Among the Shrouded (30 page)

CHAPTER

42

THOMAS

After the women were released from the hospital, Mia and Kate were escorted to the police station while Thomas was tasked with finding them more food.  The women’s eyes lit up as he strolled into her office carrying a bucket of fried chicken and container of pasta salad from the corner market.  Kate ate ravenously while Mia helped herself to a drumstick.

Jack
rushed into the office with a stack of files in his arms and collapsed into his desk chair.

“I just finished
interrogating the guy we picked up at the warehouse,” he said.

“I thought he took a fatal shot to the chest,”
Mia said.

“There were two of them standing guard when the operation went down.  One survived and we have him in custody
at the hospital.  I just spent the last 45 minutes pumping him for information before the doctor kicked me out.  I didn’t realize how much I rely on your bad cop persona until you weren’t there, Mia,” he said, smiling at her.

“Yeah, I don’t think you want me anywhere near that guy right now,”
she said.  “Bad cop would be an understatement.”

“Agreed.
  For his sake, I won’t tell you where he is,” he said, giving her a wink.  “Anyway, I wasn’t able to get the name of the man he is working for.  He claims he doesn’t know him and has never seen him.”

“He’s seen him,” Mia said.

“Maybe, but unless I’m willing to inflict bodily harm, he’s not giving him up.  Whoever is running this whole thing has the guys under him wound tight.”

“So did you get anything from him?”
she asked.

“Are you doubting my abilities?” Jack laughed.  “Of course I got something.  I had to trade him some
leniency with the district attorney for the info, but he gave up the location of a second holding facility.”

He
saw Kate’s face light up at the news of a second facility.

“My sisters could be there,” she said.

“Maybe, but don’t get too excited yet,” Mia told her.  “So what’s the plan for the second place, Jack?  Is my dad going to send a group over?”

“Yeah.  They are talking about sending Tim’s
squad within the next hour or two.”

“I want to go with them,” Kate announced.

“We can’t let that happen Ma’am,” Jack said.  “It’s far too dangerous to send a civilian into a situation where we know men will be armed.”

“If my sisters are there, I want to be there when they find them.  I need to know they are safe.”

“Kate, it’s way too dangerous.  You should probably just stay here to wait and see what they find,” Mia said.

He
empathized with Kate’s desperation and couldn’t help but feel compassion toward her.  He remembered all too clearly how helpless he had felt searching for Mia and felt compelled to speak on her behalf.

“What if she just drove along and sat in the
squad car a block or so away?  That way, if they find her sisters, she’ll already be there and can see them right away.”

“
That wouldn’t be following protocol,” Jack said.

“Since when are you a stickler for protocol?”
Mia asked, her resolve clearly waning.

Jack sighed, outnumbered and defeated. 
“Fine.  I’ll talk to Tim and see what he thinks.  But no promises.”

He
knew he had to do something to seal the deal for Kate.  “What if I go along too?  I’ll stay with her, if that’s okay with you, Kate,” he said.

She
nodded, offering him a nervous but relieved smile.

Mia took his hand.  “You’re the best,” she said
, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“I’ll go find Tim,” Jack said, rising from his chair
and shaking his head.

“No, wait.  Sit down.  There’s something else we need to discuss
,” said Mia.

“There’s more?”

“Yeah.  There’s more,” she replied urgently.  “Jack, who all knew about my little stakeout operation with Thomas last weekend?”

“No one I know of.  I didn’t even know about it until they found you.  Why?”

“Because something feels wrong to me.  There was obviously a reason I was taken.  Someone was aware of who and what I saw at Wayne Brookins’ house that night.  I’m convinced I was kidnapped so I wouldn’t talk.  But nothing happened to Thomas, so whoever knew about me didn’t know about him.  I think that’s because I never told anyone he was there.”

“Who did you tell you were there, besides your dad?”

“Dalton,” Mia replied flatly.

Silence filled the room as
he watched a look of understanding and horror pass between the partners.

“Oh
, God,” said Jack as the reality of the situation sank in.

“Yeah.
  ‘Oh, God’ is right.  And it gets better.  Kate just picked his face out of a photo lineup.  He was at an auction.”

“I’m guessing he wasn’t making arrests.”

“No,” Mia said.

“Oh
, God,” Jack said again, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.  “Now what?”

“Now we do what we
were trained to do,” Mia replied resolutely.

“What do you have in mind?” Jack asked
, his voice laced with skepticism.

“I think we need to go pay a special visit to the commissioner’s house.”

“Under what pretense?”

“Well, we know he’
s extremely interested in human trafficking, right?  Hasn’t he shown a great deal of concern here at the station?  I think it would be irresponsible of us if we didn’t head there right away to let him know about all the new developments in the case.  I’m sure he wouldn’t want to hear about it tomorrow morning after the operation is finished,” she explained.

“We can’t use anything we get from him
unless we have a warrant,” said Jack.

“Then go get us a warrant.  Stella will help us out on this one for sure.”

“And what about your father?”

“What about him?”

“Are we going to let him know what we’re up to?”

“Are you still going to go along with it if we don’t?”
she asked.

“Yes,” Jack replied hesitantly.

“Then we leave him out of it.  He’s made it very clear to me that he believes Dalton walks on water.  He’ll never give his permission for us to barge in on him at home about this.  If my dad has a chance to tell us no then we’ll be disobeying a direct order. At least if he doesn’t know then we are only guilty of not obtaining permission.”

“Stella might have to say something to him,” said Jack.

“As long as she waits until we’re already there, I’m okay with that,” replied Mia.  “We might need some backup anyway.”

He
was listening in awe to the easy back and forth of Jack and Mia’s conversation.  It was clear to him there was great respect and friendship between them, but when she mentioned their mission possibly requiring backup, he grew leery of their plan.  He couldn’t stand the thought of losing her a second time.

“Ma
ybe you should rethink this Mia,” he entreated.  “Perhaps someone else would be better suited for going with Jack to see the commissioner.”  He looked into her eyes for some glimpse that she understood his concern for her safety was due to his love for her.  He was saddened he saw only fiery resolve.

“Thomas,” she replied, smiling genuinely at him, “everything will be fine.  He’s the commissioner for crying out loud!  What’s he going to do to us?”

“He was desperate enough to have you
kidnapped from your own home and we have an idea of what his final plans were for you.  I can only imagine what he might’ve done if they hadn’t gotten to you when they did.  You don’t know what he’s capable of or what lengths he’s willing to go to secure his anonymity,” he pleaded.

“Thomas, really, it’s going to be okay.  We do this
kind of thing every day.  Right, Jack?”

“Right,” Jack agreed, although Thomas felt his
anxious expression betrayed his true feelings.

“Then it’s settled,”
she continued.  “Thomas, you and Kate will ride along to the second holding facility with Tim’s group as long as he approves.  Meanwhile, Jack is going to coerce Stella into getting us a warrant to search the commissioner’s house and as soon as we get it, we’ll head right out.”

“
Agreed,” said Jack.

“Yes,” said Kate.

He remained silent, still uncomfortable with allowing Mia out of his sight.

“I’m going to go get
a shower and change into my uniform.  Kate, why don’t you come with me and I’ll make sure we find you a proper set of clothes,” said Mia, reaching for Kate’s hand.

He watched as
Mia led Kate across the room.  Before reaching the door, she stopped to kiss him passionately on the lips, nearly knocking him off his chair.

“Everything is going to be fine,” she said, kneeling beside him where he sat.  “Have a little faith.  I’ll see you tonight and then maybe you can make me some more French toast in the morning.”

He couldn’t help smiling at her infectious optimism.  He marveled at the fact that only hours before she’d been locked away in the basement of an abandoned warehouse, and yet she was already prepared to do whatever needed to be done to bring about justice.

“Who’s the cautiously optimistic one
now?” he asked.

“Guess you’re starting to rub off on me,”
she replied.

“I love you,”
he blurted out.

“I love you
, too.”

A
nd with that, she headed out the door.

He
and Jack sat awkwardly together in the office.

“She’s something, isn’t she?” Jack said, breaking the tension.

“She’s pretty great,” he agreed.

“I’ll take care of her,” Jack said,
mindful of his concern.  “I won’t let anything happen.”

He
sat silently for several moments, mulling over the situation.  “Does it get easier?  The police thing?  The worry?”

“No.  I don’t think so.  You’d have to ask Stella about that
.  But if it makes you feel any better, Mia and I take care of each other.  She’s practically family.”

“I know.  It was hard though
, when she was missing.  The not knowing part.”

“
Believe me.  I get it.  I can’t imagine something like that happening to Stella,” Jack replied.  He stood up from his desk and started for the door but paused as he reached the threshold.  “And Thomas, for what it’s worth, I’ve never seen Mia as happy as she’s been since she met you.”

“Thanks
, Jack.”

“Good luck
at the second holding facility.  I think Kate was really glad you offered to go with her.  I hope you find her sisters.”

“Me too,”
he replied.

Although everyone else had left the office
, he didn’t move from the table as he considered everything that had happened overnight.  Despite all that had transpired, he found the one detail he kept returning to was Mia’s inability to see his aura.  He decided perhaps his unpleasant childhood had broken part of his spirit after all.  This thought made him sad, but before he was able to dwell on it for very long, Officer Tim Sanders appeared at the door.

“Thomas Pritchett?” he asked.

“Yes?” he replied, rising from his chair.

“I’ve been told you’
ll be coming with us when we head to the second facility,” he said.

“I
think that’s the plan.”

“Alright.  Then you’
re going to need to come with me.  We have some information to discuss before we head out.”