When Dove Cries (2 page)

“Shit!” he cried as he caught her just as her knees gave out.

All her strength was gone, depleted from her riot of emotions as well as escaping.

She focused on his shocked blue eyes and thought they were a pretty color. She’d never thought she’d see such a beautiful blue again.

“H-help…m-me,” she managed, although she knew her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Hold on, sweetheart,” he urged. “No, don’t close those eyes. Come on—”

That was all she heard as the world narrowed and darkness descended.

Chapter One

Draven led the way back to Destiny the whole way from Vegas even though he didn’t like having the FBI agent at his back. But it seemed like Cade Vanaker didn’t trust him either. They’d been at a standoff for a whole day until he’d realized all he wanted to do was get home. He had to be a great actor, too, because Skids had believed him about his newfound nomad friend and had sent him back to Destiny with a cheery wave before he’d disappeared into the drunken delights of pussy galore.

They probably wouldn’t see Skids again for a few months.

He was just a few miles from home when he rounded a bend and saw a battered and bedraggled woman reaching out to him. He hit the brakes hard and flipped out the kickstand all in one breath.

“Call nine-one-one!” he shouted to Cade as he raced to the woman. She looked sick and thin, to the point of gaunt. A zip tie had broken into the skin around her wrists. The wound oozed a mixture of blood and pus.

“H-help…m-me.”

“Hold on, sweetheart,” he urged. “No, don’t close those eyes. Come on—”

But her eyes fluttered closed, and she fell limp in his arms. While Cade called the authorities on his cell phone, he moved her to the shoulder of the road. Then he knelt and cradled her as he reached for the knife attached to his belt. Carefully, he cut through the hard plastic that held her wrists together. The infected skin looked awful. In fact, there wasn’t one bit of her that didn’t look battered. Dark smudges encircled her eye sockets. Her mocha-colored skin lay sallow over her protruding cheekbones. Mud matted bits of her black hair together. She smelled like old mold, and she shivered, even in the warm sunlight. A fierce protectiveness surged through him as he held her, and he knew he’d be damned if he let anyone or anything else harm her.

Cade ran up next to him. “Ambulance is on the way. Holy shit, she looks bad. Do you know her?”

“No,” Draven said as he nodded in the direction she’d come from. “She came from the direction of the old mill.”

Cade withdrew his gun from his back holster. “I take it you have a gun?”

Draven shifted the woman a little to grab his pistol from his shoulder holster. “Flip the safety off for me.”

Cade cocked an eyebrow. “If I do that, will you promise not to shoot me?”

“Oh, ye of little faith,” he taunted.

Cade twisted his mouth sourly, but he went ahead and flipped the safety off. “Take care of her,” he said. “I’m going to go check it out, see if there’s anyone else.”

“Okay.”

For the first time since meeting the FBI agent, Draven didn’t feel the need to punch the guy. In fact, he was almost relieved to have him go check things out. He looked down at the woman in his arms. He couldn’t determine her ethnicity, although she looked Indian from India. The rapid beat of her heart fluttered wildly in her neck, and he caressed his thumb across it soothingly.

Who was she?

Who had done this to her?

Was she a victim of the human trafficking ring Cade had told him about? If so, dear God, it was real. Part of him hadn’t believed Cade. He’d thought the man had his facts all wrong. But this—holy shit!—he couldn’t ignore. This woman had suffered right under the Red Wolves’ noses. He made a silent vow to her that he’d watch over her, however long it took for her to recover.

A few minutes later, the wail of an ambulance rent the air. He rose, easily lifting her. She hardly weighed anything. He simply stood staring down at her gaunt features and urged her to keep breathing, not to give up. As soon as the ambulance pulled next to him and the medical people jumped to take her from him, he evaluated each person. He couldn’t trust anyone, even the EMTs, because there were sick fucks everywhere. What if one of them was her abductor?

“Sir,” one of them urged.

Reluctantly, he placed her on the gurney.

Immediately, they got to work on her, checking her vitals and setting up an IV. Their ministrations must have revived her because she reached out and he took her hand in his, her grip frightfully weak.

He bent down to whisper in her ear. “I’m here, sweetheart. I won’t leave you.”

“M-my name is…Dove,” she managed to whisper.

“Dove,” he repeated. “I’m Draven and I’m going to protect you. Just get better, okay?”

His words seemed to be enough for her to relax her grip, and the minute he stepped back, the EMTs swooped in. Just as they loaded her into the back of the van, Cade emerged from his investigation.

“What did you find?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you at the hospital,” Cade answered. “Come on, let’s follow. We need to watch over that girl.”

* * * *

Cade approached the old mill with caution. All his senses were on alert as he glanced in every direction to make sure no one was going to jump out and take a swing. The birds sang merrily in the trees while the river gurgled nearby, and he slowly came to the conclusion that he was alone. He relaxed only marginally as he made his way to the entrance of the mill.

The building looked to be over a hundred years old, and what was holding it up, he couldn’t tell. Inside he saw an open cellar door going down into the dark and dirty footprints coming from it, so he cautiously approached the dark depths. A stairway went down into what looked to be a sub-basement. Step by careful step, he descended. Wood creaked. He wondered if they were getting ready to collapse. After all, he wasn’t a dainty thing. Coming upon a chained door with a small hole kicked out at the bottom, a sick feeling gripped his stomach. Training and experience told him that this was where the girl had been kept, and his jaw clenched when he saw fresh blood on the rough timber around the hole.

Stepping on shards of wood, Cade bent to look through the hole. The door had been kicked from the inside. Though it was pitch black inside, he saw enough to give him the chills. He brought out his phone, made sure the flash was on and snapped a few pictures. When he checked them, he saw a trickle of water, stones and a large jar of peanut butter. Anger surged through him, and he wanted to kick the shit out of the person who had done this to her.

Carefully, he retraced his steps, exiting the mill until he was back standing in the sun. He took a few more pictures of the place and a couple of tire treads he’d found. Other than that, there wasn’t much evidence he could find. He left the chain intact, knowing that the local authorities would take it and dust for prints. He’d bet his entire year’s pay that they would match to Michael Hiller. It was a pity the fucker was dead. He’d like to pound him to hell.

Due to his past dealings with outlaw motorcycle clubs, his boss had left him in charge of how to handle Destiny’s trafficking ring, and he’d gathered a lot of Intel from the detective in Durango. He had his suspicions about who the ringleader was, but without proof, his accusations weren’t worth a hill of beans. If there was any hint the FBI was involved and looking into the human trafficking ring, shop would be shut up tight. He could say goodbye to putting away the bad guys. It was the reason he’d hatched this undercover plan and why he was working with a man who’d rather see him dead.

Not that he blamed John Draven.

It was just that John didn’t have all the facts, but then again, he wasn’t at liberty to reveal those facts either. It sure was a messed-up situation, and Cade hoped that he could find the proof he needed before everything imploded.

He had a job to do and he planned to find the evidence he needed to bring down who was responsible for trafficking young women through Destiny, Wyoming. He thought about the girl. His gut churned. If she hadn’t crawled out of that hole, it would’ve been her tomb. No one would have found her. Some monster had put her there, tied her up and left her in that awful hole. How long had she been down there? A while, judging by how she’d looked.

Cade slipped his gun back into its holster and headed back down to where Draven waited with the girl. When he came around the bend, he saw that the ambulance had arrived. He needed to make sure she stayed safe. Even though he had a good idea who her abductor had been, she might be able to identify other people in the trafficking ring.

Chapter Two

Dove felt herself being lifted. Hands took her pulse and her blood pressure. Words and numbers volleyed above her. She swam in and out of consciousness, although she was acutely aware of the blue-eyed man holding on to her. She didn’t want to let him go. He was her savior—her angel.

Draven.

He’d told her he wouldn’t leave her.

She believed him because she
needed
to believe him.

Perhaps she was a little too trusting because her heart twisted when he let go of her hand. She whimpered, wondering if he had lied to her just as her father had. Emmett Aldrin had kissed her nose, told her he’d see her in a week and walked out of the door. And now her angel was letting her go as she was lifted and placed in an ambulance. But a moment later, she heard the revving of motorcycle engines nearby and realized he must be following the ambulance.

He hadn’t lied. He was still with her.

With that thought, she decided to succumb to the oblivion that teased her.

* * * *

Draven wasted no time in securing his Harley in the adjacent hospital parking lot before running into the ER. He’d been in and out of this hospital too many times this month, first with Nick and now with this girl. He was vaguely aware of Cade running behind him, but he didn’t really care. He was too focused on the woman lying somewhere in the depths of the Emergency Room.

He hurried up to the admissions desk and waited impatiently for the woman to end her phone call. What seemed to be an eternity later, she finally turned toward him with a haughty coolness in her eyes as she assessed his attire. Recognition dawned and her lips compressed. Yep. She remembered the Red Wolves.

“The woman they just brought in,” he said urgently. “Can I see her?”

“Excuse me but you’ll have to wait—”

He banged his fist on the counter, and the woman jumped. “I want information! Her wrists were zip-tied together. She was starved. God knows what else was done to her. The asshole who did this could return and try to finish her off, so I need to be with her.”

“We,” Cade interjected. “
We
need to be with her.”

Draven shot him a quick glower but didn’t want to start arguing in front of the administrative bitch.

She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. If you’re not family, you can’t go back there.”

“Really? That’s how you want to play this?”

The woman lifted her nose a little. “You’ll have to leave.”

He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward so she wouldn’t misunderstand any of his words. “You know who I am. I would suggest you don’t fuck with me, lady.” He glanced down at her name tag. “Susan. Besides, wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that someone tried to smother a patient to death in this hospital?”

“What?” Cade asked, clearly shocked.

“Yeah,” Draven continued, suddenly glad to have Cade there. He’d be a great new ear to relate the story to—loudly. “You didn’t hear? A gunshot victim lay recovering in her bed on the third floor, and the bastard who shot her came back to finish the job. Stole a lab coat and a mask and no one questioned him. Not even the cop on guard duty.”

“Are you fucking with me?” Cade asked.

“Absolutely not.”

“All right,” the woman snarled. “Keep your voice down. Let me call someone to find out her status.”

He didn’t bother thanking her. Instead, he folded his arms and refused to budge from in front of her desk. It wasn’t like there were people waiting in line. It was Destiny, after all. Usually a trip to the ER had to do with either being thrown from a horse or doing something stupid on a four-wheeler.

Cade hit his arm. “What the hell was that?”

“What’s your problem?”

“For all intents and purposes, you’re my partner,” Cade said. “I’m pretty positive, after seeing the place she was held captive, that this woman is part of our investigation. The last thing we need is to get into a scrap with a civilian.”

“No one talks down to the Red Wolves.”

“Put your biker testosterone away, John.”

“If I do that, I’ll seem more suspicious. And what about you, Mr. FBI—”

Cade grabbed his arm and dragged him to a private corner. “Shut up.”

Draven yanked his arm away. “Don’t touch me, Vanaker. I’m tolerating you because I now know you’re telling the truth about this trafficking ring. Someone really hurt that girl, so yes, we’re going to find out who put her there.”

“The bastard who put her there is probably dead.”

Draven frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m fairly certain it was Michael Hiller,” he said as he ran a hand through his hair. “The lead detective working on the case mentioned an old mill.”

Draven remembered North talking about Hiller. “Okay, I think I need to know everything.”

“Really? You’re finally ready to listen to me?”

Draven saw Sheriff Givon Halloran walk into the ER. Beside him was his deputy, Charlie Earenflight. “You want to let the sheriff in on this?”

“Absolutely not,” Cade said, following his line of sight. “I don’t know how deep this ring goes.”

“Trust me,” Draven said. “Givon isn’t part of it.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he and North are best friends.”

“So what?”

“No, they live together.”

Cade frowned. “Excuse me? Are you saying the President of the Red Wolves is gay?”