by Dale Mayer
He obviously understood her cryptic question. “Why?”
She shrugged. “I guess I’m wondering when you’re leaving. And what your response is to my earlier request.” She shot a sideways glance toward Harrison; he was stretched out in the back seat, his legs up, listening. She frowned at him. “Did Logan tell you?”
Harrison nodded. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Why?”
“Because in this situation, I’d want to get a hell of a distance away too. And disappearing is something I can do. It would be a lot harder for you without help.”
Then Logan’s phone rang. “Levi, what’s up?”
“One of the four traffickers has turned himself in—Lance Haverstock. He says he and the two other men killed Colin Fisher and Jason Markham, the man you found. The other two are still in the wind. But Haverstock’s spinning quite a tale.”
Logan stood. “That makes sense. Taking care of any weak links now after being arrested, making sure the cops can’t make a case stick.”
“We can’t afford to assume anything at this point.” Levi paused for a moment and then said, “How is she holding up?”
“Scared. Feeling guilty. Otherwise she’s doing fine. She’s healing, but it’ll take time. She wants to disappear in case they should try again.”
“Smart of her. Where does she want to go?”
Logan winced. This wouldn’t be good. “She has a friend in Houston.” He could hear Harrison chuckle from the back seat. And also the stark silence on Levi’s end of the phone.
Then Levi laughed. “I guess my intuition was right on when I asked if I’m supposed to make room for her here.”
“That shouldn’t be necessary. Her friend moved away from Boston a few months ago. I guess they’ve been very close since they were kids, only Alina wasn’t prepared to make such a drastic move.”
“And how about now?” Levi’s tone was dry. “What should we do to make it happen?” His tone turned brisk. “I presume she has furniture to be disposed of, and the place needs to be emptied, and the lease canceled. What about her job?”
“She’s been given several days off, but she’s considering telling them she can’t handle returning to work after what happened. I’m sure they’d understand and let her walk without any penalty.”
“Right. Let me call you back.”
Alina watched as he put his phone away.
He shrugged and said, “He’ll get back to me.”
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for taking the chance.”
He raised his eyebrow. “What chance?”
“To help. Even if Levi can’t do anything about it, I appreciate the thought.”
They chose a restaurant and quickly ordered, Logan aware of Alina’s need to eat. After they finished their dinner and ordered coffee, Harrison contacted Detective Easterly for an update on Tracy’s fate. He hit speaker and laid the phone down on the table so they could all hear the conversation.
“The men went through the place but found nothing. No sign of him or her.” The cop was frustrated and angry. “We followed the city cameras, but he must have another hideaway where he can take her, or he delivered her right away. We’re still tracking down where he went from his last position.”
Logan spoke up. “Make sure you check any properties under Joe’s name. The brothers felt a great deal of animosity for each other. Although Joe rented the house next door from John, Joe still might have had another place. He had a lot more cash than his brother knew about too. Also, John had a second property in the Melville District.”
“If we can believe anything he said,” Easterly added.
“Right.” Harrison leaned forward. “Let us know what we can do.”
The detective rang off, and the three of them stared at each other. Logan was worried about Alina. The color had washed out of her face. Though she had just eaten, she looked like she was ready to pass out. He covered her hand with his. She barely moved. He glanced at Harrison and raised an eyebrow. Harrison nodded. Not a whole lot they could do but get back to the hotel and keep her safe. They asked for the check.
When they cleared the bill, Logan helped Alina to her feet. Keeping an arm around her shoulders, he led her out the front door. “We have to trust they’ll find her.”
“I trust that you will,” she corrected. “I’m not sure about anyone else.”
He tucked her closer and held her. When Harrison walked out of the restaurant, the three proceeded to the car, Harrison driving this time. They were only a couple blocks from the hotel.
In the car, Alina asked, “Can we drive past John’s place?”
Logan winced. “That’s not likely to help.”
She stared at him, and the dark wells of emotion in her eyes made it hard for him to argue.
Harrison shrugged. “Why not? Maybe we can figure out where she is. Joe had a place of his own even when he lived at his brother’s house. John might have inherited property from his brother or used the cash he got after his brother’s death to buy the Melville District property.”
“You think he kept it?
“Why not? It’s not like the market has been very good for sellers. And if he had any connection to the business his brother was in, then maybe this was a good opportunity for him to step into his brother’s place.”
“It’s only three women in a year for Colin. We don’t know that this brother wasn’t also procuring several in that time. Or maybe his brother was a trial run? Or they worked together. We know it was connected. Maybe one was the scout, and then they switched off who got to kidnap the women.”
She shook her head. Her voice low, hard, and painful. “I know several women are suffering right now, and I’d like to do anything I can to help them.”
Logan had the laptop open, already running properties under both brothers’ names. “If it’s that obvious, the police would’ve been there already though.”
“I don’t think he’s a hardened criminal. His brother, yes,” Alina said. “I’m hoping he will go home and take his prize with him. What if he had to go somewhere first? And what if he hadn’t quite made it home? What if, once he got close, he was worried, remembering you guys had found him, wondering if the cops might come too? What if he then made a sudden decision to go somewhere else? Can they track down his vehicle? Perhaps he knows a citywide search for him has begun. But what about hotels? Has anybody checked them, particularly ones between his place and where he was last seen on the cameras? There’s more than a couple, I’m sure.”
“Joe did have a small apartment, but it was sold about six months after his death. Apparently, he had rented it from time to time and used the income to live off while staying in his brother’s house with various friends. Let me check some of the names out.” A moment later Logan spoke again as he read the information flashing on the screen. “Found another property listed to Lingam with the names reversed. So instead of John Lingam, it’s Lingam John, and it’s only a couple blocks from the house we were at. We’re less than two minutes from that property anyway.” Logan quickly gave Harrison directions, and within minutes, they pulled in front of a rundown house that looked to be deserted. Several other similar-looking residences were in the neighborhood—ready for demolition or just unkempt, like renters hadn’t given a damn. The front lawn wasn’t mowed, the front door needed paint, and to have the roof shingles replaced. Maybe it wasn’t just the tenants, but also the owners. He studied the property and then drove past and parked.
Logan turned to look at Alina in the back seat. “You want to come or stay here?”
“I’m coming,” she said. She opened the door and hopped out.
Logan did the same beside her. He reached out, grabbing her arm. “You stay at my side then.” He infused his voice with enough power for her to understand she had to listen to what he said.
She glanced at him and nodded.
*
Harrison walked ahead as if not together with them in any way. He walke
d to the front and rang the doorbell. The two of them kept well back. When no answer came, Harrison walked around to the back of the house.
Logan’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out.
The text from Harrison read Come to the back.
With a quick survey of his surroundings, Logan led Alina on the sidewalk that went all around the house. At the back, he saw a fenced yard. The fence itself seemed to be in better shape than the rest of the property.
Harrison stood at the back door and said softly, “Door’s open.”
The two men frowned, staring at each other, assessing the odds. Logan glanced down at Alina, wishing she wasn’t with them now.
As if catching his train of thought, she glared at him. “I’ll be fine. Go in and check. Make sure the place is safe.”
“Stay here.”
She stepped to the corner, out of sight from almost every angle. “Good idea. Go search. See if she’s in there.”
He ran up the porch steps, and together he and Harrison entered the house. The place was dark and empty. They did a sweep of the first and second floors, but found nothing. No one had been here in a long while.
As they were ready to leave the house, a vehicle pulled around to the side of it. Harrison grabbed Logan’s arm. “Go to Alina and get her out of here. I’ll stay and see who it is.”
Because of the position of this new car, they couldn’t leave from the back door anymore. They both slipped out the front, and Logan raced around to the back, grabbed hold of Alina and took her to the side of the property where she couldn’t be seen.
She was trembling in shock. “Did you find her?”
“No. A vehicle just drove up, and we have to get you away safely.”
She dug her feet in. “It’s probably him. We have to see if she’s here.”
“Cops are on the way.” His voice hardened when he added, “I have to make sure you’re safe.”
She shoved her chin up and forward. “You can’t make my safety a priority over another woman’s.”
He glared down at her. “And that’s where you’re wrong. I will do everything I can to keep you safe. I will also do the same for her. But we don’t even know for sure she’s here.”
“So, find out,” she cried in exasperation. “Stash me somewhere safe and then go.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “And where do you think you’re safe?”
And she realized she’d have to go to the car. She rolled her eyes. “I’ll lie down in the back seat. I promise I won’t sit up, so nobody will know I’m there.”
He shook his head. “If anybody’s watching, they already know you’re here.” He opened the back door to the rental and helped her get inside. “Stay out of sight.”
He closed the door and then turned to study the house.
Harrison bolted toward him. “Move. He’s backing up. Let’s go.”
“Go, go, go!” Logan raced to the driver’s side of the car, Alina right beside him, hitting the unlock seconds before Harrison dove in the passenger seat, and Logan hit the road at top speed. They weren’t about staying hidden anymore; they were focused on following John. This was about making sure the asshole didn’t shake them.
Logan could hear Harrison’s call to the cops, but he didn’t take his attention off driving through traffic ahead of them. “Hang on. Make sure your seat belt is buckled,” he tossed back to Alina.
“It is,” she said in an almost panicked voice. “Don’t let him get away.”
“I’ve no intention of it.”
Harrison said, “The cops are setting up a roadblock. Helicopter will be in the air in ten. At the rate he’s driving, we might have a major car crash.”
He could hear the panic in Alina’s cry behind him. He reassured her. “Not from us. That guy is driving incredibly recklessly. He’s desperate to get free right now. When we catch him, he’s looking at twenty years in jail.”
“Hopefully more,” Harrison snapped. His phone rang.
Once again Logan could hear him talking—he presumed to the cops.
“We’ve taken two rights,” Harrison relayed the directions into the phone. “They got us on satellite now. The request is to stay on him, hoping to direct him toward the freeway, where they are setting up a roadblock on the on-ramp.”
Logan watched the getaway vehicle speed through a red light. He was forced to put on the brakes as the cross traffic picked up between them.
Behind them Alina cried out, “He’s getting away.”
“No, he’s not,” Logan snapped. “I can still see him ahead of us.”
Although this guy was smart, making several turns to lose Logan, no way in hell would Logan let this asshole get away. As soon as the light turned green, he jumped forward, picked up speed past the turning traffic and caught sight of the vehicle ahead. Keeping an eye out, he completely disregarded traffic signs. He pushed the small car to top speed as he slowly gained on the kidnapper.
“The cops don’t want you to be right on his tail. If you can, they’re asking that you stay back a little.” Harrison was back to talking to whoever was on the other end of his phone.
Logan nodded to say he understood. That wasn’t quite so easy. He let up on the gas. At a distance he saw an opening between vehicles and moved over a couple lanes. “I think he’s headed toward the highway.”
“Looks like it,” Harrison said. He tapped the laptop. “Stay straight. If we can push this guy to the right-hand turn, a roadblock will be waiting for him.”
“Looks like he’s about to take the right turn…”
The getaway car, at the very last moment, took a hard right and spun onto the on-ramp. Logan, farther behind, turned easier. They were headed into a roadblock.
“He’s not slowing down,” Logan’s voice rose as he watched the car speed up, racing straight for it. The car clipped the police and kept on going as men dove out of the way.
Logan leaned on the horn, letting the cops know he was coming through as well. Only remnants of the blockade were left. Driving the vehicle hard, Logan went full speed ahead, thankful for a small opening to let them inside the flow of traffic. He was two cars behind. Now he could hear the helicopter.
Alina called out, “It’s above us.”
“Good. They should keep track of where he’s going,” Harrison snapped. “If he’s fully tanked up, he can go a hell of a long way.”
“We have to hope he runs out of gas.”
The vehicles between Logan and the runaway transferred over to the center lane, and Logan moved up.
“Several fields are up ahead, all bordered by heavy woods,” Harrison said.
Logan barely had a chance to notice the surrounding countryside when the getaway vehicle ahead took a hard right and drove straight off the road into the fields and dropped into a bit of a ditch. But then it bounced down and right up over the ditch and ripped into the high grass, heading for the trees on the far side.
“Hang on,” Logan yelled.
He took the angle slightly better down into the ditch and back up on the other side, then turned the wheel and straightened. The other car stopped ahead. As they reached the vehicle, they saw Lingam disappear into the wooded area, showing no sign of a limp.
Harrison called back. “Check the car for the girl.” And he was gone after Lingam. Two more police vehicles pulled behind them. Logan told them to start searching the woods. Two men took off on the manhunt; another came over toward the car, and together they popped the trunk and sure enough found the suitcase.
Alina stood bedside them. “Hurry, hurry, hurry. How much air could possibly be in there?”
The men glanced at each other as they carefully lifted the heavy suitcase out. Logan was surprised at the actual weight. It also gave him hope. They laid it on the ground, struggling to unclip the locks on the suitcase.
“Hurry, open it,” Alina cried, dancing impatiently.
Finally the locks gave way, and they threw the lid back.
Inside lay a small woman, curled up ti
ght. Logan shook his head. “Damn, that’s a tight fit.” And worse, her skin tone was lax, white.
“Let me see her,” Alina said. “Move out of the way.”
She squeezed in front of the cop and reached down for the woman, searching for a pulse, any sign of life.
The cop protested until Logan said, “She’s a nurse.”
Then he stepped back and pulled out his phone. “I’ll get an ambulance for her.”
Alina lifted her face, tears in her eyes, and whispered, “She’s alive. Oh, my God! We made it in time. She’s alive.”
Chapter 13
Alina carefully directed the men to lift Tracy out of the suitcase. That was a delicate operation. She was in so tight, they had to move her joints individually to ease out each limb. When they finally had her free and stretched out on the grass, Alina could work much better. She didn’t have any equipment, but she was bound and determined to see if Tracy had any further injuries. Behind her she could hear the men’s voices.
The cop said, “The ambulance is on the way.”
It was a damn good thing because Tracy’s color and heartbeat were incredibly erratic. Alina also found the injection site which pretty much matched hers. As she checked over the woman’s body, she was relieved to find no broken bones. She sat back on her heels and stared at Logan. “With any luck, she’ll sleep through this whole thing, and not remember any of it.”
Sitting down beside her, the cop asked, “She’s drugged?”
She pointed to the injection site.
“Yes,” Logan said. “She didn’t have the same bad reaction you did.”
Alina nodded. “Looks like they only injected once. He didn’t have her long enough to do much more than that.” Under her breath, she added in a heartfelt whisper, “Thank God.”
Logan straightened her up and pulled her into a hug. “You did well. We found her, and she’ll be okay. Now, you’re not to blame, you hear me?”
She nodded, her gaze still on her coworker. “I know that. At least a part of me does. But …”
He gave her a little shake. “Stop. That’s enough. Forget about these guys and go about living your life again.”
