Risky Return (Covert Operatives Book 3)

by Virginia Vaughan

  “I hope you’re right.” She leaned into him and he soaked in her presence before recalling how a moment’s weakness, a moment of taking her in, had distracted him and nearly cost her life when that car had tried to run her over yesterday. Her welfare had become so important to him in only a few short days. He couldn’t allow his judgment to be clouded that way again.

  He broke off their embrace and ushered her to the car. When she glanced up at him in curiosity, he put on his game face. He had to treat this like any other dangerous situation he’d been a part of. He had to set up boundaries and protect the inside.

  Only this time he was guarding two things—Rebecca’s life...and his heart.

  SEVEN

  His phone rang even before they made it back to Rebecca’s father’s house. Collin checked the ID. “It’s Kent.” He pressed the button to answer the call and put it on speaker mode. “That was quick. Did you find something?” He saw Rebecca’s eyes widen in excitement at the prospect of a break in the case.

  “Not at the warehouse, but I just got word about some fingerprints we lifted from the motel.”

  “Whose are they?” Rebecca asked.

  “They belong to a seventeen-year-old kid named Dylan Kepler.”

  “That was Missy’s boyfriend,” Rebecca said. “Why were his prints at the motel? Do you think he’s involved?”

  “I don’t know. We found a lot of partial prints. It is a motel, after all. But his prints were all over the door and in the bathroom including the window. It looks like he might have climbed out the bathroom window.”

  Rebecca covered her mouth as she recalled something. “I thought I heard someone else in the room with Missy when she was taken. It sounded like someone was urging her to leave. It had to have been Dylan.”

  “But how did he know she was there?”

  “Maybe she called him, hoping to see a familiar face. Someone to comfort her.” He hated to think she’d reached out to the boy only to have him turn her over to the ring. “Is there any chance he’s involved in human trafficking?” Collin asked.

  Kent sighed. “His record isn’t spotless, but it’s mostly parking tickets and a couple of misdemeanor shoplifting arrests. That’s how we have his prints on file. Nothing that indicates any violent disposition.”

  Collin turned to Rebecca. “Did you speak to him after Missy vanished? What was your take on him?”

  “I did. He seemed like a good kid to me. He got good grades and was preparing for college. And he seemed to care about Missy.”

  “We should question him again.”

  “I’ve got my hands full here,” Kent said. “I could send one of my guys over there but—”

  “We’ll go,” Rebecca interjected. “We’ll talk to him.”

  Kent sighed. “That’s what I figured. Let me know if I need to intervene.”

  Collin ended the call then headed for a park where Rebecca told him teens in the area sometimes congregated in the evenings.

  He parked the car and they got out. Several people yelled greetings to Rebecca and she responded accordingly. Again, he was struck by the connection she was making with these teens.

  “There he is,” she said, pointing toward a scrawny, dark-haired kid on the other side of the basketball court. He wasn’t playing ball but was hanging out with two other boys.

  As they approached, Dylan turned, saw them and took off running.

  Collin chased after him, catching him as he attempted to climb over a fence. His small frame made Collin think he wasn’t the athletic type, and it was a good thing. If the teen had made it over the fence, he could have been gone.

  “Why did you run, Dylan?” Collin demanded and only then did Collin notice the black eye and scrapes on his knuckles. This kid had recently taken a beating and done his best to beat back.

  Rebecca caught up with them, her own bruises shining in the light from the streetlamp. “What happened to you, Dylan?”

  “It was nothing. Just a fight. I already told you I don’t know where Missy is,” he said.

  “And you don’t seem to care. Now, tell us who did this to you.”

  Dylan turned to look at him. “Who are you?”

  “A friend helping Rebecca find Missy. We need you to answer a few questions.”

  “Look, I told you when Missy first went missing I didn’t know what happened to her. That hasn’t changed.”

  “Then I’ll ask different questions. When was the last time you saw Missy?”

  “I told you. I saw her the night before she left. She told me she wanted space to figure things out.”

  “What kinds of things?”

  “She didn’t think she wanted to keep the baby.”

  Rebecca gasped. “That’s not true. She was looking forward to having it.”

  “She changed her mind. She knew having a kid at sixteen would be hard on both of us.”

  “She was too far along to end the pregnancy, Dylan.”

  “Look, she wasn’t the only one with plans. I’m going to college. I got a full academic scholarship to the University of Mississippi. A baby just would have—” he sighed “—it would have ruined everything.”

  “You’re sounding more and more like a guilty man, Dylan.” Collin took his arm and forced him to sit on a bench. “Listen to me, Dylan. A girl is dead, probably murdered. She was abducted and her baby stolen from her before she was found dead from an overdose. If the same thing happens to Missy, guess who’s going to pay for that? You are. You’ll go down for kidnapping and murder.”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

  “But you knew she escaped her abductors and was back in town, didn’t you? You were in her motel room. Did you call those goons and tell them where she was?”

  “No, I wouldn’t do that.” He pulled a hand through his hair. “Look, I knew she was back. She called me. I went over there to see her. I guess they were following me.”

  “Who was following you?”

  “I don’t know who they were. It was two big guys. They busted in the door. We tried to go out through the bathroom window. I thought she was right behind me but when I turned around, one of them grabbed her. I tried to help her but this guy threw me against the wall. When I woke up, she was gone and the police were there. I took off. I care about Missy. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.”

  “Tell us what you do know about the day she disappeared.”

  “I told Missy I didn’t want the baby and she freaked. She wasn’t going to have an abortion so I thought I had convinced her to give up the baby for adoption. We talked about it and she said she’d think about it. There’s this guy that my friend Rodney heard about. He said he’ll pay good money for a baby. If you go through the adoption agencies, they don’t give you anything. So I set up a meeting with him.”

  Rebecca frowned. “That doesn’t sound like anything Missy would be involved in.”

  “She didn’t like it but I convinced her to go with me just to listen to what the guy said. I think she went only to shut me up about it. She probably thought she’d listen to what the man said then have months to think about it.”

  “What happened?” Collin asked.

  “We met this guy behind the old shopping mall. He said he was one of those baby doctors and he wanted to check Missy out. I helped her climb into the van so he could listen to her heartbeat. The next thing I knew, they were tossing me out the back and telling me if I mentioned anything about them, they’d kill me. I asked them about the money and the guy gave me five hundred bucks.”

  Collin saw the horror written across Rebecca’s face as she addressed him. “You should have gone to the police. Or at the very least told me that when I asked you about her.”

  “I was scared. They threatened to kill me if I said anything.”

  “And what did you think they were going to do t
o Missy?”

  “He said they were only going to keep her until the baby was born then she could come back home.”

  “Who was this man, Dylan? Did he give you his name?”

  “He only called himself Jack, but his real name is Dr. Jack Rayburn. He has a practice in Jackson.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “One of my foster sisters is pregnant and she had to go see him because she’s a high-risk pregnancy. She brought home the pamphlet of information they give you on the first visit. I saw his photo on it and recognized him. I thought about calling him, demanding to know where Missy was.” Color tinged his face. “I guess I was too much of a coward.”

  Collin rubbed his face. He wanted to let this kid have it, but he couldn’t. He saw himself in him too much to stay really angry at him. He was just a scared kid who’d gotten in over his head. One dumb idea and his life was ruined. He pulled at his arm, forcing him to stand. “Let’s go, Dylan.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “To the police station. You’re going to tell them exactly what happened and you’d better pray they find her alive or you’ll go down for accessory to murder.”

  Dylan hung his head, but he didn’t protest as they walked to the car. He got inside and remained quiet until they reached the sheriff’s office, where, true to his word, he recounted to Kent when he returned from the warehouse scene just what he’d told them about the mysterious Dr. Rayburn, who’d snatched his girlfriend right off the street.

  Kent led Dylan into an interview room and listened to what the boy had to say. Once he was done, Kent stepped out and shook his head. “I should have listened to you from the start,” he told Rebecca.

  She cut him no slack. “Yes, you should have.”

  “What are you going to do now, Kent?”

  “I’m not letting him out of my sight until the FBI arrives. He has an outstanding warrant on some unpaid parking tickets. It’s only misdemeanor charges but it’ll allow me to hold him for a couple of days, at least until the FBI gets here. I know they’ll want to question him about this mysterious doctor. He’s at least a witness, if not an accomplice to an abduction, and I don’t want him running off before then.”

  Collin glanced at Rebecca as she watched Dylan through the window into the interview room. “What do you think?” he asked her. “Is he involved?” He had his own theory on the boy’s guilt or innocence, but he was curious what she thought.

  She sighed. “I don’t think he’s involved in the ring, but he bears some responsibility for Missy being taken. But this Dr. Rayburn should be our main concern. We need to speak to him.”

  “Absolutely not,” Kent said. “We’ll let the FBI take on the doctor.”

  “That’s not good enough,” Rebecca insisted. “Missy can’t wait for the FBI to arrive.”

  She walked off, leaving Kent to shake his head. “She’s not going to wait for the FBI, is she?”

  “Nope.” He had a strong feeling they would be driving to Jackson next. It was Sunday night so they would have to wait until the offices opened tomorrow morning. At least they’d be able to get a night’s sleep. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

  He shook Kent’s hand then caught up to Rebecca as she got into the car.

  A pained expression settled on her face as she buckled up. “I can’t believe Dylan knew all this time and didn’t tell anyone,” she said. “How could he do that?”

  “He’s a scared kid. He didn’t know what to do.”

  “Missy is probably scared, too, but he didn’t think about that. He was only thinking of himself and how having a baby would affect his life. He didn’t care about hers.”

  Collin leaned against the steering wheel. He could relate to the boy on that level so much. “I know that fear, remember?”

  “As far as I recall, you didn’t sell me to a baby-trafficking ring to get rid of your problem.”

  No, he’d wanted that child. Something to link him to Rebecca forever. Unfortunately, God had had other plans for them. Now it was his failure that linked them. He understood her pain, but he also knew what it was like to be a kid and told a baby was coming. He couldn’t condone Dylan’s tactics or his failure to tell someone, but he understood what the boy was feeling.

  “Do you remember the night you told me you were pregnant? I felt my whole world crumbling around me. You were looking at me like you wanted me to be happy about the baby, but all I could think about was my future blowing away like the wind. It’s a big load for such a young guy.”

  “You didn’t have to bear it alone, Collin. I was in it, too. I think I wanted to hear you say you were happy and everything was going to be okay so I wouldn’t be so scared.”

  He looked at her, surprised to hear that. She hadn’t shown him the least bit of reservation when she’d told him she was pregnant. “You were scared? You never showed it.”

  “A baby wasn’t really in my plans, either, at least not so soon.” She reached for his hand and held it, locking eyes with him. “But you were in my plans, Collin. When I looked at my future, it always included you.”

  He swallowed hard, fighting back a rush of emotions that threatened to send him to his knees if he hadn’t already been sitting. The love he’d felt for her had been true and real and it had never faded. “Me, too,” he whispered, pressing his hand against hers.

  But her eyes changed. They grew colder and she pulled her hand away. “Then you left me. I depended on you and you abandoned me.”

  Her abrupt tone stung but it didn’t alter the truth about him. “I can’t change what happened,” he told her. “I can only say I’m not the same person I was back then, Rebecca. I was a kid, young and scared. I know I let you down long before I ever left. If I had been a better provider, maybe you wouldn’t have lost the baby.”

  She turned to him and he saw pain and regret flashing in her brown eyes. “That wasn’t your fault.”

  Yet he’d taken the blame from day one. “I should have been able to afford a better doctor. Or if I’d taken you back to your father’s house, he could have gotten you the care you needed.”

  “I wasn’t lacking in medical care, Collin. It just happened. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Only God knows the purpose.”

  “How can there be a purpose for losing a child? It was a punishment.”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  “Yes, it was. It was a punishment for me thinking I could ever have you, ever give you the kind of life you deserved to have.” He still beat himself up over how high the price for his failures had been. “You got caught up in the wake of my punishment, which makes it all the worse. You always ended up paying the price for my decisions. I couldn’t allow that to happen any longer. You deserved better, Rebecca. That’s why I left.”

  Anger flashed through her. “Who were you to make that decision for me? You. My father. You both wanted to tell me what was best for me, but I knew what was best for me, Collin. It was you. All I ever wanted was you. I didn’t care about the money or the lack of it. I wanted to be with you and I wanted to have babies with you and when we lost the first one, the only thing that got me through it in those early days was knowing that one day when we were both ready we could have another and another and another. I wasn’t going to give up until I was holding your child in my arms.” Tears slipped down her face. “When you left, you broke more than my heart, Collin. You shattered those dreams.”

  He was stunned by her outburst, but she wasn’t wrong. He had made the decision to leave without consulting her, without even telling her. He’d just run, and that’s not what adults were supposed to do.

  He made up his mind right then. He couldn’t change what had happened between him and Rebecca and he would never have a future with her, but he had finally found something he had to give to kids like Dylan. He could teach them to stay and face their fears like a man should do.<
br />
  * * *

  The next morning, Rebecca was online looking up everything she could find on Dr. Jack Rayburn as Collin made the sixty-mile drive to the city of Jackson. Rayburn had a clinic there where he saw high-risk pregnancies.

  “That would certainly make sense with a baby-selling ring,” Collin said when she told him. “They would need a good physician to make sure the women were healthy or else they couldn’t sell the babies.”

  But how involved was Rayburn in the ring? Was he just the help or the guy behind it? Rebecca thought of Missy and wished they could ask her about Rayburn. Would she have been able to identify him as the doctor who’d worked on her? Did he know where she was right now?

  Collin could obviously see what she was thinking. “We’re only here to question this man, Rebecca. We have no proof he was involved in anything and we’re taking the word of a teenage boy who, by his own admission, allowed his pregnant girlfriend to be abducted. He could have been lying to us.”

  She knew he didn’t believe that. He’d instantly bonded with Dylan over their shared history. The thing was, she believed him, too. “I know he could be lying, but he gave us this doctor’s name and he does exist. He’s also an obstetrician.”

  She had a feeling about this doctor. They were finally catching a break and she hoped he would lead them to Missy and the rest of the girls he’d helped kidnap.

  “If he’s involved, he’s certainly not going to admit knowing Missy, but it’ll give us an opportunity to gauge his reaction. We can’t go in there confrontational or he won’t see us. We’ll need a cover story just to get through the door.”

  He was right. She hadn’t considered that angle. “What should we say?”

  “We’ll tell the receptionist we’re a married couple—”

  “Which we are.”

  He shot her a surprised glance. They hadn’t spoken much of the fact that they were legally still married.

  He continued. “We’re thinking of starting a family and are interviewing obstetricians.”

  A lump formed in her throat. That cover story was too close to the truth for her comfort. Given her history of losing a child, it wouldn’t be a stretch to be looking for a high-risk doctor, either. The pain that memory brought should have faded years ago, but it was still strong and raw, and being with Collin only seemed to bring it to the surface.