12
Jake pulled out his cell phone, dialing the one number he didn’t want to dial in that moment. Admitting failure was hard, but they’d come up dry, and he had a suspicion why.
“J,” the familiar, computerized voice answered.
“She’s not here,” he said without excuse or preamble.
“Are you sure?”
“I am. She was in the woods, but I have a feeling she found this remote cabin and found help. It looks like a small SUV lit out of here really quickly, and the cabin is empty. They left behind a pretty expensive car, and just based on what’s inside the cabin, I think Jessica found this place, and the occupants took her to get medical care.”
“She made it further than seems humanly possible. Are you sure she made it to the cabin on her own?”
“There are newer cabins that are much closer to the woods. Based on where she was dumped and how long she was loose in the woods, she could have made it this far. That means Mr. Baker grossly overstated her injuries and maybe even fudged the timeline to keep us from finding her in time. If he dumped her an hour or two earlier than he said, I would have started in a different place.”
“Or the people in the cabin were in on it. Is there a license plate number for me to run? Maybe there’s a connection to Heartsong United Believers.”
Jake cringed. He hoped there wasn’t a connection to HUB. That would be a catastrophe, and they wouldn’t get Jessica back if that was the case; at least, not easily and without some loss of life. It might be better to cut their losses and accept that Jessica was one collection they weren’t going to make.
He read the numbers off the plate then waited while J typed them in.
“Read them to me again, please,” Jay said moments later.
Jake repeated the numbers, taking his time and making sure that he didn’t miss any.
“Is something wrong, sir?”
J chuckled.
“Yes and no. I know why you couldn’t find her, but you’re going to have a hell of a time getting Jessica back. Jessica is safe, at least.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Senora Edwards owns that car, though my readout says that she’s home right now. She’s got Jessica, which means you’re going to have to come up with a Plan B.”
“The Senora Edwards?” Jake asked, a little shocked that her name would come up.
“Yes. This isn’t going to be easy, and I’d be willing to bet she’s got someone with her.”
“Any idea who?” Jake asked, but he already knew. “Is she with Ty Mahigan?”
“I would say so,” J said, his voice quiet and devoid of emotion.
“So, what do we do now?”
“Gather your men, and get some rest. I’ll need to do some digging to see if we can find out what car they’re driving and where they are with our target. They couldn’t have gone far, but it is almost dark.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Jake said, hating the way his voice sounded so timid.
He wasn’t used to failing.
“No need to apologize. You didn’t stand a chance against those two.”
“But I have six men, and she’s human.”
J laughed, and Jake couldn’t help but wonder if tonight was the last night he’d be alive. J was impossible to read with the voice changing software and his dry sense of humor. Jake couldn’t tell if he was amused or plotting the death of six WereBears.
J was still laughing when he hung up the phone in Jake’s ear. Jake stood there for a long time, listening to the dial tone in his ear and wondering if that would be the last sound he would hear before his own death.
Shrugging and deciding that he wouldn’t know when he was taking his last breath until it was already spent, he gathered up the men, and they made their way to the SUV. Tonight, they would eat and replenish their strength after an exhaustive day of searching.
They would worry about what J was going to do tomorrow. More accurately, Jake would worry about it then. He wasn’t going to tell the men how badly everything had gone. They deserved better than that. And a good leader always did what was best for his troops, even at his own expense.
***
Ty parked in the driveway, looked over his shoulder at Jessica and then at Senora.
“Stay in the car,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright,” Senora said, looking at the dark house set way back from the narrow dirt road they’d taken to get there.
She didn’t want to go in at all, and even though she trusted Ty, she was with Jessica on this one. The urge to wait until he was out of the car and drive away was strong. She didn’t want to be trapped in a house with a WereBear any more than Jessica did. She’d watched the terrifying efficiency they’d used when tracking Jessica through the woods. It was a wonder they’d gotten to the woman in time, but that had been just as much luck as it was Ty’s skill in the woods. The WereBears had been tracking Jessica, while Ty and Senora had been trying to intercept her from the opposite direction. Their tactic had worked, and if they’d gone from the place where Jessica had been dumped, the outcome would have been completely different.
Senora looked back at Jessica in the dim light of the dashboard in the still running car. The woman was lying on her side, eyes open, face calm. She’d been asleep for quite some time, but at some point, she’d calmly regained consciousness. Senora hoped whatever Ty had given her wasn’t too much for a human, but Jessica seemed fine.
“Are you alright?” Senora asked.
“I’m fine,” Jessica said in a flat, eerily calm voice. “Where are we?”
Senora hesitated. What if she told Jessica where they were and the woman went nuts? Would her fear and the resulting adrenaline be enough to override the sedative? What would she do if she couldn’t subdue Jessica herself?
“Are you feeling calm right now?”
“I am,” Jessica said. “I know I should run, but I can’t figure out how to sit up.”
“I’m sorry Ty had to sedate you.”
“I’m going to run as soon as I can figure out how,” Jessica said without any inflection.
“If you’ll give us a chance to explain, I promise that you can trust us. We’re not going to turn you over to anyone, and we’re not trying to fix you. We’re trying to keep you safe until we can figure out who took you and why. And then, we’re going to nail Matt’s ass to the wall, and you’ll get Evie back.” Senora held Jessica’s gaze with a fierceness that she knew Jessica would feel to her very core. “I won’t stop until we get your Evie back,” Senora promised. “I give you my word that we’ll do whatever it takes to get her back to you.”
“Matt isn’t going to give up the fight.”
“He’s not going to have a choice. We have video proof that he tried to kill you and he dumped you in the woods to die. No jury is going to let him walk away from that, and no judge is going to let him have any contact with Evie.”
“You found the cell phone?” Jessica asked, her voice a little more enthusiastic but still flat and even.
“I did. That’s how I knew that you were alive.”
“But how did you even find it?”
“I went by your house to check on you and show you some mugshots, and you weren’t there. I was leaving when I realized that Matt said you were at a retreat with your sister, and I remembered you telling me she’d died years ago. I knew that he was lying, and I had someone in my office track the GPS unit on your car. I found out where he went, and I came to find you. I found the phone then, and I knew that you were alive and that you needed my help.”
“How did I get so lucky?” Jessica wondered out loud. “If you hadn’t paid attention, or if you hadn’t cared, I would still be in those woods, and the bears would have gotten me. Thank you.”
“There’s no need to thank me. This is what I do. That’s why I need you to trust me and Ty. We’re here to help you.”
“But you work for the same man that the bears work for.”
“I don’t. My contact goes by the letter J. It’s just a coincidence that the bears are working for someone named J. It’s not an uncommon name.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Jessica said, then furrowed her brow. “That’s not true. I believe life is a series of happy coincidences that lead you where you’re meant to be if you’re willing to say yes. I don’t know why I said the other thing.”
“It’s probably the sedative. Do you want me to help you sit up?”
“Yes,” Jessica said.
Senora climbed over the center console and slowly helped Jessica sit upright, propping the blanket around her so she was more stable.
“That’s better; thank you,” Jessica said. “What is this place?”
“Ty has a friend that lives here. He’s going to help us.”
“Why can’t we just go back to the FBI office?”
Senora bit her lip. She didn’t know if Jessica was ready for that answer. She was calm under the sedative, but knowing that there was nowhere that was safe until they got to the bottom of what was going on, Senora was afraid that taking Jessica into the office would find Senora pulled off the case. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the other agents, but they didn’t know the things that she knew. Would they be willing to believe that there were men that could shift into bears after this sweet housewife from the suburbs? Probably not. Senora didn’t even want to believe it, and she couldn’t understand why the bears were after this woman. Nothing that was going on with this case made sense, and Senora wasn’t going to risk being taken off the case for any reason. Yes, she would have to answer for her actions later, but she knew that Agent Patterson would see the necessity once the case was solved and Jessica was reunited with Evie. She could sell her case after things went well, but Senora knew that Agent Patterson wouldn’t be swayed before then.
Senora knew from experience that it was much easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Senora let out a huge sigh, deciding that a partial truth would have to work for now. Jessica was much too fragile to deal with the realities of her crazy situation, and it would be much easier on her if Senora held back and unloaded everything a little at a time.
“Right now, Matt thinks you’re dead, or at least that you’re lost in the woods somewhere. We need to use that to our advantage. The minute we step into the FBI office, we lose the element of surprise. I want to make sure that we have everything we need before we reveal that you’re safe and alive. I hope that makes sense. I promise you that we’re doing the best thing for you, and we wouldn’t do it this way if there was a better way.”
Jessica nodded.
“Good,” Senora said. “This is easier with your cooperation.”
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
“You’re scared, and it’s hard to know who to trust. We understand that.”
“I think I elbowed Ty in the face when I was trying to get away.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Senora laughed. “I’m sure it’s not the first time he’s taken a shot in the face.”
Laughter bubbled out of Jessica, but her reflexes were still slow and her hands didn’t quite make it in time to stop the sound from escaping. She looked at Senora and shrugged, and for the first time since she’d sat down at the table with the woman, the haunted look was gone from her eyes. Senora could see the vibrant woman that had bent but never broken, and she knew that this woman would find a way to be alright. She didn’t have it in her to quit, and Senora found herself in perpetual awe of the woman’s strength. She was amazing.
“What?” Jessica asked.
“You,” Senora said. “You’re so strong. You’re just an amazing human being, and I can’t believe how you continue to pull yourself out of the ashes and emerge unscathed. You’ve been kidnapped, escaped, nearly murdered, dumped in a forest overnight and hunted by bears. Yet, here you are.” She shook her head. “I’ve met a lot of survivors in my life, but you just blow me away.”
“Thank you,” Jessica said. “But I can’t take all the credit. Something changed in me when I had Evie. I wasn’t this tough, and I didn’t stand up for myself.” Her face went dark, and she looked away for a moment. “That’s when Matt and I started having problems. I went from being this docile, obedient woman, and then I had Evie. I looked into her eyes, and I knew that the woman I was before wasn’t good enough. Evie deserved better than a timid little mouse that did everything right just to make her husband happy. Before I grew a backbone, Matt loved me. But when I started changing, he couldn’t handle it.”
“Do you think that’s why he did this? It’s obvious he hired people to get rid of you.”
“I do. When I was lying in the back of our SUV pretending to be unconscious and he was blubbering to himself, I knew that he’d sent the woman to trick me, and it was him that had given me to those people. And I was crushed.”
“I don’t know how you kept going.”
“I didn’t have a choice. Evie needs me.”
There was a tap on the window, and both women jumped. Ty was looking in at Senora, motioning for her to roll the window down.
“Can you come out here for a second?” he asked.
He looked anxious. Senora nodded and flashed a reassuring smile in Jessica’s direction, then rolled the window back up and got out of the car. She followed Ty a few feet away, leaning in close so she could hear him over the sound of the engine.
“What’s going on?”
“Did she tell you anything?”
“Some things, but not much more than we’d already figured out on our own. What did your friend say?”
Ty drew in a deep breath, looked at the car to make sure that Jessica was still sitting quietly in the back seat, too far away to hear them.
“He confirmed a lot of what Jessica said, but we have a big problem that changes everything.”
“Alright, what is it? Does Agent Patterson know we have her? Are the bears after us?”
“No,” Ty said. “I wish it was something that simple.”
“Then, what is it? Don’t keep me in suspense, Ty. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”
He was still shaking his head, and Senora knew that it was more than a little snafu or something that they could easily fix. Whatever it was, it was heavy.
“Ty, please.”
“Jessica isn’t who she says she is.”
Senora was floored by what he said, but he wasn’t done.
“Her name is Naomi Martin, and everything she’s told you about her life and her past has been a lie.”
“What? There’s no way. She’s completely sincere, and even under the sedative, her story rings true and she’s consistent.”
“Is she?”’
Senora thought back to the saying about coincidences and how Jessica had been confused by her first statement.
“She corrected herself when she said she didn’t believe in coincidences. She said she didn’t know why she said that.”
“That’s because she’s completely changed her identity, and she’s been living a lie since she walked away from her old life three years ago.”
“I don’t understand.”
Ty sighed, reaching out to comfort Senora, but she pulled away.
“Don’t coddle me. Tell me what you know.”
“Right now, not much. But I do know that Jessica’s secrets have put us all in danger, and this is bigger than you and me.”
“So, what are we going to do?”
“We’re going to turn her over to the bears, and we’re going to lay low until this all blows over.”
“We can’t give her to the bears,” Senora hissed, leaning in closer. “We don’t know what they’re going to do to her.”
Ty took her hand, pulling her further away from the Jeep. Senora was getting upset, and her whisper was growing louder by the second.
“She’ll be safest with them. They aren’t involved with Matt Baker.”
“Matt hired them.”
“Matt thinks he hired them. They were hired by her family to get her back.”
Senora pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling light-headed.
“I don’t understand.”
“The WereBears were hired to find Jessica and bring her back home.”
“Then why was she being held?”
“Because she has to be deprogrammed.”
“What?”
“She’s been brainwashed. That’s why she said something then corrected herself when she first woke up, but now she’s back to being herself. The people who took her from her family turned her into the perfect Stepford wife, and when glimmers of the person she used to be started to come out, they knew it was time to jump in. They have contacts on the inside, and everyone knew that Matt Baker was struggling to control his once docile wife. It was the perfect time to contact him and offer him a deal he couldn’t pass up.”
“This is too much. Your friend is delusional. There isn’t some widespread conspiracy-”
“There is, and Jessica is one of the victims. But the problem is the subliminal plant. She can’t just walk away from Matt without completing the deprogramming. As scary as that’s going to be for her, she has to complete the program. Otherwise, she’ll always try to find her way back to him. That’s why she got away from them.”
“What about her daughter?”
“It’s not her daughter.”
Senora’s jaw dropped.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s not her daughter’? She just told me how having a child changed her and that her marital problems didn’t start until she had Evie.”
“How old was Evie when you saw her at the Baker house?”
“I didn’t get a good look at her, and I’m not around little kids that much, but I would say around three, almost four.”
“Jessica has only been married to Matt for two years.”
“Maybe they got married after she was born.”
“No, Senora, they didn’t. Evie isn’t her child. Evie’s mother died in childbirth, which was why he needed another wife quick. Jessica Baker died in childbirth. This woman’s name is Naomi Martin, and she has a family in Spokane, Washington that misses her.”
“Spokane? That’s so far away.”
“Just outside of Spokane. But it makes so much sense. She was an avid hiker at home, which was why she was able to survive like she did. We need to find a way to get her inside with Michael, and then we need to leave.”
“I don’t understand why we’re in danger?”
“We don’t have time to delve into that right now. When we’re on the road, I’ll fill you in. But right now, I need you to stay calm and convince this woman to let us lead her into Michael’s house. Can you do that?”
“Of course, I can,” Senora said. “I’m not a child. I may not like it, but I know when I’m outgunned.”
“I’m not trying to force your hand.”
“It sure feels like it.”
“If you don’t want to help, I can just take her in and be done with it. But it will be much less traumatic for her if you can help coax her in, then we can explain to her that she’s safe.”
“I don’t think it’s going to go how you imagine it will, but it’s fine. Let’s get this over with, so I can go on vacation and forget that I made promises I couldn’t keep to a woman who thinks she’s someone she isn’t.”
“Thank you,” Ty said, but Senora had already turned on her heel and was headed for the Jeep.
They’d worked their way away from the vehicle during the course of the conversation, stepping a few feet further away with each new, startling revelation. Now, each step felt like Senora was walking to the guillotine. She was a horrible liar, and she knew when she opened that door that Jessica was going to feel betrayed and confused. It would be written all over Senora’s face, and Jessica would just know.
Senora kept her eyes on the ground, too ashamed to look through the window. She couldn’t see inside anyway. It was so dark without the streetlights, and the glow of the dashboard didn’t quite reach the back windows. Jessica could definitely see her, so Senora kept her face passive and focused on what she was going to say.
Ty was a few feet behind her, hanging back to give her space. His bootheels clicked on the concrete and echoed off the building and off the woods that surrounded the property. There was a light fog rolling in, giving the entire scene an eerie feeling that Senora wished would go away. She felt awful, and the reality of Jessica’s identity left her feeling ill.
Naomi Martin, she corrected as her hand grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open.
She waited for Naomi to jump out or to shriek in anger at Senora, somehow knowing that Senora was going to betray her. Instead, she was left shocked and rooted, frozen to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” Ty said from behind her, quickening his steps when he saw her freeze.
“She’s not here.”
“What?”
“She’s not in the car, Ty. Naomi is gone.”