Asher stood up when she pulled back and raised shaking hands to wipe her face. "Get yourself cleaned up." She scrambled to her feet and went to the bathroom without saying a word. He ran a hand through his hair. He needed her to come with them; she knew things about this guy that no one else did. They had been together for over ten years, and Derrick Talbot had virtually no information about himself anywhere they could find.
Mina Talbot, on the other hand, had a lot of information on her. Still, they hadn't done a deep dive into her life, enough to know there had been abuse in the marriage, a few hospital visits before she had left him a few months ago, and moved to a different state with the help of a friend. He pulled out his phone and stepped out of her room, shutting the door as it rang.
"Lexi, I need all the information on Mina Talbot you can find from birth. I want everything, school, medical, and CPS records specifically. I want to know if she was late for class or sneezed funny."
"If things are sealed?"
"Unseal them. I also want to know about her parents."
"On it."
He hung up and called Greg. "We need another way to track her."
Greg was quiet for a moment. "Is there a problem with the bracelet?"
"She can't wear it on her wrist."
"I have one that's big enough that it might fit her ankle, it might be tight, though, other than that, it's inserting one under the skin."
"I'll bring her to you in a few minutes, have both ready to go."
"Yep."
Hanging up, he walked in to find her sitting on the couch. She didn't look at him as he came up and sat across from her. "Are you okay?"
"Yes." She hesitated and swallowed. "Thank you."
Asher nodded. "How many different places does your ex have to hide in?"
"He grew up in a cult. The FBI stepped in and dissolved it when he was a teenager, he's the firstborn son of thirty-eight children spread out over twelve wives and very much the favorite. His father was arrested and is in prison, and most of his wives were under the age of majority at the time he married and impregnated them. His mother and three of his... stepmothers I guess? and fifteen of his brothers and sisters will help him. The rest have scattered and cut ties."
"They've spread out a bit, upstate New York and five other states along the Canadian border. I chose North Carolina, next to the ocean, because they believe, among other crazy things; that Canada will attack from the north unless they maintain their presence to keep those crazy Canucks at bay and that a tsunami will wipe out the Eastern seaboard "soon." Although when asked they could never say when "soon" was."
"Right." Asher tilted his head at her. "And you married him because...?"
"He was smart enough to keep that information to himself until he knew I had no escape." She rolled her eyes. "He didn't spout crazy right away, just like he didn't choke me into unconsciousness the first dozen times we had sex. It was a slow trickle and build-up of stuff, with lots of manipulative tactics designed to make me question myself and my sanity."
"And you know where they all are and live?"
"Yeah, they're all very close. We spent a lot of time with them. My therapist says they're a textbook case of enmeshment and emotional incest, with heavy sprinkles of trauma bonding." Mena hesitated. "Thing is, if they know I'm helping you, they'll go deeper into hiding and change things up. His mother won't give him up. Asher. You need to watch and listen to her, not confront her."
"How would you do it?" He was listening closely.
"Pretend you're a cop and let her know you're looking for him for stealing from me. If he's there, she'll get him out. If he's somewhere else she'll get in touch with him or whoever is hiding him to give them the heads up. You're going to have to tell her I gave you her name and she'll call me to see what else I've told you."
"Okay. I need you to come with us and I need you to wear a tracker." He watched as she stiffened and her face drained of color.
"I want you to get him. I want to help and I'm not going to run."
"As much as I'd like to believe you, Princess, I don't. We have one that might fit on your ankle, would that work better?"
"That should be fine. If it doesn't fit?"
"An implant under your skin."
"Oh. Okay." She nodded and relaxed. "That's fine."
Asher raised his eyebrows at how easily she okayed it. "That's fine?"
"Yeah, before I had my hysterectomy, I used a hormonal birth control that was implanted in my arm. That's no big deal."
"Alright, let's go see Greg." His phone rang and he pulled it out and answered it as he led her from the room. He listened for a moment. "Hold on."
"Do you need anything from your place before we leave?"
"Medication and a few comfort things if that's okay." He nodded.
"Make it four." He hung up and opened the door to the garage. "Mina, this is Greg. He's my tech guy."
"Hello." He nodded at her politely and gestured to a chair. Mina looked him over. He was also tall and muscular, with smooth, cocoa-brown skin and grey eyes that were just as flat as Asher's.
"We're going to do things a little differently with this one." Asher filled Greg in on what Mina had told him.
Greg nodded when he was finished. "I'll need a hand loading up the gear." His voice was deep and had the same soothing quality that Asher's had.
"Get Eric and Joe to give you a hand." Asher was on his phone again. "Joe, scratch a place to work, we need two RVs, one big enough for you four and another for me and Mrs. Talbot, and an SUV big enough for all of us, that can be towed, we'll be flying to Albany and driving from there."
Greg was on his knees in front of Mina with a smirk on his face as he adjusted the largest bracelet he had. Les had told him Asher had made a deal with her and while he could see why, the idea that Asher could form an attachment to someone, no matter how pretty she was, was hilarious to him. He snapped the bracelet in place around her ankle and was pleased it fit without being too tight. "Think that should do it."
Asher checked it out. "Is that okay?" He watched Mina carefully as he handed Greg his phone to sync it.
She nodded and studied it. There was a little panic, but not nearly as much as the one on her wrist caused. "It's manageable. When I'm used to it it will be fine."
"We can go with the implant."
"I'm not sure where you'd put it that I couldn't remove it." Her eyes met his.
He rolled his eyes, picking up on the dig about not trusting her, and called Les. "Bring the car around to the front in thirty" He looked at Greg. "Pack everything up and meet us at the hangar in three hours. You have thirty minutes to pack a bag, Princess."