Okay now I'm in the fucking twilight zone. "Are you kidding me Sanders?" I looked at my men who were all looking at him like they each wanted a piece.
"I wish I was but I have evidence, I videotaped him once when he didn't know. I've been holding it as insurance just in case you know, now with you grabbing that...your wife." He spat the word out and I thought; why don't I just kill the fuck and be done with it?
"Now that you've soiled her I'm not sure what my life is worth."
"I hope they gut you and leave you in the desert somewhere for the wild animals to pick over your carcass. Get your own ass to the hospital. Gage, search this fucker's house; make sure you find everything there is to find on this shit. I find out you're holding out on me Sanders I'm coming back and when I leave you won't be breathing. You're only alive because of her, isn't that ironic? I know if I kill you it'll hurt her and I'll never hurt her. Not even to rid the world of a piece a shit like you. But if you ever in your life cross my path again I'll end you. Oh and by the way she's happy, she doesn't even talk about you you're nothing but a distant memory. If you survive them, one day when you least expect it, when enough time has passed and she's forgotten that you ever existed I'm going to kill you."
I left the building with my men trailing behind me.
"How am I supposed to drive with this fucked up knee?"
I didn't even bother to answer fuck him.
Chapter 26
I'm sure my wife was wondering if I'd lost my damn mind, but for the rest of that day after I returned home I stuck to her like glue. My parents were gone and my guys were turning the Sanders residence upside down looking for anything they could find that would help in our quest to find and return those poor unfortunate kids who had fallen into the clutches of these demons.
We all agreed that time was of the essence, most of the victims had been gone for years already but that didn't mean it was too late, or at least that's what we were hoping.
"Is everything alright Gideon?"
"Yeah baby why?"
"Well, you've been acting strange since you got home."
All I could do is look at her beautiful face and just enjoy the fact that she was here and safe and mine.
"I missed you that's all."
Her face broke into one of her amazing smiles and my heart felt full and warm. She'd come so close, every time I thought of it my blood ran cold. She'd come so close to being destroyed, I would've never have gotten to know her, her beauty, her warmth. What would my life be like without that? In the short time that we've known each other she's come to mean so much, she'd become everything. I picked her up from the bed and sat her on my lap so full of love for her at that moment.
"What would you like to do today? You've been cooped up for days now, would you like to go out somewhere babygirl?" I held my breath as I awaited her answer.
"No I don't think so, not until we have figured everything out at least, maybe I can sit out on the balcony though that would be nice." Thank heaven for that, I wasn't sure how I would've survived an excursion, but the thought of her being afraid didn't sit well with me either.
"Are you afraid baby?"
"No, because you won't let them hurt me."
"That's my good girl."
We sat like that for what seemed like hours just holding each other. Me reliving the horror of her father's words while giving thanks that I had her and my Blossom was just enjoying being close.
I finally sat her outside wrapped in a light blanket with her magazines and iPad and anything her little heart desired to pass the time. I sat at the desk I'd set up in the bedroom so I could still keep an eye on her as I caught up on work. My business had been neglected a lot lately, something I would never have done in the past but had no qualms about doing now. Where she was concerned there wasn't much I wouldn't do consequences be damned. At least I was sure things were running smoothly under the watchful eyes of the men I had in place for just such an occasion.
I didn't spend too much time on my own business as I was drawn more and more to the mystery of just what the senator had been up to for the past thirty years or so. I had a program running on my computer, it was kind of like connect the dots type of thing. What it did was find similarities and compared them, so far there were hundreds of them popping up, which meant this mess was going to take a while. Hopefully the guys will find something helpful in Sanders' reports, I was almost tempted to get the Feds involved but as things stood I didn't trust anyone. This shit, if Sanders was to be believed seemed to reach very high up in society, I know how these people think, there's nothing they won't do to hide up their shit. Human life meant nothing to these animals.
My phone went off with a text the guys were heading back. I'll have to meet them in the office downstairs again. I took a peek at my babygirl and she was dozing in the warm sunshine. I should just leave her there, there was no way for anyone to get to her up here, but somehow I didn't feel comfortable leaving her out in the open.
I walked outside and picking her up as gently as possible I laid her back in the bed. She hardly stirred as I covered her and kissed her brow. "I'll be back soon baby nice nap." She mumbled something before cuddling into her pillow and falling into sleep.
"What have you got?" That was my greeting for Gage and the others as I entered the room.
"He kept good records it looks like, before he just stopped like he said. The good thing is he was able to get ahold of newspaper headlines about some of the missing kids so we might be able to link them up if we're lucky enough to find them."
He threw a thick folder on the desk and some pictures and old faded newspaper clippings fell out. There were notes with times, dates and places going back almost fifteen years.
"Get your shovels boys, let's try to get through some of this shit before the day is over. I want to get started on finding these people as soon as possible, I'm sorry but it looks like some of you might have to do some traveling in the not too distant future, I can't go right now for obvious reasons...."
"There's something you should know boss." Stefan cut me off.
"What's that?" He gave the others a look before clearing his throat and turning back to me.
"The senator's in town."
"Excuse me?"
"He landed this morning after we brought Sanders in so we don't know exactly why he's here but according to his office he doesn't have any official business in these parts, he's on personal leave."
I hit the buttons on my computer that would pull up the bedroom so I could see for myself that she was just where I'd left her, safe and unharmed.
"Okay I think we pretty much know why he's here, looks like he's going to force my hand. I want to help all those kids that these sick fucks fucked over but my wife comes first, if he comes anywhere near her I'll kill him plain and simple." My wife would have no sentimental attachment to this fucker at least; him I can off without compunction.
My phone rang again my dad was on the line which was surprising since he'd been headed to the hospital after leaving here.
"Dad?"
"Son, Cliff Sanders is dead."
"What?" I looked up at my men.
"Seems he came in claiming to have been attacked in some sort of ambush, had a gunshot to the knee. The docs here patched him up and were planning to keep him overnight for observation but when the nurse went back into the room he was dead, shot to the head. It had to have been a silencer because no one saw or heard anything."
"Ok thanks dad." I hung up the phone with a heavy heart, not because that fucker was dead, good riddance I say, but because if the senator was eliminating threats then Ashley was in even more danger than before.
"It would appear the senator has already struck, Sanders is dead." There were a lot of grumblings following my announcement.
"Boss if a United States senator is going around offing people himself then this shit might go higher than we thought, this could get really ugly."
"I hear what you're saying Maurice but none of that changes anything, it doesn't matter who's involved I'm going to bring them all down one way or the other. Right now my main concern is my wife and child, making sure that any threat to them is taken care of quickly."
"You want me to nix the fucker I have no problem offing him if he's guilty of half the shit we've uncovered."