Page 26 of Forged in Steele

5

Jared took a seat at the command center table next to Bristol, who’d changed into her deputy’s uniform while he and the other supervisors formed a game plan. He had to admit it was exciting to see her taking a power position that all law enforcement officers were trained to exude, and he didn’t have to see it to know she could hold her own with other officers and bad guys. But he had to ignore her. Uniform or suit. His mind had to shut her out.

His supervisor, who’d just arrived along with six agents, sat on Jared’s other side. Three of them were members of the cyber-crimes squad and would handle any information technology needs, and two agents were on the violent crime squad with Jared. Maybe with Agent Piper Thorn being pregnant and due in a week, he should’ve claimed an extra person in the room.

Lieutenant Allen Mills from Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office was taking the podium, and he’d arrived with Detective Hale and several other employees of the department, including an information officer to handle the media.

Also present were representatives from the Oregon State Police along with local law enforcement agencies and Washington agencies as well. With Vancouver just across the river from Portland, the city was for all practical purposes a suburb of Portland, and a kidnapping in a metro area like this could quickly cross jurisdictional lines. All area agencies needed to be involved and kept up to speed.

Mills introduced himself. “Thank you all for coming. I’ll make this short so we can get to work finding baby Luna.” He introduced Adair, then shared Hale’s and Jared’s roles in the search and added that Reed Rice would be Jared’s second in command, and Detective Myles Waters would support Detective Hale.

“Any calls to the tip line?” Jared asked, trying to move them forward. “Legitimate ones, that is?”

Hale snapped his chair forward. “We’ve already had our share of crackpot calls, but we have two credible leads we’re running down right now. We also have deputies canvassing the area for any witnesses.”

Mills put the still shot of their female suspect on the screen. “We’ve distributed this photo with the AMBER Alert and in a BOLO alert.”

The Be On the Lookout alert would have gone out to law enforcement officers statewide and even to nearby states.

“And my team will be showing the photo to all of the hospital staff and security guards,” Jared said. “We had a change in the company providing guards for this facility, so we’ll interview both the current and former guards. The suspect likely scoped the place out earlier in the week or even before. We’ll be asking if she was seen then.”

“Are we thinking the change in guards could be the reason the kidnapping was allowed to occur?” Adair asked.

Beside him, Bristol sucked in a breath and sat on her hands, but she didn’t shrink back from the probing question. If anything, it seemed as if she wanted to defend her company, but knew better than to do so.

“A guard has gone AWOL, but there’s no evidence to suggest that he or any other guard are involved at this point,” Jared said. “Steele Guardians is the current company, and they have a solid reputation. That said, we’re following up on that angle.”

Bristol expelled a quiet breath and leaned closer to him as if offering her thanks. He didn’t deserve the thanks. He hadn’t said what he did because of his feelings for her. He’d said it because it was true. He’d heard about them during his time at the Bureau. Had maybe even sought out information about them. Especially after he suffered several relationship failures. He’d compared every woman he’d dated to Bristol. Sure, they’d had a relationship when they were young and it was just that, a short-lived relationship, but even back then he’d known she was a special woman.

Mills tapped the screen. “As of now, we focus on this woman. She’s a strong suspect. She seems to fit the most common traits of an infant abductor—a female of childbearing age between twelve and fifty. Frequently uses a fire exit stairwell for her escape.”

“What we don’t know, but should be on the lookout for, are the following.” Mills turned off the projector and moved back to the large whiteboard. He slid open a wood door that covered half the board to reveal a list Jared had made of suspect traits. “She’s often compulsive and relies on manipulation, lying, and deception. She’s often married or cohabitating and wants to provide her significant other with a child. She often lives in the community where the abduction takes place.”

“That’s an important factor to keep in mind,” Adair said. “When you’re looking at called-in tips or any other leads, first learn where the suspect lives. Don’t discount the out-of-the-area ones if they’re solid, but put priority on the ones in the area.”

“Good point to remember,” Mills said. “Also know that she has likely made frequent recon visits to birthing centers at more than one healthcare facility where she asked questions about procedures and scoped out the layout.”

“Which is why we’ll be interviewing staff at all of the nearby hospitals,” Jared said. “She also typically plans the abduction and often seizes any opportunity present, usually not targeting a specific infant. Odds are good that she has no connection to the Pratt family, and that’ll make it harder to locate her.”

“If she compromised the guard,” Adair said. “She may have taken the first child on the wing where the mother was asleep.”

Bristol cleared her throat and sat up straighter. “We’ve had no reports of a stranger entering any of the other rooms.”

“She also frequently impersonates a nurse or other allied healthcare personnel, so we should watch for that,” Mills said. “If so, maybe shedidcompromise the guard by sending him on what he thought was a legit mission. She’s probably become familiar with healthcare staff and their routines. So it’s a good possibility that at least one of the staff here has talked to her.”

“Since she abducted the baby in the morning,” Jared stepped up to the whiteboard, and Hale sat down as they’d planned to switch at this point so the task force heard from both of them. “And did recon earlier in the week, she would’ve come in the morning and so the morning staff are the most likely group to know her. And it’s not surprising that she struck during shift change when chaos can often happen.”

Jared slid the door open to reveal the whiteboard where he and the other supervisors had already made team assignments. “We’ve parsed out the workload so we can take quick action. Some of you will call hospitals and doctors’ offices for names of any women who recently lost babies. Others will get infant death records for the past few months and contact these mothers. And some have the task of obtaining warrants to query hospitals and doctors’ offices that aren’t forthcoming for names of any women who lost babies due to miscarriage, particularly late-term.”

Jared paused to run his gaze over the team. “These women will likely be distraught, and we need to be sensitive to that. If you come across anyone who you think we need to talk to or have any questions about the assignments, contact me, Agent Rice or Detectives Hale or Waters.”

Hale stood, looked each person in the eye, and then firmed his shoulders. “Let’s get after this, people, and bring this baby home alive.”

Alive.Wyatt’s face appeared in Jared’s mind, and he raked his hand through his hair. He suspected Adair might be struggling too as he also had to be thinking of Wyatt and remembering how their team had failed that baby boy. At least Jared’s supervisor didn’t bring it up or didn’t stop him from taking lead here because of it. Maybe Adair thought Jared had learned his lesson. Hopefully he had.

And he wouldn’t make the same mistake again. He wouldn’t trust anyone, but would verify and investigate anything that made him uncomfortable. And protect the information with his life if needed.

He looked at the team. “Before anyone leaves, you need to get a security pass for the room. No one will be allowed back in here without one.”

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