Registry's Secrets (The Mengliad Series Book 2)

by Jana Janeway

  That grabbed Craddock’s attention; he lifted his head to see what Jeramey was referencing.

  “Why would an almost empty roll of duct tape be on the floor?”

  “Oh God,” Craddock moaned; images of his wife being bound and gagged nearly broke him.

  “And this is definitely Jessica’s hair; she’s the only redhead besides Shea, and his hair is short.”

  Craddock was off the floor and heading over when the sound of the screen slapping shut stopped him. The look on Wade’s face sent his heart into a panicked rhythm.

  “No. No.” He shook his head, willing his words to be true.

  Wade then realized what Craddock was assuming. He put his hands up, trying to calm him. “No, Craddock, not Jessica. Morris. He’s…” Hesitating, he finally just said it. “He’s been shot, point blank range, at the edge of the woods.”

  Craddock lost his stability; he sank to his knees, his hands back in his hair.

  “And Trayden?” Jeramey asked. Wade shook his head. “I know my theories. Anyone care to share theirs?”

  Wade spoke up first. “Pretty sure on the who and what – Trayden killed Morris and kidnapped the others, but why? And where did he take them?”

  “We need to be somewhere else while we figure it out,” Carl insisted. “If the Registry is involved, they could show up at any moment, subjecting us to the same fate.”

  Craddock was aware of movement and shuffling around him, and then Jeramey was on a knee, next to him.

  “Doc?”

  “I failed her. I failed her.”

  Jeramey placed a hand on his shoulder, supportive and reprimanding. “Gonna need you to pull it together. Can you do that?”

  Tilting his head up, Craddock’s watery eyes met Jeramey’s determined ones. “I promised her I would be safe. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  “No, it wasn’t, but it has. So now, we get to someplace safe and work on a plan to locate and retrieve them.”

  Those words hit him hard… them. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the others who had also been taken, it was just that his wife took precedence, always.

  “God. Right. Okay.” He sucked in a deep breath and stood. “So then where are we going?”

  Jeramey shrugged, leading the way out the door amongst the flurry of activity; people were in and out, gathering necessities. “Dunno yet.”

  As they passed the spot where Trayden’s van had been parked, Craddock wondered something. “How are you so sure Trayden did this? Maybe he’s a victim, too.”

  Wade, coming up right behind them, answered. “No additional tire tracks – trust me, I looked. Hard. No additional foot trails, either. That means whoever did this was already here.

  “Morris was shot in the back of the head at point blank range. His tracks in the dirt were at a stroll. His body was in a position consistent with being dead already when he fell – he was not in a defensive position, trying to stop the fall. So this tells us he knew his murderer; he wasn’t running from him, he wasn’t out for a walk and ambushed – trained as he was, he would have heard someone by the time they got close enough to kill him at that distance.

  “And there was a second set of tracks; they were strolling casually as well, right beside Morris, until they fell back at the last few steps. Those tracks lead right back to the cabin.”

  Overwhelmed, Craddock just stood there, staring. Wade had figured all of that out in the short amount of time he was checking the grounds?

  “Estimate on how long ago?” Jeramey asked.

  “The entire time we’ve been gone.” Wade then looked to Craddock. “When you called Jessica, did she sound like something was wrong? Think carefully.”

  Craddock was immediately shaking his head, but stopped to analyze their conversation per Wade’s instruction. “She sounded upset, but not in danger. If she had been, she would have found a way to communicate that to me.”

  “Agreed.” Marcy had now joined them. “He waited until after that call to make his move; he wanted us in the dark for as long as possible.”

  “This is a ransom scenario.”

  Jeramey’s speculation sparked a glimmer of hope in Craddock. “So he’ll call us, asking for money in exchange for them?”

  Wade shook his head. “We don’t have deep enough pockets.”

  That tiny glimmer of hope shattered. “He’s going to the Registry.”

  “If he hasn’t already.”

  The matter-of-fact tone Wade was using might have indicated a level of indifference, except that Craddock knew better. Bibi had been abducted, too.

  “How do we get them back? How do we even find them?”

  “Craddock…” There was a little slip in Wade’s composure. “I know how you’re feeling right now – I know you need answers; to know there is some kind of plan – but I need you to find some patience. Without any kind of lead, it could be days before we figure out—”

  Everyone froze when the cell phone that had been left plugged into the charger, inside the van, started ringing. Specifically, it was the text message ringtone.

  After the momentary shock passed, Craddock threw himself through the sliding door, grabbing the phone so fast it pulled itself free of the cord.

  “It’s her!” His excitement waned as he stared at the message; his brow furrowed in confusion.

  “What?” Jeramey asked. “What’s it say?”

  Craddock scowled at him. “It’s nonsense. Gibberish.”

  Jeramey took the phone from him; in only seconds, he’d figured it out. “It’s not gibberish, it’s initials! Abbreviations! Carl!”

  Carl was loading up the SUV with Elsa, Kiffen, and Brett; he jogged over, curious but rushed. “What? We gotta go.”

  Ignoring the obviousness of his statement, Jeramey handed him the cell phone. “You can decipher that, right?”

  His answer was almost instantaneous. “It’s a location. A-Z… Arizona. I’ll have to plug in the rest, though. En route,” he added; his expression was almost stern as he handed the phone back to Jeramey. “Forward that to me.”

  Jeramey did so as Carl walked away, back to the SUV and the others; Craddock stared at Wade, begging answers to unasked questions. Wade seemed to understand, despite the lack of vocalization.

  “It could be a lead, but it could also be a trap.” He gestured for Craddock to get up off the floorboard, onto the seat, and joined him. “Wherever the location, we can’t just go flouncing in, hoping for the best. We need a plan, and a backup plan, and… supplies.”

  “What kind of supplies?”

  Wade’s eyes grew harder. “Whatever will give us an advantage, because you can bet all pretenses are out the window now. We need to be prepared for all eventualities.”

  “The other rescues you’ve been involved in – Shea and Stacy, Shea and Jessica, their parents – will seem like elementary school fieldtrips in comparison to what we’ll be facing.” Jeramey was now behind the wheel; the other three passengers were just then climbing in. “They’ve underestimated us before; they won’t make that mistake again.”

  Once the sliding door was slammed shut, Jeramey threw the van in drive and made a U-turn. Elsa, behind them, followed.

  “Destination?” Marcy’s eyes met Wade’s in her visor’s mirror.

  “Lloyd’s.”

  That answer surprised Craddock. “Lloyd? Crazy packets guy? Why?”

  Everything about Wade was intense in that moment – his stance, his expression, his words. “He’s more than just an eccentric packets genius. And he has the supplies we’ll need.”

  “Supplies.” There was that word again. Though vague, it was pretty clear what he was referring to. “Why does it feel as if we’re about to go to war?”

  Whatever Wade might have said in response was interrupted by the cell’s text message ringtone. Jeramey must have given the phone to Marcy at some point; she was quick in whipping it out and reading through.

  “Carl deciphered it.” She turned in her seat a little, faci
ng them. “It is a location.”