Stolen Child (Coastal Fury Book 13) Matt Lincoln (chrysanthemum read aloud .txt) 📖

“I’m still all yours tonight. We need to go back and help the Coast Guard look through those caves. But after that…”

Her voice trailed off, but she didn’t have to finish. I just nodded.

“I understand,” I told her. “You have those other kids to think about. And the kids who might be taken next if you don’t stop these guys. They’re just as important.”

I hated how fast Mikey’s clock was running out. There just wasn’t enough manpower to keep up this investigation for much longer without sacrificing other dimensions of the case. This whole thing was suddenly way bigger than just one little boy who was taken from his family.

Finding Justin was so important because, without him, the whole case against this gang fell apart. He had all the details about where and when all this stuff was happening and who was involved. Sure, he’d told the Durham police some of that already. But without his testimony in court, would any of it matter in the end? Without that, how many kids other than Mikey would be hurt?

But I was still going to find that one little boy. I was still in his corner, and he was still my priority. And for tonight, at least, the same was true of Nina.

The sirens were growing closer now, and shortly, three police cars full of officers and detectives, and one ambulance arrived in the parking lot. Nina went around to greet them while I stayed with the perp.

I glanced down at him. He was unconscious now. I almost felt sorry for him—almost. The other guys had all abandoned him to take Justin wherever they were going and left him behind to update them on what was going on here. They probably wanted him to scope out the place for a while and tell them what we were doing, and who was there, and when. It hadn’t gone well for him.

Soon, two paramedics came to retrieve the man, and I went out to rejoin Nina and the detectives. When I got there, she was just finishing up explaining to them everything that had happened, including our plan to go out on the water that night and look for Mikey with the Coast Guard.

“Marston, this is Detective Lance with the Durham police,” Nina explained, introducing the man she was speaking with. “This is Agent Ethan Marston with MBLIS, the man I was telling you about.”

There were several other uniformed officers behind the man. I recognized some of them from the delegation of Durham police that had arrived that afternoon to speak with Justin about the gang.

“We hear you’re going back out to look for the missing boy,” Lance said, and I could tell that he didn’t seem exactly happy about this. “You understand it’s been nearly two days since he was taken.”

“Yes, but remember what I told you,” Nina said, jumping in quickly before I had a chance to respond. “The wrappers were found in that cave from the stolen boat.”

“Those could be from anyone,” the stern-looking man said, cocking an eyebrow at her. “And our star witness was just abducted from under our noses. Surely our manpower is better spent…”

“Finding a gangbanger instead of a little boy?” I challenged, taking a step closer to him.

“That not what I…” he started to say, his voice trailing off as he tried to find the right words.

“Then what do you mean?” I asked, though he predictably offered no response. “Look, I get that it’s important for you to find Justin and to try this case in court. Those other kids are depending on you to find them, too. But this one depends on me, and I’m not giving up on him. Not yet. We can reevaluate if we still haven’t found him tomorrow.”

I knew that I really didn’t want to reevaluate if it came to it. But what other choice did we have? The Coast Guard was going to start looking for a body tomorrow, anyway.

I did know one thing. Holm and I were going to be here for a while if we didn’t find Mikey soon. The problem was that we were the only ones solely devoted to finding him. Everyone else had other priorities when it came to this case, even Nina now.

“I understand,” Lance said, though he clearly still wasn’t happy about it.

I knew he had no beef with me still looking for Mikey. That was why I was here, after all. MBLIS was on this case because Charlie took the boy into international waters. But Nina? He clearly wanted her working with him on taking down the whole gang, and I couldn’t say I blamed him.

“Well, do you have everything under control here, then?” Nina asked him, signifying that she was with me for now, and that was final.

He nodded.

“Alright, then,” I said, turning to her. “Let’s go find Mikey.”

26

Ethan

Together, Nina and I drove back out to the water, where we met Prior and Andrews back by their docked boat, along with several other men in similar uniforms who I didn’t recognize. There was also a forensics team and a second, larger boat next to the first one.

“Those must be the guys they were waiting for earlier, so they could take the forensics team back out to those caves,” Nina said as we parked and began to walk down to them.

“Got here pretty quick,” I said, nodding.

“Well, I told Osborne about the wrappers and everything, and she got a team down here pretty quickly,” Nina explained. “She wants to find Mikey as much as we do.”

“I imagine after spending so much time with the parents, probably even more,” I remarked. Osborne struck me as a stern enough woman, but she seemed to have a good heart.

“Yeah, I know she’s a bit icy, but she got in this line of work for a reason,” Nina said. “She really does care.”

Prior and Andrews waved to us as we approached, looking more than excited to see us.

“Good, you’re back,” Prior said when we