She knew how to shoot. That, she’d learned early on.
Everyone thought she was a weakling. But they were wrong.
She’d survived one foster home after another because she studied people. She didn’t know what these men wanted with them, but she had an idea.
A shudder coursed through her, and she squashed the thought.
She’d wait for the right moment, then she’d grab one of their guns. No one knew it, but she’d shot a man once. Foster daddy number five.
She’d had to, or be his bitch. That’s what he’d called it when he took the other fosters to bed.
She wasn’t going to be anybody’s bitch. She’d kill whoever tried to make her into one just like she’d shot that bastard, foster five.
Lucas gritted his teeth as the nurse shoved him from the hospital room into the hallway. A doctor rushed in, and the nurse joined him, leaving Lucas watching through the small window in the door.
The nurse took Charlotte’s vitals while the doctor shined a light in Charlotte’s eyes. Silent sobs wracked the petite woman’s body, her fear palpable.
Was it possible the only witness to this damn trafficking had been blinded in the attack?
“Lucas?”
His brother’s voice dragged him from his somber thoughts.
“What happened? Is she all right?”
“I don’t know.” Lucas exhaled sharply. “She just woke up from surgery.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“I was trying to, but she got upset and the nurse made me leave.”
“She’s in shock,” Harrison said.
Lucas’s stomach knotted as the doctor tried to calm Charlotte. The nurse injected something into her IV. Probably a sedative.
Lucas folded his arms. “The head injury may have caused her to lose her vision.”
Harrison cursed. “What did the doctor say?”
“He’s examining her now,” Lucas said. “Before then she was pretty groggy. She didn’t say much except that she tried to save the girls, but the men opened fire.”
Damn, he didn’t like the picture that painted.
“I asked my deputy to notify the foster parents in person and to see if they’d noticed anyone suspicious hanging around their houses. Someone stalking the girls.”
“Good idea,” Lucas said. “Also, ask him if one of the foster parents seemed suspicious. We had a case once where a stepfather actually sold a girl for money to buy drugs.”
“Good God,” Harrison said. “What did the mother say when she found out?”
Lucas grimaced. “Hell, she was too strung out to even notice the girl was gone.” Lucas and his brothers were damn lucky to have had the family they’d grown up in. In spite of their troubles and trauma over losing Chrissy, his mother had hung in there. If only his father had...
“Find out if any of the girls had computers at their foster homes. If so, confiscate them and send them to the lab. It’s possible our kidnappers contacted the girls online. There, they can find out personal information about them, who their friends are, if they belong to a club or group, what their schedules are...”
“So they may be cyberstalking their victims, looking for groups to target?” Harrison said.
Lucas nodded. “Social media has opened up a new hunting ground for predators. People pretending to be someone they aren’t. Scam artists. Pedophiles.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
The doctor walked to the door, his expression concerned.
“How is she, Doctor?” Lucas asked.
The older man narrowed his eyes. “Are you family?”
“No.” Lucas flashed his FBI credentials and Harrison indicated his sheriff’s badge. “We’re investigating the shooting that put Ms. Reacher in here,” Lucas said.
Harrison cleared his throat. “We’re also trying to find the four girls abducted from Ms. Reacher’s studio. If she saw something, it’s imperative we speak to her ASAP.”
The doctor ran a hand through his thick gray hair. “I understand the situation, but under the circumstances, my patient needs rest. We have to run tests to determine the extent of her injuries. I’m calling in a specialist, ordering a CAT scan, MRI and full neurological.”
Lucas glanced through the window and saw Charlotte roll over in the bed to face the door. Compassion for her filled him. She’d obviously been traumatized and needed time to heal.
But every minute that passed meant the trafficking ring could be getting farther and farther away from Tumbleweed. And that any chance of rescuing Charlotte’s students would be lost.
* * *
CHARLOTTE FOUGHT DESPAIR as she lay in the dark. She needed to do something to help find her students, but she was so groggy from the medication they’d pumped through her that she could barely function.
The doctor said her blindness could be temporary.
Which meant it could also be permanent.
No, she had to hold out hope that she would see again. Even if she didn’t, she had to pull herself together and talk to that FBI agent. He wanted to find Evie and Mae Lynn and Agnes and Adrian.
She needed his help to do it more than she’d ever needed anyone in her life.
She hated being needy.
But the girls’ lives depended on her swallowing her pride, not wallowing in self-pity and fear.
Still, she was so tired she drifted to sleep. Sometime later, she woke up and realized she was in the midst of an MRI. She drifted in and out of consciousness through that procedure and the CAT scan, but couldn’t keep her eyes open as they wheeled her down the hall.
The nightmares of the day plagued her. The bullets pinging off the floor and wall around her. The girls’ terrified screams...
That group was the closest thing to family she’d had in a long time.
She had to fight her way back so she could find them. If she didn’t, she’d never forgive herself.
* * *
WHILE LUCAS AND Harrison waited on Charlotte to undergo tests, Lucas brought Harrison up-to-date on the abductions in Abilene and Waco.
“Sounds like the same group,” Harrison said. “Were the other victims foster kids?”
“No,” Lucas said. “One case involved dance students at a ballet camp, the other, cheerleaders from a high school. The ballet instructor was shot and died instantly. No witnesses. Girls at the ballet camp were from various parts of Texas.”
“So these guys aren’t targeting a specific type, just females between the ages of twelve and eighteen.”
Lucas nodded.
“Sick,” Harrison muttered.
“Definitely,” Lucas agreed. “Human trafficking is a widespread problem and has touched every major city in the US.” Although Tumbleweed was just a small town...
Harrison spread pictures of the missing girls on the table in the waiting room. “These photographs correspond with the names of the girls in the class scheduled at that time,