Into the Blackness (Blackness Series Book 4)

by Norma Jeanne Karlsson

  “Yup,” she responds like this is the easiest thing she’s ever done. I know she’s been trained to stay calm in a crisis, but seeing it in person is pretty impressive. I’m also calm, but she’s like a sleeping baby. This is going to be fun.

  I sprint up the stairs and find Jake holding Cara to his side while Dylan sits across from them on the other couch in the family room.

  “What’s wrong?” Dylan asks climbing to his feet, concern marring his perfect features.

  “Nothing. Shannon’s got it under control. Trish’s zip tied to a chair. I need tools,” I say a little winded from running around. “Go down and wait with her if you’re more comfortable.”

  He nods and heads that way. I love Dylan Kellerman.

  “Cara, honey,” I call out, making my way to her. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

  “I know,” she says through a teary voice. “I wanna see her die, but Jake thinks it’s a bad idea.”

  I flop down on the coffee table in front of her. I’m still strapped with weapons so I don’t look all that comforting, but I try to soften my features for her.

  “Watching someone die is hard. It sticks with you for the rest of your life. Shannon and I have been trained to deal with that and you haven’t. You’ve been through enough, honey. Don’t do that to yourself too. Let us carry that burden for you. You don’t deserve anymore hurt from that monster.”

  “I’d rather have her dying in my head than what I have now,” she starts strong with her insistence then wavers in the end.

  “I understand that. I really do. But you’re wrong, Cara. It won’t help you to see her die. It’ll hurt you. It’ll tear away at your soul. Because I promise you, I’m gonna make it horrific. I can’t let you see that. Please, honey. Trust me when I tell you this is for your own good,” I urge her.

  “She told me the next time she came for me she was gonna use a knife on me…down there,” Cara says with a fierce growl.

  “Did she hurt you like that?” I ask, pushing the gag and fury from my voice.

  “No. They did other things to me. I..I don’t want you to know,” she whispers to Jake.

  “If you wanna tell Kat, I’ll give you some privacy.”

  She nods into his chest and he quickly uncurls from her and moves from the room toward the horrid formal dining room before closing the door.

  “It was important that I was a virgin. I was gonna be sold to someone that wanted a virgin. I was given training about what they wanted from me. They hurt me so badly, Kat,” she quivers with memories.

  “Okay. I understand.”

  I don’t need any more fucking details to understand what training means. Someone buying a sex slave only wants a certain type of slave.

  “How long did they have you?” I ask gently.

  “Two years or so. Before that I was with people that made me clean for seven years. Before that I lived in a cage until they found somewhere for me. Before that I lived with a bunch of other girls who were sold. I don’t remember much before that.”

  “Do you remember your mother?”

  “Only that she hated me. That’s what they all told me,” she growls.

  I know this to be true because Shannon and Cara’s mother was a fucking evil bitch.

  “Do you remember your father?”

  “No. I’ve never been with anyone that I knew as family. I’ve always been alone. I think I was in an orphanage or something like that from what I’ve read in books. When I was at the house I cleaned, one of the older girls taught me to read and write and would give me books all the time when we weren’t working.”

  “And you were in the orphanage until you were seven?”

  “Yes.”

  “But no one came for you or adopted you?”

  I’m so confused by this.

  “They told me nobody wanted me. That I came from evil people that no one wanted a child from,” Cara recalls blankly. “Then one morning I woke up in a room full of other girls that I didn’t know. I’ve never really known where I was since then.”

  “Why haven’t you told the DCA about all this, honey?”

  “I don’t know,” she says with a shrug. “It didn’t really matter. I never thought anyone would find the people that did this to me. No one cares about me.”

  “We care about you, Cara.”

  “I think I believe you,” she whispers staring at her hands.

  “I need to get back downstairs now. Are you gonna be okay with Jake and Dylan?”

  “I feel safe when I’m with Jake. I don’t understand it, but I feel so safe with him,” she admits with a shaky voice.

  “You’re safe with all of us, but you’re definitely safe with Jake. I’ll go get him and then I’m gonna head back.”

  She nods and I resist the urge to wrap her in my arms. She feels safe in Jake’s arms so that’s where I’ll put her. I hurry to the formal dining room and push the door open to find Jake already moving toward me. He wraps his arms around me as tightly as he does when I hold him after his nightmares. I squeeze him back just a fiercely.

  “I’m so proud of you,” I murmur into his hair. “She needs you now.”

  He nods and releases me, speedily running across the house to get back to Cara. I watch as she dives into his arms, clinging to his body like he clings to mine. I watch for another breath as Jake gathers her body onto his lap and caresses her auburn hair lovingly before I move into the garage and grab Nick’s toolbox. This should do.

  I make my way back down to the basement hefting the toolbox with me. When I enter the room Trish is unconscious and Shannon is smiling.

  “She kept whining,” Shannon says through a wicked grin. “I had to knock her out.”

  I nod and start going through the tools as Dylan kisses Shannon and tells her he loves her and to be safe. I feel his massive arms encapsulate my body from behind.

  “Be safe,” he orders into my hair.

  I nod and pat his hands before he lets me go. He shuts the door with a click as he leaves.

  “You’ve got a good man, Shannon,” I compliment as I grab a pair of needle-nose pliers.

  “Yes, I do. You do too.”

  “I know,” I say through a smirk. “I talked to Cara and got a bit of background. Trish and whoever she was workin’ with were training Cara to be sold to a buyer that wanted a virgin. They’ve had her for two years. Before that she was a domestic for seven. Before that she lived in a cage. Before that she was in a slave cattle call. Before that she lived in some kind of orphanage in Chicago.”

  “Jesus,” she blows out at the barrage of information. “I can’t wait to make this bitch bleed. I know you need information from her so I’ll keep my shit in check until it’s time, but when it’s time, I’ve got this.”

  “Agreed.”

  I move to Trish’s unconscious body and grasp her thumb before using my pliers to remove the perfectly manicured white tipped nail. Trish wakes up screaming, her eyes panicked. She thrashes around in the chair as I hold the nail in front of her face.

  “You’re gonna lose all of these then we’re gonna talk,” I inform her coolly and go about removing the other nine fingernails she’s spent a fortune on keeping properly Stepford.

  The tape muffles her screams as I work while Shannon watches with a grin on her lips. I feel one on mine too. Once I remove the final pinky nail, I sit down next to Shannon and wait for Trish’s sobs to stop.

  “That felt good,” I inform the room.

  Shannon claps me on the back before striding to Trish and ripping the tape with a good amount of skin from her face.

  “You stupid fucking bitch. You have no idea who you’re fucking with. You’re a dead woman,” Trish threatens me.

  “The only dead woman in here is you. Tell me what I wanna know and I’ll leave you alone and let Shannon here get to work on you. Don’t tell me and I’ll stretch this out for days. I’ve got all the time in the world. Now who’s the man that hurt Cara?” I ask clearly.

  “Fuck you
,” she spits.

  “Well that was easy,” Shannon snarks.

  “Toenails it is. Tape her mouth shut again. I have a headache. I don’t wanna hear the screaming,” I say to Shannon like I’m talking about the weather.

  Shannon tapes her mouth again and then backhands Trish for good measure. I go about my business removing some very ugly toenails. Some people aren’t fortunate in the feet department. I decide to break a few toes for good measure as I finish up.

  “I’m gettin’ sweaty,” I say to Shannon as I flop in the seat next to her.

  “Let’s take a break. I should check on the baby.”

  “Okay.”

  We stand up and leave an unconscious Trish in the black cavern of the the wine cellar and head upstairs to take a break.

  Nick

  I’m glad to have the soundproof office and the virtually soundproof wine cellar. I’m also loving having security feeds all over the house so I can monitor everyone with ease.

  Shane has Tony zip tied to a wooden chair at the wrists and ankles, his mouth taped shut again. Tony’s panicked and breathing hard watching Shane and I move around the room. We have a problem with Tony because I’m not sure he has a hand in this. I have to be certain, but either way, I’m not sure Tony’s making it out of this alive. He’s seen us and will know what we’ve done to his wife. The DCA doesn’t leave witnesses.

  “Tony,” I begin coolly, “I’m gonna remove the tape from your mouth. This room is soundproof so you can scream all you want, but I suggest you don’t. Screaming has a tendency to make Shane aggressive.”

  Shane plays the role well, cracking his neck from side to side while rolling his sleeves up. Shane hasn’t been in the field for five years, but you never forget how this works. I’m not worried about his abilities. The Ken Doll looks more like a G.I. Joe right now.

  I pull off the tape, gently. I’m going to try this differently from what I can see Kat and Shanny doing on the monitor. Fingernails right off the bat for Trish.

  “Nick, you’ve made a mistake. I don’t know what you think we’ve done. Please let us go,” he pleads.

  “I appreciate you fighting for your wife, but you know she’s not what you think she is. Or maybe you know what she is and you’re a better actor than her. That’s what we’re here to find out.”

  “How does that girl downstairs know Trish?” he asks in a pained voice.

  “You tell me.”

  “I have no clue. I’m not lying to you. I’ve never seen that girl before in my life. She doesn’t have a face you’d forget.”

  “She knows your wife.”

  “It would seem so,” he whispers dejectedly.

  “Do you like to rape little girls?” I goad.

  “WHAT? NO! I have a daughter. Are you insane?!” he responds ferociously.

  “Your wife likes to hurt little girls. She hurt that girl downstairs for a long time,” I offer blankly.

  “That’s…I can’t…This can’t be happening.” He stumbles and fights the reality soaking in.

  “Listen to this,” Shane instructs.

  He turns the sound up in the wine cellar.

  “You stupid fucking bitch. You have no idea who you’re fucking with. You’re a dead woman.” Trish’s threatening far from Stepford voice shrieks through the speakers.

  “The only dead woman in here is you. Tell me what I wanna know and I’ll leave you alone and let Shannon here get to work on you. Don’t tell me and I’ll stretch this out for days. I’ve got all the time in the world. Now who’s the man that hurt Cara?” Kat responds blankly.

  “Fuck you,” Trish spits and Shane cuts the sound.

  “She’s not denying anything. She did this. Now I wanna know if you did this too?”

  “I’ve never heard her speak like that in my life. I’ve known Trish since we were kids. How? How can this be happening? She’s the mother of my children. You’re telling me she hurt that girl downstairs? Did she hurt my kids? How do you know all this? Who are you people?” Tony’s freaking out and looks like he may vomit. Most people in this situation do that or worse.

  “I’m not here to answer your questions. I need my own answers. Are you telling me for the last fifteen years you haven’t been running a human trafficking ring and Trish has been…right under your nose without your knowledge?” I ask disbelieving.

  I’ve spent the last four months “married” to Kat and I know everything she does in a day. There’s no way this man is married to a woman and is that clueless.

  “What?” He’s not keeping up and I feel my patience waning.

  My phone vibrates.

  Jake: Texted the guys saying it’s not going well with Cara. They’re hanging at the Lancaster place until we reach out.

  Nick: Good. She doing ok?

  Jake: I’ve got her.

  Nick: I’ll check in later.

  Jake: Ok.

  Shane’s brow is furrowed in concern at the texting. I offer him a chin lift to let him know everything’s good.

  “Are you trafficking people?” I growl at Tony, yanking his head back by his perfect hair.

  “No.”

  “You’ve got a big house, a lot of money and a good life for a computer engineer. Your financials don’t look good for you,” Shane pipes in.

  “Phil and I have a side business,” he explains quickly.

  “And that is?”

  “The church charity,” he offers in a grumble, avoiding my eyes.

  “We know the charity’s bogus and you’re profiting what about twenty million a year from that?” Shane confirms.

  “More like forty,” Tony huffs.

  “You people are fuckin’ disgusting,” Shane grunts.

  “And that’s not funding your petulance for little girls?” I prod.

  “I don’t do anything to little girls. I don’t do anything to kids. I’m not a pedophile,” Tony spouts confidently.

  “Well, that’s not exactly true. You’re married to a woman that does horrific shit to kids and you’ve been standing by her side through it all. How is that? I know everything Kat does. How could you not see what your own wife is doin’?”

  “We live separate lives. I rarely see her. The kids have a nanny that deals with everything. We’re like roommates that put on a show for Maybelle. Behind closed doors there’s nothing.”

  “Seriously?”

  “She’s still the woman I married. She just doesn’t love me anymore, but we agreed to never get divorced. Too much to lose financially for both of us.”

  “That’s just sad,” Shane says through a chuckle.

  “I could help you. I could find out what she’s been doing,” Tony offers his first bargaining chip.

  “And how would you do that? You couldn’t see it when it was right in front of you. I don’t think you’ll be any more successful now.”

  “I don’t know, but I could try. If she’s hurting kids I should try,” he answers honestly.

  “I think we’re more likely to get answers from her than you. Are there any men that she spends time with? There was a man torturing Cara along with your wife.”

  “Hoyt Burke,” he answers in a growl.

  Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. That’s it. That has to be how Cara got away and others haven’t. Cara was at the Burke’s and broke free once they ran off. How long had they left her in that house alone?

  “I need to talk to Kat,” I say to Shane.

  He nods and moves to stand in front of Tony. I don’t want to kill Tony. Maybe we can hand him over to the feds for his charity fraud and he can spend a few decades in white collar prison.

  I check the monitors to see the wine cellar is pitch black. They must be taking a break. I thud down the stairs to find Shanny, Kat and Kellerman standing at the breakfast bar with Johnny perched on the edge.

  “Hey,” Kat calls moving toward me.

  I press a firm kiss to her fat lips before releasing her and wrapping my arms around her waist to face our group.

  “Jake and Ca
ra?” I inquire not seeing them anywhere.

  “Jake’s room. She was really tired so he took her up,” Kellerman answers with a knowing look my way.

  Jake would never put the moves on Cara, but there’s something about having the woman you care about in your bed and in your arms that brings a man peace.

  “Got some interesting intel from Tony.”

  “What?” Kat asks eagerly.

  “Trish spent her time with Hoyt Burke.”

  “Fuck!”

  “I thought the same thing.”

  “Hoyt Burke’s that assistant principal you ran off after his fuckwad kid sucker punched Jake and got his ass handed to him?” Shanny clarifies.

  “That would be him,” Kat huffs. “We have any idea where he is?”

  “I’m sure Jess does. We’ll have Shane call her. End this shit with the Bookers and send another team after Burke. We can’t use the house much longer. Need to get the boys home.”

  “I need some time with Trish to get details about Cara. We can have Burke shipped to a black site for the trafficking intel, but I’m not letting Trish go. Have Shane get a cleaner on stand-by,” Kat instructs, sounding more like an agent than she has since I met her.

  “Shanny, why don’t you let me head down with Kat to work on Trish? You don’t need to be involved in this anymore than you already are.”

  “Nice try, Nicky. Cara’s my sister. That bitch tortured her. Threaten to fuck her with a knife the next time she came for Cara. You guys can squeeze every drop of information from her, but her life is mine to end,” Shanny dictates, pinning me with her emerald eyes. She’s getting her way.

  “She threatened to do what with a knife?” I ask in a monstrous snarl.

  “I talked to Cara earlier. She knows more than she’s let on. It makes sense that Trish threatened her that way if Burke wasn’t around anymore. Maybe Cara wasn’t as important without Burke. They were training her to be sold as a virgin slave. Two years they had her. Seven years before that she was a domestic. Before that she lived in a cage. Before that some kind of slave cattle call. Before that she was in an orphanage of sorts in Chicago.”

  “Let’s go,” I rumble.

  Cara may be Shanny’s sister, but she’s also my cousin. The only blood family I have left other than an uncle that’s about to be murdered in prison as soon as I get word to Kieran.