Lost Hart, page 17
He was still keeping so many secrets, if he could be honest with Stacey, he wanted to be.
Drawing her into his body, he wrapped his arms around her, quieting the trembles that had suddenly begun to saw away at her frayed nerves. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Even with her cheek pressed against his chest, he felt her shake her head. “I need to know. He’s my baby. I need to be prepared to help him with whatever he’s going to need.” A harsh sob shook them both, and she fisted his shirt tightly. “I can’t lose him, Chase. I’ve already lost so much. I can’t lose him. He’s my everything.”
Chase rubbed her back and made gentle, hopefully comforting shushing sounds.
“He doesn’t deserve this. He’s a good kid. A happy kid. What if they’ve stolen all that happiness from him? Taken away his childhood simply by taking away his ability to trust people or not worry every minute of every day about being snatched?”
That was a real possibility.
Connor was a tremendous kid, but even the brightest of stars could have their light extinguished with enough force.
He just hoped that they were going to get him in time before all his light was lost to the darkness.
Chapter 18
He waited until they were outside the hotel and getting their gear on before he told the rest of them what he’d uncovered about Impervious.
“Not against a little maim and torture when it comes to these types,” Aaron said, cracking his knuckles before wrapping them in black boxer’s tape. He’d declined any kind of heavy artillery, saying he would never touch a gun again after what happened to his sister.
Chase would have to ask Heath or maybe Colton for more details later.
But Aaron had knives hidden all over him, along with zip ties, tear gas and—in Chase’s opinion—the most terrifying thing of all: a long, thin, nearly invisible strip of wire with two wooden toggle pieces on either end. It was called a garrote, and Chase didn’t need to ask what that was for. He knew.
Impervious, or Creed, had not only a child and human trafficking ring where he collected, stole and kidnapped children, only to sell them to perverts both foreign and domestic, but he also ran an enormous prostitution ring down in Oregon—made up mostly of underage runaways—and he had ties to other houses of depravity and pedophilia in Nevada and California. According to Chase’s research, Creed was wanted in six states for human trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon on several of his working girls, and it was also rumored that he took part in black-market organ trafficking as well. That if his prostitutes weren’t bringing in enough money, he killed them, harvested their organs and sold them on the street for top dollar to dying and desperate people.
The guy was beyond disgusting.
The more he told the team about Creed, the darker the men’s faces grew.
Even Heath, who often reminded Chase of a happy puppy with floppy ears and an endless appetite, had grown quiet, and his demeanor had shifted. It usually shifted slightly when they were getting ready for the job, but Heath rarely stopped cracking jokes, even when he had his game face on.
He wasn’t cracking any now.
A storm had begun to brew inside Chase’s little brother. And when Heath brought the thunder, watch the fuck out. Thor and his mighty hammer had nothing on Heath Hart.
“Best guess is he’s going to have the kids at Velour. They’ve got a garage-like thing in the back. Not insulated or anything, but if they’ve kept the kids at the motel, they’re going to bring them to Velour tonight. Less eyes on them. Less of a chance of being caught. That’s our best bet. That’s where we need to put our team of three,” Colton said.
Chase nodded. “Colton, Aaron and I will go to Velour and wait in the shadows while Liam does his pedo thing.”
Liam, decked out in a light checkered shirt a size or two too big and a worn light denim jacket, looked pretty normal to Chase. But then there was no “stereotypical” pedophile. So he needed to look like an average Joe. He finished off the look with mussed hair, dirty khakis and a gross, thin, lip-hugging mustache. Richelle had done a pretty good job styling her husband for his first undercover job.
“Brock and Rob can go scope out the motel while Rex and Heath check out the lounge,” Chase said, appreciating the nods all around and no challenge from the rest of the alphas—particularly his big brother. He knew it was a struggle for Brock to not take charge, but he appreciated that he was being given the opportunity to run point on this.
“Same plan as before. We’ll stash two vehicles between the lounge and the motel, so those two teams can be backup for each other. If you come up empty, head here,” he pointed to Velour on the map,” because that means we’ll need the backup.”
Heads bobbed, and necks were cracked. It was only February and fucking freezing out, so they would need to be extra vigilant and not let their bodies get cold as they waited. They also couldn’t let their warm breath expose their locations.
It was amazing the things you noticed when it was cold, dark and silent, particularly if you were trained to notice. And something told him Dakota Creed hadn’t hired two-bit thugs off the street to protect his operation.
He checked his phone for the time.
Twenty to twelve.
They needed to get moving.
All eight of them stood in a circle, but nobody said anything.
Chase wasn’t a religious person, and neither were his brothers. He didn’t know if the other guys prayed to anybody specific, but he allowed those who needed it the opportunity to get centered, focused and to turn on that part of their brain.
If they mentally chatted with a deity, that was their business. Life was too fucking short to judge someone for who they believed in, Santa, Jesus or otherwise.
After about a minute, he cleared his throat. “All right, everyone. You know the plan.”
“Hit like thunder, disappear like smoke,” Colton said.
Everyone nodded, and they all climbed into their vehicles.
Aaron drove, as he knew where he was going.
Rex drove the other vehicle and Rob the last vehicle.
“Do we have money?” Colton asked. “That way we at least look legit.”
“Ten Gs,” Liam said from the far back of the Escalade. “I’d like to get it back, but it’s no skin off my teeth if I don’t.”
“You’ll get it back,” Chase said, matter-of-fact.
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
At first, he had dismissed the idea of bringing doctors to the hotel, but when Richelle brought up the other children—because there would be others—he realized it was a good idea. They would bring the kids to the hospital if they needed to, but he hoped they wouldn’t need to. They would also call the cops when they needed to, but he hoped they really didn’t fucking need to.
Cops made things messy.
Eventually, of course, they’d have to involve the cops.
Chase just preferred to delay that call as long as possible.
But Brock was the Seattle PD’s point of contact and he was keeping them as informed as they needed to be.
Much like he and his brothers used to when they worked black ops, they had special privileges when they went on raids and took down the bad guys that those who wore badges couldn’t seem to find. And as long as Chase and his brothers were transparent with their intentions, the authorities tended to look the other way as long as the job was done and the mess cleaned up.
Cops just seemed to operate on their own timeline, and at a speed that did not work for Chase—too many doughnuts maybe?
But Chase acted quick. He struck while the iron was hot.
Maybe that’s why you ended up in a Peruvian prison for six months? Acted before thinking.
That was neither here nor there. He did what he thought was right at the time. And everything ended up working out in the long run anyway.
After another five minutes, Aaron pulled the SUV over to the curb and turned off the lights. “One block to the left,” he said, taking great care to hide their vehicle in the shadow of a warehouse and beneath a blown-out streetlight.
Chase swallowed, nodded and opened his door from the shotgun seat.
Colton and Liam met him and Aaron on the sidewalk, and Aaron handed Liam the keys. “You know where to park?”
Liam nodded. The man did not look confident at all. He looked like he was close to shitting himself.
Nerves were good—as long as you didn’t have too many. He only hoped Liam had just the right amount.
Liam took the keys and headed to the driver’s side. “How long should I give you guys before I drive over there?”
“Two minutes,” Chase whispered. Aaron and Colton were already on the move, sticking to the shadows. He waited for Liam to get into the vehicle and close the door before he and the other two men disappeared around a corner.
They were silent as they moved.
They’d all done this enough times over the course of their careers that they knew the drill. Slide in undetected. Rain terror. Take out the threat. Extract the innocents. Convene at the muster point.
Earlier in the day, Brock and Rex had gone into the strip club at the front of Velour and decided there wasn’t anywhere for Impervious to hide the kids in there. Aaron and Colton said the same thing about the inside of the sketchy speakeasy. But that decrepit old garage at the back was the perfect place to hide a bunch of terrified children. Particularly in a van with gags in their mouths.
As they made their way toward the back of the building, Chase kept his ears peeled for the sound of kids. So far, everything had been dead quiet, save for a couple of vehicles and one homeless man coughing like he had a chicken bone stuck in his throat.
The mud was thick, and there were deep potholes turned into puddles riddling the gravel road that led to the back of Velour, where the garage was. They stopped just before the building and ducked around the back of a large oak.
Using only his fingers and eyes, Chase gave the other two men instructions to break off and surround the building.
They nodded, and that’s when they heard the Escalade pull up.
Aaron and Colton disappeared into the dark, and Chase did the same, but he made sure to keep Liam in his sight at all times.
Liam flashed his lights twice and honked once.
Chase held his breath.
Nothing.
He checked his phone. It was two minutes to twelve.
A thick wad of dread lodged itself in his throat. What if Connor wasn’t here? What if Creed brought other children for Liam to pick from but Connor wasn’t in that bunch? They couldn’t just walk away from these kids knowing their fate. But then if they did go in to save them and Connor wasn’t there, they’d shown their hand, and the chances of getting Connor back were slim to none.
Also, what if Creed and the children weren’t even here? What if they were at the lounge or the motel and this was an ambush? He knew the other men could hold their own, but they were only teams of two, and who knew how many men Creed had on his payroll?
A thick fog had rolled in around ten o’clock, making it difficult to see more than ten feet in front. He shivered when a chilly breeze whipped around him, making him glad he had his knit cap and gloves on. If your muscles and head were cold, it made it more difficult to fight. Though fighting always warmed him up. He’d just be a little stiff in the beginning.
He’d ducked behind a big commercial-size garbage can and knew that Colton was waiting on the other side near the big arbutus tree and Aaron was around the back looking for another way in and out. They said there was a back door when they scoped the place out earlier, but it didn’t look like it’d been used in years. Aaron’s job was to kill the power, so he needed to find a way in and get to the electrical panel.
Chase was about to glance at his phone again when the sound of a heavy door being dragged open pulled his attention away.
Liam left his lights on but opened the truck door. “You Impervious?” he called out.
Nothing.
Shit, Chase had a bad feeling about this.
Something didn’t feel right.
“Yo, Impervious, you there?” Liam beckoned. “I’m here, man. Not late, just like you said.”
Deliberate, slow footsteps on gravel echoed around the foggy alleyway. Chase snuck closer and wedged his face between a gap between the garbage can and the side of the building to get a better view.
“Mr. Chimbo.” Chase wasn’t sure what he was expecting when it came to Dakota Creed, but the nasally voice wasn’t it. There was no depth or grit to his tone. He sounded almost like a pre-pubescent teen.
Liam walked around to the front of the Escalade, a duffle bag in his hand, which he lifted in the air. “Got what you wanted. You got what I want?”
More gravel crunching, but this time it wasn’t just one set of footsteps. It was several. He tuned in. Along with Creed’s footsteps it sounded like there were three others walking with him.
Chase couldn’t hear the awkward shuffling or whimpers of children though.
Where the fuck were the kids?
Where the fuck was Connor?
Two big men in black flanked Creed, and another man, not much bigger than Chase, but big enough, with a thick neck, gray knit hat and a black leather jacket, approached Liam. It was the same guy from the surveillance video. The one that had helped abduct Connor.
He would be the first to die.
“You won’t mind if my associate pats you down? Can never be too cautious about these things. Need to make sure you’re not wearing a wire or carrying a weapon,” Creed said, remaining in the shadows and out of view.
Liam set the duffle bag down on the ground and spread his arms and legs so he looked like a starfish. “Pat away. Not carrying anything. Besides maybe a …” He lifted his chin and bobbed his brows. “Just tell your man to be careful between my legs, if you know what I’m saying.”
The thick-necked stooge gave Liam a thorough pat-down before turning back to Creed and giving one curt nod.
“Check the bag,” Creed ordered.
Liam lifted the bag off the ground and held it out for the thick-necked goon. The guy unzipped it and ruffled through the stacks of bills, undoubtedly looking for a weapon, tracking device or recording device.
He wouldn’t find any of that.
Chase knew that Creed wasn’t an idiot. He’d managed to evade getting caught up until now, which meant he covered his ass and paid handsomely for others to cover his ass as well.
All that was in the duffle bag was cold, hard cash. They needed Liam to come across as legit as possible.
The thick-necked goon zipped the duffle bag back up, turned toward Creed and nodded again.
More gravel crunched, and Dakota Creed, aka Impervious, stepped into the beam of the Escalade’s headlights. He was slim, with long black hair past his shoulders, and everything he wore was black. He wasn’t very tall either. Maybe five feet six. Chase could snap the guy in two over his thigh—and he would. “Can never be too careful,” Creed said, reaching out and offering Liam his hand.
Liam wore gloves, but he shook Dakota’s hand. “Totally understand. Need to be careful myself.” He bit his lip. “Truth be told, I’ve never done this.” Liam swallowed. He seemed to have just the right amount of nerves to make it believable. “I mean, I’ve done things. But only with dolls I know. And I had to move. I want one of my own, you know?” He cleared his throat and let his brown eyes dart around the alley a bit. But he was keeping an eagerness about him that Creed seemed to be buying. Fuck, Chase was buying it. If he didn’t know better, he’d believe Liam was a sex offender pervert.
“Everyone has their preferences. And I’m making a fortune providing people like yourself with those preferences. Come.” Creed jerked his head and turned around, heading back into the large garage.
Liam picked up the duffle bag, swallowed again and slowly followed.
Lights came on inside the garage, and Chase moved silently around the garbage bin to look inside.
It was fairly empty aside for a black Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.
Creed’s minion opened the sliding door of the van, and all Chase saw was Liam’s back go ramrod straight.
The kids—Connor—were in there. They had to be.
Out of the corner of his eye, Chase saw five other men, all heavily armed, standing around the interior perimeter of the garage. That meant there were the same amount or more around the exterior between the strip club, the speakeasy and the garage. He needed to move before he was caught, before this whole operation went up in flames and they lost not only Connor but all the other children as well.
Like a panther stalking his prey, he ducked out from behind the garbage bin and crouch-shuffled along the outside wall of the garage. Brambles and leafless vines caught in his jacket and pant legs, but he quietly untangled himself.
He hated that he didn’t have a view of things anymore.
But he could still hear them. The garage—because it was empty—was acting almost like a cave, and voices echoed.
“Wow, how to choose,” Liam said. “All the same price?”
Aaron, Colton, Rob and Liam had all studied pictures of Connor extensively before they left, so they would know which child was Connor if presented with several little boys around the same age.
“I have a thing for blonds,” Liam said, which was their code word to indicate that they’d found him. “What do you say, kid? You want to come play with me? Do you want a new Daddy?”
Chase suppressed the rise of bile in his throat. He hoped Connor didn’t have an aversion to Liam after this. The poor kid needed to know Liam was just acting to save him.
Yeah, the more he thought about it, the more necessary a trauma therapist was going to be for these kids.
Now that they knew Connor was there, he needed to wait for the next cue. Pulling his night vision goggles over his eyes, he waited for Aaron to get to the breaker box so he could kill all the lights and power.
Should be any minute now.
Come on, Aaron. If Liam stalls anymore, Impervious will start getting suspicious and could call the whole thing off.
