Rescued (13 page)

Chapter 24

Rose and Marty emerged from the bedroom. He circled her waist with his hands, lifted her off the floor, and brushed their lips together.

“I need to grab my phone charger from the car. If you keep this up I don’t think I’ll have the strength to resist turning around and going back to bed.”

“Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard in the past five minutes.” The corners of his mouth curled but the sound of his phone reversed his smile. He eased his Rose to the floor and retrieved the devise. “My client. I need to take this,” he said. Rose slipped out the front door as he answered the phone.

Marty assured the worried parent they were making progress on the case. He ended the call, turned, and inhaled a deep breath. Nothing. No smells from the kitchen. The front door smacked shut behind him. Rose was back. Her scent reached him immediately.

He placed his hands on his hips and made eye contact with each of the four men at the kitchen table. “I am so disappointed in each of you. I thought we had come together as housemates and brothers and yet, there’s no food.”

“Hey man, we’ve just put in ten hours in the field and you expect us to come home and slave over a hot stove? What kind of monster are you?” Garth dropped his face in his hand and whimpered.

“There, there Garth. Don’t get upset. We’ll get through this.” Daily continued with the joke and comforted his friend.

Rose made her way into the kitchen. She laughed and shook her head. “Y’all are so funny,” she said as she came through the kitchen door with six extra-large pizzas in her hands. “I met the pizza delivery guy outside. Somebody owes me eighty-five bucks.” She plopped her load on the table.

“Eighty-five dollars?” Daily squeaked in a surprised voice.

“What can I say? I’m a good tipper. Now can somebody get up off their butt and get some drinks? Do I have to do everything around here?” Rose held her own with a house full of men, quite evident when all five of them scrambled to get paper plates, soft drinks, and napkins.

“What did you learn from the power outage today?” She was curious and wanted to hear some positive news for a change.

“Power
outages
. We did two, one this morning and another this afternoon to see how the adults inside reacted. Things were pretty calm. Someone manned the front and backdoors of the office building for anyone who wanted to enter. We want to try again after dark to gage their nighttime reaction.”

“Good. I’d like to get inside that building tonight if possible.” Rose was eager to get this case solved.

“Rose, I want to find out what’s going on in that building as badly as you do but I’m going to ask that you give us one more day before you make a plan to go in. I’d like to track more of the traffic in and out of the building.” Oscar presented his request between bites.

Rose trusted him. “Just let us know when you have everything you need so Marty and I can move on this. We’ll be in position in the woods behind the compound to monitor activity when you kill the power tonight. We’ll head out soon to give us plenty of time to hike to the spot where we’re meeting Roxie.” She turned to Marty in case he had any objections.

“I’m good with that and I’m about stuffed. I’ll take these empty boxes out to the garbage and pack our water bottles in the backpack.”

“Okay, I’ll get my bag and meet you in the car.”

The sun had disappeared behind the horizon but twilight still made it necessary to stay as hidden as possible on their walk through the woods. They settled behind some rocks and waited.

“It shouldn’t be long now. Oscar said he’d have this done by ten. Then we can watch for any unusual activity before Roxie’s due to meet us.”

Right on schedule, the lights in the entire compound went black. The cougars needed no time for visual adjustments. Rose locked in on the keypad at the door of the infirmary. “No red light means there’s no connection with the security system. If Oscar could keep the power off for about an hour, it will give us plenty of time to get in and look around. It’s gonna be a piece of cake.” Rose was sure they could gather the information they needed and get back out without incident.

They settled down to watch the blackout activity and wait for Roxie. No one seemed to panic. A few dim lights in some of the rooms were possibly flashlights. But soon after the power was restored, all the lights were put out and they assumed all the residents had turned in for the night.

“It’s nearly midnight. I hope the blackout didn’t prevent Roxie from getting out tonight.” Rose worried about the girl’s safety.

“Unless the adults suspected something’s up, everything should go as planned,” Marty assured her.

Since there had been no concerns of suspicious activity the first time or two the lights went out, they’d be accustomed to the occurrences now and just wait it out.

A few minutes after midnight Rose sniffed the air. Roxie’s scent wafted along and grew stronger. She rolled up onto her knees and peered over the rock she and Marty rested against.

Roxie flopped down on the ground beside Rose and covered her face with her hands.

“What’s wrong, Roxie? Did someone find out you were sneaking out?” Rose placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and shared a concerned look with Marty.

“I decided to volunteer in the infirmary and keep my eyes and ears open just in case someone said something about the appendectomies. I was sweeping up in the office and waiting area tonight when I found this under the edge of the desk.” She opened her shaking, clinched fist to reveal a couple of shreds of plastic. The shredder had cut through the information on a driver’s license but even with the top half of the words missing, anyone could decipher the name Jeremy Todd Grassy.

Rose looked at Marty again. The young man wouldn’t have shredded his driver’s license before leaving to rejoin his family. Roxie’s concerns were valid. Where was Jeremy and what had really happened to him?

“I asked some on the guys in the rec room if they’d spoken with him before he left. They tried to avoid my question. No one wanted to answer. Finally, one spoke up and said no one had seen him leave. They were scared. Scared they’d say the wrong thing but I could tell they have their doubts too. I don’t want to go back. Rose, Marty, please take me with you tonight.” She clasped Rose’s hand in hers. Her eyes begged for answers. Genuine fear clung to every word she spoke.

“We need to get inside tonight, Marty.” Rose was determined and she wasn’t about to wait any longer.

“The electricity’s back on, Rose. The security system is operational and will alert the guards if we opened the door. I agree the sooner we get inside, the sooner we’ll have answers, but we have to think about the safety of everyone involved.” He studied the compound for another way around the system.

“I left the window near the backdoor open a couple of inches.” Roxie raised her head after a brief silence.

Rose looked at Marty and back to Roxie. “That window? That backdoor?” She pointed to the door by the dumpsters behind the infirmary. If she stuck to the shadows, she could be inside in a few seconds. “Roxie, wait here.” Rose and Marty inched to their feet, their eyes locked on each other, and turned toward the compound.

“We can’t afford to make a rash decision and blow our chances of solving this case. But waiting for a better time to go in is crazy with an invitation like this.” Rose was itching to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Marty glanced down at his watch. “The guard will be along in five minutes. When he clears the back of the building, we’ll head out. We have to go in
as is,
so keep to the shadows.”

Rose nodded and inventoried her belt for her gun and extra clips.

“As is?” Roxie asked.

Marty and Rose searched for a believable answer before Marty spoke. “The window of opportunity won’t be open forever and we don’t have time to change into our ninja suits.” Marty raised a knee, balanced on the other foot, and chopped the air several times with his hands in his best martial arts moves.

Roxie gave an absent-minded nod and diverted her attention to the buildings as the bobbing light from the security guard’s flashlight signaled show time.

“Ready?” Rose asked as she slipped around the rock to make her way to the gate.

“Ready. Let me send this text to alert the group at the house to the latest findings and our decision to move up the plan.”

Rose turned to the girl, grasped her shoulders, and made direct eye contact. “Roxie, stay put. No matter what you hear or what happens, don’t move. We
will
come back for you.”

Roxie sniffled and nodded, confirming she understood, and would follow directions.

Rose and Marty slipped through the shadows to the back of the infirmary as soon as the guard continued along on his rounds. Marty raised the window and peered in to get an idea of what to expect. He nodded at Rose, indicating the all clear. Then he boosted himself up and through the window and turned to help Rose.

Inside, she pointed out the doors leading to the exam rooms and the doctor’s private office.

Rose started with the reception area to get a look at the patient files. She prayed she would find some evidence to identify the head of this organization and warrant a full investigation into this place. She opened the computer program and clicked on the patient file button. “Password protected,” she whispered to Marty as he studied the screen over her shoulder. A small notepad located in the center drawer contained a list of non-medical words, one for each month of the year.

Rose ran her finger down the list and stopped on the word for the current month, mrwhiskers1999. “Seriously?” She shook her head as she typed in the password and gained access to the patient file program. “We don’t have time to go through every file.” Rose did a quick search for recent surgeries and revealed no entries. “How could this be if Roxie knows of at least three appendectomies in the past few weeks?”

Marty shook his head. He had no answers.

She continued a quick survey of a few of the files that revealed simple and normal diagnoses of colds, flu, cuts, sprains, a few broken bones but nothing serious or surgery related.

“Rose.” Marty moved over to the door of the doctor’s private office. Locked. He took out the lock pick set he carried and opened the door in a snap. Rose followed.

She surveyed the bookcases behind the large oak desk, filled with anatomy textbooks and medical journals. She snapped a picture with her phone of the medical diploma and pictures framed and displayed on the shelves and sent them to Oscar to begin a possible identification.

She positioned herself behind the desk to repeat the process to access patient files but wasn’t as fortunate with the password on this computer. Mrwhiskers1999 was a long shot and of course didn’t work. She didn’t luck out and find a list of passwords stashed in the desk. “There has to be something here.”

She sat back in the chair and rubbed her forehead. “Marty, we have two more doors.” She motioned to the doors on either side of the desk. “You pick.”

He moved to the door closest to him and opened it. Bathroom. Clean. Nothing non-bathroom related.

They stood in front of their last chance to get the evidence they needed. Rose reached for the doorknob.

Chapter 25

A surge of near freezing air rushed from the door when Marty swung it open. They stood, suspended in time, unable to move. A mini operating room gleamed before them with shiny, stainless steel fixtures, and instrument tables.

“This must be where all the procedures are done.”

“That would explain the nippy temperatures.” Marty followed Rose through the door.

Their eyes searched the room to determine if any bits of evidence jumped out at them. When nothing did, Rose checked the garbage cans. As good a place as any to retrieve info someone wanted to make disappear. Nice try, but they were clean. They had observed bags of trash being disposed of in the bins out back over the past several nights, so empty containers inside were no real surprise.

The room measured about sixteen by twenty feet. An area near the front was set up with adjustable overhead lights, a tray table beside the gurney, covered with a fresh white cloth, held medical tools. It appeared to be a complete surgical setup but in the back of the room, different types of procedures were performed. This area didn’t seem to cater to the comfort of a patient. A plain stainless steel table with a large tube connected from the bottom to a container underneath and a similar tray for instruments.

Though thoroughly cleaned only a short time ago, Rose got past the sterile, disinfectant smell in the room and registered the strong scent of blood. A procedure took place in this room recently. The scent of fresh blood was unmistakable.

“Wonder who went under the knife this time and why?” Rose shook her head, questions pounding inside.

“There’s nothing here that gives us any more answers than we had this morning. The place is as clean as my Aunt Mary’s kitchen.” Marty surveyed every inch of the room, floor to ceiling. Nothing.

“We haven’t checked there.” Rose nodded to the door at the back of the room.

“Our last chance.”

The room on the other side of the door was no bigger than your average walk in closet. It was void of clothes and hangers usually found in a closet but it did hold storage boxes similar to some they had seen earlier in the week. Rose checked out the totes on the floor that matched the ones loaded into a van on Thursday morning.

She popped open the lids to find exactly what they had already found, nothing. Plastic containers the size of shoeboxes rested on the shelves and although empty had some disturbing labels taped to the sides. Labels that listed the intended contents in bold letters, Kidney, cornea, liver, heart, lung . . . the container labels went on to include skin, tissue, ligaments, hand, foot. Each had an extensive content list with specific info including blood type and age. The cause of death was pre-filled on all the containers.
Accidental
.

“Rose. This is a body part, chop shop.”

“You’re right. No one would donate their own hands or feet willingly. Marty, it’s not just a pint of blood here and there like we first thought. These kids are being slaughtered for parts.” Panic rushed through her. Normally, she had a pretty strong stomach but now, seeing this and thinking of its meaning, nausea roiled and her pizza threatened to make a second appearance.

Marty snapped a few pictures with his cell phone but Rose headed back to the doctor’s computer. The concrete evidence they needed was on that hard drive. She slipped into the chair again and gave the drawers another quick once over, rechecking for secret compartments or hiding places. She slipped her hand between the edge of the drawer and a blue tin of sugar cookies to check for anything underneath. A clinking from inside the tin didn’t sound like any cookie she’d ever eaten.

She removed the top to check it out and found a collection of watches, earrings, gold chains, and bracelets. One particular gold chain with an initial
J
charm caught her eye. It was the exact chain and charm she had seen around Jeremy’s neck the night she and Marty visited the house in Memphis. “Marty. Isn’t this Jeremy’s?” The chain along with the charm dangled from her fingers.

He stopped snapping pictures and focused on the charm for a full minute before he spoke. “I asked him the Saturday morning we shot hoops at the park if he was going to play with his chain on. He said his mom gave it to him and he never took it off. For anything.”

“Something or somebody convinced him to take it off. Roxie was right. He didn’t go back to his dad like she was told. Marty, I’m afraid he was Thursday’s three a.m. shipment out of here.”

They shared a look. Neither wanted to accept the truth of what appeared to be going on here but the evidence kept pointing to the worst-case scenario. This was the sick business of body part trafficking.

Rose was even more determined to retrieve the files from the doctor’s computer now. If they were lucky, they’d find buyer information and possibly the head of this organization. She removed a tool kit from her backpack and a device to copy the entire hard drive. The bottom of the laptop revealed the four tiny screws that stood between her and the hard drive. With them removed, she lifted the cover, unsnapped the hard drive, and popped it into the portable dock to copy the contents.

In a matter of minutes, they would have all the files to plow through back at the house and put more pieces of this puzzle together. When the green light flashed indicating a complete transfer, she secured the precious information, and proceeded to reassemble the laptop. The click of a door at the front of the building indicated they had company.

“Rose we gotta get out of here.” Marty checked the door to gage how much time they had.

“One more screw.” She wiped her brow and ratcheted the next screw into place in an effort to leave the computer as well as the desk in the same condition as she’d found it.

“Now.” He tugged at her arm. She popped the tool kit into her backpack and hurried along behind him. They slipped from the private office into the receptionist area and opened the door into the hall. Marty checked the hall both ways for occupants before he stepped out and followed Rose to the window they had entered through.

Rose lowered her pack to the ground and climbed through. Her bootlace snagged in a crack in the wood and trapped her half in and half out of the window. She tugged harder to free her foot only to secure the hold tighter. Marty tried to assist with no success. “Cut it! They’re getting closer.”

Marty didn’t take time to retrieve his knife from his pocket. His claws extended and sliced through the string, freeing her foot in a split second.

Rose dropped to the ground with a light thud and gathered her belongings. As Marty set one foot on the ground and dragged his other foot through the window, they heard someone shout, “Hey, hey, you. Stop!”

“Run!” Marty growled.

They cleared the back gate and ran into the cover of the woods before collapsing onto the ground beside Roxie.

“That was close. Stupid bootlace,” Rose said as she rolled to a sitting position and checked around the rock to see if anyone followed. “We have to get to the car and get out of here.”

She sniffed the air. Blood. Fresh blood. She glanced toward Roxie and read the fear etched on her face. She followed the girl’s stare to Marty, still lying on the ground, blood streaming down his back. “Marty?” She touched his shoulder. No movement. She sprang to her knees to assess the situation. Her eyes followed the blood trail to the black object protruding from his back. The handle of a knife. “Marty. We need to get you back to the house. Can you walk?”

“Pull it . . . out. Need . . . to . . . shift.” He strained to get the words out.

His breathing was ragged and labored. The shifting process would speed the healing of wounds with the help of the extra red blood cells Were beings carried but to shift now would mean revealing their secret to Roxie.

Rose was always skeptical when it came to disclosing information so personal to humans who may not be so understanding but she had to move fast. Marty could die. She took hold of the girl’s upper arms and stared directly into her eyes. “Roxie. Do you trust us? Do you believe we truly have your best interest at heart?” She searched the girl’s face for the slightest sign she understood.

“Rose, I trust you guys more than anyone I’ve ever known. How can I help? Just tell me what to do. I’ll do it.” Tears welled in her eyes but she swiped them away with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. Her eyes drifted to Marty, lying so still on the ground.

“Roxie. Roxie, look at me.” Rose gave a slight shake to get her attention. “Turn your back and no matter what sounds you hear, don’t turn around.” Any number of questions or protests could present themselves but the girl only nodded and turned her back as instructed.

Rose dropped to the ground and leaned close to Marty’s ear. “Are you still with me? Marty? I’m here. Don’t you dare leave me.” Her adrenaline pumped faster and boosted her resolve. Her mate would not die.

His breathing was shallow. He had to shift now to speed the healing process or she would surely lose him.

Rose wrapped both hands around the handle of the knife and gripped it tight. “Stay with me. Here goes.” She heaved hard on the knife. A slushy, sucking sound accompanied the exit of the blade from Marty’s back.

“Need . . . shift,” he echoed with a faint groan.

His voice was strained and weak. Rose was afraid he had lost too much blood to have the strength to shift. She turned him onto his back as gently as possible, tugged his boots off, and tossed them aside as she reached for his belt buckle. With belt, button, and zipper aside, she stripped his jeans from his legs, and dropped them and his boxers with his boots. She tugged his shirt over his head and knelt beside him. “Marty, can you hear me? Everything’s ready. Go ahead.” She waited. He didn’t move. “Marty? Go ahead and shift. You’ll heal faster.”

The life slowly faded from him before her eyes. Her heart lodged in her throat. There was no sign of movement and little breathing. Her mind filled with visions of their time together. She wanted more. Not her old life . . . alone, without her new-found mate.

She leaned down to bring herself face to face with him. “Marty, I need you to shift. Now. I need you to live.” She closed her eyes and blinked away a tear. “I need you.” She touched their lips together. Her chin quivered.

His arm twitched. With that sign of hope, she leaned closer. Her lips touched his again and again. “Marty,” she breathed his name as she rubbed their cheeks together. “Find the strength. You have to shift.”

He inhaled a short breath. His eyes blinked half open. A low growl vibrated from his throat.

Rose sat back on her heels as he found the strength to stir a bit on the ground. His hand moved and grasped her knee. Her hand covered his and she leaned down for another kiss. He growled again, rolled over onto his belly, and dragged himself to all fours as the shift began.

Several minutes passed before the transformation was complete. Rose watched as the two and a half inch stab wound started to knit together and the blood flow slowed. Silky, caramel colored fur replaced Marty’s skin. Rose wrapped her arms around the neck of her mate and nuzzled against his warm fur as he lapped at her cheeks with his tongue and dried her tears. “You did it. I’m so glad. You’re gonna be fine now.”

The rumble deep in his throat eased her fear a bit. Her inner animal ached with the desire to shift and run through the countryside with him but Roxie was still with them and needed her protection. A quick glance around found the girl stiff as a board. Most likely, with fear from all the strange sounds she had heard in the past few minutes.

She whispered close to his ear, “We need to get to the car. Another shift will do you good. Can you do it now and get dressed?” She stroked his head and neck as she nuzzled his face and inhaled his scent.

He stepped back and nodded only to lunge forward and rasp his tongue over his mark on her neck sending blinding desire surging throughout her body. He lowered his head and prepared to shift back to human form to speed the healing of his wound with the rush of cells needed to complete the transformation.

He rolled to his side and gasped for breath as the transformation completed. Still weak from the blood loss, he struggled to regain his senses. The double shift helped heal the wound but the blood loss zapped a major portion of his strength.

“Get dressed. They’re coming.” Rose reached for his clothes but no movement from Marty raised new concerns.

“Rose. Take Roxie and go to the car. I’ll be along. I just need a minute,” his voice was hardly audible.

Her heart pounded in her chest. “I am not leaving you, Marty Brown.” She shook the dried leaves out of his boxers, slipped his feet through the leg holes, and yanked them to his waist.

She gathered his boots and wrapped the knife securely in his jeans and shirt. She reached for Roxie’s shoulder, turned the girl toward them, and stared into her eyes. “Roxie, you are about to see something you’re going to find unbelievably strange to go along with all the other odd sights and sounds you’ve experienced tonight, and I
will
explain everything to you, later. But right now, I need you to take these and keep up with me. We have to run. The compound guards are looking for us. They’ll be here in a few short minutes, so we have to move fast. Do you understand? She trusted Roxie to follow directions.

Monumental fear blazed in the girl’s eyes along with stout determination. “I promise I’ll keep up. I’ll do anything. Just don’t make me go back in there.” She clutched the bundle to her chest, glanced toward the compound, and gasped with renewed fear.

Several flashlights searched the grounds around the pool and picnic area inside the fenced yard. It was only a matter of minutes before the search expanded outside the fence and into the woods where they were hiding.

“Rose, look!” The frightened girl gasped and pointed toward the compound.

“I know. Let’s move.” Rose slung her backpack over her shoulder, stepped over to Marty, and lifted him as easily as if she had lifted a ragdoll, although he outweighed her by a hundred pounds. She met the astonished gaze of her female companion and shrugged a bit. “I promised I’d explain everything, and I will but for now, we need to put some distance between us and them.” She nodded toward the security team inching their way toward the back gate.