An Embarrassment of Monsters: A Dark Romantic Suspense Novel (Alace Sweets Book 3)

by MariaLisa deMora

  That text was from Owen, of course. In between his words, she read gratefulness for how she was taking time for his kids and had sent him a reminder of why they did the work.

  Sunscreen is your friend.

  That text came in from a different contact, quickly followed by a second.

  Looks like fun. Tell them I love them.

  Both were from Doc, unsurprisingly. He was the most open of any of them with his affection, and she enjoyed that about him.

  My heart.

  Eric.

  You’ve convinced me. On my way home.

  Alace blinked back tears.

  These three men were such unexpected gifts, filling places in her life she hadn’t known were empty.

  Eric, her heart, forcing her to explore emotions for the first time.

  Owen, her head, bulldozing past fear of motivation and forcing her to develop an unexpected trust and friendship.

  Doc, everyone’s careful balance, his healing the yin to the yang of their violent retribution.

  “Lila.” She called across the yard, loving how her daughter’s attention zeroed in on her mother. Kelly watched them both, standing where he could see Shiloh, also. He’s definitely a caregiver kid. She’d seen evidence of his nature time and again and treasured this side of the boy. “Daddy’s coming home. Are you excited?”

  Lila released her grip on Kelly but never wavered, his hold on her secure. She clapped her tiny hands together and squealed loudly, joined by Kelly’s echo of Alace’s words. “Daddy’s coming home.”

  Shiloh lifted her head and looked excited. “Daddy?”

  “No, Shiloh. Not our dads, Lila’s daddy.” Kelly jumped in place, his movements cautious and slow. “Lila’s daddy, Lila’s daddy, Lila’s daddy.” Shiloh surged to her feet and joined in, her leaps much more enthusiastic. “Lila’s daddy, Lila’s daddy, Lila’s daddy.”

  “I’ve got juice boxes for when you’re thirsty.” Alace found herself smiling, this one not forced or manufactured, but a pure reflection of the joy on the children’s faces. “Crazy kids.”

  When Eric arrived, he and Kelly conferred for a brief span of time, then set to work rearranging the patio furniture, carrying various pieces into the yard and placing them at angles from each other. Alace couldn’t figure out the intent until Eric passed by on another trip from the house to the yard with an armful of blankets. Impromptu tent erected, he took Lila from Alace and shooed her inside.

  She paused in the doorway and turned back to watch. Eric settled Lila onto a blanket in the shade between two loungers and crowed, “Who needs sunscreen?”

  Shaking her head, Alace went upstairs to her computer, surprised at the reluctance she felt. This had nothing to do with worry about Lila. Eric would care for her in all the ways Alace would. No, this was more an unwillingness to miss out on something, anything, to do with the kids.

  Job to do, she reminded herself, locking the door and unlocking the computer.

  She brought the tracking software to the front of the screen and checked on everyone’s location. All as expected.

  Fifteen minutes later, work-board posts complete, Alace was digging into Donald MacLeod in earnest.

  She was still working away when her computer dinged, the sound loud through the headphones she wore. Taking them off, she realized she could hear rumbling chatter from downstairs, Eric and the kids apparently back in from the yard. Glancing at the clock in the corner of the screen, she realized nearly three hours had slipped past.

  I’ve got them, though. The time spent had been worth it. She had identities on virtually all expected participants for MacLeod’s party this weekend. As fit the profile so far, none were uber rich or highly connected. It was almost as if they’d been recruited for the ring because of their ordinariness. And shared perversions.

  Alace set the files to upload into the folder shared with Owen and then navigated to the other window with the darknet request. She’d hit paydirt there, too, her researcher finding six accounts for MacLeod that weren’t in his official portfolio. She downloaded the data, immediately queuing an upload to the shared folder before opening the file.

  As that all worked in the background, Alace shifted to the tracker software. MacLeod was back at home for the day, August still in position, Doc waiting at the motel, and Owen was a scarce hour out from his destination. So many moving pieces to their plan, and while she’d built in room for error, most things had to fall into place for them to find success in the end.

  She keyed into a texting application on the computer, entering the number for the burner phone Owen was using.

  Stop for food and supplies at the next town.

  There hadn’t been enough time to stock up the RV before he had to be in place for the bank skim, and while Doc had shopped at several stores for the over-the-counter medical supplies they might need, she hadn’t thought to ask him to grab things like water or snacks.

  Doc’s got food covered. The bubbles appeared that said he was sending another message, so she waited before responding. It was nice to send him that picture too. Thanks.

  Her stomach gave a slow roll.

  Alace chewed on the corner of her bottom lip, trying to find the source of her instant unease. It wasn’t that she didn’t want them talking. She expected a certain amount of interaction between her guys. All three had burners, all three phones had three numbers in them, each of the other two guys, and one for her.

  Pristine numbers, not supposed to lead any investigator anywhere. Certainly not bring them back to her doorstep.

  The picture.

  Her blood ran cold, then hot, heating her chest from the inside out as a flush rose up her neck.

  Oh my God.

  She hadn’t thought twice about sending the picture to the devices, which was a serious breach of protocol. It hadn’t sunk in until she realized Doc had used the same phone to send it on to Owen.

  Shit.

  She’d been so caught up in the normalcy of the moment, she’d forgotten who she was.

  Forgot what I am.

  “Alace?” Eric’s voice shook her free from stasis, breaking the pall of disbelief and disappointment. The doorknob rattled, his words coming from just outside the door. “Beloved, the kids and I have food ready. Do you want to take a break and eat a bite?” Eric, kids, Lila—I’m not what I once was. She didn’t know how to classify herself in this changed circumstance, but it felt oddly healthy.

  She looked up to see several unanswered texts from Owen, the last few sent with greater urgency in the messaging. The final simply said, Goddammit Alace, a clue that her silence had frustrated him.

  “Alace, honey?”

  She shook her head, not a denial of response, but an awakening. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

  “Everything okay?”

  She rested her fingers on the keyboard, attempting to compose a reply to Owen. “Yeah, it’s all good. Everyone’s good.” Husbutt and kids made dinner. AFK for 15. “I’m right behind you.”

  She stood, and before she could step away, she saw another text from Owen flash into view.

  My kids feeding my friend. Sounds about right. Talk soon.

  A tap of her fingers locked the screen, pictures of Lila slowly fading in and out. More evidence of how her priorities had changed.

  Life is never boring.

  ***

  Owen

  “I’m not going to be able to stomach these guys.”

  He was back in the RV following the initial meet and greet with the other attendees, and had found having to shake MacLeod’s hand the final straw breaking his limited patience. Pleading exhaustion and implying a base desire to rest up before tonight’s main event, Owen had escaped back to the RV.

  August looked up from where he sat next to Doc, both heads bent over a map. Without raising his head, Doc asked, “What’s plan B this time?”

  “Plan B.” Owen stalked past them to where a tablet was mounted on the wall. “I’ll show you plan B.” He tapped the su
rface to wake it, snarling, “Alace, we need a solution now. I can’t go through with the original op.” Turning around to face Doc, he lifted his chin. “Alace is plan A, B, C, and D, all rolled into one.” He twisted back to the tablet, the surface now showing an empty chair. “Where the hell is she?”

  “She is right here.” A shadow moved across the far wall in the video, and Alace stepped into frame, perching on the edge of the chair. “If we don’t wait for the event to begin, we won’t have viable evidence for the cops.”

  “I’m past wanting the cops in on this one. He’s got six kids, Alace. Six little girls. Other than being scared and a little shook up from the rough handling, they’re not hurt. Not yet.” His head moved back and forth in an uncontrollable rejection of their original plans. “I can’t do it.”

  She looked past him, and Owen turned as August stood tall. “I vote plan B.” The man’s rumbling agreement settled Owen, helping him dial back the disgust and revulsion that had been flooding through him. “Kids are already separated from the guests; it won’t take much to bring the little ones back to the RV. Doc can tend to them while Owen and I wipe a little bit more of the earth clean from the pollution of these bastards.”

  Alace’s bottom lip disappeared into her mouth, and she stared at them, her gaze flicking from one to the other, then slicing towards Doc. “Doc? What say you?”

  “You don’t even have to ask, Alace. I will always side with the kids.”

  “Okay.” Her chin dipped, and she glared at Owen from underneath her brows. “Most of the guards are in their barracks right now, only one guy on the gate, and two in the barn. I can cut the phones between the main house, the barn, and their housing, then terminate the outside lines. Cell phones are a problem.”

  “I have a jammer. It’s channel specific, and I’ve already enabled the one our phones will be on, so we won’t be impacted.” Owen brought his duffle from the floor and placed it on the cabinet next to where he stood. “Two, actually, so we can plant one on either side of the residences for overlapped coverage. Drop them next to the ears August placed yesterday.” He lifted his head, relieved beyond belief that Alace was rolling with the change in plans. I can’t have another Shiloh. I can’t. “You’re already in their security system, should be able to lock the pervs in their rooms at the same time. They’ve got electronic locks on nearly everything.” He glanced at August. “I’m all about the scorched earth policy, too, man.”

  “We’re in agreement, then.” August was taking a variety of items out of his backpack, and Owen immediately identified several as a type of incendiary device he’d used in Central America. “This was always plan B.”

  “Owen, can you put the drone out?”

  He nodded at the tablet and grabbed a box from a nearby cabinet. The device inside was preassembled and already programmed for the frequency Alace would use. As he watched the tablet, the screen split so half showed Alace’s face and half had a view of the countertop under the drone. He caught a glimpse of the tiny camera underneath moving, and the image changed to show the three men. Owen put a boot on the bench, then his other on top of the table, reaching overhead to fit his fingers to the sliding locks alongside the light fixture. He pushed and pinched, then twisted, and the entire light assembly dropped down a couple of inches before sliding to the side on a hidden track. August handed the drone up to Owen, who set it on top of the RV’s roof. He descended from the tabletop to the floor, leaving the hatch open.

  The image changed again, the bright white of the RV roof shifting to browns and greens of foliage and yard.

  “Kids are in their cells?”

  As they’d suspected from the fruits of their research, the barn wasn’t truly a barn, but a holding arrangement for children brought to the compound.

  “Yeah.” Owen cleared his throat, remembering for an instant two brave boys who’d confronted him from their own cells, what seemed a lifetime ago. “Nate, Walt, Tony, and Natalie—you ever find out what happened to them?”

  Alace’s answer was immediate, the information as close to the tip of her tongue as if she’d anticipated his question. “Both sibling pairs were returned to family members. They’d been removed from the parental homes before being kidnapped, but after they were rescued, grandparents stepped up for the kids in both families.” Alace laughed softly. “Turns out the grandmothers had been friends in childhood but had lost track of the other. Now they’ve moved so they live side by side, and with the virtual merger of households, the kids have strong, extended family support.” Owen looked up at the tablet to find her staring at him. “We did a good thing then, Owen.”

  “And we’re doing a good thing now.” He gave her a short, decisive nod as he transferred items from the duffle to his smaller, more portable backpack. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  “Doc?”

  “I’m good to go. My supplies are easy to unpack as needed.” Doc’s gaze moved between Alace and Owen. His pause was brief but deliberate, and Owen experienced the emotion behind each word as he continued, “If you want me to take a more active role, I’m willing.” The reversal from his previous stance said volumes about the investment level with this mission.

  “No need, Doc.” Alace’s voice was distant, dreamy as she focused on flying the drone. “I’m parking our bird here, so you can keep watch on the compound. I’ve already killed the phones both internal and external, and I’ve posted a notice on that company’s social media that there’s a known outage in the area. Owen, by the time you and August get the jammers deployed, I’ll be ready to rock and roll with locking the guests and guards inside.”

  “Just like that?” Doc looked a little shellshocked, shaky in his disbelief.

  Owen walked to him and rested a hand on his shoulder, gripping firmly. “Yeah, just like that. We’ve got the high ground here, Doc. Our job is to make sure the kids get out alive and unharmed. Anything past that is fate.”

  “Fate?”

  “Yeah, fate.”

  “Fate, and a plan B.” Alace’s tone was strict, brutal in its firmness. “Ensuring all the kids and all my guys come home safely.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He didn’t have to wait for it, Alace gave him the eye roll right away, caught herself midroll and glared at him as if it was his fault for her physical reaction. Owen didn’t say anything else, merely grinned as he lifted the backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Owen

  Steering the RV down the winding Pennsylvania highway, Owen glanced in the side mirror, the surface reflecting nothing but open road behind them.

  The ease with which they’d separated the guard staff from the guests had been a little surreal. Even the guard on the gate had been a simple shot, one made mentally easier to take once Owen had seen the kind of magazine the man had been flipping through. Foreign language, southeast Asian most likely, the images made up entirely of underage children.

  Once into the compound’s systems, Alace had surfaced more information around MacLeod’s staff. Each guard was a released pedophile with violent crimes in their past, and remembering the men’s fevered enthusiasm earlier in the day, Owen hadn’t suffered any qualms about their plan.

  August had joined him at the barn, and together they’d dealt with the two guards in place there. Quiet and efficient, August was as skilled as Owen, moving with a sense of confidence Owen had appreciated.

  Once those guards were dead, they’d moved to the enclosures where the kids were being kept. Scared and embarrassed by their nudity, the rescued kids had been quick to don the clothing Owen found in a locked cupboard inside the building. There were more kids than had been exhibited earlier in the day, and August had been in charge of counting heads, ensuring none of the kids slipped off. The big man had wound up carrying the youngest among them, leading the way to the RV as if he were the pied piper, even without his wooden flute.

  As soon as Doc indicated he had the situation in the RV under control, August and Owen had moved on
to the next phase of the mission: neutralizing the remainder of the guards. The thuggish men had cowered before August’s and Owen’s size and displayed firepower, and meekly lined up on their knees. There were no messages to send here, no statements to make, and efficiency had ruled the day. Starting at either end of the row, the men hadn’t time to react as each received their single tap to the back of the head like a benediction. Owen had left the bodies where they’d fallen, stepping over the blood to reach the door closest to the main building.

  The guests had proven to be a different, more difficult breed.

  Entitled white men, aggressively argumentative, shouting insults and wild threats until Owen pulled one out of the mass and dealt with him right there, letting the body drop to the floor without a word. Silence had fallen like a shroud until MacLeod stepped forwards and to the side, separating himself from the rest of the men.

  On the off chance there was security Alace hadn’t located, they’d decided to go the safer route. Which meant Owen had worn a ski mask, same as August. Staring out through the eyeholes, he’d longed to tear it off to show his face.

  Locking gazes with MacLeod, Owen had delivered justice as effectively as possible. “Norton, Tambor, Barnes, Riss, and Burton.” MacLeod’s eyes had widened at the carefully enunciated names of the five remaining members of the ring he was so deeply embedded with, and Owen dipped his chin in a slow nod. “I told you I’d come for you. I told you, and I showed you. Eye for an eye, tongue for a tongue, and life for a life.” Without more discussion, Owen had lifted the handgun he held and shot MacLeod in the forehead, the bullet exiting the back of his skull in a messy shockwave of blood, bone, and brain matter.

  Shouting men had jostled backwards, angling to get behind something, someone—anything, as long as it was away. As if they’d practiced the maneuver before, Owen and August had taken their shots, working similar to how they’d handled the guards, from the edges of the shifting crowd into the middle. Owen dropped their final target, the dead man falling gracelessly amidst the tangle of limbs and shocked expressions.