* * *
Gwen depressed thein need of assistancebutton on her phone. Her squad showed up quickly. “A government car just pulled out toward the North Gate. Follow it. Two FBI agents removed Eleanor West. I want to know where that car goes.”
Ken Clarke arrived next. Gwen explained what happened. “Material witness,” he said.
Troy arrived with Kip. “Damn it. Gwen, stay in frequent contact with the follow car,” Troy said.
“I’ll call Zach. He’ll let Wes know as soon as he can,” Kip muttered.
Troy sat in Eleanor’s chair. “I’ll notify Tate. Kieran and Mike are still out of range. I want to make sure she has representation in DC.”
Gwen stood tall, but her eyes were filled with a look of failure. Troy turned to her. “Gwen, they would have arrested you. You put a tail on them. You notified us,” Troy said.
“She was so scared.” Gwen shook her head.
* * *
Three hours later, FBI agents Nash and Murrow led Eleanor through the underground entrance of the DC FBI offices. “Search her again and let her take a piss. Then put her into interrogation four,” Murrow said.
“Ellie, come with me,” Nash said.
Eleanor chewed her cheek to create an endorphin rush. “Why are you doing this to me? I am a victim.” She shook as a female agent searched her.
“Take her to the ladies’ room,” Nash asked the female agent.
Eleanor sat in the stall. To make matters worse, she had begun her period.
She’d told them the truth every time they asked. She had no idea where her captors went. It wasn’t her fault she escaped.
The door opened, and Eleanor was returned to Nash’s control. “Come this way.” He walked her into the oppressive hot box of a room. Her headache and her lower abdominal cramps intensified.
Agent Gideon Murrow entered the room and took a seat in front of Eleanor. Lawrence Nash sat beside her. “Okay, Ellie, let’s end this charade. You need to come clean and tell us who you were working with when you escaped,” Murrow said.
I wasn’t working for anyone.“I’d like to speak with my attorney.”
“You’re not under arrest. No need for an attorney,” Murrow said.
“Then, I’d like to leave,” she countered.
“Ellie, you are a material witness to multiple crimes.” Murrow pounded the desk in front of her.
She jumped, causing pain to shoot down her abdomen. A cold sweat broke out across her brow. “I told you all I know.All I can say.When Lindy and I were kidnapped, there were other girls. I…you…don’t understand; I was considered a troublemaker. They kept me isolated.
“On the day I escaped, I got into an argument with one of the wardens. She slapped me across the face and yelled for the captain they called George. He told me he was placing me in the cold room, followed by a punch to my gut. He put me in the car, and when we stopped, he grabbed my ponytail and dragged me to a metal shack with a rounded roof where my cries couldn’t be heard. I ripped the skin from my wrists to free myself. I dug under a wall and managed to escape.
“A man and a woman were in charge. The woman was about the babies. He…I could hear gunshots and shouted commands. I never saw them. The only people I saw were the midwife, the matrons and George. In the beginning I saw Lindy and the other girls. Then they separated me from them. I gave you the best descriptions I could.”
“WE DON’T BELIEVE YOU!” Murrow shouted in her face. “You have blood on your hands. This is Lavonne Maquis, Gina Reynaldo, Heather Joseph, Ursula Felton. Kylar Glen, Amber Totten, Alexia Sazar, Theresa Murrow. We can keep going. They are all missing or dead because of your refusal to come clean.” He threw down photograph after photograph in front of her.
Eleanor’s brain froze. Was Theresa Murrow the agent’s child?I wish I could help you.
“Explain to me, out of all the dead and missing, how you are the only one to survive. And hell,morethan survive, you got your life back, all while the other families are suffering.” Murrow’s chest heaved with anger.
“I don’t know. How dare you insinuate that I got my life back! Tell me what I have that’s so damn spectacular. My parents are dead. The baby I was impregnated to carry, the one I felt move. The one I lost. The one I never held nor heard cry left an ache a man like you will never understand. I work; I go home. I have nothing left. Tell me, Agent Murrow, if this is living.” Eleanor’s lips trembled.
“You seemed pretty tight with Wes Crockett last night. You can make a new baby with him.” Murrow’s lips curled into a snarl.
She couldn’t stop the tears. She was truly alone. Had Wes betrayed her to them? How did they know she was with Wes? Ellie pressed her hands against the table to stand. “You bastard.” Her hand came up to slap Murrow.
