Page 86 of Avenging Angel

Bennett shakes his head. “I didn’t do anything to her, and Dominion would have protected her if she hadn’t run. They would have given her a new identity and a new life because loyalty has its rewards. Now she knows too much. If she connected me to the abductions, then she’s connected the CIA to Dominion. Hence, a loose end. She should have stayed hidden.”

It takes a second for me to realize the confession that Bennett just made. “The CIA is connected to Dominion by more than just laundering money to pay for sanctioned and unsanctioned operations, isn’t it?”

Bennett fills a syringe with liquid and wipes my neck with an antiseptic wipe. He flicks the glass so that the air bubble rises to the top, then presses the plunger until the air is gone and a droplet of liquid escapes.

He holds the tip of the needle to my neck. “Yes, Daisy. They are.”

I feel the pinch just before drowsiness overcomes me. The last words I hear before my world goes black are “And you’re about to find out how. Sleep tight, Daisy.”

Chapter thirty-five

Angel

The sound of multiple detonations at the entrance echoes through the tunnels once we’re out of communication range. “Take cover!” I shout as I crouch and cover my head.

Brad screams like a girl as Owen shoves him to the ground and covers his body as debris and dust fill the tunnel.

Once the rumble of tumbling rocks stops and the dirt settles, we dust ourselves off and resume movement.

“We’re trapped!” Brad says in a panic.

“Calm down,” Owen chides. “We’re not trapped. We just have a long walk ahead of us.”

I remove the flashlight from my pocket and shine it in Brad’s face. “We’ll use your water that you have stored, grab supplies, and then find Genevieve.”

Brad shakes out his hair, sending little pebbles flying in all directions. “Who is Genevieve?”

Owen removes Brad’s restraints and helps him to his feet. “A girl who was taken yesterday morning. We believe she’s hidden somewhere in these tunnels. You’re going to lead us to her. If you run, you’re not going to get far with the amount of firepower we have.”

As we walk a bit further, we come to the area where Brad had been hiding out for the past 10 to 12 hours. I shine the light across the area, stoop down, and inspect the ground. There are two sets of boot prints and drag marks in the dirt, as well as an old set of tracks for mining carts.

I shine my light toward Brad’s feet. “Let me see the bottom of your shoe.”

He does as I ask, and I match it to one set of prints and then follow the other. About 50 feet further, I point to the ground. “Brad hasn’t gone any further than this area. His prints stop here. However, the other set goes deeper, and these drag marks aren’t uniform. See how they move inward and outward a few inches?”

Scott comes over to where I’m squatting and takes a closer look. “Heel marks over uneven terrain. Follow the heel marks, and we’ll find Genevieve. Hopefully, we’ll find Eva too.”

I shake my head. “Based on these marks, it will only be one or the other.”

“I didn’t take anyone. I swear!” Brad exclaims. “I’m being set up!”

The team already suspected as much, but we had to be certain. For all we knew, Brad and Bennett were partners, but I get a gut feeling that wasn’t the case.

Jeremy says, “And the person doing it did an excellent job. There’s enough evidence to pin this on you, and at least 18 other abductions.”

“What? Why would someone do that?”

“Because Logan Bloom blames you for his sister’s death,” Jaxon replies.

There’s disbelief in Brad’s tone of voice. “Logan died shortly after his sister by driving off a cliff. He even sent me a letter before he did it, blaming me for being a despicable fiancé by not protecting his sister. In the letter was a list of the national parks she wanted to visit and the order in which she was going to visit them. There’s no way he was the one who set me up.”

He removes a folded and nearly disintegrated piece of paper from his back pocket, opening it up to show us the barely legible writing. “I’ve kept this with me because it’s a reminder of my failure. Logan wanted me to feel guilty, and it worked. Every time I wanted to move on with my life, I’d get these emails from the National Park Service for the exact location that was on the list with discounted rates for the off-season. Then posts or ads on social media would pop up.”

“And that didn’t seem suspicious to you?” Jack asks. “Logan Bloom faked his death and had the resources to do it because he works for the CIA. He now goes by the name Bennett Gray, and he’s been setting you up from the beginning.”

Brad contemplates the new information as I lead the way, following the trail that’s been left for us. I stop when I notice the other set of prints shift from a direct path to a cluster. “He rested here.”

Another 100 yards in at a split in the tunnel system, I find another cluster. “He also rested here.”