by KJ Dahlen
Mercy reached over and took her hand. “I had my own mama until I was eleven. I lost her to an accident where she worked. Then I lived on the streets for the next five years before I could come here.” She shook her head, “I didn’t have too many friends either. But I had to watch out for the cartel as well. They were big in the town I lived in.”
Zoey studied her for a long moment then looked back at Skeeter. “So where do we go from here?”
“We have to wait until our blood tests come in tomorrow. Then if Mercy’s comes back as a match for Trace’s, we call your grandparents and let them know you girls exist as their grandchildren.”
“But my blood hasn’t been tested.” Zoey looked confused.
Skeeter shook his head. “It was tested seven years ago. It’s in your medical records at the Bureau.”
Zoey frowned. “My records? I never had a blood test.” She shook her head. “That was something I would have remembered.”
Janice looked over at Skeeter. “How the hell did she get enough blood for a DNA test then?”
Zoey looked down at her arm. “Wait, I cut my arm seven years ago. She had to take me into the ER for stitches but the doctor never did a blood test.”
“Well, let’s get another test done right now.” Skeeter reached for his phone and called Dallas.
After a few minutes, he ended the call and told everyone, “Dallas is bringing over a nurse. We don’t want Calista to know about this test. It could be the key to turn this case and we don’t want her to have the time she needs to come up with an explanation to make it work in her favor.”
“What if this blood test proves I’m not Trace’s daughter?” Zoey asked a little fearfully.
Mercy tapped the picture Zoey still held in her hand.
Zoey looked down at it and caught her breath. She stared at the picture in her hands. She looked into the smiling face of her father. His face was very familiar, as she saw it every day when she looked into the mirror.
“I don’t think this test is going to be any more than a confirmation,” Skeeter told her.
“Why?” Zoey begged softly. “Why would she do something like this?”
“Calista Jones is a twisted woman and that’s a fact that we know for sure now.” Skeeter sighed. “She swore out a warrant with my name on it and we think she switched my blood test with Trace’s to make me out as your dad. She wanted to blame me for the both of you. I knew I hadn’t been with either of your mother’s. Hell, I never even met a Charity Jones but she was setting me up for something.”
Zoey shook her head. “Do you remember that night she was drunk I was telling you about?”
Skeeter nodded. “What about it?”
“She was mad you made it back when Trace didn’t,” Zoey explained. “She thought she still had a chance to be with him. She was saying something about blackmailing him into coming to her. She thought she could force him into being with her or she would make sure he went to jail.”
“That just doesn’t make any sense to me.” Janice shook her head. “Why would she want a man like him anyway?”
“I don’t really think she really wanted him,” Zoey explained. “But he was the only man she wanted that ever turned her down. She said something that night about how she didn’t understand why he turned her down then went after her younger sister. She kept saying that she had more to offer him than her little sister ever would.”
Skeeter frowned at something she said. It reminded him of something Trace had told him once. They were on their way to Mexico and he told Skeeter that some women were just plum ass crazy. When Skeeter asked him what he meant Trace had told him about a woman he knew that tried to bribe him, hell he said she tried to roofie him just to sleep with her. He told her he didn’t want her because there was something off about her but that didn’t matter to her. She thought she could get him but Trace wanted nothing to do with her. Then he found a different woman and he said he slept with her and that just pissed off the first woman. He found out the second woman was related to the first and that’s when the crazy came out. He was more than happy to get out of the country for a while and that was when they got the undercover assignment in Mexico.
He turned to look at Janice. “Trace did meet Calista once and she tried to drug him to catch him in a baby drama. At least, I think she did. Trace said she was bat shit crazy before he left for Mexico.”
“Then why did she try to set you up?” Janice asked.
“I don’t know but she’s going to tell us before this is over.” Skeeter growled just as a knock sounded on motel suite door. He went over and opened it.
It was Dallas... He had a glare in his eyes and a scowl on his face. “I found something I think you should see.” He handed Skeeter a file.
Skeeter opened it and read the information there. He didn’t understand what he was reading. “What the fuck is this?”
“It’s the reason Calista framed you instead of a dead man,” Dallas told him.
Chapter Seven
Skeeter slapped the file against his leg and motioned for Dallas and the nurse to come inside the room.
When Dallas noticed the two girls, he stopped in his tracks as he stared at Zoey. “Holy shit,” he muttered. “There isn’t much use in denying who her dad is, is there? She looks just like him.”
Janice got up and walked over to where they were standing and handed Dallas another file folder. It was the one Zoey had given Skeeter. “There is something else in that file you both need to see,” she told them quietly.
Dallas stared at her for a moment then opened the file. His eyebrows rose when he saw the notice from Social Security about Zoey receiving payments under her late father’s name. Then he looked at the second page in the file and he darted a look at Janice. “Are you shitting me?”
Skeeter looked from one to the other, then back to Janice. “What is it?”
“Calista was thinking ahead,” Janice pointed out. “She filed for a life insurance policy on Trace before you guys left for Mexico for the child her sister was carrying. She knew how dangerous the mission might be and she wanted Trace’s child to have something. You know, in case he never came back.” She raised her eyes to Skeeter. “She had to wait until the baby was born and she had a blood test done to prove Zoey was his child and then she collected on the insurance. They paid out almost half a million dollars to her aunt for the baby’s care. Turning to Dallas she said, “Then she collected his Social Security all these years for the baby as well.”
Skeeter raised the file Dallas had brought in. “Do you know what’s in this file?” he growled.
Janice frowned and shook her head. “Do I want to know?”
Skeeter gritted his teeth. He spoke softly so the girls wouldn’t hear him, “Oh, hell yeah. She set me up good. She’s been working this scheme from both sides. Do you know who Mercy’s mother was?”
Janice shook her head.
“This report states something I never knew about Mercy’s mother...she was the daughter of the local Cartel leader. The very young daughter of the local cartel leader. The daughter who ran away to betray her family for a man, and that man had been Trace. Then when Trace got what he could from her, he left her carrying his baby. We were leaving that night and she came to see him, she was all packed up to come with us and that’s when Trace told her she couldn’t, that he wouldn’t take her across the border with him. She was fun while he was there but he couldn’t help her anymore. So what I hadn’t known at the time was the fact that she and her baby would be killed because he’d left her there on the Mexican side.” Skeeter shook his head. “Trace told her he wouldn’t help her that she knew what she was getting into long before he had sex with her. He told her she wanted him, not the other way around.” He looked over at Dallas. “He was overly harsh with her as she was only sixteen at the time.” Then he snorted. “They had just celebrated her sixteenth birthday the night before.”
The room went silent, as Skeeter looked livid, since he finally knew th
e extent of his partner’s callousness.
Then he straightened his spine and told Dallas, “When we got back, I was going to report his ass. When you go undercover, you take certain risks and do things you might not otherwise, but what he did to that girl was criminal. She wasn’t old enough or sophisticated enough to handle the shit he was dishing out to her. He played her to get intel and sex then left her high and dry.” He narrowed his eyes at his boss. “In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to find out it was her who shot him.”
Janice gasped at his disclosure.
Skeeter nodded. “Calista must have followed up on our mission and found out about Mercy and her mom. In this file is a letter she sent to the cartel, claiming I was the one to betray his daughter, I was the one who left her alone with a baby on the way. She included a blood test for Mercy and a copy of the blood test I had taken before we left on the mission. She claimed that she expected to be paid for the information she could provide and an address where I could be found.”
Janice growled. “That despicable, dirty two timing snitch of a bitch.”
“Then she filed this suit against him,” Dallas informed Janice. “She knew if this one failed, she always had a backup plan. We have no idea if she ever sent the letter to the cartel or not. This could be just a copy or the original, we just don’t know yet.”
“That sounds exactly like something Calista would do.” Zoey’s voice came from behind Janice. She was standing there holding a cotton swab in the crook of her arm where the nurse had just taken her blood sample.
They turned to find both girls standing there, listening to their conversation. Mercy looked completely stunned and Zoey had tears in her eyes but she was trying her best to look brave.
Skeeter moved closer to the girls. “No matter what happens next, I will protect you girls. None of this is your burden to carry.”
“Then whose burden is it, señor?” Mercy whispered. “Sometimes the children must carry the burden of their parents.”
“No sweetheart, they don’t,” Skeeter argued. “You didn’t do all of this. This is on your father.”
“But my papa is dead and has been since before I was born,” she told him sadly.
Dallas urged them back further into the suite, so they could talk. “Come on let’s sit down and discuss your options.” After everyone was seated, he looked over at Zoey, “We did need an up to date blood test, one that we do ourselves, so we can be sure of the results. But to my mind, there is little doubt that Trace Coulier is your father.”
“I’m not sure I want to claim that bastard as my father.” Shaking her head she said, “And I thought Calista was a nightmare to live with.”
“What your father did was wrong,” Dallas claimed. “But you two girls are innocent of all that. And if he were still alive he would be serving time in prison for what he did. No one, not even Trace was above the law. And as a member of the Rangers, he used and abused his position.”
“Did my mama shoot him?” Mercy asked softly.
Skeeter turned his head and looked at her. “I don’t know sweetheart. He certainly gave her the ammunition to do so. I couldn’t see who pulled the trigger. I was on this side of the border but Trace hadn’t made it over yet. Whoever held the gun was pinning me down on my side too. I couldn’t get to him to help him. I was wounded and bleeding and I tried, I really did try.”
Mercy hung her head. “At least I know for sure now.”
“What does that mean?” Dallas frowned.
“My mama was not a bad person but she did make mistakes.” Mercy sighed. “She did love me, but life where we lived was hard. If she was the daughter of a cartel leader and she knew when she betrayed her family, that she could never go back home. I don’t think she even tried. Instead, she changed her name and traveled far away to just remain alive. She told me later that after I was born, she had to work hard to bring in enough money to raise me. But she used to tell me what she grew up with. When I asked her if she still had family, she would shake her head and tell me not anymore. She had such a sad look on her face at those times. Then when I was eleven years old, someone came to our town. Everyone was afraid of whoever was in that big shiny car, it frightened everyone. They went to their homes and they stayed there. I wanted to go home as well but my neighbor pulled me into her house and wouldn’t let me go home. When the car drove away, I went home and found my mama dead. She didn’t die an easy death. It was brutal and meant to show anyone who saw it, this is what happens when you betray them. The people in our town didn’t want to bring down any more misery on themselves, so they turned their backs on me.” Tears streamed down her face as she recalled her story. “I lived the best I could. Then Ms. Calista came to my town about three months ago. When she found me, she told me she had been looking for me for some time and that I had to get out of Mexico. She told me to come to America and she would help me get settled. She knew about my mama and how she died. She said she could protect me, but I had to come across the border on my own first.”
Skeeter growled and curled his fists in anger.
Shaking her head Mercy admitted, “It took me almost two months to get to the border and find a way to cross it. Once I got over the border and called her, it took her three days to meet me. Then she brought me here and set me up in that house with a room.”
“That lousy bitch,” Skeeter spoke through gritted teeth. “She let a sixteen year old kid make her own way to the border. Anything could have happened to her along the way.”
“Ms. Jones will be under arrest as soon as I get back to the station,” Dallas assured them. “Her scheme isn’t going to work. She’ll tell us everything by the time we get done with her.”
Zoey glared at the men. “While you are at it, can you ask her what happened to my mother? I’d really like to know.” Then she looked at Skeeter, “So what happens to us now? I’ve got six weeks before I turn eighteen and I know Mercy’s is younger than I am.”
Mercy nodded. “And I am not here legally. I could be sent back to Mexico.”
“Neither of you girls are going anywhere,” Skeeter assured them both. “You can stay with me until we can get this settled.”
Just then, Dallas got a phone call. He got up to answer it... a moment later he scowled and ended the call. When he returned, he looked over at Skeeter, “I have to get back to the office. All hell’s done broke loose.”
“You need some company?” Skeeter got to his feet.
Dallas looked almost as if he might agree but in the end, he shook his head. “No, you better stay here and keep them safe.”
Skeeter frowned but he looked toward the girls and nodded. “Ok, but if you need something call me.”
Dallas nodded. “I will.”
The nurse was waiting at the door. Dallas turned and rushed her out of the suite.
Skeeter frowned and watched them leave, then he turned back to the girls and Janice. “Let’s get settled in for the next few days.”
The girls nodded and walked into the adjoining room.
Janice looked over at Skeeter. “What’s going on?”
Skeeter shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’m not sure yet, but if it's something we need to know about, Dallas will call me back.”
Janice looked toward the adjoining door. “I hope it has nothing to do with them. I’m not sure how much more those girls can take.”
Skeeter agreed with her. “I think they’ve had just about enough too. Let’s hope their grandparents will take them and show them some acceptance and love. All they’ve ever known is dislike and misery. Calista has a lot to answer for.”
“Let’s hope she acknowledges what she’s done then.” Janice narrowed her eyes as she thought about the scheming bitch. “Women like her give us females a bad reputation.”
“She’s just bat shit crazy.” Skeeter seethed.
Just then, his phone rang and when he answered the call, he paled. Looking over at Janice his eyes grew bleak, then they grew cold. He hung up the call and glared
at Janice for a moment, then he told her, “Calista escaped custody. She’s free and on the move. Dallas was called back to the office when one of her guards was found unconscious on the floor of her cell. She smashed a chair onto his head then simply walked out." He paused as he clenched his fists. “But she’s gonna die if she comes around here.”
Janice reached out and put her fingers over his lips. “Hush, you’ll scare the girls.”
Skeeter took her fingers away from his mouth. “I mean it, she’s not going to hurt either of them anymore. She’s done with her reign of terrorizing them and I’m done putting up with her shit.” Reaching for his phone, he dialed a number. When the call was answered he said, “I need some help.” And then began to tell them what he was facing.
When he hung up the call, Janice asked in concern, “What did you just do?”
“I called in for some help from the Savaged Souls.”
“Why?” she asked while wondering where this would lead to.
He smiled coldly at her. “We hunt dangerous men down for a living. I trust these men. If we find her before the Rangers do, she’d better pray for forgiveness.”
Janice just stared at him and swallowed hard. She could read the intent in his eyes and was glad his ire wasn’t aimed at her.
Chapter Eight
The sun was low in the sky when a knock sounded on the door of their room.
Skeeter grabbed his gun from the back of his jeans and moved toward the door. Looking through the peephole, he exhaled hard and for a few seconds, he laid his head on the wooden panel. Then he stepped back and opened the door.
Boone, Gypsy and Grizzly were standing just outside the door in the hallway.
He hustled them into the room in a hurry. He didn’t want anyone to see them in case Calista was out there watching.
“What the hell is going on here?” Gypsy looked around and saw the open door to the adjoining room as well as Janice standing at the window.
