“Rightfully so,” nodded Tanner.“I don’t really remember mine but I know that he and my mother gave their lives so I could get out and come to America.I can only imagine what they had to do to get me to safety and the courage it took to let me go with a stranger.”
“That’s fucking wild,” said Hiro.“I had both of my parents for a long time, and of course my grandfather, Yori.”
“You still have him,” laughed the other two men.
“I do and I’m so damn grateful.My parents didn’t understand either one of us but I know what he did to get out of Japan and save me.”
“We’re so fucking lucky,” said AJ thoughtfully.“We’ve had amazing examples of men in our lives and continue to have them every damn day.”He went quiet and Hiro and Tanner watch him carefully.
“AJ, we’ll find who killed that young sergeant.We promise,” said Hiro.“I’ve made a lot of promises over the years.The most important was to my beautiful wife.I gave her my word that she’d be safe from the club that held her for so long, especially her grandfather.I kept my word and I’ll keep my word with you as well.”
AJ was quiet again for a while, then tapped the dashboard and clapped his hands.
“I’m hungry again.Pull in for a breakfast sandwich and coffee.My treat.”
Hiro and Tanner just laughed but did as he asked then got back on the road.When they pulled into the parking lot of the county jail, they never expected to see chaos.
“What the fuck happened?” asked Luke.“All of them are dead?”
“Every last one of them,” said Tanner.“The sheriff said they were all given dinner last night, as usual.There were four or five other inmates but these guys were two to a cell.They were all fed the same thing.Around 0400 a guard checked on them and noticed that one of them was laying on the floor.When they opened the cell, he saw the blood.”
“Fuck me,” said Cam.“Stabbed?”
“No.Poison.The food is prepared and delivered from an outside service.It’s searched for weapons but not tested for drugs or poisons.The other inmates are fine.These guys were targeted.”
“They knew something, even if they didn’t think that they did,” said Hex.“Some, or all, knew something about the woman they were working for and we need to know what that was.Go back and search the house.See if we missed loose floor boards, anything.Check to see if they had permanent residences anywhere.Maybe their parents homes, a girlfriend, something like that.”
“We’re already on it,” said AJ.“We’re headed to the house now.I’ve called Wyatt and the others to have them warn the women we met.If she knows we spoke to them, she might go for them as well.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Let’s get to that townhouse before we head to the Internet Crime Center.”
They wove through the streets of D.C. until they came upon the beautiful townhomes sitting side-by-side.They were idyllic, beautiful federal style homes and no one would know that they were housing scammers.
Kiel knocked on the door and when no one answered, pounded on it again.
“Maybe they all decided to just quit and leave,” said Ben.
“I doubt it,” said Wyatt.“They mentioned that they had personal items in the house.Besides, that car wasn’t here last night.”Wyatt looked in the window of the front room and frowned.
“Fuck!”He slammed an elbow into the glass and smelled what he knew was there.Gas.“Call 911.We’ve got a major gas leak.”
They carefully opened the front door, trying to ensure they didn’t make a spark.There was no telling how long the gas had been on and how long the woman inside had been on the floor.
Covering their faces, Wyatt carried the woman to the front lawn and then walked through the rooms finding two more young women from the night before.
Remembering that the townhome was connected to the one next to it via a basement tunnel, Ben found a fourth woman.That was four of the six they’d met.
“They’re alive,” said Kiel.“Barely.”
Wyatt found the gas shut-off valve and opened all the windows and doors.When the fire department arrived, they told the men it was a matter of minutes before the house would have exploded.Only one of the women was awake when the ambulances arrived.
“Did you see her this morning?” asked Kiel.
“No.We came in together to get our personal items like we told you.Jeri was the first to start feeling sick but we didn’t think anything of it.I went to grab my laptop and my head started to swim.Then I saw the note.”
“What note?” asked Ben.
