing daughter. I can’t believe this. You lied to me.”
“I did not deceive you, Mr. St. Christopher. I merely withheld information, information that—”
“Don’t play your damn word games with me, Higs.”
“Fair enough. I made a decision then. Knowing how you reacted a month ago, when I informed you that I had received an alert of a girl’s body being discovered in a shallow grave, I felt it best not to divulge the possibility that your daughter might very well be alive and in Georgia.”
Jacob gripped his phone tighter. “I’m a big boy. I could’ve handled it.”
“I beg to differ.”
“So now you’re shielding me from the truth?”
“This was never about you. My primary concern was for young Miss St. Christopher’s well-being and safe return. If she was at that compound, and you were in a position to rescue her, then I needed you to be at your best. I needed the calm-and-steady-Army Ranger-and-SWAT team-leader Jacob...not the father-of-a-missing-daughter Jacob.”
Jacob shook his head. “You had no right to keep this from me, Higs.”
“I was fully aware that my choice would put a strain on our relationship. Please know that I did not come to this resolution without carefully considering the outcome. I do hope you and I can move beyond this tension.”
“Tension?” Jacob ran fingers through his hair. “Tension doesn’t begin to describe how pissed I am right now.”
The door opened, and a nurse poked her head into the space.
“And, as far as our little partnership is concerned,” he chopped the air with a lateral strike, “I’m done.”
The nurse recoiled.
Stockwell stood, grabbed her man’s arm, and pointed.
Jacob turned around to see a wide-eyed woman in the archway. He glanced away, “Consider this my resignation...go to hell,” before mashing the ‘End’ icon and acknowledging the medical woman. “I’m sorry about that.” He stabbed his chin at her. “How’s my daughter doing?”
The woman forced a quick smile. “You can see her now. She’s doing very well.”
He nodded, “Thank you,” then put away his phone before pressing the meaty part of his palms against his temples.
The nurse backed out of the room.
“You okay, Jake?”
He faced his woman and swallowed. “No.” A beat. “But I need to be...for my little girl.” He put a hand on Stockwell’s lower back and applied gentle pressure. “Let’s go see her.”
∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞
.
Chapter 31
Happy Reunions
2:11 P.M.
UPSTATE NEW YORK
The 1970 Grabber Blue Ford Mustang rolled to a stop in front of a modern, redbrick ‘L-shaped’ ranch-style house. Surrounded by a rock garden, a thirty-year-old oak tree shaded the plush front lawn. Jacob turned the ignition switch to cut off the low rumble of the Boss 302 engine.
“Gosh.” Sitting in the passenger seat, wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes, DD ogled her house through the Ford’s blacked-out window. “It looks just like it did the day I was—”
Jacob eyed her from behind the steering wheel. “You okay?”
“Yeah...fine.” She filled her lungs and exhaled. “Going to take a while to adjust, I guess.” She faced her dad and faked a smile before pushing on her door and getting out.
A red, late-model Ford Escape pulled up behind the muscle car, and Stockwell got out to join the teen.
Jacob drew up on his kid’s left and held out a hand.
DD took the offering.
Father and daughter strolled across the lawn.
The home’s front door opened, and a thirty-something woman with strawberry blonde, collar-length straight hair that curled under at the neck rushed out of the house.
DD let go of her dad’s hand and bolted for her mother.
The two females met under the oak tree, their arms commingling.
Olivia St. Christopher hugged and kissed her child.
Jacob strolled up to the joyful gathering.
His ex-wife gave him a big hug and pecked his cheek before lavishing her daughter with more attention.
Stockwell leaned against the passenger side of the Mustang and crossed arms and ankles. She smiled at the side of Jacob’s face. After all the happy reunions you’ve orchestrated for others...I’m glad you’re finally getting yours, Jake.
“Hi, Stockwell.”
The FBI agent jumped and whipped her head to the right before putting a flat hand to her heart. “You scared me half to death, Mandy.”
Five-nothing, one hundred pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes, sixteen-year-old Amanda Applegate extended her palms. “Sorry.”
Jacob and Stockwell had saved Amanda from a Mafioso’s assassin. The teenager was now in the care of Jacob, and his ex-wife, and living at his ex-wife’s home.
“Don’t you know you shouldn’t sneak up on people.”
“I thought cops weren’t supposed to let people sneak up on them.” Amanda came up on Stockwell’s three o’clock and leaned against Jacob’s car.
“Yeah...well, it’s been a long day.”
Amanda stared at the happiness taking place fifty feet away. “I can see that. I’m glad you guys found her.”
Her ears picking up on a tone not matching the kid’s positive words, Stockwell gave her a sideways look before facing forward. “So am I.”
“Jacob must be ecstatic.”
“Over the moon is more like it.”
The teenager cocked her head at the scene. “They look like the perfect family, don’t they? Father. Mother. Daughter.” She glanced at the home and the surrounding property. “Only thing missing is a white picket fence and a dog.”
Stockwell squinted at Jacob’s beaming face, and his ex-wife’s bright eyes, as his onetime mate—her arm around DD—laughed and talked with her ex-husband and her daughter. Yeah. They sure do. Picking up on the negativity in her own mental words, Stockwell blinked a few times and shot Amanda a quick look. Now you’ve got ME feeling blue.
“So, tell me, Stockwell. Have you asked yourself how we fit into the equation?”
Arching her brows, Stockwell lolled her head to one side. Not until just now. Her spirits fading with every passing second, she cast alternating glances between the person next to her and the threesome straight ahead before elbowing Amanda.
The girl turned toward the nudge.
Stockwell flicked her eyes toward the Ford Escape. “You want to get out of here...grab a bite to eat or something?”
Amanda squinted at the couple who had given her a home, made her part of their family. In the next instant, she sulked at her ‘competition.’ “Yeah. I think I would.”
Stockwell pushed away from the Mustang and laid a hand on the teen’s shoulder.
The duo ambled toward the Escape, the vehicle’s owner rounding the front grille and opening the driver’s door, the adolescent pulling on the passenger side door handle.
“Where are you two going?”
They turned to see Jacob jogging up to them.
“We thought we’d,” Stockwell motioned toward Olivia and DD, who were making their way toward the house, “give you some space.”
His eyes zipping back and forth between Stockwell and Amanda, he noticed sullen expressions. “Don’t you want to come in...be a part of it all?”
Stockwell and Amanda exchanged glances before each one looked away.
“Okay. What
’s going on with you two? This isn’t a funeral. I figured you’d be happy.”
Following another glance at the woman on the other side of the Escape, Amanda closed her door and faced him. “I’m super stoked that you found your daughter and all, Jacob. I really am. Please,” she pumped her hands toward him, “please don’t get me wrong when I say this.”
Stockwell hunched over and overlapped forearms on the car’s roof.
He studied his woman’s posture then regarded Amanda. “Say what, exactly?”
“Since finding out about all this, I’ve just been wondering...” she bit her lower lip and gawked at her shoes.
Stockwell looked left then cranked her head back to stare at the sky.
Jacob held out his hands, palms up. “Wondering,” he paused, “what?”
Amanda blew out a big breath and faced him. “Wondering how I fit into the picture now.”
He frowned. “I’m not following you.”
She swung an upturned palm toward the house. “Now that you’ve got your real daughter back, I mean.”
Hearing her lean heavily on the word ‘real,’ Jacob caught on and slowly nodded his head while spying his woman and reading a similar look on her face.
“I’m sorry, Jacob. I really don’t mean to pee on your parade. Honest, I’m not trying to do that. I’d just like to know where...”
Jacob closed the distance between them.
“...I stan—”
He gave her the warmest, strongest hug he could give her without hurting the tiny thing.
Her arms came up to his sides.
Five seconds later, he listed forward and set her shoes back on the ground before kissing the top of her hair. “That should tell you exactly how you fit into the picture, Mandy.”
She looked up at the man towering more than a foot above her.
“And if you need more, just know that, in my mind, I have,” he gave her the ‘peace’ sign, “two daughters now.”
She smiled.
“So, don’t you ever,” he waggled a finger at her, “for one second...think that you’re not my kid. You hear me?”
She pressed her lips together to stifle the pressure building behind her eyes. “Yes.” She nodded, sniffed, and wiped at the drops that had slipped from her lower eyelashes and landed on her cheeks. “I hear you.”
“Good. That’s settled then.”
“But what about,” Amanda glanced toward the house, “Olivia?”
Jacob laughed. “Well, if your plan is to tell her you don’t feel welcome anymore, and that you’re moving out,” he aimed two finger guns at the teen, “good luck with that.”
The kid withdrew a bit.
“And do me a favor. When you break the news to her, make sure I’m not around, okay? I don’t want to be there when she rips you a new one and tells you you’re not going anywhere.” He sold it with a half-smile.
Amanda mimicked his gesture then sniggered.
“So,” he tossed a glance at each person, “are you both coming inside now?”
“No.” Stockwell hesitated. “I think you still need to spend some time with DD...without us there throwing off the dynamics.”
“You sure?”
“Plus,” she swung a finger back and forth between her and Amanda, “that way Mandy and me can talk one on one...get caught up.”
“All right then.” He opened Amanda’s door while tilting his head toward Stockwell. “Can you give us a minute, Mandy?”
“Sure thing.” She plopped into her seat and looked up at him. “Hey, Jacob?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
He smiled, dipped his chin once, and shut her door before making his way to the driver’s side.
Stockwell closed her door and put her butt to the vehicle.
He stopped a foot from her, folded arms across his chest, and rubbed a thumb over his chin while staring at her legs. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you,” he met her gaze, “for playing along back at that house. The whole work partner thing?”
She nodded.
“I just didn’t want to hit DD between the eyes with...”
“It’s okay, Jake.”
“...the fact that her parents are divorced, and that her father’s...”
Stockwell raised a hand. “There’s no need to—”
“...dating another wom—”
“Jake.”
He regarded her.
“I get it. It’s okay.”
Waiting a beat, he then nodded, glimpsed the house, and came back to her. “And, as far as you and I are concerned, while I love my ex-wife—she’s a great mother to my chil—” he eyed Amanda, “children. But,” he ogled his woman, “I’m madly in love with you, Deanna Stockwell. I hope you know that.”
She smiled. “I do. But,” she tipped her head from side to side once, “it’s still nice to hear it, though. I love you, too, Jake.”
He hiked his brows. “See you back at the house?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, though.”
She opened her door, “Take as long as you need,” then put her right foot on the floorboard and faced him. “I’ll wait up for you.”
He smiled. “I’d like that.”
*******
5:29 P.M.
JACOB K. JAVITS FEDERAL BUILDING
FBI OFFICE
NEW YORK CITY
Having spent an hour and a half talking and laughing with Amanda at a coffee house—thirty minutes longer than she had planned—Stockwell had then raced back to the office for a meeting with her boss.
“Great job on bringing down that kidnapping ring, Stockwell.”
Hurrying down an aisle between cubicles, Stockwell cranked her head toward the male voice, “Thanks, Terry,” before facing forward and hanging a right at the next intersection.
“Same here,” said a female agent stepping out from her office area.
“Thanks.”
“Say, you got a minute to go over something?”
Stockwell turned sideways then backpedaled while checking her watch. “I can’t right now. Catch me on my way back through.” She did a one-eighty and half jogged the rest of the way to her destination.
Pulling up a few feet short of an open doorway, she took a breath and blew out the air through puckered lips to settle her nerves. After a quick inspection of her attire, she stepped into the archway and rapped knuckles on the door.
His back to her, Assistant Director Edgar Brolin spun his chair around and beckoned her. “Come in, Agent Stockwell. Shut the door and have a seat.”
She followed his directives before sitting, crossing her legs at the knee, and settling deeper into her chair.
“First of all, let me echo the sentiment of your,” he gestured, “colleagues out there. That was a rather large—and deep—operation you unraveled in Georgia. All the kidnapped girls have been reunited with their families. And, as we speak, prosecutors are working to bring charges against all the members of that cult, including the private military contractor that had been supplying them with illegal weapons.”
“That’s great to hear. And thank you, sir. But, as you know, I did have help.”
Brolin nodded, “Perfect segue,” before leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers. “Your extracurricular activities have put me in a bind of sorts.”
Stockwell shifted in her seat.
“Just about everything you did to free those kidnapped kids falls way outside of FBI protocols. I’m still confident—hopeful at least—that we’ll be able to get convictions on those cult members.” He huffed. “The ones that you and Mr. St. Christopher left alive, that is.”
She cleared her throat.
The AD looked away. “And I’m relatively certain that all those,” he wavered, “other operations you’ve engaged in over the last couple of months, during your time off, were conducted in much the same manner...meaning not by the book.”
Stockwell felt the skin under her shi
rt collar growing moist.
“However,” Brolin picked up a pen and tapped the instrument on the edge of his desk while spying her, “you and Jake do seem to get results.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He tapped the pen.
She swallowed.
He squinted at her.
She released her death grip on the chair’s armrests. Relax, Dee. Whatever happens...happens.
The AD tossed the pen onto his desk, leaned forward, and clasped his hands. “Officially, I can’t condone your actions, Agent Stockwell. They’ll never stand up in a court of law. I’m sure you know that.”
“I do, sir.”
“Therefore...I’ll never be able to support you if you continue doing what you’re doing on your own time. Is that clear?”
“Crystal.”
He stood, stuffed hands into pants pockets, and meandered to the other side of his desk, his head down the entire way. “With that being said,” Brolin leveled his gaze at her, “know that however much,” he made finger quotes, “time off you request,” he paused, “I will always grant it...no matter how many vacation days you actually have in the bank.”
Her brow wrinkling, she cocked her head. “Sir?”
“I want bad people put away as much as you and Jake do. But,” he swung an open hand toward his desk, “in my position, my every move comes under a microscope; therefore, while I’ll never be able to officially back you up, I also won’t stand in your way.”
Stockwell glanced down and pondered his words.
“I’ll do whatever I can behind the scenes, but,” he shook his head, “if push comes to shove, I’ll be forced to disavow your actions,” a beat, “for the good of the agency, of course.” He held out his right hand. “I’m sure you understand.”
She stood and accepted the offering. “I do, sir.”
“Best of luck.”
“Thank you.”
“But somehow,” thinking back to his conversation with FBI Director Jameson, and the conversation his superior had had with White House Chief of Staff Peter Whittaker, Brolin wagged his finger at her, “somehow I think you have people who can get you out of any jam you might find yourself in.”
A grin showed on her face before she could take it back.
