Page 59 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“She was pregnant while helping the FBI. She’d told the Marshals assigned to her after she was taken into protective custody that the baby’s father didn’t believe her that it was his. She never gave them his name.”

“They think it was someone associated with the network?” Wilson asked.

“They did, maybe one of the people who got away,” Shepherd said.

“As far as the money goes, are there any indications she was living above her means?” Lambchop asked.

“I have the Digital Team poring over her finances. It doesn’t appear she is, but they’ll let you know,” Shepherd replied.

“According to Rae, she appeared to be a single mom with tight finances,” Wilson offered.

“We’ll find out soon,” Shepherd said. “The black SUV was a rental from Des Moines airport. The Digital Team is also getting info on whoever rented it. I’ll push through what I have on StellaAdams and her case from the Marshals and the Digital Team will get you their reports as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Shepherd. How long are we authorized to look into this?” Wilson asked.

“Angel has arranged a couple of rental vehicles for you, as well as hotel accommodations. Proceed to the accident site when you arrive and then touch bases with the Iowa State Patrol. We’ll talk again after that to set the approved scope of this operation,” Shepherd said. “I want to talk with the FBI before I commit us to anything past recovering Reina Ellis.”

“Roger that, Shep,” Lambchop replied.

Papa

The farmhouse was cold. Reina wasn’t sure if the heat was set any higher than forty or fifty degrees, wasn’t really sure if it was on at all. She and Lilly had their coats on, yet still spent the time under the blankets on the bed to keep warm. They played games, colored, and Reina told her stories. There were pads of paper, crayons, and a few other things to keep the little girl occupied. They slept a lot. It was hard for Reina to keep track of the time passing.

Thankfully, there was a bathroom in the room they could use. Reina found it disturbing that Lilly wore a dress with no underwear below. Lilly hadn’t mastered pulling her pants up and down by herself, even though she was fully potty trained. Her mom, knowing this, left her to fend for herself in the bathroom. As Reina helped Lilly in the bathroom, realizing Lilly hadn’t wiped herself well while she’d been in there and helped to clean her up, her anger at Lilly’s mother grew.

Reina checked the closet. Nothing inside. She’d been hoping to find something she could use as a weapon. There were two windows in the room. She looked out of both. No other homes in sight, just the barren leaf-stripped trees and overgrown scrub brush for as far as her eyes could see. She wondered if the viewfrom a different side of the house would show any other homes nearby.

There was a twelve pack of water that someone had taken the time to loosen all the caps and a stock of various food items on one of the tables, many of them already open. Unsure how long they’d be there, Reina rationed the food, but did try to make sure that she and Lilly had a variety of food, alternating protein bars and fruit pouches with an occasional bag of chips and sweet treat whenever they ate.

Reina was sure at least two days had passed since Blake and Stella had left them there. No one had returned. Reina was dozing when the door opened. Blake came into the room.

“Reina, come with me,” he said, his voice icy.

Reina had a really bad feeling about this, but she didn’t want to scare Lilly. “Okay,” she told him. Lilly slept beside her. She shook her a bit to wake her. “Lilly, sweetie, I have to go for a short bit. Go back to sleep. Stay under the covers to stay warm, sweetie.” She kissed her on her forehead.

When they were in the hallway with the door closed, Blake, who held her arm, relocked the door. “Why’d you bother waking her?”

“I wanted her to know I was leaving. I didn’t want her to wake up alone and be afraid. You really don’t know anything about kids, do you?”

He shrugged off her remark. He pointed down the staircase. “You fight me, and I’ll throw you down the stairs,” he warned.

“I won’t,” she said. Then she walked willingly down the stairs beside him.

That other man was not in the front room. Stella was not there either. The rest of the house was quiet. He led her to the frontdoor and opened it. That was when that bad feeling she had turned into fear. It was gray and frigid outside. The cold air invaded her the second he pulled her out of the house. A beige sedan was parked in front of the door. The SUV was nowhere in sight.

He popped the trunk open with the push of a button on the key fob he held in his hand that was not holding her. They were just a few steps away from it. “Get in,” he said, pointing to the trunk of the car.

She pulled against him, leaning away from the car, and defiantly shook her head. “No.”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way where you get hurt.”

They appeared to be alone. Could she overpower him, get Lilly, and drive them out of there? She remembered the turns they’d taken once off the interstate. She knew she could navigate them back to civilization. But what if she didn’t succeed? Would he take it out on Lilly?

“Last chance,” he said.

She nodded and stepped towards the car. She grabbed hold of the edge of the trunk as though she was going to climb in and then at the last second used the car to push against, to give herself leverage as she kicked backwards, kicking him in the crotch with all her strength. She followed up, coming to her feet and grabbing him by the hair on his head and pulling his head down as she thrust her knee up.

In the corner of her eye she saw, too late, the other man who’d been in the house, rush up beside her, a gun in his hand that was swinging towards her head and the painful impact. That was all she remembered until she opened her eyes to darkness. She hadthe sensation of movement and felt nauseous. Her head hurt, too.

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