Taken by E.M. Leya
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"They have them. All hostages are on their way to the hospital. I don't have any more information. Beau's on his way to Children's Hospital and will call if he hears anything. The adults are going to other area hospitals, but I'm told most are going to Cedars." Bryon pocketed his phone as he spoke to the group gathered in the living room of the team house.
"Noam with them?" Kasey asked.
"No, but he's with people who are involved and says they've taken over the entire mansion and made numerous arrests. There are some casualties on both sides. Two officers are wounded, but none were killed. They estimate around seventy hostages in total, but are working on final numbers." Bryon took a deep breath. "I won't be calm until I know Trenton is okay."
Faith stood, grabbing her purse off the floor. "We won't know until we get there. Who's driving?"
"I will," Xander said.
"And I am," Bryon pulled his keys out. "I debated on calling Trenton's brother, but until we know more, it's pointless. I don't want to get his hopes up…" He let his words trail off.
"It's three in the morning. Let him sleep a few more hours. We can call once we have a status on Trenton." Matt stood.
Carter pulled his own keys out. "Archer and I are going to drive ourselves if anyone wants a ride there, but I want to get back here once we confirm Trenton's okay so I can track the chatter on other trafficking rings. This will send waves through their community and put them all on high alert. When they get nervous, they make mistakes."
Bryon nodded, admiring Carter's devotion to taking the trafficking rings down, but right now, his only worry was seeing Trenton alive and well. He wouldn't calm until he was able to see him with his own eyes. Carter hadn't hesitated when Bryon had called him and told him Trenton was missing. He'd grabbed the next flight out and dove into work the moment they'd arrived in town. It was good to have him back, if only for a while.
"I'm with Dad." Faith started for the door.
Everyone followed and Bryon locked the house and made sure the alarm was set. As he drove, he glanced over at his girlfriend, Becca. She'd been his support through all of this. Each time he started to fall apart, she'd been there to pick him up. She understood how much responsibility he put on himself when anything went wrong with the team. Trenton was as close as any family Bryon had. It had killed him emotionally knowing what was probably being done to him. "I want a list of everyone arrested as soon as we can get it. I want to know everything about every man or woman who worked at that mansion."
Becca nodded. "I'll have it for you as soon as it's available."
Working at the courthouse, Becca had access to files most people didn't. His team could hack in and get them, but it made it easy having her able to just sign in and grab the information for them.
He was going to make sure that everyone tied to the mansion and the trafficking ring rotted in jail. If the courts failed them, as they often did, his team would take justice out on them. None of the bastards who held Trenton would be free of his wrath.
From the backseat, Kasey shifted forward a bit. "Noam will get a full debrief and bring back any information he can. He told me last night, this D.A. is working hard to stop all the trafficking in the area."
"Is this the same D.A. who filed charges on Dyson years ago?" Becca asked.
"No, this is a newer guy. He's tougher on crime and doesn't look to be taking payouts like some of the others. He's come down hard on sex offenders, even those who are well-known and have money to buy their way out of trouble. I liked the guy before this, but I really like him now," Bryon said, then added, "but that doesn't get Noam out of trouble for going behind the team's back and not talking to us about all of this first. I don't care how it all turned out. He still has rules he needed to follow."
Kasey nodded. "He's aware of that."
"Good." Bryon smiled. "But off the record, tell him thank you. His actions might have saved lives, including our own. Going in there as a team would have been dangerous. And while we don't let danger stop us, this one could have ended badly."
He parked beside Xander's car and they climbed out. Archer and Carter walked up a moment later. Everyone was silent, and he knew the entire team was nervous about what news they might get over the next few hours. "I know we're not a praying bunch, but now might be the time to make an exception. Trenton and all the others held there are going to have a tough road back. While we're mostly concerned about Trenton, let's not forget the other families who are going to be having to deal with all of this tonight. They might get their loved one back, but in what condition?"
They all knew how hard it was going to be for every single person held at that mansion. One could only guess at the abuse they faced and had suffered through. The thought that Trenton was one of them made his stomach sour.
"Let's go. I need to know he's okay." Xander started toward the emergency room doors.
To the other side of the lot, they could see several ambulances lined up to drop people off. Was Trenton in one of them? How was the hospital even going to know who was who if they were injured and brought in? Any form of I.D. would have been removed. They could be here for hours as the dead and injured were identified. It could end up being a very long night.
The E.R. was busy and almost every seat in the waiting room was full. Faith left the group and headed over to the desk to talk to the intake nurse while the rest of them moved to a small area with open wall space.
Bryon watched Faith do her magic. This wasn't one of the hospitals she used to make the rounds with when she'd hang with Beau, but Faith had a way with people, especially doctors and nurses. If anyone could pull any information out of them, it would be her.
The longer the nurse and Faith talked, the more nervous he became. Still, he was sure that he would be able to tell if it was bad news by the expression on Faith's face, and her expression didn't change as they spoke.
"It would be quicker if we just pushed our way back and looked in every room." Xander shifted restlessly.
"I'm guessing most haven't arrived yet. There would be a larger police presence if they had the hostages here," Carter observed. "Security isn't any heavier than usual."
"How sure are we they came here?" Becca asked.
"I got the information from Noam, so I assume it's correct." Bryon glanced around, trying to see anything that would give him hope they were in the right place.
A moment later, Faith walked over. "Okay, three patients have arrived, all in serious condition. Two are in surgery. All three are males in the age range we are looking for. There was no I.D. on any of them, so all we can do is wait." Faith looked around. "She said if we want to wait in the surgical waiting room, she'd have the surgeons come out and talk to us when they were done and maybe if we show a photo, the doctor can verify." Faith met Bryon's gaze. "She got a call right before we got here that there are fourteen more adults coming here with varying degrees of injury, but nothing serious. There are others going to other hospitals. She also warned me that she's had two calls from the media asking questions, which she of course refused to answer."
"Shit." Kasey sighed. "I was hoping this wouldn't become a media event."
"With the big names possibly involved, I'm betting it will be huge. Besides, I bet the D.A. wants the public aware of everything he's doing to stop trafficking. He'll want this out there for everyone to see." Archer leaned against the wall, his arms folded over his chest.
"Let's hope they do their job and keep the victims' names secret," Faith mumbled.
Matt pulled her into a hug.
"Well, we might as well go wait in the surgery waiting room. There's no room here for us. One of us can come back and check-in from time to time, maybe leave a picture of Trenton with the nurses so they can let us know if he shows." Bryon straightened.
"I'm hoping if Trenton is okay, he'll grab the first phone he can and call us." Becca took Bryon's hand.
"Has anyone tried to call Ben?" Xander asked.
"No, do you think we should?"
"I don't know. He's going to walk into a mess if he attempts to go to work. We might want to give him a heads up so he can decide if he's going to step foot on the property or make a clean getaway and avoid it." Xander pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I'll call the cell I gave him and at least leave a message. Hopefully, he'll see it when he gets up."
Bryon watched Xander walk off before looking to the others. "Let's find that waiting room. It could be a long night."