Chapter 13

I was looking at Hector as he remained seated knowing now that he'd found out something else'

"What else?"

"We've both hit the streets today. Done a lot of talking down by the river and under the bridge to some of the folk that hang out there. Seems they've just started using that place again. Word going around was that people like them were disappearing. No pattern to it, some old, young, male, female and various ethnic backgrounds. The only commonality was that they were the ones that seemed in good health"

"Lapira got talking to some of the men down there. Their explanation didn't really make sense to start with. The summer had been a hot one so there was more comings and goings until the weather started to turn bad. That was when it was noticed that not everyone returned. They reformed the areas that they'd always used, protection in numbers, but then were aware of others just never coming back in the evening"

I was really hoping that Hector would get to the point. His background information wasn't helping with my patience.

"Then some rumors started of men coming into the camps and physically taking people"

"That was a big risk"

To do that the men who were abducting folk must have had a timeline to keep up with, but what the hell were they doing and why. There was nothing to steal from people like that, so was it some plan to rid the streets of the homeless? Those people weren't always the nicest people to be around. They could be loud and vulgar and intimidate people, often stealing to feed a habit of drugs or alcohol. Violence wasn't unheard of either so maybe a group of vigilantes had got together to do something about it.

"The last ones to go missing were all young women"

That had me looking up at Hector, I so did not expect that. That did not fit in with what I was thinking of.

"For prostitution?"

It wasn't unknown for women to be taken and sold into the sex trade, in fact trafficking women and children happened more often in the States than people would like to know. The idea that Steph had been taken with that in mind quite honestly scared me. Tracking her would be impossible especially considering the time that had passed. I'm sure all of the tension that had left me after being next to that woman's body hit me full force, I didn't want to even think about the hurt and fear that Steph would go through if she had been abducted.

"I don't know. Just that they never turned up"

We had to move quickly now because time was of the essence. The one niggle at the back of my mind was that the last place that she had been, was her apartment. There hadn't been any mention of someone breaking into her apartment.

What Hector had just said though had me remembering what I'd heard from Hendrick. He'd said that he had bodies that he couldn't identify, that had been left to the elements and the wild animals. Could those be the same people?

"Why have the people decided to return to their usual haunts"

Thinking that they must have known that maybe the danger to them had gone.

"The men stopped coming, people stopped disappearing and turning up dead. One of the old men, he said he heard a shootout"

"The warehouse by the river?"

"I think so, but he'll only talk to you. He doesn't trust me and he hates Lapira"

"Set up a meeting with him"

I followed Hector out and walked into the control area to check in with the men on monitor duty. I'd been remiss with keeping in touch with the daily running of the place and especially showing my face to the men. All seemed quiet as the two men looked around to see me, each man nodding his head to assure me that they were in control and that there were no unusual situations.

I went to the conference room that had become the place where I had started to record everything, surprised to see Ram sat at the table.

"Sorry boss, I needed somewhere quiet to work"

"What are you working on?"

Curious to know why he would even need to be working and why in here. There were plenty of places that he could have used that afforded the same sense of quiet.

"I contacted the doc, the one who did the autopsies. There were some questions that I wanted to ask her"

"Did you get your answers?"

Now curious as to what had him wanting to do that.

"I think so. When I looked at some of the autopsy photos there were things that didn't look right. She was intrigued with what I was asking so went back to the sheriff's office to take another look at the woman"

I sat down next to Ram as he opened up a video, a video that to start with had me having to control my emotions. Ram was too absorbed to notice and had started the video.

"We're looking at the area inside the abdomen of that woman. The doc assumed the damage was caused by bears, trying to get some fresh meat. But look here"

I looked to where Ram was pointing to on the screen and as he paused the video. I deduced that this was somewhere in the lower back of the woman, but I was struggling to see what Ram was wanting me to recognize. He zoomed into one area at which I just said what I thought I was seeing.

"The skin looks scorched"

Which to me wasn't unusual seeing as the body had been badly burnt.

"If it was animals that ripped her open then how is there burnt flesh inside?"

I looked again at the view on the screen, trying to come up with an explanation, trying to remember what the sheriff had said.

"The sheriff mentioned that large pieces of metal were still embedded in the chest and abdomen"

"I know, but that wouldn't allow scorching to enter this deep. You know yourself if something stabs it can become a barrier to slow down the bleeding and the guts would form a protective layer"

"What are you saying Ram?"

"I think that she was cut open before the accident"

I sat back as I thought that through, the ramifications of what he had said trying to work out in my mind why someone would cut her so badly. Then of course I was thinking of the news that Hector had reported concerning the missing women. Was it possible that the woman was one of those taken from here in Trenton? But what had happened to her and how did she end up in the car with Morelli? Did that mean that someone had murdered Morelli as well?

"Did they do a tox screen on Morelli?"

Wondering how the hell they had got him into the car and then had it drive off the road.

"I asked the Doc that, but she'd have to send everything off for analysis. She offered to bring all the samples that she'd collected here. I think she wants to play in our lab"

I had no doubt that Ram had done a search on this Doc and maybe there was more to it than her being a good doctor. My thoughts were distracted as the door opened and I watched as Tank, Santos, Brown and Hector came in. Ram made to get up, but I shook my head at him because I wanted him to stay. He had a lot to offer to the meeting now and I was sure that the others would see how the small pieces that we'd found were beginning to fit together.

As soon as everyone was seated, I actually stood up and decided to use the board to explain what we had.

"This started when Eula asked Steph to find a young person, Lainey, and Morelli decided that seeing as I was away, he'd try to put some pressure onto Steph. Steph followed the clues, as she always has done, with Morelli following her"

As I spoke, I was rubbing out some of the previous writing colored red and replacing it in blue because now I was very certain that she had never gone away with Morelli.

"One of the clues was a man named Joseph Thomson, previously known as Damir Markovic. He was also looking for Lainey, though the connection isn't clear as to why. In the meantime, there have been a number of people taken from the streets and I think murdered, their bodies left as though time and animals had done their worst. The woman with Morelli, I think that she was one of those who went missing. Murdered before the car went off the road"

I turned to gage the reaction from the men sat at the table and wasn't surprised when the questions started to fly.

"Who is Damir Markovic?"

I looked to Santos to answer that one because he knew as much as I did.

"Serbian nuclear physicist who was extracted 12 years ago by the American government. Ranger and I were part of the team that went in"

"The woman in the car, you know it might be possible that she's Eastern European"

I nodded my head at Ram, pleased that he'd been quick to see a possible link remembering Ram's comment on the plane about the crudity of her fillings and state of her teeth, then added the name of the country in red underneath her details.

"Do you think this Markovic has Steph?"

Came from Brown, a good question, but I couldn't see why, then again, the reason for him looking for Lainey was eluding me.

Yeah, Santos would know that I'd run a search on him already and to be honest I was glad that I had. At the time I never considered that he would be the man we would eventually be led to, but I'd been curious at what he was doing 12 years later.

"He owns a consultancy agency. They trouble shoot problems for engineering companies. Though he is less hands on and looks to oversee any contracts"

As I added that information underneath his name I also included where he was living. Dreahook NJ.

"Shit, I never realized that he was that close to us"

"Why would we Santos?'

Afterall the last time that we had seen him was on a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean. I turned from the board and looked at Brown who had several files in front of him.

"I spoke to Hendrick. The bodies that he has are ones that have been found out in the Pine Barrens. His opinion is that they'd been there for some time, probably over the summer so there was a lot of deterioration. He can't find an obvious cause of death and is struggling to id who they are"

"Any more recent?"

Thinking of the information that Hector had found out.

"No. What do you know Ranger?"

I looked at Hector before giving my answer trying to put a timeline together.

"Hector, you said that were some young women that went missing, when would that have been?"

"Maybe a month ago"

"Hendrick is sure that the bodies that he has are older than that and no young women, but you know he was very reticent to go into any details with me"

It didn't make sense to me, that was if the women going missing tied in with the other bodies. Had someone decided that instead of killing people they'd change who they took and what they did with them, sell them maybe? Or had they found a better way to dispose of the bodies. But then why revert to taking women, I was going around in circles and was glad of the distraction of Tank talking.

"Are you saying that these people dying are connected to Steph going missing?"

I pulled out a chair and sat down as I considered that question. Was that what I was saying or was I trying to put too many unknowns into the equation. It was Ram who threw in another observation that he and the doc had noticed and were puzzled about.

"The woman with Morelli, she ended up in a similar condition. The Doc and I both found it strange that the animals didn't seem to like the idea of having a go at Morelli"

That got a few laughs from around the table but even I knew that linking her to this was very tenuous.

"What now?"

Of course it was Tank who brought us all back to the seriousness of the meeting.

"Hector is setting up a meeting for me in the morning and then I think I'll pay an old friend a visit"

The dreams came that night to plague me. Dreams of Steph. They came from reality, like finding her in a cupboard at Stiva's old house, at the bottom of a dug out grave and even pulling her out of the Delaware. All held a relief at finding her, saving her until I turned her in my arms to hold and comfort her. That was when, very slowly, her skin began to darken and her hair swirled like smoke until I was looking into the face of a burnt and disfigured face.

Waking drenched in sweat I knew that sleep wasn't going to happen. Instead, I turned on the light and opened the top drawer next to the bed and underneath some papers found what I was looking for. I lay there holding a photograph of my Babe, stroking her cheek with my finger. She was my balm when I was troubled, the light when I was engulfed in darkness. I had to find her and bring her back home.

Dressed in jeans and a sweater and dark long trench coat, I walked with Hector from our car. I wasn't surprised as we walked down toward the river but was when we entered a building close to that warehouse. The building was a wreck, an old wooden structure that was slowly decaying from the ravages of time. It had a similar layout to the one that we'd been to close by, a large room downstairs with smaller rooms upstairs. No doubt at some time in the past it had been used to accept goods transported from boats on the river.

We carefully navigated the worn and creaking wooden stairs, keeping close to the wall to avoid the missing boards and rotting wood. It might have been a good place to hide out in, but it was also in danger of collapsing. I found myself in an empty room, devoid of furniture. The light coming through the broken windows danced on the dust floating in the air. The silhouette of a figure turned toward us, his face in the shadows. The figure was stooped, leant against the window frame as though looking out at the view beyond and maybe he had been.

"I use this place, it's quiet and no one disturbs me"

I recognized an old blanket in the corner of the room along with some plastic bags and a paper bag that might have held some bread. This must have been the place that Ram had found when we were watching the warehouse next door. I watched as the man nodded to Hector obviously recognizing him and hopefully prepared to give us his story. I remained where I was not wanting to intimidate the old man who I was watching, waiting.

"I don't need much sleep, get uncomfortable laying on the hard floor. The aches they aint good as you get older, so I look out of the window, at the river and the lights. The comings and goings of folk. I'd seen that woman of yours, pretty lass. She'd been looking around some of the buildings and then one evening when she came, well I found it real strange. I watched as she broke into that building over there. Almost looked as though she were squeezing her way through the door"

I was surprised at what he was suggesting, knowing that beyond the wooden doors there was a wall of metal. Maybe the gap between the walls was just wide enough for Steph to squeeze through.

"I had to wait and see what happened, I was curious with what she was up to. Next thing I knew she was coming back out, but she had another lassie with her. That's when I noticed this boat that was pulling into the dock, lights blazing and there were people moving things onto the boat, so I was watching them instead"

I knew from Steph's trackers that she'd gone back to her apartment from here so was confident that nothing had happened to her at the warehouse.

"What did it look like, what they were moving?"

Curious because it might give us an indication of what had been happening inside.

"Boxes and tables, oh and big bags, you know them garbage bags"

So nothing that he could describe. I found it strange that they seemed to be packing up and leaving, wondering what had spooked them, or had they decided that it was time to move somewhere else.

"There was a lot of coming and going and that was when I noticed a man, trying to hide below the dock. Seems I wasn't the only one to see him though, because there was a lot of shouting and that's when I heard gunfire. The boat, it took off, and all of a sudden there were armed men surrounding the place, had FBI across their backs. One hell of a gunfight and then just silence"

That accounted for the FBI surveillance, maybe waiting to see if the warehouse was being used again. Hearing the old man's account of seeing Steph I was pretty sure that she had found Lainey. What I couldn't work out was why Lainey would be inside, but it seemed that Steph had found her and had managed to get her out. Was Steph now with Lainey, had they gone into hiding? If they were that afraid then surely Steph would have gone to Santos or Tank, wouldn't she? It still didn't account for Morelli though, unless he was the one hiding at the dock.

"Do you know what was happening inside the building?"

Hopeful that the old man in front of me would have seen enough to be able to tell me.

"No. I'd only just decided to come back here. Had only been here a few days, but come to think of it, I'm sure that I heard a boat coming in and out. Never thought much about it until that night"

I gave the man some money, hopeful that he'd spend it on food and left the building to walk back to the car with Hector.

"They could have been up to anything in there"

Was the only comment that Hector made but it did have me wondering if the FBI had been watching the place. I knew that I wanted to visit Markovic, but I had time to make a call. I wanted to know what the FBI were doing watching that place and if they knew what was happening inside. Someone had been in and cleaned the place up, would the FBI had done that and if they did what were they trying to cover up?

Once back at Rangeman I went straight to my office. With the door closed I opened my contact list on my phone. I was looking for the man that I'd had some dealings with before, a man who I was sure owed me a favor after the last job that we'd done for him. Yeah, we took on jobs for some of the alphabet agencies and not just when it related to government missions. A year ago, I was asked to track down a shooter, one who had been trained by the army as a sniper. He was retired early from the army for psychological issues, and it seemed that those issues had followed him. He'd become a one man vigilante, an assassin I suppose who had focused his rifle on leaders at mosques, the Imam. Politically it had to be stopped and had already caused a lot of unrest. It wasn't an easy task but as with most people I'd eventually unraveled his habits and patterns, capturing the man to hand him over to the FBI.

"Manoso, haven't heard from you for a while"

Probably because it was usually Gregson who called me.

"I need some information"

I was aware of the pause before I heard his voice again wondering what the hell that was about.

"To be honest I expected a call from you sooner"

I wasn't going to go around in circles with this, I needed some answers and pretty quickly so was going to get straight to the point.

"What was . . ."

"Not on the phone. Meet me at the usual place, 9pm tonight"

Sat with the phone in my hand had me feeling nervous. Gregson had never been that abrupt with me before and the fact that he was asking me to meet him at the usual place had me thinking that he was nervous. I wasn't sure if it was because he knew what question I was going to ask and it broke confidentiality or there was something else. That was something to manage tonight, for now I needed to change and head over to Dreahook and hope that Markovic was there and that I was allowed inside I just hoped that he was prepared to talk to me, but I had my doubts. A lot of ifs to overcome but I knew that I had to somehow get a feel for what his involvement was.

I changed into smart trousers and a shirt with a jacket over the top. It was cool outside so the jacket would cover my gun. I wasn't going anywhere unprepared especially if I was going to be meeting with Gregson later. Santos was going with me as he had been on that mission, and I was hoping that if Markovic recognized one of us then he would assume that we weren't there to threaten him. I wasn't stupid though and had a backup team shadowing us. Santos was wired with both a mic and a camera so any conversation could be recorded. I didn't want Markovic to go screaming to the government that we were harassing him.

During the drive there I filled Santos in on the conversation from the morning and also the fact that I'd contacted Gregson.

"He just cut you off?"

Asked a surprised Santos.

"Yes. Then told me to meet him"

"I suppose they could have figured out that it was us that went into that warehouse"

It made some sense because he did say that he was expecting a call from me.

"Why so secretive?"

I said that more to myself than to Santos and was aware of him shrugging his shoulders. That conversation over I could once again focus on driving. We had no one following us, which to be honest, I hadn't considered anyone tailing us before. The events of the morning though had me on edge and I was even more worried about what Gregson was going to say. The road that led to where Markovic lived was narrow and winding taking us past some large houses set back from the road. The address for Markovic was no exception with white fencing separating the road from the field in front of the house. Looking closer I was sure that beyond the fencing there was a tall fine metal barrier. Maybe living out here where it was so isolated required an extra degree of security. The house itself was hidden by trees but as it came into view, I heard a whistle come from Santos.

"He's done well for himself. Not exactly the home of an ordinary man"

He was right. The white house in front of us was imposing with two sets of windows on either side of the main entrance and a roof that contained three dormers above the first floor. I parked the car on the graveled turning area to one side of the door, allowing me time to observe the house better. There were blinds on all of the windows, all of them closed and a security system prominently positioned under the eaves. Cameras were located giving complete coverage of the drive and field so no doubt our arrival would already be known. Leaving the car and walking up to the front door I was surprised when it was opened by a man in a suit before we even had chance to knock. A man who was broad and thick set with a shirt and tie that looked uncomfortable around the muscles of his neck. The bulge at his chest suggested that he was carrying, and the radio suggested that he wasn't the only one.

"I'm here to see Mr Anderson"

"Do you have an appointment?"

I looked squarely at the man as he said that, noting the slight accent to his voice. He knew damn well that I didn't have an appointment and from the way he was stood I reckoned he wasn't about to let me in.

"Would you tell Mr Markovic that it is very important that I speak with him"

That hadn't been what he was expecting and as I thought, using the name Markovic, certainly surprised him. He disappeared back through the door, closing it behind him so hopefully he was going to take my request to Markovic. We were silent as we stood and waited, yeah, Santos had seen the cameras as well and no doubt, like me, suspected that there could be microphones around. As the door opened the man was stood to one side as he invited us in.

"Please follow me"

The house seemed dark as we walked through the hallway with only the small lights on the wall reflecting from the white paintwork. A door was open ahead of us which was where we were led through. The contrast in brightness had me blinking a few times before my eyes became accustomed to the strong sunlight entering through the glass. The room was actually a conservatory that looked to be the width of the house. To my right I saw couches set around a low table and to my left an area set for dining.

"Maybe you should sit down if you need to talk to me"

I turned to see Markovic walk through the doorway and make his way to where the couches were. As Santos and I sat opposite him I watched as Markovic was looking between Santos and me.

"Have I met you two before?"

I suppose it had been a few years ago since he had seen us and there were other men involved, all of us dressed in combat gear. I wasn't sure if him knowing us was a good thing or not, but I wanted an honest conversation with the man.

"Yes. 12 years ago, in Vinca, Serbia"

I watched as he thought through what I'd said and as he frowned before anger came to his face. To be honest he'd changed a lot since we'd seen him last and that would make the photo from the search quite old as well. 12 years hadn't been kind to him. Long grey thinning hair and from what I could see he'd lost weight. I was certain, though, that the man sat in front of me certainly did resemble the cocky man that we'd met in Serbia. I needed to assure the man that us being here had nothing to do with that.

"Mr Anderson. We're here because we know that you were looking for a girl named Lainey. A woman was helping her and now she's missing as well"

"Lainey. What is it you want?"

"To find the woman who was looking for her. I'm sure that she was with Lainey"

I sat forward on the couch waiting to hear that Lainey and even Steph might be here, safe and sound, or at least that he knew where they were.

"I'm sorry, I don't know anything. Do you still work with the army?"

I was thrown by the question and why he would want to know that, I mean what the hell did it have to do with Steph still being missing?

"No. I'm here as a close friend to Steph. I need to find her and assumed that as you were looking for Lainey you might have information that could help me"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I think you need to leave. Now"

The arrival of four men in the room had me looking at Santos and then standing up. Markovic had his back to us and was already walking away from us. I saw no other option but to let those men escort us out of the house. As we drove back down the drive they were still watching as we left.

"He knows something"

I totally agreed with Santos's comment but was trying to decipher the messages that Markovic had given out. He'd been worried and then angry when we'd arrived, as though he was expecting us to be there for a different reason. Somehow Markovic was definitely involved but I had no idea how. I was annoyed with myself because for some stupid reason I'd expected him to be more forthcoming with why he was looking for that girl.

The anger turned into a steely determination. This was what I did, what I was paid by the government to do, to find people and return them home. This was going to be one job that I was going to do for me, because I had to get Steph back. There was no other option. I couldn't let my emotions rule my judgement. Yeah, that wasn't going to be easy.

There wasn't any point in returning to Rangeman as we were already on our way to where I would be meeting with Gregson, so I decided to stop and get a report from Cal and Binkie.

"Send a message to the backup team and have them meet with us here"

Ten minutes later their SUV pulled into the parking area behind us, and I watched as Cal and Binkie left their car and joined us in the back of ours.

"What did you observe?"

Because all of those guards had to have been there for a reason.

"The perimeter had been modified with additional strengthening and a lot of sensors and cameras. There were men with dogs patrolling outside but there were also a couple of cars parked up behind the property, out of view"

So Markovic felt threatened but by who?

"Did the cars give you any indication as to who they might belong to?"

"No. Two men in each car as though keeping surveillance on the place"

Interesting that there was someone watching Markovic, making me wonder who it might be. I gave the address for where my meeting with Gregson was going to happen and instructed Cal and Binkie to arrive before we did and scout out the area, then to keep a safe distance away when I arrived. I had never before doubted Gregson, but with him only wanting to talk to me in an open place wasn't making me comfortable.