“I gave you Hadrid. He was my most prized falcon,” he said. “Your father paid for him, but it wasn’t nearly what he was worth. I had hoped to have him sire many more like him. But, after he bonded with you, I could do nothing with him.”

  “So then he was already of much less value,” she said in a cool voice. It was hard to keep to an even tone. Both tears and laughter warred in her head. She wanted to get up and hug him, but, at the same time, she wanted to hit him.

  He stared at her for a long moment. “It’s hard to believe you’re a grown woman. Have you done something with your life?”

  “I’m a biologist,” she replied. “And I’m still fascinated by birds.”

  He smiled. “Then giving you Hadrid was the right thing to do. For both you and the bird. When you have a lifelong love of animals, particularly one species, it’s almost like dying to be without them.” He raised his hands to the concrete walls around her. “My life here is nothing. I barely see the sun. No birds are in my life, and I have lost your mother.” He turned to look at her. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, just over a month ago. That’s when everything started. Let me explain what has happened after her death.”

  He fell silent as Issa went over the story, explaining how she had been kidnapped from her cabin after clearing out her mother’s place, that she’d been held and tortured for weeks on end, and then she had managed to escape. And how Eagle came to find her. When she finally ran out of words, she raised her gaze to look upon Angus and saw tears in his eyes. She liked him that much more.

  “I had nothing to do with it,” he whispered, shaking his head. “No way any of us would do such a thing. It was against the code.”

  “One of the kidnappers talked about the code. He also talked about stressors. He asked a lot of questions about my childhood and where I hid it? But I have no idea what it was. I had no answers.”

  Angus’s gaze narrowed, as if casting his mind back a lot of years. “Stressors. Now that’s interesting. It’s a term I used with the birds. Sometimes you have to force an animal into stress by adding stressors, so he comes to the point where he sees you as a good thing and the rest of the world as bad. In your case, being stuck in the crevice was your stressor. When you reached out, for whatever reason, in such a way, Hadrid found you. He responded to your cries. The stressor applied to you, unknowingly or not, brought the two of you together somehow. But it’s not a term I would expect to hear very many people use.”

  “We’re already thinking whoever kidnapped her was from here,” Eagle said. “And quite likely from the group there the night her family died.”

  Angus settled back. “That night was one I wish to wipe out of my memory. I did not kill your father or your brothers,” he said. He leaned forward. “Go home. You could be in danger here. You have to know I didn’t kill your family. Somebody else did. And that person is still walking free.”

  “Can you at least answer me this? Is it possible my mother killed them?” She felt Eagle suck in his breath, his hand squeezing hers. And she realized she’d shocked him. She turned her gaze to him. “I have to know.”

  He nodded in understanding. They both turned to look at Angus. The shock on his face and his wildly shaking head gave his answer.

  “No way. She wouldn’t even leave him. There’s no way she would kill him. And she lived for those boys. They were good young men, all of them. Strong and loyal. She would have done anything for them.”

  Relief bloomed in her heart. She realized she had needed to hear that answer. She took another shaky breath. “Good. Thank you for that.”

  He gazed at her and smiled gently. “You did love her, didn’t you?”

  “Of course. She was my mother. But she wasn’t an easy woman to love.”

  “Isn’t that right?”

  Eagle said, “You’ve had twenty years to think about it. Who do you think killed her family?”

  Hawk leaned forward to hear the answer better. And to look from one man to the other.

  “First, what’s your role in all of this, and what is your relationship to Issa?”

  “I’m the one man who loves her. The man who protects her,” Eagle said calmly.

  She turned toward him, frowning.

  Angus grinned. “He surprised you, didn’t he, lass? That’s good.” He gazed over at Hawk. “And you. You have the look of a fighter on you. You both do.”

  Hawk gave a clipped nod. “Special Operations, military, fifteen years.”

  Angus nodded. “You’re both on the right side of the law.” It wasn’t a question as much as a statement. Angus nodded again. “Figured so. Maybe that’s the best way after all. Don’t be on the wrong side of law, like us here.”

  “Us?” She pounced. “Who were us?”

  Eagle brought out his phone and hit the Video buttons. “I’m recording this. I need to do whatever I can to make sure Issa stays safe. And whoever those assholes are who kidnapped her, they will never capture her again.”

  “Before I start,” Angus asked, “what will you do with the men when you find them?”

  She watched as the two men measured each other.

  Then Angus nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Hit them again for me too.” He began to speak for the record now. “We ran a smuggling ring. There were five of us, plus Issa’s three brothers. We’d been working together for a long time. Issa’s father was the boss. We had long taken over the town. Nothing happened down there that our spies didn’t let us know about. We were of the opinion everybody in that area was on our side. We had no idea, until some stuff started to go missing, that there was a problem. Then the coppers started showing up with really shitty timing. That was how we knew. We just didn’t know who betrayed us. After Rory and I had the punch-out over your mother, I found out Rory thought maybe it was me. I convinced him that I was innocent, but I always wondered if he ever fully trusted me again.” He shook his head. “I was one of the few who had an income outside of smuggling. We all did something else, but I ran a falconry that trained and sold them around the world.”

  He shrugged with a twinkle in his eyes. “Smuggling for me was a hobby, but for others it was a way of life.”

  “Did you find out who the mole was?”

  Angus shook his head. “No, we never did. I was with your mother that night. When we realized something was wrong, we raced down to the cove and the shelter.” He turned to look at Eagle. “There was a pier on the side of the cabin.” He turned back to Issa and continued. “But I was supposed to be the lookout.” He spoke with a broken voice. “I betrayed Rory twice that night. I couldn’t resist the temptation to be with your mother. She was supposed to be with you, Issa, supposed to be on the lookout too, a backup in case you missed anything. But instead we all failed as lookouts that night.”

  “No,” Eagle snapped. “This child and her bird did not fail. The adults failed her.”

  Angus winced. “You’re right. I felt terrible that night. Maier thought I had betrayed them as I was the only one left standing. Two others beside your family were dead as well. But their families were already racing toward us. Two others were injured. One of the injured, his family took him. They did their own doctoring as was common, and they disappeared from that part of the woods. The two dead men were tossed into a boat, and the boat was lit on fire.”

  “So that’s what happened to my father’s boat.” She frowned. “I remember something about that now. Something about fuel leaking from the side of the tank.”

  Angus nodded. “That’s quite true. There was a leak because we created it, but the men themselves were already dead.”

  “So, who else could there have been?”

  “Briefly I too considered your mother, but then I realized she never would’ve done it. She was absolutely heartbroken. We had our contact on the French side. They used to come back and forth, but they had already left. Goods delivered as always. That was Pierre Montigue. He had his own smuggling crew on the French coast. How he got the stuff that night or any other night, I don’t know. We didn’t ask questions. We heard they did pickup and delivery. Some of the stuff we sold ourselves. Your father had connections in the city. A lot of the stuff was delivered in town. We were just one leg of the journey.”

  “There had to be somebody else.” But the Frenchman’s name was a big help. She watched as Hawk texted it to the detective.

  Angus nodded. “I know. But I’ve been racking my brain all these years. I still have no idea.”

  She groaned. “What was in the shipment? Do you know?”

  “I don’t know, but it was more than just jewelry. There were casks. I don’t know what they were full of, but I’d assumed French brandy.”

  She wasn’t sure she believed him. Something in his voice had changed. She glanced at Eagle who returned her gaze. She gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. He responded with a tiny nod.

  But it was Hawk who snapped, “And that’s when your story turns to shit. You’re lying through your teeth. You know exactly what was in those casks.”

  Angus groaned. “Not many things in my life I felt bad about. Taking Rory’s wife was something I could justify because I loved her so very much. But when we realized what was in the casks, it was more than any of us could deal with.”

  “What was it?”

  “And how many casks were there?” Issa asked.

  He sighed and stared off in the distance.

  “You didn’t say anything to anybody, even when you went to trial, did you?”

  He shook his head. “No. I was a scapegoat. As long as I kept my mouth shut, I would live, and everyone else would survive. Twenty years have passed, and I don’t really care anymore.” He turned his gaze from one man to the other. “You will not understand.”

  Eagle crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back. “Tell us.”

  He groaned. “Issa, I would never have wanted you to know. But that shipment your father and brothers received were trafficked young girls.”

  She stared at him in horror. Eagle gripped her hands.

  Angus rushed to say, “We never had a shipment like that before. I swear it. We didn’t know what was in there when we started. But we heard one of them crying. They were supposed to be drugged for the entire journey, right up to being delivered. The shipment was headed for a house in Belfast.”

  “Oh, my God,” Issa whispered in pain.

  *

  Eagle wanted to take her out of that room and protect her from more horrific news. He asked, “How does that fit in with the jewels?”

  Angus looked at him and whispered with shame in his voice, “They all came from the same house. They were supposed to go to a fancy house in the city. I don’t know what happened to the girls. But this was big. This was way bigger than anything any of us had ever touched before. It was something we couldn’t deal with. Your father refused. He wanted the girls to be released. One of them was crying, pleading to be taken back. She spoke French, so I didn’t know what she said.”

  “Wait. You said when you walked in the meeting place, my brothers were on the ground already shot. So how do you know about the girls? How do you know my dad said he wouldn’t do it?”

  Angus winced. “Because I had just been outside. Initial shots were fired. I left Maier to collect Issa and shoo her back home, crossing paths with her as I left and raced down the hill to the pier where I snuck up on the shelter. That’s when I heard them arguing. I saw the girls. But they started shooting again. And I stayed out of sight until it stopped. Then I went in.”

  “How many?”

  He took a deep breath. “There were six girls.”

  Anger once again rose high up Eagle’s throat. “This was a secret somebody would kill to keep. So when they refused to deal with the girls, some of the smugglers shot the other men who wouldn’t go along with the human trafficking? Is that correct?”

  Angus nodded. “I also was attacked from behind and was unconscious for a little while, but I survived. I heard men scrambling to get away, and I know the casks weren’t there when I woke up. So they may have been taken elsewhere. And of course I was convicted of everything but trafficking. I kept my mouth shut about the girls so no one knew. I didn’t know who brought them. I just knew they all came from a fancy house where the goods were retrieved from too.”

  Issa shook her head. “I found the jeweled necklaces. But good to know the girls came from the same place. Maybe the police can sort it out.”

  Angus opened his mouth. “What do you mean, you found the necklaces? I thought they were lost.”

  “Four stolen necklaces were in a keepsake box my mother told me to find. It had been stashed in the closet at the pub.” Almost as an afterthought, Issa added, “There was also a lot of money and documents.”

  He sat and stared at her. “How is that possible? How would your mother have gotten them?”

  “I don’t know.” Issa glanced at him quizzically. “You don’t know anything about it?”

  He shook his head. “No.” Then he froze, as if stricken with horror.

  Eagle tried to get him to answer the question. But he wasn’t talking. Eagle realized Angus was caught in a never-ending nightmare, wondering what had gone so wrong that night. Who he’d covered up for all these years. And what that keepsake box might reveal.

  “We turned the jewels over to the police,” Issa said, her voice gaining strength again. “Maybe we can find the girls too.”

  Eagle squeezed her fingers and gave her a gentle glance. “I doubt it. That was a lot of years ago.”

  “Or at least stop this trafficking ring.” She looked at him for a long moment, then turned her attention back to Angus. “Did my mother know about the jewels, the girls?”

  “I hadn’t thought so. But if you got the jewels …” And he fell silent once again. Suddenly he stood. “I’d like to return to my cell.” And that was all he would say.

  *

  Back outside the prison, Eagle opened his arms, and Issa stepped into them, grateful for his warmth and the steadfast nature of this man who refused to let anyone cower him, no matter what the consequences.

  “Hawk, we need to track down who else might’ve been there that day,” he said over her head.

  “None of this makes any sense in terms of why I was kidnapped,” she whispered. “Unless they were after the jewels?”

  “Maybe. Maybe the jewels and the money wasn’t enough. Maybe it was more about revenge, looking to find whoever betrayed them. One man was taken away. Injured, but he survived. His name was never brought up. Seems to me we need to track him down.”

  “Then we need Angus to tell us who else was there,” Hawk said.

  She glanced at the front of the prison and said, “I don’t think he will talk to us anymore. His memories have just been shattered all to hell.”

  “I gave him my phone number,” Eagle said. “I told him that I would be in town for the rest of the evening, and, if there was ever a time for him to come clean, it was now. While you still have some respect for him.”

  Hawk nodded. “It’s still early. Where do you want to go?” But it wasn’t that early; it was past lunch.

  “I think I need food,” she said, fatigue evident in her voice.

  Eagle agreed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go find a restaurant. And then we’ll call the detective. He probably has no idea this is so much more than what it started out to be.”

  “Is it wrong of me to feel grateful that my dad stood up? That he died, although doing something illegal, but he died for the right reason, to help protect those girls?”

  “Not at all. It should help. Your father did everything he could. Once the situation turned ugly, he tried to step up.”

  Hawk’s exclamation beside them caught their attention.

  “Got it,” Hawk said. “Charlie just texted me the list of names of who was on the cove that day that he got from his brother.”

  Eagle turned to look at him. “And?”

  “One of Angus’s known associates from way back when, the one never brought up in court cases, is the one who was picked up by his family members and whisked away up north. That was a Danny McNeil. There weren’t any details about the family, but they had been part of the same smuggling clan for a long time.”

  “And do we know if he is alive or dead?”

  “Not to mention how badly injured was he that night?”

  Eagle glanced at Issa. “Would you recognize him if he’d been one of your kidnappers?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know if I would. The head kidnapper, who they called ‘the boss,’ had lots of henchmen. He was always giving them instructions on what to do and how to do it. But I never actually saw him. And I didn’t recognize his voice, other than the Irish accent.” She frowned and shook her head. “I was blindfolded when I was originally taken there. When they took it off after several days, I saw the same gatekeepers. I never saw any sign of the boss man.”

  Hawk whistled. “Now that would’ve been good to know.”

  *

  Stefan woke to the ring of the phone. He reached out his hand groggily, hit the button, and said, “Yes?”

  An exhausted female voice filled the room. “Stefan, it’s Tabitha. I did something I hadn’t quite expected. But I think it worked.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I connected with”—she took a deep breath—“a coyote. He allowed the birds on his back, and he’s taking them several miles in the right direction. I’m not sure how far away they are from the actual property line. But I think they’re pretty damn close.”

  Stefan bolted upright. “Humbug and Roash rode on the back of a coyote?”

  “Yes. Now they are sitting on top of a fence post, resting, but they need cover. They still have a ways to go.”

  “It wasn’t restful enough getting a ride?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Tabitha, even for you, that’s pretty bizarre and miraculous.”