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"I'm guessing most haven't arrived yet. There would be a larger police presence if they had the hostages here," Carter observed. "Security isn't any heavier than usual."
"How sure are we they came here?" Becca asked.
"I got the information from Noam, so I assume it's correct." Bryon glanced around, trying to see anything that would give him hope they were in the right place.
A moment later, Faith walked over. "Okay, three patients have arrived, all in serious condition. Two are in surgery. All three are males in the age range we are looking for. There was no I.D. on any of them, so all we can do is wait." Faith looked around. "She said if we want to wait in the surgical waiting room, she'd have the surgeons come out and talk to us when they were done and maybe if we show a photo, the doctor can verify." Faith met Bryon's gaze. "She got a call right before we got here that there are fourteen more adults coming here with varying degrees of injury, but nothing serious. There are others going to other hospitals. She also warned me that she's had two calls from the media asking questions, which she of course refused to answer."
"Shit." Kasey sighed. "I was hoping this wouldn't become a media event."
"With the big names possibly involved, I'm betting it will be huge. Besides, I bet the D.A. wants the public aware of everything he's doing to stop trafficking. He'll want this out there for everyone to see." Archer leaned against the wall, his arms folded over his chest.
"Let's hope they do their job and keep the victims' names secret," Faith mumbled.
Matt pulled her into a hug.
"Well, we might as well go wait in the surgery waiting room. There's no room here for us. One of us can come back and check-in from time to time, maybe leave a picture of Trenton with the nurses so they can let us know if he shows." Bryon straightened.
"I'm hoping if Trenton is okay, he'll grab the first phone he can and call us." Becca took Bryon's hand.
"Has anyone tried to call Ben?" Xander asked.
"No, do you think we should?"
"I don't know. He's going to walk into a mess if he attempts to go to work. We might want to give him a heads up so he can decide if he's going to step foot on the property or make a clean getaway and avoid it." Xander pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I'll call the cell I gave him and at least leave a message. Hopefully, he'll see it when he gets up."
Bryon watched Xander walk off before looking to the others. "Let's find that waiting room. It could be a long night."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ben sat up as he heard a phone ring. It wasn't his usual ringtone. He took a second to clear his head before remembering the burner phone Trenton's team had given him. Tossing back the covers, he rushed across the room to where he'd stashed it behind several books on a shelf. He pulled it out and quickly hit the button to answer. "Hello?"
"Ben, it's Xander." The deep voice was just as he remembered it.
"Everything okay?" He glanced at the clock on his nightstand seeing it was almost five in the morning."
"I'm not sure, but I wanted to give you an update. The SWAT team went into the mansion last night. They arrested everyone and took the hostages out. There were two officers shot, but they are going to be fine. I was told there were deaths of both guards and hostages, but as of right now, we don't know who."
"Trenton?" Ben's chest tightened.
"We're not sure yet. We're at the hospital where they are bringing many of the adults. Three are here already, two in surgery, but the hospital doesn't have any identification on any of them. We're hoping to talk to the surgeon when he's done and show him a picture of Trenton, and also have left one at the nurse's station in the E.R. so they will know who to contact when others come in."
"Shit." Ben sank down on his bed. Then it hit him what Xander had said. "SWAT went in?"
"It was safer that way since it was such a big operation. We had a friend who wasn't too happy when he heard about your sting operation going on for so long. He was even angrier when he heard about the chief and his activities. He was more than happy to override certain orders and take a team in. So, as far as tonight went, my group was not involved. We're in the dark on everything just like you are."
Ben tried to think. He wasn't going to bother going into work and have to deal with explaining everything in interviews all day. The time would come for that. His job was all but gone anyway. He wouldn't go back to working undercover after all this. "Any idea who I can talk to? I don't really want to call my boss and check-in just in case he's in on it with the chief."
"I'll pass your name on to the guy and he can take it from there."
"Thanks, as for now, can you please keep me updated on Trenton once you know anything?" He wanted to rush to the hospital, but he really didn't belong there. He was nobody to Trenton. The team was his family and they were the ones he'd want to see. He wouldn't blame Trenton for never wanting to see him again. After all he'd been through, he was sure Trenton would want to block all memories of the last few weeks from his mind.
"Sure thing. Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to give you a heads up before you walked into a circus."
"I appreciate that." Ben smiled. "I know you guys didn't go in, but you set all this up. Thank you. You saved a lot of people. Give me a call later once you hear more."
"We will, and don't forget you played a role in saving them as well. Talk soon." The line went dead.
There wasn't a chance he would sleep after that call, so Ben stumbled to the kitchen to make coffee, making sure to keep the cell phone with him. He hated not knowing details. In his mind, he played out a million different ways the SWAT team could have entered. He thought about all of the children and prayed none of them were among the dead.
