by Linda Ladd
“Where the hell have you been, Novak?”
Frank was furious. He sat hunched over at the kitchen table, his face set in hard lines, hands clasped around an empty glass. A whiskey bottle sat nearby, only half full. Lori Garner stood at the kitchen sink, holding her bad arm. She said nothing. They both stared at Novak.
Novak ignored his demanding tone. Frank was not himself. He wouldn’t be until they found his daughter. “Stand down, Frank, I took the time I needed to set up a witness protection agreement for Judith Locke and her children. An FBI friend of mine works in Houston, and I trust her to get it done.”
Frank gave him a stony look.
“You don’t want me here, that it, Frank? If you’d rather spout off and blame me for those guys taking Lucy, fine, do it. If you want me to forget about Judith and her kids, that’s fine, too. I’d rather spend my time looking for Lucy. I don’t know Judith Locke from a hole in the ground.”
“I want my daughter back. I don’t give a damn about Locke’s daughter. She’s a Locke and one of them as far as I know. Lucy comes first. I want her found. That’s why you’re here.”
Frank was a highly intelligent guy, always had been. Novak had never seen him this enraged except a couple of times when the guy was drunk. This time it was all internal, which made it worse. His expression was deadly, and his muscles were tensed hard and coiled as if he would spring out at Novak any minute, but he wasn’t drunk. He was hovering on the brink of losing his cool, and he was acting unreasonably. Novak wasn’t about to fight with him.
He stared back at Frank. “All right. Go ahead, tell me where Lucy is, and I’ll go get her right now. She comes first with me, too, and you know it. I love that kid.”
Frank shot to his feet, overturning his chair behind him. He took a step toward Novak before he regained his senses. The anger on his face drained away. He hung his head, so full of pain that it was hard to look at him. “Oh, God, Novak. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t handle it. I’ve got to find her!”
“You got to get hold of yourself because I need you. I told you I would find your daughter, and I will find her. I won’t stop until I do, I swear to God, Frank. You’ve got no choice but to pull yourself together and get your head on straight. Sitting here doing nothing is better than getting caught and sitting in jail on a trumped-up charge. You are no good to me locked in a cage.”
Frank’s hands shook. He clasped them together to make it stop. His voice came low. “They traffic young girls, Novak. They force them to do things. They addict them to drugs....” His voice faded and he turned away but swung back around. He seemed calmer but nowhere close to okay. “I cannot sit here and do nothing. Better keep me with you so you can talk me down. Right now, I want to kill somebody. I want to kill all of them. My gut is all twisted up with it.”
Novak knew better than to let his own mind linger on what they were doing with Lucy. Mental pictures of her with adult men made him sick to his stomach. The fact that it was happening to lots of other young girls made it even worse. There was nothing bad enough for men who forced children into sexual acts. He was pretty sure Lucy was alive, but she was going through an ordeal that would affect her forever. Disassociation from negative images had come hard for Novak when he was younger, but he’d mastered it. Frank had better learn to do it, too, and soon. Lucy was the target age and type for those perverts. Lucy would never again be the young, innocent, and joyous girl she had been before she was taken, not in a million years.
“You know me, Frank. You’ve worked with me. You’ve got to trust me now and give me some time and space to get this done. I can’t and won’t go after these guys blindfolded. Let me figure out their M.O. and see how they’re organized and how they move the girls around. Then we might know where they stash them. This is new territory. I don’t know this area well or Texas statutes. I don’t know the major players. We will take them down. We can make them pay. You can make them pay, I’m all for that, trust me. I’ll stand back and you can take your vengeance any way you want.”
Slowly, Frank was coming down. Novak could see his muscles starting to relax. The tic in his cheek faded. The distraught father shifted his gaze outside. The trees were tossing wildly in gusting wind. The temperature had dropped significantly during the night. Rain had moved into the interior of the state, heading for Dallas.
“All right, Novak,” Frank said, refusing to look at him. “Sorry I jumped your case like that. God help me, I can’t think straight anymore. I’m irrational, and I know it. Lucy’s in the seventh grade, the seventh grade, for God’s sake. How can they do this to kids like her?”
“We don’t know they’re doing anything bad to her. She’s valuable to them, more than the other girls.” Taking action was the only thing that would pull Frank out of his mental torment. “So let’s get going. First thing now is to take my boat out on the water so I can watch Locke’s beach house. I’ve thought this through, and I think it’s possible he might be keeping them down there. We need to eliminate it, in any case. It’s also a place where he can move girls in and out, either by car or boat, with nobody any wiser. We saw few neighbors close enough to see what he does in there. It’s isolated and easier to penetrate than the estate. I can watch, and if I see Lucy or Judith, I can go in under cover of night and take them out.”
“Novak’s right,” Lori agreed, on his side for a change. “He’ll keep Lucy close to him. I’m sure of it. She’s what’s keeping you from doing your job, Frank. It isn’t in his best interest to hurt her. He’s afraid of you and your contacts.”
“He better be afraid of me.”
Novak wasn’t sure Frank should be involved, but he needed him. “So we’ll check it out. See if he’s got guards posted. Prisoners would be harder to keep concealed out there, especially from the water. If I’m wrong, we’ll come back and concentrate on getting inside the River Oaks house. We’ve got to take this thing one step at a time. There are three of us, and he’s got men everywhere.”
“I’m going with you.” Frank’s voice was adamant.
“Frank, you’re smarter than this. You can do more good here. Do some research on these guys so I can figure out what’s coming next. See if you can get me the blueprints of Locke’s mansion so I know where the security cameras are. Find me the judge’s itinerary and court docket for the next few weeks. That’s what you can do, research that will help us. You show your face on the streets, you’ll be dead or locked up. Use your head or you’re going to screw things up. When that happens, I’m out. Sorry, Frank, but you need to pull it together.”
“I agree. So I’ll go with Novak. Don’t say no. You need backup. You are not invincible.”
Novak didn’t like Lori’s attitude. He turned to her. “Better if you keep Frank company. You’re the hacker. Help Frank get me the information I need.”
“Ever wonder how you’re going to find Locke’s beach house from the water? There are lots of them up and down that coast that look exactly the same.”
Novak was damn sick and tired of arguing with these two. He wished they’d just back off and let him do what they brought him here to do. “You describe it, give me directions, and I can find it myself. They see you out there? You’re right back in the hands of those guys who hurt you, or dead, and they’ll find out about me. I know what I’m doing. I’ve done this kind of thing before. I can handle it. You stay here, and quit complicating my life.”
“Did Frank tell you that I’m a trained army sniper? I can shoot any rifle with this bum arm. You’re not Superman. If you’re as smart as I think you are, you’ll admit you need help and take off that stupid red cape.”
Damn her. Worse, she was right on. Once again, Lori Garner reminded him of Claire Morgan: feisty but reckless. Lori knew what she was doing and would have his back. He planned to lay anchor a good ways out in the water and watch the house through his rifle’s high-power night scope. Locke’s guys probably assumed Frank was out of t
he picture and Lori still hiding out somewhere in New Orleans. They would not be expecting a rescue attempt or a bold offensive attack on Locke’s property. Having Lori’s eyes on his back could definitely be helpful.
“Okay, you’re right. You can come as long as you stay out of sight. They know you, but you can identify Judith if he’s holding her out there. I’ve seen her photo, but that doesn’t mean I’d recognize her.”
“Good call. Just know that I can take orders. Not that I like to, you understand.”
“Just remember that I call the shots. Frank, stay out of sight and find me something I can use. Claire’s working on it, too. If Lucy’s inside that beach house, I’ll bring her home to you tonight. I swear to God, I will. You’ve got to hang on until I do.”
Frank’s expression became a little more hopeful. “Keep me posted or I’ll go crazy waiting out here by myself.”
“I will. It might take all night, maybe even tomorrow night. Just sit tight.”
“We’re wasting time. Let’s get her out of there,” Lori said, moving to the back door.
“Get your gear and put on something warmer than that shirt. We may have to watch that house all night.”
“The beach house has a wall of windows that face the ocean. No drapes,” she told him. “If they’re in there, we should be able to see them if we watch the house long enough.”
Not long after, they were on the dock. Novak cast off the mooring lines while Lori climbed aboard. Looking self-satisfied, she sat down in the stern and watched him maneuver the boat off the dock. They made it down the outlet to sea, and when they left the river’s mouth and entered the Gulf, the ocean was as smooth as a glass window, and that heralded easy sailing. The sun put on a spectacular show that reflected sunlight off the waves in flames of fiery gold. It was beautiful. Novak wished he was setting sail with Lori Garner on a leisurely cruise instead of waltzing into a nightmare What they were facing in the next few days was not going to be pleasant.
Novak felt edgy, a rare state for him. He was a calm person, able to make himself relax because he knew how to face personal danger and what to do and how to do it. This time out, he felt blind to the enemy he faced. He had to rely on Lori and Frank for background, and he wasn’t certain they had all the facts down pat. Novak worked fast to hoist the sails because the winds were brisk as they headed south along the coast. According to Lori, the beach house was on the south end of the island. It wouldn’t take long to get there. He was anxious to drop anchor, more anxious to get back in one piece, anxious about everything about to go down.
Lucy’s image kept plaguing him. Lucy was a pretty little thing, very much like her mother with that beautiful russet hair. Last time he’d seen her, it had been long and she’d worn it in a ponytail that reached almost to her waist. Lots of freckles that she hated with a passion and said she looked like she had the measles. She was small and sweet and young and innocent. She would make traffickers a lot of money. A point in her favor was that she was strong willed, and she was street-smart. Frank had taught her to be and how to defend herself. He prayed she was all right.
Lori’s directions were right on target, and they found a place to anchor, maybe two hundred yards out from the beach. Binoculars brought the big house into clear view. Somebody was home this time. Lights lit the vast expanse of windows facing the sea. Other lampposts were positioned along the beach, looked like solar lamps maybe, considering the dim light they cast off. A red blinking light indicated a dock, and that indicated boats. He turned off all the lights aboard and stationed himself beside Lori at the port windows. Both zeroed their binoculars in on the windows.
Locke had quite the seaside paradise, all bought and paid for by illicit sex trade and legal decisions sold to the highest bidder. The house was ultra-modern, long and sleek, two stories high with plenty of glass that gave next to zero privacy. Built from sturdy white stucco, the walls looked thick enough to withstand battering hurricane winds; the windows, not so much. Better yet, the windows were clean and undraped, as Lori had reported. A ton of sliding glass doors led onto upper and lower concrete patios. Thank you for easy access, judge.
The patios were dotted with several umbrella tables, and there was a large rectangular infinity pool replete with a tumbling rock waterfall. The place looked like a posh Tahitian resort plopped down in south Texas, a honey of a place with towering palms whose trunks had been wrapped with twinkling white lights. To one side of the house was a double attached garage with a small guesthouse beside it, both of which interested Novak. It looked like a good place to house prisoners, but so were any number of bedrooms the beach house boasted.
On the down side, there were bodyguards milling about all over the place. Some smoked cigarettes and huddled up against the seawall, their backs turned against the cold wind sweeping off the ocean. Nobody paid a bit of attention to the water or the fact that a sailboat was anchored in sight of the house. Nobody expected attack from the water, especially in the dark. Probably weren’t expecting anything to happen because it had never happened before. Corrupt judges with an army of enforcers were rarely attacked head-on in their own homes. That kind of confidence made them careless.
Novak searched the shoreline for a place to put in with his Zodiac rubber boat. He knew where to enter the grounds with the least amount of trouble. And now he had backup for the job, thanks to Lori’s stubborn streak. He hoped she was as good a shot as she bragged about. More important, he hoped she had no qualms about putting somebody down if the need arose.
He turned to her. “Do you recognize any of those guys?”
She was beside him on her knees on the dining banquette, her binoculars propped on the porthole’s edge. She kept swiveling the glasses back and forth. “Not yet. Maybe a couple of them look vaguely familiar. I don’t see the judge, though, and I don’t see Judith or Lucy or the children. The house looks unoccupied.”
“Does Locke come out here only on weekends? Does he have some kind of routine?’
“He used to spend every weekend here out here. That was when Judith and Stephen were both in college. I’ve been here lots of times with Judith. I don’t know how often he comes now. He loves this place, so I suspect he shows up a lot. Otherwise, it would be closed up with the shutters locked. He used to meet hookers out here. Judith told me that, too.”
“You’ve been inside this house recently?”
“Yeah, but they’ve added on and remodeled since then. The guesthouse wasn’t here when I visited. Or that garage. They didn’t have the tennis court. It’s been five or six years, I guess.”
Novak lowered his glasses and sank down on the padded banquette bench. “Will he kill Judith? Is he really that coldblooded? Not many men could kill their own daughter.”
Lori didn’t look at him. “Oh, he wouldn’t do it. He’d have it done so his hands stayed clean. He used to worship the ground she walked on. You can guess why.” She was still watching the beach house. “She said he molested her nearly every night. I couldn’t believe it at first. Later, she took that back and told me she’d been lying because she was mad that he wouldn’t buy her a new convertible.”
“But you do believe it?”
“I saw how he looked at her and how he touched her inappropriately. He liked to pull both of us down onto his lap and tried to make it look like innocent affection. He made me sick with all those unwanted tight hugs and wet kisses. I remember how uncomfortable I felt. I always kept my distance. He stank of cigars and was heavy, so he always started breathing hard and getting all excited, you know, panting when he had us sitting on his lap. He kept brushing against my breasts and pretending he hadn’t meant to. I knew what he was doing. And when he was holding her, I felt like I was watching a nasty film. And the embarrassed look Judith got on her face was just awful. He’s always so creepy when she’s around.”
“Did he come on to you other than the lap thing?”
“N
o, I never liked that dude even before I knew what he was. I stayed away from their homes sometimes because of him. He never tried anything else with me.”
“Is Timothy Hennessey like that, too?”
“I don’t know him. I know from Frank that he’s small potatoes as far as mob bosses go. That could be why he hooked up with Judge Locke down here in Galveston. All I know is that he’s a real bad man that nobody ever wants to cross.” She sat down beside Novak, sighed heavily, and searched his face. The floor lights were on but gave only faint illumination inside the main cabin. Novak could barely make out her features. “You think Hennessey’s got Lucy, don’t you, Novak?”
That was exactly what Novak thought, but he didn’t want it to be true. “I hope not. That’s the worst-case scenario.”
“Yeah. Me either. I hope she’s over there in that beach house right now, locked up in some bedroom watching television and reading magazines and painting her toenails.”
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough. If we see her, I’m going in tonight.”
“You see how many men he’s got out here? Frank says you’re good, but you’re only one guy.”
Novak could take down the guards. That would no problem. “Right now, we keep watching and bide our time. I think they’ve got somebody in there, or why so many guards at an empty house? We’ll watch tomorrow when it gets light, and then I’ll pay them a visit tomorrow night and check the place out.”
“I’ll have your back. Don’t worry.”
“You better. Did you see how many guards he’s got?”
Lori smiled at him. The first real one he’d seen from her.
Chapter 10
The rain beat steadily on the roof of the cabin, and they could hear the jingling and jangling of the riggings blown around. They had not lucked out with the weather. Novak and Lori took turns on surveillance all night long, one of them dozing on the couch, the other watching the beach house. Dawn valiantly tried to smuggle a glimpse of the sun out of clouds the look and color of fireplace soot but didn’t have the energy to get it done. As hours passed, the light remained drab and dull and dingy, the clouds forming a distinct line of demarcation just above the sea horizon. Wet fog hung in wisps atop the surface of the water, and the beach was barely visible. There had been no movement inside the house.
