Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3)

by Matt Lincoln

  “What?!” Miranda exclaimed as she tried to peer past him into the gas station.

  “The suspects were about to leave,” he continued. “She grabbed the kid and holed herself up in the bathroom with her. The lady’s in there pounding on the door, demanding the little girl back. We were about to move in when the man pulled a gun. We have a negotiator in there now trying to talk them down.”

  “Let me talk to them,” I pleaded.

  “I don’t think-” The officer began.

  “She’s panicking,” I interrupted. “The Andersons see Lakshmi as their own daughter. In their eyes, a stranger just snatched their kid away, and now they have a ton of guns trained on them. They need to know that someone is on their side. If we don’t move now, Mr. Anderson might have a breakdown and start shooting.”

  The officer stared at me with a torn look on his face.

  “I need to clear it with my supervisor first,” he muttered, moving away from the entrance to make a call. I cursed internally. We didn’t have time for this. By the time he got permission from his boss, Mr. Anderson could have already killed someone.

  I looked in the direction the officer had walked off in. He was deep in conversation with someone. I gritted my teeth as I made a decision. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, especially after I’d criticized Miranda earlier for running headfirst into an uncleared house.

  I stepped quickly into the gas station.

  “Hey, stop!” One of the officers inside reached out to grab at me, but I sidestepped him and moved as close to Mr. Anderson as I dared.

  “Stop!” Mr. Anderson shouted, his voice cracking. “Don’t come any closer!” The hand holding the gun was trembling. Behind him, Mrs. Anderson was wailing as she pounded on the door, tears streaming down her eyes.

  “Please,” she called. “Give me back my baby. I just want my baby girl.”

  “Mrs. Anderson?” I called softly.

  “Shut up,” Mr. Anderson barked, and I had to fight not to flinch as his grip tightened on the gun. “Leave her alone. She just wants her daughter back!”

  “I know that,” I replied gently. My heart was pounding, and I could feel a bead of sweat running down the back of my neck. I had placed myself between a manic man holding a gun and a line of armed police officers. This has been an insanely reckless idea, and if I wasn’t careful, I wasn’t going to get out of this alive. “I know that you were just trying to take care of Lakshmi. That’s why you took her from that woman, right?”

  Mr. Anderson’s eyes widened in surprise, and behind him, Mrs. Anderson stopped pounding on the bathroom door.

  “How do you know about that?” Mr. Anderson asked.

  “I’m a federal agent,” I explained slowly as I reached for my ID instinctively. I stopped my hand before I could move too far. The last thing I needed to do right now was reach into my pocket. “I know that you adopted Lakshmi, and I know that you’ve been taking very good care of her.”

  Mrs. Anderson finally turned around. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her makeup was running in streaks down her face.

  “Really?” She asked. Her voice sounded so quiet and broken.

  “Yes,” I nodded. “I know you would never hurt her because you care about her. But right now, she’s in a dangerous situation.”

  “That’s their fault,” Mr. Anderson growled, waving his gun toward the police officers behind me. I heard the metallic click of guns as some police officers cocked their guns in response.

  “Stop, don’t shoot!” I called frantically. I really didn’t think the Andersons needed to die for this, and besides, they were standing right in front of the bathroom door. If one of the officer’s shots hit the door, I wasn’t sure the cheap wood would be able to stop the bullet completely.

  “I know it’s their fault,” I murmured in an attempt to placate him. “They don’t understand the situation like I do. But if they fire, they might hit Lakshmi accidentally.”

  “No!” Mrs. Anderson yelled.

  “I know you don’t want that,” I insisted. I felt a little bad using her as leverage, but I needed to do whatever was necessary to end this as peacefully as possible. “If you want the police to put down their guns, you need to drop your weapon and step away from the door.”

  “But my baby,” Mrs. Anderson protested weakly, fresh tears forming in her eyes.

  “I’ll go in and get her,” I nodded. “As soon as you step away, I’ll go in and get her myself. Does that sound good?”

  Mr. Anderson looked like he wanted to argue, but Mrs. Anderson nodded and slowly placed her hand on his arm. His shoulders drooped in resignation as he tossed the gun to the side. As soon as he did, two of the police officers rushed forward and tackled the pair of them to the ground. I moved quickly to the bathroom door and knocked.

  “Hello?” I called over the commotion behind me. “This is Agent Chapman with MBLIS. I’m a federal agent. Can you please open the door?”

  There was a sound of shuffling inside before the door was cracked open, and a woman peered out.

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re here,” she sighed as she saw me. She pushed open the door wider to reveal a small girl sitting against the far wall. I moved past the woman and kneeled down in front of the girl.

  “Hi,” I smiled warmly at her. “Are you Lakshmi?”

  She nodded, and I scooped her up in my arms. She was shaking, and her thin arms were clutched tightly around my neck. I couldn’t imagine how frightened she must be right now. I turned to leave the bathroom.

  “My baby!” Mrs. Anderson screamed as I came out. It pulled at something in my heart to hear her yell like that, but I rushed through the gas station without pausing. “No, come back! Bring her back to me!”

  I didn’t stop even after we’d exited the gas station and stepped into the hot sunlight. I circled around the side of the building before setting her down. There were a lot of cop cars and flashing lights out front, and by now, people had started to gather and take pictures with their phones. Lakshmi already seemed so scared, and I didn’t want to overwhelm her any more than she already was.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Miranda suddenly asked. I hadn’t heard her approach, and I jumped at the sound of her voice. “I saw you run off around the side of the building, and I got worried.”

  “I’m fine,” I replied, though now that the adrenaline was wearing off, my hands were starting to shake, and my voice had cracked as I spoke. “I just didn’t want everyone staring at her.”

  Miranda looked down at Lakshmi, who was holding on to my hand tightly and drawing shapes in the dirt with her shoe.

  “Good idea,” she nodded. “But you know what wasn’t a good idea? Hauling off in there by yourself. I mean, seriously, Junior? What the hell was that?”

  I let out a shaky breath.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I just got a bad feeling. Like if I didn’t do something fast, someone was going to end up hurt. I didn’t really think about it. I just knew I had to do it.”

  Miranda shot me a stern look.

  “Okay, I get it,” she shrugged as she moved to lean against the side of the building beside me. “The local cops are probably furious, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re on the phone with Wallace right now tearing you a new one.”

  I pursed my lips as I thought about the severity of what I’d done. It was completely against protocol, and honestly just plain stupid. I didn’t regret it, though. I couldn’t. Not when Lakshmi was here holding my hand, safe and sound. I’d seen a little girl in danger, and I’d acted accordingly. I’d accept the consequences of my actions, but I wouldn’t apologize for them.

  “Alright,” Miranda declared. “I’m gonna go figure out what the situation with the Andersons is and see about getting in contact with Social Services for Lakshmi. You should probably just stay here with her for now.”

  I nodded in response. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that my actions had probably caused quite a ruckus, and I wasn’t opposed to hiding o
ut for a little while. I slid down the wall onto the ground, and I smiled as Lakshmi followed suit and sat down next to me. I looked out over the horizon that stretched ahead of us. The gas station was located in the desert on the outskirts of central Las Vegas. There was something relaxing about looking out over the wide-open expanse, bathed in warm shades of orange and brown. In the distance, I could see some palm trees. Their fronds were swaying in the slight breeze, and I could feel my heartbeat slowing as I watched the slow and gentle movement.

  “Are you feeling okay?” I asked Lakshmi. She didn’t look upset or scared, but it was possible she was just in shock.

  “Yes,” she nodded. “Are my other mommy and daddy going to be in trouble?” My eyes widened in surprise at her words.

  “Do you mean the people who brought you here?” I asked.

  “Mhm,” she hummed in response. “My first mommy is at home in Jamaica. She asked my new mommy and daddy to take care of me.”

  “Is that what they told you?” I asked her. She nodded again.

  “They said they’d take me to visit her someday,” she sniffled. “I want to go now, but they said it wasn’t safe.”

  “Why isn’t it safe?” I asked.

  “They said because some mean people might take me away,” she whimpered sadly. “Then I won’t get to see them or my first mommy again. Is that true? Are you going to take me away?”

  I was struck dumb by her innocent question. I couldn’t really deny it.

  “Yes,” I answered truthfully. “I’m going to take you away from the Andersons.” Her small face fell, and I hurried to continue speaking. “But what they said about not being able to see your mommy anymore wasn’t true. My friends and I are going to help you find her.”

  “Really?” she asked, perking up immediately.

  “Yeah,” I smiled. “And guess what?”

  “What?” she asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.

  “Your sister Kamya is waiting for you,” I smiled.

  “Really?” Lakshmi cried as she jumped to her feet in excitement.

  “Really,” I confirmed, happy to see that she no longer looked upset over the prospect of being taken away from the Andersons.

  “There you are,” a gruff voice called, slicing through the joyful atmosphere like a knife. It was one of the police officers that had been inside the gas station. He was tall and broad-shouldered and looked like he was in his late forties or early fifties. Beside him was a tall, slim woman with long thick braids of hair.

  “Hello,” she smiled. Her voice sounded much kinder than the cop’s had. “I’m Irie. I’m the lead social worker assigned to this case. I met with one of your colleagues, Agent Patel, a few days ago.” I scrambled to my feet to shake her outstretched hand.

  “Hello, I’m Agent Chapman,” I responded. “Are you here for Lakshmi?”

  “I am,” the woman nodded.

  Behind me, I heard a gasp as a set of tiny arms wrapped themselves around my legs. Lakshmi was attempting to hide behind me.

  “It’s okay,” I replied gently as I turned around to look at her. “She’s one of my friends. She’ll take you to see your sister.”

  “You will?” Lakshmi asked as she peered around me to look at Irie.

  “Of course,” Irie smiled and held her hand out to Lakshmi. She took it cautiously, and Irie waited patiently for Lakshmi to move at her own pace. “My car is the red one right there. Shall we walk to it together?”

  Lakshmi nodded and began to follow Irie to the car.

  “Bye-bye,” she called back to me over her shoulder as she walked away. She threw me a small wave before finally turning around to leave with Irie.

  I smiled, glad that Lakshmi was finally safe and off to reunite with her older sister.

  “Wipe that smile off your face, boy,” the gruff officer sneered at me. The anger in his voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “You want to tell me what you think you were doing running in there like that? You could have gotten everyone in there killed!”

  “I was trying to prevent anyone from being killed,” I countered. “Your officers were treating the Andersons like kidnappers. That’s not-”

  “They were kidnappers!” the man yelled at me. “Or did you not send out that missing child alert? We have protocols that we follow for a reason. I don’t need some stupid kid acting like a cowboy and getting my officers killed-”

  “Hey!” Miranda’s commanding voice stopped his ranting in an instant. “Why don’t you lay off?” She stepped between us, getting directly in the officer’s face. She was about a foot shorter than he was, but her presence was so intimidating he seemed small in comparison.

  “Why don’t you mind--” the officer tried to retort.

  “What’s your problem, huh?” she continued, stepping forward. The officer took a step back instinctively. “Everyone’s fine, right? The kid is safe, and no one got hurt. Instead of wasting your time here yelling at him over a non-issue, how about you make yourself useful and do some crowd control? This case is under federal jurisdiction anyway, so in the end, the call would have been ours to make.”

  The officer’s face had gone an unpleasant shade of red, and he looked like he wanted to hit her. For a few seconds, they stared at each other in silence. Finally, though, the cop was the first to give in.

  “Stupid feds,” he muttered before turning around and skulking away.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I insisted. “You’re probably going to get chewed out now, too.”

  “Whatever,” Miranda shrugged. “That guy was a total jerk. I’m not going to censor myself for the sake of being diplomatic. That’s all Naomi’s territory.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” I chuckled. Miranda had never been one to hold back for the sake of playing nice.

  “Besides,” she continued slyly as we made our way back to the front of the gas station. “Fiona would have gotten mad at me if I’d let her boyfriend get bullied by some cop with an over-inflated ego.”

  “What?” I asked, almost tripping in surprise. “What are you talking about? Did she say that?”

  “No,” Miranda shrugged, tossing me an evil smirk. “You just did.”

  My jaw dropped as I realized I’d been tricked.

  “No, I didn’t,” I fidgeted uncomfortably. “You caught me off guard. And I didn’t say anything, anyway.”

  “You didn’t have to,” she teased. “Your face is all red, and you’re stuttering. You’re a detective, Junior. You know as well as I do that body language often says more than words.”

  “My body language isn’t saying anything,” I insisted. “We should probably talk to the cops about having the Andersons transferred into our custody. I don’t know if we’ll get much more out of them than we did from Atkins, but we should conduct an interrogation just in case. And you should be the one to talk to the cops about it. Since they’re all mad at me, I mean.”

  Miranda glared at me.

  “Alright,” she conceded with a dramatic sigh. “But don’t think you’re getting out of this conversation so easily.”

  I allowed myself to relax as she walked away toward the police cruiser the Andersons had been placed into. I really didn’t want to share the details of my personal life with Miranda. Not that I thought she would tell anyone or anything like that. It was surprising, considering their personalities, but between the two of them, Naomi was the bigger gossip. That being said, Miranda could be really pushy and intense, and I wasn’t keen on the idea of having her analyze and parse through my relationship with Fiona.

  I tensed as Miranda started to walk back toward me, worried that she might start in on her interrogation again. Those fears were allayed, however, when I saw the serious look on her face.

  “They’re taking the Andersons straight to our office,” she informed me. “They want to talk to Wallace about ‘your conduct’ anyway, so I guess they’re killing two birds with one stone.”

  “Are you worried we’ll be in trouble?” I asked. It was o
dd to see her so serious just minutes after she’d been teasing me.

  “No,” she frowned. “Just got a look at the Andersons when they were sitting in the back of that car. Mrs. Anderson was sobbing again. She looked heartbroken. And Mr. Anderson was just staring straight ahead with this dead look in his eyes.”

  “It’s rough,” I sighed. “If you consider it from their perspective. It honestly seems like they were just a couple who wanted to adopt Lakshmi as their own kid. I talked to her a little, and it seems like they were pretty kind to her.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Miranda insisted. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself even as she spoke. “They broke the law. They bought a kid off the internet, for goodness’ sake!”

  “I know that,” I huffed. “But doesn’t it seem wrong that they’d be charged the same way as all the other people who were making the kids sleep in their basements and spend all day cleaning and cooking? They were treating her like their own daughter. Mrs. Anderson even had a breakdown at the thought of being separated from her.”

  “But she wasn’t their daughter,” Miranda retorted. “Regardless of the circumstances, Lakshmi and her sister were taken from their parents under false pretenses. They were taken to a foreign country, separated, and sold off against their wills. The Andersons might very well be the best parents in the world, but Lakshmi isn’t their kid. She has a mother and a sister who are waiting for her.”

  “You’re right,” I nodded as I led the way back to the car. “It just doesn’t feel satisfying. We solved the crime, but it doesn’t feel right.”

  “As I told you before,” she smiled sympathetically. “What’s legally right and what’s morally right don’t always align. All we can do is stop the criminals and do our best to make sure we help as many people as we can.”

  I knew she was right, and I knew that it was unrealistic of me to want everyone to have a happy ending, including the Andersons. I just had to focus on what was most important, which was finding the missing children. Lakshmi was safe and would soon be reunited with her sister and mother. The thought brought a smile to my face, and I held onto that feeling as I started the car and pulled back onto the main road.