She nodded. “Samuel said the state of Kentucky was conspirin’ against him and said we had to get out. We just up and left everythin’ behind and ended up on a property in Northern California about two hours from here, but that was before he started to go all weird.”
“How many people would you say are living at the compound right now?” Linc asked.
Rebecca answered without hesitation. “Eighty-six. Thirty of them are children, thirty-one if you count Dinah, but she’s not in the children’s quarters anymore, obviously. I tried to get them out, but he caught me and I was punished.”
Robby’s hand clenched down on Calder’s hard enough to cut off the blood supply. “Punished?” he managed like he had to force the words past his lips. “Did…did he hit you?”
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she laughed bitterly. “Oh, he’s gotten way more creative than that. The odd beatin’, cold baths, and kneeling on rice, that’s for the little ones… No, he’s way more imaginative with us adults.”
She shoved up the sleeve of her shirt and showed the rectangular burns across her palms. They appeared mostly healed but were still the bright pink of new flesh, not the shiny pink of a long forgotten scar.
“Oh, my God,” Robby said, blinking back tears of his own. “Why didn’t you—” He cut himself off. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve been through worse. But I gotta get to the kids. The others, they’ve made their beds, but those babies did nothing wrong.”
Linc shook his head. “We’re going to get everybody out. Safely. I have a friend who works with the ATF back in Florida. I’m sure he’ll be able to hook me up with a contact here.”
“ATF?” Rebecca asked.
“Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. That’s who handles these types of cases,” Linc said.
“Or mishandles,” Calder muttered. At Linc’s quizzical expression, Calder said, “We all know what happened in Texas. Almost everybody died. Even the kids.”
Linc shook his head. “That was thirty something years ago and they made massive organization-wide changes to make sure these types of things don’t happen again.” Turning his gaze to Rebecca, he added, “We need to do this by the book or Samuel could just walk free, and how much damage do you think he’ll do once your wannabe messiah thinks he’s untouchable?”
Rebecca shoved her thumb into her mouth, worrying her nail between her teeth. Robby looked to Calder. “Do you think this is the right call?”
Calder sighed then nodded. “All things considered, yeah, angel. Taking down a cult of this magnitude requires a very precise strategy. One none of us are equipped to pull off.”
There was a rap of knuckles against the doorframe, and then Webster was sticking his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but can I see you when you’re done? Alone. It’s about that thing you asked me to look up.”
Calder’s stomach plummeted to his boots. He gave a stilted nod. No matter how bad it was, Calder had spent the last three plus decades preparing himself for this moment. If Webster found anything, it likely wasn’t good, but at least it was closure.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Robby asked.
“No, angel. Stay here and spend time with your sister.” To Rebecca, he added, “You’re welcome to come back to the safehouse with us.”
She shook her head. “No, but thanks. I need to keep moving. Samuel already has his dogs after me, for sure. That’s why I have cash and a non-traceable phone this time. I looked it up in the library.”
Calder stood, dropping a kiss on Robby’s head. “You got everything you need, boss?” he asked Linc.
“Yeah, we’re good. For now. Go talk to Webster.”
During the walk to Webster’s office, Calder felt like he was walking through quicksand, each step pulling him farther down, making it harder to breathe. Webster’s office gave Calder anxiety on a good day. He had four screens on the wall, each displaying different numbers scrolling rapidly downward like something out of The Matrix. On his desk, papers sat piled high and a PC shared space with a chunky looking laptop. Behind it all, Webster sat in khaki shorts and a pink polo shirt, looking like he was ready for a day of yachting, not hacking into uncrackable systems.
Calder took a seat in the chair across from him. “Whacha got?”
“It could be something or it could be nothing. Sixteen years ago, a body showed up in an alley just over the border in Juarez. No teeth, no fingers, just an E burned into her right breast and a strawberry birthmark on her back shaped like the Death Star.”
Calder grunted, feeling like he’d taken a sledgehammer to his solar plexus. He’d known. He’d known it wouldn’t be good. “What’d they do with her?” he asked, clearing his throat to keep his voice from breaking.
Webster leaned forward. “She was sent to Arizona University as part of a project to identify hundreds of unidentified bodies found along the border. Because her teeth and fingers were removed, they catalogued her remains, took a blood sample to test later if needed, and then had the body cremated and stored in the facility with others who were unidentifiable. I have a picture of her birthmark. If you think you can handle looking, I can ask the university to compare her DNA to yours to get a confirmation. It could take months, but at least then you’ll know for sure.”
Calder blinked, trying to process Webster’s words, as he nodded in some attempt to prove he was listening. He was. He’d comprehended what the other man said, even as he tried to fight the urge to vomit. Somebody had taken his sister’s teeth and fingers and then thrown her away like garbage. It seemed incomprehensible, even after his years working with human trafficking. He’d been right. Elizer had made his sister one of his girls. The E branded into her skin proved it. But, if this was his sister, she could have never been the girl in the picture. She was dead long before Calder had even made it onto the task force.
He took the photo from Webster, his hands shaking. The photo was blown up so only the girl’s pale pink birthmark was visible. The mark sat higher now than he’d remembered, but that’s what happens when people grow. He couldn’t speak, he just nodded and handed the picture back. Finally, he said, “Have them run the tests, please.”
“Yeah, you got it. I’ll let you know whenever the results are back.”
