When Dove Cries Read online

  Stepping on shards of wood, Cade bent to look through the hole. The door had been kicked from the inside. Though it was pitch black inside, he saw enough to give him the chills. He brought out his phone, made sure the flash was on and snapped a few pictures. When he checked them, he saw a trickle of water, stones and a large jar of peanut butter. Anger surged through him, and he wanted to kick the shit out of the person who had done this to her.

  Carefully, he retraced his steps, exiting the mill until he was back standing in the sun. He took a few more pictures of the place and a couple of tire treads he’d found. Other than that, there wasn’t much evidence he could find. He left the chain intact, knowing that the local authorities would take it and dust for prints. He’d bet his entire year’s pay that they would match to Michael Hiller. It was a pity the fucker was dead. He’d like to pound him to hell.

  Due to his past dealings with outlaw motorcycle clubs, his boss had left him in charge of how to handle Destiny’s trafficking ring, and he’d gathered a lot of Intel from the detective in Durango. He had his suspicions about who the ringleader was, but without proof, his accusations weren’t worth a hill of beans. If there was any hint the FBI was involved and looking into the human trafficking ring, shop would be shut up tight. He could say goodbye to putting away the bad guys. It was the reason he’d hatched this undercover plan and why he was working with a man who’d rather see him dead.

  Not that he blamed John Draven.

  It was just that John didn’t have all the facts, but then again, he wasn’t at liberty to reveal those facts either. It sure was a messed-up situation, and Cade hoped that he could find the proof he needed before everything imploded.

  He had a job to do and he planned to find the evidence he needed to bring down who was responsible for trafficking young women through Destiny, Wyoming. He thought about the girl. His gut churned. If she hadn’t crawled out of that hole, it would’ve been her tomb. No one would have found her. Some monster had put her there, tied her up and left her in that awful hole. How long had she been down there? A while, judging by how she’d looked.

  Cade slipped his gun back into its holster and headed back down to where Draven waited with the girl. When he came around the bend, he saw that the ambulance had arrived. He needed to make sure she stayed safe. Even though he had a good idea who her abductor had been, she might be able to identify other people in the trafficking ring.

  Chapter Two

  Dove felt herself being lifted. Hands took her pulse and her blood pressure. Words and numbers volleyed above her. She swam in and out of consciousness, although she was acutely aware of the blue-eyed man holding on to her. She didn’t want to let him go. He was her savior—her angel.

  Draven.

  He’d told her he wouldn’t leave her.

  She believed him because she needed to believe him.

  Perhaps she was a little too trusting because her heart twisted when he let go of her hand. She whimpered, wondering if he had lied to her just as her father had. Emmett Aldrin had kissed her nose, told her he’d see her in a week and walked out of the door. And now her angel was letting her go as she was lifted and placed in an ambulance. But a moment later, she heard the revving of motorcycle engines nearby and realized he must be following the ambulance.

  He hadn’t lied. He was still with her.

  With that thought, she decided to succumb to the oblivion that teased her.

  * * * *

  Draven wasted no time in securing his Harley in the adjacent hospital parking lot before running into the ER. He’d been in and out of this hospital too many times this month, first with Nick and now with this girl. He was vaguely aware of Cade running behind him, but he didn’t really care. He was too focused on the woman lying somewhere in the depths of the Emergency Room.

  He hurried up to the admissions desk and waited impatiently for the woman to end her phone call. What seemed to be an eternity later, she finally turned toward him with a haughty coolness in her eyes as she assessed his attire. Recognition dawned and her lips compressed. Yep. She remembered the Red Wolves.

  “The woman they just brought in,” he said urgently. “Can I see her?”

  “Excuse me but you’ll have to wait—”

  He banged his fist on the counter, and the woman jumped. “I want information! Her wrists were zip-tied together. She was starved. God knows what else was done to her. The asshole who did this could return and try to finish her off, so I need to be with her.”

  “We,” Cade interjected. “We need to be with her.”

  Draven shot him a quick glower but didn’t want to start arguing in front of the administrative bitch.

  She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. If you’re not family, you can’t go back there.”

  “Really? That’s how you want to play this?”

  The woman lifted her nose a little. “You’ll have to leave.”

  He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward so she wouldn’t misunderstand any of his words. “You know who I am. I would suggest you don’t fuck with me, lady.” He glanced down at her name tag. “Susan. Besides, wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that someone tried to smother a patient to death in this hospital?”

  “What?” Cade asked, clearly shocked.

  “Yeah,” Draven continued, suddenly glad to have Cade there. He’d be a great new ear to relate the story to—loudly. “You didn’t hear? A gunshot victim lay recovering in her bed on the third floor, and the bastard who shot her came back to finish the job. Stole a lab coat and a mask and no one questioned him. Not even the cop on guard duty.”

  “Are you fucking with me?” Cade asked.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “All right,” the woman snarled. “Keep your voice down. Let me call someone to find out her status.”

  He didn’t bother thanking her. Instead, he folded his arms and refused to budge from in front of her desk. It wasn’t like there were people waiting in line. It was Destiny, after all. Usually a trip to the ER had to do with either being thrown from a horse or doing something stupid on a four-wheeler.

  Cade hit his arm. “What the hell was that?”

  “What’s your problem?”

  “For all intents and purposes, you’re my partner,” Cade said. “I’m pretty positive, after seeing the place she was held captive, that this woman is part of our investigation. The last thing we need is to get into a scrap with a civilian.”

  “No one talks down to the Red Wolves.”

  “Put your biker testosterone away, John.”

  “If I do that, I’ll seem more suspicious. And what about you, Mr. FBI—”

  Cade grabbed his arm and dragged him to a private corner. “Shut up.”

  Draven yanked his arm away. “Don’t touch me, Vanaker. I’m tolerating you because I now know you’re telling the truth about this trafficking ring. Someone really hurt that girl, so yes, we’re going to find out who put her there.”

  “The bastard who put her there is probably dead.”

  Draven frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m fairly certain it was Michael Hiller,” he said as he ran a hand through his hair. “The lead detective working on the case mentioned an old mill.”

  Draven remembered North talking about Hiller. “Okay, I think I need to know everything.”

  “Really? You’re finally ready to listen to me?”

  Draven saw Sheriff Givon Halloran walk into the ER. Beside him was his deputy, Charlie Earenflight. “You want to let the sheriff in on this?”

  “Absolutely not,” Cade said, following his line of sight. “I don’t know how deep this ring goes.”

  “Trust me,” Draven said. “Givon isn’t part of it.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because he and North are best friends.”

  “So what?”

  “No, they live together.”

  Cade frowned. “Excuse me? Are you saying the President of the Red Wolves is gay?”

  “Hell, no, dic
khead! I mean, they’re in a committed three-way relationship with a woman named Allison.”

  “That’s not a relationship,” Cade stated with a derisive snort. “That’s a war zone waiting to happen.”

  “Whatever, man,” Draven replied, waving his hand dismissively. “It works for them. Anyway, Allis was one of Hiller’s victims.”

  “Allis… You mean Allison Evening? She was mentioned in the files from Detective Harmon. I didn’t realize she’d hooked up with anyone. Well, regardless, I don’t want Sheriff Halloran to know about my investigation until I’ve checked him out.”

  “Oh, now it’s your investigation? I thought we were partners.”

  Cade glowered at him. “Just keep your fucking mouth shut.”

  Draven gave him the finger and stomped his way over to the sheriff. He saw Givon’s eyes narrow thoughtfully as he approached the man.

  “Draven,” he greeted, glancing questioningly at Cade who came to stand beside him. “What’re you doing here?”

  “You’re here about the girl, aren’t you?” he asked instead. “The one found at the old mill.”

  “Yes. How’d you know?”

  “We brought her in,” Draven said. “This here is Cade Vanaker. He’s a nomad who came with me from Vegas.”

  Givon gave him a welcoming nod. “Helluva greeting. Tell me what happened.”

  “She ran out of the old mill as we drove by. Her wrists were zip-tied and had been like that for some time. They were heavily infected. Said her name was Dove.”

  “I checked out the place to see if there were any other women,” Cade said, picking up the story. “Looks like she was being held in the basement of the old mill. There was a chain locking the door.”

  He brought out his phone to show the pictures. Givon’s mouth became a grim slash as he scrolled through each picture.

  “Did you touch anything?” Charlie asked as he looked over Givon’s shoulder.

  “No,” Cade answered. “I didn’t disturb the scene. Looks like she kicked the bottom of the door out to escape. If she hadn’t done that, well, there’s no doubt in my mind she would’ve died there.”

  “Does this have anything to do with what you were investigating involving Allis?” Draven asked.

  Givon shared a quick, silent exchange with Charlie before clearing his throat. “You know I’m not at liberty to say—”

  “Come on, Givon,” Draven said impatiently. “I remember when you brought Allis here. You and North did everything to protect her. Don’t shut me out on this one.”

  Givon furrowed his brow and shot another quick glance over at Cade before he grabbed Draven’s arm and took a few steps away from the other two men. “Are you saying you’re protecting this woman? Like how North and I protected Allis?”

  “I am,” he said, knowing how it sounded. But he meant it. He didn’t know Dove at all, but she needed him right now and he was determined to be there for her.

  “I see,” Givon replied thoughtfully. “How much do you know?”

  “Well, I missed your little showdown with the Tribe, but North told me a little about Hiller. He’s working for someone else, right?”

  Cade walked over to stand next to him again and crossed his arms over his chest, face-to-face with Givon. The sheriff seemed to measure Cade up. Questions dawned in his expression.

  “Might as well tell him too,” Draven muttered. “We’re too entrenched with this.”

  “As you know, Allis was abducted by a man named Michael Hiller,” Givon finally said. “He was part of some kind of trafficking ring out of Durango that has ties here in Destiny. At the old mill. Five years ago, he had a run in with Gray Dog, who dropped all charges. Hiller still spent a year in jail on other charges.”

  “The Demon Devils are behind this?” Draven demanded.

  “Shh,” Givon warned. “There’s no proof and when I interviewed Gray Dog, he claimed he didn’t remember the incident.”

  “But Michael Hiller was killed, right?”

  Givon nodded. “We recovered his gun, and the bullet that Hiller fired at Allis was matched to a cold case in Durango. With a bit more digging, I discovered there’d been sixteen missing women over a four-year period.”

  “The exact same time that Hiller was out of jail,” Draven concluded.

  “Yep,” Givon said. “At his house there was a list of initials plus the dates when he’d snatched them that the Durango detective and I believe were his victims.”

  “What were the initials right before hers?” Cade asked.

  “I don’t remember off hand. Why?”

  “I’m wondering if those initials are Dove’s,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “When did you find Allis?”

  “About a month ago.”

  “Shit,” Draven said. “If Hiller kidnapped Dove right before her that means she’s been down in that dark hole for over a month.”

  “That’s why she was left down there,” Cade surmised. “Hiller was killed and no one knew to look for her.”

  “It makes me sick to my stomach to think I was there not too long ago to check it out and never found Dove,” Givon muttered. He turned to Charlie. “Go to the old mill. Rope it off and process it. Maybe we’ll get lucky with fingerprints or something.”

  “Gotcha, boss.” Charlie gave a departing nod to Draven and Cade then hurried out of the hospital.

  A tall doctor emerged from the back and made a beeline to them. Draven recognized him from earlier visits when Nick had been admitted for his heart attack.

  “Dr. Blake,” Givon greeted, holding out his hand.

  The doctor shook it. “Sheriff. We’ve got to stop meeting under these circumstances.”

  “I know,” he replied grimly. “How’s the patient?”

  “Can I see her?” Draven asked.

  “Can we see her?” Cade corrected and elbowed him in the side.

  “Are you the two who were giving the receptionist a hard time?” the doctor asked, frowning.

  “I don’t exactly trust this hospital,” Draven stated, staring hard at the doctor. “I think you know why.”

  Dr. Blake cleared his throat.

  “About all we know so far is that she’s severely malnourished and slightly dehydrated,” Dr. Blake reported. “She wasn’t raped, although she was beaten, and she sustained a lot of scrapes and bruises. Plus her wrists are severely infected. Right now we’re running toxicology tests to see if she has any other infections.”

  “Is she awake?” Givon inquired.

  “No. Do you know her name?”

  “She said it was Dove,” Draven answered. “But I don’t know her last name.”

  “I’ve ordered a mild sedative added to her IV drip because what she needs now is restorative sleep as well as time to heal,” Dr. Blake added. “She’ll be moved into a room shortly.”

  “When can I get her out of here?”

  Three pairs of eyes stared at him in confusion.

  “I don’t understand,” Dr. Blake said slowly. “She’ll need to be in here for at least a week, maybe two—”

  “No,” Draven interrupted.

  “Draven, she needs medical attention,” Cade said.

  “I don’t trust this hospital,” Draven said. He turned to Givon. “I can bring her to the club and let Lovey take care of her.”

  “Lovey isn’t a nurse,” Givon replied.

  “She took nursing courses,” he argued.

  “Excuse me, I am her doctor,” Dr. Blake interjected. “She will not be leaving this building.”

  “Then I plan on being in that room with her, so I hope you’re not saying no,” Draven stated firmly.

  Dr. Blake glanced quickly at Givon. “Is this another protection detail?

  “Damn straight it is,” Draven answered instead.

  “Very well,” Dr. Blake said, frowning.

  Clearly, he was unhappy with the situation, but Draven couldn’t care less.

  “Follow me.”

  The three of them nodded and followed th
e doctor into the back. The emergency rooms were separated by hanging curtains, and there was one other person there, an older woman getting a breathing treatment. Dr. Blake stood off to the side and let the men enter the small cubicle.

  Dove lay on the bed, so still she looked almost lifeless. Someone had cleaned her up because her hair was damp and brushed and it lay in a lank pool around her face. Dark eyelashes created crescent shapes upon her cheeks, accentuating how deathlike she seemed. Several monitors were hooked up to her, beeping and showing vitals. Draven picked up her hand and held it gently.

  “The son of a bitch who did this to her needs to pay,” he stated in a cold, hard voice.

  Cade brushed a finger over her cheek. “Yes. We need to burn him alive.”

  Surprised, Draven looked over at the FBI agent. The fierceness in Cade’s expression matched the wildness inside him. For the first time, he felt like they were on the same side.

  “You said you’re staying with her?”

  “I wasn’t lying about the girl almost being smothered,” Draven replied. “In fact, it was Allis.”

  He nodded toward Givon, who held up his hands.

  “I have nothing against the Red Wolves protecting a possible witness,” he said. “Since it sounds like she’s going to be out of it for a while, give me a call when she wakes up. I’m going to head to the old mill.”

  “Okay,” Draven replied. He watched the sheriff leave the cubicle then ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t imagine what was going through her mind the whole time she was down there. I mean, she busted through the door so she could’ve left a lot sooner than she did. Why did she wait so long?”

  “Fear,” Cade instantly replied. “Intimidation. He was probably attempting to break her will and take her power away so she wouldn’t try to escape. It’s a form of covert abuse, more harm psychologically than physically. Maybe Hiller threatened her or someone she loved. Who knows?”

  “She was terrified, Cade, when she fell into my arms,” Draven murmured. He couldn’t take his eyes away from her beautiful face. “I won’t leave her to the darkness again, even if it screws up your timeline and agenda.”