by Casi McLean
The List––
Alyssa’s Revenge
By Casi McLean
Deep State Mysteries # 2
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
I’d like to extend my special thanks to my critique partners, Lori Powers and Linda Carroll-Bradd and to my beta readers, Kathi Goldwyn and Mary Schiller. I’m forever thankful for your friendship and help in bringing my story to the world.
The List: Alyssa’s Revenge
COPYRIGHT © 2019 by Casi McLean
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Casi McLean, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected] Cover Art by Ada Frost
Deep State Mysteries Book 2
Published in the United States of America
Praise For Casi McLean
Intrigue, NCIS, and throw some Paranormal in for good measure! by Susan Ricci
“A wildly entertaining story if your reading passion is a great mystery, hot romance, and government intrigue of the sneakiest kind. Five stars!”
BLOWN AWAY! by Sandra Daily
“I’d like to be professional and tell you about the plot, characterization, etc., but the only words that come to mind are HOLY COW! This story has it all. It’s the kind of story other authors are going to enjoy reading––and probably be inspired by. It’s a story that will stay with any reader for a very long time. I would go as far as to say, it’s the best book I’ve read in a long time…I can’t wait to see where she goes from here. To wrap it up––I’m BLOWN AWAY!”
Five glorious stars by Stephanie N
“Ms. McLean writes a compelling and engaging tale. Her characters are well drawn, and it’s crystal clear as to the roles they play. Her dialogue is witty, in-depth, romantic, and suspenseful. Furthermore, she engages in the spiritual world with love, protection, and strength.”
A finely woven tale that flows like a satiny sheet… ToMeTender Reviews by Dianne
“A fantasy of romance, of true love knowing no bounds and [Casi McLean] has captured the spirit of love in its purest form, even as her characters must face the bizarre circumstances they met under. From pain to joy, to disbelief to believing in miracles, Ms. McLean has created a finely woven tale that flows like a satiny sheet across the mind and heart. Her writing will make a believer out of even the most skeptical of non-believers in love. Let go of reality and take a stroll back in time.”
A face paced mystery thriller! by Aaron Lazar
“I absolutely love the elements of the wounded warrior and the dog who I’m hoping will become his best companion in the next books in the series. Action-packed scenes move the plot forward. My favorite was the sting between the heroes and the villain in a Washington park at night. The tension was high, the action was well-depicted, and the environment was beautifully described. I felt as if I were right beside Ash and Emily. I could feel the cool March breeze on my face, smell the cherry blossoms, and relate to the adrenaline shooting through the heroes’ veins.
Anyone who reads this story will want to continue the series to see what ungodly secrets our new heroic team discovers about our government. I, for one, will be cheering them on throughout the series!”
A NY Best Seller IMO! by Jet
“This is such a great book. It should be on the best sellers list! I hope everyone buys extras to pass out to friends. I love suspense, thriller, and historical fiction like John Grisham and stuff like the Rembrandt affair by Daniel Silva to give you an idea where my review is coming from.
This is up there with the best. I am more than halfway through and can’t wait to find out what happens! It has kept my attention (which is typically IMPOSSIBLE). I love how the characters are developed and I’m always surprised at what comes next. Extremely enjoyable. Truly, Casi McLean wrote an amazing story filled with imagination.”
Dedication
As I write The List––Alyssa’s Revenge, sex trafficking and human slavery thrives globally. The average age of sex trafficking victims in the USA is 12-15 years. This novel is dedicated to the victims of slavery and all factions of human trafficking.
Chapter One
Hearing the doorlatch click closed, Hanna slid the handcuffs off her thin wrists, stood, then tiptoed across the cold, cement floor. She peered through the cracked window and saw him drive away.
“Is Damien gone?”
Hanna nodded then turned toward the voice.
“It’s dark so make sure he’s not testing us again.” The young girl, still shackled to a plumbing pipe under the sink, trembled. She drew her knees to her chest then wrapped her free arm around them.
Hanna wiped a tear from her cheek, scooted across the concrete floor then knelt beside her. Yanking at the child’s handcuffs, she whispered, “I don’t want to leave you here.”
Sarah forced a haggard smile. No longer did her eyes sparkle with the innocence of a thirteen-year-old child. Like windows into her shattered soul, her gaze seemed cold and hollow.
Hanna’s heart broke every time she thought of the abuse Sarah had already survived.
When her family moved to El Paso, Texas, Sarah’s shy nature left her feeling like an outsider. Her super social parents never understood why Sarah had difficulty making friends. “It’s easy, Sarah. Just put yourself out there. Talk to people,” her mother advised. But Sarah didn’t know what to say…until Dylan caught up to her walking home one afternoon. An older boy paying attention to Sarah delighted her. Finally, someone noticed her, talked to and made her feel normal. Thrilled at the changes they saw in their daughter, her parents encouraged the friendship.
Every weekday before school, Dylan met her at the street corner and walked her to class and each afternoon he’d escort her home. Over the next few months, he charmed her, gave her thoughtful gifts, told her how beautiful she was––and said he loved her. On her birthday, he invited her to a concert at The Plaza Theater. Sarah was over the moon…but her parents weren’t.
The extravagant venue made them suspicious of Dylan’s intentions. After a shower of questions turned into a huge fight––resulting in a month’s restriction and forbidding her from seeing Dylan––Sarah texted him, snuck out that night––and her life spun into Hell. Dylan delivered her to Diablo. Betrayed and terrified, she watched as the slave-trader dealt him $1,000 cash.
Smiling, Dylan winked. “Thanks, kiddo.” Then he turned and strolled away, counting his stash.
Though Diablo held her captive for a week as they drove to Atlanta, he didn’t harm her. She ate well, received nice clothes, and he never laid a hand on her.
“A lot of big-spenders will come for the Super Bowl. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty like you will easily bring in $400 or more for a half hours work.” He rubbed his hands together. “And a hefty profit for me.” He chuckled.
Hanna had heard a similar hype from Damien, but her abduction wasn’t quite as elaborately calculated. Known as Atlanta’s premier shopping mall, Phipps Plaza drew high-end customers, so Hanna’s parents never dreamed danger lurked in their own neighborhood. Hanna, along with Abby and Rachel, her two besties, simply went to the movies on a Saturday afternoon like typical fourteen-year-old teenagers. Afterward, the girls strolled around the mall. They had just left Nordstrom’s when Hanna needed to use the bathroom.
“I’m good.” Abby turned to Rachel. “I’ll just wander through the jewelry store if you w
ant to go with.”
“Ohhh, I love that store. You go ahead, Hanna. We’ll hang here until you get back.”
“I’ll be quick.” Hanna rushed past two men’s shops then turned left down a short hallway to the ladies’ room. Who would have thought that single decision would change her life forever?
At first glance, the bathroom appeared empty. She never saw the man hiding in the stall. Once she finished her business, she placed her purse on the counter and washed her hands then turned to grab a paper towel. A heartbeat later, a hand slid around her waist and another cupped over her mouth and nose with a cloth that smelled like the worms in her biology class. She squirmed, kicked, and tried to bite him until everything went black.
She woke up with a headache, cuffed to a bed in a hotel room, a swatch of duct tape stuck to her mouth. Kidnapped December 28th, she’d been with Damien ever since. Hanna wasn’t sure what day of the week it was today, let alone the date, but she knew the month…December. She could scarcely believe she’d lived in his stable for two years. But she’d never forget the day she disappeared…only three days after Christmas. Had her parents searched for her? Had they given up? How many times had she wondered how long Abby and Rachel waited before looking for her? Did they find her purse…how had they told her parents?
After the Super Bowl, Damien moved all his “children” to the Washington D.C. suburbs. McLean, Virginia to be precise, where the CIA’s main offices reside. All summer, Damien hid his stable right under their noses. Now, paired two to a room, his victims resided, cuffed inside their prison in the basement of a boathouse. Closed for the season, the abandoned facility lay beneath an expressway bridge, where no one would hear their cries for help. It mattered little where the stable relocated. Damien auctioned his young boys and girls on the dark web to the highest local bidders. Diablo hadn’t lied when he told Sarah her services would go for four-hundred dollars or more per half hour. Damien must have raked in a fortune.
Hanna shook her head and brushed away a random tear trickling down her cheek. “Try again, Sarah. Squeeze your hand as small as you can…like this.” Holding out her palm, she maneuvered her thumb toward her pinky until the joint popped. “That’s right.” She snatched the handcuffs and held them firm. “Now pull…harder…harder.”
Tears streaming, Sarah tried again with no results. “My fingers can’t do that.” She yanked and tugged at the cuffs then shook her head. “It’s no use. I can’t get loose and it hurts when I try to fold my hand like yours.”
Hanna frowned. “As much as he hurts you?”
She shook her head and tried again. “I can’t get free. You’ve got to go, now, Hanna. Before he comes back. You can get help and bring the police here.”
“But Damien said if one of us leaves, he’d kill the one left behind. You’ve got to come with me.”
“If you don’t find help, we’ll stay imprisoned in this Hell forever. You are our only chance to escape.” She offered a pleading expression. “You’ll come back for me. I promise I’ll stay alive until you do.” She held out her pinky toward Hanna. “Sister’s forever?”
Throat burning at the thought of leaving Sarah behind, Hanna linked her little finger with Sarah’s. “Sister’s forever.” She gave her a long, tight hug then returned to the window. Blinking back watering eyes, she peered outside. Seeing no one, she took off her shirt and wrapped it around her fist then turned to Sarah. “You’ll be colder with the window broken.”
“I know. We talked about this. I’ll be fine. Hurry now.”
Hanna averted her eyes to protect them from the shattering glass then slammed her fist into the window. The crack gave way, spitting splinters everywhere. She pressed against the lingering shards to break off the jagged glass then draped her tee-shirt over the rough edges and hoisted her body up and over the casing before sliding to the ground outside. Free…she was free…but for how long? She yanked her shirt from the window, shook it several times then put it on. Tiny slivers still bit her back, but she was free…that’s all that mattered. Barefoot, she made her way across the boatyard. Canoes and kayaks lined the shore, all fastened securely.
Moonbeams reflecting off the river twinkled like stars. She gazed across the water and saw in the distance, a stream of headlights racing through the night. A highway? To her right, a large bridge forged across the Potomac, and to the left, a canal lined by a path reached into the darkness beyond.
A car slowed in front of the building, and Hanna’s attention flew into alert. She dropped to the ground and crawled until she slipped around the side. Cautiously, she edged closer to the river then crouched next to a stone structure decorated with graffiti. Trembling from both the cold and fear, she slid into the brush then curled into a ball and prayed. Dear Father in Heaven…please help me…help me save Sarah. Lowering her head, she finally let her pent-up tears escape.
“Don’t cry, sweetie.”
Cowering, Hanna snapped around, her arms shielding her face from the beating she knew came next.
“I won’t hurt you.”
The voice sounded so gentle and sincere. Hanna lowered her arms, eyes still squeezed shut, she pried them open a slit to see a beautiful woman kneeling beside her. “Who are you?”
“I saw you scurrying across the boatyard, looking as if you needed help.” She held out an arm, hand splayed toward Hanna. “What’s your name?”
Cautiously, she glanced around, searching for Damien or any potential threat, then timidly reached for the woman’s arm. “Hanna.”
“That’s a lovely name. Is someone chasing you? Are you running away? You look terrified.”
The woman’s long dark hair reminded Hanna of dark chocolate, a pleasant memory she hadn’t thought about in a long time. “Why are you wandering outside so late at night and all alone?”
The woman chuckled. “I was about to ask you the same question. If you’re in danger, please, let me help you.” She grasped Hanna’s wrist and tugged, drawing her from her hiding place.
Her first instinct was to run…but how far could she go, barefoot and dressed in nothing more than one of Damien’s huge tee-shirts? Keeping his stable two to a room, shoeless, and scantily dressed was one more trick he used to make sure they stayed put.
Hanna eyed the woman with a scrutinizing glare. Where had she come from? No one had been lurking around the boatyard, had they? Again, she questioned her own instincts.
“You’re trembling.” The woman rubbed her hands over Hanna’s upper arms. “You’re running from someone, am I right? Someone who’s hurt you?”
She nodded. “He has my sister locked away. He’ll kill her if I don’t find help soon.” Hanna shifted her gaze to the building now about one hundred yards away, then again to the woman. “I don’t think you and I alone could rescue my sister. Can you take me to the police…or call 911 on your cell phone?”
“I know it sounds lame, but I lost my cell phone in the river, and I’m abandoned here with no car either…but here” ––she took off her royal blue coat and draped it over Hanna’s shoulders––“take my wrap. It will keep you warm until you find someone to help you.”
“No, I couldn’t take your coat. You’re stranded here in the cold, too.”
“I insist.” The woman placed her palms on Hanna’s shoulders. “I’ll be fine, and you will too if you do exactly as I say. Do you think you can do that?”
Again, she nodded, hope rising.
“Go behind the building there, where you see the canoes.” She pointed.
“No.” Hanna shrank away. “That’s where Damien is. I can’t go back there.”
“You can, and you will, for your sister’s sake if not your own, you must trust me.”
“But you don’t understand. I––”
The woman’s expression softened, and she squeezed Hanna’s hand. “I understand so much more than you know. I will get you the help you need, but you must follow my instructions precisely. Can you do that?”
Pausing, she considered her opti
ons. The woman’s voice, so steady, strong, and confident, Hanna wasn’t sure why, but she did trust her. Slowly, Hanna nodded.
“Good. Now, you see the clump of trees by the shore just beyond the rows of boats?”
Stretching her neck, she peered around the kayaks and canoes. “Yes. I see them, but––”
“When you get there, you’ll find an untethered canoe floating in the weeds. Get into the boat and push off the shore. The current will take you to safety.”
“How do you know? I can’t see a thing from here and if I go back to the boathouse, Damien will kill me and maybe come searching for you, too.” She couldn’t stop shivering now, dreading what that terrible man would do to her.
“Don’t worry about me. Think about you and your sister. Now go. Hurry. Crouch down in the canoe until you hit land. You’ll find help there, I promise.”
Hanna turned and ran then halted. Looking over her shoulder, she briefly pressed her lips together then spoke softly. “I don’t even know your name.”
The woman smiled. “Alyssa…”
“Thank you…Alyssa.” She turned and sprinted as fast as her bare feet would allow toward the clump of trees.
Chapter Two
On the shoreline of Roosevelt Island, Wyatt Rose stood hypnotized. Dancing lights pirouetted over miniature waves as they caught reflections off streetlamps lining Canal Road, mesmerizing him. His vacant stare wandered across the Potomac River, shifting silently in tandem with the shivers scuttling over his bare arms. But the cold December air contributed little to the chills snaking around his gut.
He couldn’t shake the vision of his sister’s ashen face, etched in terror, drifting just beneath the icy sheet entombing her. The image haunted his dreams. How many nights since they found her had he awakened in a cold sweat, bellowing for her to clasp his hand and grasping at thin air in his feeble attempt to save Alyssa?
