Page 58 of Operation: Valiant Angel

The car door opened and the man, Blake, leaned in and unfastened the seat belt. He again grabbed her by the upper arm. “Get out.”

Reina leaned against him, opposing his efforts to remove her from the car.

“Jesus fucking Christ, get out of the damn car!” He tugged harder on her arm, sliding her across the seat and out of the car.

“Reina, just fucking stop resisting,” Ashley, Stella pled. “He’ll kill you. He’ll fucking kill you.”

“So, it’s Stella, huh?” Reina asked once she stood in front of her.

“Yeah, though I really wanted to be Ashley. Unfortunately, the past always catches up with you,” she lamented. “Not that you’d know anything about that.”

Reina wanted to laugh. Yeah, she knew all about that. She wondered for a second if disclosing her past would grant her any goodwill with these two. If they knew she had a past, would they not worry about her being a threat to them? The honor amongst thieves’ theory? She’d think about it more. “I think a person can leave their past behind if they truly stop making the choices they made in that life.”

Stella’s gaze went to Blake, who still held Reina’s arm in a vise grip. “Yeah, sometimes people won’t let you do that.”

“Inside, both of you,” Blake snapped.

They entered the house. In the front room, a man sat. He was of the same ilk as Blake, dressed nicely, clean shaven, same age range, fit, wearing a pistol in a shoulder holster, throwing off a dangerous vibe, and wearing a scowl on his face when he saw Reina. “Who’s this?”

“The kid’s new babysitter. You’re welcome,” Blake said.

“Has Lilly called for me?” Stella asked.

“No, haven’t heard a peep from her,” the man said.

“If you’ve hurt her in any way,” Stella warned, “I’ll kill you.”

The man raised his hands shoulder level in surrender. “Kiddy fiddlin’ isn’t my thing.” He nodded to Reina. “But I’d tap her in a heartbeat.”

Reina’s body stiffened. This was all too familiar territory. There was a reason she always had an old man in her past life. Protection. Protection from predators like this guy. She was considering if she’d speak out with a threat and project a false bravado.

Stella spoke before she had the chance to. “Don’t even think about it. She’s off limits too. And if you try to touch me again, I’ll cut your fucking dick off and feed it to you and don’t think I won’t.”

“Down, girl,” Blake said, almost amused. He nodded to the staircase.

Stella mounted it as Blake pulled Reina over. “Take care of Lilly,” Stella said to her. “I hate that she’s afraid, but keeping her inthe room upstairs is the safest place for her right now. She’ll be thrilled to see you.”

At the top of the stairs, Stella slid a lock open on a door. She opened it and went in. Blake pulled Reina in behind her. Reina watched Stella go over to the large queen-sized bed. She saw Lilly’s face on the pillow, her small body covered by blankets. Stella sat on the edge and stroked the hair back from Lilly’s face, who appeared to be asleep.

“Hey angel,” Stella said when Lilly opened her eyes.

“Mommy.” Lilly sat up and hugged her.

Reina watched a hesitant, sad smile play across Stella’s face. “I missed you.”

“Can we go home now?” Lilly pleaded. “I don’t like it here.”

Reina saw tears fill Stella’s eyes. “I’m sorry baby, not yet. Mommy still has some work she has to do, and this is the safest place for you while I do that. But I brought you company. Miss Reina from school is going to be here with you, so you’re not alone.”

Upon seeing Reina, Lilly’s face lit up. Reina pulled her arm from Blake, and she rushed over to Lilly. She gave her a hug. “Hi sweetie. I missed you at school.” She noticed Lilly’s Lovie was clutched in her arms. It was either a duplicate or Stella had gone back to her house for it.

***

While on the Lear en route to Cedar Rapids, the team was notified that Shepherd had reached out to St. Vincent and notified him of the events that had just occurred. He pressed hard and got the information the team needed. A voice call was enabled on Lambchop’s tablet and the team huddled around it, listening.

“St. Vincent released info on Ashley Carona. Her real name is Stella Adams. Five years ago, she was swept up by the FBI for being a part of a sophisticated identity theft and money laundering scheme being perpetrated by an extensive network. She provided info, even wore a wire and helped them get evidence on other members of the network. She also agreed to testify. She gave the FBI intel that led them to just about everyone in the network. Only a couple gave them the slip. The FBI always suspected she’d squirreled some of the cash away someplace, but they couldn’t find it. They appreciate any assistance we can give in finding Stella Adams now that she’s gone dark on the Marshals.”

“What about the little girl?” Wilson asked.

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