Ashen Rayne (Shadowlands Book 1) (16 page)

She stood and stepped back into the morning sun, her glasses in place. Taisia’s tip hadn’t been all she was hoping for, but it was better than nothing. She sent a text to Ashley, letting her know she was looking into a lead and would be home after, then started her bike and cruised down the island.

Sunny Isles Beach was dotted with a variety of marinas, most handling nothing larger than a powerboat. After half an hour of smiling and asking around, Smoak learned that
Sanctuary
was one of the largest yachts in Miami and was too big to be kept in a local marina. Frulov usually took a motor launch from his home in Sunny Isles out to
Sanctuary
. A few coins spread around produced
Sanctuary’s
approximate location, and Smoak pointed her bike toward Fort Lauderdale.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Ashley said.

Smoak looked up from packing her clothes into a small duffel bag and smiled. “Of course I don’t. But do you see any other option for me? It isn’t like my family is going to help. It’s either this or end up fixing cars during the day and dancing on tables at night.”

“Maybe, but you don’t exactly follow orders well,” Ashley said. “I seem to recall our third grade teacher saying something about a ‘pathological distrust of authority.’ How are you going to survive the military? All they do is give orders.”

Smoak stopped and moved to where Ashley was standing in her bedroom doorway. “I can do it if I have to, but it will be easier if you come with me.”

Ashley’s jaw dropped. “Are you insane? They don’t make soldiers out of deaf people. Even if they did, what would I do? Use harsh language?”

“You’re one of the best shots in the state, and you know computers better than anyone I’ve ever heard of,” Smoak replied. “What does you being deaf have to do with anything? It has never slowed you down before.”

Ashley’s eyes narrowed. “It isn’t me who has the problem.”

Smoak brushed hair out of her friend’s eyes. “What if Chandler found a place for you, in his office or something?”

“SK, it is never going to happen. I’m going to Cornell like we planned. It’s why Dad bought you the phone,” Ashley said.

“But what if it could, would you come with?” Smoak asked. “Keep me from doing something else stupid?”

Ashley smiled. “It’s a given you’re going to do something stupid, Smoakie. You have a knack for it.”

Smoak frowned. “That wasn’t an answer, Ash.”

Ashley looked away and ran a hand through her long brown hair. “I don’t know, SK. I’m not really the military type.”

Smoak nodded. “I know. Neither am I, but it’s my only chance at doing something better. I can’t go to Cornell.”

She turned away and went back to folding her clothes. She could feel Ashley’s eyes on her back, but she refused to turn around.

“Smoakie, don’t be like this,” Ashley said. “I’m not dying and neither are you. I’m going to school. I’ll be in touch as much as I can. You know that. I just think you’d be safer doing something else. You are so good with cars, why don’t you go to technical school?”

Smoak shook her head. She had tried and couldn’t afford to live alone and foot the bill for tuition.

“Are you done packing yet?” a voice said.

“No, Mrs. MacKenna, she’s still packing,” Ashley said. “She will be done soon.”

“It’s about time she did something besides cause trouble,” Mrs. MacKenna said. “It’s too bad she couldn’t be more like you, Ashley. If I’m any judge, Kamryn has been a bad influence on you.”

“I’ll be done and gone in a few minutes, Mother,” Smoak said.

“See that you are,” Mrs. MacKenna said. “Your sister is having her rehearsal dinner in the backyard, and no one wants the promiscuous gay hanging around.”

Smoak gripped the pair of panties she was holding and nearly tore them in half. “Yes, Mother.”

“Take care of yourself, Ashley,” Mrs. MacKenna said.

Smoak heard her mother walk away as Ashley muttered, “Go fuck yourself, Mrs. MacKenna.”

Smoak put the panties into her bag, added a photo of herself and Ashley and zipped it closed.

Ashley looked around the bare room and frowned. “Two duffel bags isn’t much for seventeen years, is it?”

Smoak shrugged. “Your dad put most of my stuff in storage for me. It isn’t like it was a lot, anyway.”

“So you’re going, then? Becoming a soldier?”

Smoak nodded. “Like I said, Ash, I don’t see I’ve got much choice, and Chandler has promised me an education as well as pay. I can even go to Gainesville if I want to, maybe be a Gator Girl.”

“I can’t see you doing that, either,” Ashley said. “You were only a Shark because they insisted I have an interpreter and caregiver.”

“Yeah, but by senior year, I was having fun. The flips, the jumps—”

“The showing off,” Ashley interrupted with a smile.

Smoak blushed. “Yeah, the showing off. I may have thought it was stupid, but I liked the attention.”

“You were good at it,” Ashley said. “You’re almost as good at showing off as you are at being in the wrong place at the right time.”

“Wrong time,” Smoak corrected.

Ashley shook her head. “Right time, SK. You end up where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. By Gaia, I know that. You should, too.”

“You always say stuff like that,” Smoak said. “You know I don’t believe in that shit, not like that. Come on, you can take me downtown.”

“What about the Mustang?” Ashley asked.

Smoak shrugged. “Drive her until you leave for Cornell then put her in storage at your dad’s lake house.”

“It’s illegal for me to drive, Smoakie.”

“Never stopped you before,” Smoak replied.

PRESENT DAY

Ashley, this is an FBI matter not a military one
, the TTY typed.

“It never stopped you before,” Ashley said. “That asshole is trafficking in people, General. People. Rock and I rescued a young girl who is never going to be the same after what that monster did to her.”

I understand that, but I hardly see how it involves my office,
Chandler replied.
The FBI are handling it, they have several of Frulov’s men in custody, and it’s only a matter of time until he’s cornered. They will get him eventually, alright?

“Eventually isn’t good enough, General. People like this slip from the Feds every day. He needs to be taken down. If you won’t do anything, we will.”

Stand down, Ashley
, Chandler typed.
Stay out of it. If you and MacKenna are caught, I won’t be able to protect you. I already pulled my men back.

“We don’t need protecting, General,” Ashley said. “Pretend it’s the Philippines and stay the fuck out of our way.”

She ended the call and turned to Rock, who was standing in the office doorway.

“What did he say?” Rock asked.

“He said to let the Feds handle it,” Ashley replied.

Rock nodded. “Maybe that’s what you should do? You and Miss MacKenna are supposed to work in the shadows, it’s why you bought Lollipops. This needs to be in the light of day.”

Ashley smiled and pushed past Rock into the hallway. “It’s the light that makes the shadow, Rock. Come on, we have work to do.”

They had taken Megan to the University of Miami Hospital where she’d been moved to the psychiatric care unit under police guard. The hospital was one of the best in the state with experience dealing with trauma victims, and Ashley had made sure the girl’s needs would be cared for. It meant dipping into the retirement fund, but neither she nor Smoak thought they would die of old age.

Ashley passed through the emergency room entrance and into the hospital without causing undue attention. She was there often enough with Smoak that people were used to her presence. She climbed the stairs to the fourth floor and hurried down the hall to Megan’s room. An officer sat outside on a plastic chair, a magazine in his lap and a cup of coffee on the floor by his foot. He stood when he saw Ashley coming and put one hand on his pistol.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said. “This room is off limits to anyone but close family.”

“I’m Ashley, the one who brought her in.”

“And I’m sure we’re all very grateful, but, until Lieutenant Kreel clears it, I have to ask you to leave,” the officer said.

“That’s stupid,” Ashley said. “If I wanted to hurt her, I wouldn’t have brought her to the hospital.”

The cop shrugged. “I don’t make the rules, ma’am. Please move along, now.”

“Sure, Officer,” Ashley said.

She turned away, took two steps and pulled one of Smoak’s injectors from her pocket. When she turned back, she had it hidden between two fingers.

“Do you know when I might be able to see her?” she asked, stepping closer.

“That’s up to the Lieutenant,” the officer replied. “You can call him at the department if you like.”

“Do you have his card?”

The officer took his hand off his pistol and reached into his shirt pocket. Ashley stepped forward and pressed the ampule into his hand. He yanked back in surprise and shook his hand.

“What the hell, lady?” he yelled.

“I think you should sit down,” Ashley said.

“You’re… you’re…” he mumbled.

“You’re going to fall down if you don’t take a seat,” Ashley said.

The officer swayed on his feet, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to make a coherent sentence come out. Ashley grabbed his arm and helped him back into his chair, where he promptly fell asleep. She turned to make sure no one had seen and pushed open the door to Megan’s room.

Megan was lying on the single bed, a white sheet and light green blanket pulled up to her chin. A nourishing IV drip was connected to the back of her left hand, and she had color back in her face. The girl stopped staring at the sunlight streaming through the window and looked at Ashley. Her face was blank for a moment before she smiled with recognition.

“You’re the girl from that room,” she said. “The one who got me out and brought me here.”

Ashley closed the door and sat next to the girl. “That’s right, Meg. My name is Ashley, do you remember?”

Megan nodded. “I remember, you can’t hear very well.”

“But I can read lips just fine. I don’t have too much time. Can I ask you some questions?”

The girl nodded.

“Thank you, honey.”

Ashley pulled out her phone and showed Rayne’s photo to Megan. “Have you ever seen this woman?”

Megan looked at the phone and nodded. “She was in the nightmare too, in another room. I think her name is Rayne or something.”

“That’s right, her name is Rayne,” Ashley said. “She was taken, just like you. Do you know what happened to her? Is she still alive?”

“They took her away,” Megan said. “When they came for the others, they took her away with them, too.”

“Do you know where?” Ashley asked.

Megan shook her head. “No…just away. A terrible man came for her.”

Ashley scrolled her phone to a picture of Frulov taken from the internet. “Was this him?”

Megan looked at the picture and shook her head. “No, that isn’t him. He was younger and big, like he lifted weights.”

“Did they ever take you anywhere else?” Ashley asked.

Megan shook her head. “Not since the nightmare started. Not since I was taken.”

Ashley squeezed Megan’s hand. “Can you tell me about that? How you were taken?”

Megan bit her lip and shook her head. “I don’t remember anything. I was coming home from summer school, that’s all I remember.”

Ashley smiled. “Anything you can tell me will help.”

“Are you going to save the others?” Megan asked.

Ashley stood and looked down at the pale, weak-looking girl in the bed. “Yes, Megan, I am.”