AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Call it job security, I guess.” Killion shrugged off.
“Good point.” Relay smirked. “Anyway, we’ll have the information fast and know who the real samples belong to based on what Carter was able to get from his office for us. So not only will we be able to rule you out when the samples don’t match but we’ll also find out who the killer is. Hopefully.”
This time, Wit had something to say about Killion and Relay.
“Wow.” He started. “They’re like… the same person.”
Hen nodded. “He’s the boy version of Relay.”
“Nah, nah,” Wit corrected. “She’s the girl version of Killion.”
Cane shook his head at both men. “We need to figure out who’s feeding us information. Why are they an ally? Because we’re both after the same enemy? Or is it something else? It would also be nice if we can figure that out so we can get ahead of whatever fucking storm is likely headed our way and about to rain down on all of us.”
“I got a hit.” Killion interrupted as his system pinged.
Everyone sat straighter waiting for the single most important clue to break this case wide open or for the other shoe to drop.
“Is it the DNA?” Wit asked. “You clear us?”
“No,” Relay mumbled, then bit her bottom lip as she reviewed whatever was on her screen as well as Killion’s. She looked up at him and found Killion wearing the same befuddled expression, and he nodded for her to proceed. “It’s the Safe Haven log. We digitized everything we know from the log, to agents, and associates related and unrelated. We could only link cases and individuals who ended with an arrest, prosecutions, and even convictions. It was our way to cast a wide net and gather absolutely everything we know to be truth and fact so our results would be considered reliable.”
“Safe Haven?” Hen questioned. “What’s that?”
Killion and Relay looked at one another as if they knew something the rest didn’t.
“It’s a group or I guess an organization, really, that works together as sort of an underground operation that rescues people from the most unimaginable things from domestic abuse to human trafficking and beyond. We have truck drivers who transport, motel and air B&B owners who offer shelter and temporary hide out, to guns for hire, like me and Coy. It’s the highly trained and regular Joe working together to help those society has… well, let down.”
“Sounds great. Important even,” Hen went on. “But how am I connected to anything in that database you’re creating?”
“Omar Lindstrom,” Killion said. “Ring a bell?”
Wit groaned. “Fuck… me. Omar? Really? This ain’t gonna be good.”
Hen leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers together in front of him with his elbows resting on the arms of his chair. “Holy shit.”
“Then I guess it does… ring a bell,” Killion said.
“Sure does. I worked that one for Safe Haven,” Wit said. “Early on, long before I came here. We were hired by a vic’s family to get their daughter out of some bad shit. She’d been missing for a couple of years, and a P.I. found her. She’d turned up on a site –– an online auction. It was above his head so that’s where we came in. A little recon later and we had people in and out –– got the girls out of there and gave the case to the authorities with ironclad evidence, witness and victim statements, all tied up with a nice little bow on top. We had protection details on the families after the extraction until Lindstrom was done, locked up, and someone tossed out the key.”
“I remember that case,” Carter said, quick to pull his phone and tap at the screen while talking with the two teams. “It came through my office. I’ll see what I can get quick.”
“I remember Lindstrom. I was a part of the extraction team.” Hen rolled his tongue across his teeth with disgust while his head slowly bobbed. “A buddy brought me in last minute as a fill-in. Didn’t know much about who we were doin’ it for, but knew we were on the right side of somethin’ sick. I was, uh, lookin’… for someone. It was for a different case. I thought I’d pick up a lead, but it was a bust. Glad we got that asshole, though. That case left a mark on everyone who worked it.”
“Huh.” Wit stared at a pen he’d been twirling on the table. “I was on a protection detail after the bust. Kinda similar sitch… with an alternate case, that is. My lead was a bust, but that’s when I signed on with Safe Haven as a regular. After seein’ that… nothin’ else seemed to matter but rescuin’ people like those from the Lindstrom trafficking ring.”
“You two worked the same case and didn’t even know it,” Relay pointed out.
“That isn’t uncommon with Safe Haven. Everything is pretty anonymous like that. It’s how we keep people safe. Not just the vics but the people keepin’ them safe too,” Wit shared.
“I didn’t even know it was called Safe Haven. Just thought it was a private security company and never got a name, just a deposit from a shell company in my bank account,” Hen told the group. “That work shaped me for the rest of my career that followed clear until now. If I’d have known… I’d have signed up too.”
“Well, someone knew you worked the same case,” Ryker chimed in. “Lindstrom? Could this be him?”
“Doubt it.” Carter shook his head, pecked a button on his screen, and set his phone down, seeming disappointed. “He’s dying in a super max. Cancer. On hospice so he’s near the end.”
“Damn,” Wit replied. “Well, it’s a starting point, right? Maybe Lindstrom isn’t the guy, but it raises an interesting crossover between Hen and me. He didn’t know he’d even worked Safe Haven, so maybe he unknowingly worked others.”
“I did a lot of private work after I discharged from active duty before being recruited to my current status,” Hen shared. “It’s possible there were others.”
