AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No! No, for God’s sake, no! I’m not married. I’m not seeing anyone else. You know how protective my uncle is, Abe. I’m really stuck here. I have to obey him right now. It’s the way our family is.”
Abe nodded at her, curious for the millionth time about what her uncle actually did for a living. On paper, Jessup Wolford was a businessman with multiple businesses in the area. He owned three convenience stores, one hotel, a car dealership, and recently ventured out, buying a shipping company. But there was something about the man that sent warning signals to Abe’s brain.
“Lyra, baby, I’m serious about you. I want to make a life with you, but we have to be honest with one another.”
“I am being honest with you. I’m not seeing anyone else, Abe. You know I’m not. Between work and my part-time teaching at the university, I have no time, and Uncle Jessup is always asking me to have dinner with him and his clients.” She kissed him, grabbing her purse as she headed to the door. Turning, she stared at him with tears in her eyes, then smiled. “I’m serious about you, too.”
That was the last time he saw her. The last time she was standing in front of him with her impossibly adorable dimple, gorgeous body, and bright smile. He’d tried to contact her uncle, but no one would respond to him.
Knowing he needed to find another way, he stalked her favorite coffee shops and restaurants until he found someone who knew her.
“Yea, yea, I know her,” said the waitress. “Lyra was her name. Really nice lady. She used to come in here like clockwork every Thursday morning. Would sit right over there with a man.”
“A man?” frowned Abe as the pit in his gut grew a mile wide.
“Oh, it wasn’t like that. You could tell it was something serious. All business. I don’t think I was supposed to see it, but he had a badge on his belt. Not local police, though.”
“A badge? What the fuck?” muttered Abe. “Was there anything that stuck out on her last visit? Was she nervous? Scared?”
“I don’t know,” said the waitress, shaking her head. “Oh, wait. Her bag.”
“Her bag?”
“Yea, she always carried this really small cross-body bag. It was beautiful, designer all the way. But that day, she was carrying this huge hobo-style bag.” Abe frowned at her, not understanding what she was saying. The waitress looked around and pointed to another woman’s bag. “That’s a hobo bag. Anyway, it was packed full. When she left, the cop carried it for her.”
“Shit,” muttered Abe. “What the fuck is happening here?”
“Sorry, I have to get to my other tables.” He nodded, leaving a twenty-dollar bill on the table.
It would have been easy to call home and get some help, but then he’d have to answer questions about why he hadn’t gone home recently. Instead, he dug his heels in and started investigating on his own. All of his free time was spent looking for Lyra, hoping to find one small nugget that would bring her back.
When he was given the option to work with a joint team that included Homeland and the FBI, he grabbed it, hoping that maybe he could pick the brains of a few different people.
It would change his entire life.
“Salcedo? We have an assignment for you. A witsec.”
Witness security was something that usually the local police would provide, or the FBI. This had to be someone pretty important for the feds to put a SEAL on them. As they approached the house, the agents on duty seemed to be running around in a chaotic fashion.
“What’s going on?” asked Abe to one of the agents.
“We think the witness has been made. We’ve got to move now.”
“Okay, I’ll follow to the new location.”
Waiting inside the government-issued vehicle, he stared at the front door of the brownstone. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. As he opened the car door to step out, he watched as the front door opened. Another agent walked out first, then a woman. A woman he knew all too well.
“Lyra,” he whispered. “Son-of-a-bitch. Lyra.” As he moved to cross the street, she looked up, connecting with his gaze, and froze. That’s when all hell broke loose. The entire house exploded in a thundering roar. The agent on the porch was thrown to the front lawn while Lyra and the other agent disappeared. Abe was tossed back against his car, dropping to the concrete. His head was fuzzy, the visions in front of him unclear. When he was finally able to stand, he saw the complete destruction in front of him.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No!”
Hours of interviews later, he still didn’t know what hospital they’d taken her to. Seated in one of the interrogation rooms, he waited for his commanding officer and the division chief to come in and speak with him.
“Abe, I’m sorry, brother. She didn’t make it. We lost her and one of our agents,” said his CO.
“She disappeared on me. We were serious about one another, then she was gone. What the fuck is happening here?”
“She was a witness in her uncle’s criminal case. Money laundering, organized crime, prostitution, drugs, all of it. We’d been working with her since she was nineteen years old. She’d feed us information when she could, carefully. First, it was during class at the university. Then we’d meet her for coffee or something.
