She nodded.“Go, honey.”
He returned her nod and followed Sean.
When he hit the bullpen, he saw Fret County deputies, law enforcement from other towns, a man and a woman in FBI windbreakers, four men in DEA ones, the conference rooms had their blinds firmly closed, and everyone was hustling.
Sean led him to a back room Hutch had never been to, knocked, called, and then let him in.
Harry was in there, so was Rus—thank fuck again—and they were accompanied by another DEA agent.
Sean closed the door behind him just as Hutch noticed on the table the four large black nylon totes, all of them open, and all of them were stuffed full of baggies filled with blue pills.
“Fentanyl,” Harry said.“Our guess, up from Mexico and waiting for a courier to cross the border into Canada.”
“Fucking shit,” Hutch said, staring at the haul.
His attention turned because Harry was on the move.“Thought you’d want to see.Let’s go talk in Polly’s office.”
He wasn’t wasting time, and Hutch wasn’t going to waste it for him.
With a nod to Rus, he followed Harry to Polly’s office.
Harry didn’t sit.
He just rested his ass against the front of her desk and crossed his arms as Hutch closed the door.
He planted his feet and crossed his arms too.“I know you’re busy, man.And Sean is taking Mabel’s statement.I just gotta know if she’s safe, and then you can go do what you gotta do.”
Harry nodded.“She is.And Cade can call a fucking ball.”
If Harry needed to talk it out, Hutch was there.
“This is a goddamned mess,” he bit.
So he needed to talk it out.
“We got seven women and seven men who are utterly bewildered by what’s going on.Strike that.We got seven women who are pissed as shit and want to press charges, and seven men who think they’re gonna take their women home any second now, so they can tend the pumpkin patch tomorrow.”
“You are shitting me,” Hutch said low.
“No.I didn’t report that right.There are a couple of women who are half sunk in Stockholm Syndrome, but they aren’t completely gone.They’re dazed and confused and flipped out.But all the men are thinking they could just tell us they have nothing to do with any drugs, they’ve given their statements, and they have no clue why they aren’t being released.Things are gonna get a lot more confusing when we arrest all their asses for kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment.”
“Christ,” Hutch clipped.
“We also got two women and five men on the run.Three have already been caught in the next county.And it fucks me to say this, but Enstrom, Burris, Martin and Schrier are among the ones we haven’t yet apprehended.We got all points on them.We got flags at ports of entry.Probably every cop in Washington State is out looking for these guys.”
Hutch nodded.
That was good.
He hoped they nabbed them.
Fast.So this shit could be over.
“So, piecing together some hysterics and a lot of yelling with some sobbing and a bunch of words, and all that is no judgment,” Harry said.“Those women have been through it.But first thing, for Mabel, the woman she saw racing to her is with us.She’s fine.She’s got some scrapes on her feet because she got the chance to get through the north gate, and for a shot at freedom she wasn’t going to fuck around with getting dressed.Took her man’s keys, crept to the gate, had trouble prying it open, because apparently, it’s a heavy motherfucker, and took off.Sadly, he noticed her gone and raised the alarm.They caught up to her.”
Hutch nodded again.
“But, see, these fuckin’men,” Harry spat the last word, “ate the food the women cooked for them, food the women planted and grew and milked cows and all sorts of shit for them, and for some fucked-up reason, they forgot these women had the ability to hear.There was talk about Mabel, just her existence and her renting that cabin.Though, most of the talk recently was about you, her boyfriend, the Navy SEAL.She said she might not have made a run for it if she didn’t think you were there, but was considering it anyway, in hopes, if she made it that far, Mabel would give her sanctuary and call the police.Bottom line, she thought if you saw her, you’d give chase.”
