Forsaken (The Found Book 2)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “We’ve got a great obstetrician. We don’t need Sarah, and she knows it.” There was a long pause. “This has to be huge for Sarah to leave like this.”

  “Why wouldn’t she tell everyone and ask for someone to escort her?”

  “Because we wouldn’t have let her go. She’s in too much danger. You know those fuckers are still looking to take her into their breeding program.” Hearing the phrase had chills running through his body.

  “I think Cyrus should be the one who goes after her. He’s her brother, a cop, and knows Atlanta inside and out. It makes the most sense.”

  The twitch over Nate’s eye increased. “Except he doesn’t think she’s there, so he can just sit this one out.”

  “You’re on tap to act as undercover security for one of the next Rixitron rotations.”

  “You can fix it, put Cyrus in for me. I’m doing this Noah.” He disconnected the call, and headed to the Mexican restaurant. At least there was a decent one in this airport, with good beer and good fajitas. The food would soothe him as he figured out what Sarah’s punishment would be for disobeying orders.

  ****

  When he landed in Atlanta, Sierra had him booked into the Westin Hotel at the airport. Pulling out his laptop to view the security tapes Sierra forwarded, he got an incoming Skype from her and Cyrus.

  “She didn’t get off the plane. She must have given us the slip in Orange County.” Cyrus looked haggard.

  “How do you think she managed that? We saw them take her ticket, and watched her go through the doorway onto the plane ramp.” It took everything Nate had to keep his tone reasonable. Cyrus and Sierra were talking bullshit.

  “Maybe she let everybody else pass by and just before they closed the doors she came back out?” Sierra suggested tentatively.

  “Really? Didn’t you check the tapes? How long did you watch? Did you ever see her come out of the jet way?”

  “I watched the tapes for two hours, and no she didn’t come out. But she could have gone with the employees near the end of the ramp.”

  Nate just lifted his eyebrows.

  “Yeah, it smelled bad to us too.”

  Nate could clearly see their frustration. “Send me the tape of the departing passengers.”

  “We went over the tapes four times. She didn’t get off the plane.” He paused and looked directly at Nate. “But I would love it if you found something I missed.” It was obvious how much he cared for his baby sister.

  “Send them to me.” He shut down the Skype session.

  She was the thirty-first passenger to get off the plane. She’d cut her hair short, wore a mini-skirt and was holding hands with a young black man, while concentrating on her phone. Damn. She knew exactly how to avoid the security cameras. And who the fuck was the guy? He was a pretty boy. He hated him.

  Nate watched the man pull her close and kiss her temple as they passed the airline desk. No wonder Cyrus and Sierra had been fooled. Who was he? They were far too comfortable together. Damn, she looked good. He’d never seen her legs showcased like that before. Who the hell was the man with her? He watched the tape two more times, and on the third run through he concentrated more closely on the man.

  Whoever the guy was, he paid attention. He definitely paid attention to Sarah. He was also aware of his surroundings, like he had special training. Nothing escaped his notice. Nate went back to the original boarding tapes. Sarah boarded with a shopping bag and a purse. The man boarded with a duffel bag and a backpack.

  Now Nate was looking for it, he saw the two of them knew one another before they boarded. This was no chance meeting on the plane. Going back to tapes of the plane’s arrival in Atlanta, he watched as Sarah departed with a backpack, no purse, no shopping bag. The male carried only his duffel. Dammit, she called in an accomplice to help her.

  Nate pressed his hand against his forehead trying to stop the annoying twitch. Then he placed a video call to his teammates. It was no damn hardship to hide out in a brand new apartment complex in Newport Beach, California, but it still chafed the found members, and apparently Sarah had reached her limit.

  “Sierra.”

  “Nate.”

  “Get Cyrus.”

  “He’s here. We got the tapes of the outside area of the airport. Sarah didn’t leave through the employee exit.”

  “She deplaned in Atlanta. Pull up the tape, she was passenger number thirty-one, with a black male. Cyrus, can you identify him?”

  He did his best to wait patiently, zooming in on the picture of Sarah. She was smart—no face shot. She kept her head down the entire time. But he’d know her anywhere. Those hands, the arch of her neck, okay maybe the legs threw him for a loop. God, he wanted to see those long mocha colored legs in person, preferably while wrapped around his waist.

  “Fuck, how did I miss her?” Cyrus snapped. “She’s my little sister.”

  Nate wanted to know the same damn thing, but he kept his mouth shut.

  “Who’s the guy?” Sierra asked.

  “Never saw him before.” Cyrus sounded frustrated.

  “Maybe she picked him up on the plane,” Sierra said. Nate snorted, and then explained what he had discovered.

  “Cyrus, can you get his photo in front of your brothers? See if anyone knows this creep?”

  “On it.”

  “He doesn’t look like a creep.”

  Nate recognized the tone from Sierra, she used it occasionally when she was trying to soothe one of her naval teammates. Right now it was fucking irritating and he told her so.

  “Look Goodman, going off half-cocked isn’t going to help things. Obviously something was pretty damned important to Sarah. She’s smart, smarter than the two of us. She knows her life is in danger. If she thought something was worth this level of risk, then it is.”

  Nate stared at the computer screen unable to believe the shit coming out of Sierra’s mouth.

  “I can hear you growling.”

  “I am not growling,” he said between clenched teeth.

  “You are so growling you fucking Neanderthal. You better be thinking with the big head and not the little head. Sarah might have wanted to go rogue, but she needs protection, and you’re it big guy.”

  “Bullshit, my family will be right by the big guy’s side.”

  Nate didn’t doubt it in the slightest. He met Cyrus’s brothers. They lived in Atlanta, and he knew as soon as he pointed out Sarah in the video Cyrus sent texts to his family.

  “When can I expect to see the hoard?”

  “As soon as you get your ass over to my parent’s house.”

  “You told your mom and dad?”

  “Of course. My mother would have torn a strip off me if I kept this from her.”

  Nate flashed back to the nice woman who arranged the prayer circle for Kali when she had been kidnapped, it didn’t jive.

  “Why would you worry your mother?”

  “Are you saying because she’s a woman, she’s weak and needs to be protected?” Sierra demanded.

  “Can it, Sierra. You know I don’t feel like that. Hell, how many times have I depended on you to pull my ass out of the fire when we’ve been on missions together? But this is Mrs. Johnson’s little girl we’re talking about. I don’t think she needed this worry.”

  Nate watched as Cyrus threw his head back and laughed.

  “Jesus man, if you’ve been treating my sister with this kind of attitude no wonder you haven’t gotten anywhere.”

  Nate stopped himself from snapping at the laughing man on the computer screen.

  “Let me tell you something about Lila Johnson. She is the fiercest member of the Johnson clan when it comes to her children. Don’t be messing with her babies. She might be all choir singing, church going, Sunday dinner making mama, but she’s a lion wrapped in sheep’s clothing. I’m scared of my Mama, and I’m moving my way up to forty.”

  “I didn’t mean to cast aspersions on your mother. However, I will now be casting aspersions on your manhood on
a regular basis. I didn’t want her worried. I hoped we could find Sarah before she knew she was even gone.”

  “You’re still not getting it. Mom will be able to help the most. Nobody knows Sarah better than she does. I was kind of yanking your chain, but seriously, my mother has every right to know what’s going on, and she’ll be a big help. So get your ass over to my parent’s house. They’re expecting you. You did good recognizing my sister, don’t blow it now by being a horse’s ass.”

  “Do you have any idea why she would do something so reckless? Rixitron is still intent on conducting their breeding experiments with the found. It’s been barely eight months since we kept her from being kidnapped the last time we were in Atlanta. Why would she risk coming here?”

  “It has to be something important, and by that I mean something damn near life and death in her eyes. I can’t fathom what it is, that’s why you have to talk to Mama. If anyone can get into Sarah’s head, it’s her.”

  “Let me finish going through the tapes, I want to see if I can find her leaving the airport. I want to know if she took a taxi, or they left in a car. After that, I’ll head on over to your mother’s house.”

  ****

  He held her a little longer than necessary and he must have realized, and released her. Looking into her eyes, he smiled. “Let’s get your bags.”

  “What you see, is what you get.”

  He groaned, and Sarah winced, realizing her mistake. “Girl, you’re not making this easy. Let’s get to my car.” Ramone held out his hand and she took it, following the throng of people towards baggage claim leading to the exit from of the Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport.

  Twice Sarah caught him glancing at her. He didn’t seem to mind being caught either. Why should he? That meant he caught her looking at him too.

  She couldn’t believe it was the same young man she had once treated in the ER for a gunshot wound. He had been on his way to a life of crime—angry, sullen, and downright scary.

  She’d met his mother and sister that night so long ago, and she’d thought for sure they were going to lose him to a gang. Instead he visited the hospital months later to thank her for saving him, and they’d become friends.

  “A Prius?” Sarah shouted with laughter, it was the first time she laughed in the last forty-eight hours.

  “Do not make fun of a man’s wheels. Especially when they are taking you to where you need to go.”

  “You are Ramone Sands, right?”

  “That’s Reverend Ramone Sands,” he said as he opened her door. He lifted his hand and she knew he was going to stroke her cheek. She caught it before he could.

  “I don’t think there are security cameras here. We can stop now.”

  “Damn, I’ve been liking this. A lot. Haven’t you? Just a little?” It was only a gentle question, which made her pause rather than shake her head. But the Reverend was nothing if not astute.

  “Is there someone?”

  “That’s the problem. I don’t know if there is or not. Until I do, I can’t explore anything with anyone else. And even if he wasn’t a factor, my life is in California and it is too complicated for a relationship.”

  “Lives are always complicated. So my only obstacle is the man, and he’s an ass if he hasn’t made things clear. So when your little adventure in the forest is over, I’m going to see if I can get you to explore things with me.” He lowered his head and gave her the gentlest of kisses, and then settled her into the car and shut the door.

  Damn he was smooth.

  ****

  Nate didn’t know how he was supposed to eat the food Mrs. Johnson put in front of him, considering he no longer had any back teeth. He’d ground them to dust when he saw the kiss Sarah shared with the man in the parking garage.

  “Don’t you like lasagna?”

  “Yes I do, Lila. I’m sorry, I was preoccupied.”

  “I know. But while we’re waiting for Kyle to get off shift, we might as well have dinner. I’m sure he’ll have the information you need from the license plate number. Now, give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be back with the garlic bread.”

  Nate looked at the beautiful woman, who looked a little bit like Sarah, which amazed him, considering Sarah was her adopted daughter. Hell, calling her adopted didn’t do the whole thing justice, considering she showed up in the Johnson’s backyard one day when she was five years old.

  “It’s something else, isn’t it?” Frank Johnson nudged him.

  “Hmmm?”

  “My two beauties.” Lila went into the kitchen and Frank spoke. Two of his other son’s heads popped up and they grinned at their father. It looked as if this was a well beloved topic. Nate didn’t know if he was up for it, considering one of the beauties in question was gallivanting around Atlanta with some pretty boy, and putting her life in danger.

  The front door opened, and finally Kyle came in and sat down at the dinner table. He grinned at Nate.

  “I’ve got the name of your guy.” He started spooning lasagna onto a plate.

  “Well?”

  “Ma,” he yelled out. Lila came into the dining room.

  “Hi Kyle. What did you find out?”

  “Do you know a preacher named Ramone Sands?” Everyone waited as she thought for a moment.

  “He’s the assistant pastor over at the Union Church on Third and Jakes Street. Your sister treated him for a GSW her first year at the hospital. He was on his way to being part of a gang, but turned his life around. I never met the man, but your sister spoke highly of him. Reverend Hughly wouldn’t have taken him as an assistant if he wasn’t of strong character. Ramone is in charge of the youth ministry, if I’m not mistaken.”

  “You’re not. I called to talk to him. He’s conveniently unavailable, meeting with a group of kids at Lake Winfield to hike and camp in the Chattahoochee National Forest.”

  “Call his cell phone,” Nate barked. Every one of the Johnsons laughed.

  “I did. He asked if this was an official investigation, and if Sarah had done anything wrong. Basically he gave me the runaround. He knew I was her brother.”

  “Bring him in for questioning.”

  “On what grounds?”

  “On the grounds she could be in danger and he will be in danger if he doesn’t immediately tell us everything he knows.”

  “I tried, he laughed.”

  “Fine, we go to him.”

  “I can’t go. I’m on duty. You’re stuck with the slacker who doesn’t work.”

  “Ignore my brother,” the youngest Johnson brother, Brayson, said. “He’s just jealous how the shifts work at the Fire Department. I have a lot of experience camping in Chattahoochee. We’ll go corner the good Reverend and find out where he stashed Sarah. This is total bullshit.”

  “When can we leave?”

  “After dinner, we’ll stop at my apartment and pick up the camping gear and supplies we’re going to need.”

  ****

  Sarah and Amy were still looking at one another after Ramone left. Her grade school friend looked like she had been hit by a car. She looked awful.

  “Well?”

  “Where is Jeremy?” Sarah asked, as she looked around the small cabin.

  “He’s asleep in the other room.” Amy pointed to the closed door and Sarah let herself in. Quietly she stood over the bed and watched the peaceful sleep of the small boy. Leaving the room, she closed the door.

  Sarah looked at the woman standing in the middle of the room.

  “You need to strip.”

  Excerpt from Forget Me Knot, Crawley Creek Ranch

  By Lori King

  Chapter One

  “You can’t keep doing this to yourself, Romeo.” Drannon stared down at the half-naked form of his brother sprawled out on the front porch. It was lucky Roman had made so much noise stumbling around drunk, or he might have frozen to death before morning. As it was, he’d woken Drannon from a sound sleep, and as usual, Drannon had gone to his brother’s rescue. Dragging Roman’s limp
body up over his shoulder, and carrying him out of the February night air, he grumbled under his breath, “Going to end up poisoning your blood with alcohol, or get some sort of damn STD. Why the hell do you think you have to bang every woman this side of the Mississippi anyway? Stupid. Just plain ol’stupid is what that is.”

  There was no response from the unconscious man, but Drannon felt better as he spewed out his feelings on the recurrent situation. For months he and the other guys had been bailing Roman out and cleaning him up after his binge partying sessions. Maybe it was time to give the kid an ultimatum. Dry out and straighten up, or…

  It was the “or” that was the problem. Drannon would never be able to kick his brother off the ranch, no matter how stupid he behaved. Crawley Creek was all Roman had, all any of them had, and it belonged to the whole lot of them.

  With one final curse, he dumped Roman onto the sofa and headed for the kitchen in search of a midnight snack. The bright light of the fridge made him squint as he reached for the milk to go with the cookies he knew Marilyn had just put in the cookie jar.

  “I thought I heard something.” Vin’s voice startled him, and he choked on his cookie spewing crumbs all over the counter top. Laughing, Vin slapped him on the back, “Sorry D, didn’t mean to scare you. Didn’t you bring your teddy-bear downstairs with you?”

  "Asshole,” Drannon grumbled, reaching for a napkin to wipe his face. “The teddy bear is passed out on the sofa, probably drooling all over Marilyn’s fancy pillows, and mumbling to himself, as usual.”

  Vin’s eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “Not again.”

  “Yep. Found him on the porch minus his coat, shirt and boots.”

  “Fuck. That kid is trying to kill himself.” Vin took a seat at the breakfast bar, and swiped a cookie from the jar. “Who’d he go out with tonight?”

  “No clue, but he smells like cheap perfume and cigarettes. I was half tempted to dunk him in the horse tank before I brought him in, but that isn’t fair to the horses.” Drannon snorted at his own joke. Roman Freemont, aka Romeo, was only ten years younger than he and Vin, but he acted like a teenager. Partying, and womanizing like it was going out of style. “We’re going to have to do something about it.”