Chapter 17

Gabe, Lee, and Jacques were at Lee's house, going over and over the same evidence. There were stacks of pictures taken both during the rally leading up to Renata's abduction and during the chaos of the kidnapping and the aftermath. They had the statements of bystanders, police reports, and continuous reports back from the three investigators they had working in the field. Matt had joined them a couple of hours earlier and told them everything that any of them could think of to ask him about. He was sick at heart and wanted nothing more than to get his hands on the people who had taken Renata. Logan's press conference had happened a couple of hours earlier; they had watched it and recorded it so they could pick through it with a fine-toothed comb. When there was a knock at the door, Jo hurried to answer it. A moment later, she came into Lee's office, followed by a man that none of them knew.

"Lee, could you come here for a minute?" Jo looked agitated, even more than before. Her husband got up and followed her into the hallway. "This man says that he is…Renata's brother, Tomas."

Lee looked at the man for a long minute. "Do you have identification?"

"Not in my given name. I took another identity long ago."

"How am I to know that you're really Renata's brother?"

"Well, we could ask her, but apparently, she's been abducted right under all your eyes." The man looked remarkably like Renata around the eyes.

"If you're Tomas, where have you been all these years? Renata said you disappeared without a trace. She has spent a great deal of time and money trying to find you."

"I left after my father died. I couldn't bear to watch my mother fade away, and someone had to do something to avenge him. So I went on a mission to find out exactly what led to his death and to make those who did it pay."

Lee said bitterly, "You could have saved some time and effort if you had stayed to help your sister."

Tomas said, "I intended to come back for her when she finished school and chose her path in life. But when she chose a path, she chose to marry one of the bastards who was responsible for my father's death. I thought she did it to give herself the rich, famous life that they all enjoyed."

"You don't know Renata. She's spent years building a case that will bring them all down. She's suffered more than any of us will ever know, in order to reach that goal. You could have saved her from that." Lee's anger was simmering.

"I know that now, and I regret it more than anything." Tomas's dark eyes were pools of suffering.

Lee studied him for another long minute and then asked, "Are you the person who put the notes on Logan's desk?"

Tomas gave a brief nod. "I am. I wanted him to get uncomfortable. I wanted him to worry, to see a vision of losing everything."

"He sees it now. Logan is the lowest kind of scum, but he loves Renata, obsessively, and he's suffering now. His kind of love is not healthy, to say the least, but it is real."

"His suffering is only beginning. But we have to find my sister, before something terrible happens to her."

"Agreed. You'd better be able to help. Follow me." Lee led him into his office and introduced him to the other two men.

Tomas joined them at the long table and pulled some pictures out of his pocket. "Here is the man I think is behind Logan and most likely behind Renata's abduction."

Gabe let out a hiss. "George Russell. I can believe that. What's your evidence?"

"Look at these." Tomas handed them a couple more pictures.

"Elaine Howard. What does she have to do with this?" Jacques was puzzled, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing.

"Ms. Howard had a mutually beneficial relationship with Logan Wakefield dating back to before he began his political rise. It was one that boosted both their careers, and it was backed by George Russell." Tomas shuffled through his pictures.

"What did George Russell care about Elaine Howard's career?" Jacques asked.

"Elaine Howard is George Russell's daughter. A love child conceived while he was married and so was Elaine's mother. Elaine's mother was an exotic dancer in a not-so-classy club. And George Russell was just becoming wealthy and famous. He agreed to help the mother and daughter as long as the secret was kept. They kept it."

Gabe let out a long breath. "How did Logan come into the picture?"

"That was Elaine's doing. She had an eagle eye for what Logan had to offer, looks, charm, charisma. And he was young enough for George to mold into what he wanted in a candidate. George Russell's crowning achievement will be controlling the President of the United States."

They all sat, silent for a bit as they thought of the enormity of George Russell's plan and the massive web he had managed to weave. George Russell really was the mastermind of the whole damn thing. Even knowing everything they did, it was a shock to know how far one man had gotten.

"He'll kill her," Gabe said with dawning horror.

"If he doesn't need her, he could," Lee said, sick at the idea. "We've got to find her fast."

Tomas leaned forward and said tensely, "I have a guy on Russell right now. If he goes someplace where he could be keeping Renata, my guy will be right behind him. He'll call me immediately. Russell has been tied up with babysitting for Logan so far. And there haven't been any kind of demands or even contact about her, right?"

Lee said, "That's right, nothing."

Gabe slammed his fist on the table. "God damn it, that's all we've got? We just wait, in hopes that he's right and we'll make it in time?"

"Do you have anything better?" Tomas asked. He was answered by silence.

***

One of the two masked men pushed Renata farther into the room and stayed in there while the other closed and locked the door and hurried off to where the bellow had come from. He rushed up to his boss and said, "She says she's sick, boss. She has sbv or something. She says her heart beats too fast and she can't get it to stop."

George Russell gave him a withering look and said, "You idiot. She's playing you for a fool. It's time to get all this over with. Where's the other idiot?"

"He stayed with her; we were afraid to leave her alone in that condition."

"You two need to be put out of your misery. Let's go."

When they unlocked the door and opened it, they found idiot number two on the floor with Renata's arm around his neck, slowly cutting off his supply of oxygen as his struggles grew weaker. The man with George rushed to grab her, wrenching her arm loose and yanking her to her feet. George motioned toward them and said, "Put her in the chair."

Renata's head shot up and her eyes widened. "George!" she gasped, shocked. "You did this?"

"I apologize for these two heathens," George said soothingly. "They were to treat you with absolute courtesy. We just need to get some things straightened out, and then we can all go home."

Renata started to rise, but at George's signal, the man pushed her back down into the chair. "What things do we need to get straightened out?"

"I need for you to tell me just exactly what it is that you've been digging into for all this time. How long, I'm not even sure. It seems, perhaps, a very long time. Do you even love poor Logan? Or was the whole marriage part of your plan?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Renata's head snapped back as George's paid goon backhanded her, hard. She gasped with the shock, and a trickle of blood made its way from her nose.

"Let's don't play games, Renata. My patience is very thin at this point. I don't want to hurt you, so don't make me. Now, fill me in on all the little tidbits you've discovered."

When Renata didn't respond, George gave another signal and his man punched her in the stomach, leaving her gasping for breath, the wind completely knocked out of her. He followed it with another backhand to the face and a hard kick to the shin.

George came closer and lifted her chin with his fingers. "Oh, Renata, I hate seeing you this way. Please, let's just get it over with. Tell me what I need to know, and we can end all this. I don't want to see that gorgeous face marked up. Start with a small fact, and we'll go from there."

Renata opened her eyes and speared him with a look of pure contempt. "Go to Hell, George."

She was rewarded with a punch to the ribs on each side and yet another blow to the face. Slumped over in agony, she had a bright, piercing stab of knowledge that if she told him any of it, she would die immediately. She closed her mind tight to his questions and took the beating. It went on and on, and she felt that her whole life had been in this room, in this agony. She was on the floor, and he was kicking her viciously in the kidneys and the ribs, when there was a commotion elsewhere in the house. Suddenly, there was mass chaos in the small bedroom. Gabe was hammering Renata's torturer with his fists, and Lee was doing the same with George Russell. The other goon was huddled on the floor with his hands up, begging for mercy.

Gabe dropped the man he was beating on the floor and knelt beside Renata, sick at what they'd done to her. "Gabe." Her voice was a ragged gasp. "Give the word. Get…get them all."

He called Jacques, who was reluctantly waiting back at the office and said tersely, "Send the word. Right now. Tell everybody go, go, go."

Lee had called for police and an ambulance and Gabe took Renata's hand, afraid to move her. "I didn't tell him…anything. I knew…he would kill me if I did." Her eyes fluttered closed, and Gabe's heart lurched in his chest.

"Renata, look at me. Stay with me; you have to stay awake." Gabe was desperately afraid that George had killed her. "That's it, just look at me. Before you know it, you'll be at the farm with your horses and the peace and quiet you wanted."

They could hear sirens getting closer. Renata struggled to give Gabe a tiny smile at the picture he painted of the farm. Tomas was hanging back, afraid that if Renata saw him, it might be too much of a shock. Lee gave him a nod of approval, and Jacques hurried to the door of the house so that he could lead the police and paramedics directly where they needed to go. Within two or three minutes, the EMTs were working over Renata and the three men were being handcuffed and read their rights. As soon as they were able to, the EMTs loaded Renata into the ambulance and Gabe got in with her.

Jacques, Lee, Matt, and Tomas followed the ambulance in somber, worried silence. While they all waited at the hospital, Lee suddenly said, "Look!" He pointed at the television on the wall where news alerts were flashing wildly. There were FBI agents and other law enforcement officers simultaneously conducting raids all over Washington. Computers and paperwork were being confiscated, homes and offices were being searched, wealthy, powerful men and women were being arrested. And then, in another breaking news flash, reports began that similar raids were being made in Portugal. It was the biggest scandal Washington had seen in years, perhaps the biggest ever. And it was about to get bigger.

Lee got someone to turn up the volume on the TV, and they were all glued to it when Jo rushed in. He held his wife tight and told her the doctors hadn't told them anything yet, and she asked, "What else is going on? What are you all watching?"

"Look." Lee nodded at the TV.

Jo turned and her mouth dropped open. "Oh, my God, it's happening."

Lee smiled grimly. "And it's happening to perfection. They're all going down."

Just then, all hell broke loose on the news broadcast and the camera shot to Logan Wakefield being led out of his building in handcuffs. The press who had managed to get there in time to cover this part of the story were going to be instantly famous. Logan's face was white as a sheet and he looked sick and stunned. There was a shot of Elaine Howard thrusting a microphone toward him and shouting out her questions before police pushed the reporters back and loaded Logan into the back seat of the squad car. The group in the hospital exchanged looks as they saw Logan see Elaine and the shock that passed over his face as their eyes met.

"I wonder if she'll cover her daddy's arrest the same as she's covering Logan's," Lee said cynically.

Jo looked confused. "Who's her daddy?"

Her husband answered, "George Russell."

Jo was stunned. "George Russell is Elaine Howard's father?"

"He sure is. They managed to keep it a secret all these years. That's over now. I think we're just seeing the beginning of all the dirty secrets that are going to come out by the time people start talking, trying to save their own asses. This whole country is going to get to see just how dirty the swamp is." Lee knew that it was going to be earthshaking.

Tomas was transfixed when the news coverage switched to events that were taking place in Portugal. He was getting agitated as he watched. "I've got to get help to my mother. The people who are instrumental to this operation in Portugal are going to go after her. They'll think there's still evidence that she might know about."

Gabe said, "Your sister took care of that. She had your mother moved to a safe place a couple of days ago."

Tomas was visibly relieved. He was also visibly ashamed. "I never should have believed what I did about her. She's got to be okay. I have so much to make up to her."

Gabe studied him for a moment and then asked, "What happened to your father? I know Renata wanted justice for him more than anything in the world, but she never got into exactly what happened to him."

"My father worked in government. He was loyal and honest, and he came across information about this money laundering operation that highly placed people were involved in. He was going to take what he knew to the authorities, not knowing that the authorities were being paid off. Back then, the operation wasn't nearly as widespread as it has become, and they reacted by framing my father for the corruption that became public. There was a sham trial and my father went to prison. They knew that he still posed a risk for them, so he mysteriously died in prison before he'd been there for six months."

Jacques asked, "He was murdered?"

"They claimed that he committed suicide, but we knew better. My father never would have stopped fighting for a way to prove his innocence. He was the most honest person I ever knew. It nearly killed my mother, and she was never the same after he died. They destroyed my whole family. They took our home, and my mother had to move to a smaller place. She wouldn't have been able to do that if it weren't for a good family friend, Tiago Silva. He set her up in a small house in a good place, and he told her that my father had left money with him to take care of her in case she ever needed it. And Tiago made sure that Renata was able to continue with her riding and competition. He made sure that she had everything she needed, even the private school she went to. So when I found out that she was marrying Logan, I believed that she just wanted a way to continue the good life. And I thought I was the only one who would ever act to avenge my father and clear his name." Tomas looked devastated. "And all the while, she was just as determined as I was. Why didn't I just look for the truth instead of assuming I knew what she was up to?"

Jacques spoke up. "You were young too, when all this happened to your father. Your whole family was destroyed. And, more importantly, if Renata knew you were here, she would be filled with joy. She never stopped looking for you. And what about your mother? Don't you think it would help her if she had both her children back? It's not too late, and you are going to be able to clear your father's name. I have to believe that will mean the world to your mother."

"It will. That's one thing I know, beyond any doubt. I just hope they can both forgive me one day."

Jo said, "Don't doubt it, Tomas. Renata will be beyond happy to be reunited with you. She has said all along that she didn't believe anything had happened to you. She believed that you were up to something and you were brilliant at staying hidden. She told me she would feel it if something happened to you."

Lee nodded. "She did. I heard her say it more than once."

Gabe said, "She'll forgive you. Now, you just make damn sure you don't do anything to hurt her again. She doesn't deserve it."

Tomas studied him for a long minute. "You care for her, don't you? I've seen it since the first moment I met you."

"Yes, I do, and if I have anything to do with it, nobody is ever going to hurt her again."

Tomas extended his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Gabe shook it. Grudgingly, he said, "You look like her brother."

A door swung open at the end of the hall, and a man in surgical scrubs walked toward them. He looked weary and grim, and Gabe's heart stopped for a second.

"I'm looking for the family of Renata Wakefield."

Lee said, "That's us."

The doctor raised an eyebrow and looked at the group of people.

"I'm her brother. These are all family too," Tomas said firmly.

"Okay. The beating was very severe. She has a multitude of cuts and bruises. She has six broken ribs, bruised kidneys, a broken wrist, several broken fingers that the son of a bitch apparently stomped on, and some internal bleeding that we have stopped. She has sixteen stitches across one cheekbone and a concussion. She's going to be all right, but she's going to have a long and painful recovery. We need to keep her for a couple of days, make sure the bleeding doesn't start again and that the kidneys heal. Also, to watch the head injury. But I expect her to make a full recovery. And I hope the man who did it is in worse shape than she is."

Gabe said grimly, "Unfortunately, no, but he is going to prison for a good, long time. And the man who had him do it is going for a lot longer."

Jo was crying on her husband's shoulder, overcome with relief. Tomas looked like he was about to do the same, and Jacques was slapping Matt on the shoulder and grinning his reaction to the news.

"Can we see her?" Lee asked.

"I'd normally make you wait until after she rests for a few hours, but she's going to be too upset if she doesn't get to see you, and I don't want to sedate her too much with the concussion she has. So, once she gets settled in, you can go in one at a time for a few minutes each." The doctor looked at each of them. "If she gets too excited, we'll have to put a stop to visiting."

"Doctor," Gabe said, "Renata hasn't seen her brother in years. She hasn't known where he was. Is it going to be too much for her to see him now?"

"She needs rest. I guess it depends on them, honestly. Is it going to make her happy or upset?"

Jo set her hands on her hips and said, "Nothing would make her happier. She's been searching for her brother for years, and she's always had faith that he was out there somewhere. Why, having him turn up alive and well would be the best medicine in the world for her."

The doctor scratched his head and said, "Well, then, someone needs to give her a little preparation for a surprise before he goes in, but go ahead. If she gets too excited, we'll have to cut it short. The nurse will be watching; she has instructions to give all her attention to Mrs. Wakefield." He glanced up at the television, where he saw Logan being led to the police car. "I don't know what's going on in the news right now, but you'd better keep that quiet until we know she can handle it."

Lee chuckled softly. "Don't you worry, Doc, she's going to take that real well."

The doctor stared at him for a minute then shook his head. "I'll be available around the clock if needed. The whole staff here has instructions about making sure that Mrs. Wakefield receives anything she needs."

"Thanks, Doc," Lee said as he left.