Page 24 of Jericho

"Is it possible he knows something happened last week, and he moved them then?"

Hemlock latches his gaze on mine. "It's possible."

"Fuck!" I rage, kicking at a rock on the ground and being unconcerned when it flies through the air, smacking against the side of the sedan I drove Aspen here in.

"From what they've gathered, the personal belongings are non-descript. There was nothing there with a name on it of any kind. No toys for small children. No board games for older kids. We can't even guarantee that Eli was ever in that house to begin with, but that won't stop us from working to locate all the children. It'll be hard as fuck to do because we don't have a line of people knocking down our doors and begging for help. They're pulling DNA samples, but you know how long that shit takes. When was the last time she had contact with the boy?"

I shake my head. "She never said."

"We need to find that out. I don't want to think the worst, but Damien Gaines isn't known for being tolerant orcompassionate when he's pissed. Hell, I hear he's just as sick and sadistic when he's in a good mood as he is when he's angry."

"Tell me what else they found in the house," I demand, as if I would be any better at figuring out where Eli is than the men who have trained to research shit like this.

"The milk in the fridge wasn't out of date," he says. "There were a few dirty dishes in the sink, but not enough to indicate twelve kids were fed. The house was less than two hours away in Hartford. We don't know much, man. They didn't notice any blood stains. Nyx ripped up the carpet to check. I think that man's head goes straight to the most morbid things, but I can see it being helpful at times."

"We need someone to go through properties connected to Gaines."

"Already on it. We have Casper working with St. Louis to follow all digital leads."

I breathe a minor sigh of relief.

St. Louis is Wren Nelson,the IT specialist for Blackbridge Security. The man is a genius when it comes to finding shit out online. The guy can figure shit out in seconds, where other teams have been working on it unsuccessfully for years. I'm honestly surprised the government hasn't abducted him, locked him away in a basement somewhere, and demanded that he work solely for them. But knowing Wren, he has a failsafe up in case they ever think to try.

"You need to have a conversation with Aspen," Hemlock adds. "She may know of places connected to the family that won't be as easily discovered by our guys."

I want to immediately reject the idea. Not because I think he's wrong, but because I don't think I can face her again so soon after what she disclosed to me. She also said it in front ofSamuel, a man who works for Damien and has just as much to lose as Aspen does. I have no doubt the man would sacrifice our son to save his own daughter. The fucked-up part is that I'd be willing to do the same if the tables were turned. My number one priority is Eli now, but that won't stop us from doing our best to ensure we're able to bring all those kids home.

"We have to put him out of commission," I say, locking my eyes with Hemlock's. "The fallout from not doing it will be too great."

"I know," he says. "I've been on the phone with ICE as well as the CIA and FBI. We don't exactly have their blessing, but I won't let children die because they're trying to build a gun and drug smuggling case against him. Kincaid has told us to move forward, and that's what we'll do."

Chapter 14

Aspen

"What do you know?" I ask the second the bedroom door opens back up.

"Nothing new," he says as he steps inside, this time keeping his distance and the door ajar.

It's as if he knows it's not smart to be closed in this room alone with me, or as if he thinks he couldn't control himself if he were.

"I don't believe you," I mutter. "I don't think you'll tell me anything."

"I'm not asking you to believe me. I could give two shits if you trust a word that comes out of my mouth."

"What would you have done if you were in my situation?" I snap. "You were dead the minute Damien opened my bedroom door. Was I supposed to die right beside you?"

"Do you really think your father would've killed you?"

There's a part deep inside of me that would like to believe he cared enough for me not to sentence me to death, but I also never would've guessed he'd hurt children. Samuel made it very clear that Damien was just carrying on part of a legacy my father had built.

Tears leak from my eyes as I glare at him. Maybe one day, I can be upset and manage to keep my emotions under control, but today doesn't seem to be the day.

"It doesn't matter," he snaps when I don't answer. He thrusts a spiral-bound notebook and a pen in my direction. "Ineed all the addresses of every place you've ever been with Damien."

"That's really necessary?" I ask, wondering if he's trying to punish both of us by making me relive every minute I've spent with the man.

"The place was empty," he reminds me. "But they haven't been gone for long. We're trying to track him down but there has to be places you know about that we won't find digging through purchase records online."

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