We'll Always be Here for You

We bounced stuff around after that, Carla held the key. No wonder that woman was afraid of her going rogue and carelessly spilling the beans. The rooms were built to cherry pick the girls they wanted to groom, under the guise of helping them get better paid jobs when they went out into the big wide world, with the aid of a slightly better education. All rent free of course since the Matron woman had to keep them off the grid.

The cameras kept an eye on them as well as recording what they would use on the bidding channel. Once at the right age and of course, the right price, they were drugged, purchased and shipped. Going by the small clip we had of the bidding, these girls were fetching real big prices, since the matron woman could guarantee the virginity of each of them.

*******

The call from Jake Kincaid late the next day made us all take a sharp right turn.

"We have a problem. Miss Calderwell is the liaison between us and the mayor. She's been in on almost all our meetings, except this morning. She missed this one and when we phoned the Mayor's office, they hadn't seen her either."

Things went downhill rather fast after that. Jake had someone phone her, her cell was off. Having that nagging feeling since we were so close to closing this case, he sent a couple of agents to her apartment. The super let them in when they flashed their badges and asked him if he wanted to wait for them to get a warrant. The apartment was left in a hurry, along with no signs of foul play.

Jake was acting on instinct then and got his people to check the airport and rail stations. A nice picture of a woman looking exactly like Miss Calderwell, and yet using the name Philippa Clarkson bought a ticket on a plane that left an hour ago, going to Toronto, Canada.

We thought our planning was going so well. What we under-estimated was the matron woman. We now knew she had a paid informant in the Mayor's office. Jake Kincaid sent a team over to Miss Calderwell's apartment and they turned the place upside down. It seems Sharon Calderwell had a habit -- she liked to doodle. Her note pad didn't burn in the trash can like it was supposed to. She tipped off the matron woman that we had Carla and for an extra payment she would release the details of exactly where they were holding her.

"Andy, there is something else. I have people monitoring the dark web, well as best they can. Those people know we are watching and are covering their actions well. But something has spooked the web. Someone is floating a lot of money on the web, looking for something specific. We just can't get near to finding out what this person is looking for, or if he or she has found it. The money is in the millions Andy. Someone will eventually point this person in the right direction for a percentage, I can guarantee that."

Jake promised to keep me informed. At the moment, it was a waiting game.

*******

Between Jake and me, we decided to keep Carla at the cabin for now. Moving her would put her at risk of capture and that wasn't going to happen. Jake decided to let his own team dig deeper, and if all else failed, shake the tree to see what falls out of it.

Two days later, we got our answer. We all heard the helicopters; they were skimming the tree tops along the bottom of the valley. One of my people radioed me as he watched them both land one at a time, in total ten men got out, all armed and eager. The helicopters left in a hurry. I got the feeling they weren't coming back.

Peach was already on her cell to her boss. I walked up to Marion. "Never did think we would need a safe room, silly me."

She looked worried and held onto Carla a little tighter as well.

"It's going to be okay, I trust my people. I'm leaving Toby and Peach in here with you two."

It was then she let go of Carla and rushed at me, I just managed to grab her as her arms and legs wrapped around me and she buried her head into my neck.

It was Peach who broke the tension. "My boss says to hang on, he's sending the closest HRT unit available, I've also spoken to Kathy and the standby team is on their way, ETA twenty minutes."

My headset was already picking up the chatter between my people. The spotter was plotting the movement of the intruders. The leader of the team outside had already adjusted his positions and was ready for them.

I gently placed my wife onto the ground. I would like to say she kissed me gently but sucking my face off would have been a better description. Even Peach had to fake a cough to remind her that others were in the room. I looked at both Toby and Peach, I didn't need to say anything. We nodded in silent agreement that it was time.

One of the team met me as I exited the back door and we moved swiftly to our area. The gunfight started a few minutes later. They were good, but my team was better, the fact we had a defensive position already established helped a great deal. These folks have to yomp up a hill to engage us and while they were fluid, we just picked them off as they tried to encircle the cabin.

Our first 'man down' came over the radio, I looked towards the team leader, he was already dealing with it. Carl Aspinall, was a lieutenant when I was on the verge of leaving the Marines, we were having a drink together in the town when he asked what I planned to do when I left. An hour later he had his name down, his only condition was that he picked his own team.

This man and his team have aced every job given to them. Despite that, I stopped them dead when they started to brag about being the A team. Of the three teams I had at my disposal, they probably were the best, but I wasn't going to disrespect the other two teams. Every assignment was different and I tried to match the assignments to each team's strength.

The intruders were losing men quickly. Whoever was in charge wanted this over with as quickly as possible, more so since we could now hear additional helicopters over the sound of gunfire. He pulled his team together and I admired his bravery as well as his stupidity. The full-on frontal assault was met with withering gunfire. Did these people even have an extraction plan?

As the dust settled and the backup team came up behind them, they were now fighting on two fronts. It was only a matter of time and ammunition before it all fell silent and Carl Aspinall along with another of his team went out to see the condition of the dead or dying.

We still left the people in the cabin for now while both team swept the area and eventually gave the all clear. Toby came out first. Peach watched through the window but remained inside. I lost sight of Toby for a few minutes while I checked with the team leads. I met up with Toby on the porch and saw that he was focused on the woods beyond the clearing. At one point I don't think he even realized I was beside him.

"Toby, what's up?"

"I'm not sure. Going to take a look, probably nothing."

"Take someone with you."

He shook it head.

The teams were checking the bodies as Toby walked over towards the woods. Even supposed dead people have been known to get up and kill. I was going to follow him, but Carl Aspinall walked over, to give me a situation report.

By now Marion came out to check on me, we hugged, we even kissed. That's when Carl smiled and left to look after his team. We talked and I checked to make sure she had a vest on, she nodded when she looked at what I was doing. Then mention that Toby insisted on it while he handed them to my sister as well as put one on himself.

*******

We all heard the shotgun blast, what worried us was that it was in the direction Toby had gone and we all knew he didn't have a shotgun. Moments later we heard a scream, that's when I went running in the direction of both the shotgun blast and the scream. Marion was right behind me carrying a gun.

Although my mind was so full of dread, I still had to take care of my people. I shouted over my shoulder, "Peach, you have Carla. Scotty and Duncan, back her up."

Peach pulled Carla back into the cabin and the rest of the team reset about a defensive position around the place. We had missed something, someone out there had a shotgun. We couldn't be sure if this was a rogue or the announcement of a second wave.

Toby was still breathing when I got there, his knife was stuck into the chest of the snotty security guard we had come across at the graveside of Carla's mother. The muzzle against Toby's vest made the vest next to useless. Toby was alive, but not for much longer.

Marion knelt beside him.

He smiled into my wife's eyes. "The birthmark on the back of her leg, gave her away. She's mine Marion, or rather Jessica's and mine."

Toby winced, a tear left his eye and his mind seemed to wander off for a moment, when he said. "I should have read the gravestone, that day at the cemetery. It would have saved us all so much time."

Marion looked shocked. Then added. "Why hadn't you said anything?"

Toby tried to smile but we could see it hurt him. "Shock, perhaps. When Jessica left, she never even told me she was pregnant. Then I worked out the timeline, the birthmark was the final giveaway. She's my girl."

His arm came up to my wife's and his hand held onto her.

"I'm sorry for both your loss with Becky, I truly am and I've stood and watched the pain you both went through. Please Marion, adopt Carla. Don't let her go back to that place."

A retching cough caused my wife to hold onto Toby a little harder, when it subsided she looked pleadingly at me.

"Please Andy, I want this. We can't let her go back to that place, not after all that's happened."

I was a New York minute behind my wife about this, so I nodded but asked her to get her cell out. I pulled mine from my pocket and thanked the gods for the fact we were still within range of the cabin and could piggy back off its Wi-Fi service.

"Hartman Securities, how may I help you?"

"Kathy, it's Andy. Work your magic for me. Marion is about to activate the recording device on her cell phone. I need you to record what she's getting on her cell, this conversation could well go in front of a judge, so make sure it's legal tight, please, Kathy. Do whatever you need to do but get what happens next on record."

I could hear her fingers go frantic on her keyboard. "Done sir, all set. You may record."

With a nod to my wife, Marion held her phone close to Toby, the rasping noise coming from deep within him an indicator that he wasn't long for this world.

"My name is Toby Bridger. My daughter is Carla Susan Merchant as DNA tests will prove."

He coughed, Marion placed her phone down, pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped his mouth, as her tears freely fell down her cheeks. Finally ending up on Toby's shattered chest. My wife picked her cell up again and held it close to our dear friend and nodded for him to continue. Her whole body trembled as she held onto Toby; she was fighting her own emotions as she tended to that very special person. The foundation blocks she was using to keep her emotions at bay were barely working.

Toby tried to pull air into his lungs to speak and winced through the pain, before continuing. "As her father I wish and hope that my friends take her into their care. I name Marion Tennyson and her husband Andrew Tennyson as the people I wish to adopt my daughter. Should they decide to do this, they both have my blessing and eternal gratitude."

Marion still held her phone close to Toby, even as she leaned in and kissed his forehead.

"I've only known her a short time my friend." My wife's voice seemed to break then as her own emotions surfaced, she desperately pulled air back into her lungs, so she could continue. "But she's a gift from God and two very special people." The tremor in her voice was genuine, my wife often wore her heart on her sleeve.

Her face once again showed her resolve as she leaned closer to Toby so he could see that she meant what she was about to say. "I will look after her with my life, no harm will come to her again, you have my word."

Toby smiled, even as his eye's glazed and then slowly closed. A sigh left his lips and my wife lay her cell phone on the ground and held him close to her. I could still see the numbers tick by on her cell phone as it continued to record. Her tears now freely fell down her cheeks and once again onto the shattered chest of the man we had come to know as a dear friend.

My wife opened her mouth and with her lungs full of oxygen, she screamed her sadness and heart-ache across the valley. A sadness and great pain that we had already lived through with our own daughter's death. She held our friend to her chest as heart breaking sobs burst forth from her very soul. My wife trusted this one man she held so protectively in her arms, as much as she did me. To us both, we had lost a very, very dear friend.

I held my cell close to my ear but it still took me a moment to compose myself. "Kathy, make six copies, hand one to legal and prep them for any legal fight we may have in the future."

Kathy had listened to the message along with everyone else. She found it hard to find words of any kind. I heard a sniffle and then, "Yes sir. Anything else I can do?"

"No thank you Kathy. I will send Peach back to you as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Andy."

She closed the line down then.

*******

It was Peach who told me that when the team pulled Carla back into the cabin, she had taken that moment to phone her boss. While she was on the phone, she could hear sirens off in the distance. She was worried about a confrontation between our security people and the local Sheriff's people. That worry wasn't necessary it seems. Her boss had anticipated the possibility and had reached out through his police contacts. By the time the first cruiser reached the property, the lights and siren were already off.

Peach and one of the security team met with the officer from the town where Marion had purchased her and Carla's clothes. He said he had just received a radio call from his boss stating that despite the gunfire that had come from the cabin, he wasn't facing a gun fight and Federal security contractor had a team at the site. Another cruiser from the Sheriff's department turned up moments later.

By now I had walked back into the clearing. I left my wife with Toby and two of my people that had followed us. I suspect it would have taken a crowbar to separate Marion and Toby at that moment, and there really was no need. I'd do my crying later.

With the help of the local Sheriff's department, as in, they leant against their cruisers and watched, we pulled bodies out of the woods. At first, they complained about contaminating a crime scene. A swift phone call to their own office got the Sheriff telling them that what happened at the cabin "didn't in fact happen and you're not seeing anything, got it? Just do as the nice people ask, OK?"

By the end of the day, Peach's people started to appear and the area between the cabin and the clearing started to look like FBI central. There was a continual rotation of helicopters. Marion left with Carla and two of my people, but that almost caused a major row between her and Peach. Marion wanted Toby and the wounded out first, but it was one of the wounded that pulled my wife aside and told her that she and the little girl were the priority. Yes, they were wounded, but none seriously. Nothing could be done for Toby now except to see to his daughter and herself.

Toby and the wounded of my team did leave next. I then sent in the back-up team to secure the area until a clean-up squad could get there. The Sheriff kept a car and deputy there for the rest of the day.

Sheriff Thompson came back up a few days later when he knew I would be there. We talked over a coffee on the porch. He wasn't pleased that he'd had 'Washington', as he seemed to refer to Peach's boss, riding his ass. He also wasn't pleased that we had a war on his doorstep that he had to deny ever happening to the locals. Finally, he asked when we were leaving his county and expressed his hope never to see us again.

I took the hint; I don't believe Marion would want to come back here now anyway.

I did get a call from an even more pissed Sheriff a few days after I got back. It seems he went back up to the cabin when he found out we had left. Just to inspect the place of course. All he found was a pile of wood and rubble. He couldn't see my smile. Really, like I was going to leave him the cabin? My people removed the electronics and anything else worth saving and then placed a few charges at key points on the frame. We barely heard the explosion from the other side of the clearing but it made a hell of a spectacle when the roof and the walls crashed in on themselves.

I pointed out that he would have been trespassing to be able to see that much. Further, since some company in the Caiman islands owned the cabin and I was only leasing it from them, he needed to take the destruction of the cabin up with them.

I faced my next headache when Marion sat Carla down and she told her that they had done as Toby had asked and DNA tested both of them. Toby was her father. After tears were once again shed by both women, Carla asked if Toby could be buried next to her momma. That girl just grew in our eyes with every wise statement she made. When we approached the cemetery about it, they tried to pull the plug on the idea. Jessica Merchant was at the end of the line of graves, so short of exhuming the body of Jessica Louise Merchant and placing her casket in another part of the cemetery, it wasn't going to happen.

The exhumation order arrived a day later. Courtesy of friends in the FBI.

It does help having friends in high places. The judicial system may be (supposedly) immune from influence of any kind. But when the Director of the FBI gives a certain judge a friendly call, you will be surprised how clearly the judge listens.

We held the funeral of Toby Bridger a week later. Part of the delay was paperwork related and part was due to our hope to have the adoption quickly resolved. If Toby was somewhere watching, we wanted him to know that we were keeping the promises we made.

Converting Carla Susan Merchant into Carla Susan Tennyson was a process. Understandably checks on prospective parents have to be thorough, but again, friends in high places helped. A letter of recommendation from the Director of the FBI. A citation from the White House for Carla's mother giving her life in service to the country. A second citation for my military service. A letter from the editor-in-chief of a national newspaper endorsing us and disclosing that there were about to launch a series of investigative reports on issues in adoption services and how long the process takes.

The editor's letter raised the hackles with someone at the adoption agency. They responded with a letter to the newspaper saying they would take as long as necessary to secure the future well-being of the child known as Carla Merchant. The paper printed a slightly redacted version of said letter, only blanking out the names of the child and those wishing to adopt her. The paper also printed another slightly redacted version of who we were and our combined wealth. Not to mention that they also leaned heavily on the fact that my business was security based. And the adoption board were worried about the safety of the child in question? Bureaucrats, don't you love them?

Finally, a senator got involved and the logjam magically vanished.

Carla had broken a case that had us all scratching our heads. She simply had found out something that none of the investigators had been able to find. It seemed simple to her and maybe that's because it was. An intelligent, observant child with a keen memory for details.

Because of that help, Joanie Faraday never left the Orphanage. An armed unit from the FBI pulled up just as she was packing and took her into protective custody. When the dust settled and the court case was over, Joanie actually applied for an assistant's job at the Orphanage with the new people sent in to fix the mess Matron had made. The new team snapped her up immediately. She's a favorite with the girls in the facility and always has an open door for any of them. She just doesn't live in the attic anymore.