by Sharon Sala
The clock is ticking...
When Charlie Dodge gets a phone call from a frantic woman stating her daughter has been kidnapped by her ex-husband and taken into a cult called Fourth Dimension, he takes the case without hesitation. The cult’s rumored purpose is to gather men with psychic abilities with the goal of breeding a race of people who have supernatural powers. Once accepted into the cult, men are given a young girl to marry in exchange for one of their own daughters.
The FBI has been monitoring the cult’s activities, but Charlie and his assistant, Wyrick, aren’t bound by the same rules as the feds. They head to the mountains of West Virginia to infiltrate the cult’s compound. The lives of children are at stake, and Charlie and Wyrick will risk everything to destroy the cult and its leader—no matter the cost—because this case is personal.
Praise for the novels of Sharon Sala
“Drama literally invades the life of an A-list Hollywood star, and the race is on to catch a killer.”
—RT Book Reviews on Life of Lies
“A wonderful romance, thriller, and delightful book. [I] recommend this book as highly as I can.... Exciting...and will keep you glued to the pages until you reach the end.”
—USATODAY.com’s Happy Ever After blog on Life of Lies
“In Sala’s latest page-turner, staying alive is the biggest challenge of all. There are appealing characters to root for, and one slimy villain who needs to be stopped.”
—RT Book Reviews on Race Against Time
“[An] emotional thriller, packed with action, love, regrets, and criminal activity that will make your blood boil.... A phenomenal story.”
—Fresh Fiction on Race Against Time
“[T]he Youngblood family is a force to be reckoned with.... [W]atching this family gather around and protect its own is an uplifting tribute to familial love.”
—RT Book Reviews on Family Sins
“[A] soul-wrenching story of love, heartache, and murder that is practically impossible to put down.... If you love emotional tales of love, family, and justice, then look no further.... Sharon Sala has yet another winner on her hands.”
—Fresh Fiction on Family Sins
Also by Sharon Sala
The Jigsaw Files
THE MISSING PIECE
Secrets and Lies
DARK HEARTS
COLD HEARTS
WILD HEARTS
Forces of Nature
GOING GONE
GOING TWICE
GOING ONCE
The Rebel Ridge novels
’TIL DEATH
DON’T CRY FOR ME
NEXT OF KIN
The Searchers
BLOOD TRAILS
BLOOD STAINS
BLOOD TIES
The Storm Front trilogy
SWEPT ASIDE
TORN APART
BLOWN AWAY
THE WARRIOR
BAD PENNY
THE HEALER
CUT THROAT
NINE LIVES
THE CHOSEN
MISSING
WHIPPOORWILL
ON THE EDGE
“Capsized”
DARK WATER
OUT OF THE DARK
SNOWFALL
BUTTERFLY
REMEMBER ME
REUNION
SWEET BABY
DARK WATER RISING
IN SHADOWS
LIFE OF LIES
RACE AGAINST TIME
FAMILY SINS
Originally published
as Dinah McCall
THE RETURN
Look for Sharon Sala’s next novel in The Jigsaw Files,
BLIND FAITH
available soon from MIRA.
SHARON SALA
SECOND SIGHT
Losing trust in someone you love is a hard thing to experience, especially if it puts you at risk or in danger.
The children in this story trusted people they knew, people who said they loved them, and they disappeared.
This is happening daily to children all around the world, and it breaks my heart.
While I can’t save those children, I could save the ones in this story, and in some small way bring a symbolic kind of justice to the horrendous crime of child trafficking.
Mercy for the lost.
I pray they find their way home.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Epilogue
One
In two short years, two women were doing to Charlie Dodge what a military career as an army ranger, three tours of duty in Afghanistan and a segue into private investigation couldn’t do. Turning his dark hair gray.
Between his beloved Annie’s deterioration into early-onset Alzheimer’s and Wyrick, the crazy-ass genius who ran his office and his life, they were driving him insane.
Ever since the Dodge Security and Investigation Agency blew up along with the building in which it had been located, Charlie and Wyrick had been working out of his apartment.
Their rapport on a good day was iffy, and they were beginning to get on each other’s nerves. Wyrick was touchy as hell, with a tendency to set his teeth on edge, and while he was grateful for her presence in his life, he needed his personal space back.
So when their last case finally came to an end, they went looking for new space, and after days of searching, they settled on a suite of offices in a building between Fort Worth and downtown Dallas.
But that was a month ago. It had taken that long to do the remodeling they wanted and for the furniture they’d ordered to arrive, and finally it was coming together. Today was moving-in day for Dodge Security and Investigations.
Charlie knew Wyrick was already on-site, but he’d had to wait until the movers arrived to pick up the computers and files from his apartment before he could leave, then once they were gone, it took almost thirty minutes to get to the new office.
But he was feeling good about the day as he drove into the parking garage and up to the sixth floor. He located his personal parking spot and parked his Jeep beside Wyrick’s Mercedes, then headed into the adjoining building.
* * *
In deference to moving-in day, Wyrick had toned down her choice of clothing to black stretch pants, a pewter-gray-and-silver top, red-and-silver eye shadow, and a careless slash of red across her lips.
Wyrick’s safety net with Charlie was whatever it took to keep him slightly pissed off. The last thing she wanted was for him to know she liked him. She had already intimidated the movers this morning by her appearance alone, and then the attitude that came with it kept them anxious over doing something wrong.
She was in the front office directing traffic, pointing out where each piece of furniture needed to go, and already had a red Oriental area rug on the dark hardwood floor in Charlie�
��s office. The massive desk and black leather chair she’d placed over it was a perfect fit for Charlie’s size. And the built-in cabinets and bookshelves in both offices provided twice the space they’d had before. It was like going from a diet of grilled cheese to croque monsieur.
Charlie had given Wyrick a budget and she’d done the rest, right down to designing the layout of the renovations, and the interior decor. She knew it looked good—even impressive. But it was the wall of windows in his office overlooking Dallas that she liked best.
She was going over a mental checklist of what was still undone when she became aware of being watched, then turned around.
Charlie was standing in the doorway, all tall and sexy in Levi’s and boots and a white knit shirt that set off the natural tan of his skin. He was finally here, and she hated to admit how much she needed him to approve of all this.
Now that he’d been caught staring, Charlie immediately changed the subject by pointing to the outer door of their office, specifically to the black-and-gold lettering on the glass, which read Dodge Security and Investigations.
“Nice,” he said, tapping the glass, then paused and tapped it again because it felt different. “What kind of glass is this?”
“Bulletproof,” Wyrick said and then pointed up. “What do you think about the crown molding?”
The shock in his voice was obvious. “Bulletproof? Do we think that’s necessary?”
She shrugged. “At the moment, I’m the one with people after my ass, but down the road, you might benefit from it, as well.”
He blinked. “Sorry. I didn’t think.”
She pointed up again.
He obliged, then nodded with appreciation. “The crown molding classes up the place. What’s the ceiling height?”
“Eighteen feet in both rooms. Come look at your office.”
He followed her to the inner office and immediately pictured himself there. How does she do this? We can’t get along for more than ten minutes at a time and yet she reads my vibe like it’s written on my forehead.
He smiled and meant it. “I like it a lot, and those windows are going to be my saving grace when I feel cooped up inside.”
Wyrick relaxed. He was pleased. “There’s also a private bathroom in each office. Yours is through that door just beyond the wet bar.”
“I have a wet bar?”
“You do now...for your upscale clients,” she added.
Charlie eyed the fixtures with satisfaction, then opened the door to check out the bathroom and stopped.
“There’s a bed in here,” he said.
“And a closet, and the bathroom is through that door on the other side of the bed,” she said. “For the times when you might want to work late, or need to change clothes before a meeting.”
He walked into the room in disbelief, checking out the small walk-in closet and then the bathroom, complete with a shower actually big enough to accommodate his height.
He thought then of all the details she’d seen to just for his comfort and turned around to thank her, but she was gone, and he could hear voices. The movers had arrived with their files and computers, and from the sharp tone in Wyrick’s voice, someone had already displeased her.
He went back to the outer office, hoping he could sidetrack mover mutiny. But once he walked in, he realized two sets of movers were here—one, with the things from his apartment, and the others, with more new furnishings. And her annoyance was at one of the men for not being careful enough with the leather sofa they’d carried in.
“That goes against the wall behind you,” she said and pointed.
Three other men came in carrying wingback chairs upholstered in red-and-gold brocade. “Those go into the big office.” She led the way, directing the men to put two of the chairs on the opposite side of Charlie’s desk, for client seating. Two more were placed against a wall, and one went in the corner of the room, next to the shelving.
Wyrick glanced at Charlie, hoping the design was to his liking, and was happy to see the smile on his face.
“That’s really nice,” he said.
She nodded, then glanced at the desk.
“The lamp... Where’s the lamp?” she muttered and dashed back into the outer office, before coming back with a small gold desk lamp and plugging it into an outlet on the side of the desk.
“Nice touch,” Charlie said, and then his cell phone began to ring.
All of a sudden Wyrick felt the room moving out of focus and saw Charlie’s wife on the floor, her face covered in blood. Then the image faded. Her heart was pounding, and she was watching Charlie’s face. This wasn’t going to be good news.
The moment Charlie saw caller ID, his heart skipped a beat. Morning Light Memory Care.
“Hello, this is Charlie.”
“Charlie, this is Dr. Dunleavy. Annie had a fall. She cut her head and knees, and one of her elbows is bleeding, too. We sent her to ER because of the head injury. They’ll assess her, treat her injuries and they’ll let me know if she needs to be hospitalized.”
Charlie groaned. “Damn it. Is she bleeding a lot? Is it a bad cut?”
“The cut isn’t that deep, but any head injury requires X-rays, and she’ll have to be watched for signs of concussion.”
“Which hospital?” Charlie asked.
“Baylor University Med Center. We sent one of our staff members to accompany her, with all her information,” Ted said.
“I’m on my way,” Charlie said and dropped the phone back in his pocket. “Annie fell. Among other injuries, her head is cut and she’s bleeding.”
Wyrick was in shock. She’d never had a premonition like this before and didn’t know what it meant.
“Go take care of Annie. I’ve got this,” she said, and then he was gone.
She was confused about what she’d just experienced, and sad for him, but beyond this office, he was not her business. And so she continued to direct the movers and the delivery people, until finally they were gone.
At that point, she locked herself inside, then began looking around with an appreciative eye. With all of the furniture and decor into place, it was time to get technology up and running. She established the Wi-Fi signal in their new location, then their computers and accompanying printers and scanners in each office. She soon had them booted up and online.
After that, she went to set up the wet bar in Charlie’s office, then stocked both bathrooms. She made up the bed in his office with the new sheets and blankets that she’d washed at her apartment, and then got the new bedspread from the closet and spread it out over the bed. It was a rich, dark burgundy that fit the rest of the furnishings, and after tossing a few throw pillows on for effect, she walked out.
She paused in his office, eyeing everything to make sure it would be ready for him, then went back into the front office and unlocked the door.
She’d already placed an ad in the local newspapers with the new address of Dodge Security and Investigations and had checked to make sure they’d run it this morning, which they had. They were officially back in business.
She sat down at her desk and began going through email, but the premonition she’d had about Annie being hurt was such an anomaly that she finally conceded it was likely just one more facet of her abilities waking up—another oddity of her existence.
* * *
Charlie was on the I-635 loop, on his way to the medical center where they’d taken Annie. He needed to see her before he could quiet the nightmare of suppositions and what-ifs rolling through his mind.
With the level of her dementia increasing by the month, and her abilities to comprehend decreasing in matching proportions, he didn’t know if she would be scared, or if she would even be aware of pain.
Annie...my Annie. Why us? Why you? And how the hell did we get to this place? This isn’t how it was supposed to be.
He was in search mode by the time he finally reached the hospital, following the signs through the parking lot that took him to the ER entrance. Once he found a place to park, he got out on the run, then entered the lobby in long, hurried strides, going straight to the front desk.
“Annie Dodge was brought here by ambulance from Morning Light Memory Care. I’m her husband, Charlie Dodge. What room is she in?”
He handed the clerk his photo ID and his private investigator license for identification purposes. She eyed them briefly before returning them, then typed Annie’s name into her computer.
“She’s in 10A. Through that door,” she said, pointing to his right.
Charlie pocketed his ID and wallet, and went through the doors. Within seconds, he could hear people shouting and someone screaming in one of the treatment bays, but it wasn’t Annie, and he kept looking at the numbers above the doors until he saw 10A. He heard commotion inside as he approached, and people talking in loud, anxious tones.
He walked in without an invitation.
A doctor and two nurses were attending to Annie, and there was a woman he recognized from Morning Light in the room with them, but standing back out of the way.
The left side of Annie’s face was already bruising and blood-smeared, and one side of her pretty blond hair was blood-soaked.
One nurse was trying to reason with Annie as she held on to her hands, while the other one was assisting a doctor, in the act of putting staples in Annie’s head.
“Jesus wept,” Charlie said.
It was the only complete Bible verse he could remember at the moment, as he swallowed past the knot in his throat.
The doctor looked up, frowning.
“I’m Charlie Dodge. Annie is my wife.”
“I’m Dr. Baker,” he said and kept on working.
Annie was agitated and moaning, and trying to reach toward her head, while the nurse attempting to restrain her wasn’t having much success.
“May I?” he asked quietly, and then slipped in beside the nurse and laid the back of his hand against Annie’s cheek. “Hey, Annie, it’s me, Charlie.”
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