Asher (The Mavericks Book 5) Read online

  He had already turned away, working on his laptop. She took a deep breath to try again and then realized there was really no point. She wasn’t even sure how to explain where her mind had been when she had said that. And none of it should matter. It had been ten years ago.

  Regardless, she still didn’t want to believe that Chandra had anything to do with this kidnapping of her twins.

  “She does have a very aggressive marketer,” she said out of the blue. “I forgot about that. His name is Wilson Chang. I think Chandra’s son, Edward, might have known him, but I’m not sure. Remember now, I’m not part of the inner circle. This is only what I’ve gleaned from being with the twins. And the sisters did talk a lot sometimes,” she admitted.

  “And you think Chang could be involved?”

  “No, not necessarily. But, if you’re correct, and he’s ensuring that she stays in business, I guess that’s one very twisted way of doing it.”

  “Possibly, but it’s also possible that she is looking to cut back on the traveling and heading toward retirement.”

  “But we also must consider that,” Mickie continued, “just because she’s retiring, it doesn’t mean that this Wilson Chang is ready to retire.”

  They stared at her, then started tapping away on their laptops.

  She watched in amazement as these men accessed things that she didn’t think any public servant or any government employee anywhere in the world were allowed to access. Surely this was just what hackers of the Dark Web could do? But as she watched one man slide through bank accounts and the other man slide through encrypted satellite feeds, backtracking and tracking down somebody in a vehicle, it just blew her away to consider that this was even possible.

  The other thing that surprised her was to see Ryker and Asher, these action-oriented alpha males, tied to their laptops for almost three hours. Her butt was getting numb and she need to move. She didn’t know how these guys went from extreme action to … this stagnation.

  She wasn’t hungry as she’d eaten one plateful already, but the food just sat here, reminding her that she may not get another meal for a while. Deciding that she was better off tanking up a little bit first, she quickly shoveled a second portion onto her plate and looked up to see Asher watching her approvingly. She shrugged. “I don’t know when the next opportunity will present itself,” she said.

  He nodded. “Exactly. Right now it’s there. Who’s to say beyond this?” He glanced at his watch.

  “It’s kind of depressing.” She ate slowly as she watched the men plot their next course. The fact that they found a feed that showed the twins being moved onto a boat was huge. But it wasn’t terribly helpful if they couldn’t confirm where that boat was right now. The fact was, they were going through the mother’s and the brother’s businesses and bank accounts and then investigating the marketing manager, which maybe was her fault because she’s the one who brought him up.

  But how that would impact Asher’s and Ryker’s view of the sisters was downright disheartening. Mickie really wasn’t an idealist, but she certainly believed in the sacrament of marriage and families. If the mother and the brother were involved in this kidnapping of the twins, that was just heartbreaking. The twins were very special. Amelia and Alisha were both unique in their own way, and, at thirty now, they’d become a little more stubborn and set in their ways.

  Mickie knew that all the twins wanted was to be home in their garden, and, after this, no way would they ever leave home again. And that just brought Mickie back to Chandra’s reasoning for taking them on this trip. She had said that it would be one of the last times to travel to Asia, but the twins didn’t really understand or know or care. They’d wanted their mother a long time ago, but she’d been too busy.

  And maybe that was a harsh judgment on Mickie’s part because it was so much easier to look at somebody else’s wrongdoings and see them for what they were but not really understand how hard it must have been for Chandra to deal with her daughters. They must have been quite the handful growing up, and even the brother must hold a lot of resentment. He’d had nothing to do with them at the time that the twins had been in their lives, so Mickie couldn’t imagine that he cared a whole lot now.

  Yet, Edward was wealthy in his own right with his own businesses. He didn’t need their money. He didn’t need them in his life. But neither did he likely care enough to get rid of them. Who would? That was way too much effort, and the penalty of getting caught would be horrific. He’d be giving up everything in his life. Mickie doubted Edward cared that much. But it was so hard to judge since she didn’t know him at all. It just brought up some terrible thoughts, and she didn’t like that either. She muttered, “I hope you’re wrong.”

  “I hope we are too,” he said, “but we must be right enough here that we can get back on track.”

  “You’ve only been in town a few hours,” she joked.

  “And the twins might not have a few more hours.”

  She froze. Then she leaned forward and asked, “You don’t really think they’ll kill them, do you?”

  “No, unless whatever is going on here doesn’t come to completion fast enough, at which point the twins become a liability. Who’ll look after them? They can’t stay drugged for the rest of their life.”

  At that, Ryker lifted his head. “You know what?” he said. “That hospital. I think I need to check into that more.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because that would be a place to keep them for a long time.”

  “But obviously they didn’t keep them there,” Asher said patiently. “So why would they go back now?”

  “Or they just made it look like the twins were leaving.”

  Asher sat back against his chair and stared at him. “It did look like it was them,” he said cautiously, his face twisting on that idea.

  “And most likely it was,” Ryker said. “So then why would they take the chance of moving them again, if they were already at a hospital where they can get medical care?”

  “Either visibility,” he said, thinking about it, “or money.”

  Mickie nodded. “My vote is on money.”

  Asher turned to look at her. “Yet, what other reason would there be?”

  “Those institutions want too much information,” she said promptly. “With an intake of a patient in a legitimate place like that, the hospital administrators will possess certain information, and they also become the guardians of related medical files, etcetera.”

  “But wouldn’t enough money make all that go away?”

  “Yes, so we’re back again to the money issue.”

  He nodded. “But if they don’t have any other option long-term …”

  “So, this is a temporary measure,” Ryker said. “They potentially left the door open, so they could bring the twins back, if they need to.”

  “More likely they’re probably keeping that as a last resort and hoping to find another place that’s cheaper,” she said. “All they would really need is a private nurse. And maybe a doctor to come by every once in a while.”

  “Even a private nurse probably isn’t required,” Ryker said. “If somebody had decent medical training—like a medic in the military—and if the twins were already hooked up to an IV, and their drugs were just injected into the bag, that’s not exactly an issue.”

  She winced. “I really hate when you bring up the thoughts from the underbelly of life.”

  “I’m sure that they could be sold for body parts too,” Ryker said, “if you want to go in that direction.”

  She swallowed hard. “In which case, then I’m sure there’ll be several people who would want to buy the girls just for the sex trade.”

  “Except for their obvious difficulties,” Ryker said.

  “Do men care?” she asked bitterly. “If the traffickers can keep them drugged, people can use them and not have any worries.” She looked up to see compassion in his face. She shrugged. “I know I’m really going off the rails here, but it hurts to
consider that people don’t look at them as people but as an it.”

  “They’re definitely people with their own personalities,” Ryker said. “But, when dealing with the underbelly of society, we must consider the worst-case scenario.”

  “And you’re thinking death?” she asked.

  Ryker’s eyebrows popped up; he tilted his head, and he nodded.

  “I would think being drugged for the rest of their life and used as somebody’s toy would be worse,” she said. “But that’s just me.”

  “Well, I highly doubt that’s what’ll happen. They would be too difficult for that,” Ryker said. “So, let’s stick to the probabilities and not just possibilities.”

  She liked that about Ryker. He was very much of a get to it kind of person.

  Asher appeared to be chafing though because he couldn’t find what he needed to find.

  “I guess there’s no point in going to that area and finding out who might possibly know where the boat was?” Mickie offered.

  “It would take more money,” Asher said, “but I am considering just that.”

  “It’s not too far away,” Ryker said.

  “No,” Asher said. “But I don’t want to waste time if we don’t have to.” He checked his watch again. “Our people have less than five minutes.”

  The waitress was kind enough to swap out their coffee and water carafes and also took away their dirty plates without interrupting them.

  Just then the chat popped up. We found a few things. And sent pop-up links.

  Asher quickly opened up the links, and, in one, he whistled.

  Ryker immediately hopped up, came around, pulled a chair closer, and looked over his shoulder. “What are we looking at?”

  “The brother’s business enterprises. And the bottom line is, he’s in the red.”

  “And could really use an infusion of cash,” Ryker said.

  “Sure,” she said beside them. “But that’s just business as usual. So many of them run in the red.”

  “But this is millions and millions. Eighty million to be exact.”

  She sat back and shook her head. “It’s hard to even comprehend that much money period, but to imagine owing that much? How is it he got into so much trouble?”

  “Building commercial properties. He’s a developer, and one of his projects had some engineering failures, and a lot of the investors pulled out and left him covering most of the expenses.”

  “Is it back on track?”

  He nodded. “As I read this, it appears that the project is moving forward, and he’s trying to hang on to get it to the completion date.”

  “But something that size …”

  “It’s a multiprong complex with a mall as the commercial space on the bottom floor and then residential areas on the towers above,” he said. “So, eighty million is a normal price tag for that size building.”

  “If you say so.” She shrugged. “And obviously he might want to use his sisters’ money if he had some way to get to it, but I don’t think anybody in business would use their own money to plug a hole like that.”

  “No, they usually grab another investor,” Ryker said.

  “But, regardless, Edward cannot access his sisters’ money.”

  Ryker got up and paced the café as he did several stretches. When he was done, he asked, “Anything else?”

  “I’m looking,” Asher said. “They sent me several links.” He quickly clicked the next one. “Oh, now that is a much better photo.” It was the one he had sent them with the fishing boat. “They ran my photo through another program and cleaned it up. There’s a name on the boat. I just can’t pronounce it. Oh, good. They translated it.”

  Ryker came back around, and this time he just sat down and said, “Wild Seas.”

  “Well, that’s what we’re looking for then,” Asher said.

  Another message came up. It’s registered to Awan Hania.

  He pronounced it slowly.

  “Any connection to the brothers?” Ryker asked.

  Asher asked Beau just that, who got back to him pretty damn fast.

  Not on paper.

  School friends?

  Still checking. But possible.

  Asher nodded and said, “No known connection to this boat is likely.” He sat back and paused. “I’m considering, since one brother has already taken out two withdrawals from his bank account, it’s quite possible that the mastermind behind all this gave them a cash amount too, so they could hang onto the girls until the ransom is paid.”

  “The real question here is, where are the brothers now?” Ryker said. “Because, as soon as we can put our hands on one of them, we can get more answers.”

  “If that brother is willing to talk,” Mickie said.

  Ryker looked at her and gave her a cold smile. “He’ll be talking.”

  She winced. Just then Asher smiled and said, “Bingo. The van was caught on the traffic cams driving back toward the hospital.” He quickly clicked on the feed, following its progress. “But it passed the hospital and has headed back toward that house.”

  “But it wasn’t there when we were there,” she said.

  “Well, we picked up the woman, but her brother was likely the one punishing her.”

  “And, if they were in on it together, obviously there are some problems between the thieves,” Ryker said.

  Asher picked up his phone and made a call.

  She wished there was something she could do. All she did was sit here and watch the two men work. Just then her own phone rang. She answered it to find Chandra at the other end.

  “Any news?” her employer asked in an exhausted voice.

  “Some,” she said. “It looks like the twins have been moved to a fishing vessel farther up the coastline.”

  “Why would they do that?” she asked in utter defeat, as if this was all too much to comprehend.

  “Because they’re famous,” Mickie said. “Their faces would be recognized no matter where they took them. They were taken to a hospital not soon after being kidnapped. Presumably Alisha was treated, and then both of them were released soon afterward.”

  “Well, has law enforcement been in to talk to the hospital?”

  “No, not yet,” Mickie said, frowning at Asher. “For that kind of stuff, you better talk to Asher.”

  “I will,” she said. “I just wanted to get the insider news from you. So they still don’t know if my daughters are alive, do they?”

  “No. We’re assuming they’ve been drugged to make them easier to deal with.”

  “Right. They never did like being told what to do.”

  “They like being separated even less,” Mickie said. “So, chances are, they’re together, and they’ll stay that way. We must consider the fact that they might keep them drugged until this is over.”

  “And maybe that’s better anyway,” Chandra said. “The memories will be much less tormenting for them.”

  “Quite. Have you heard anything further on the ransom note? Any deadline for when or where to pay the money? Any insights at all?”

  “No,” Chandra said. “I keep hoping. But nothing.”

  “Were you serious about staying home more?”

  “Yes. Remember that friend of mine, Deli, who lost her twins? She’s heartbroken, and I realize how many years I have missed out with mine and that, if I wanted to have any future at all with them, I needed to scale things back again and plan on being at home more.”

  “Did the twins want you home more?”

  “Yes, and, to be honest, I’m getting quite tired of this business. Even when dealing with people with this kind of money, people are still bridezillas all the way.”

  “You used to thrive on it,” she said cautiously.

  “I used to, but I’m getting older, and, after Deli’s twins died, I just don’t know. It’s been like a paradigm shift for me to help me reevaluate what’s important and what’s not. It’s like having that special lover from eons ago, who you broke up with for the silli
est of reasons, and then, when it’s long gone and over, and you can’t get them back again, you realize what you’ve lost. It’s where I am at the moment, like me making that reassessment right now before it’s too late and spending time with the girls.”

  Mickie wasn’t sure what to say about Chandra’s analogy. It hit a little too close to home for her. “What about your son? Does he spend any time with them?”

  “No, he was always embarrassed by them,” Chandra said, her voice quite sad. “He has never done anything to hurt them, but he never wanted anything to do with them either.”

  “That’s because he didn’t know how to treat them. They made him uncomfortable.”

  “They make everyone uncomfortable,” Chandra said, once again exhausted. “I need to rest, but I want to touch base with Asher first.” Mickie looked over to see Asher was off the phone. “Hang on,” she said. She held out her phone to Asher. “Chandra wants to talk to you.”

  He took the phone from her hand without saying anything to Mickie. Then he turned to the phone. “Asher here.”

  She listened in as they talked briefly, and then he handed the phone back.

  “Chandra, are you still there?”

  “I’m here,” she said. “He doesn’t have a whole lot to tell me, and that’s more depressing than ever.”

  “Stay positive,” Mickie said. “We’ll get through this.”

  “I know,” she said, “but it’s not how I want to live my life.”

  “No,” Mickie said. “So, remember that. You have a chance to reevaluate who and what you want to be going forward.”

  “Right,” she said.

  Mickie hung up; sadness on her heart for what the older woman was going through. Mickie glanced over to see the men getting up. She looked at them and asked, “What’s happening?”

  Asher said, “We’re leaving. Do you want to go back to the hotel or be on a stakeout all day?”

  Ryker headed to the counter and took care of their bill.

  She groaned. “Can’t say either appeals. Sleep would be nice. There is no other choice?”

  “There’s sleeping at the hotel,” Asher said.

  She shook her head. “No, I’ll sleep in the back of the car.”