Page 95 of There's a Way

The handoff for the money was supposed to happen Saturday afternoon in a park. A million in cash and the rest in Monero, a cryptocurrency that’s impossible to trace. They’d given the dad a few days to move money into Monero so he could transfer it to them.

Late Friday night, with nothing else to do in the lab, I decided to play around with the audio on my own, using headphones, just putting filters on at random, and I heard something I hadn’t heard before. I brought our main sound guy over. He’s a dolphin shifter and only works as a consultant, but his hearing is above and beyond anyone else’s. He nodded when he heard it, and got to work on his keyboard.

Less than an hour later, we knew where she was, and ninety minutes later, I listened in as our top-tier team went in to rescue her. We had a medical team in our mobile med-van, and she was taken straight to them. Her dad’s security team had him a few miles away, and Aaron made the decision to have the van driven to him, rather than risk getting him out and about.

Somehow, I ended up in the van, talking to her and calming her down, assuring her she’d see her dad and brother soon while the doctor and nurse got an IV started and worked on all the bruises and abrasions she’d gotten from being bound to various beds and chairs.

The nurse sat in front of her and asked as gently as possible if she’d been sexually assaulted, and the girl put her head down and didn’t answer.

Fuck.

The doctor rolled his eyes. She couldn’t see him, but it still bugged me, so I told her. “Whatever happened isn’t your fault. They’re the bad guys. You didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing to deserve whatever happened. It’s important we know what happened though. Maybe you need some antibiotics specific to what happened, so you don’t have long-term effects from whatever it was. First though, did they do anything that you need help with right away? Something that hurts?”

She shrugged, and the nurse took over, clearly knowing more of what to say than I did.

Four hours later, she and her dad were in their Long Island home with lots of medical types around them, since he could pay for the doctors and nurses to come to them, rather than taking her to the hospital. Also, lots of security, of course.

When I was finally back on a plane headed towards home, I asked Nathan, “Can I tell my guys a rich guy’s daughter was kidnapped, and I was part of the team that found her?”

He shook his head. “No genders, no ages, no rich guy, no locations. You were part of a team that found a kidnapping victim.” He leaned back. “And I know you found the sound of the bus stopping and starting, the last piece we needed to triangulate an exact location.”

“I was just randomly adding filters, hoping they made something pop. I got lucky.”

“We often need to be both lucky and good. You got us close with your lab work, and that’s just solid good work. I’m glad you got lucky with the audio. How are the wedding plans coming?”

I smiled. “I mean, once I decided on everything I want and don’t want, the wedding planner and the lodge are making itall happen. Matty is sending me updates, because he keeps checking in with them to make sure they’re on schedule. There really isn’t much more for me to do until we get closer. I have my dress, know how I want my hair. As long as the weather cooperates, it’ll be perfect.”

“It’ll be perfect even if it rains or storms. Kirsten tells me Dawg is invited?”

I rolled my eyes. “I hadn’t considered inviting him, but when Davy was figuring out which of the bikers needed an invitation, Dawg made a point of telling him he’d like to go. I guess the two of them work together on the two full-moon nights Dawg doesn’t run, when Davy helps out in the restaurant. There was never anything truly romantic between us. Just sex and friendship.”

“I know. Dawg was kind of the same for Kirsten, for a while. He’s good at keeping it to just friendly no-strings sex, it seems.”

Speaking of feelings and emotions, I told him, “I let myself get too emotionally involved with this one. Going through her bedroom, her car, talking to her dad and brother. It was a lot.”

“It’s particularly hard when it’s a kid, especially such a good kid with so much life ahead of her. If I’d known they’d gang-raped her, I’d have ripped their dicks off before I killed them.”

“She saw their faces. They never intended to return her to her dad.”

He nodded. “It’s one of the reasons I’m still here, doing this job. We’ve put a team together that can truly make a difference. That girl is alive because of our team. I’m not sure a wholly human team could’ve pulled it off, no matter the tech.”

Will and Davy were in the back of a limo waiting on me at the private hangar the Drake airplane flies into. I wasn’t paying attention, but when Panda opened the airplane door, he asked, “Anyone expecting a limo?”

“That’s Micca’s men,” Nathan said.

I shook my head, grabbed my roll-on and backpack, and left the plane without commenting. Will and Davy were out of the limo by the time I walked to them, and I told them, “My car’s at work. It isn’t like I can ride back with ya’ll.”

“Mac drove your car home about an hour ago when he came on shift,” Will said. “It’s a Drake vehicle, and Mac’s a Drake employee.”

I nodded. I was exhausted, and that worked. “Thank you.” I climbed inside and saw that he’d reconfigured the seats to make a bed, and I climbed between the sheets.

“You have to know there’s a danger I’ll fall asleep on the way.”

Will joined me on the bed, holding me, and told me, “Davy’s going to give you a foot rub. What can you tell us?”

I sighed. “Kidnapping victim. It was bad, but the person is back with their family because of us. Not in great shape, but alive.”

“I’m so happy you got them back,” Davy said. “How much have you slept?”

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