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This is all my fault, I said to myself. I closed my eyes and tried again to take another deep breath.
“Explain to me how this works. You three get them to safety. Then what?” Lock prodded, but I couldn’t find my breath to respond. “Come on, Phoebe, I need you to focus. Tell me how all of this works.”
He squeezed my shoulders massaging the tension away with talented fingers. I stood to my full height and blew out a frustrated breath.
“I told you before. We get these women to safety by any means necessary.”
“Okay, what is Tyler’s role in all this afterwards?”
“He monitors databases, makes sure no one is searching for them. If he finds someone is or that the abusers found their location somehow, we get them out of there.”
“How?”
“We have protocols. They have instructions to follow if something were to happen. But the first step is for Garrett to get the warning. We have plenty of time to relocate them. It was never a worry in the past.”
“Have you done this before? Relocate someone?”
Gripping the chair in front of me I nodded, remembering that debacle. “Yes, but it didn’t go very smoothly. It wasn’t our fault. He didn’t take heed to our warning.”
“He?” inquired Sol. I looked over at him and nodded.
“Yes,he.”
“What happened?” Sol asked.
I blew out a breath and ran my hand down my face.
“He was arrested on charges of domestic violence and raping of his wife.”
Shocked gasps filled the room and I quickly added, “They were false allegations. Let me explain. This guy was in a very abusive relationship. He was in a tight spot because anytime he would try to ward her off or defend himself, she would call the cops and have him arrested. She would lie and say he hit her. The cops would believe her over him, of course. When he would tell her he was leaving her, she’d threaten to tell the cops that he raped her and ruin his life.
“He got the courage to leave anyway and went to the shelter I volunteered at. He had asked for help. Was desperate and I helped him. I believed him. I could see it in his eyes that he was a victim. We got him out, but he made a stupid mistake. He gave his wife’s daughter his number and she called him one day asking for his help. We warned him not to go. Told him we couldn’t protect him if he left. But he refused saying the young girl needed his help. She was being abused too. So, when he got home, he was arrested. We proved his innocence in court, but the problem is she countered it with putting her daughter in the fight, charging that he had sexually assaulted her daughter too. And the daughter went along with it. A year later she recanted, but the damage to the man was enormous. He killed himself before she could get him out of prison and clear his name.”
“Damn, that’s fucked up,” commented Brady, shaking his head.
“What happened to the wife?” Ayana asked, her fists balled up tight.
“Nothing. She disappeared. No one has seen or heard from her. Her daughter, once free of the deranged woman, tried to right the wrong, but as I said, it was too late. Argh! Garrett, answer your fucking phone,” I grumbled, picking up my phone and trying to get ahold of him again.
“Hold on,” Lock covered my phone and hand with his very large one. I looked up at him, but he was frowning toward Danny. “Do you know where this asshole is?”
Danny shrugged and started typing away on his keyboard. “Yeah, he’s at the warehouse.”
“Send a squad car over there. Bring him here to us.” Lock instructed, but Danny shook his head, smiling.
“I have a better idea. Give me one…” He paused, but his fingers flew over the keys. Finally, after about half a minute he looked up at me and jutted his chin, and eyes, toward my covered hand and phone. “Call him now. He’ll answer.”
Lock released me and nodded his encouragement.
I did as I was told, and sure enough Garrett’s frustrated voice came on the line.
“What the fuck, Phoebe?”
“What the fuck? Are you fucking kidding me right now? I’ve been trying to reach you for days. Are you really that childish? Why are you ignoring me?”
“I’m not ignoring you. I’ve been busy. My life doesn’t evolve around you,” he said bitterly.
I ignored his five-year-old acting self and questioned, “Oh yeah, so you heard about Jackie and the others?”
