by Janie Crouch
She began playing with the napkin on the table. Did she want to know? No. She didn’t want to think about Liam with one other woman, much less countless others. “I’m sure you’ve had other boyfriends.”
“A couple, but never anything serious. And not for a pretty long while.”
Liam didn’t say anything, just finished cooking. He then put the bacon, eggs and toast on plates and carried them over to where she sat. He didn’t sit himself.
“There were a lot,” he admitted finally. “A lot of women over a lot of years.”
Vanessa couldn’t make eye contact with him anymore. She felt stupid for asking. She hadn’t expected him to be true to a relationship that didn’t exist. It had never even occurred to her.
But to hear that she had meant so little to him that there had been a lot of women? She felt daggers flying into her heart. “I understand,” she finally said, her food untouched. “You had freedom, had opportunity, had a chance to make up for time you’d lost just being with me for so many years.”
He just stood in front of her for a long moment, then put both hands on the back of her chair, trapping her there as he leaned down so their faces were closer together.
“You know, I told myself those very words for years. Years.” His face inched closer. “And even more, I believed it. I believed that those women made me happy. Complete. A fun guy. That my freedom was the most important thing, and as long as I had that, I was golden. Had dodged a bullet by getting away from you. From us.”
She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to hear this.
Liam dipped his head even lower so they were eye to eye. “It took me a long time to realize—”
His words were cut off by his phone ringing where it sat on the table.
“Damn it,” he muttered. “It’s Joe. I’ve got to take this.”
He brought the phone to his ear. “Joe, this damn well better be the most important thing you’ve ever said.”
Vanessa was close enough to hear Joe’s response even though the phone was at Liam’s ear.
Sheriff McBrien had somehow gotten away.
Chapter Nineteen
The conversation with Vanessa, as much as it needed to happen, would have to wait.
“Did you get made?” Liam asked Joe.
“No,” Derek said, also on the line. “McBrien tricked us from the beginning. He sent someone out to his car around four o’clock. The guy had the same general build and coloring, so from our distance we thought it was him.”
“Dude led us to a restaurant clear on the other side of the island,” Joe continued. “We couldn’t see inside, but we had both exits covered. When he came out an hour later, we realized we’d been set up.”
Frustration knotted Liam’s gut. He hadn’t fooled McBrien this morning; the man was on to them.
“By the time we got back to the station, he had already left for real,” Derek finished.
Liam walked out of the kitchen. He didn’t want to have this conversation in front of Vanessa, although he knew there was really no help for that. No matter where he went in this tiny apartment, she’d still be able to hear him.
“Those girls are as good as dead,” Liam mumbled. “McBrien is probably on his way out there right now to get rid of any evidence.”
“Maybe not,” Derek said. “He’ll only do that as a very last resort because of all the money he stands to lose. Especially now that he’s going to have to lie low for a while. If there’s any way he can keep them alive, he’ll try to.”
Liam prayed that was true. But even if it was, it wouldn’t matter. Unless they could pick up McBrien’s trail again, they were no closer to knowing where the girls were than they had been days before.
“We’re going to head back to you, formulate a plan,” Joe said. “Maybe you should have Andrea try talking to Karine again. See if, now that a couple of days have gone by, she remembers anything.”
“It’s worth a shot. I’ll call her. See you guys in a few minutes.” He disconnected the call and turned to find Vanessa standing just a few feet behind him at the entrance of the living room, face pale.
“You heard?” he asked.
“I got the general gist. McBrien got away. Those girls are in even more trouble than before and we’re back to square one.”
Liam didn’t even know how to soften that. “Yeah. Basically. But I have been running McBrien’s known associates. Hopefully that will provide us with some info.”
“What sort of people are you looking for?”
Liam shrugged a shoulder. “No any one characteristic in particular, but anything that might ring any bells. Maybe an old high school buddy he’s known a long time and trusts implicitly. Or maybe a contact he’s made more recently who might dabble in some illegal stuff on the side.”
“It doesn’t sound like something a computer can sort through.”
“Definitely not. The Omega system can throw us info on people who have a criminal record, but McBrien won’t have a lot. He’s spent too many years keeping himself clean.”
“So you’re going through all this yourself.”
Liam shrugged. “Me, the guys and Andrea. It’s our best chance right now.”
Liam knew it was a slim chance at best. Andrea was a hugely gifted profiler, even for her young age, but she couldn’t pull something out of nothing. She would look for possible suspicious patterns with McBrien’s associates—just as he, Joe and Derek would—but it was a time-consuming process and didn’t guarantee results. If no one had ever seen McBrien with the men he was working with, there would be no possible link to them.
They could arrest McBrien, but it would be messy. No judge would allow them to hold him for long, and their only recourse would be to bring in Karine. Then it would be her word against the sheriff’s. Traumatic for Karine and still wouldn’t save the other girls.
If the worst possible scenario played out and they couldn’t get the girls out safely, Liam would do his best to make sure McBrien went down for what he’d done to Karine at the very least. He would make sure the girl’s story was told and her suffering wasn’t in vain.
There was a knock on the door. Liam encouraged Vanessa to eat her food while he answered it, knowing it was Derek and Joe.
It wasn’t. It was Assistant Sheriff Webb.
“You back to arrest me?” Liam asked.
“You should’ve told me from the very beginning you were Omega and almost all the questions could’ve been avoided,” Webb replied.
Liam cocked one eyebrow. “You looking for an apology? Fine. Sorry I didn’t tell you I was federal law enforcement.”
Liam began to shut the door; he didn’t have time to cater to the younger man’s ego. Webb stopped him.
“No, I didn’t come here for an apology. I came to tell you that you were right.”
Those weren’t the words Liam had been expecting.
Derek and Joe showed up behind Webb, both with their hands very close to their weapons.
“Guys, this is Assistant Sheriff Tommy Webb.” He pointed to Derek and Joe. “Webb, these are my colleagues Agents Joe Matarazzo and Derek Waterman.”
Webb nodded. “I guess you’re not all here to see Vanessa Epperson. That seems to be the excuse de jour.”
“No, we’re not,” Joe said. “But the real question is why are you here?”
“Let’s at least get out of the hallway to have this conversation,” Liam said, opening the door so everyone could enter. They all walked into the living room.
Vanessa joined them, coming to stand by Liam.
“Why is he here?” she asked.
“We were just asking him ourselves.”
The younger man was uncomfortable, Liam could tell. He didn’t blame Webb. There was a lot of animosity in the room and it was mostly
pointed at him.
“You guys want to tell me exactly what the hell is going on?” Webb’s frustration and confusion were evident.
“Why don’t you tell us what you know and we’ll work from there?” Liam said.
“Well, I know for sure that you’re not in town to canoodle with Vanessa.” He looked closer to where Liam’s arm had wrapped around her waist and pulled her next to him. “Or not just to canoodle.”
“Canoodle?” One of Joe’s eyebrows popped up.
“Whatever. I know that’s not why he’s here. You’re all not here for some sort of romantic venture.”
“Okay, brilliant detective work, Webb,” Derek interjected. “What else do you know?”
“I know there’s something going on in the department. It involves Sheriff McBrien and Dwayne Anderson, the AV guy for the crime lab.”
Finally a name. Liam looked over at Derek.
“I’m on it. Computer in the kitchen?”
“Yeah.” Derek would run Anderson and they would know anything there was to know about him within the hour. Hopefully it would be useful.
Webb watched Derek leave then turned back to Liam and the others. “I know it has something to do with that teenage runaway. The one accused of burglary and murder.”
“Go on,” Liam prompted.
“Well, I’d never heard anything about this girl at all, and then suddenly a week ago McBrien is asking me to personally find her. At first I didn’t think anything of it. The sheriff’s position is just as much political as it is law enforcement, so I thought maybe he was helping out a high-influence friend and trying to keep the situation under wraps. I honestly didn’t think anything would come of it.” He turned and pointed at Vanessa. “Until you showed up with her at the hospital.
“And then it got weird,” Webb continued. “Girl wasn’t at the hospital and McBrien got pretty stressed out when I told him she’d definitely been there but had run.”
Webb began to pace.
“The next thing I know, we’re doing car-to-car searches for some fugitive. We have a name but no real picture. The sheriff himself was searching cars. I’ve never seen that happen. Plus, he asks us to keep an eye out for the missing teenager while we’re searching. Then the fugitive search stops as suddenly as it starts.”
“Next thing I know, the teenage runaway we were searching for discreetly is a murder suspect and I’m supposed to question and perhaps even charge Vanessa Epperson for accessory.”
Liam let him keep talking. It was important that Webb really understand for himself what was going on.
“So all the pressure to get this girl... Then, when I think I’m doing a good thing by bringing you in—” Webb turned to Liam “—the next thing I know, McBrien is letting you out. Just like you said he would. Because you’re not only law enforcement, you’re elite law enforcement. But McBrien never even asked you one thing about the case or the girl. He should’ve asked you, regardless if you were Omega Sector or not.”
Liam nodded. “He was trying not to draw attention back to the girl. In case I really was here for Vanessa and not on official Omega business. McBrien wasn’t sure which.”
Webb nodded. “When the sheriff left this afternoon, I went into his office. It’s not unheard of. I’ve done it before. The fact that he lets others in there is either really gutsy or means he doesn’t leave anything incriminating in there and is trying to give the appearance of an open-door policy.”
Liam shrugged. “McBrien is definitely smart. I’d doubt he’d leave anything lying around his office.”
“Yeah. Well, he came back into his office after he left. I ducked into his private bathroom, but was just about to announce myself when he got a phone call. Something weird.”
Liam took a step closer. “Do you remember what was said?”
“I don’t have to remember. I already had my phone out to take pictures if I found anything. So I recorded it.”
Webb took his phone out. He’d made a video recording of the conversation. The video only showed the back of the bathroom door, but the audio was clear, at least McBrien’s side of it.
“Why are you calling me now, Anderson? I’m still at the office...Things are getting too complicated. We probably just need to get rid of the property and take the loss...Because there are people a lot smarter than Webb now involved. We just need to cut our losses...Fine, I’m listening. You have twenty seconds...
“Well, they certainly don’t feel bad about taking advantage of our misfortune...I agree. Half is better than nothing. But it has to be tonight. If not, I’m going to get rid of it all personally...Okay, midnight, tonight. Harper’s Cove. Don’t call me again when you know I’m still at work.”
Liam looked over at Joe. Midnight tonight at Harper’s Cove. Liam knew where it was and knew it would be empty at this time of year.
The perfect place to sell the girls to some unknown buyer.
“So that’s everything I have. You want to tell me what’s going on?” Webb said.
Liam was willing to bet that Webb was a lot smarter than McBrien gave him credit for.
“Why don’t you give me your best guess?” he said to the younger man.
“This missing teenager obviously has something on the sheriff. He was trying to find her quietly, through me and the bogus fugitive search. Then when that failed, he and Anderson killed some poor woman in her home and created some sort of phony murder video trying to frame or discredit the girl in case she came forward.”
McBrien had definitely underestimated Tommy Webb.
“Human-trafficking ring,” Liam told Webb. “One teenager—Karine—got away. There are seven more still on a boat somewhere.”
Webb’s curse was vile.
“We all agree with you,” Vanessa said. “Liam and I have known the sheriff nearly two decades. It’s inconceivable that he’s capable of something like that.”
Webb cursed again.
“Do you still have the girl? Is she somewhere safe?” he asked after a moment.
“Yes, she’s with another Omega agent, someone not associated with either Vanessa or me,” Liam told him. “Safe.”
“It’s already six o’clock,” Joe said. “We don’t have long to plan this rescue attempt. We’ll need to be in position before their boat arrives in the cove. They won’t be expecting anyone to already be out there.”
“If you attack the boat, McBrien will kill those girls. I’m sure of it,” Webb said.
Joe shook his head. “We’re not going to use force unless there’s no other option. Our plan is stealth. With any luck, we’ll get the girls out before we even confront McBrien and whoever is with him.”
“And by confront, Joe means take that son of a bitch down,” Liam said. “I can guarantee that.”
Chapter Twenty
Liam, Joe and Derek had done this before. It didn’t take more than five minutes of hearing them plan for that fact to become obvious to Vanessa. They trusted each other. They respected each other.
They planned to get those girls out or to die trying.
Webb had helped them move an impressive amount of equipment, all in large black boxes, from Joe’s and Derek’s cars into her apartment. Then Webb left. He had his own role to play in this mission. He wouldn’t be going out to the boat, but he would be making sure the buyers didn’t escape after Liam and the guys got the girls out.
Vanessa just tried to stay out of the way as the men unpacked the boxes with certain things she recognized—guns, knives, some sort of dive skins—and many things she didn’t. As they sorted and repacked what they would need, they discussed different possible scenarios.
“You’re talking about a half dozen traumatized teenagers. They might try to fight us,” Joe pointed out.
“Try to mention Karine’s name if you can,” L
iam responded as he took a large duffel bag out of one of the boxes. “But we’ll have to subdue them if necessary.”
Vanessa hoped that wouldn’t be necessary. She was sure the girls had been traumatized enough already.
They would be using some sort of watercraft they called a Zodiac, which was quiet and easy to maneuver. It was black and had no lights or reflective material on it, they explained. They would use an underwater trolling motor as long as they could then guide it the rest of the way manually.
The men themselves would also be in all black, using the cover of night to provide them with the stealth they needed to pull this off. A storm was brewing overhead. That would work to their advantage in masking sound.
Liam’s background in Special Forces was obvious in everything he did as he situated himself for the operation. His placement of weapons, his ease with all the equipment, even the way he carried himself now that he was in full agent mode bespoke it.
“I wish there was something I could do,” she said to him as the guys finished up with their final preparations. “Staying at the house with Karine doesn’t seem like a very helpful position. What if we waited on the dock by the cove? That way when you guys got off the water she would be right there to reassure the girls.”
Liam reached over and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, then cupped the back of her head with his large hand. “No. It leaves you too much out in the open. Knowing you’re safe is the only way I can do this. It allows me to totally focus on those girls and getting them out. Besides, Andrea will be at the dock. Her presence will help the girls.”
Andrea and Karine were on their way now to pick Vanessa up. Liam didn’t want to take any chances on Vanessa being followed and Andrea would be able to spot and hopefully lose anyone tailing them.
“I don’t like that you’re the one taking all the chances.”
“Risks are part of my job, but I’ve trained for them. Joe and Derek, too. This is what we do.”
She hooked her hand around his arm, causing his elbow to bend and bring his face closer. “You just be careful.”
