Blood Sport by A.J. Carella Read Free Book Online Page A

sighed. News of Kat’s return hadn’t taken long to get around town and, as a small community, most people remembered the history between them. Jason’s father had been a couple of years older than them but had hung around with the same people. He’d obviously shared the story with his son.
    “Deputy Carver, need I remind you that a child has been found, severely beaten, and that other children may be at risk. Right now ,” the steel in his voice had the desired effect and Jason dropped his head, “I’ll thank you to keep your thoughts about my private life to yourself and concentrate on your job. Understood?”
    “Yes , sir. Sorry.”
    “Good. For now we still can’t do much more than we’ve been doing, so for the rest of your shift I want you two doing the same thing. I’ll be staying here following up on the information Daniel gave us. Jason, before you go can I have a word?”
    He turned and walked into the chief’s office leaving Deputy Carver to follow him. “Close the door please.”
    He waited until the door was closed before he spoke. “For some reason , the chief has faith in you.” He paused. “I think that faith is misplaced. But he is the chief so I’ll respect that, but if you ever talk to me again like that again I will suspend you on the spot. Am I making myself clear?”
    “Yes , sir.”
    “Good. Now get out there and try and prove me wrong , okay?”
    Finn sighed as he watched Carver grab his stuff and leave the office. He hoped that he’d got ten through to him. He needed to trust all his men on the ground right now and he certainly didn’t have time to keep an eye on him.
    Where to start? Listening to Daniel this morning, he’d been left speechless. If what he was saying was true, and he had no reason to believe it wasn’t, then this was a kidnapping ring on a huge scale. It wasn’t just the kids that had been locked up with him; he’d described traveling all over the country and seeing countless other kids in the same situation. Something on that scale was for the Feds to deal with, but before he went to them, he needed something to give them. Something more than the word of a scared kid.
    The office was em pty, so he had a bit of quiet to do some digging. Turning on his computer, he paused for a moment, not sure what to search for. Daniel had told them that some of the kids were younger and some were a bit older, but not my much. He decided to start his search for missing boys between the ages of eight and fourteen, nationwide. But how far back do I go? Daniel had been there several years so he decided to go back eight years. The results floored him. Dear God! What had happened to all these kids? The list was huge, the names numbering in the hundreds. There was no way they could investigate all those; he needed to narrow the parameters.
    Daniel had been able to give them some names. Not all of them as from what he said not all the boys stay ed long but there had been half a dozen that had been there with him for the past couple of years. Pulling his notebook out of his pocket, he checked the names that Daniel had given him. Josh, Sam, Tom, Jake, Adam and Tyler. Putting these names into the search results narrowed the list considerably, but there were still over fifty names staring back at him.
    Printing it off, he looked at the list. He hated to do it, but he was going to have to ask Daniel to take a look at the photos and see if he recogni zed any of them.
    It could wait until tomorrow , though, he thought as he was overtaken by a huge yawn. He checked his watch and saw that it was past six p.m. He’d been up for two days straight and if he didn’t get some sleep he’d be no use to anyone. Besides, after this morning he wanted to give the kid a break. If he pushed too hard there was a danger that what little progress they’d made with him would be lost and he’d clam up. No, it was best that he headed home for some rest. Even just a few hours.

Fourteen
     
    Jamie hadn’t