Captive (Detective Jade Monroe 2) Page 24

  I stood up slowly and pulled out my weapon while hugging the side of the house. I crept forward. I knew the van was around the corner just ahead of me. I neared the edge of the house and peeked around the corner. Nobody was there. I inched forward and looked in the back of the van. The interior was white, just as I suspected. My heart pounded triple-time in my chest.

  A large cage and some supplies lay in the back of the van. Luke was preparing to make a run for it. I didn’t have much time. I crouched and looked down the basement steps—I didn’t see any movements. From the window well, the girl was to my right. That meant once I reached the basement floor, she would be directly across the room from me. With my head on a swivel, I took in my surroundings outside and saw nothing. I saw a light flicker on the second floor. Luke must have been upstairs. I needed to make my move. The cellar steps would be a challenge with this boot, but there was a handrail. I descended with my gun drawn.

  At the bottom of the stairs, I peeked around the corner. Everything was still. I looked at the cage. The girl must have been sleeping; she hadn’t moved. I heard footsteps walking from room to room upstairs. I still had a little bit of time and headed to her cage.

  Chapter 57

  He watched her from the darkened corner where Liz’s empty cage still sat. He was sure she thought she was alone and could rescue Megan. Jeremy almost laughed.

  He watched her fumble with the lock, looking for something to open it with. She sat her gun down for a second, and that was all he needed.

  Bad move on your part, Jade. He crept out of the darkness until he was only a few feet behind her. “The keys are on the hook around the corner, Sergeant.”

  She reached for the gun, but he kicked it across the room. It slid to a far corner and disappeared from sight. Jade stood and spun, almost stumbling on her bad foot, but he got her in the throat with the cattle prod. She went down like a ton of bricks.

  “Matt, get down here and help me with her,” Jeremy yelled.

  Matt ran downstairs. He laughed when he saw Jade lying on the floor, writhing in pain. He kicked her bad foot just because he wanted to. She groaned.

  The commotion woke Megan. She scooted back in her cage, trying to look small, and cupped her knees against her chest. She quietly whimpered.

  “Grab a lock,” Jeremy said as he stood above Jade. He watched her squint as she tried to focus on his face.

  “You?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, go figure. I guess you decided to come to my house party after all, right, Jade?” He looked at Matt. “Got everything?”

  “Yep, the cage and lock are ready to go.”

  She tried to get up. Jeremy nailed her again with the prod. She screamed, then she went quiet.

  “Grab her arms. Let’s get her into the cage. She might have called for backup, so we’ve got to hurry. They could be on their way. Grab everything you want from here. The plan has changed—we aren’t coming back.”

  They locked the cage door. Jeremy found Jade’s gun and handed it to Matt. He slipped it into his waistband. “Run upstairs and grab everything you can think of. We’re leaving in five minutes. Get some clothes and food. I’m going to load Megan in the van.”

  Jeremy ran up the cellar steps and opened the cage door at the back of the van. He tossed the cattle prod and stun gun in through the side door then ran back downstairs.

  “Get over here,” he yelled to Megan. “Lean against the side of this cage, and I’m only saying it once. Do it now or I swear, I’ll kill you.”

  She sobbed and crawled over to him. He sank the needle into her neck and waited. She was unconscious in less than a minute. He spun at the sound behind him. Jade shook the cage, yelling at him.

  “Shut up, bitch. Consider yourself lucky to be alive. I’m feeling a little merciful right now or I would have killed you earlier.”

  Jeremy pulled Megan out and threw her over his shoulder. At the back of the van, he tossed her into the cage. A whistle sounded to his right. He turned and was hit with the cattle prod.

  Chapter 58

  I heard a familiar voice calling my name and footsteps running down the cellar steps.

  “Jack, thank God—I’m over here. Get me out of this damn cage. The keys are hanging on the wall around the corner to your left.”

  “Damn you, Jade. One of these days, you aren’t going to be so lucky.” Jack found the keys, unlocked the cage, and helped me out.

  “Where’s Luke? Where’s Jeremy?”

  “I only found one person, and it wasn’t Luke. I nailed the guy with the cattle prod. He’s handcuffed to the van.”

  “That means Luke is still in the house. Jack, I think one of them has my gun.”

  “Shit—I need to find him. Jamison and Horbeck are on their way, but they were both fifteen minutes behind me.”

  “Jack! Look out.”

  A shot fired from the cellar steps, catching Jack in the left shoulder before he had time to take cover. He turned and fired back. Luke went down. I ran to Jack’s side and saw that he was bleeding badly.

  “Don’t move. Give me your gun.” I took Jack’s service weapon and hugged the basement wall, not knowing if Luke was dead or alive. I did a quick look around the corner—he lay motionless on the steps. I approached cautiously with Jack’s gun pointing at Luke’s chest. I kicked his foot—he didn’t move. A pool of blood was spreading across the steps beneath him, then I noticed the entry wound. Jack got him center mass. I knelt down and checked for a pulse—there wasn’t one. “He’s dead.” I retrieved my gun and went back to help Jack. “Do you have your phone?”

  “Yeah,” he groaned, “it’s in my shirt pocket.”

  I pulled it out and called Horbeck. “Brian, it’s Jade. We need an ambulance. Jack’s been hit, and we have a drugged girl here too. Don’t ask me the address because I don’t know it, but we’re on Division, a couple of miles north of Highway 60. You’ll see my car parked on the road. Hurry.”

  “We’re only a couple of minutes out, Jade. I’ll radio for an ambulance right away.”

  I hung up and sat Jack’s phone down. “I have to see what’s going on with the girl.”

  “The guy upstairs put her in the cage but didn’t get a chance to lock it. She was unconscious when I was up there.” Jack winced when he moved his arm.

  “Yeah, he nailed her with the Xylazine. Don’t move, Jack. Horbeck and Jamison should be here any second, and the ambulance is on its way.” I looked around and found a towel in the bathroom. “Here, use this. Put pressure on your shoulder. I’ll be right back.”

  I went outside through the cellar doors and found Jeremy handcuffed to the van. The girl was still passed out in the cage. I saw the cattle prod lying on the ground out of his reach and picked it up.

  “Just so you know, Jeremy, Luke is dead.”

  He spewed the words at me. “His name isn’t Luke, it’s Matt, and he was my brother.”

  “Is your name really Jeremy?”

  “What’s it to you, bitch?”

  I knelt down so I could be eye to eye with him. “You know, Jeremy, pretty soon you’re going to live in a cage. I’ll even come to visit you so you can tell me how you like your new digs.”

  I looked around to make sure we were alone. I didn’t hear the sound of cars coming up the road or the ambulance’s siren piercing the night’s quiet, just yet. The stillness seemed peaceful for a second until he screamed. I pressed the prod against Jeremy’s side and gave him a solid three seconds with it. I cocked my head. “How was it? Nice?” Then I nailed him again.

  Horbeck and Jamison arrived within minutes. I explained to them that a body was blocking the cellar steps. We needed to call forensics and the ME and get them out here.

  “Jack is downstairs. There has to be a basement entrance through the house somewhere. Let’s get him outside. I can hear the ambulance getting closer.”

  We found the stairs leading to the basement and helped Jack outside. Jamison shoved Jeremy into the back of the cruiser and slammed the
door. I heard him yelling profanities at me through the glass. I smiled.

  Jack and the girl, who after closer examination I assumed was Megan, were taken away in the ambulance. I explained to the EMTs before they left that the girl had been injected with Xylazine. The shock on their faces spoke for them.

  Chapter 59

  “I’m fine. Stop fussing over me.” Jack sat in his hospital bed, swatting away my intentions to help him with his lunch.

  “Shut up and let me do this.” I leaned in from the olive-green guest chair next to Jack’s bed and cut the unidentified chunk of meat on his plate into bite-sized pieces.

  “I still have one good arm, you know.”

  I shushed him with a hand wave and continued what I was doing.

  “So tell me about the interrogation with Jeremy.”

  “Neither of the brothers had prints in the system, and Jeremy won’t tell us his last name. So there’s no way of knowing if anything he’s said is true or not. The only thing I got out of him is that he’s twenty-nine years old. His brother, Matt, was twenty-seven. They both had fake names to use when necessary and a made-up family story, which you and I heard yesterday. It sounded as though they lived a pretty shitty life growing up in Idaho. The mom was abused, and so were they. He said his dad hit them in the knees with baseball bats, or whatever he could find at the moment, when they misbehaved. Jeremy also said he and Matt spent a lot of time in dog cages.”

  Jack rubbed his forehead. “That explains a few things, I guess, if it’s actually true. The cages were something they were familiar with and understood.”

  “Yeah… according to Jeremy, the dad went to prison years ago for nearly killing their mom. She eventually abandoned the boys in their early teens, and they’ve been doing who knows what since then. I guess this human-trafficking thing started a few years back.”

  I looked out the hospital room window at everyday life going on around us. If people only knew the type of sick characters that really lived among them, they’d be horrified. I sighed.

  “I can see that gerbil on the wheel. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

  “Do you think I’m going to be reprimanded for going rogue?”

  “Nah—don’t worry about it. Who knows if we would have caught them otherwise? Plus, I’m not going to press charges against you.”

  I saw the twinkle in Jack’s eye when he laughed.

  “You’re lucky I don’t disable your good arm. Anyway, the girl at the house was definitely Megan. She was the only one left at the farm. She said Jenna was sold to someone in India and left a few days back. Carley was supposed to go, but she died at the farm from an epileptic seizure.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “I’m going to visit Megan again after I’m done with you. She’s actually right down the hall. Her folks are in there now.” I saw the concern on Jack’s face. “She gave us quite a statement this morning. I don’t know the process on trying to find the other girls. Megan didn’t know all of them. She did say some of them were dead and buried in the woods behind the barn. There’s a team out there looking right now with cadaver dogs. The house has been gone through by forensics, and Lena and Jason have Matt in the morgue.”

  Jack sighed. “I’ll never understand the sick ways of a criminal. All we can do is try to stay ahead of them or at least apprehend them as soon as possible. This one was a little daunting.”

  “Yeah, I agree. Forensics found a journal of sorts in the house. Evidently, Jeremy kept very detailed records going back several years when this abducting-and-selling-women thing began. It’s going to take a while to sort through it. I have no idea how to explain to families that they may never see their loved ones again, and it isn’t because they’re dead. They’re somewhere in another state or country. I really don’t know which is worse.”

  Jack squeezed my hand. “I’m sure the FBI will get started on that right away.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I know. Okay, I’ll be back later. Amber wants to come with me tonight. Take advantage of some downtime, partner. You’ll be out of here in a couple of days.” I got up and headed for the door.

  “Hey, Jade.”

  I turned back toward him. “Yeah?”

  “Can you hand me the remote?”

  I shook my head then handed him the TV remote. “You’re something, you know that? Get some rest. We’ll be back later. Your family should be here soon.”

  Chapter 60

  Two weeks had passed since that night on Division Road. Life in North Bend fell back into what we called our normal routine—for now. Jack came back to work last week on light duty. I told him to take advantage of the quiet, he’d be working his butt off again soon enough. I knew Jack well enough to know desk duty wouldn’t last long. He was too stubborn that way. I guess we were a good fit.

  The medical boot was off, but with my still-swollen foot, I had to wear sneakers every day. I knew I looked ridiculous and had to plan my outfits to coordinate with my shoes. My coworkers ribbed me constantly.

  We finally had a weekend off, and the Saturday barbecue at my condo, on the deck, was in full swing as promised. The weather cooperated, and the bright sun filtered by the woods shined through just enough to give us the perfect balance of sun and shade. Friends and family gathered for brats, burgers, chips, potato salad, baked beans, and all the trimmings that went along with the barbecue theme. A wine table was set up for the red, and the beer and white wine sat beneath the table in the cooler filled with ice.

  Living up to his word, Jack manned the grill, wearing his left arm in a colorful sling his mom had made for him. Amber stood at his side and helped with the cooking.

  Jack called out, “Okay, let’s dig in. The grill master has completed his duties.”

  Amber held the platter while he loaded it with brats and burgers.

  The table was set, and we all took our places around it. My mom and Bruce, Jack’s folks and brothers, and Amber and I all said a word of thanks and appreciation for good food and wonderful friendships. Spaz circled the table at our feet, crying out for scraps. Amber dropped a few baked beans on the floor for him.

  Jack slapped away my attempt to help him prepare his hamburger.

  I ignored him and continued on. “I got this, partner. Let me give you a hand.”

  He gave me a nod and a grin, and we all dug in.

  THE END

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