Mistletoe and Masks (Yule Tied 5)

Mistletoe and Masks (Yule Tied)
Angela Knight
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2016 Angela Knight

The crushed remnants of a blue Toyota sat sideways in the street surrounded by a spray of shattered safety glass. The car's passenger door lay in the middle of the road, crumpled like a beer can. A huge hand shaped dent caved in its center, and another crushed the window frame.

"Looks like Hyper work," Nikki Moss observed.

"Yeah." Luke McKellen pulled in behind the ambulance and a Burghal City PD unit.

A distraught woman saw their black Hyper Enforcement Bureau SUV and tried to fight her way free of the EMTs trying to examine her. Luke could hear her yelling even with the windows closed. "He took my baby! That Hyper bastard took my little girl!"

"Oh," Nikki murmured, "This is gonna suck. The only thing worse than working a case with a child victim is working a case with a child victim at Christmas."

"We'll get her back," Luke said grimly. His eyes flicked to the car door with its Hyper handprint. They got out and jogged toward the knot of people, their segmented H.E.B. body armor creaking, leather trench coats swinging around their ankles.

"If you don't get her back, he's going to kill her!" Shaking off one of the paramedics trying to convince her to sit down, the victim reached a shaking hand toward Nikki.

"We won't let him. We just need you to answer a couple of questions so we'll know where to look." Luke kept his voice low and soothing as he worked to project Alpha Male confidence. The Dom skills he used when he scened could be just as useful for reassuring terrorized crime victims.

Luke pulled his leather Hyper Enforcement Bureau badge case from his trench and displayed it, then tucked it away again. "I'm Lock, and this is my partner, Ultra." Criminal Hypers had been known to target the friends and families of H.E.B. agents, making masks and code names a necessity. Sometimes he felt like a damned fool in the getup, but the cloak and dagger was the only way to keep everybody alive.

"I know who you are. Everybody in this town knows you." She attempted a smile, but her lips trembled, and a tear dripped off her chin. "You can get my baby back."

Nikki touched the woman's arm. Her expression was so kind it was obvious even behind her mask. "Could you give us your name and tell us what happened?"

"Talisha Crosby. I'm sorry, I'm..." She wiped at her swollen, bloody mouth and took a deep breath, obviously fighting to bring her panic under control. Talisha was a pretty woman despite the bruises, her black hair arranged in an elegant braided knot. Blood sprinkled her white blouse and pencil skirt. "My daughter's name is Jamella. She's ten. She's wearing a pink puffer coat and pink shoes. We'd been Christmas shopping. Stopped at the light there..." Talisha gestured at the traffic light that hung over the intersection. "Next thing I knew, a sketchy-looking guy in a Santa suit walked up, punched his fist through the window, and tore the passenger door right off the car. Then he snapped Jamella's seatbelt and snatched her."

"Do you know him?" Luke asked. "What'd he look like?"

"White dude. Middle aged, wearing a dirty Santa suit. Never seen him before in my life." Her bruised mouth tightened. "I yelled at him to give Jamella back, and he laughed. Said she was his now, and there was nothing I could do about it because he was a Hyper and nobody could stop him." Anger narrowed her swollen eyes, and she clenched shaking fists. "I tried to go after them, I tried, but he turned and... I've never been hit so hard in my entire life. When I woke up, he was gone."

"What time was this?"

"I'm... not sure. Three fifteen, maybe?" She looked from Luke to Nikki with naked desperation. "Get her back. Please..." Her shoulders shook.

"We'll do our best." Nikki gave her that reassuring smile again, and the woman smiled back, almost against her will. Nikki had that effect on people.

Luke forced a smile of his own, trying to keep the worry for the child off his face. "It's going to be all right, Ms. Crosby. Don't lose hope."

"You're Jamella's favorite Hypers. She always talks about Lock and Ultra." Her lips trembled. "But I wish she didn't have to meet you like this."

"So do we. You go on with the EMTs now. You need to get looked at." With one last comforting squeeze, Nikki stepped back. As the EMTs helped Talisha onto a stretcher, the two agents moved away. Nik dropped her voice. "You think you can pick up his trail?" She glanced up at him through the lenses of her mask, her blonde hair ablaze in the afternoon light.