Page 43 of Special Agent Anastacia

Laughing, Ana patted his cheeks. “You’resonot funny.”

“I know.” Grinning, he kissed her nose. “Before I let you go, I wanted to warn you that I intend to call Sam Roddam. I sat with him last night, and the man is suffering. He needs to know his daughter is safe.”

“Yeah, I meant to tell you about that if you hadn’t distracted me. When I left the kitchen to go to the bathroom, I called their house and told Hattie we had the girls. I didn’t mention Carly’s injury so maybe you can call them back on the way in and let Sam know that you’re taking her to the hospital. He can phone ahead with his insurance information.”

“Should I let Carly know we’re in touch with them?”

“I would. Hell, let them talk to her but just make sure Sam doesn’t come to the hospital in person, or she might freak out. Explain to both of them that we’re trying to keep the girls off the radar, and the degenerate seems to have eyes everywhere. Therefore, to keep the girls from freaking out, we’re taking no chances. After what they told us, they’re terrified that Vlad will learn they betrayed him.”

“Right. In the meantime, you’ll let me know if Dave has any updates on the vehicle the sick bastard’s using now. I need to keep my eyes open in case he’s on the road.”

Chapter Thirty-two

Ana had to laugh at Dave’s shocked expression when he first saw Hanna. “You found her? Is Carly with you too?”

“Not at the moment. She’s with Nash on the way to the hospital for a leg wound that needs attention. Poor thing is suffering from an infection, and I’m worried it could get worse without attention.”

Dave approached Hanna and sat near her. “I’m glad to see you, Buttercup. We’ve been worried sick. If you’re up to telling me your story, we can get it written down in the report I need to have. Okay with you?”

“Okay. Can Ana stay with us?”

“Sure. But it’s you I need to interview so just tell me everything you remember happening from the first moment you were taken by Smirnova.”

“I was with Maria with Les in the hospital and left them to go to the cafeteria. I took the stairs to the shortcut through the parking lot. I remember thinking it was kinda dark andscary. I get spooked easy since the war. Anyway, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking and tripped over Carly, hiding behind a post from Vlad. She’d escaped him. Ran away when he let her out with instructions to get him some bandages for his wound where Beth stuck him with a knife.”

“I talked to Beth earlier at the hospital, and she told me about the attack. Poor kid. What happened next?”

“Strangely, Carly reminded me of the girls back home in the Ukraine who were running away from the Russians. So when she asked me to help her, I did. Just in time. We struggled to get into the building and were fortunately able to lock the door. Vlad tried to break in but he couldn’t get at us. We stayed there for a long time, until we felt safe to leave.”

“Good thinking. But why didn’t you go to someone in the building and ask for help?”

“Carly refused. Said he’d warned her that he had a way to watch their house and if anyone showed up, he’d know she called the police. Then he’d go in and kill Beth and her mom who he’d left tied up in the plant shed. She was terrified. I told her to stay where we were, and I snuck into a closet where I found some material we could use to bandage her leg. We were both scared Vlad would come and find us, so we decided to hide in the bushes.”

“That’s where Ana and Nash found you?”

“You mean Nash. I never saw Ana.”

“Damn. So Close.” Ana cussed before explaining how that happened. “Nash dropped me off at the front door and drove the truck to the parking lot. Would you have come out if you’d seen me?”

“Of course. Actually… Nash told us that you were inside and would be coming back with him. We had full intentions of getting into his truck then. Nash left the tailgate, which was facing the bushes, open for us. We tried to get in, but bythen, Carly had stiffened up so much she could barely move. She’s kinda skinny but I still couldn’t lift her. Besides, we were terrified that Vlad would see us. We’d watched him drive past a couple of times.”

Dave whispered, “Bastard,” snorted in disgust and added, “Understood. And according to Ana, you took the bus and got off along the lake road and cut through the forest.”

“Yes. I was praying that Ana would be here but she wasn’t… not until earlier. We didn’t hear her and Nash come in. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life. Both me and Carly just broke a window to get inside and collapsed. Her leg was ugly this morning. Just before Ana heard us and came to investigate, we’d planned to use the house phone to call her so she’d come and help us.”

Dave nodded in understanding. He folded his lips and his tightly held control made Ana instinctively understand he had to swallow his stream of cuss words that he used in times like this.

Finally, Hanna lowered her head, a way of ending her story, leaving both adults gulping from shame that their generation could have been instrumental in inflicting such nightmares.

Wars! In this day and age. Jesus help us. Would humanity ever learn?

Finally, the young girl’s voice lowered, and she stammered over her next words. “I’ve known f-fear… I mean the spine-chilling, breath-choking, heart-breaking kind. It crept up on us Ukrainians, which maybe helped us to prepare. But I’ve never actually seen another as frightened as Carly. I think maybe when a kid is sheltered all her life, to come up against an unexplained nightmare so full of terror is more traumatic. I’m worried about her, Ana. She’s in a b-bad way.”

Suddenly Ana picked up on a tone in her cousin’s voice. “Did he hurt Carly? I mean other than the leg wound?”

“He caught her trying to escape the first time and purposefully closed the car door on it. It cut her badly. Is that what you mean?”

Ana watched Hanna’s eyes and decided to take it further. “Was that the only time he laid his stinking hands on her?”

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