Chapter 15
Lane
Win or Lose
“You're pretty hard on Webb. Don’t you think you can cut him some slack?”
Ten and I were pulling up to our fifth truck stop on the outskirts of Denver. We’d been at it all morning, and so far we’d come across nothing while looking everywhere we could think of for the missing teenager. There was no sign of Bauer, and none of the people we asked had seen anyone fitting his description. I was starting to lose hope, thinking the kid may very well have outsmarted us all. The gun was missing from the glovebox of my truck which only served to add an extra air of urgency to our search. Ten had been fairly quiet most of the day, not that she was ever very chatty. She tended to be hyper-focused when she was working. Apparently, that meant in the city as well as the wilderness.
She shot me a narrow-eyed look. Green eyes sharp as polished glass. “He’s annoying, and he always has some kind of agenda which he doesn’t bother to share. I wish Cy had never offered him that job. Webb Bryant does not belong in Wyoming.”
I rubbed my thumb along the side of my mouth and pulled the brim of my ball cap down lower on my forehead. “He seems to like it there. Where do you think he belongs?”
She shook her head, a frown tugging at her pale eyebrows. “Somewhere where all his reckless behavior won’t impact anyone I care about. He’s trouble, Lane. I don’t know what kind, but I can see it in his eyes. He’s nothing but bad news.”
I sighed and rubbed my tired eyes. “He was, but he’s changed. You don’t think people are capable of turning things around? Look at my brothers. Sutton was two steps away from being a junkie, and now he won’t even have a beer. Cy was dead set on spending the rest of his life alone and lonely, now he’s getting ready to marry the love of his life. And what about me?” I poked myself in the center of my chest. “I’ve been walking around blind for years, thinking I could never have the one woman I’ve always loved. I was going to fill the void with random women until the day I died. That was the plan. But now I realize I don’t have to be alone, that the fear of being left and being hurt my mother instilled in all her boys was ruining the best thing to ever happen to me. I can see it all so clearly now, but not before Jack proposing to Brynn right in front of me opened my eyes. I don’t think Webb is destined to always be the bad guy.”
Ten gave a very unladylike grunt in response and purposely turned her head so that she was looking out the passenger window as I pulled into the truck stop off of I-70. It was a massive building that was painted yellow. The chain was unmistakable, and so was the crush of semis and big rigs filling the lot. In this situation, Bauer was the needle, and a busy trucking complex with hundreds of long-haul drivers coming and going was the haystack.
“I can’t figure out what Webb wants. I don’t understand why he won’t walk away when I’ve made it perfectly clear I’m not interested in him in any way. He’s too young, too unpredictable. I don’t trust him.” She said it as if she was trying to convince herself of her reasons for being so harsh with the younger man. I didn’t believe her. The reason she was so standoffish and argumentative toward Webb was that he got to her. Somehow and someway the slick, city boy who walked the edge of being law abiding had broken through the icy shell Ten wrapped herself in.
“He’s willing to put himself right back in the center of a life he worked really hard to leave behind to help out some kid he doesn’t even know. From where I’m standing, the good in him outweighs whatever bad that might still be hanging around. I think you should lighten up a bit, is all. You don’t need to keep everyone at arm's length, Ten.”
I’d grown up with Ten hanging around. Her family’s ranch bordered ours, and she and Cyrus had always had a friends with benefits arrangement, one they picked right back up with when both returned home from the East Coast. When Cy meet Leo everything with Ten was put on ice, and neither seemed to mind, even though they had spent years as convenient lovers. Even with a lifetime of having her as part of the Warner’s inner circle, Ten was still practically a stranger. I had no idea what brought her home after she left the FBI. I had no clue how she was fairing in her life now. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad, fulfilled or just going through the motions. The only thing that was crystal clear was her animosity and aggravation where Webb was concerned. The blond, newly minted cowboy was the one person who forced her to react.
We climbed out of the truck, and I shifted my shirt to cover the revolver I borrowed from Webb. They brought a small arsenal with them from Wyoming, and since Bauer lifted my gun, I was grateful for the forethought. Ten pulled a hat similar to mine on her head and tucked her long, blonde ponytail through the hole in the back. She pointedly changed the subject by asking, “Have you heard from the cop you called this morning?”
Officer Cross had been incredibly helpful when I called and explained that on top of the trashed apartment building I was now dealing with a missing teenager. I told her I believed the two incidents were connected and she responded that she would do her best to get an Amber Alert going for Bauer. She told me that she would hit up several of the shelters that took in runaways and some of the special services that were specifically designed to help displaced LGBT youth to see if Bauer had reached out for help. She asked that I keep her updated if I came across a description of whoever it was that I suspected of abducting the teen. There still wasn’t much she could do, but she was doing all that she could to help.
“They got the Amber Alert up and going, and they posted the plea for information on the Denver Police Department’s social media feeds. No one on the streets has seen him, but that doesn’t surprise me since he isn’t from Denver. Bauer had a pretty sizable head start, who knows if he’s even in Colorado still. The people who took him in the first place move really fast. They had him seduced, scammed and scooped up all within a couple of days. They know what they’re doing.”
She nodded in agreement and inclined her head in the direction of the parking lot. “I’m going to go check out the RV section and see if anything looks suspicious.”
That was how we had divided each stop. She took the outside, and I scouted the inside since she couldn’t exactly stroll into a men’s restroom without causing a riot. I dipped my chin in acknowledgment, silently hoping that Brynn and Webb were having better luck than we were. When Brynn called for her last check-in they weren’t turning up anything either. All in all, it was an entirely frustrating day.
I pushed my way into the convenience store part of the complex and wound my way through all the different aisles. There was no sign of Bauer, but there was an endless line of truckers and road weary tourists browsing. It was busy, so I ended up getting jostled from side to side and bumped every time I tried to turn around. Grumbling in annoyance, I prowled through the diner attached to the building, still coming up empty just like I had at every stop before this one. The bathroom was my last stop. I figured there was little chance Bauer was hiding out in the first place anyone would look for him, and I knew from my various visits to truck stops today that highway patrol officers were often found making a quick stop to make sure things were on the up and up in places like this. Bauer wasn’t the only one who figured out trolling truck stops was a good way to find a ride and quick buck. Apparently, it was common practice.
The bathroom was as busy as the rest of the truck stop. Every sink and urinal had someone at it, and there was a steady stream of men coming and going from the shower section of the bathroom. Nothing seemed off or suspicious, so I was turning to leave when one of the chipped metal doors to the bathroom stalls opened and a shockingly familiar figure stepped out. We stood to face each other, each blinking in surprise. The guy from the RV didn’t seem any worse for wear. His eyes still looked beady and mean. He was still the size of a small truck, and his ugly face didn’t look any happier to see me than I was to see him. We both knew there was only one reason he was in Denver.
“Where is he?” I crossed my arms over my chest and watched him watch me in the mirror. I wanted to knock his smug look through the back of his skull.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just passing through.” He shook his hands off, making sure some of the water landed on me. I gritted my teeth together and tried to keep my annoyance in check.
“You’re the golden retriever, the lapdog they send out to bring back their prey. I know they sent you for the kid. I bet they made you pay for losing him in the first place.” I smiled at him, making sure it had a lot of teeth and sharp edges. “I hope they did everything to you that you did to the kid when you had him, and worse.”
The RV guy narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his hips. We faced off, the other men in the restroom who didn’t leave at the first signs of trouble were giving us a wide berth and curious glances.
“I’m sure that little shit told you what he overheard, so you know who he was sold to. What I did to that little shit won’t even rank once he gets shipped back home and handed off to that old pervert. That rich asshole has a sadistic streak a mile wide and no one’s willing to stop him. The kid will be lucky if he lasts a week in that bastard’s dungeon.” He made it sound like it was a done deal. “Can’t believe that kid was dumb enough to think they would go easy on him and his brother if he handed himself over. These people don’t like to have their business disrupted.” It sounded like RV guy wasn’t any more certain of Mikey’s fate than I was. He really was nothing more than the delivery man.
“You fucked with his family. Of course, he was going to sacrifice himself for his brother.” That’s what anyone who loved someone else would do.
The RV guy snorted and rocked back on his heels. “In this world, it’s every man for himself. If the kid lives, that’s a lesson he’s going to learn the hard way. Get out of my way, cowboy. I have business to attend to. A high-value package to collect.”
I shook my head and stepped into the other man’s personal space. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where you’re supposed to meet the kid.”
RV guy lifted his hands and put all his weight behind his shove as he tried to move me out of his way. A couple of the other men milling about the restroom mumbled in concern, and one older man barked for us to knock it off.
“Not happening. I don’t care how big your balls are, or how many guns you pull on me, you won’t ever be as scary as the guys who pay me to move those kids across the country. I’m not telling you shit, and even if I don’t get my hands on the kid, they’ll send someone else who will. They won’t stop.” I hated the certainty in his voice and his cocksure attitude. It also irked that he didn’t seem to be bothered by the consequences of his horrific actions. He was playing roulette with people’s lives, and he didn’t care.
It would have been so easy to throw a punch, even easier to shove the barrel of my gun between his teeth and threaten to pull the trigger, but none of that was going to get me the information I needed. I had to find Bauer, that was the endgame, nothing else. Thinking about Brynn’s story, and the way my dad finally managed to control her selfish, thoughtless mother, I dragged my hands over my face and let my shoulders fall dejectedly. The last thing I wanted to do was barter with this human garbage, but I didn’t see any other option.
“How much would it cost me for you to give up the meeting point. I’ll pay you. It’ll be enough that you can disappear.” There was no concealing the desperation in my voice. He held all the cards, and I had to play whatever hand he dealt me.
“There isn’t enough money in the world to get those assholes in check. I’m gonna do my job, deliver the kid and keep on breathing.” He nodded his head, and I should have seen the way he was winding himself up, but I was too preoccupied trying to figure out what my next move should be. “Nothing is standing in my way this time.”
When he lowered his head and charged I was taken off guard. The top of his skull plowed into my unprotected gut like a bowling ball and when I hit the sink behind me, I felt the impact rattle all the way up my spine. I grunted and tried to wiggle free as heavy fists started pummeling my kidneys. I laced my fingers together and lifted them above my head so I could bring them down like a hammer on my attacker’s back. A couple of guys moved to separate us, one calling out that he was going to call the cops, but none of it distracted RV guy from his mission to put me on the ground.
He got a solid hook to my jaw and an elbow to my ribs that made me swear and had stars popping in my vision. Those tender ribs were really starting to be a pain in my ass. I managed to land an uppercut that made his head snap back, and I shoved my fist in his face, mashing his lips into his teeth when he tried to regain his footing. Blood and spit spewed in every direction, and my knuckles split open. It had been a while since I’d been in a fist fight and I had a moment where I wished I was more of a brawler like Sutton.
I took a kick to my knee that almost dropped me to the ground but I was able to push back when he tried to body slam me into the wall.
“Watch out! He’s got a knife!” The warning came as I was struggling to push his bulk off of me where he had me pinned. I felt the burn of the blade slicing through my shirt and cutting into the skin right before the heavy weight of his struggling form was suddenly jerked off of me by a helpful bystander. The stranger was forced to jump back as that knife waved wildly in the air, slashing at anyone who dared to get too close. I wiped my sweaty face and took a deep breath trying to assess the situation. There were too many people in the room to pull the gun from where it was stashed, and there were too many innocent people milling about for the guy to keep flinging that razor-sharp blade back and forth. I really hoped the man who had threatened to call the cops had followed through.
A brave trucker got sliced as he tried to jump the RV guy from the back. Blood flowed freely and had most of the remaining witnesses pushing out of the bathroom. I faced my adversary, hand on my side, feeling the sticky warmth of blood flood through my fingers as I covered my new wound. The bathroom was empty enough now that I could pull my weapon, but I wasn’t sure my dominant hand was going to be steady enough to aim and pull the trigger. I wasn’t trained for this kind of thing. My good intentions only took me so far.
“I’m walking out of here. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the kid how you tried to save him and failed. I’ll make sure he knows it was all his fault, same with whatever ends up happening to the brother, because if they don’t have him now, they will. No one who knows Goddard’s name is going to make it out of this alive.” The guy tossed back his head and laughed like a maniac.
I was running out of options. I slumped against the wall and tried to steady my breathing as I continued to bleed.
A voice hollered from outside, “Hey, you can’t go in there! That’s the men’s room!”
The door swung open, and Ten marched in like she owned the place. She already had a weapon drawn, and the flinty look in her eye indicated she wouldn’t hesitate to use it. She shot me a look and glanced down at the other man on the floor bleeding as profusely as I was. Her jaw tightened, and a muscle in her cheek twitched as she ordered, “Drop the knife.”
The RV guy stopped laughing and shifted his gaze to me and the fierce blonde. She reminded me of a Valkyrie.
“Fuck you.” He waved the knife in front of him with more vigor and narrowed his eyes on Ten. “I will go through you, bitch.”
Ten scoffed. “You can try, but I will shoot you…bitch.”
The man let out a roar that wasn’t even close to sounding human and lunged for the former FBI agent. Luckily Ten was blessed with nerves of steel and years of training. She didn’t flinch in the slightest as she pulled the trigger and dropped the charging man with a single shot to the shoulder. He fell to the ground in a heap, wailing and writhing in pain.
She kept her weapon trained on him as she approached cautiously, pulling a pair of handcuffs out of her back pocket. It was easy to forget that even though her main objective was to protect the national parks that surrounded our home, she was still a law enforcement officer. Her eyes lifted to mine and flashed with concern. “You okay? Your brothers are going to kill me if I bring you home full of more holes that need stitches.”
I nodded. “I’ll live.” My wince turned into a scowl as I pointed at the man on the ground. “He won’t tell me where Bauer is. He was supposed to pick him up somewhere, so he’s still out there on his own. The bad guys don’t have him yet.”
She made a face as she bent to lock the man’s hands together behind his back. “The cops are on their way. He’s going to jail for kidnapping, taking a minor over state lines and aggravated assault at the very least. He’ll talk as soon as someone offers him a deal.”
“I don’t know if we can wait that long. He says they’ll send someone else after Bauer and Mikey if he’s not already in their hands.” Frustration made every word jagged and sharp.
“Gotta work with what we have. We need to patch you up before you bleed out.” She lifted her chin in the direction of my crimson-soaked shirt.
I nodded in agreement and pushed off the wall, wincing as the smallest movement sent shards of pain slicing through my body.
My phone rang, and while I wanted to ignore it, I didn’t want to give Brynn a reason to worry if I missed her hourly check-in. Using my good hand, I fished the device out of my pocket and tried to keep the screen relatively blood-free as I swiped to answer her call.
“Hey.” I didn’t bother to look at who was calling before I answered, so when the voice on the other end replied, I was surprised when it wasn’t Brynn.
“Mr. Warner?” The woman on the other end of the phone sounded confused by my breathless greeting.
“” Oh, Officer Cross. Sorry. I was expecting a call from someone else. What can I do for you?”
“I have some good news actually. I handed my card to one of the neighbors the other night when I was at the apartment. I asked her to give me a call if she noticed anything odd happening next door. I didn’t expect much, but I just received a call from her…the brother is home, and he’s not alone. Your missing teenager appears to be with him.”
I let my head drop and exhaled long and loud. “Of course, he went to his brother’s place. Why didn’t we think of that?” We’d been too focused on his old life to consider he may very well be running toward his new one instead.
She let loose a tinkling laugh. “Well, teenagers are unpredictable. I’m headed over there to talk to both of them, but I thought you should know.”
I sighed again. “Go easy on Bauer. The kid has been through hell and back. He might try and run when he catches sight of you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m good at handling men who have something to hide. I’ll be in touch.”
I hung up the phone and let myself collapse on the bathroom floor, it was kind of gross, but I didn’t care.
I met the eyes of the man cuffed on the floor. It was my turn to smirk. “You lose, you piece of shit.”