Knight, p.8
Knight, page 8
Myke remembered something and her eyes gleamed with understanding. “Her mother was Janelle Washington, right? The DA that put Orlen Sims away? I read about that case and that you’d arrested him. I didn’t know there was a kid.”
“We kept her out of it as much as possible, but Jan was murdered right in front of her just before she turned ten,” Chase said and the pain seared through him all over again.
Myke saw it on his face and silently went to give him a hug. “I’m sorry, Chase. So sorry.” She held him for a moment and he put his arms around her and let the pain fade once more.
“So, teenage girl gets a room in Dad’s place, and…”
“Papa. She calls me papa. And yeah, I have no idea how to decorate a room for her. I figured a bed, a dresser, nightstand, and desk with a chair.”
“And Papa Chase needs help. I was a teenage girl once. What’s her favorite color?” Myke asked.
“You were a teenage girl? Really?” Chase teased, then took the half-hearted swat Myke aimed at his arm. “She likes all colors. Bright and bold.”
“You order the furniture, I’ll get the bedding and curtains and a few things to make it more comfortable for her until she’s here and can pick out stuff for herself. Sound like a plan?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Chase said. “Thanks, Mykie. She’s really into her African and Scottish heritage right now, so maybe you can find something Celtic or tribal that she’ll like?”
“I know just the thing. Oh, I came by because I got some more info on the lab photos. FBIS put a satellite on it and we’ve got ground penetrating imagery. Come on over and check it out.”
Chase left the last box open on the coffee table and locked up his place before he joined Myke outside.
Neither one of them saw the drone high above the village, recording their interactions and conversation.
Chapter fifteen
Folsom Bentley enjoyed the finer things in life. The Waterford crystal glass that held his bourbon, the silk lounging pants he wore on his body, and the exquisite woman he had tied and gagged in his playroom.
He took a sip of his drink as he stepped through the doorway, then closed the door behind him and put the glass to the side. His muscular torso and arms were bare, as were his feet. All he wore were the pristine white silk pants with a drawstring tie.
For him, this was a holy place and he was dressed for a ritual.
The room was windowless, soundproofed, and decorated in the latest equipment for the discerning sexual sadist. The suspension rig, for example, was of titanium with the cuffs extending from the floor and ceiling at the whisper of a command. They were currently holding the delicate wrists and ankles of a woman he’d had shipped in from Martinique. When you had the kinds of connections he had, you could, literally, get anything.
He didn’t know her name. He didn’t care. He knew she was barely legal and was, until him, untouched sexually. Exactly as he’d ordered.
She whimpered as he brushed a finger down her cheek, too terrified to turn her head away. Silky black tresses brushed mid-back and wide, dark eyes struggled to focus, the pupils blown wide open as the drugs worked their way through her system. He liked them responsive, but not combative, so he’d had a cocktail designed that gave them the energy of a companion robot and the ability to feel, and fear, everything he would do to them.
The terror was delicious, he had to admit. It was one of his favorite flavors.
“Now, my lovely, shall we get started?” he said to the girl, then reached for his tray of tools.
The recording captured every sob and scream, until the screaming stopped.
Red knocked on the door frame of Chase’s office before he stepped inside – and shut the door behind him.
“Uncle Red, what brings you down? Are you okay?” Chase asked as he got to his feet.
“I’m fine, Chief,” Red said with a tired smile. “I could use a coffee, though. Came in from DC a couple of hours ago and I haven’t been home yet.”
Chase went over to the coffee bar in his office and got a cup brewing for Red. He pulled out a cup of fruit and handed it to Red with a fork. “Here, eat this while the coffee is brewing. It’ll give you an energy boost. So, what’s got you sitting in my office? Not that I mind you dropping in for a visit, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what this is.”
“We got the tracking info for flights over Pisgah for the few days around the time frame the coroner gave for the time of death on those two men,” Red said as he accepted the fruit and the fork. “I wanted you to know from my lips that we have a suspect and we can’t act on anything right now.”
Chase pulled the mug of coffee from the machine and set it on the low table between two chairs, then sat in the other chair across from Red. “Who is it?”
“The only shuttle that was in the air over Pisgah during those two days that encompass the ten-hour window of time of death, belongs to Milos Owens.”
Chase dropped back in the chair and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Because we have no evidence proving Owens pushed those two men to their deaths, we can’t even shake him down to try and get him to slip up, because he’s intimidated half of the politicians in DC. Right?”
“Pretty much hit the nail on the head,” Red said as he finished up the fruit and reached for the coffee. “However, we can add this to the list of things to pile on him when we finally do get a solid case. You know these things take time, Chase. We’re in the early days, yet.”
“I know,” Chase said with a grumble in his voice. “And I appreciate you telling me in person. Next time, you can just ask me to swing by on the way home, y’know. You have more than earned that kind of courtesy.”
“That’s not the only information I have to share,” Red said as he took another swallow of coffee. “We’re building a case against Folsom Bentley, but I have to step back because of my relationship with Lacey Foster.”
“What kind of case?” Chase leaned forward now, elbows on his knees. “Because that fucker sets off every red flag I’ve got whenever he’s near.”
“As you know, Myke’s been looking into him. Hard core. She got enough together to get the FBIS to open a case with Interpol in the deaths of his parents and grandparents.”
“You mean reopen the cases?”
“No, I mean open a case. There was never a case filed on his parents’ deaths, and the excuses for cops that worked his grandparent’s case are both dead and the file is missing.”
“Fucking unreal,” Chase muttered. “Money can do that so easily. So, is that the case or is there more?”
“Myke has found a pattern that may or may not lead back to him. She’s working on it, but there’s not enough yet. Seems that there have been bodies of young women that turn up whenever Bentley spends more than a week somewhere.” Red finished the coffee and put the cup down. “They’re all young, beautiful, and the cause of death is from some kind of drug cocktail no one has ever seen before. Their bodies are sterilized as if they were going into surgery, so no DNA or fibers are available.” He paused and cleared his throat. “And they all have the same kind of genital mutilation.”
“By the stars,” Chase whispered. “He’s a fucking monster. We need to make sure he’s never able to hold office anywhere.”
“I’m only telling you this because I need you to keep an eye out for any bodies that drop – and if it is Bentley doing this, as we suspect - they will drop. We need you to call the FBIS the minute you find something that might fit the information I’ve given you. Just…don’t make it public yet. We don’t know if there are any still lurking with divided loyalties.”
“Overt loyalties? Yeah, we’ve found them. But I hear you, Red. I know there are probably a few that still pine after the Halstead days. I’ll keep it between myself, Cassidy, and Ellery. If something pops, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Chase,” Red said as he got to his feet. “Be safe out there, son. You’re too important to us.” He paused and put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Too important to me.”
“You stay safe, too, Red. You’re important to me as well,” Chase said and stood to give the older man a half-hug.
He watched as Red slowly made his way out of the office and down the hall before he went next door to Cassidy’s office and tapped on the frame of the open door. It was time to update his second in command, no matter how much he’d rather avoid being alone with her.
“Got a minute?” Chase asked as he stuck his head into her office.
“Sure, let me just finish this report,” Cassidy said as her fingers flew over the reflection of a keyboard on her desk.
Chase stepped in and closed the door behind him, then leaned against it while she finished up her work. He had to admit, she looked good. Really good. The dark gold jacket she wore over an emerald green silk top looked classy and professional. He knew she was wearing navy blue slacks that fit to her backside in such a way he’d had a hard time not staring. Okay, not staring much.
“Okay, I’m done,” Cassidy said, then looked up to see Chase still stood by the door. “Well, come sit down. You don’t need to stand all the way over there.”
“Red was just here and gave me some information that I need to share with you – and that we can tell Ellery, but that’s it. Until we’re completely sure we have a team that has our backs, we can’t let the information get out.”
“Now you’ve got me worried,” Cassidy said as she slid her computer screen to the side. “Talk to me.”
Chase sat down and filled her in on everything Red said, and then told her what he and Myke had discovered about the lab. When he was done, he sat back and watched her face as she processed the information.
“Basically, what you’re telling me, is that we’ve got a lot of probable cause but not enough information to act on – yet – because the man has connections and a ton of credits.”
“That’s it in a nutshell, yeah,” Chase said. “We keep an eye out for bodies, we keep an eye on Bentley, and we wait to see what they do with the lab now that it’s nearly completed. The scans showed that the air filtration system was finished a few days ago, and that’s the last piece before they start production. It’s already furnished and they’ve even got an underground parking facility so we can’t get a look at how many vehicles are there unless we do more scans.”
“We can put surveillance up in the trees around it, though,” Cassidy said. “You just told me there’s only two ways in or out – and one is the road into the garage and the other is a back door that comes out near some rocks and has no footpath or anything around it.”
“They probably have their own equipment up,” Chase said.
“Or they don’t have it up yet. Either way, we can go in at night in full camouflage and set them up ourselves.”
“You’re going to climb trees to put equipment up?” Chase asked her with a laugh.
“I can. Or we can use the technology we’ve been given by the FBIS when we had to put equipment up around the Halstead operations.” She really didn’t like that he’d laughed at her, but she kept her expression serene.
“The department still has all of that?” Chase asked.
“It does. Or, I do. I kept it in my gear locker until recently. Now it’s in that cabinet over there,” Cassidy said as she pointed to a black metal cabinet in the corner. “Are you capable of driving in the dark or should I handle this alone?”
Chase had the good sense to wince. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be insulting. I know you’re capable of climbing trees, but it isn’t the smartest tactic when dealing with a facility like this.”
“Smart man, walking that back,” Cassidy said with a tight smile. “Let’s go do it tonight, unless you have other plans?”
“I don’t, and yeah, tonight is good. The sooner we get it done, the sooner we can start building a case. Do you have night gear here or do you want me to pick you up at your father’s place?”
“I’ve got the gear here,” Cassidy said.
“Good, then tell everyone we’re going to dinner together and bring the gear up to my place in the village. We can change there and borrow Red’s Range Rover. It’s black and will handle the terrain better than either of our vehicles – and be easier to hide.”
Cassidy opened her mouth to complain about him bulldozing her, but closed it when she realized he had a good plan. “Okay, I’ll be at your place a little after six.”
“Don’t be late, Assistant Chief. I’d hate to leave without you,” Chase teased.
“You can’t leave without me. I have the equipment,” Cassidy fired back.
Chase just smiled at her as he stepped out of her office and went into his own. Tonight was going to be fun. He just knew it.
Wes enjoyed watching the growing romance between Chase and the lovely Cassidy, but he desperately wanted to smack Chase in the back of the head for thinking he wasn’t worthy. Okay, so worthy wasn’t the right word – maybe he didn’t think he was safe enough? To Wes’s eyes, Cassidy seemed like a woman who could take care of herself and anyone else she wanted to protect. Chase needed someone like her to balance him out and remind him that life was more than being a knight or guardian for everyone in the universe.
In chess, a knight was the only piece that could jump over other pieces. It captured enemy pieces by landing on them and was most effective when it occupied the center of the board, as that’s where the most possible moves could be found.
The knight was also the most vulnerable when it was in the center of the board, and was vulnerable to traps.
Wes hoped Chase knew to watch his back.
Chapter sixteen
Chase had all of his gear on except for the hood and mask when Cassidy arrived at his place. She handed him a heavy case then went into his bathroom to change into her gear.
“Open that up and take a look at what we’re working with before we get on the road. I saw the Range Rover outside – Red’s fine with us using it?” Cassidy asked as she left the door open a crack while she changed.
“Yeah, he even sent a few more devices to post along the main road so we can triangulate what drives past with what pulls in,” Chase said. “There’s also an identification reader we can put on the road and it’s legal to post it there.”
“You up for this?” Cassidy asked him. “I’m not being snarky, I’m serious. You look tired.”
“I’m up for it. Yeah, I’m tired, but not dangerously so,” Chase closed the case and leaned back to look up at her. “This job takes a lot more than I expected. I’m not complaining, but it’s an adjustment.”
“There’s a reason you have a second in command, Chief,” Cassidy told him with a smile. “You don’t have to do it all on your own. We’re a team, remember?”
Chase stood and handed her one of the equipment cases. “I’m working on that. I haven’t had a working partner in about three years, so I got used to just handling it on my own.” He paused, then continued. “I’m probably going to need you to remind me now and then.”
Cassidy took the case and headed for the door, her clothing bag in her other hand. “I’ll try to not be a pest about it,” she told him. “But don’t get grumpy with me when I do remind you. Agreed?”
“I don’t get grumpy,” Chase retorted. “But if you think I’m grumpy, hand me a bottle of water. I can hyperfocus with the best of them.”
“Right,” Cassidy said as she dropped her bag in her car, then the gear case into the Range Rover. “I’ll stock up on a case of water.” She couldn’t keep the smirk from her face and Chase caught it as she slid into the passenger’s seat.
“Wow, this is a nice ride,” she said as she buckled in. “Is this an FBIS vehicle or Red’s personal one?”
“Uh huh. Smartass,” he chuckled as he got in and started up the vehicle. “It’s his personal one. This thing has more buttons than a shirt factory.” Chase fell silent and waited until they were on the highway towards Pinehaven before he spoke again.
“I worked out an approach with Myke, using the satellite imagery she’d pulled down. If you pull up the file ‘party planning’ on your dash screen, you’ll be able to see what we worked out.”
“You should’ve included me,” Cassidy said, her voice tight. She wasn’t going to let him shut her out of anything related to her job. This was a position she’d earned, dammit. Her anger simmered until he spoke again.
“I didn’t have time. Myke brought over the updated satellite imagery when I got home and we went over it quick and I uploaded it so you could go over it on the way. If you see any obvious holes or issues, let’s figure them out now.”
Instead of speaking, and giving herself away, Cassidy took a breath and opened the file. She had to stop knee-jerk reacting to Chase just being Chase – and his being the chief. If he really thought her inept, he wouldn’t have brought her along at all.
“Where do these all dump the feed to?” Cassidy asked as she scrolled through the information.
“A secure cloud that we, and Myke, can access. Which is why I want to put the street cams up first, so she can alert us if someone slips in behind us while we’re in there.”
“It looks like there’s a four-man guard unit on site already, according to these images. Do we know their schedule?” Cassidy asked, then answered it herself. “Yeah, we do. It’s right here. They do an outside walk around every three hours, but they’re moving inside every hour. That makes sense. It’s a fucking fortress and there’s nothing important there – yet.”
“Right, so nothing to really be guarding, or worrying about. They’re just going through the motions right now,” Chase said. “I’ve got the robots charged up and a couple of backup batteries plugged in in the rear of this thing. As long as we can get them set and secured quickly, we should be fine. It’s not going to take us more than an hour or so to get these up.”
Cassidy flipped through the screens, then leaned back and looked out the window at the passing scenery. “Putting them up isn’t going to be the risk. Keeping them from being discovered and traced back to us – that’s the risk.”
