Chapter 15 - The First Pregnant Woman Was RealDane Kessler laughed when Lena asked about the first pregnant woman.
Then stopped.
“No.”
“Halley says ask you.”
“He’s lying.”
“What happened?”
Dane looked toward his attorney.
The attorney whispered.
Dane shook his head.
“No.”
Lena waited.
Silence often worked better than pressure.
Finally Dane spoke.
“It wasn’t a robbery.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Who?”
“A woman named Chelsea Ward.”
Miles watched from another room.
“Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“How far?”
“Eight months.”
“What happened?”
“She broke down.”
“Where?”
“Outside Mountain Home.”
“A biker stopped?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Guy named Patrick Soren.”
“What did you do?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Then why does it matter?”
Dane rubbed his face.
“Halley was.”
The room became still.
“Explain.”
“Chelsea was his informant.”
“Against who?”
“Drug crew.”
“Why was she stranded?”
“Halley arranged it.”
Miles felt cold.
“Why?”
“He wanted Patrick to pick her up.”
“Why Patrick?”
“He was part of the crew.”
“Under investigation?”
“Yes.”
“So this began as a police setup?”
Dane nodded.
An unofficial one.
No warrant.
No approved operation.
Halley used a pregnant informant to lure Patrick into a conversation and get access to his motorcycle storage network.
“What went wrong?”
“Patrick figured it out.”
“Then?”
“He assaulted Chelsea.”
Dane looked ashamed.
“She lost the baby.”
Silence.
Miles closed his eyes.
The fake-pregnant-woman tactic came from a real tragedy.
Halley had used a genuinely pregnant informant recklessly.
Then later converted the same image into a criminal ambush method.
“What happened to Chelsea?”
“Left Idaho.”
“Patrick?”
“Prison on unrelated charges.”
“Was Halley disciplined?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Dane smiled bitterly.
“Guess.”
Voss.
Blackmail?
Maybe Halley had evidence against Voss by then.
“Who covered it?”
“Halley wrote it as an informant accident. Voss buried review.”
“Did you know Chelsea?”
“She was my cousin.”
Miles stared.
There.
Dane’s personal connection.
“Your cousin lost her baby because Halley used her.”
“Yes.”
“Then why work with him?”
Dane’s eyes hardened.
“Because I wanted him under me.”
“What?”
Dane explained.
After Chelsea’s miscarriage, he confronted Halley.
Halley threatened him.
Dane began collecting evidence.
Then learned about Voss’s son.
Used his tow position to obtain leverage.
His goal, initially, was to protect himself and Chelsea from Halley.
Then money changed everything.
Canyon Crest thefts grew.
Halley provided protection.
Dane provided infrastructure.
Enemies became partners.
“You became what you hated.”
Dane said nothing.
“How did the fake belly start?”
“Boone joked about Chelsea’s setup.”
“Then Erin used it.”
“Yes.”
Miles felt disgust at how tragedy became technique.
“What happened to Chelsea?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find her.”
Investigators did.
Chelsea Ward lived in Arizona.
Married.
One child.
She agreed to speak remotely.
Her account matched Dane’s.
Halley had promised the operation was safe.
Said Patrick would simply give her a ride.
No backup nearby.
No authorization.
When Patrick realized she wore a wire, he shoved her from the motorcycle at low speed during an argument.
She was injured.
Pregnancy complications followed.
Baby died.
Halley pressured her not to report the full circumstances.
“Why agree?”
Chelsea cried.
“I blamed myself.”
Another person carrying someone else’s guilt.
She had left Idaho.
Never knew Dane later entered partnership with Halley.
When told, she went silent.
“My cousin built crimes around what happened to me?”
“Yes.”
She cried.
Miles hated delivering truth.
But truth mattered.
Chelsea also gave them one piece.
Halley maintained a hunting cabin from his father near Riggins.
Not in current property records.
Family trust.
Search.
The cabin was forty miles from where the stolen truck was found.
Teams moved.
Before they arrived, a 911 call came from a hiker.
A man found injured near a trail.
Jace Moran.
Gunshot wound to shoulder.
Alive.
He had escaped Halley.
At hospital, Jace immediately asked for a deal.
“What did Halley say?”
“He’s going to the cabin.”
“Why?”
“Cash.”
“What else?”
“Passport.”
“Hostage?”
“No.”
“Why shoot you?”
“He thought I’d surrender.”
“You did.”
Jace laughed weakly.
“He knows me.”
Lena asked:
“Who ordered the first red job?”
Jace looked confused.
“Chelsea?”
“No. Halley told Miles you knew.”
Jace shook his head.
“He was messing with you.”
“Then why mention pregnant women?”
“To make Dane talk.”
It worked.
Halley used knowledge as weapons.
Even while running.
“What’s at the cabin?”
“His last insurance.”
“What?”
“Original copies.”
“Of?”
“Everything.”
Halley trusted no one.
Kept a final cache.
Searchers reached the cabin before dawn.
Empty.
But warm.
Back door open.
Cash missing.
Passport gone.
A laptop remained.
Destroyed with an axe.
Then one officer shouted outside.
Fresh tire tracks.
Halley had another vehicle.
Direction south.
Back toward Boise.
Everyone had assumed he would flee north.
Instead he was going home.
Why?
Miles knew.
Nathan.
Halley had just learned Nathan was alive.
And Nathan was currently in a federal safe location outside Boise.
Only a handful knew where.
May you like
If Halley had another leak—
Nathan was in danger again.
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