Thirteen
Henderson, Nevada
It was nearing dinnertime, and Justin Davis had gone to the supermarket for more food. They’d gone from one guest to three in less than twenty-four hours.
Donna was racing around trying to get a room ready for Justin’s parents and feed everyone as well, but her main concern was Star’s back. As a nurse, she knew it needed tending, and that Star needed prescriptions for antibiotics and pain meds. Aware that secrecy was of utmost importance, she called Dr. Andrew Charles, the doctor she worked for, and without going into too many details, she got him to make a house call.
She was watching for him, and when she saw him pull into their driveway, she met him at the door.
“Thank you so much for coming, Dr. Charles.”
Andrew knew Donna’s husband was a member of the state police, and felt confident that whatever was going on was important.
“Happy to be of service in such a serious case,” he said. “Where’s the patient?”
“In the bedroom with her parents. They’re still in shock that she’s even alive after all this time. Follow me.”
Star was lying on her belly, drifting in and out of sleep, only half listening to her parents’ conversation. But when she heard the knock at her door, she opened her eyes. She saw Donna walk in accompanied by a stranger, and quickly rolled over and sat up as Donna introduced him.
“Everyone, this is my boss, Dr. Andrew Charles. He has kindly agreed to take a look at Star’s back and prescribe some meds for her. Dr. Charles, these are my in-laws, John and Connie Davis, and this is Starla Davis, my sister-in-law.”
“So nice to meet you,” Connie said. “We appreciate you doing this for our daughter.”
“Certainly,” Andrew said and then focused his attention on the tiny blonde sitting in the middle of the bed. “So, Miss Davis, I need to see what we’re dealing with here, so you’ll need to remove your shirt. If you’re uncomfortable with so many people here we can—”
“No matter,” Star said. She turned her back to the room and pulled her T-shirt up and over her head.
Andrew frowned.
“How did you incur these injuries?”
So once again, Star explained the wreck and being thrown out of the sunroof. To her relief, he didn’t ask her why she left the hospital in her condition, and she began to relax.
He put on a pair of latex gloves and then examined her injuries inch by inch, paying close attention to the areas that had staples and the ones that had been left open to heal on their own.
“Donna, if you’ll please open my bag, we’ll begin.”
Star had prepared herself for more pain, but to her relief it didn’t happen. She knew he was putting some kind of medicine on her because she felt an occasional sting, but it was minimal.
Finally, Andrew stepped back.
“It all looks good. You’re healing well, but I’m going to leave prescriptions for antibiotics and for pain. Are you allergic to anything?”
“No, sir,” Star said.
He peeled off the latex gloves, got out his prescription pad and wrote two prescriptions.
“The antibiotic has one refill. The pain pills do not,” he said and handed them to Donna. “The staples still have to be removed. I want to give them at least another five days to heal, and then Donna can take them out. She’s fully capable, okay?”
Donna nodded.
“Yes, that won’t be a problem, and thank you so much, Dr. Charles.”
“Happy to have been of service,” he said. “I’ll be on my way, and just so you know, as far as I’m concerned, this visit never happened.”
Justin returned less than a half hour after the doctor had left and began helping put up groceries as Donna started prepping the meal.
“You missed Dr. Charles,” Donna said.
“What did he say about Starla’s back?”
“That it’s healing well. He left two prescriptions to be filled.”
Justin glanced at the clock.
“I think I’d better get those filled before it gets any later. I’ll get Mom to come help you with dinner.”
“No need,” Donna said. “Let them visit. They can’t get enough of being with Starla, and I can only imagine how they feel.”
“You are a jewel,” Justin said. “Thank you for taking this chaos in stride.”
“Honey! They’re family.”
Justin sighed. “Yes, they are. So where are the prescriptions?”
“Over there on the sideboard.”
“I won’t be long,” he said. He kissed her on the cheek and headed back out the door.
Donna went back to work.
Down the hall, Star’s parents were hovering, and she was exhausted. She fell asleep as they were talking about which spare bedroom in their house would best serve as a nursery.
Connie glanced over at her daughter and saw she’d fallen asleep. She covered Star with a lightweight blanket, and then she and John left the room to let her rest.
* * *
Star was dreaming that she was in one room and Sammy was in another. She could hear him crying, asking for his mama over and over, but there was no doorknob on her door and she couldn’t get it open to get to him. She was beating on the door and screaming his name, and the last time she screamed, it was a real one that not only woke her up, but brought everyone running.
Justin burst into the room with his gun in hand, looking around the room for signs of an intruder, but Star was alone, sitting up in the bed, sobbing.
Connie ran to her and took her in her arms.
“Starla, darling! What’s wrong?”
“I could hear Sammy crying for me, and I couldn’t get to him. I’m sorry I frightened everyone.”
Connie patted her cheek.
“Go wash your face and come to the kitchen. We’re making dinner and having a very good time, but we’d have a better time if you were with us.”
Star wiped away tears.
“Yes, all right,” she said. “You all go on... I’ll be there shortly.”
As soon as they were gone she washed up and joined them, but the dream had only affirmed her intention to get her baby back immediately. She went barefoot to the kitchen, made herself a glass of iced tea, snagged a handful of almonds from the dish on the sideboard and noticed the meds Justin had brought for her.
“Donna, is it okay if I take these now?”
“Yes. Just read the directions and follow accordingly,” she said.
Star shook out one pain pill and one antibiotic and downed them with a swallow of tea, then put the almonds on the table by her glass and popped one in her mouth. The slightly salty taste helped settle her stomach, and the comfort of being surrounded by her family was something she’d never thought would happen again. Slowly, the happy sound of laughter and their voices calmed the anxious feeling in her belly. They loved her without care for how degrading her life had been, and were ready to embrace her son the same way. Tomorrow she was going to have Justin put her in contact with Special Agent Gleason of the FBI and tell him she wanted her son returned to her now.
Dinner and dishes came and went. Her parents were reluctant to leave Star on her own in the bedroom, afraid she would have another nightmare, or somehow disappear again, but she insisted she was fine. Later in the evening, when they finally went to their room, Star went looking for Justin as he was locking up and setting the security alarm.
“Justin, I need a favor,” she said.
“Sure. What do you need, sis?”
“Get the phone number for Special Agent Gleason of the FBI. He’s the one who set up my rescue from Anton, and he’s the one who took Sammy from the emergency room after the wreck. I want my son back.”
“If Gleason finds where you are, the wrong people could also find out.”
Star’s shoulders slumped.
“I feel like I’m only half alive,” she said. “Sammy is going to forget who I am.”
“No, he won’t, honey. I hate to say this and hurt you more, but right now, if Sammy is with you, he will be an even larger target.”
“I hate this,” she said and started crying.
“Let’s do this,” Justin said. “Let’s still call this Gleason and tell him you’re willing to testify if the Feds file charges against Baba now with what they already have. If they tell you they still want to gather some more information, then tell them you’re no longer willing to testify and that you want your son delivered to you now or you’re gone.”
“Can I do that? Can I get away from the FBI?”
“They’ll always know where you are, but they can’t force you to testify.”
“What if they won’t let me have Sammy?”
Justin frowned.
“They can’t refuse. You are not a criminal, and your brother just happens to be in law enforcement, too, which means I won’t let them bully you.”
“I just love you,” Star said and threw her arms around Justin’s neck and hugged him.
He ruffled his hand through her hair.
“I love you, too, honey. You’re not alone anymore, so no more tears. I’ll walk you to your bedroom, and we’ll stop by the kitchen to get your meds. It’s time to take them again.”
They got the meds, and then he left her in her bedroom with a promise.
“Remember, Donna and I are right across the hall. You’re safe here. So sleep well, and we’ll tackle the dragon in the morning, okay?”
“Okay,” she said and didn’t make a move until she watched him leave.
Only then did she go to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
She was tired—so tired of fighting to survive. She just wanted her baby and a car, and she’d be gone from this place so fast their heads would spin.
* * *
It was just after 8:00 a.m., and Gleason was on his way to a meeting when his cell phone signaled a call. He glanced at caller ID, and when it came up out of area he almost didn’t answer it, then changed his mind.
“This is Gleason.”
“This is Star Davis. We need to talk.”
Gleason froze.
“Oh, my God! Star! We thought Baba had you. Where are you?”
“Well, Baba doesn’t have me, and you don’t need to know where I am because bad people follow you wherever you go, and I’m done with bad people. Understand?”
“Yes, yes. I am on my way back to my office, so I can talk more freely.”
“How’s my son?” she asked.
Gleason was hurrying so fast he was getting breathless. He was sadly out of shape.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Gleason said.
“What do you mean, you’re sure? Don’t you know? Do you people not keep tabs on his care and condition?”
“Yes, of course... Well, not me personally but...”
“That does it!” Star shrieked. “I wasn’t going to go this route, but I am now. I want my son back in my arms today.”
“What are you going to—”
“Today!” she screamed. “I have authorities I trust who will gladly assist me in this. I will not show my face to you or any of your people ever again, but I will show up in court the day I’m needed to testify and that’s all the fucking assurance you are ever going to get from me. I have been used for the last time!”
Gleason groaned inwardly. They couldn’t and wouldn’t withhold a child from a parent just to coerce testimony. And he had to admit, they had only themselves to blame for how she felt.
“I’ll contact the people right now and wait for your call.”
“It won’t be me you’ll be speaking to. It will be a member of law enforcement and whoever he deems capable of caring for a child during transport. If I find out you have had him followed, I will take Sammy and disappear off the face of this earth. And you and your so-called case can go straight to hell. Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gleason said.
She disconnected in his ear.
He sighed.
The upside was Anton Baba did not have her.
The downside was neither did they.
* * *
True to her word, Gleason got a call a couple of hours later from Star Davis’s go-between.
“This is Officer Davis of the Nevada State Police. I’m calling on behalf of Miss Davis, no relation, to set up a pickup site for the return of her child, who is in your custody. I will have caretakers with me to aid in transport back to his mother.”
Gleason began to argue.
“How do I know if you are—”
“Your responsibility toward the child is obviously secondhand, which does not assure Ms. Davis in any way that you have any interest in her son’s well-being. That’s how you know I’m the real deal. It’s exactly what she said to you. Now, you will have the child brought to a designated GPS location at 4:00 p.m. today. The child will be transported in a single car to that location without accompanying guards or helicopters. Do you have a pen?”
“Yes,” Gleason said.
“The GPS location is...”
Gleason took it down, read it back to him to confirm, and then before he could say anything else, the line went dead.
“Well, hell. The way she’s acting, you’d think we were the bad guys,” he muttered.
He pulled up the number to the foster home where the kid was being kept, and as soon as they answered, he explained that he and his partner would be coming after Sammy within the hour and to have him ready, then disconnected and called his partner, Lou, only to find out Lou was in the ER with food poisoning. He called his boss, who told him to take a female agent with him instead.
“Yes, sir, but I need an agent with experience with kids. Just because she’s a woman doesn’t mean she can keep a two-year-old happy for a long car ride with strangers.”
“Yes, of course,” the director said. “I’ll have someone who’s baby-capable join you. What time are you leaving?”
“Within the next thirty minutes from our office,” Gleason said.
“I’ll have someone meet you there.”
“Thank you, sir,” Gleason said. He figured the kid might be hungry on the long drive, so he went to the break room to get some snacks from the vending machine. About to select a bag of chips, he realized a kid that little might not have the teeth to eat some of this stuff, so he pocketed his change again and made a quick run down to the cafeteria.
He came back with a couple of bananas, little lunch cups of applesauce, a handful of vanilla wafers in a small sealed container, a packet of wet wipes and some plastic spoons. Then he settled in to wait for the other agent to arrive, absently wondering as he waited who it would be.
Ten minutes later a short, stocky man came hurrying into his office with a big smile on his face. His suit was rumpled, his tie was askew, and as he came closer, Gleason could see food spots on his tie and another one on his lapel.
What the hell?
“Agent Penny reporting for duty,” he said and flashed his badge.
“What department are you from?” Gleason asked, knowing immediately that this guy had not seen any action—at least not recently.
“Payroll,” Penny replied.
“Payroll? The director sent someone from Payroll to accompany me? Did he say why?”
“He thought I was a good fit for the job.”
“Really?” Gleason said. “Have you ever worked in the field?”
“No, sir,” Penny said.
Gleason frowned.
“Are you qualified on the gun range?”
“Nearly,” Penny said.
Gleason stared. How did one nearly qualify?
“Then what skill do you possess that he thought would be perfect for this?”
“My wife and I have eight children, one of which I delivered...not by choice, just by consequence.”
Gleason sighed. He had asked for this.
“All right, then,” Gleason said. “Let’s get started.”
“I need to get some stuff out of my car before we leave. It’s in the parking garage.”
“Like what?” Gleason asked.
“Disposable diapers, some wet wipes and a lovey.”
Gleason’s eyebrows arched high enough to take flight.
“What the hell is a lovey?”
“A toy to sleep with. I keep a new one or two in the car for emergencies.”
“Emergencies?” Gleason echoed.
“Yes, like being forty miles from home before one of the kids discovers they’ve left their own lovey behind by mistake. You cannot imagine the hell of driving eighty miles round trip to go back for Leroy.”
Gleason sighed. He should have let it go, but by now he had to know.
“Who is Leroy?”
Penny smiled. “A stuffed giraffe with a broken neck and one ear. He’s Lucy’s favorite lovey. Lucy is my youngest.”
And that’s when Gleason got it. The director knew exactly what he was doing. Gleason was the one slow on the uptake.
“Then let’s get going,” he said. “We have to get the kid and then drive a good distance to reach the drop-off site.”
“Absolutely,” Penny said.
* * *
Star was beside herself with anxiety. She was so homesick for her baby she couldn’t talk about him without bursting into tears.
Once her family learned about Star’s ultimatum, they went into overdrive. Her parents went to town with a list Star had given them of things they would need for a toddler. Basic clothing, a couple of lightweight blankets, one pair of little tennis shoes in his size, even a baby toothbrush and toothpaste, toys and diapers. Her parents were over the moon getting to buy stuff for their first grandchild and hurried to fill the list. They didn’t have as much time to dawdle over the adorable baby things, though, because they would be going along with Justin to bring Sammy back, posing as foster parents helping with transport.
Justin already had the rest of the week off and was immediately ready. When he made the call to Gleason, his heart was pounding. There should not be any danger to this at all. The location he’d chosen was in the middle of nowhere, and with nothing for anyone to hide behind. It was as straightforward as he could make it.
Star kept thanking all of them over and over. It had been so long since she’d had anyone on her side that she’d forgotten what it felt like to know people had her back. Hopefully his arrival wouldn’t cause Justin and Donna an even bigger hardship, and they wouldn’t be there long. Her parents were already planning to take her home, though she kept explaining the danger that might put them in and the need for her presence at home to be under wraps. No journalists at the door wanting to interview the missing girl. No neighbors in and out wanting to see the baby.
And then her father stopped her.
“Starla. It’s going to be all right. The house on our right is for sale, and the old woman who lives on the left has a caretaker and never leaves her house. Honestly, there aren’t any people left in our immediate area who knew you or even know we had a child go missing. I think it will be fine, okay?”
“Okay.”
Donna was at work, and so when they all left, Star was in the house by herself. She locked all the doors, got out the pistol she’d stolen from Luis and settled down to wait. It was going to be the longest three hours of her life.
* * *
Gleason had never been so happy for Penny’s presence, because the little boy was unhappy with both of them. The only thing that had calmed him was the food he’d brought and Penny’s lovey, a stuffed chicken named Henny. Despite the kid’s constant shrieking, Penny seemed to be enjoying himself.
“You are a fine little man, yes, you are,” Penny cooed and casually draped the little blanket around Sammy’s shoulders.
Sammy’s eyelids were droopy, and Penny was hoping the child would soon fall asleep. The blanket might speed up the process.
Sure enough, Sammy’s head began to nod. His shrieks morphed into prattle as he rubbed his lovey against his face.
Agent Penny smiled. His oldest son, Reese, used to do that when he fought sleep. Slowly, the chatter tapered off, and when silence finally fell, Gleason gave Penny a thumbs-up.
Penny smiled at him in the rearview mirror and then leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. But no sooner had they shut than he opened them again and sat up a little straighter, reminding himself that he was on a case, not a family car trip.
He got a couple of wet wipes and quietly went about cleaning up the vanilla wafer crumbs from the child’s seat and from Gleason’s upholstery, then wiped his hands and put everything in a sack he was using for trash.
“How much farther do we have to go?” Penny asked softly.
“About fifteen minutes or so.”
Penny took a three-sixty view of the land in which they were driving.
“There’s nothing here... Miles and miles of nothing but desert with mountains on the horizon,” he said and then settled back against the seat.
Gleason agreed. Now that they were in the area, he understood the thinking behind this meeting place. There was nowhere to hide and no sneaking up on anyone. Pretty smart move on the part of the state cop.
He glanced up in the rearview mirror to the sleeping toddler. Now that he was quiet, Gleason had to admit he was pretty cute. All that dark curly hair and a really sweet face. He looked like his mother, except his hair was dark. He wondered what it was going to be like to grow up with a father who was the head of an organized crime ring.
And then he looked back at the highway and glanced at his GPS. They were almost there.
* * *
Justin had been parked at the location for almost thirty minutes now and had come early on purpose, not wanting any surprises. His parents had been talking nonstop about this, but the closer it got to the time, the quieter they became. He hoped he had impressed the need for cool detachment from both of them. They were supposed to be a set of foster parents who had volunteered for this duty, and nothing more.
He glanced up in the rearview mirror and saw tears on his mother’s cheeks.
“Mom?”
Connie quickly wiped them away.
“I’m sorry. I just keep thinking about what Starla has gone through, and I just can’t understand why things like this happen to good people.”
“Bad things happen because of bad people waiting to take advantage of innocent people.”
“It’s just so horrendous, it’s hard to wrap my head around that world she was in, and the things she must have had to do to—”
“Stop it!” John said. “Just stop it right now! That shit doesn’t matter. It’s never to be talked about unless she brings it up. Understand?”
Connie was crying again.
“I know. I just—”
“Damn it, Connie! We thought she was dead! I’m sorry for everything bad she went through, but I am so grateful that she found a way to live through it. We have our family back, plus a bonus grandson. How freaking awesome is that?”
Justin frowned.
“Mom, wipe your face and get it together. They could be here at any time now.”
Connie grabbed a handful of tissues and wiped her eyes and blew her nose, then took a brush to her hair.
John leaned over and kissed her.
She smiled.
Justin sighed. Disaster averted.
Another minute passed, and then he saw a vehicle topping a rise in the road and grabbed his binoculars.
“Someone’s coming,” he said.
“Is it them?” Connie cried.
“I don’t know yet,” Justin said and kept watching.
As the car approached, Justin could guess by its make that it was the Feds. And when that car began slowing down, he knew he was right.
“Yes, it’s them. Just sit. When I need you, I’ll motion for you to get out. And remember what I said.”
“We know, son. We won’t let you down,” John said.
“We’re all here for Starla. Remember that,” Justin said, and then he opened the door and got out.