1
Three Years Ago
“Candy is in the wind, Ruiz is dead and all leads we have are now dead,” Captain Katheryn Irby informed Alpha Squad.
“Damn it. Is there any way to track her phone to see who she called just before she disappeared?” Tarilyn ‘Taz’ Cortez asked, walking around the room agitated.
“We’ve already tried that Taz. She stopped using her phone when we got on the case unless it was to call out of work, yell at Ruiz or scream at the Jones’s. She had a burner phone she did everything else from,” Renee York sighed.
“York is right. Candy had this all planned out. She and Ruiz both thought they would get away with everything until we came on the case. Once they knew Tina was found, they were screwed.” Lindsey ‘Ice’ Raso growled in anger.
“But how did she know we’d found Tina when we did? We took out everyone in the room.” Kaitlyne Rameriez stood up and started to pace.
Laura ‘Red’ Pratt walked into the room yelling excitedly, “Oz just called me since he couldn’t reach Taz, Oz has the location of the person doing the sites, the one who took over after Wallace was arrested.”
“Could this be the missing baby that Gretchen had before Wallace killed her?” Raso asked the room.
“What does he have and where is this bastard?” Captain Irby turned around to face Pratt.
“One sick son-of-a-bitch if you truly want to know. His name is Warren Tuscaloosa, has an address here in San Diego. Oz has his IP address still pinging from there for another auction as we speak.” Growled an angry Pratt who was ready to go and bust heads.
“Isn’t Tuscaloosa a name of a city or something?” Cheryl Diesel stood up waiting for the go command.
“Yeah, some place in Oklahoma, I think, or is it Florida,” Ramieriez shrugged as she walked towards Pratt.
“Go get this bastard and bring him in,” Captain Irby gave the word, walking out of the room towards her office. “Do whatever it takes to get him to talk.”
Present Day
“I’m sorry Eddie,we haven’t been able to find anything. This Ares character is drawing a blank wherever we look. We have Oz looking into things as soon as we find something. We’ve called in every favor we can and then some,” Sgt. Helen Brocard sighed into the phone.
“I know you guys are. You haven’t given up, that’s more than I can ask for.” Navy SEAL Eddie Jones spoke quietly into the phone. “What about finding Candy? Has there been any luck with that?”
“She’s a wanted fugitive now, so the FBI is looking for her too. We know she’s had help in escaping, so we’re still looking into that angle as well. We will find them Eddie. Come hell or high water,” Brocard promised, writing down some notes on her notepad.
“Thanks, at least I know with you guys, the FBI and any other contacts you ladies have, she won’t have far to run or hide.”
“Well she would have to have major plastic surgery to get out of the country. Unless she goes back roads or hides somehow in a vehicle, she can’t even get into Mexico. We’ve shut off all roadblocks. But it’s not always fool proof so we’ve even sent out requests for help in the UK and Canada just to be on the safe side.”
“That’s good. Thanks for talking to me Brocard. I know you girls are busy. Laura has been keeping us updated as much as possible. Shane has been working a lot of overtime with the case as well. She’s been heaven sent with Tina too.” Eddie deeply sighed. “Okay, let me get going, need to grab the ladies of my life and take Tina to her therapist appointment.”
“Has the therapy been helping her? Is there anything we can do,” Brocard asked, smiling into the phone.
“She’s getting better, but still has nightmares. They are getting few and far between, but it’s still hard as a parent to have to watch her go through it,” Eddie whispered, sounding almost defeated.
“One day at a time. You need anything, you call any of us on the team and you know we will be there, no questions asked.”
“I know…thank you,” Eddie responded before hanging up the phone.
“Hey Sarge, was that Eddie?” Pratt asked as she walked into the squad room with Cortez and Raso behind her.
“Yeah, he was calling to find out if we had any news on Dakota. It’s been three years and he’s still holding on.” Brocard shook her head as she got up from her desk.
“We all do. We will find Candy too.” Rameriez staunchly proclaimed.
“Heaven help her when we do, that’s for sure,” Cortez agreed, standing up from her desk looking around.
“Hey Diez, you got a date tonight?” York yelled out.
