Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

Frankie

I clenched my fists so tightly within their ropes that the tips of my fingers went numb. Senator McLeod sat at the desk in front of us, looking down on us as we knelt on the floor where we'd been dumped. A pair of armed bodyguards stood around him as Ozias carefully approached the desk.

"I did as you asked, sir. I brought you something useful."

Senator McLeod regarded Ozias for a moment, heavy brows furrowed, and fingers balanced like a steeple in front of him.

"I'll decide what's useful."

His chair creaked when he stood. The armed bodyguards moved with him as he approached, always at his back like a choreographed dance.

Beside me, I could feel Newt tremble.

The Senator grabbed Newt's chin and forced him to look up.

"Prettier than I thought they'd be. Our clients might even like this one. Despite his age, he's still got an innocent look to him."

Newt shook harder.

I snarled and pictured sinking my teeth into the man's wrist to remove his disgusting touch from my friend. With my hands bound it was all I could do, even in my imagination.

Yet, my silent threat only made the Senator laugh. He let go of Newt to grab my hair instead, and then tipped my head back as far as it would go. He brushed his fingers over the scar on the back of my head and I shivered with revulsion. Other than Newt, Gabe was the only person who I had allowed to touch that painful memory written on my skin. I hated how it felt, but was at least glad to have the Senator's attention as it meant the man was no longer paying attention to Newt.

The Senator was right. Newt's personality and wide blue eyes would be just the kind of thing these monsters would enjoy destroying.

As if sensing my thoughts, the Senator smiled and leaned closer until I could feel his breath on my face.

"This one's too feisty, but I know others with my exotic taste who would pay good money for him."

I was just considering the merits of spitting in his face—if the momentary satisfaction be worth the pain it would probably cause me later—when the Senator thankfully let me go and turned back to face Ozias.

"We can definitely profit off of them, but that's not my main concern. You're certain that they'll work as hostages for our targets?"

"Oh, yes," Ozias said, standing stiff as a board like a soldier presented before his drill sergeant. "Sebastian Roth will do anything for the redhead. And the FBI agent who's been protecting him seems to be fond of the other one. I've seen them together before."

"Good." Senator McLeod returned to his desk and leaned back in his chair. "What about the other Roth brother? Damien? He wasn't the one originally investigating us, but he's recently been involved. Plus, Russo would owe us for dealing with one of his problems for him. Something strange is going on with the Mariano family right now. This might be a good chance to push our advantage with that den of snakes."

I nearly laughed out loud.

Who was this man to throw shade on the morality of anyone else?

He and the David Russo were practically cut from the same cloth. In fact, if I had to choose between the two, I might choose the infamous Mafia Boss over the Senator. At least Russo didn't hold an official seat of power in the government.

Ozias shook his head with urgent, jerky motions, like he didn't want to be caught moving for too long. For the first time since entering the office at the top of the building, I noticed that Ozias's gaze kept trailing off to the side toward the boy sleeping on the couch. He seemed distracted, but quickly snapped himself back to attention to answer the Senator's question.

"There was no sign of Damien Roth, and as far as I can tell, he doesn't have any personal connection to these two."

"Pity." The Senator tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Still, we can at least get rid of one headache. I've already sent someone out to take care of Sebastian Roth and his FBI protector, so you'd better hope your assessment is correct, Ozias. I'll be very disappointed if these two don't turn out to be as useful as you've promised."

"They will be," Ozias instantly promised. "I'm certain of it."

Silence fell between the two men, each waiting for the other to say or do something. The tension hung so heavy between them it seemed to reach right down my throat and steal the air from my lungs.

I pressed closer to Newt, pretending it was to comfort my friend since he hadn't stopped trembling, but I knew it was just as much to comfort myself.

Finally, Senator McLeod smirked. "I suppose you're waiting for your reward, aren't you Ozias? All right. You've done a lot of work for us recently. As promised, you can have your pick of the dolls. We've got a wide selection on the island right now."

I nearly vomited on the spot when I saw that Ozias was so eager and excited for what Senator McLeod offered that he actually started playing with his belt buckle.

He pointed to the boy on the couch. "Him. I want that one."

The Senator's grin twisted into something a little more sinister around the edges. If asked to describe it, I wouldn't be able to pinpoint exactly what changed in his expression from one moment to the next. It was almost as if the very shadows in the room bled into the lines of his face.

"Bold of you to ask for my doll."

He stood again and stepped over to the couch. He stroked his hand over the boy's head, ruffling downy hair just enough to make the boy stir in his sleep but not wake him. "You have good taste. This one is my personal favorite."

Ozias also seemed to pick up on the Senator's changed mood, for he dropped his arm to his side and started messing with his belt buckle again. This time, the gesture seemed less eager and more like a nervous tick.

The Senator's hand left the boy's head to instead trace the ring of bruises around one thin wrist. His fingers aligned perfectly with the dark splotches on tender skin.

"Maybe, if you keep being so useful to us, I'll let you watch while I play with this one. But, no. This doll is mine. Pick a different one. Although, if this is your type, I can make a few recommendations."

Ozias nodded again, but the motion was much smoother than before. "I guess I was hoping for too much. Things are never so easy."

It was an odd statement, but before anyone could say anything in response, three quick popping sounds echoed through the room. The noise was too sudden for me to even jump in surprise and it took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. Once I did, however, my eyes nearly fell out of my skull.

Ozias stood at the center of the room, his arm raised, with the world's smallest gun clenched in his hand.

A weapon small enough to hide inside a belt buckle.

Senator McLeod lay slumped on the floor, with his bodyguards only a few steps away in a similar position. All three had identical holes in their heads, each less than an inch wide.

The bullets may have been small, but they got the job done. Senator McLeod and his bodyguards were dead.

Ozias's knees made a painfully loud sound against the floor when he collapsed, clinging to the edge of the desk for support as he laughed to himself.

"It worked. Ha ha. Oh god. It worked. Barely had enough bullets, but it's done." He was babbling to himself and barely seemed to realize what he was saying.

I stared in confusion between the man, the gun he'd dropped, and the three newly dead bodies.

"What the hell is going on?"

That seemed to finally snap Ozias out of his stupor. He grabbed the now empty gun off the floor and shoved it back into the hidden compartment in his belt buckle.

"Right. This is… um…"

Before he could get any farther in his explanation, a small voice interrupted him.

"Oz?"

The boy on the couch had woken up, probably startled by the sound of gunfire, and now his heartbreakingly large eyes were locked onto Ozias.

Ozias rushed toward the boy.

Newt pushed himself to his feet as if to stop the man, but I blocked my friend from interfering. At first, Newt looked at me, confused, but I merely shook my head.

I wasn't sure what was going on, but one thing was clear. The boy not only knew Ozias's name, but even had a nickname for him. They must know each other.

This fact was made even more obvious when Ozias scooped the boy up into a hug, calling his name in turn.

"Milo."

The boy, apparently named Milo, clung to Ozias like an octopus, wrapping all four limbs around the man and holding on with all the strength in his young body.

It was a heartwarming scene, marred only by the fact that I had no idea what it all meant. I hated to interrupt, but there were several very important issues that needed to be addressed.

"Yeah. Excuse me. Two questions. One. What the hell is going on? And two. Can you untie us?"

I gestured with my bound hands as best I could to draw attention to them while also nodding toward Newt's ropes.

Ozias wiped tears from his eyes without letting go of Milo. "Of course. I'll explain in a moment. Let me find something to cut those ropes."

He kept Milo's head tucked against his shoulder as he stepped over the bodies on the floor and started rifling through the desk.

As we waited to be freed, Newt nudged me with his shoulder and leaned over to whisper in my ear. "I thought that kid was Tansie Bell's son?"

I studied Milo for a moment. It was definitely the same kid from the picture that Tansie Bell had shown us.

"Well, she thought it was her son since he apparently looks just like her ex that got her pregnant, but there was no way to actually confirm it. Either Ozias knows Miss Bell and has also been looking for her son, or she was wrong and the kid was never her son to begin with."

After a few minutes of searching, Ozias managed to find a pocketknife in one of the desk drawers, which he used to cut Newt and I free.

I stood from the blood-splattered floor and rubbed my sore, chafed wrists. Three dead bodies lay at our feet, which I was desperately trying not to think about. I felt no remorse for them. These people definitely deserved to die, but I'd also never been this close to such a fresh corpse.

Instead of focusing on the triple murder I'd just witnessed, I regarded Ozias with a critical eye instead. The man no longer seemed like an immediate threat, but I wasn't willing to immediately trust him.

"All right. We're free. Now explain."

Ozias stared down at Milo, who seemed content to just keep his head buried against the man's shoulder. "I'm not even sure where to start."

"The beginning." I snapped my fingers, drawing the man out of whatever memories he'd fallen in. "Come on. We're in the middle of a swamp stuck on a pedophile's secret dream island. We don't have all day to sit around, and I need to know if we can trust you. So, what's your deal? Why are you here?"

Newt grabbed my arm, silently asking me for patience, but I didn't have much to spare. I was so ready for this whole ordeal to be over.

With a sigh, Ozias placed a hand over Milo's head and lowered his voice to a whisper. "It started two years ago. A friend of mine died. Natural causes. They were sick. Their only family was their little brother. Because of the age gap, they were raising their brother more like a son."

If Ozias was lying, then he was a damn good actor, because the pain on his face looked incredibly real.

"When my friend died, I promised to look after their brother, but I failed. Milo was put into foster care while the courts figured out what to do with him. By the time I managed to get custody, he'd disappeared."

Based on all the information I'd learned from Gabe and Sebastian's investigation, I could already picture what had happened.

"A young kid in the system with no living family. He probably seemed like an easy target that no one would miss."

Ozias's lip pulled back over his teeth like he was about to bite someone. "Well they fucked up, because I did miss him. It took everything I had, but I managed to track down what happened to Milo. When I realized who had him I tried to go to the police, but…"

"But they were no help," I finished the sentence for him, having already heard similar sentiments so many times before. "Probably paid off to look the other way."

My own blood started boiling from the thought, and I was ready to start biting people right alongside the man.

Newt moved between us, acting like a small ginger wall, and gave a pointed look toward Milo to remind us to keep calm. "I'm sorry to hear about your friend, Ozias, but that doesn't explain what you're doing here. Why are you working for these people?"

"Isn't it obvious." Ozias gripped Milo a little tighter. "If the police weren't going to help, then I would have to get Milo back on my own. It took two years, but I managed to worm my way into their inner circle. Helping to kidnap you was the last hurdle to earning my way here. I wasn't expecting to find Milo so quickly, but I'm not complaining."

Newt stepped closer to the man. "Well, I'm glad our kidnapping could at least accomplish something positive."

However, before he could get too close, I pulled him back to my side. "Hold on. That's a sad story and everything, but I still have one question. This is a secret organization of pedophiles and child abusers. How, exactly, did you convince them that you were one of them?"

If my implication wasn't clear just from my words, the distrustful gaze would have made things easy to understand.

Ozias stumbled back a step, though he never lost his grip on Milo. His face twisted into an expression of shame and disgust that was painful just to look at and he seemed to cave in on himself.

"It actually wasn't that hard." His words were so small, I had to strain to hear them. "All I had to do was say that I prefer to play with dolls that are… complacent, and the kids were kept so drugged up they had no idea what was happening. Or, not happening, in this case."

He started laughing, and I almost smacked the man for making a joke out of something so serious, until I noticed the manic look in his eye.

"But I still have those memories in my brain. All the kids I didn't help who now think I hurt them. Some of the things I've seen. Ha ha… I'm definitely going to need therapy after this." His hands trembled as they formed fists in the fabric of Milo's shirt.

Mental trauma often went hand in hand with physical trauma. I'd seen enough patients in my time who struggled with both to recognize a man who was barely keeping himself from falling apart. While I still wanted to push for more answers—his story was worryingly vague and I still didn't fully trust him—I could also tell that talking about it any more would probably break the man.

Instead, I decided to let it go for now.

I still wasn't sure what to think of everything. So much had happened in such a short amount of time, my brain was struggling to keep up. A part of me still felt like it was back at the fundraising carnival, looking for anything suspicious worth investigating. Or better yet, back at the safe house, waking up next to Gabe and planning out that day's physical therapy session for Sebastian.

At least it was clear that Ozias wasn't our enemy. We already had enough enemies. It was a relief to cross at least one name off the list.

My gaze trailed back to the dead bodies on the floor. We could actually cross several names off our list of enemies, including one very big name. The man who was in charge of the pedophile ring that was hunting us lay dead at our feet, no longer a danger to anyone.

With Senator McLeod dead, what did we do now?

I didn't realize I'd asked the question out loud until Ozias tossed me something. In the few moments while I'd been lost in thought, he'd managed to regain his composure. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was perfectly fine.

I caught the small object as it arched through the air toward me and held it up to the light for a better view.

It was one of the GPS camera pins Newt and I had been wearing.

"I reactivated it shortly after you were kidnapped," Ozias said. "Sorry about that, by the way. I wish there had been another option, but they only reveal the location of this place to people who have earned it."

I handed the GPS pin to Newt so he could see it for himself. "No, I get that. But why are you returning this pin to us now?"

Ozias heaved a sigh and sat on the couch, careful not to move the boy more than necessary.

"The Senator may be dead, but this place is still crawling with security. To put it bluntly, there's no way we're getting out of here on our own. We're going to need help."

In his arms, Milo looked like he was halfway asleep again. It was concerning. With all the excitement happening right now, the boy shouldn't be so tired.

A little thought niggling in the back of my brain made me wonder if Milo had been drugged to keep him under control, just like Ozias had described earlier, but I didn't ask.

What could we do even if the boy had been drugged?

He needed medical care either way.

Getting out of here as soon as possible was the best option for everyone.

Newt cupped the GPS pin in both hands like he was holding a small bird, and stared at it the same way he would stare at an interesting puzzle that needed solving.

"Senator McLeod said he sent someone to take care of Sebastian and Gabe."

Technically, what Newt said was a statement, but the question was clear in his tone nonetheless.

"He did," Ozias agreed. "But if your men are half as impressive as they seem, then I'm sure that they'll be fine. They're probably on their way here right now."

I certainly hoped so, because what Ozias said was true. We were going to need help getting out of there. I had plenty of faith in Gabe and Sebastian's abilities and had seen them survive more than one life-threatening situation before.

Yet, I still couldn't help but worry, and from the look on Newt's face, I could tell he felt the same way.

Newt slapped the corner of the desk, like a judge bringing down his gavel on a final decision. "We can't just sit around and wait to be rescued. We may not be able to leave on our own, but there's got to be something we can do in the meantime."

For the first time, I took a good look around the room. "This was Senator McLeod's personal office in the building, right?"

I looked to Ozias for confirmation, but the man just shrugged. "Maybe. It looks that way, but this is also my first time here, so I don't know for sure."

Newt seemed to catch on to my train of thought and started opening the drawers of the desk. "If this is his personal office, then there's got to be something worth investigating. Information. Computer files. Something we can collect as evidence against this whole operation. We need to make sure that everyone involved pays for what they've done, and that this whole ring gets taken down."

Ozias stood from the couch so quickly he woke up Milo, but the boy quickly settled back to sleep.

"I didn't go through all of this trauma and risk going to prison for killing a Senator just to let the rest of these monsters get away. You go search over there. I'll start with these filing cabinets."

We each took a section of the room. Newt searched the desk, and Ozias took the cabinets, while I turned my attention to the bookcase.

At first, I thought my part of the effort was useless. There was nothing helpful about the bookcase. Even the books themselves seemed like an odd collection of topics that had been thrown together for the sake of aesthetic rather than useful information.

But then, as I was tracing my fingers along the leather bound spines, I noticed something odd.

"Hey, none of these spines are cracked. They're all brand new."

I didn't look over at the others, but I heard them stop whatever they were doing behind me.

"So what?" Newt asked. "It's not illegal to own new books."

"No." I pulled out one of the books. It crackled when I opened it, meaning it had literally never been opened before. "But a collection of books is never entirely new. It's like they were bought all at once and then just placed here for the sake of decoration."

I pulled out a few more books, all equally unopened, and knocked my knuckles against the back of the bookcase.

A hollow echo rattled the wood.

"Bingo. It's a false wall."

Once I knew what I was looking at, it wasn't hard to figure out how to open the bookcase. All I had to do was find the hinges hidden along one side and swing the whole thing open like a door.

On the other side was a small room, just large enough for a desk and an impressively sleek-looking computer.

"Not just bingo. It's a jackpot," I called to the others. "That computer has got to have some important information on it. Newt, you know more about this stuff than I do. Can you take a look?"

"I'll try," Newt said as he stepped through the hidden doorway into the little room. "But playing video games doesn't make me a hacker. If the computer is password protected, we're screwed."

"Just do what you can?"

I watched him for a moment as he booted up the computer, careful about what buttons he hit in case he accidentally triggered some sort of security system.

"Hey, guys," Ozias called from where he stood near the main doorway. "Do you hear that?"

Leaving Newt to figure things out on his own, I stepped over to the main door. "Hear what?"

Ozias pressed his ear against the door. "That. I think someone's coming up the stairs."

I also pressed my ear to the door. Sure enough, I could hear the faint sound of footsteps. It was surprisingly loud, like the person was trying to make as much noise as possible.

Or maybe they just didn't see any reason to be quiet.

"If they come in here and see all this…" Ozias gestured to the three bodies still lying on the ground. "We're dead."

"Maybe," I agreed. "But if that's the case I'm not going down easily."

Searching the rapidly cooling bodies, I found a gun that was small enough for me to handle and grip it tightly in both hands.

Ozias stepped out of the way as I took a position at the center of the room and pointed the gun at the door. I had no idea what I was doing, but if anyone tried to attack us, I was determined not to hesitate.