Rescued Read online

  “Sorry. There’s so much more I need to explain to you. You must be wondering why Marty only needs to sleep off a near fatal stab wound.” Rose waited.

  “That question has crossed my mind. Down in south Mississippi, there are folks who fancy themselves as witches of sorts. I’ve seen some strange stuff but never made up my mind if I believed it or not. Are you guys . . .?” She twirled her finger around between the three folks at the table with her.

  “Witches? Oh no. Nothing like that but, did you ever hear other stories about people who were able to take on animal forms?” She waited, hoping Roxie would have an open mind to what she was about to hear.

  She shrugged. “Heard stories, watched movies. It’s all make-believe. Or . . .” She paused and made eye contact with each face at the table with her. “It’s not all make-believe, is it?”

  Rose wrinkled her nose and shook her head slightly but didn’t deny the stories.

  “Wait. You. All of you are like, werewolves?” An astounded expression covered her face.

  The three chuckled.

  “Something like that.” Rose nodded a bit and waited for the revelation to sink in.

  Roxie’s eyes left Rose’s face and moved to Oscar who acknowledged with a half nod and then to Nelson.

  “Hey, y’all speak for your furry selves. I’m just a plain old human, who can kick ass with the best of them by the way.” Nelson defended his status as a human PI.

  Rose eased one finger under Roxie’s chin and gave her a gentle push to close her mouth. “There are many different species of Weres. Wolves are only one. We happen to be feline. Marty and I are cougars and Oscar is a jaguar. You have absolutely no reason to be afraid of any of us, Roxie. We are your friends.”

  She studied the air for a few seconds before she replied with the ultimate in calm and certainty, “I’m not. I’m not afraid of any of you. Not in the least. I’ve never been more at ease or felt safer in my life.” She paused for a brief second before she continued. “Now, let’s get into that hard drive and find out what really went on in that place.” She walked to the fridge and snagged another soft drink. “Anybody else?” She held the can up, offering to retrieve refreshments for the group.

  “That’s my girl.” Rose smiled and took the device containing the information they wanted to review from her backpack. “Oscar, work your magic.”

  She looked at Roxie and chuckled. “Technical magic, that is.”

  Chapter 27

  Rose removed a large bowl from the cabinet and filled it with flour. She greased an oversized baking sheet with some reserved bacon drippings and reached for the can of shortening to begin the biscuit making process. It would help to keep busy while Oscar concentrated on getting the files from the computer they found in the doctor’s office transferred to his laptop.

  She had always been reasonably good at waiting games. If all night stakeouts had taught her anything, it was that patience paid off, but it never hurt to keep busy. Besides, Marty loved a good, hot, homemade biscuit. He’d be hungry when he woke up. It was the least she could do for him after almost getting him killed. She blamed herself. She had fumbled with those screws much too long. Why hadn’t she tied her laces up tighter?

  “Hey, can I help?” Nelson peeked over her shoulder checking on the biscuit progress. All the occupants of the house welcomed Rose’s biscuits.

  “Oh, sure. What do y’all want with these?” She nodded toward the bowl where she kneaded an enormous dough ball.

  “I’ll fire up the grill and put a couple of packages of sausage links on to slow cook,” he offered.

  “Sounds good to me. Marty loves food from the grill.” She choked on the last word. A lump formed in the throat. She stopped working the dough and squeezed her eyes shut.

  Her head pounded with flashbacks of her mate struggling to heal from injuries that never should have happened. They should have been out long before the guards made the inside rounds. She wasted precious seconds getting everything back into place. It was all her fault.

  Nelson slid an arm around her shoulder. “Rose. You can’t blame yourself. We train for close situations like that but things happen. And you guys have an advantage over us weak humans. He’ll be okay. I’ve seen Logan and the others heal from some pretty severe injuries.” Nelson’s words comforted her. He spoke the truth. Marty would recover. Still.

  “I’ve made too many silly, careless mistakes since I started this case and now one on those mistakes almost cost Marty his life.” Her voice cracked and trailed off to a whisper.

  “You know we are all here to help you through this. If there’s anything you need . . .” He rubbed her arm.

  “Tell ya what I need. I need you to get your grubby paws off my woman, dude.”

  Everyone turned to the sound of a weak but a very much alive, Marty Brown. He stood in the kitchen door, propped against the jamb for support.

  “Sorry man, but I thought you were a goner and she can cook. It was a win for me.” He grinned and extended both hands in a problem-solved manner.

  “Marty!” Rose left her doughy chore and ran to the opposite side of the kitchen. Her first thought was to leap into her mate’s arms but since he had them wrapped around his waist, she was reminded of his injury and his weakened state. She slowed a step before she plowed into him and stared up into his eyes. Her hands, covered with biscuit dough, reached out to frame his face but she stopped short of flouring him, too.

  Marty eyed her doughy fingers and smiled. “Hey. Are you okay?”

  “Forget about me. How do you feel?” The weight of the world lifted off her shoulders.

  “I’ll be fine. It was just a little ol’ knife. Nothin’ to it.” His voice was weak and barely above a whisper. The two shifts back-to-back sped the healing, and helped his body replenish its blood level.

  She inched closer and lifted herself onto her tiptoes to brush their lips together. She inhaled and drank in his scent. His essence. “You need to sit. Come over here to the table. I’m about to put the biscuits in the oven. Are you hungry?” She locked her arm with his to help him into a chair.

  He huffed out a weak breath. “Have you ever known me not to be hungry?”

  She settled him in the chair, kissed the top of his head, and hurried back to her biscuit baking.

  “How’s the search going?” He nodded toward the computer Oscar was watching with eagle eyes.

  “Slow. There were a ton of files on that hard drive but as soon as the transfer is done we can start to sift through the info.” Oscar indicated the progress bar on the screen to confirm his answer. The blue line was moving but it would be a while longer.

  “Are you thirsty? I’m glad you didn’t die.” Roxie offered a half smile and a bottle of water from the fridge.

  “Thanks. Me too. So, you kinda know what happened . . . with me?” He pointed toward his back.

  “Yeah, everyone’s been filling me in since we got here. It’s a lot to absorb.”

  The backdoor opened and filled the kitchen with the smoky aroma of sausage links hot off the grill. “Sausages are ready,” Nelson announced.

  “Perfect timing. The coffee’s done, and by the time we set the table, the biscuits will be ready to come out of the oven. Eggs anybody?” A sea of hands created a wave around the kitchen so Rose took both cartons from the fridge and started cracking. She dropped a double handful of grated cheddar cheese into the scrambled eggs as she turned them out into a serving bowl.

  Rose beamed when Marty consumed three biscuits along with sausages and two helpings of cheese and eggs. A healthy appetite meant he was healing. He would be fine. The other eating machines around the table cleaned their plates with no surprise.

  Rose and Marty related all they had seen inside the procedures room in the doctor’s office.

  “Everything w
as clean. No visible blood but the scent was overwhelming,” Rose said.

  “Hindsight really is twenty-twenty. So many things I saw make sense now that I know what really went on in that office.” Roxie pushed her eggs around on her plate. “I just hope we find out the truth about Jeremy. I know he didn’t go back to his dad. Do you think they sent him on to his new job?” Roxie sounded hopeful.

  Rose and Marty shared a glance. She hesitated to reveal their suspicions without hard evidence. Marty nodded slightly and Rose slipped her hand into her pocket.

  “Roxie, we can’t be sure of anything until we sift through the computer records but . . .” she paused, then pulled out the gold chain with the J initial and held it up, “ . . . it doesn’t look good, sweetie.” She handed the chain to the stunned girl and wrapped an arm around her shoulder in support.

  “This is Jeremy’s. He never took it off. Not even to shower. The guys kidded him about it. He laughed and said gold needed to be cleaned too.” She clinched her hand into a fist and rested her head against it, holding tight to the chain. “I remember his smile, the way he told a corny joke and then laughed harder than anyone else.” Her sobs became uncontrollable.

  Rose hated to be the one to break such news to Roxie. She was already on edge. “You’re tired. Why don’t you go curl up on the couch and rest for a while. We’ll call you when we have more information.”

  She opened her eyes and wiped them with the back of her hand. “I can’t. I have to find out what happened to him. And Rose, what about the other kids? Are they safe? What’s gonna happen to them now? Will they be okay?” Her eyes glistened. She searched the faces around her, but at this point, no one could give her any assurance that the others were safe.

  “Once we get a look at the files, it shouldn’t take long to determine if we need to call in the authorities to close that place down. At any rate, the kids should be safe for now. We won’t let it go on.” Rose stroked the girl’s hair and squeezed her shoulder.

  “Finally, we’re ready to examine some medical files and answer some of these questions,” Oscar announced, as he made one last check on the transfer progress and restarted the computer.

  The group gathered around as he opened the first files going back more than three years. A medical history of each resident of the program contained blood type and a donor list from that time period. A summary of the disposition of each of the patients determined the length of their stay. A notation was made of the date any young person threatened to leave or questioned any suspicious activity. A complete dissection and dismemberment would be planned for the coming Wednesday and the body parts shipped out in the wee hours before dawn the next morning.

  Rose put both arms around the girl next to her. Roxie rested her head on Rose’s shoulder for a moment and then sucked in a breath. “Jeremy Grassy. Search for any information on Jeremy Grassy.”

  Oscar typed in the boy’s name and hesitated a moment before he hit the search button. He glanced in Rose’s direction for confirmation he should continue. She mouthed the words, “Do it.”

  Oscar pressed the button and the file from the doctor’s notes confirmed Jeremy had questioned the number of procedures performed at the facility. “The order for final destination was issued last week. The same time the group was told he decided to return home to work on his relationship with his family. The notations include a listing of each body part packed for shipment and its destination. This information will make it easy for the authorities to track the criminals receiving human organs for profit.”

  Roxie placed her hand over her mouth. A frightened cry escaped. “If you hadn’t brought me here with you that could have been me in a week or two.” She gasped for air.

  Nelson pulled a chair around and took a seat on her other side. “You’re safe now and we’ll get everyone else to safety in a few hours.”

  “You’re right, Nelson. Make the call.” Rose directed him to call the local authorities and speak with their contact to get the ball rolling on a raid of the facility.

  She tried again to comfort the girl. “We’ve been piecing this together for sometime, Roxie. The local authorities and the FBI are aware of our findings and will do what’s necessary to save these kids. When you agreed to help us, we were able to move along even faster. From what I can see from these records, you saved Jason Tice and probably yourself from the final destination list.”

  Roxie rested her head on the table and closed her eyes.

  “What about your client’s son, Marty? Tim Easton wasn’t it?” Marty acknowledged the name and Oscar typed it into the search bar.. He scrolled through the names and paused a couple of times. “I found him.”

  Marty closed his eyes. Rose didn’t know if she could take any more bad news. Everyone held their breath.

  “Medical info was obtained from a blood drive at the campus in Atlanta. Tim’s blood type is rare. Someone approached him to join the group.. He declined. They flagged him as uncooperative and an order to take by force was issued. A list of the initial drug to make him cooperative and all subsequent procedures is included. There’s an entire separate list for kids like him who refused the program and were handled in a more immediate manner.”

  “It’s not possible there could be any worse news, Oscar. Having to tell a parent his child is dead is about as bad as it gets.” Marty shook his head. “More than likely, Tim was already dead before I agreed to take this job. Now we know exactly where Mabel and Stan intended to take Rose, too.”

  “This is bigger than the operation here in Santa Fe. There are at least three other compounds scattered throughout the west.” Oscar continued as he processed the information on the screen. “Nelson call ‘em back and have ‘em hold up on moving in on the compound here. They may want to coordinate with other agencies to make a simultaneous move. That’ll prevent one compound from notifying another and any computer records being destroyed.”

  “On it.” Nelson flipped his phone open, pressed the number on speed dial for his law enforcement contact, and explained the new findings. “They’re coming here to review the files and make plans. Should arrive in a few,” he announced.

  Rose sucked in a determined breath. She stood and paced the kitchen floor, searching for answers. “Good. We need to move fast before anyone catches on. Hopefully, at this point, they think we were only locals looking for drugs or money.”

  Chapter 28

  Satisfied they had all the proof they needed to close this entire operation down, Rose asked, “What else do we have?”

  Oscar left the medical files and moved on to the emails housed on the doctor’s computer. “Do any of these numbers ring a bell with you?” He pointed out an email box containing phone numbers of the sender. Pictures of the kids attached along with the arrival times so the receiver would recognize them. Each kid’s picture, their medical file, and any personal info obtained were compiled in a folder under their name.

  “That’s an Alabama area code. Can you Google it?” Rose shook her head. This situation was going full circle now. Right back to their starting point.

  “M. Fisher?” Oscar sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest to give the cougars a better view of the screen.

  Marty searched the air above his head. “Fisher. Fisher. Why does that name sound so familiar?” He turned to Rose. A flicker of recognition lit up both their faces.

  “Mrs. please, call me Margaret, Fisher? From the bus station?” Rose waited for confirmation from Marty.

  He huffed out a breath. “That old con artist. She never let on she knew Vinny other than from a few visits to the bus station, or that she was anything more than a little ol’ granny, and she was in on it the whole blasted time.

  “Makes perfect sense now. Vinny didn’t have to hang out at the bus station day in, day out, and scope out potential victims. He just had to wait for the call fro
m Margaret that a prospect had come in and he’d swoop in to seal the deal. Her hands would appear completely clean.”

  “Then she emailed a picture to the house parents and the sponsors at the compound along with their arrival times. Vinny made sure no one was suspicious by making friends and helping people who worked there, too.

  “I’m calling Kelli, so she can meet with the detectives as soon as possible and pick up that old bat for questioning. Oscar, can you forward some examples to Kelli of the emails and pictures sent by Fisher?” She continued to circle the table deep in thought, facts slamming through her head. She put two and two together and filled her friend in on the details.

  “Kelli?”

  “Rose, please tell me you caught a break.”

  “You are not going to believe what we did find. Margaret Fisher from the bus station is the one who scoped out the prospects and called Vinny to complete the task. Oscar is sending you copies of emails between her and the office here along with pictures of the kids Vinny helped. Wendy is one of them. Kelli, I’ll let you read the files. This set-up is unbelievable. It reaches a whole new depth of sick and twisted.”

  “Checking now. Got ‘em. Oh my. I see what you mean. I’ll start matching these emails with our copy of the video from the bus station. The email from her phone with Wendy’s picture is enough to go pick her up. Rest assured, she’ll be in custody in less than twenty minutes.”

  “Thanks, Kel.”

  “Hey, let’s have lunch and catch up when you get back in town.”

  “Yeah, we should wrap up here in a day or two. Lunch sounds great. See you in a couple of days.” She pressed the end button and ran down her mental list of things to do to make sure none of these monsters escaped.

  Daily led the way into the kitchen with the local authorities close behind. He continued his briefing on the evidence the group had uncovered. “We have coordinated with every agency and department involved to make the arrests and seize all computers and cell phones from the locations in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. As soon as you check out the evidence and give us the word, we’re ready. We want to be in sync and hit all compounds and individuals at the same time so they can’t tip off anyone else involved.”