Bringing All The Bad
Two Dark Novels
Dark Collections – Volume III
by Ann Christy
Copyright © 2020 by Ann Christy
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, nor may it be stored in a database or private retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author, with the exception of brief quotations included in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses as permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, and events appearing or described in this work are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is purely coincidental and the product of a fevered imagination.
www.annchristy.com
Works by Ann Christy
The Silo 49 Series
Silo 49: Going Dark
Silo 49: Deep Dark
Silo 49: Dark Till Dawn
Silo 49: Flying Season for the Mis-Recorded
The Between Life and Death Series
The In-Betweener
Forever Between
Between No More
The Book of Sam
Savannah Slays
Christmas Between Life and Death
Dead Woman’s Journal (Prequel)
Strikers Series
Strikers
Strikers: Eastlands
Strikers: Outlands
First Strike (VIP List Exclusive Prequel)
Into The Galaxy Duology
Portals
Portals: Saving Earth
Portals: The Hub of Life (VIP List Exclusive)
Dark Collections
The Ways We End
And Then Begin Again
Bringing All The Bad
True Vampire
Girard, The Guardian
Perfect Partners, Incorporated Series
Robot Evolution
Hope/Less
Anthologies with Stories by Ann Christy
Wool Gathering: A Charity Anthology
Synchronic: 13 Tales of Time Travel
The Robot Chronicles
The Powers That Be: A Superhero Charity Anthology
The Z Chronicles
Alt.History 101
Dark Beyond the Stars
The Future Chronicles – Special Edition
The Time Travel Chronicles
The Doomsday Chronicles
Dark Beyond the Stars 2: A Planet Too Far
Dark Beyond the Stars: New Worlds, New Suns
Chronicle Worlds: Tails of Dystopia
Bridge Across The Stars
Best of Beyond the Stars
Warning
The following novel deals with child victims and may be too intense for some readers.
Magic Baby in Room 108
A child’s whispering voice on a phone led Detective Melody Baker to the doorstep of a massive child trafficking ring. They saved many victims, but there are more to be found…and many perpetrators who need to be brought to justice.
Which of the rescued girls now crowding a hospital room is the caller, and how much more does she know? Melody’s team has to find the answers and if there are more girls to be found, time is of the essence. As Melody searches for the truth, one strange girl spins a fantastical tale. Buried in that tale are the seeds of trauma-induced madness…or an astonishing truth. As the detective is soon to discover, there’s more than one way to find justice and sometimes, a monster can be a detective’s best friend.
The Bust
Detective Sergeant Melody Baker didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment she thought she would. Where was the feeling of relief? The easing of a burden too long carried? The desire to high-five her partner or clap someone on the back?
Not here. That was the answer to all those questions. Not here and not with her.
Paul Ramsay, also a Detective, though still newly minted enough that he used the title whenever possible, looked as if he felt the same. His dark eyes were shadowed by even darker circles, the hollows beneath his cheeks stark. It made him look like death was coming for him, an impatient death shaking his scythe to get Paul to hurry up and stop breathing already.
His footfalls quiet, he stepped out of the hallway where the rooms meant for interviewing their particular type of victim lay. In deference to the late hour, the lights were dimmed, though they were never completely in the dark. Darkness was often a fearful thing for the children who passed down this hallway to wait in those rooms scattered with soft cushions and toys. Rooms painted in cheerful colors for children who did not have cheerful things to say.
There were no children in those rooms now. Not yet. Paul had needed the room instead. It was a place to let what he saw wash over and through him. He needed to let it out, then regain some composure before they continued their duties.
Melody understood. It had been a long night and it would be a very long day. She’d been content to wait, work through her own feelings, and gaze out the window. Without her ad-blockers, the world through the window was a dazzling spectacle of color. On every wall, and most windows, an ever-changing, flashing parade of computerized ads lured the unwary to spend, spend, spend.
She slipped her ad-blockers back onto her face and the world through the glasses was once again gray and dark. All the color washed away. It was time to work again.
As he closed the door, Paul let out an exhausted breath and met her eyes. Here in the Special Victims section of the building, they could be a little more real with each other. Beyond this section, they had to be as hard as everyone else. In this one place, they could be human.
“You okay?” Melody asked him, wanting a real answer.
With a rueful semi-smile that took ten years off his features, he said, “You’d have to define the word a little more precisely before I can answer that.”
She understood. Absolutely. Their job was like that. But she’d also been at this a lot longer than Paul, so she knew what to say to him. She’d said almost the same things to the many partners who had come and gone before him.
Placing a hand on his shoulder, she leaned in and said, “They’re free of the bad thing. That’s the part you have to focus on. We did a good thing, a good job. This part is hard for us, seeing the faces in real time instead of a grainy photo or the words of a basic description. Focus on the good. They’re free. Now, they can heal.”
His eyes once again shadowed, he said, “Not all of them have families to go back to. I think some were given away.” He paused, swallowed hard. “I think some of
