Blood Sport (4 page)

Eleven

It felt strange
standing at her front door. He’d deliberately avoided Kat for the last six months and now here he was seeking her out. He only just got back from the hospital and had turned around and rushed over as soon as he’d received the garbled call from Jamie. His mind had been elsewhere, worried about the chief, and it had taken a few seconds for what she was telling him to sink in.

He hoped to
God they’d got it wrong, but it tied in with the strange DNA profiles found on his clothes. That there might be more kids like this one out there didn’t bear thinking about.

“Hi
, Finn.” It was Jamie who opened the door, immediately enveloping him in a hug, one that he returned. Whatever issues he may have with Kat, they didn’t involve Jamie and since he’d helped with her dramatic rescue earlier in the year, they’d remained firm friends.

“Hi Jamie, how you doing? You look great.”
And she did. When she’d first come home, she’d been scrawny and beaten and bruised from her pimp and a run in with a serial killer. She looked like a different woman now, standing in front of him. She looked healthy and strong, and she even stood straighter and appeared more confident than he’d ever seen her.

“Thanks! Things are going really well.”

She gestured at him to come in. “But come in. You really need to hear what the kid has to say.”

He could tell she was shaken as he followed her through the house to the living room. He just hoped Daniel reacted better to him this time or he wouldn’t get very far.

He was sitting on the couch next to Kat with his back to the door and he had to walk around so that he was standing in front of them. Grabbing one of the matching chairs, he pulled it closer to the couch, but not close enough to intimidate the kid.

“Hi
, Daniel, I’m Finn. Do you remember me?” He could see the boy start to shake, but there was no screaming this time and he nodded at him.

“I’m a friend of Kat’s and I’m a pretty nice guy.”
He looked at Kat for support.

“He’s right
, honey. He’s a really good guy,” she agreed.

“Now, Kat here tells me that you’ve got some stuff that you need to tell me that might help me catch the bad guys.” He kept his voice low and gentle. “Is that right?”

More nodding. “There are others
,” he whispered, his eyes downcast. “Other boys.”

“Where you were?”

Daniel nodded.

“Do you know where you were
, Daniel?”

A shake of th
e head. “No.”

“Was it the other boys who did this to you?”

Daniel looked up at him and met his eyes for the first time, seeming surprised. “No!” He shook his head hard. “Not them. It was different boys.”

Finn was confused
. Different boys?
What did that mean?

“I’m sorry
, Daniel, but I’m a bit confused.” He smiled gently “How did you get hurt?”

“I had a fight and I lost. The b
oss makes us fight against other boys, boys who stay somewhere else.”

Finn tried not to let the shock he was feeling show on his face.
“Were there many other boys there with you, Daniel?”

He nodded.

“And this man you call the boss, he makes them all fight?”

Another nod.

“Okay, Daniel, you’ve been really helpful. I think that’s enough questions for today.” He turned to Kat. “Can I have a word?”

Daniel looked completely drained.
Finn watched as he curled up on the couch and Kat covered him with a blanket. Leaving Jamie with him, they went to the kitchen to talk about what they’d heard. At first they were both silent as they processed what Daniel had just told them. It seemed too amazing, too horrifying to be true but neither of them was in any doubt that it was. It had been torture for them listening to it and they could only imagine what it must have been like to live through it.

“So what happens now?” Kat was the first to break the silence.

Finn pulled both his hands down across his face, the sound of them scraping across his stubble loud in the quiet kitchen.

“I don’t know. I really don’t.”
He sighed “We have zilch to go on and he can’t tell us anything about where he was held.”

“At least we know it was somewhere around here. He can’t have got
ten far in the state he was in,” Kat pointed out.

“Yes, but you grew up here
, Kat. You know as well as I do that outside of town there is nothing except remote farms and hundreds of square miles of fields. He could have come from anywhere.”

“For God’s sake
, Finn, what’s wrong with you? Why are you being so negative? We need to come up with a plan, take some action.”

“There is no
‘we’, Kat. This is on me.”

“It involves me too
, now. I’ll talk to the chief. I’m sure there must be some way I can help.”

Maybe she could help, he thought. With the
chief in the hospital, they were really short-handed and could use an extra pair.

“The
chief is in the hospital, Kat.” And he told her what had happened, struggling to maintain his composure.

“I’m so sorry Finn, I had no idea.” She placed her hand on his arm.

“You weren’t to know.” He moved his arm slightly, enough so that her hand fell to the side. “It means that I’m in charge for the time being so, like I said, it’s on me.” He took a deep breath. “But you’re right. I could use the help but you can’t do much. You’re not a cop anymore.”

Kat nodded. “You don’t need to remind me of that
, but I can still be useful. Just tell me what you need.”

He could tell she was desperate to help and he’d seen her with the kid
; there was no denying that this meant a lot to her. “Look, I’ve only just found out about this. Let me get back to the station and get some things organized. Once I’ve done that I’ll be in a better position to know what you can help with, okay?”

“
Okay.” She cleared her throat. “How have you been anyway? It’s been a while since we talked.”

“I’m fine. I’d better get back to the station.” He cut the conversation short. She hid it quickly but he could see that his abruptness had hurt her and he immediately felt bad. “I’m sorry
, Kat, but now is not the time for a catch-up.”

“No, you’re right. But we do need to talk
, Finn. We can’t put it off forever.”

“I know, and we will
. But not now.”

Letting himself out of the house
, he climbed into his cruiser. What Daniel had just told them changed every assumption he’d made and turned this into a much bigger investigation than it had first appeared to be. He needed a clear head to deal with it, now that the chief was in the hospital. Trying to deal with his personal issues with Kat would have to wait.

Twelve

The b
oss was not a happy man. His men knew it and were staying out of his way. He couldn’t believe they’d let the kid get away. He was a kid, for God’s sake, and he’d managed to give three of them the slip.

The kids were only ever taken out when they were to attend an event and they’d just been retu
rning from one of these when the kid had escaped. They’d been driving for hours by the time they arrived back at the farm, and through a combination of tiredness and stupidity, it seemed, his men had failed to take the usual precautions when unloading the boys from the truck. There had been six of them. Two of them had bolted; the other four having been in no state to do so. Unfortunately, in the dark they’d only managed to catch one.

After returning the five remaining boys to their cells
, the boss had ordered his men to keep looking for the one who had escaped. He’d made them stay out there all night and they’d only returned at first light, tired, wet and hungry but still empty handed.

He
took security very seriously, and despite the chances of an escape happening being very remote, he’d always insisted that the boys were blindfolded when they were taken out of their cells. He was glad of that now and he knew that the kid wouldn’t be able to tell the police anything about the farm, but he would be able to tell them about the operation. Up until now, the very fact that such an operation existed had been a secret. That was down to good planning. He never grabbed a kid from the same place twice; but now they would know.

Grinding out his cigarette, he stepp
ed off the porch and scanned the yard. He spotted Clay over by the barn. “Clay! Get over here.” Clay was the most trusted of his men, all of whom had been carefully selected for their loyalty and their ability to show a complete lack of humanity in exchange for a good pay check.

“Is everything set for tonight?”

Clay nodded. “Yes, boss, but do you think it’s a good idea?” he asked “Shouldn’t we wait for a bit until we’re sure there isn’t any come-back from the kid?”

The boss
just looked at him, his eyes like pieces of flint. “I’m sorry. Who makes the decisions round here, you or me?”

“Sorry
, boss.” Clay quickly apologized.

He would never admit it
, but Clay did have a point. It was very unusual to have two fights so close together anyway, but he had a new kid he wanted to try out. And it wasn’t like he could just cancel. These events involved a lot of planning and organizing with people travelling from all over the country. If he backed out now it could end up costing him a fortune.

“Don’t question me again
,” he snapped. “Go and double check that everything is ready. We can’t afford to have any more fuck-ups.”

He watched as Clay went off to do as he was told.

***

The room was full
; the air smelled of stale sweat and it was hot, sweltering in fact. It wasn’t as if they could open any windows, though; there weren’t any. The room felt much smaller than it was due to the fact that it was full. The benches, which had been set up four deep along all four walls, were filled with men excitedly waiting for the show to start and there wasn’t a spare seat among them. As each man had filed into the room, Clay had taken their bets and now the excitement was almost at fever pitch.

There was another door on the far side of the room, one that only he and h
is men were allowed to enter. Deciding it was time to begin, the boss went through it. As soon as he closed the door behind him, the noise from the arena was muted and the bright lights were gone. He stood in a dark, dank corridor lit by a single bulb swinging overhead. The corridor was short and it was only a matter of a few steps until it opened up into another large room. This was different, though, as it was filled with cells on either side. Twelve in total and all of them, except one, was occupied.

A
s he walked past them, each of the occupants cowered against the back wall, trying to get as far away from him as possible. Stopping in front of the penultimate cell on the left hand side, he took his bunch of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. “You, out,” he barked. He didn’t know his name; it wasn’t necessary and he didn’t care. The kid did as he was told. “Come on, let’s not keep your public waiting.”

This kid was in better shape than the others. He’d only been with him a couple of weeks
and he hadn’t fought yet. The boss was counting on his freshness to give him the advantage over his opponent; so much so that he’d wagered more than he usually allowed himself to.

The room erupted
in shouts and whistles as he opened the door and pushed the kid in ahead of him. Everyone knew that it was a new kid tonight and they were excited to see how he’d do. He’d been told what was expected of him and told what would happen to him if he let the boss down. He was about eleven years old and looked quite strong for his age. This would be his chance to prove himself.

His opponent was another boy of about the same age
, although he was taller and more heavily built. As soon as the whistle blew signaling the start of the fight, the taller kid lashed out with a well-aimed punch to the side of the boy’s head, knocking him to his knees.

The b
oss watched as, dazed and confused, he tried to get up, but before he could, he was struck with a hard kick to the ribs.  The loud crack was heard around the room as the boy’s ribs broke and the boss frowned. He was clearly going to lose his bet this time. He’d already turned away to leave before the tall boy struck the final blow, this time his foot connecting with the side of his head, rendering him unconscious.

Thirteen

It was
afternoon by the time he made it back to the station and the place was empty. Picking up the phone, he called the other four deputies and told them to come in. Two were on duty catching up with their own outstanding calls, and two, the night shift, were at home. They’d grumbled a bit, but once he’d told them that it was important they’d agreed readily.

Once they’d all arrived in the squad room he told them about the
chief. The news hit them hard. Though he was the longest serving officer, they were all local men and had known him in some capacity all their lives. He gave them a few minutes to take in the news before telling them about his conversation with Daniel.

“
At the moment, all we’ve got is what this kid is telling us and I believe him. There’s no forensics to help us out here so we’re going to have to rely on good old-fashioned police work.” Speaking to the two officers currently on the night shift, he told them, “We can’t have shifts not cover on nights so you’ll have to carry on doing that. While it’s quiet, though, I want you keeping an eye out to see if you see anything suspicious. Check barns, abandoned farms, anywhere you come across to see if you can find anything.” He indicated the door with his thumb. “For now, though, get yourselves back home to bed and get some rest.”

He turned his a
ttention back to the other two officers in the room, “Kat McKay is the one who found him and she’s offered to help. Normally I wouldn’t even consider it, but we’re very thin on the ground and she has a lot of experience so I’m going to ask her to look at local property records. Get her to try and narrow down any possible locations for us.”

He heard a sni
cker and looked up from checking his notes. Deputy Carver was the newest recruit to the department. He’d been there for just under a year and Finn had never warmed up to him. He was cocky, arrogant and far too headstrong for his liking. He’d talked to the chief about his concerns about him but he’d just waved them off as being a result of his youth; he was only twenty-two. He’d also pointed out that he reminded him very much of Finn at the same age.

“An
ything you’d like to share, Jason?” he asked him now.

He watched as he tried to hide his grin but his mouth got the better of him, as Finn had known it would. “Just that we’ll have to take your word about Miss McKay’s
experience.”
He snickered again.

Finn sighed. News of Kat’s return hadn’t taken long to get around town and, as a small community, most people remembered the history between them.
Jason’s father had been a couple of years older than them but had hung around with the same people. He’d obviously shared the story with his son.

“Deputy Carver, need I remind you that a child has been found, severely beaten, and that other children may be at risk. Right now
,” the steel in his voice had the desired effect and Jason dropped his head, “I’ll thank you to keep your thoughts about my private life to yourself and concentrate on your job. Understood?”

“Yes
, sir. Sorry.”

“Good.
For now we still can’t do much more than we’ve been doing, so for the rest of your shift I want you two doing the same thing. I’ll be staying here following up on the information Daniel gave us. Jason, before you go can I have a word?”

He turned and walked into the
chief’s office leaving Deputy Carver to follow him. “Close the door please.”

He waited until the door was closed before he spoke. “For some reason
, the chief has faith in you.” He paused. “I think that faith is misplaced. But he is the chief so I’ll respect that, but if you ever talk to me again like that again I will suspend you on the spot. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes
, sir.”

“Good. Now get out there and try and prove me wrong
, okay?”

Finn sighed as he watched Carver grab his stuff and leave the office. He hoped that he’d got
ten through to him. He needed to trust all his men on the ground right now and he certainly didn’t have time to keep an eye on him.

Where to start?
Listening to Daniel this morning, he’d been left speechless. If what he was saying was true, and he had no reason to believe it wasn’t, then this was a kidnapping ring on a huge scale. It wasn’t just the kids that had been locked up with him; he’d described traveling all over the country and seeing countless other kids in the same situation. Something on that scale was for the Feds to deal with, but before he went to them, he needed something to give them. Something more than the word of a scared kid.

The office was em
pty, so he had a bit of quiet to do some digging. Turning on his computer, he paused for a moment, not sure what to search for. Daniel had told them that some of the kids were younger and some were a bit older, but not my much. He decided to start his search for missing boys between the ages of eight and fourteen, nationwide.
But how far back do I go?
Daniel had been there several years so he decided to go back eight years. The results floored him.
Dear God! What had happened to all these kids?
The list was huge, the names numbering in the hundreds. There was no way they could investigate all those; he needed to narrow the parameters.

Daniel had been able to give them some names. Not all of them as from what he said not all the boys stay
ed long but there had been half a dozen that had been there with him for the past couple of years. Pulling his notebook out of his pocket, he checked the names that Daniel had given him. Josh, Sam, Tom, Jake, Adam and Tyler. Putting these names into the search results narrowed the list considerably, but there were still over fifty names staring back at him.

Printing it off, he looked at the list. He hated to do it, but he was going to have to ask Daniel to take a look at the photos and see if he recogni
zed any of them.

It could wait until tomorrow
, though, he thought as he was overtaken by a huge yawn. He checked his watch and saw that it was past six p.m. He’d been up for two days straight and if he didn’t get some sleep he’d be no use to anyone. Besides, after this morning he wanted to give the kid a break. If he pushed too hard there was a danger that what little progress they’d made with him would be lost and he’d clam up. No, it was best that he headed home for some rest. Even just a few hours.