Page 34 of Forgotten Girls

Styles turned to look at the Doberman, sitting straight, ears erect, watching the road. He wore a thick padded coat but every so often he shivered. He looked at Bear. His thick pelt kept him snug under his waterproof FBI jacket. “We’ll go and stand with him. He looks freezing.” They walked closer, but Zorro was having none of it, and when they got six feet away from him a low growl rumbled from his chest. He might as well have had a warning sign hanging around his neck. Styles flicked a glance at Beth. “Ah, maybe we’ll wait here.” He looked toward Main. “Here he comes now.”

As Carter crossed the road, he let out a piercing whistle and Zorro took off, leaping the fence and tearing along the sidewalk. Styles raised both eyebrows. “I didn’t know he could jump. I guess this means we can get breakfast.”

“You’re not disturbed about blowing a hole in that guy’s chest?” Beth stared at him as he wiped his leather gloves with wipes.

Shaking his head, Styles tossed the wipes into the garbage and opened the gate. “Nope, he was going to kill Bear, and Bear was carrying out a legal duty in the manner he was trained to do. He was restraining the man from attacking me. Hurting him was a felony.” He shrugged. “I was aiming for the arm with the knife but he moved.” He gave her a long look. “I was dealing with two assailants at the same time and could have legally shot both of them for attacking a federal officer.” He blew out a long breath. “I figure we all showed restraint in an attempt on our lives.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining, not at all.” Beth fell into step beside him as they headed toward Carter. “It’s that you rarely draw your weapon. I noticed Carter is much the same. He likes to fight.” She shrugged. “I stupidly left my weapon behind this morning. I figure there’s a first time for everything, but I’d have drawn my weapon.”

Styles nodded, wondering if she’d have shot her assailant. She had the right as a federal agent and as a local citizen if she believed her life was in danger, and there was little doubt the man had tried to kill them, but he didn’t believe they’d counted on Carter or Beth being with him. He looked at Beth. “That was an attack on me again.” He shook his head slowly. “I need to change my routine but it’s difficult. When Bear needs to pee, I can’t expect him to cross his legs for hours while I play it safe. It’s never been a problem before. We must be getting close to the kingpin. The problem is, we don’t know who it is, do we? I mean not for sure.”

“If we had a name, it would make life easier.” Beth blew out a steamy breath.

They met up with Carter and walked to TJ’s Bar and Grill. After ordering breakfast of hotcakes, maple syrup, and bacon, they sat in a booth at the back away from everyone. The restaurant was surprisingly busy for breakfast. Truck drivers staying over at the local motel dropped by for a good meal and takeout before they left on their journeys. Miners in for the weekend appeared bleary-eyed from a night out at the saloons. Styles looked at Carter. “After this attack, I figure we’re getting close. Beth believes it’s the doctor, but we only have circumstantial evidence at best against him. His house was clean, apart from the signs he had a young girl living there.”

“Yeah, Jo checked that out and he apparently adopted a kid some years back, but she’d be older.” Carter grimaced. “Unless when he moves around he recycles them. If he is who we believe, it’s more than a possibility.” He shrugged. “Unless we catch him with a girl, we don’t have a case against him strong enough.” He looked at Beth. “What do you need to make a case against him stick?”

“His laptop or whatever he’s using to access the dark web. It would be the evidence we need to prove he’s involved.” Beth’s brow creased into a frown. “Finding him and Shoebridge is a priority. We go with the plan and see what happens. Once I have the information from the doctor’s laptop, finding all the players involved will be easy. It will take careful planning to infiltrate and bring down the entire ring, but the FBI specializes in doing just that and all they need is someone to open the right door.”

Anger shimmered under the surface as Styles envisioned someone else taking down Shoebridge. He shot a glance at Beth. “I want Shoebridge. Before you hand over the case, we need to bring him down and the doctor.”

“You got it.” She gave him a slow smile. “I figure I’m becoming a bad influence on you, Styles.”

THIRTY-NINE

Back at the office, Beth stared out of the window. With the chaos erupting around her, the mountains and river offered her peace. The beauty of the pine forests and majestic snowcapped peaks surrounded her and washed away all her fears and doubts. Ahead, she faced a confronting time, decisions needed to be made on the fly. She needed the chance to take down the doctor and destroy his ring of destruction. With three FBI agents working the case alongside her, opportunity would be in short supply. Failing or being discovered as the Tarot Killer wasn’t an option. Victims needed her to find them justice. The eye-for-an-eye, life-for-a-life idea worked for her just fine. She recalled researching that ideal, just to see if her internal justice system was flawed, and discovered, apart from being in the Bible, it went right back to the Mesopotamian Empire in the eighteenth century BC. The idea that it wasn’t part of a deluded psychopathic mind, rather a compromise to control her urges, calmed her. Her father’s face flashed across her mind, and she thrust it back into the darkness. I’ll never be like you.

“Beth.” Carter walked toward her, a concerned look on his face. “Everything okay?”

Blinking away images, Beth nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine, just taking a few minutes looking at the view to center myself. What do you need?”

“We have an appointment this afternoon at four with the adoption agency. I need you to transfer funds.” He held out a piece of paper. “These are the account details.”

Concerned, Beth took the note and stared at him. “You made the appointments from here? They’ll be able to trace the call.”

“No way.” Carter smiled around his toothpick. “Kalo did something to our phones, ours and everyone at Black Rock Falls, so they can’t be traced. It’s all good. Do you want me to get the same protection for you and Styles? He can do an update remotely.”

Beth stared at him. “You mean, not even he can trace the caller ID?”

“Nope, he designed the update himself. He’s great at things like that and it’s passed every type of scrutiny and hackers to date. He keeps it updated as well.” Carter shrugged. “He’s just a call away.”

If no one could trace her calls, she would have no need to use a burner ever again. Wanting to know more, she moved closer. “The FBI can trace our phones for our protection, I mean, using the GPS in the phone, right? If they can, so can a hacker. They might not know your name, but when it comes up you’re in the FBI field office in Rattlesnake Creek, it’s going to send up a red flag, especially as they’ve tried twice to kill us in the last two days.”

“Ah, yeah.” Carter grinned again. “He thought of that, so we can just turn it off and on. It’s like an app. Look, I’ll switch it off and call you.” He pulled out his phone and changed the settings.

Beth answered the call and his caller ID popped up on her screen. She traced his whereabouts, and it gave his location on a map as a red throbbing spot. “Okay, disconnect and activate the app.” She waited for him to make the changes and on her screen his call came up as a private number. She frowned and held up a finger. “One second.” She tried to find him on the phone and nothing came up, so she went to her computer. “Don’t disconnect. I’ll see if I can find you.” She tried everything she knew but his phone was completely secure. She stood and went back to him. “This is perfect. You sure Kalo will share it with us?”

“I’m sure.” Carter disconnected and deactivated the app. “Try and run my number on your computer again. You’ll find me now. It works. The kid is a genius.” He shrugged. “Just remember to activate the app when you’re not undercover. The director would have kittens if he knew we were masking our phones.”

The idea intrigued Beth. It was like an incredible gift. No more worrying about being traced or anyone knowing her whereabouts or who she called. No suspicious burners hanging around for her to worry about. She smiled at him. “Call him. I want this app yesterday.”

“Yeah, me too.” Styles leaned against a filing cabinet, grinning at her. “When I go fishing, I don’t want to be disturbed, and Beth likes to disappear so much she leaves her phone behind on her downtime. This way is much safer. Beth, if you get into trouble, deactivate the app and I can come and find you.”

“I’ll call Kalo and then we need to get organized.” Carter looked at Beth. “We’ll fly into Helena. We’ll leave the choppers at the airport and there’s a bird we can use waiting for us.”

Beth frowned. “Won’t someone notice two FBI choppers arriving? I figure it’s too dangerous.”

“So did I, but they come and go into Helena all the time.” Carter frowned. “I’ve arranged an unmarked chopper for us to travel to the ranch. No one will see us when we arrive, even if they knew about it being an FBI safe house, which they won’t. It’s in a remote area and very secure.”

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