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Match Forced (Mudden Men Book 4) Preview
Chapter One
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Chief Omale stared her down with a look that would have left most officers shaking in their boots. Thalia held her ground. She’d reached a level of not caring that surprised even her sometimes. Still, she knew better than to talk back to her boss.
“You jeopardized the life of an undercover cop and set the case against underground traffickers back ten months!”
Yeah, she’d done that. And part of her knew she deserved any punishment that came her way. But another part of her screamed inside her head that she’d had no other choice. No punishment could deter her from finding her sister, whether she had the help of the police and her colleagues or not.
Three months had passed since Kay’s disappearance, and she was no closer to finding her today than she’d been on the day she’d gone to Kay’s apartment after not hearing from her for three days. There had been no struggle in her home, no evidence whatsoever of her fate.
Some of Thalia’s colleagues believed Kay had run away, but she was supposed to start a new job that week. Her first job since graduating from law school. She’d been excited to finally start her career, not ready to flee without telling anyone.
Thalia had interrogated everyone she could think of. It’d gotten her nowhere. Kay hadn’t shown up for her first day of work.
“You’re banned from active duty for two weeks.” The Chief shook her head like it pained her to say those words.
Three months ago, Thalia had been Omale’s best officer. Thalia admired her and considered her a friend and mentor—back when she still cared about these things.
Thalia loved being a cop. But family came first. Family always came first. She would worry about her career once she’d found Kay.
Thalia nodded once.
“And you will give up your search,” Omale added.
Thalia shook her head. “Can’t do that, sir.”
The chief sighed. “I understand your desire to find your sister, but you have no leads, no proof she’s even been taken.”
She turned around and looked out the window of her ninety-fifth floor office in the two-hundred story skyscraper just as a marked anti-grav car connected to the landing pad reserved for the police.
“You know the statistics as well as I do,” she continued. “Women who are not found within the first twenty-four hours are usually found dead. If they’re even found at all.”
Thalia knew that of course. She’d spent the last three months researching everything she could on kidnapping.
She wasn’t part of that department on the force. She specialized in corporate crimes. She hadn’t worked on a missing person’s case since her rookie days.
“That won’t stop me searching for her,” Thalia said, her voice raspier than she’d like. “If she’s dead, I want to find the people responsible. And if she is suffering somewhere…”
Thalia could not finish her sentence. The very thought of Kay being held captive somewhere and abused was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She imagined Kay crying and wishing her cop sister would find her already. Too bad for her that Thalia sucked at this.
She’d collected information on women who’d disappeared around the same time as Kay. The lack of evidence left behind suggested it might have been a professional job. Some of the women’s cases led her to an underground sex trafficking ring. She’d hunted down a guy who’d kept coming up in her investigation only to realize too late that he was an undercover cop investigating those very cases. The only way to preserve his secret persona and his spot in the illegal organization had been to lock him up in jail for ten months. He would be able to continue his job where he left off then, but in the meantime, he would be completely out of touch with the illegal organization, not to mention wasting time in jail. How many women would suffer because of her actions?
Thalia wasn’t usually one for beating herself up, but this particular mishap tore her up inside.
Omale turned back toward her, the anger gone from her face. “Thalia, any more mistakes like this and even I will be powerless to save your career.”
Omale cared about the people in her command. And she cared about putting competent people in high places. They’d talked in the past about Thalia’s aspirations to move up the chain of command, but that was before.
“I understand.”
The Chief dismissed her, and she walked back to her office. Her friend and partner, Lily Dalton, waited for her in front of her office door leaning her shoulder against the wall.
Lily wore a baggy shirt and some loose pants that she must have found in the pajama section of whatever discount store she’d shopped at. Lily was a computer programmer analyst and not an actual police officer, so Omale let her get away with wearing whatever she wanted to work. It wasn’t like she ever had to go out on the street, and besides, it was a perk of being the best at her job.
“I have something for you about…” She looked around at the curious eyes, and ears, who must have heard Omale dressing her down. “A case.”
“Not now,” Thalia said.
She’d asked Lily to look into her sister’s disappearance, and while she was dying to know what she’d found, she couldn’t disobey Omale only seconds after leaving her office. “I’ll come by after work.”
She walked around Lily and entered her office, shutting her door on the whispers of the other cops.
*****
It wasn’t until evening that Thalia finally got a moment to herself. The instant Omale left for the day, she rushed to Lily’s office and found her hunched over her desk, fingers flying at her holo-display.
“What did you find?” Thalia asked, not bothering with small talk. They’d already spent most of the day working on a case together.
“That doctor your sister saw just before getting kidnapped, the one who mysteriously disappeared at the same time,” she said.
“Dr. Elizabeth Wells,” Thalia answered.
“She resurfaced.” Lily pointed to the holo-display in front of her. Thalia’s heart beat too erratically for her to make out what she was seeing.
“Where?”
“She arrived on Minas yesterday.” Lily pointed at the display again, and Thalia realized she had logged into the Minas border control website.
“From where?”
“It says her last stop was Caspa station, but you know how they are. Caspa doesn’t require visitors to report their itinerary, so there’s no way to know where she came from before that.”
Thalia grunted. From what they’d gathered about this Dr. Wells’s past record, she was always coming and going from Caspa. Unless she had a residence there, she could be using the station as a way to hide her true origin.
“How did she get here?”
“Private ship, like last time.”
Thalia leaned in to look at the hollow display closely.
“Do you know where she is now?”
“I can do a quick hotel search, but if she has private accommodations, there’s no way to find out.”
“Do it,” Thalia said.
Lily typed on the hollow display, too fast for Thalia to make out what she was doing.
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell Omale about this?” Lily asked, fingers dancing. “If she knew you had a decent lead, she might offer to help.”
Thalia sighed and thought about her recent conversation with the Chief. On a personal level, she might be moved to help Thalia, but as the Chief, she had other priorities. She had to put the well being of her officers first, and Thalia wasn’t blind, she knew her obsession was dangerous. She couldn’t perform her best when she didn’t care about the work anymore. There was no worse flaw in a cop than apathy.
“Better not,” she answered. “I want to have something solid first. We have no proof against this doctor, other than she likes to travel to Caspa station.”
“I don’t see any hotel reservations in her name.”
Thalia crossed her arms over her chest, thinking. The last apartment Dr. Wells had lived in had been rented out to new tenants two months ago, so that was a dead end.
“I’ll go by her old office on the way home, see if the other doctors there have heard from her.”
“You want me to come along?” Lily asked, turning off the holo-display and standing up.
Thalia looked her up and down, frowning at her pajama outfit. “How would you help?”
“I could play good cop,” she answered with a grin. “Unassuming and relatable.”
“And what would that make me?” Thalia asked, grabbing her bag off the floor and throwing it over her shoulder, ready to head out.
“Angry cop. Uptight and unapproachable.”
Thalia wanted to deny it, but she could feel the tightness in her shoulders as she walked out the door, Lily following behind her.
“It’s been a bad couple of months.”
“I know,” Lily said. “But even before Kay was taken, you were never a bundle of joy. And it’s only gotten worse.”
“What do you want from me, Lily? I can’t just forget about Kay.”
Lily slowed her pace and placed her hand on Thalia’s arm to stop her.
“At least let me come with you,” she said. “You should have backup.”
Thalia shook her head. “It’s too dangerous. These people could be kidnappers.”
“We’ll keep each other safe.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather go alone,” she said, turning down a side street. She’d had enough of everyone’s advice for one day, and needed some time to herself. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
*****
Thalia had visited the former office of Dr. Wells many times during her investigation of her sister’s disappearance. This was the last place Kay was reportedly seen. She’d gone for an appointment with Dr. Wells in the morning and then just vanished.
That day also happened to be Dr. Well’s last day at the office before leaving Minas. Though she hadn’t disappeared. She’d told the other doctors at her practice that she would be leaving months in advance. But it did mean that Thalia never got the chance to talk with the last person who’d seen Kay.
She walked in through the automatic glass doors into a reception area, mostly empty at this time of day. She pictured Kay sitting on one of the benches in the waiting room, probably reading some legal documents on her comm to prepare for her new job. Had she been taken here at her doctor’s office? A place where she must have assumed she was safe?
Thalia had already looked at the layout during her initial investigation to figure out where would have been a good place to take her. The truth was it didn’t look ideal for a kidnapping. Between the receptionists, the other patients waiting, and the bright hospital lighting, there was nowhere for an attacker to hide. Most likely, if it had happened here, it would have been outside.
But she had been here. Thalia was sure of that even without talking to the doctor. She had signed in at the reception desk.
From the way the man at reception rolled his eyes when he saw Thalia walk in, she knew he remembered her very well from the last time she’d interrogated him.
She pinned him with a look that would make most criminals uneasy.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
“I need to speak with Dr. Wells.”
He sighed, but with restraint, probably because of her glare.
“I’ve told you before, Dr. Wells left three months ago.”
“She’s back on Minas,” Thalia said, observing his face for signs of lack of surprise.
He looked mostly bored and a little scared.
“Well, she’s not here.”
“Could I talk to one of the doctors of the practice? Maybe she’s been in contact with one of them.”
“Only Dr. Grant is here at this time, but he’s seeing a patient. You’ll have to wait.”
Thalia nodded her agreement and stood back to wait. The clinic had five doctors, four now that Dr. Wells had left, and Thalia had already interviewed two of them. Dr. Grant was not one of the doctors she’d seen before.
Any chance you can hack into the clinic’s records? she messaged Lily.
It took a few minutes for her to get back a sarcastic, Sure, if I were there with you.
Thalia shrugged, though Lily couldn’t see it. She preferred being on her own. She hadn’t always felt that way, but since Kay was taken she felt like a giant hole of despair, incapable of talking or even thinking about anything else, and she’d noticed the pitying looks she got from others. She didn’t need those when she finally had something new to pursue.
“Dr. Grant will see you,” the receptionist said after a good twenty minutes.
She gave the guy a tight smile and walked into the back area where the doctors had their offices.
Dr. Grant was a seventy-year-old man who was half her size, which really put a damper on her plans to be intimidating. She loved putting arrogant jerks in their place, which was what she’d hoped Dr. Grant would turn out to be, but she hated being a bully.
Kay liked telling people that Thalia had become a cop because of her need to defend the innocents, but really that was just a perk. She’d actually gone into law enforcement for the job benefits.
She hadn’t been a good student. And unlike her sister who’d spent her teen years with her nose in her books, Thalia had spent them rebelling and enjoying life. She had married her high school boyfriend the moment she’d been of legal age.
Just thinking about it made her want to shake her younger self, but she’d been in love. Her husband had loved spending money they didn’t have, and five years into their marriage, he left her for someone else. He left Minas and a pile of debt for Thalia to repay. That was when she’d entered the police academy. She’d wanted something dependable. She managed to pay her debt and learned to be self-sufficient.
She’d learned to defend herself too. She’d never admitted it to Kay but there had been a few incidents when he’d held her arm a little too tight or pushed her a little too rough. It was hard to believe now looking back that she’d let someone treat her that way. But again, she’d been in love.
She knew better now than to ever let love blind her. She gave her love to the people who deserved it. Her parents. Her sister.
They’d fought a lot as teenagers but got over it as they got older. The three-year age difference had seemed like a lot when they were kids but it became insignificant as adults, and there had even been stages in their lives when Thalia had been the one advising her older sister.
Thalia put her hand against the door frame to support herself as a sudden wave of emotion overwhelmed her. Where was Kay now? Was she hurt, abused? Was she even alive? Thalia tried to fight back the tears and put on a stone-faced expression. She took a few deep breaths to regain control of her emotions.
Dr. Grant gave her a strange look. She pushed the pain in her chest way down and scowled back at him.
“I’m detective Thalia Williams,” she said. She wasn’t above using her position to find her sister. “Has Dr. Wells been in contact with you?”
Dr. Grant hesitated. “What is this about?”
“I’m looking for her. She may have been a witness to a crime.”
Dr. Grant shook his head, his hands trembling a little. “I don’t know anything about that.”
Not knowing if it was a sign that he knew something or just an old man intimidated by the police, she was hesitant to be too rough with him.
“She just came back to Minas. Have you heard from her?”
“My wife has been ill for some months. Dr. Wells was helping me get her into some experimental trials. She messaged me yesterday to ask about her progress.”
Huh. That wasn’t the damning evidence of a criminal mind Thalia was looking for.
“Do you know where she’s staying?”
Dr. Grant shook his head, but she had a feeling that he had too much loyalty toward Dr. Wells to tell Thalia the truth even if he did know.
“Could you send her a message telling her that I need to talk to her?”
Again the look on his face was conflicted.
“A woman was kidnapped, one of her patients, and she may be able to help her.”
That did it. Dr. Grant nodded vehemently.
“Yes, of course, I will tell her.”
Thalia gave him her contact information and took her leave. There was nothing else for her to do.
Chapter Two
After waiting three days for Dr. Wells to contact her, Thalia was getting antsy. Every day, she jogged by the clinic during her evening run to see if she showed up, but she didn’t. She even messaged Dr. Grant a couple of times, and he swore that he’d passed on her message. Whatever goodwill she’d been willing to give Dr. Wells after finding out about Dr. Grant’s wife was quickly replaced with cold anger.
Dr. Wells’s silence made her look guilty. But despite being on desk duty, Thalia didn’t have much free time to dedicate to her sister’s case. She’d told Lily to regularly search for Dr. Wells in case she suddenly registered into a hotel or got a job practicing medicine again, but so far nothing.
Thalia walked out into the lobby, ready to go home for the day.
“I love running too.”
Lily stood in the lobby, her hand awkwardly placed on the arm of Dean, their co-worker. It was obvious Lily had a crush on him. She blushed and completely lost the ability to think whenever she went near him.
“It’s so exhilarating,” she said.
Since when? She hadn’t meant to do more than think the thought, but when the words flashed on her comm’s holo-display, Thalia went ahead and sent them to Lily.
Lily looked her way, her cheeks red with embarrassment.
“It’s a personal type of challenge,” Dean answered, not so gently pulling his arm back. “I just like competing against myself to get better.”
He spotted Thalia and looked at her with relief.
“Williams,” he called to her. “Good work this week. I’ll let Omale know you’re back to your old self. You’ll be joining us back on the street in no time.”
“Thanks, Snyder,” she said. “But I don’t need you sticking your nose up the boss’ ass for me.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he said seriously. Dean wasn’t great with humor, but he worked hard, so Thalia had no problem with him.
The three of them walked out of the lobby, Lily staying close to Dean’s side until he took the anti-grav drop down to the parking garage, supposedly on his way to go running somewhere.
“Why don’t you just ask him out already?” Thalia asked Lily as they headed out of the station together.
“What if he says no?” Lily said, shaking her head.
“Oh, he’ll definitely say no. But then you’ll know, and you’ll be able to move on and stop embarrassing yourself.”
Lily made a noise like a sad puppy.
Thalia suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and looked around expecting to see some kind of danger, but there was nothing unusual.
“You really think he’ll say no?” asked Lily.
“No, I’m sure he truly believes running is a solitary activity. I’ve seen you run. He saved you from embarrassment really by not letting you go with him.”
“What should I do?”
“Move on!”
“But I like him.”
“Oh, well in that case, you should add some more groveling and begging to your flirting, that’s sure to attract his attention.”
“You’re mean.” There was no anger in her voice, but she looked down at her feet as she walked, looking defeated.
“I’m not trying to be mean,” Thalia said. “But you won’t be happy until you either convince him to go out with you or realize he’s not for you. I just think the second option will be quicker and less painful.”
“Love is worth fighting for,” Lily said.
Thalia wasn’t much of a romantic, and she didn’t like being made a fool. If Dean didn’t want to be with Lily, then why bother. Even if she got him to go out with her, he would just leave in the end. It was better to just not start anything in the first place.
But what did she know? She was more of a casual dater herself. She’d been in very few relationships since her divorce, and the time between relationships got longer as the years went on.
She split off from Lily, who still had a dreamy look on her face. Thalia doubted her words had had much effect on her. She walked off toward her own apartment.
For the second time, she felt a shiver down her back like someone watching her. She looked behind her. It was rush hour, and droves of people walked the streets on their way home from work. She saw a green jacket stop and hide from her sight. Hadn’t she seen that same jacket just outside the precinct?
She picked up her pace, keeping her ears and attention on what was happening behind her. She didn’t know if it was paranoia or well-honed instincts, but she did not want to go home. If she was being followed, she didn’t want to lead the person there. She’d pissed off a lot of people as a cop, and she didn’t like taking chances.
To test her theory, she needed to find a less crowded area. She walked down a narrow alley that she knew led to a dead-end except for a hole in a fence that she happened to know about. She had chased a criminal down that alley in the past and, unfortunately, had lost him.
She walked a little faster as she made her way to the back of the alley. Taking a quick look behind her to make sure no one was following, she hid around the corner of a building, her back against the fence with the hole in it in case she needed to make a quick exit. Her hand instinctively reached for her stun gun hanging from her hip.
Someone entered the alley, their footsteps echoing. She stilled, slowing down her breathing to avoid making noise.
The footsteps approached slowly, tentatively, like the person wasn’t sure they should keep going. She didn’t risk looking around the corner. She didn’t want her follower to sense the trap until it was too late.
The footsteps slowed down and stopped a short distance from her. Without second-guessing herself, she jumped out of her hiding place, aiming her stun gun at her pursuer. Before she had a chance to get a good look, a leg hit her hand with so much force that her gun flew out of her grip.
She dropped back into a fighting stance, looking around wildly and waiting for the next hit, but it didn’t come.
Instead, she saw a man’s back dressed in a dark green jacket running away from her and back toward the main street. She took off as fast as she could, remembering too late that she hadn’t picked up her stun gun.
He turned right onto the main street and out of her sight. She sprinted to the corner and found him easily. He’d had to slow down to navigate through the busy street. He was pushing people out of the way while he half-ran and half-walked away from her.
The crowd was no kinder to her, and she couldn’t gain enough speed to catch up to him. She kept the green jacket in her constant line of sight as she squeezed her way between people who shouted insults after her.
Probably frustrated with the throng of people, he took a right down a smaller street. There was no way she could catch up by following him. Instead, she took a right turn herself down a parallel street and ran as fast as she could. If he went in the opposite direction, she would lose him.
She took a left turn and hit a hard chest running toward her. Only the flash of a green jacket as she turned to avoid falling warned her that this was her follower. She crouched and put her foot out to trip him.
He stumbled but didn’t fall, and he seemed ready to keep running. She pounced and jumped on his back, pulling her arm around his neck. He anticipated the attack and grabbed her arm away with two strong hands, flipping her over.
She would have landed on her back, but she used her other arm to push off his shoulder and landed in a crouch in front of him. With his way blocked, he assumed a fighting stance and Thalia got her first good look at him.
He looked to be in his forties, his handsome face lightly marked with lines. He had eyes that sparkled under strong eyebrows and a square jaw with a mouth that lifted into a smile as he looked her over. His body, from what she could tell with the jacket on, was all muscles, and he stood a head taller than her.
She’d never seen him before.
“Why are you following me?” she asked.
For an answer, he bounded forward and reached for her. She reacted quickly, moving her body into his space and tripping him. He fell on his back, and she took the opportunity to get the upper hand. She dropped her knee to his chest, pushing hard into his solar plexus, and brought her hands to his throat. One hand she wrapped around the thick muscles of his neck. Realizing quickly that there was no way she would be able to crush using just her fingers, she dropped her other forearm just under his chin and pressed hard enough to make it uncomfortable for him.
Shit. It was not a good position to be in. He was taller and stronger than her, and he wouldn’t have much trouble lifting her weight off him. But she’d learned that sometimes just appearing to know what you’re doing could subdue an opponent into submission. She pushed her arm harder, and he made a gagging sound.
“Why are you following me?” she repeated.
He moved his lips but no sound came out.
She released the pressure on his neck only slightly.
He smiled, taking Thalia by surprise.
“What’s so funny?” Her voice sounded angry to her own ears.
“It’s been a while since a woman has jumped on me.” He grabbed her legs with two large hands and squeezed them lightly. She felt the gesture through the thin fabric of her pants, making her skin come out in goosebumps. “Just so you know, I’m really not that hard to get.”
“Stop touching me.” She kept her tone hard despite feeling a little off balance.
“You first, Thalia.”
The way he whispered her name almost made it sound dirty. “You know who I am?”
His eyes brightened in amusement. “I’m not following you just because you’re hot.”
She applied a little more pressure to his neck.
“Are you offended?” His breath sounded pained. “You prefer beautiful?” He continued talking like she wasn’t making it almost impossible to breathe. “Nah, brave and strong. That’s the compliment you’d prefer.”
“I’d prefer you shut up and tell me why you’re following me.”
He sighed, but with his windpipe squashed, it came out raspy.
“So this flirting isn’t going to turn into a night of passion?” He managed to keep his smile despite his obvious difficulty breathing.
She growled in frustration. “I’ll passionately kick your ass if you don’t answer my question.”
He winked and squeezed her thighs again. And damn if that didn’t send electricity shooting up and down her back.
His smile turned crooked as he bit down on his lower lip. “Now threaten me with handcuffs and I can pass out a happy man.” His face turned redder as she pressed down.
“No?” he asked.
Before she could think of a reply, he lifted her legs up—to her disgust, rather effortlessly—bent one knee up, and pushed against her stomach with his foot. She flew backward and, throwing her hands back to break her fall, landed hard on her butt.
“That’s too bad,” he said, rolling onto his front and jumping to his feet.
She also rolled to get into a better fighting stance, but by the time she stood up, he’d already run off.
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