Secrets (8 page)

Fighter?
She stared , amazed by his
impression of her.

“Like I said, she had these bad nightmares.
Real bad. I figured it’d run its course, but then she started
talking in her sleep. That’s when I discovered the child
prostitution ring, the heavy players that’d raped her, and the name
of the guy in charge of the ring. Some of the names she called out
sounded familiar. I began taping her ramblings and investigating
these people.” He paused. Her heart raced as she tried to remember
names and came up blank.

“They’re bad news. Let me go back a moment.
After I rescued her and two other kids from the car, I discovered
from some contacts that someone wanted these kids either returned
to the ring or taken out. The other girl was around Chastity’s age,
seven or eight, and the little boy, Frankie I think is his name,
was nine. I hired Sven to beef up security and keep her safe. He
discovered through his contacts that a contract had been engaged to
take out all the kids. They killed the little girl, but to my
knowledge, the little boy who is now a grown man, is still safe. If
Chastity’s picture has been flashed on television or through any
other media venues, then I’m afraid the contract to terminate her
may be reactivated.”

She gasped and tried to breathe through her
tight throat. Her hand flew to her mouth. Hands trembling, she
fought to think, to listen through the hysteria bubbling beneath
the surface.

He paused and stared hard into the camera.
“Kenton, Sven, these men are dangerous and have a lot to lose if
word gets out that they’ve engaged in sexual relations with young
children. They’re powerful pedophiles and criminals with clever
masks who live in the cream of society, married, with kids of their
own, yet they victimize helpless children. The arm of organized
crime that provides this lucrative service won’t go down easily
either. I don’t expect any of you to engage these assholes. No.
Your job is to keep my family safe. The FBI has information on
these rodents and turn over the information for prosecution. Over
the years, I’ve had to be careful, I couldn’t risk anything
backfiring, and allowing these assholes to bolt. Within the past
eight months, I finally got the critical pieces I needed to make
sure they all fry. It took longer than I wanted and from time to
time, we sent information to the Bureau for small busts, to help
the children, but now you can bring them down permanently. Back to
the criminals . . . if they've seen her in any type of media, they
will come after her once the FBI starts arresting them. Chastity
will never testify, and never allow her name to be mentioned in the
press over this matter. I’ve amassed enough information on those
sons of bitches that if the FBI can’t haul them in, then fuck it
and on to Plan B.”

Kenton coughed.

Chastity's stomach clenched. She refused to
glance in his direction even though she felt the heavy weight of
his stare. Fear of Kenton’s viperous mother had kept her silent all
these years. Maude Stone was a wicked woman who’d use anyone to get
her way. Neither she nor Mr. Baxter put it past Kenton’s mother to
have Chastity disposed of so she could get her hands on the
children’s money. That’s why Sven's adopting them had been a good
idea.

The flood of information Mr. Baxter unloaded
made it clear he expected them to deal with their personal problems
quickly and move on. The news that someone had searched for her
before and wanted to kill her, took a little longer to digest.

“Since my name has been linked to Chastity's
in the press, someone from the FBI will be contacting her soon.
I’ve done some consulting jobs for them in the past, and to close
out my security clearance, they’ll check to make sure you know
nothing about the cases I worked on. Let me make this clear, they
will be interviewing her as my assistant, not because they think
she knows anything personal. Sweetheart, the only people I’ve ever
told of your past are sitting in this room, and they just heard it
from me. I trust them to keep your secrets safe. Sven, vet the
agents first, make sure they’re on the up and up. I trust you on
this. Kenton, I need you to stay nearby, during the interview. Use
the excuse of being my nephew to get into the room if she needs
you. It should be standard, but it pays to be vigilant.”

A pent-up breath slipped through her lips
and her shoulders relaxed. No way would she talk to anyone about
her childhood. She’d never even discussed it with Mr. Baxter. After
her first few weeks with him, he’d stopped asking.

“Chastity, I need your co-operation. Please
stay close to Kent or Sven. When Kent returns to his assignment,
Sven will assign someone else to stay with you and the children.
Not Robbie, he’s not trained. Someone with training similar to him
and Kent.

“You and Kent need to work out whatever
problems you have, chop-chop. For the kids’ sake, I hope you’ll
forgive him. He’s a stubborn knucklehead, but underneath, a good
kid. That being said, security gets kicked up, no visitors to the
ranch. Not even Maude. She’s bound to come begging. I’m done with
her. If she hadn’t been so greedy, my hand wouldn’t be forced to
move now instead of later when the kids are older. After the FBI
starts their investigation against the men who violated my
daughter, things will move fast and may get ugly. Buckle down. Be
prepared. I wish I were there with you, but I’m counting on all of
you to remain strong and weather this storm.” He paused.

“One last thing. Don’t let anything happen
to my family.” With that last growl, the screen blanked. Silence
filled the room.

A million thoughts ran through Kenton’s
mind. They all looped to the first announcement. He had three kids.
Impossible. Three? Who was the third? Chastity raped? A child
prostitute? By old men. No wonder she had barfed when he mentioned
her and his uncle.
He'd been such an ass
. His uncle was
running this op from the grave? What the fuck? Was he the only one
who thought that was wild? Three children? Child prostitution?
Someone wanted to kill Chas? Criminals after them? His kids? Even
the Twilight Zone hadn’t been this bizarre. Another thought weighed
him down. Sven adopted his kids? He’s old enough to be my father.
Why? To keep his mom from taking them. Yeah, she would’ve tried.
Still might if she knew. His uncle had a very small sense of humor
and wasn’t the type to joke around, so on some level everything
must be true. His head beat like an untuned drum as he tried to
absorb all the information.

Sven broke the silence. “I hired three men
six months ago and I trust them to a point. They’ve been watching
the perimeter of the property, but I’m bringing them closer in.” He
slid some pictures to Chastity. She looked at each one as if
memorizing every detail before handing them to Kenton. He looked
them over and returned them to Sven.

“Before Mr. B died, we had the security
system upgraded with a few backup generators. But he wasn’t sure
how you’d take this information, Chas, so he bought another large
house in Arizona. It’s in your name. If you want to move out there,
we can do that. That house has similar features to this one: pool,
game room, lots of bedrooms and an outdoor play area for the kids.
It only has ten acres, and it’s mostly flat ground. It’s up to you
to stay or go.”

“I, I don’t know. This is a lot to digest. I
don’t remember the names of those people, it was a long time ago.
That he remembers and is still protecting me from the grave—“ She
shook her head as tears pooled in her eyes.

Kenton knew exactly how she felt. Confused,
amazed, and grateful. Without his uncle’s heads up, they would’ve
been caught unprepared. “What do you need from me?” He looked at
Sven.

“I need you packing heat in a way that
doesn’t scare the kids. You got anything small?”

Thinking of the things he had in his locker,
he slowly shook his head. “Small? No, but I can get something. How
much time do we have?”

Sven stood and placed the remote on the
desk. “Don’t know. Mr. B gave me our packets before he died in case
your picture went live. I’m not sure when the packets went out to
the FBI. It could’ve been this morning or last week. No telling. I
expect them to contact me within the next day or so. But the hit
could happen anytime if it’s a simple reactivation.”

Kenton nodded, not liking the truth, but
accepting the hand dealt him.

“I have something you can use until you can
outfit yourself later. How much leave time you got?”

He held up his arm. “Until the doctor
releases me. I had surgery a couple of weeks ago and I’m scheduled
for PT in two weeks if everything looks good.”

“How good is your left?”

“Not as good as the right, but good enough
to have it ranked high.”

Sven smiled. “I thought so.”

“I don’t want guns or weapons around the
kids.” She hadn’t looked at him all night, and even now, he doubted
she was speaking directly to him.

“Chas.” Sven sighed, drawing out her name.
“How can he work without a weapon?”

“Aren’t Seals trained to fight without
weapons? What if the gun goes off by accident? Or one of the twins
see and try to touch a knife or something. Anything could happen.”
Her breath hitched.

Kenton’s heart thudded heavily. It hurt
seeing the vulnerability in the chocolate depths of her eyes.
Hearing that someone wanted her dead justified her fear. “First
off,” he said. “I’m not a Seal. The boys asked questions about Bin
Laden and assumed that was my handle. No guns or long knives. But
you have to allow me to remain close enough around you and the
children to use my body as a shield.”

She flinched and blinked repeatedly. “I
don’t want anyone to get hurt,” she whispered. “I don’t know if we
should run or stay. My children—they’re all that matters. None of
this is their fault, they can’t be punished for my, my past.” Her
head fell into her hands as wept silently.

Shards of pain ricocheted through him
shattering his heart with her words. Without thought, he went to
her and wrapped her in his arm. She slid between his loose embrace
to the floor and rolled in a fetal position, arms tight around her
waist. Her face twisted in pain while she rocked. Horrified he
looked up as the door closed.

Sven had left him to deal with her
breakdown. Sliding to the floor, he pulled her up so she lay in his
lap. Awkwardly, he moved his battered arm around her waist and
pulled her closer beneath his chin with his left. Agonizing pain
shot up his shoulder with each shudder she made. His throat worked
as he tried to bring his emotions under control.

“Chastity, this isn’t your fault,” he said
in a gruff whisper. “You’re innocent in all this. Those men are the
guilty ones.” His large hand stroked her hair as he rocked her
gently, cradling her in his arm.

She shook her head violently. “He said it
was my fault.” The waterlogged words were mere whispers.

Kenton stilled. “Who said that?”

“The man, the one who called me his “gypsy
baby.” He said if I weren’t so pretty, so innocent-looking, he
would leave me, a…alone.” She burrowed deeper into his chest,
staining it with the tears of her tortured confession.

Hot rage streamed through him. Killing that
bastard quick would be a kindness he’d never permit if he ever got
his hands on the asshole. “That, that pervert,” he said through
clenched teeth, “would’ve said anything to justify what he knew was
wrong. You are beautiful, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to
take anything from you. He was wrong, Chas.” He kissed the top of
her head. “You were five-years-old, good and pure. Nothing that
happened during that time was your fault.” Her pain choked him.
Feverishly he tried to think what to say to ease her hurt and
misery. His uncle’s DVD had ripped off the band-aid from her
childhood suffering. Now her raw sores were bleeding all over
again, staining his soul.

“I cut my hair.” Her voice sounded tiny,
uncertain and eerily childlike.

“Huh?” He placed another kiss on the soft
spiral curls.

“He said he loved my hair and played in it
all the time. They’d wash and comb it just before he would come to
see me. That’s how I knew he'd do it again. I hated it. I hated my
hair. I cut it real short and they…they beat me.” He stroked her
hair, her back, any place he could give comfort.

“It didn’t stop him.” She sniffed. “He said
his sister had died and left him. He needed me to stop him from
missing her. I think she and I were the same age.”

Kenton closed his eyes. A shudder of anger
wracked his frame. The man was an incestuous monster who’d had sex
with his younger sister. No wonder his uncle had been afraid. No
public official would ever permit this type of secret to go public.
It’d destroy them. He held her tighter. “It’s okay, he can’t get to
you anymore. He’s as good as dead.” If not by his uncle’s plans,
then he’d take out the bastard himself. He clenched and unclenched
his wounded arm ready to make the shot.

Violently, she shook her head. “No, no he’s
not dead. He’s not.” Tormented eyes searched his face. “Promise me
they won’t get my kids.” She grabbed his wet shirt. “Promise
me.”

“I promise on my life, no one will get our
kids.” He stared, waiting for his words to penetrate. Her nostrils
flared. She released his shirt and pushed him away. Slowly, he
stood. Watching as she pulled herself together, applied her mask of
indifference, and slid on the tough veneer that she wore to hide
her secrets. Too late, he’d seen the soft, vulnerable woman beneath
the wall and he’d never forget.

“Sven?” She looked around for the older
man.

“He left.” He stepped back. “Why? Why didn’t
you tell me?” That had puzzled him ever since his uncle dropped the
bomb.

Cold eyes swung to face him. “I did when you
called to check up on me after my eighteenth birthday.” She paused,
placed one hand on her hip and a fingertip on her chin. Tilting her
face, she looked heavenward. “Oh, that’s right. You never called or
came back, did you?”