Brute Justice (Justice Series) Read online

  Great. Just when we finally got everyone calmed down and civil again. Now we have to rush off on this emergency… Dad’s gonna blow.

  “Clint?”

  “Yes. Yeah, of course you’re right,” he agreed reluctantly. “I just wish we didn’t have to do it right now. We finally got everyone chilled again.”

  They sat in Sam’s room, alone for the moment. Everyone else was downstairs cleaning up the kitchen and visiting.

  “Okay,” Sam said. “I don’t see why everyone needs to know about this. You and I can go over and handle it ourselves – we’ll let the girls stay here and work with Jade.”

  “Good, that’s good. Should we take our dads with us?”

  “Probably a good idea. I want my dad to know what’s going on, and we should probably tell yours, too. Mom’ll freak. Let’s split up – guys and girls.”

  “Right.”

  “I’ll fill Lexi and Leesha in on the development.” Sam projected to the girls, who agreed to keep Marcy and Jade busy while the guys took their field trip across town.

  While in route, Sam and Clint filled in their fathers on the latest discovery.

  “So you’ve been tracking his activity since you got back from Arizona?” Hank’s head was still spinning from the information overload. “What are all the green dots on the map?”

  “It’s where we know he has been multiple times over the weeks, and for any length of time.” Clint answered from the passenger side of the SUV. “This area here we think is his home. He spends most of his nights here, except for this area here, which we figure may be a girlfriend’s house. This one here might be his place of work.”

  “Tell me again,” Sam said from behind the wheel, “why we don’t have exact addresses for these locations?”

  “The map on the computer doesn’t work directly with mailing addresses. But I’ve got GPS coordinates, so we should be able to narrow it down fairly closely based on what we’ve logged.”

  “And if that doesn’t work?” Dan asked.

  Clint smiled. “Then we have Superman look through the walls to find him.”

  “You can do that?” Hank’s mouth opened in shock.

  “Yes, sir,” Sam replied proudly. “And since I’m the only one who has seen him, I’m going to have to identify him myself. But the good news is we shouldn’t have to get too close. He’ll never have to see us watching him.”

  “Do you think he’s dangerous?” Hank asked, his voice raised slightly at the turn of this conversation. “Is he a threat to you kids?”

  Oh crap. Here we go. “We don’t know. He’s never made contact with us, so we don’t know how he would react to seeing us.”

  “But we do know he’s a danger to anyone who crosses him,” Sam added, retelling the story of the kidnappers to Hank. “So if he thinks we’re working against him, he’s more than likely not going to take it well.”

  Sam pulled into a neighborhood with a couple of housing developments and a large apartment complex – the first stop on their trip. “Now what?”

  “According to these GPS numbers,” Clint surveyed the neighborhood, “I think he lives in the apartment complex.”

  “Where do I start?”

  His eyes scanned the packed parking lot and the array of buildings holding six units each. Punching the coordinates into his laptop, he pointed Sam in the right direction. “Should be one of those three buildings along the back.”

  Maneuvering the vehicle into a space adjacent to the block they were focusing on, Sam put it in park. The car was silent, allowing Sam to focus on scanning the inside of each unit. After about two and a half minutes, he shook his head. “He’s not in there.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yep.”

  “Okay… Is there a central bank of mailboxes in the front door?”

  “Um, yes! Hang on… Last names only… No Blevins. Do you think I should check the other buildings?”

  “I guess we’ve come this far, we probably should at least look. Can you scan the rest of the mailboxes at least?”

  “Sure.” After a few more minutes, Sam shook his head again. “Nope. No Blevins anywhere on the mailboxes.”

  “So, what now? Do you want to head to the place we think his office is?”

  Sam sat for a minute, thinking. Turning around, he looked at his dad. “Do you have a pad of paper in here? A pen?”

  “Sure – look in the console. Why?”

  “I’m at least going to jot down the last names of the people in these three buildings.”

  “Why?” Hank was still not up to speed.

  “Because I believe he’s spent a lot of time changing his image. He looks completely different from his old hospital photo from seventeen years ago. He’s had a nose job, probably Lasik to correct his vision – no more glasses – contacts at least.”

  “You think he’s changed his name?” Clint asked.

  “That’s what I’m figuring. We can always come back here again to see if we can see him. But for now, let’s cross reference these names with the office area.”

  “Great idea.” Clint agreed as Sam wrote down the eighteen names.

  That’s a lot of names…

  “It’s a start, at least,” Sam said as he handed the list to Clint.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Their next stop was a business development, filled with offices of all shapes and sizes. Since it was Saturday, most of the parking lots were deserted.

  After Clint punched in the GPS coordinates, he pointed to a grouping of three small office units – separate in structure, but they shared the same parking lot which circled the complex. The surface lot had six cars along the front of the middle building; there were two cars in the back.

  “It’s one of these three.” Clint said definitively, pointing at the complex. “What’s inside the buildings?”

  “Lemme see… The one on the left is an orthodontics office. According to the door, there are two doctors – the building is empty – they’re closed today. The middle building is a pharmacy – privately run. They’re open, and there is a pharmacist and tech behind the counter, plus customers inside the store.”

  “Blevins?”

  “Nope. He’s not in there.”

  “What about the third?”

  “Empty. Looks like a doctor’s office – there are patient rooms and a lobby in the front. The name on the door says Donald Crain, M.D. – Family Planning Center.”

  “Family Planning?” Clint asked. “What’s that?”

  “It’s a counseling center for pregnant women,” Dan said from the back seat. “Most of them perform abortions.”

  “Pregnant women?” Sam swiveled around to look at his dad, then at Clint. “We may be on to something here.”

  “Is Crain on your list of names?” Hank asked.

  Clint scanned the list with his finger. About halfway down, he stopped. “Yep. Right here.”

  “Coincidence?” Sam said sarcastically.

  I think not.

  “Well, there’s not much more we can do here, is there?” Hank asked, wanting to help, but not sure how.

  “I don’t think there is, Dad. But if this is him, we know where he works, and where he lives. We can keep an eye on the situation.”

  “Eventually we’ll have to catch up with him,” Sam pointed out. “We can get a tracer on his car.”

  “Do you suppose he’s at this location?” Clint pointed to the third array of green dots on the map. “It’s Saturday, and if this is his girlfriend’s place…”

  “We may as well go and see,” Dan agreed. “It would be nice if we could take care of this when all four of us are together. I don’t want the two of you going out alone to handle this.”

  “Dad!”

  “I know, Sam. You think you’re invincible. But humor me, please. If not me, think about your mother. She’d have a heart attack if she knew we were stalking this man.”

  “I know, I know.”

  They didn’t see any activity at the
third location either. It was a small housing development in a start-up neighborhood – where all the houses stacked together and looked like every other along the row. Small yards, compact cars, kids’ bicycles all over the sidewalks.

  Clint looked around at the tightly packed subdivision. “I can’t tell for sure, the houses are so close, but I would think it’s either one of these four, or the four on the next street that share the same backyard space. Can you see any activity in the houses? Blevins? I mean, Crain?”

  Holy cow this is going to get confusing…

  Sam concentrated on the four houses as they slowly drove towards the end of the cul-de-sac. “I don’t see him in any of them. The first one is empty, the second one has a mother and two small toddlers, third is empty, and the fourth one just has one person – a woman – sitting on her couch watching television. Nothing much of interest here.”

  “Let’s turn around and try the next street, then.”

  There wasn’t much different. Three of the four houses were empty. The one exception – the second in the string of four – had a couple and their baby sitting down at the kitchen table. “No Blevins.”

  “Well, at least we tried. We know how to come back if we need to,” Clint shrugged. “For now, I think we should get back and do some research on Dr. Donald Crain and see what we can find out on his practice.”

  “At least we’ve got somewhere to start,” Sam agreed. “I wonder if the girls have made any headway with Jade.”

  “I don’t know. What a mess that is… How can she not know if she’s got a power?”

  “No telling. It makes no sense to me.”

  Back at the house, the guys piled out of the car and headed in to catch up with the girls. They were all in the living room – Lexi and Leesha displaying their skills for an amazed Jade.

  “Hey guys,” Marcy looked up when the door opened. “Where have you been?”

  “Nowhere important,” Dan said to his wife. “We just took Hank for a ride. Filled him in, you know – guy time.”

  Smoooooth.

  “Have you ladies made any progress here?” Sam asked Leesha, an obvious question she understood immediately.

  “Not really. We did fill Jade in on our experiences, so hopefully she knows more about what to look for, how to experiment with her brain’s capacity.”

  “You don’t have any ideas?” Sheesh. This is crazy.

  “Not yet,” Leesha answered Clint. “But since her flashes were concentrated only in her brain, I have to believe her ability is mental – like mine – rather than physical, like the rest of you.”

  He turned to Jade. “Have you tried to move things with your mind?”

  “Yes… I haven’t had any luck. Leesha tried to teach me, but I can’t do it.”

  “Is there anything special about your ears? Your sight?” Sam tried to prod.

  “No.”

  “What about your mind? Have you seen flashes of the future?” Clint narrowed his eyes at her.

  “No…”

  “What about the past?”

  “Uh-uh.”

  “Can you read minds?” Sam tried again.

  “No! I can’t do anything!” She was almost in tears with frustration. “Get off my back… We’ve tried all afternoon. It’s obvious I don’t have a power. Just leave me alone about it!”

  Sam and Clint looked at each other and both shrugged. “Okay. We’ve got some research to do anyway,” Sam turned toward the stairs.

  “Yeah. Let us know if you come up with anything.” Clint added, following.

  Women…

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You guys weren’t very nice to her,” Lexi leaned against Sam’s bedroom door. “She’s down there, almost in tears, and Mom’s trying to talk her off the ledge as we speak.”

  “We were only trying to help, Lexi.”

  “I know, Clint, but you both were very pushy about it.”

  “Well, we’ve got other things on our mind,” Sam snapped back at his sister. “We’ve just been out trying to figure out who and where Blevins is. He’s our best chance at answers! Why should we spin our wheels on someone who can’t even tell us if she’s been affected or not?”

  “Because we know she’s been affected. She’s on the list, she’s had the flashes… She needs our help.”

  “Did she send you up here?” Clint asked, not sure if he wanted to be sympathetic to the new girl or not.

  “No, she didn’t. I just feel sorry for her. She’s lost, in a house full of people she doesn’t know, and thinks there may be something really wrong with her. And we have no answers for her. And then you two meatheads waltz back in like you’re heading up the inquisition!”

  Neither one wanted to answer her. Sam stewed from being scolded by his sister; Clint sulked because she was mad at him. The three remained silent for a few minutes, the only sound to be heard was Sam’s quick pecking on the computer keyboard.

  “Well, did you at least find him?”

  Good. Change of subject.

  “We think so. We found a connection – a name we think might be him – between two of the addresses. One is an apartment, the other a family planning office.”

  “Family planning? Like… Babies?!”

  “Yes,” Clint continued. “If this is him, and we think it is, he’s practicing medicine again.”

  “How do we find out for sure?”

  Sam turned around in his chair. “I’m trying to do some background research on the name now. I can’t find anything on him prior to about three years ago. The practice is new, and I can’t find any past residences for the new name. Or medical school records.”

  How is that possible?

  Sam shot him a knowing glance. Neither one of them wanted to rile the women at this point. There had already been enough drama for one day.

  “So what next?” Lexi pressed.

  “I think our next step is to drive over there on Monday – when we know his office is open – and let me get a look through his office walls and see if I can ID him. I’ll recognize him – if it’s Blevins.”

  “If it is, can you figure out which car is his?” Clint asked

  “Sure. I can go through the paperwork in the cars.”

  “We’ll take Lexi with us. If we can figure out his car, we’ll send her in to plant a tracker – like before.”

  “I’m in!” Lexi was always enthusiastic about a mission.

  “We may as well bring Leesh too,” Sam said. “We’re all four in this together.”

  “Should we bring Jade?” Lexi asked.

  Both boys looked at each other, not convinced it was a good idea. She might just slow us down. “I’m not sure it’s the best idea at this point Lexi…”

  “And why not?”

  “I’ll take this one, Clint,” Sam nodded at him. “Because, Lexi, she doesn’t know everything there is to know, and she can’t help, and she’ll just end up getting in the way. Come on, be reasonable about this. It’ll take us forever to bring her up to speed on everything we’ve done, all the work we’ve done so far.”

  “So let’s bring her up here, and let’s tell her!” Lexi wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  “Right now? You want to fill her in right now?”

  “Yes, Sam. Right now.”

  “Lexi, we’ve got work to do.”

  “Sam!”

  “Fine. I don’t have the time or patience to argue with you. Go get the girls and come back up here. We’ll start the download.”

  Triumphant, Lexi turned around to get Leesha and Jade from downstairs.

  I hope Jade’s stomach is strong enough to handle this, man. She seems kind of pampered to me.

  “I know,” Sam muttered back, shaking his head in defeat. “Me too.”

  The girls settled into Lexi’s bedroom. Sam and Clint brought chairs and one of the laptops, plus the map they had been marking for the past couple of months.

  Jade didn’t let them think long about what they were going to say – she just
launched them into the conversation. “So, when you two left, you were out looking for the doctor who did this to us, weren’t you?”

  Okay, she’s sharp. Smarter than I gave her credit for. No freaking out – she’s not scared. That’s gotta be a good sign, right?

  Sam nodded his agreement.

  Clint took a deep breath to answer. “Yes. That’s what we were doing. We’d been following him by GPS for a while now, until today when we realized he found and destroyed the trackers.”

  “Why haven’t you just approached him directly?”

  Sam shrugged. “I guess we’re just taking a cue from him – he hasn’t come to us. We know he’s been following Leesha for years, been tracking all our cars. We even know he’s followed us to our meeting sites, to eavesdrop, so he’s seen us first hand. His actions seem kind of hostile, to be honest.”

  “How do you know all of this?”

  I got this… “Some of it we figured out ourselves, and Charlie helped fill in some of the holes. I found the tracking devices, and was the one who insisted on keeping close tabs on him in return,” Clint paused, trying to figure out how best to explain his motivation. “Look, I’m probably the one who is the most pissed off at this guy, since my flashes are happening right now.”

  “Not that we don’t all want answers,” Lexi added.

  “I’ve had questions the longest,” Leesha said. “We’ve all got reasons to want to find him, question him. For Sam and Lexi, it involves family, so it’s personal.”

  “Leesha,” Sam looked up at her, “we’ve all kind of become family. It’s personal to and for all of us.”

  “I know. You’re right.”

  “So what were you hoping to accomplish today, if you weren’t trying to contact him?”

  “We’ve been mapping his travel, meaning to get to his hot spots for a while now,” Sam said, pointing to the map. “We got a bit sidetracked trying to find you, and then figure out who you are and how you fit into the equation.”