Revealed (The Found Book 1)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “It’s not fair you can read me so well,” he said as he melted into her touch.

  “Sure it is, because it works both ways.” Finally able to take a breath again, he kissed this woman who was his world. He knew Kota and Nate would ensure her safety, and she was right. She was going to be phenomenal getting Jared to talk. But dammit, he wished she wouldn’t so Nate and Kota could use a car battery on the son of a bitch!

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Sitting in the front seat of the car with Kota, Kali had flashbacks to their time in Cancun. She rubbed her sweaty palms against her black jeans.

  “It’s going to be fine. Nate is checking the backyard. Spellman doesn’t suspect a thing. We’ve had them under surveillance since the airport, and Ashley left for her job at the casino. He’s alone. Nate’s just being extra cautious.”

  Kali understood, but she also understood they didn’t know if Jared was armed. She didn’t want either man hurt when they went in and confronted him. She knew she was being unreasonable, and she built Jared up to be some kind of all-powerful monster. In her mind, he was the man who controlled her very existence, he was the ultimate monster.

  Kota squeezed her shoulder. “We’ve got this Kali. You don’t have to come in. Nate and I will get the information we need.”

  “No, I’ve come this far, I’m going in.” She swallowed down the bile.

  “Okay, but if at any time you need to bail, just say the word.” Kota cocked his head listening to the transmitter in his ear. “That’s the all clear. Show time.”

  Kali knew what was next. Kota was going to the front of the house, and Nate was going to the back. When they had Jared subdued, they’d text her to come to the front door. Kota left the car. It wasn’t the longest five minutes of her life, but it was pretty close. When she got the text, she made her way leisurely to the door as planned.

  Nate answered. “It was easy. Spellman’s in the living room. He’s not talking. Says we have the wrong guy.”

  Kali saw him at the airport, she would know him anywhere. He was not the wrong guy. When she walked into the normal ranch style living room, she found Jared strapped to a chair with duct tape. His mouth taped shut.

  “That’s going to make it hard for him to talk, isn’t it?”

  “He was doing some impressive yelling, we didn’t want the neighbors to hear. I’m surprised you didn’t hear him,” Kota said.

  Jared’s eyes bugged out at the sight of Kali.

  “Hello Jared. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” She stood over him, and they locked eyes. He stared as if he were seeing a ghost. “Gentlemen, can one of you get me a chair? I think this is going to take some time.”

  As soon as Kali was seated, she reached over and ripped off the duct tape, satisfaction running through her veins when she saw his bottom lip start to bleed and his eyes water. “Did it hurt?” He didn’t say anything.

  “It really is too bad you weren’t there the day they rescued me,” she said.

  Still nothing.

  The chair they had brought was one of the stuffed ones from the living room, but the chair Spellman was sitting in was one of the more uncomfortable chairs from the kitchen table. The men knew what they were doing.

  “Didn’t you bring zip ties?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s use them. I think Jared needs to be reminded why I’m less than happy with his lack of cooperation.” Kali pushed up the sleeves of her black sweatshirt and held up her wrists. “You understand why I want to know why this was done, don’t you? What possible reason could you have to torture me?” Kali actually felt a pulse of energy, and Jared blinked.

  “Tara went too far.” Truth, he was telling the truth.

  “Tara was in your employ, ultimately you were responsible,” Kali kept her tone reasonable, conversational.

  Jared tensed, but nodded. “I thought she was the right person for the job. She said she understood how to get information.”

  “You trusted her, and she betrayed your trust.”

  “That’s exactly what happened. I had no idea what was going on.”

  “I know, Jared. I was there the day when you stopped things. You made her stop.”

  “I did. That’s right. I made her stop what she was doing.”

  “But in the beginning it was your decision, wasn’t it? It was your decision to have me taken, wasn’t it? Why would you do it, Jared?”

  “It wasn’t my decision. I hired Tara. I needed some questions answered. It wasn’t my decision. I asked her to get those questions answered, and she went about it the wrong way. It was never my intention you be kidnapped Ms. Wachowski, you have to believe me.”

  “But I don’t believe you. Let’s work together to get to the truth. You met Joe Mirelli and realized how special he was. When was that?”

  The questions and answers continued for three hours. Kali could actually feel pulses of energy surge through her body at different moments when she would hit on just the right way to phrase a question.

  “Did someone make you realize you had something to gain by finding out more about the found?” Kali watched as Jared blinked rapidly. Even Kota and Nate squirmed in their seats, which was unusual.

  “It was really obvious. Everyone knows you are special. You’re not from here. You needed to be studied, and our governments were pussies.”

  “All of us had physical examinations to make sure we were okay when we were discovered. We are as human as the rest of you.”

  “You’re freaks.”

  “But it’s not what Tara was doing, now was she?” It took everything Kali had to keep her voice calm. The man wasn’t making any sense. He was talking about the found needing to be studied, but she was tortured and questioned. What the hell was it? Both scenarios made her want to throw up, but one had almost killed her.

  “It wasn’t my fault, it was his.”

  “What do you mean, his?”

  “I wanted to study your powers. Mai is a freak. So is Niko. You and Sarah are amazingly smart. I wanted to figure out if there was some gene we could splice, something in your brain or your blood we could harness and sell. You were the easiest one to get to. It’s why I set up the facility in Indiana, where we could work on you indefinitely.” Kali surged to her feet and Kota got up with her. She barely made it to the bathroom in time. She heaved the entire contents of her stomach. For long moments she just rested her crossed arms on the toilet seat.

  “We should stop.”

  She looked up from her knees. Kota’s eyes were glittering shards of obsidian. She grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her mouth and then flushed the toilet.

  “We’re not done. He mentioned someone else, someone who wanted answers, instead of vivisection. He might not sound as bad, but I want them all stopped. Nobody is getting away with trying to capture us ever again.” Kali hated her hoarse voice. Kota pulled her into his arms and just held her. She stood there, and finally relaxed into the embrace, needing the comfort. After long moments she pulled away.

  “Thank you.”

  “Any time, it’s part of our service.” He grinned. “So you’re sure you’re up for another round? God knows what he’s going to say next.”

  “We’ve got Rixitron with a breeding program, and this asshole was basically talking about cutting into my brain. Seriously, how much worse is it going to get?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. Kota raised an eyebrow.

  “I know, I know. I’m knocking on wood right now.” They went into the kitchen and she found a bottle of club soda to rinse her mouth and soothe her stomach. Back in the living room, Kota took his seat looking stone faced. Kali sat down and made herself comfortable and smiled.

  “How is your stomach feeling?”

  “Much better, thank you for asking. How did you feel, I mean really feel when you were putting together your plan to conduct medical experiments on me? I’ve gotten to know you over the last few hours, this couldn’t have felt good. You had to have had a stro
ng reason, what was it?”

  “Profit. Pure and simple. If I could figure out what made you different, then I could have sold it to a pharmaceutical company and made hundreds of millions of dollars.” Truth, but not the entire truth. She wanted to know the deeper truth, but first she needed to know who was involved.

  She needed to know the names of the people who had been willing to experiment on her. Nate had been recording this entire conversation, and even though it would never make its way into a court of law, it would help them track down every last person involved in this fucking operation. The questioning took another hour.

  Finally she could ask what she wanted. “But you changed your plans, you didn’t bring in the doctors, why?”

  “We were saving them for later.”

  “Why later? You were destroying my brain, the actual thing you needed to make all this money.”

  “I told you, Tara went rogue.”

  Truth, but again, not the entire truth. “Jared,” she said silkily. “You’ve admitted to being behind my kidnapping. You’ve provided all your co-conspirators. I expect you’re going to prison for life. Are you sure you want to protect the person who screwed up your perfect plan? The person who turned your multi-million dollar plan into a torture session?” Again she felt the pulse of energy, and she knew she had him.

  She wasn’t surprised when he named his brother. She was expecting it, after what Joe Mirelli had said, but she had needed the confirmation.

  “It was my brother,” he spat out. Pure truth.

  “Why would he want me tortured?

  “He’s a crazy asshole.” Truth.

  “Tara kept asking me questions. Were those questions he wanted answered?”

  “Yes, he insisted they were the key. If we found out those answers, it would make us rich. Not that he needs the money, he has more money than God. His father left him richer than Midas.”

  “Where did you come from? How many others are there? Where are the rest of you now? Why were those answers so important, Jared?”

  “I don’t fucking know. I told you, he’s a crazy asshole.” Truth.

  “Where’s your brother now.”

  “Some place in Deer Valley, Utah. I know his old man kept a place up there.”

  “What was his father’s name?”

  “Herbert Price. My half-brother is Aaron Price. Arrogant prick. Thinks he’s better than everyone. Keeps telling me everything is my fault, when it was his idea. What an asshole.” He definitely believed what he was saying.

  “Come on Kali, we’re out of here. We need to call the cops.”

  “Bitch, you’re going to jail for what you did to me.”

  “Are you kidding? She’s been in California this entire time. Airtight alibi. This was a home invasion, and you’re about to be charged with some heinous crimes. Nobody’s going to be blaming this poor victim who is the daughter of a police captain. Do yourself a favor, and go with the home invasion.” Nate tipped over the chair with his foot. Then he and Kota went about knocking some of the things in the living room over. It was the mildest home invasion Kali ever saw.

  When they got in the car she asked about it.

  “It was probably Ashley’s stuff. We didn’t want to mess it up too badly.”

  Yep, Kali really liked the group of people she worked with.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Noah hadn’t been on a horse since he joined the military. Despite what people thought, there were horses on Kauai. He actually worked a couple of summers guiding tourists on horseback through the lush green mountainsides of the island. It was totally different on the hard packed land of the New Mexico desert. The horses seemed to clomp instead of delicately picking their way along the trail.

  “You going to make it?”

  “I’m fine, Riley.”

  “We can take a break.”

  “We’re not too much further, let’s finish this.”

  “Lieutenant, I hate to burst your bubble, but I’ve been all over this area, and they’re not here. I know they’re further in the mountains,” he said pointing towards the mountains in the vista.

  “Nope, they’re over there.” Noah pointed to a place less than a mile away. “They have a house cut into the rocks.”

  “Not possible, they said this place has been there since the early 1800’s.”

  “Chief, they’re there. If you’re not going to believe me, why’d you want me here?” Was he ever this young?

  “Sorry, Sir.” They rode in silence for the next ten minutes. “Look, I didn’t mean to doubt your abilities. I talked to my dad about them. We both believe they’re a gift from God. But it’s just I’ve been over this area with a fine tooth comb.” It was hard to arch your eyebrow when you were being tossed about like ice in a blender, but he must have managed because Riley bent his head.

  “Riley, what is it with you and this girl?”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “You know exactly what I mean. This has gone far beyond an assignment. This has become a quest.”

  “Lieutenant, I’m just concerned. We were together at Trent’s office in Denton. You were kidnapped. I know how ruthless these bastards can be. Can you blame me for being worried about a woman and baby?”

  Well, when he put it like that, still. “Riley, it’s me Noah. Let’s cut the crap, all right? We’re going to be there in less than twenty minutes, and I want to know what’s really going on with you. Do I have a problem?” Again he gave his young team mate a hard look, and he watched as Riley wilted.

  “I can’t believe she’s been abandoned is all. She needs to be taken care of, her daughter needs a daddy. I’m not volunteering for the job. I don’t know her. I’m just going to make damn sure she has somebody on her side so she knows she isn’t alone. So she knows she doesn’t have to decide between a bad or worse option because somebody isn’t there to help her.” Riley no longer sounded like the youngest member of the team, he sounded like the oldest.

  Noah didn’t point out Seth Natani’s parents and grandmother had already done it by rallying around the young woman. Even though it looked like Seth had abandoned her in the worst sort of way his parents had her back. Riley was determined to be another person she could rely on.

  As they approached the rock formation, Noah understood why Riley had missed the shelter. It was a unique, not man made with explosives, instead one rock slid down at one point and provided a courtyard. Someone then cut in a small area allowing people and horses to go in single file. Shit, it was defended well. They’d have their heads blown off when they went in there.

  “You found it.” Riley was off his horse and at the entrance by the time Noah told him to halt.

  “Riley, this is going to take some discussion.” Noah got down off his horse, and thanked God he actually worked out, otherwise he would have fallen down. His legs felt like strands of spaghetti. He gratefully leaned against the rock wall and yelled.

  “Mrs. Natani, my name is Noah Kukailimoku. I am found like your grandson. I was raised on the island of Kauai.” There was no answer.

  “Annie, this is Petty Officer Riley Jones with the United States Navy, I’ve come to help you. I know you are hiding from people who are out to capture your baby because she is Seth’s daughter. I know Seth has abandoned you, but I can help.”

  God help him from young men who wanted to help. “Riley, I will do the talking from now on,” he commanded sharply.

  Riley nodded.

  “Annie and Mrs. Natani, this is Noah again. I’m in the Navy as well. There have been different factions trying to either capture or do harm to the found for years now. Mrs. Natani, you and your family did the right thing by keeping Seth’s identity secret. Unfortunately, these groups are well-funded and they have been searching for us for years. Seth is safe right now because he is undercover, but people at a company called Rixitron has found out about Annie and her daughter, so we need to get her to a safer place.”

  “Seth isn’t deep undercover, if we
know where he is,” a woman’s voice shouted back.

  “Annie?”

  “Yep, Annie Newman. Seth has obviously moved on, which is his prerogative. My job is to keep my daughter safe.”

  “My job, and my son’s job is to keep our granddaughter and great granddaughter safe. So how can you prove you are really one of the found?”

  “Ask me questions only someone who is a found child would know. I should know the answers.”

  “What language did you speak when you were discovered?”

  “I spoke Hawaiian—the language spoken to me first.” There was a long pause.

  “How old were you when you stopped being able to learn new languages?”

  “Eleven.”

  “There’s a difference, Seth stopped being able to learn languages when he was nine.”

  “Let me guess,” Noah said, “he was about seven years old when he came to you. I’ve talked to four other found children, they all lost their ability to easily assimilate languages two years after being here.” Noah and Riley looked at one another as they waited.

  “Did you have a name?”

  “Yes. My name was Noah, but my adoptive parents called me Samson, Sam for short. What was Seth’s name when you found him?”

  “Seth. It was his name, we did not take it from him.” Noah heard the censure in the old woman’s voice. “Did you dream boy, and if you did, what were your dreams?”

  “I dreamed of a stadium.”

  “What filled your stadium?”

  “Other children.”

  “Come on in.”

  Noah led his horse through the entryway with Riley following behind.

  He stopped short as soon as he got into the open area, it was like he had entered a scene from a photo shoot. Female laughter floated over to him, which made him continue forward, and allowed Riley and his horse to come in as well.

  “You were expecting something out of the old west.”

  Noah looked around at the gracious patio furniture and the baby swing and smiled. The patio had an awning rolled out from the house, and off to the side was a small corral with two horses grazing and room for at least four more. The house was a small adobe style and would blend in with the rocks when someone flew overhead. As a matter of fact when he looked closer, the awning was really made of camouflage netting, so it too ensured the patio furniture wouldn’t be seen from the air. After realizing all of it, he looked at the corral again and saw there was a natural rock overhang the horses could be tied under, and the fence could be folded back.