Armoured Attraction. Janie Crouch

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СКАЧАТЬ what was going on, but she was willing to give Karine the benefit of the doubt. If Vanessa was wrong, she’d deal with the consequences later.

      “Okay, let’s get you out of here.”

      They slipped under the curtain and were out of the hospital in a matter of minutes. Karine was still shuddering, glancing from side to side frantically, obviously searching for anyone who might be following. Vanessa put an arm around her, tentatively, to guide her through the parking lot to her car. Karine stiffened briefly before leaning into her.

      Vanessa started the car and pulled to the edge of the parking lot. She didn’t know which way to turn. If someone from the sheriff’s office really was in on this, it wouldn’t take long for them to figure out Karine was with her. She couldn’t take Karine to her house. She needed to get her out of the area.

      “Karine.” Vanessa turned to the girl, who was sitting low in her seat so no one could see her. “I’m going to drive you to Norfolk, okay? It’s a city about an hour and a half from here. There are police, FBI, who can help us.”

      “No!” Karine sat straighter in the seat. “I cannot leave. I must stay here to help the other girls. Must find them.”

      “Yes, we’ll get help and then come back here.”

      “No!” Karine repeated, grabbing for the door handle. “I stay here.”

      “No, wait. Don’t get out,” Vanessa said.

      Karine was exhausted, traumatized and injured. Vanessa prayed she had been mistaken about the police uniform. Many of the men in the sheriff’s department Vanessa had known most of her life. She couldn’t imagine they would be involved with the victimization of girls.

      But she wasn’t about to put Karine out on her own, no matter how unlikely the scenario may be.

      “Okay, we’ll stay here in Nags Head,” Vanessa told her, watching her visually relax. “We’ll go to a hotel.”

      Karine nodded and eased lower into her seat.

      If Karine was going to refuse to leave the area, Vanessa was going to need to see about someone coming here to help them. Contacting the local police was out of the question. She needed someone outside that circle, someone in federal law enforcement.

      Liam Goetz.

      He was DEA, which maybe didn’t deal with trafficking directly, but at least she knew he wasn’t local. He’d know how to help or tell her who to contact.

      Of course, she hadn’t talked to Liam in eight years. Didn’t even know if he would be willing to talk to her now. But he was her best chance in this situation. She had to try.

      Vanessa sped to her apartment to get his phone number, which was written on the back of a picture of the two of them. She should’ve thrown it away years ago but hadn’t been able to make herself do it. Now she was glad she hadn’t.

      She grabbed a couple changes of clothes from her room, but nothing to make it look as though she wasn’t there, then ran back out to the car. She had no doubt one of the first places the police would start looking for Karine was at Vanessa’s apartment.

      As she pulled away, she Bluetoothed the number on the back of the picture. She forced herself not to look at the much younger, more innocent version of herself in the photo. That girl was gone forever.

      The phone rang twice before someone answered.

      “DEA call center.”

      “Um, yes, I’m trying to reach an agent. At least he used to be an agent.” Vanessa wasn’t sure exactly what she should say. Maybe Liam didn’t even work for the DEA anymore. “He gave me this number.”

      “Please provide the name of the person you are trying to reach and I’ll direct your call.” The operator was briskly efficient.

      “Liam Goetz.” Vanessa had no idea what department he worked for or even what city.

      “Please hold.”

      Vanessa drove toward some older hotels closer to Nags Head. They weren’t very expensive, which was pretty much all Vanessa could offer Karine right now. Plus, the police were probably less likely to look for her there.

      The longer Vanessa was on hold, the more convinced she became that this whole call to Liam was probably useless.

      “Hello? You’re trying to reach Liam Goetz?” A briskly efficient female voice this time.

      “Yes. But I don’t know which division he’s in—”

      “I’m going to connect you to his voice mailbox. Please leave a detailed message. We will make sure he gets it.”

      Okay, so evidently he did still work for the DEA. That was good.

      “Okay.”

      “Please hold. Leave a message when you hear the beep.”

      Vanessa was startled, caught off guard, a moment later when she heard the beep. There had been no outgoing message.

      “Um, Liam, it’s Vanessa. Vanessa Epperson.”

      How much should she tell him?

      “I’m still living on the Outer Banks, but I’m actually staying at a hotel at the moment.” She gave him the name and address of the hotel they’d just pulled up to. “I need your help. I have a situation here and believe local police might be involved, so I need federal law enforcement. If you could just point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it. I wasn’t sure who else I could trust. Just call if you can.”

      She was rambling, so she left him her number and then disconnected the call. She’d done all she could do there. She knew she needed to have a backup plan in case Liam didn’t call her back. After all, the last thing she’d heard him say about her eight years ago was that she was a selfish, spoiled brat who didn’t have it in her to care about another person.

      Yeah, she definitely better have a backup plan in place.

       Chapter Two

      Liam listened to the voice-mail message for the umpteenth time.

      Vanessa Epperson.

      He could honestly say he’d never expected to hear her voice ever again. After all, she hadn’t even cared enough to leave him a voice mail eight years ago when she’d decided he wasn’t good enough to marry.

      Or a letter. Or an email. Or a face-to-face explanation.

      But evidently she’d gotten over her phone aversion. Good for her.

      Liam played the message again.

      She needed help and was contacting him because she thought he was still DEA. He hadn’t been DEA for more than five years, since Omega Sector’s Critical Response Division had recruited him to lead their hostage rescue team.

      Fortunately СКАЧАТЬ