“This sucks,” Ali whispered, as she took in the women.
“I know, but it’s necessary,” Tanner said.
They were talking about their decision to not free the women at the pick-up site and to let them be taken along to the home where the auction would take place. If they were to free the women early, the auction would be cancelled, and they would lose the opportunity to get their hands on the people coming to bid on them. Those bidders had other women enslaved somewhere. It was important to have a chance to free the earlier victims as well.
They moved closer to the van while being careful to make as little noise as possible. Luck was with them, in that the driver had left the engine running and it helped to cover their approach. Tanner and Taran were nearly invisible in their black garb, but not Ali. The white coveralls were easy to spot even in the near pitch blackness of the night.
Tanner and Taran left Ali behind a tree that obscured her presence and moved through the woods to circle around to the other side of the gathered group by the rear of the van.
The women were huddled together. One of the guards was in front of them while one stayed back and was standing even with them. If Ali attempted to blend in with the gathered women there was no way that the guard near them wouldn’t notice her. It was up to Tanner and Taran to cause a distraction.
Tanner rustled a bush loudly and saw both of the guards turn in his direction. The men spoke to each other in voices too low to hear, and the one near the girls removed a small flashlight from his belt.
Before he could shine it at Tanner, Taran made noise sixty feet to Tanner’s right. The men swiveled their gaze that way and the one with the flashlight stepped forward while aiming the beam of his electric torch into the darkness.
Ali, as planned, picked that moment to join the women. After leaving the tree she’d been hiding behind, she slipped off the sneakers she was wearing in order to be barefooted like the others. Ali eased along the side of the van and sidled in among the women. One of them gasped in surprise as the others gawked at her.
Tanner shook the bush in front of him again to maintain the guards’ attention on the woods. Ali raised a finger to her lips and the women looked puzzled with several nodding. They had no idea why she was there and pretending to be one of them, but it gave them hope that something was going on that might result in them regaining their freedom.
Ali had known that her arrival on the scene would be the moment when she might face the greatest risk of being outed as a fake abductee. One or more of the women might have drawn attention to her, and there was a chance that she’d be spotted approaching by a guard. Tanner had even stated the possibility that one of the girls might alert the guards on purpose, in a misguided attempt to gain favor with them. None of that occurred and Ali’s arrival had gone undetected.
The guard with the flashlight shone his beam around for over a minute before he was satisfied that it was only some creature of the night they had heard. As he switched his light off, a different glow came into view. It was the vehicles transporting Emily and Karen.
Karen was not looking forward to dealing with the women. Along with her sisters, she had been responsible for targeting them for abduction. Normally, that would be the extent of her involvement. Once the women were drugged and handed over to Nick or Johan, Karen’s part was done, and she never had to see her victims again.
Not this time. Now, she would have to deal with their recriminating gazes and be responsible for keeping them in line. Nancie got off on that sort of thing, but Karen just wanted to set them up and never have to think of them again. She had pretended to be their friend to find out about them. Before taking them, they had to know if they had tattoos, unsightly birthmarks, or perhaps ugly scars from surgeries. To gather that information, Karen engaged in girl talk with her targets, went shopping with them to see them with their clothes off in changing rooms, and if possible, see them in a bikini, or even naked. Once she had verified that a woman was up to their standards, she informed her uncle and made plans for the abduction to take place. The buyers wanted women who were young, beautiful, and as perfect as possible. They weren’t willing to pay big money for just any young woman.
Karen stepped from the van with two bodyguards at her side. Looking at the women, she recognized three of them. One of the three spoke to her.
“You’re involved in this, Karen?”
“Shut up! Unless someone asks you a question, you’re not to say shit. That goes for all of you.”
Emily strode forward with her own guards. Unlike Karen, Emily seemed pleased to see two of the women she had set up. She pointed at one and laughed.
“Remember how you said that you’d like to travel more, Cara? Your wish has come true.”
Cara, a woman with olive skin and dark hair down to her waist glared at Emily but remained silent. The other woman who’d been betrayed by Emily was crying.
A second set of women arrived from the ship as Ali and the first group were climbing into the van that transported Karen. The second group consisted of six more women. They were given warnings about talking and given over to the care of Emily.
No one took a head count. The idea had never crossed the minds of Emily or Karen. Nancie had never trained them, and they hadn’t the sense to make certain that their counts were right. They just assumed that the guards would have mentioned it if anyone had run off or died during the rough trip on the ship.
But there was one woman too many, a thirteenth girl. In this instance, the number thirteen would prove to be very unlucky indeed.
14
Another Tragic Accident
In Lafayette, Louisiana, Vince Lasser was pleased to see that his plan was working. He’d been unable to track down the Barlows, whom he knew as Dennis and Cynthia Polanski, and so he decided to arrange things so that they would come to him.
Word of at least some of the deaths of their old friends would reach them. And knowing that wouldn’t be enough to flush them out, he made things more personal by killing Kate’s mother. That death would hit close to home and make them fear for their children’s safety. It had worked, and Lasser followed their son, Ira Polanski, to a hotel in downtown Lafayette.
They had passed Celeste’s car as Ira looked for a place to park his Camry. After weeks of following both Ira and Celeste around, Lasser knew their habits and schedules well. There was no reason for them both to drop everything and rush to a hotel unless they had been summoned there. They’d been summoned there by their parents and that meant that the Barlows were on their way to Louisiana. Lasser was hours away from getting his revenge.
Ira resembled his father a great deal but was more handsome and taller. He’d been named after his paternal grandfather and the name fit him well, as his sensitivities and beliefs were more like those of someone from an earlier generation.
He was a teen when he realized that his parents made their living as con artists and thieves. They liked to give themselves the title of corporate spies, but it all amounted to the same thing. They lied, cheated, and stole things from people. As much as he loved them, he didn’t want to associate with them. He hoped to have a family of his own someday and thought his parents would be a bad influence on his children.
Celeste, his younger sister, was in agreement. They had been close growing up and with their mutual interest in the law, it was only natural that they would be reluctant to spend time with people who had no respect for the law at all.
Not only were they lawyers, but they both worked for the state as prosecutors. It would be beyond embarrassing to someday have it known that their parents were a pair of common thieves.
When his father called him earlier to say that there was something important they had to discuss, and that he needed him to meet them at a hotel, Ira was sure it meant nothing but trouble. After Celeste called and told him that their mother asked her to do the same, Ira was worried that the end result would be that his parents’ criminal activities had come to light.
He�
�d been working hard at getting a promotion and thinking of running for district attorney in another few years. If it became known that he was the son of career criminals, it could taint his reputation and scuttle any plans to promote him.
Ira opened his car door to step out when a man walked up and pointed a gun at him. He was an older man with a shaved head and eyes that Ira immediately classified as cruel. Those details had been noticed only after Ira had stared dumbly at the gun for several seconds as if in a trance. The spell was broken when the man spoke to him.
“Hand me your keys, your wallet, and your phone.”
A robbery, Ira thought. Yet another thief. As he complied and handed the items over, Ira wondered if his father had ever mugged or carjacked someone. He figured that he hadn’t. Thief or not, his father had some class.
“Stay in the car,” the man said before slamming the door shut. Afterward, he walked around to the passenger side and got in.
“You can have the car, just please, don’t hurt me.”
The man smiled at him. “You look like Dennis, only better.”
“You know my father?”
“And you too. The last time I saw you I think you were three and playing on the floor with these toys that looked like samurais, but they were shaped like turtles.”
Ira blinked rapidly. The man wasn’t familiar to him at all, but he must have been the trouble his father spoke of. That trouble was pointing a loaded gun at his stomach and had a finger on the trigger. Ira was about to ask a question when the man extended his other hand and jabbed him in the neck with something.
“Ow! What the hell did you do? Is that a needle?”
“That was a little cocktail to knock you out. I got the recipe from a chemist I served time with. The guy was locked up for killing his wife with an umbrella of all things.”
Ira felt his eyes growing heavy, then they closed, and he slumped forward. Lasser stuck out his arm and caught him before he fell onto the steering wheel and activated the horn. Ira fought against going under, but it was a losing fight. As he felt himself passing out, he heard Lasser laugh.
“Now it’s time to get your lovely sister down here.”
Celeste had arrived at the hotel earlier and checked in as her mother had asked her to do. She’d had to cancel a dinner date to do it and was mad. The date was with a friend she had gone to law school with and the friend was only going to be in town for the day. Celeste had agreed to meet with her parents because of the pleading note she’d heard in her mother’s voice.
“Is something wrong, Mom?”
“Yes. Your father and I have something to tell you.”
“Are you coming here, or will you be at Ira’s apartment?”
“Neither one. We want to meet you both at a hotel. Go there as soon as you can and wait for us. We’re driving in from Houston.”
“What’s this about?”
“I don’t want to say over the phone.”
“I see. You two are in trouble. Didn’t I tell you that would happen if you kept going on with things the way you always had?”
Celeste had heard her mother sniffle then and asked her if everything was all right?
“I’m fine, but we need to meet.”
“You sounded as if you were crying.”
“It’s allergies. Promise me that you’ll go to the hotel and meet with us.”
“I will.”
“Thank you, baby. Call me when you get there and tell us where you are and in what room.”
“All right. I hope this isn’t too serious. Does this involve the police?”
“We’ll talk when we get there. I love you, Celeste.”
“I love you too, Mom. See you soon.”
That call had been some time ago. Celeste figured that unless they hit bad traffic that they would be there within the next hour.
Her phone made a sound telling her that she had received a text. It was from Ira.
He was in the parking lot and wanted her to come down.
Celeste texted him back and asked why. She received a text telling her that there was something Ira wanted her to see and that he couldn’t bring it to the hotel room. That made little sense to Celeste, but she had no reason to suspect that it was anyone else but Ira texting her.
Celeste put on a jacket and left the room, to take the elevator to the lobby. Once outside, she checked her phone and read the text again. Ira stated that he was parked in the row behind where she had parked her car.
Celeste spotted Ira’s car and saw him seated behind the wheel. For some reason he had the sun visor pulled down and she was having trouble seeing his face. As she came closer, she could see that he was asleep. Ira was known for putting in long hours. It was not surprising that he might dose off when he had a moment to rest.
Celeste found the door handle on the passenger side unlocked and slipped into the car. Ira didn’t stir.
“Ira? Hey, wake up.”
Celeste sensed movement behind her a second before she felt a sharp prick on the side of her neck. She yelped in fright and spun around in her seat to find Lasser pointing a gun at her.
“Hello, Celeste. You’ve grown into a beautiful woman.”
The drug took effect on Celeste quicker than it had on Ira. Her eyes fluttered for an instant before she fell across the seat, where her head settled on her brother’s chest.
Lasser left the back seat and opened the front passenger door. He straightened Celeste up so that it appeared that she was just sitting there beside her brother. A look through her purse gave Lasser the key card for the hotel room. He left Ira and Celeste and headed into the hotel. He would enter the room and leave a message for Michael and Kate. Now that he had their children, they had no choice but to do as he asked. Lasser had waited a long time to take revenge on his former friends. At last, the time had come.
He returned to the car and struggled to place the lanky Ira into the rear. Then he climbed behind the wheel and drove off. He had another tragic accident to arrange.
15
Dinner Theater
A GPS tracker was sewn into a cuff of the coveralls Ali wore. Tanner had given it to Ali. It was one of the items Henry had delivered to him.
Tanner and Taran followed the van Ali was in from a safe distance. The area they were in was sparsely populated and there weren’t many vehicles around. Seeing a set of headlights in their rearview mirror might alert the guards driving.
Tanner didn’t need headlights to drive. He was wearing the panoramic night vision goggles that turned the night into day. Taran had on a set as well, and he marveled at the device.
“These are much better than the ones I last wore.”
“Keep them as a gift for helping me with this.”
“Thank you. However, I am honored to be of service. As you are aware, I owe a debt to Spenser for saving my life and my mother’s life. By helping you and his other friends, I will be repaying him to a degree.”
“I know we’ll have an advantage because of our equipment and training, but we’ll still be up against bad odds. Be careful tonight, Taran.”
“I will be. It is Ali I worry over. She is brave to place herself in danger.”
“She is. And she has some training that will help her if anyone tries to hurt her.”
Tanner stopped driving after noticing that the GPS device was no longer registering movement. The vans transporting the women must have arrived at the house. In the distance, he could detect a glow. It was caused by the lights situated around the home.
He made a U-turn and headed back about a hundred yards to an unpaved path he had spotted. It was just wide enough for the car. Tanner backed their vehicle in until it was too far from the road to see. As an extra precaution, he drove off-road and tucked the car beneath a magnolia tree. Anyone driving by on the road leading to the house would never see them.
After turning off the engine, Tanner stepped out with Taran doing the same.
“Now we wait until the bidders arrive. Once that happens
, we’ll move in on foot. Ali is about two miles away. As we get closer to the house, keep an eye out for perimeter guards.”
“We should take separate paths to the home. We will make less noise,” Taran said.
“Good idea. When we get close, I’ll circle around and approach the home from the rear, while you take the front. If Ali is able to turn off the power and take out the lights, we’ll know it. Once that happens, we move in and kill the guards.”
“And if she fails?”
“Then we kill as quietly as we can and as many as we can until they catch on. The night vision could help even the odds, but I’m not relying on it. There’s a good chance that Ali will be locked up and unable to do anything.”
At the house, Ali was looking around and taking in what she could as she and the other women were herded toward stone steps that led down into the home’s basement. The only thing of note that she saw was the landing pad for a helicopter. That was something that Nancie Ventura hadn’t mentioned. It had been assumed that the bidders would be driven in.
The job of keeping anyone from sneaking off and driving away had fallen to Maxwell and Bo. Although injured, they both had a part to play. Maxwell and Bo were going to use a chainsaw to bring down a tree and block the road. Since there was a helicopter coming, they would have to come up with a new way to keep anyone from leaving.
The basement was finished and had wood paneling and tan carpet, but it lacked a heat source and was chilly. There was an old set of living room furniture to sit on and overhead bulbs provided light. Emily and Karen followed behind their captives with two guards in front of them and two at their backs.
Being taken to the basement was a blessing for Ali. It was where she wanted to be since odds were good that the electrical panel was in the same location.
Because their voyage on the ship had been longer than usual, the abducted women had been given water once during the trip. That was a full day ago, and it had been three days since they’d eaten anything. There was a platter of sandwiches sitting on a table down in the basement, along with bottled water and soda. After spotting the food upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, several of the women rushed toward the table. Karen issued a threat.
Sins of the Father and Mother (A Tanner Novel Book 42) Page 13
