Page 24 of PenPal Hero

Not good. Holt had been hoping to find out the opposite was true. “That was a quick turnaround on my question.”

Foster inclined his head. “Like I said, it’s an ongoing case.”

Right. Holt could only imagine how hard Bonnie was going to take the news. “Anything else you can tell me?”

“The adoption agency was called Real Sons. They went out of business right after all the top dogs went to jail for kidnapping, child endangerment, financial fraud, and a laundry list of other sins. Some of them too complicated for me to understand.” He snorted. “Long story short, they were performing psychological and medical experiments on children, infants in some cases, using everything from hypnosis techniques to experimental drugs to manipulate their behavior.” His lips twisted with distaste. “Along with some regular old down and dirty scare tactics and intimidation. If you ask me, jail was too good for them.”

Holt could certainly understand his boss’s response to crimes against children. Foster was the father of two boys under the age of five, and the crimes he’d just finished describing sounded unusually horrific. Holt’s chest hurt, just thinking about the things Bonnie must have suffered while in the clutches of Real Sons.

“What about Bonnie’s parents?” he probed. “Were they involved in any way?”

Foster shook his head soberly. “All evidence points to the adoptive parents being kept in the dark. From their perspective, it was a regular ol’ adoption.”

Holt’s jaw tightened. “It still doesn’t explain why they kept the adoption a secret from their own daughter.”

Foster spread his hands. “I’ve never met the Yates, so I can’t comment on that. They have a good reputation around town, though.”

Holt wasn’t ready to let them off the hook just yet. They had a lot of answering to do to Bonnie. He sensed it wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.

“The real problem here,” Foster continued, “are the embedded triggers in each of the adoptive children.”

What? Holt scowled in confusion at his boss. “What do you mean by triggers?”

“Embedded responses to certain stimuli.” Foster steepled his hands on the granite bar. “Or pre-programming. I’m not sure what to call it. All the medical professionals can determine is that each kidnapped child has been predisposed to certain behaviors when appropriately triggered.”

“What sort of behaviors are we talking about?” Holt already knew he wasn’t going to like what he heard.

“To commit bank robberies and corporate espionage, to serve as imposters and pretend to be long-lost heirs. And those are the ones we know about. There could be more.” Foster gave him a hard look. “Sorry to break it to you, Winchester, but your girlfriend is a ticking time bomb.”

“That’s preposterous!” Holt jumped to his feet. “She’s a good person. Someone I trust..”

“I am aware.” Foster waved him back to his stool. “That’s why we agreed to let you share a few details about your job with her. But that was before we knew about her adoption.” He drew a heavy breath. “Her embedded trigger, whatever it may be, could pose a real problem for us once it manifests itself.”

Holt sank back into his seat. “She’s an adult now. Maybe the experiment didn’t work on her.” He couldn’t fathom anyone remembering something from their infancy. Not even some fancy schmancy embedded trigger.

“Just keep your eyes and ears open,” Foster warned. “Like I said before, it’s an ongoing case.”

Holt couldn’t believe the guy was essentially asking him to spy on his own girlfriend. “Is there anything else you can share with me about the case?”

“Sorry, newbie. This one’s above your pay grade. For now, at least.” Foster shook his head ruefully. “You’re not the only one contractually bound to keep secrets. The rest of us at K&G are bound by the same rules.”

Holt’s frustration level rose at the realization that his boss knew more about Bonnie’s family than he was telling him. “She asked me to drive her to see her parents after dinner. She plans to confront them about the adoption. Do you have any guidance for how I should proceed?”

“Let her confront them.” Foster sounded regretful. “As hard as it is on you, it might be best to let things play out naturally with the Yates.”

“What about the couple claiming to be her birth parents?” Holt found it interesting that Bonnie’s gut reaction was not to trust them.

“I’d like more time to look into them before Bonnie makes contact.” Foster held his gaze. “Can you convince her to hold off for now?”

“I can try.” Holt couldn’t make any promises, though. She was a grown woman and didn’t answer to him. “I’ll keep you posted.”

“Appreciate that.”

On the drive to Yates Ranch, Holt did his best to prepare Bonnie without breaking Foster’s confidence. “No matter what happens next, I have your back.”

She tipped her head against his shoulder. “That’s the same thing your sister said while my life was flashing before my eyes on the rope bridges.”

Her sense of humor was back. That was good. “Sounds exactly like her. She thinks the world of you, you know.”

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