by Toby Neal
Lei’s throat went suddenly dry. There was an entry point on the roof of the container! Lei had been briefed on the modifications to the container by Stevens. SWAT must be planning to go in through that opening.
Lei had to keep the kidnappers distracted. She thought fast. “The chopper is here, sir, but the pilot’s telling me there’s not a safe area for him to land. What do you want us to do?”
“There’s room! Have them put it down in that open area in front of the container!”
“I’m sorry, but the pilot is telling me he’s afraid he’s going to hit the containers nearby. He has to move to the parking lot. You can take a hostage and meet him there.”
“Bullshit! Maybe you need more proof of how serious I am!” The Peterson woman was shoved forward abruptly. She turned in Lei’s direction, her eyes huge and pleading, her mouth open on a scream—and the pistol moved. The kidnapper put it against the back of her arm and pulled the trigger.
As he did so, two of the SWAT team dropped silently onto the roof of the container, the sound of their landing obscured by the shot.
More screams echoed from inside the container at the sound of the shot. Mrs. Peterson’s eyes rolled back, her knees crumpled, and her hair tore loose from her captor’s grip as she fell to the ground, wedging the door of the container further open with her body. The helicopter lifted up, the black ribbon of line retracting as the SWAT members squatted in the middle of the container—likely trying to get the roof hatch open.
“You don’t need to convince me you’re serious, sir,” Lei yelled. “The chopper is moving into position as you directed. Don’t shoot her again, please, don’t shoot! If you open the door a little further, you can see for yourself that the helicopter is landing straight ahead!”
The chopper was, indeed, settling down—but as it did so, it disgorged two more SWAT members who ran to take up positions covering the opening of the container. The two who’d landed on the roof had removed the covering over the ventilation opening and crouched there, weapons at the ready.
Out of the side of Lei’s eye, she saw another two SWAT officers moving through the bushes, entering the opening Stevens had cut in the fence. That made six highly trained professionals ready to breach, waiting for the right moment.
This was all going to be over, one way or another, in a matter of minutes.
Chapter Twenty-One
Stevens hunched in the lee of the Bronco, his Glock resting on the metal doorframe, trained on the opening of the container. He clenched and unclenched his hands on the grip, trying to discharge tension. Across from him, on the other side of the vehicle, Mahoe had taken up a similar defensive posture.
Between the Bronco and the container, Lei was flat on her belly on the sandy ground. She held the phone to her ear, but thankfully she’d taken off that damn FBI hat that made her head a target. All around the edges of the standoff, SWAT officers were getting into position to make their move.
Lei had just grabbed his phone and taken over. They were definitely going to have words about that . . . She was clearly trying to keep the kidnapper distracted, yelling into the phone—but she was losing him. Any minute, the kidnapper would notice his first victim was gone, or he’d hear the odd sounds that must be coming from the roof as the SWAT members opened the ventilation hatch. And he’d for sure see that the chopper on the ground was no civilian transport craft.
The kidnapper must have realized he was hampered by his lack of visibility, because the man pushed the container door wider, stepping over the fallen body of Mrs. Peterson and peering around toward the chopper.
Stevens had a clear shot.
Here was a chance to end things. There was still one kidnapper left inside, but with the more aggressive perp out of the way and SWAT on the move, hopefully the other one would be neutralized without further bloodshed.
Stevens sighted down the barrel, his weapon steady on the frame of the door, and took the shot.
He’d gone for the man’s head, but he hit the kidnapper in the throat. Still, the wound was enough to drop the guy.
Enough to cause him to fall, clutching his neck, spewing blood all over fallen Mrs. Peterson.
Enough to give SWAT the distraction they needed to rip the roof cap open and fire inside, hopefully disabling the remaining kidnapper, as the two SWAT who’d come through the fence stormed the front, kicking the downed man aside and penetrating the interior.
Screams.
Shots.
Silence.
“All clear!” the SWAT leader yelled from inside the container. “We have the hostages!”
Stevens slumped back into the Bronco, dropping his weapon into his lap from suddenly nerveless fingers. The relief made him dizzy.
Omura, who’d been standing back among the trees, approached. “Good shooting, Lieutenant.”
Stevens shrugged. His gaze had gone to his wife.
Lei hadn’t got up, even though the all clear had sounded. Had she been hit when that perp took a shot at her?
Stevens bolted out of the Bronco, knocking Omura to the side.
He had no idea how he got there but seconds later, he was hauling Lei up from the ground and into his arms, inspecting her. “Are you okay?”
“Michael! Stop it, let go! I’m fine.” Lei wriggled and fought, slapping at him in fury. “This is freakin’ embarrassing.”
Stevens let go, but spotted a frayed line of char on her sleeve. He grabbed her arm and pointed to it. “You almost weren’t fine.”
“Don’t you dare lecture me after you went and dragged that woman through the fence and met me covered with blood.” Lei’s brown eyes seemed to blaze, wide and hot, and she poked him in the chest with a stiff forefinger. “I don’t ever want to be that scared again. Ever.”
“And don’t you ever grab my phone and take over from me in the middle of an op. Who do you think you are? I outrank you!”
“You weren’t thinking straight. Your PTSD and your emotions had control!” Lei stepped back from him, hands falling to her hips. “I’m the FBI rep on Maui, the closest thing they have to an agent over here, and it was my job to take over. You were about to get another victim shot.”
“And you almost got shot, yourself!” Stevens yelled. “You’d leave our kids without a mother, just so you could do your job?”
“And what about you, cutting a hole in the fence and hauling that woman out, just about giving me a heart attack, and then taking an unauthorized kill shot at the kidnapper?” Lei was spitting with fury. “How dare you endanger yourself like that, you flaming hypocrite!”
“Boys and girls.” Omura had approached without them even noticing. She stepped between them, holding up her hands. “I hate to break up this display of happy matrimony, but you’re both in deep shit as far as I’m concerned. We’ll deal with who did what wrong later, and believe me, there’s plenty of that to go around. Now get back to work. You need to help secure the scene and get the victims’ statements.”
Stevens ignored Omura, still staring at Lei. She needed to break first.
But Lei wouldn’t back down. She vibrated with fury, her brows drawn together in a fierce frown. A nimbus of curls framed her face, escaping a careless ponytail. A smear of dirt on her cheek set off the scattering of freckles across her nose, pointing like an arrow to her mouth, set in a mulish expression.
Stevens’s anger evaporated. He was just scared shitless at the idea of losing her. He loved her more than his own life.
Stevens shook his head ruefully. “You win, stubborn woman.”
“There are no winners or losers, you arrogant ass. Only survivors, and I want you to be one of them.” Lei spun on her heel and stomped over to the fence, slipping through the hole he’d made. SWAT members trained in first aid were already attending to the fallen outside the container. Lei wove around them to go inside. His gaze followed her as she disappeared.
“Earth to Stevens.” Omura was pissed—her jaw was tight and her eyes narrowed. For the second time that day,
he endured a female finger poking at his chest. “Lieutenant Stevens, this is why I generally don’t allow spouses to work the same case. I’m going to have to take your weapon and recuse you from the case until we’ve gone over the shooting of the kidnapper.”
Stevens pulled his handgun, holding it out to her by the grip. Omura held open an evidence bag, and he dropped it inside. “For now, until I can get some more help on the case, I want you to go with Mahoe and follow the wounded to the hospital. Mahoe can get their statements there. Lei can work with the Peterson girls and interview them; she’s good with kids. We’ll sort the rest of this out down at the station. Now get moving, soldier.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lei stepped around a cluster of SWAT attending to the fallen kidnapper as she entered the container—he did not seem like he’d be around to interview later, from the amount of blood pouring from his throat. Mrs. Peterson had come back around and was sitting up, also getting first aid.
Lei paused for a moment just inside the shadowy opening of the container, assessing. The remaining kidnapper had what appeared to be a minor shoulder wound and was secured on the ground. The three Peterson girls were clustered together on the bed at the back of the room. One of the SWAT members had been trying to talk to them, but he glanced up in relief at her approach and came toward her. “They seem to be in shock, Sergeant.”
“Thanks. I’ll take it from here.” Lei liked that that guy didn’t question her, simply pulling back with the rest of his team. Such a refreshing change after her tangle with Michael—that brave, crazy Neanderthal! She was still pissed at him, not only for his hypocrisy, but also for embarrassing her in front of the rest of the team.
She’d deal with him later.
Lei refocused on the task at hand, approaching the girls and moving slowly as if approaching a feral cat. “Hey, ladies. My name is Lei, and we’re so glad to see you. We’ve been searching for you so hard.”
Sirens sounded in the background—more ambulances arriving.
Loud voices.
Crackling radios.
The chopper taking off again.
Lei shut all of that out, focusing on the girls with their bodies wrapped around each other in a tangle of arms and legs. Three tousled blonde heads were pressed close together. The sound of soft sobbing rose from one of them; another seemed totally silent. But one of them responded.
The girl lifted her face from the knot of traumatized humanity she’d formed with her sisters, and gazed at Lei through a screen of tangled, ash-blonde hair. “Is our mom alive?”
Lei nodded. “She is. She was shot in the arm and she fainted. They’re giving her first aid now and taking her straight to the hospital.” Lei sat gently on the bed. “We’ve called for an ambulance for you, too, so you can each get checked out.”
Fresh sobs met this. One of the girls was crying hard, the oldest one sitting in the middle wasn’t making a sound. The one who’d spoken to Lei seemed to be a spokesperson. “We won’t be separated. We’re staying together.”
“Totally fine, and I understand that. We won’t do anything you aren’t comfortable with. Again, my name is Lei. What’s yours?”
“Adelia. This is Joanie, in the middle, and Sarah, on the end.” The sobbing one was thirteen-year-old Sarah. The silent one was seventeen-year-old Joanie. Fifteen-year-old Adelia was the one who’d written the diary.
“Good to meet you.” Lei smiled warmly. “Now I know what to call you.”
The captain of the SWAT team stepped up. “An ambulance transport is here. We need to triage the victims.”
Lei held up a hand, halting him. “Let me check with them.” She turned back. “Adelia, what do you think? Are any of you injured?”
Adelia pushed her hair out of her face. Her eyes were the dusky blue of approaching twilight. “Joanie’s hurt. They raped her.” Adelia’s lips trembled. “And Mom, and the other lady too.”
Fresh sobs from Sarah. Joanie seemed to hunch even smaller in the shelter of her sisters’ arms.
“I’m so sorry that happened. I’ll stay with you girls every step of the way and we’ll try to make this as painless as possible.” She turned back to the SWAT officer. “Captain Hiro? Tell the first responders at the hospital we need rape kit preps for three victims, and I only want female medical personnel attending these girls.”
“I’ll do my best.” Captain Hiro left and Lei turned back to the girls. They were slowly unknotting from each other, preparing to move. Adelia was their glue, stroking their arms, whispering in their ears. A classic middle child, holding the center, keeping them together. Her heart gave a little squeeze as they sorted themselves out—it would have been great to have a sibling. “Would it be okay if I rode with you in the ambulance? They will probably want to do a basic assessment on each of you, to see if you’re hurt.”
“We’re staying together,” Adelia reiterated. “But that would be okay.”
The SWAT captain reappeared. “The ambulance personnel say there’s not room for four people in the back.”
“Then we will figure something else out, right, girls?” Lei held her ground—establishing trust with the girls now would pay off later. “Would it be okay if a female EMT came in to check you out? If you’re safe to be transported in a regular vehicle, I’ll drive you to the hospital myself.”
“That would be good,” Adelia said.
Lei turned to Hiro. He nodded, spoke into his radio, and soon a female uniformed EMT appeared. She was short, plump, and had a warm manner as she smiled, moving over to the girls. “Hi. I just want to do a little screening, so we can see if any of you need immediate first aid, and so that the hospital can get ready for you. My name’s Sarah.”
“Her name’s Sarah, too,” Adelia squeezed her little sister’s shoulders. The youngest Peterson girl nodded, blinking tear-filled eyes.
Lei stepped back. “Girls, I’m going to let Sarah here do her thing, and I’m going to call a friend of mine to meet us at the hospital. Is that okay?”
“Who is it?” Adelia asked.
“Her name is Dr. Wilson, and she’s a psychologist. She used to be my therapist—yeah, I know, I don’t seem that crazy.” Lei crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out, startling a snort of amusement out of Sarah. “Dr. Wilson helped me a lot when I needed it, and I think she might help you too.”
“Okay,” Adelia said. “But don’t leave us alone here.”
“No way. Not for a minute,” Lei said.
She slipped through the doorway and thumbed to Dr. Caprice Wilson’s number in her phone’s favorites.
The petite blonde psychologist had been a friend and more to her and Stevens over the years, and she couldn’t think of anyone better to do a trauma debrief with these girls. “Hey, Dr. Wilson. Any chance you’re able to hop a flight to Maui? Like, now?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The hospital had done as Lei asked: when she drove up to the emergency room area in her silver Tacoma with the Peterson girls in the extended cab and front seat, a female doctor and nurse met them in the covered turnaround.
“You got this,” Lei encouraged the girls. “Everyone here cares about you. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
Adelia got out first, unwinding long coltish legs as she stepped out of the front seat. She opened the rear door and coaxed Joanie and Sarah. “Come on, you guys. We’ve already been through the worst.” The other two, clinging to each other, got out to follow Adelia after the nurse, with Lei bringing up their rear.
The three teens were put into a private exam room and checked over, one after the other, by Dr. Kelly Asuki, a petite woman with a gentle, professional manner.
Finally, it was time for Joanie to disrobe for the rape collection kit and Lei to photograph her injuries for the case. Joanie still had not spoken a word the entire time, but Adelia interpreted for her. “Joanie understands you need to examine her and collect DNA and samples for the case, but she wants us together,” Adelia said. “I know that’s no
t the usual way you do it, but she won’t take off her clothes unless we’re here too.”
“I’m not sure you should be exposed to this, especially your little sister Sarah,” Dr. Asuki said.
“We were there. We were forced to watch it happen,” Adelia said harshly. “We’ve been plenty exposed.” Sarah hunched up and covered her face as Joanie stared straight ahead, blank-faced.
“All right. I understand you wanting to be together,” Dr. Asuki said. “You all can stay.”
Joanie stood up and stripped off her clothing with trembling hands. Once naked, she stood silent against the white wall, the medical exam light throwing her youthful, tanned body into high relief as she held one hand over her pubic area, the other over her breasts.
Bruises dappled Joanie’s face, ribs, arms and legs—she’d put up a struggle. Bite marks, scrape marks, and deep purple bruising told the story of her defeat. Lei swallowed down bile as she photographed the girl, zooming in on the cruel damage done by a rapist.
These wounds would heal—but the marks on Joanie’s soul, and on her sisters, traumatized by watching their sister’s and mother’s rape, would take much longer.
Still, the girls were alive, and that was better than the alternative. They all had to remember that.
“Please put your hands at your sides. I need to document everything. I’m sorry it’s so invasive,” Lei said.
Joanie hung her head and dropped her hands. The camera flashed and clicked.
“You gave him hell, Joanie,” Adelia said. “You made him work for it. I’m fuckin’ proud of you.”
Lei glanced over at Joanie’s younger sister. Adelia’s lips had drawn back from her teeth in a snarl—Lei doubted the girl even knew she wore such a fierce expression. “Joanie bit his neck so hard she drew blood. It was awesome.”
“I’m going to record us talking, okay?” Lei held up her phone. “Hopefully that way, we don’t have to keep asking you the same questions.”
