Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

and it wasn’t pretty.  She was able to tell us that it was a cologne someone was wearing that set it off.  Can you take a look at the feed and see if it is the same guy you are talking about?”

“Sure.  Whatever you guys need.”

“He is wearing a ball cap with an American flag on the front. You’ll see him walk behind Mia.”

“Okay.  I’m on it. Let me get in there, and I’ll give you guys a call back once I take a look.”

“We appreciate it.”

Ace hung up, and Stitch ran his hand thru his hair.

“Ace, with Elijah looking for Mia, we can’t let our guard down.”

“I know Stitch, I know.  If they come, we’ll be ready.  The good thing is that we aren’t still in town.”

“Yeah, but it only takes one person to say the wrong thing, and we could have trouble on the doorstep.”

“Well, let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.”

Within five minutes, they had their answer, and it wasn’t good.  The man in question at the bar was Brice Vargas, a detective for the NYPD and an inside informant for Dr. Elijah Walters. An arrest warrant had been issued for him as well.

Trouble was by the time Terek took a look at the video and walked around the bar searching for him; he was long gone.

Now, the team had to sit tight and wait.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Elijah stared out the passenger window as Claus drove them through the mountains' winding roads toward the town where Mia was thought to be hiding.  Thanks to Vargas’ investigative skills, he was able to gather information on Mia along with her brothers and his friends who had been hiding her but insinuating to outsiders that she was missing. He knew Mia’s brother was in the military, but he was surprised to learn that he is a Navy SEAL.

Vargas had called and said a buddy had contacted him, telling him that the Feds wanted to talk to him. He quickly made his way out of the city limits of Virginia Beach and was heading up towards the mountains following Mia. He was lying low, but said he would meet up with him once he got into town.

They entered Elkton, Virginia's city limits, which was only about forty-five minutes from where Mia was supposedly hiding out. He had a plan in place, but upon hearing that it was a large group that traveled with them, he needed to revisit and adjust those plans. Vargas had mentioned there were four other men and four women who had joined Mia and her lover.  Knowing he was dealing with Special Forces soldiers, he needed to be smart and create a well-thought-out plan. These guys wouldn’t fall for just anything, but he needed to find a way to draw their attention away from the women, specifically Mia.

Claus pulled the car into a run-down motel that looked like it had been abandoned, but the flickering vacancy neon sign said otherwise.

Elijah sighed. “There isn’t anything else?”

Claus snorted. “Not unless you want to stay in a shed with pigs and cows. There isn’t anything in this town. Are you sure you don’t want to go elsewhere?”

“Shit. No, we need to play it safe and lay low for a day or two. At least with this place, I’m sure they won’t worry about you showing any ID or paying with cash.”

While Claus went inside to get their rooms, Elijah sent Vargas a text on the burner phone he had purchased to communicate. Vargas replied, letting him know that he had picked up some supplies he had requested. They agreed to meet up later after dark and go over the plan that Elijah was concocting in his mind.

Claus got back into the car and grinned.

“What are you smiling about?”

“We may have some luck on our side. There is a big rally tomorrow being held downtown Sugar Bend. A major corporation wants to buy up land around the National Park to build, and the people in the area aren’t happy about it.”

“And, that concerns us why?”

“A protest rally means heavy police presence. I can’t imagine these small towns have a huge police force, which means—”

“They will be too busy to patrol the rest of the town.”

“Exactly. And if Vargas is right, that cabin is about thirty minutes from town. As long as we have a good plan, that should give us plenty of time to do what we came to do.”

“What about the guys that Vargas said were staying with them? We know that the brother is a SEAL.”

Elijah smiled. “We create a distraction. Call Vargas and tell him to pick up some gasoline.” Claus raised an eyebrow at him, and Elijah’s smile grew, “I’m in the mood for a bonfire.”

As Claus drove around to the other side of the motel where their room was, Elijah had made his final decision. He wasn’t going to let Mia have the easy way out, death is too easy for what she’s put him through. He was going to make her pay for her disloyalty by being his possession. She would live out the rest of her life under his control.

◆◆◆

“You need us to do what?” Stitch asked, looking at his friend the Sheriff as if he was out of his mind. Two days had passed, and there had been no signs of Elijah or Brice Vargas. Not that they’d let their guard down either.

“I need you guys to help with crowd control.”

“You do realize we hate crowds,” Irish said, drawing nods from the others.

“I promise you won’t be in the mix of the crowd. I just need some perimeter assistance. Several agencies from the neighboring counties who were scheduled to assist are now dealing with their own rallies in their towns.  This land control shit is so out of fucking control it is a wonder we haven’t had riots.”

The Sheriff pleaded with his eyes, “I just need you guys for about an hour or two.”

Stitch looked at Ace. It was funny that they still looked