Page 51 of Two Hearts' Accidental Heroes

“Sometimes the wind just whips up though and it can be pretty nasty,” Shanna admitted. “I suppose we’d better not say anything unless its important in case anyone’s around.”

When Shanna looked back, Jake appeared to be inspecting the lower shoreline, more than likely trying to come up with some ideas about a plan of approach to trap the traffickers.

If this was their destination. Although she could sense that both Jake and Rick seemed hesitant to believe that this was where the transfer would occur, Shanna didn’t know why, but she was certain that it would be here.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“I’m concerned that there might be some kind of security system setup to prevent anyone from approaching along the path,” Rick said, studying the area surrounding them.

“I’m thinking that they’ll wait to set everything up until after they get a head count,” Shanna said grimly. “The fewer people there are, the less likely they’ll leave them here at this location. There are multiple generators that needs to be fired up, according to Wes, and they all use a lot of power. There’s no use having security here if there’s nothing in the caves right now to hide. There’s a locked door at the end of the cave, with a room behind it where they could secure their victims and another tunnel leading into the cabin from there. I’m thinking too that the reason the property has been fenced in is because of my father. He probably didn’t trust Wes anymore and warned the others in the organization.”

“That makes sense,” Jake agreed.

“Here we are,” Shanna said, motioning to a towering outcrop of rocks farther ahead. “I’m not sure how it was done, but those large sheets of rock weren’t originally there to disguise the entrance.”

“Wait a second, guys,” Rick muttered, motioning them back along the pathway. “I think I heard voices.”

Luckily, there was plenty of brush along with several groupings of pines where they could quickly take cover alongside the pathway.

Rick watched as two men stepped out from behind the rocks, appearing to settle in on the wide ledge of the outcrop, appearing to be deeply immersed in their conversation.

“I’m going to see if I can get closer to hear what they’re saying,” Rick said softly.

“We should snap some photos,” Shanna answered. “I can’t make out their faces, although one of them seems familiar.

“Be careful, Rick,” Jake muttered, bringing out an actual camera from his pocket.

They would have trouble getting away if the men remained on the ledge for long, but since one of them was smoking, Rick had a feeling they were probably just taking a break.

It looked like Shanna had probably been right about the location of the trafficking drop off, Rick decided as he got closer and heard what the men had to say.

“Tomorrow, then?” one man was asking.

“Beginning at dusk,” the other man muttered, puffing out a cloud of smoke. “They’ll anchor out there in the deeper part of the inlet and we’ll be driving them here by cruiser. We’ll be setting up a portable dock tomorrow morning where we can park. We can’t afford to make any mistakes like last time, so we’ll only be handling a few at a time.”

“At least we shouldn’t have any trouble from the cops or lake patrol.”

Rick stood still as he listened to everything they had to say, but except for a few lewd comments that made him cringe, they said nothing more about the following day.

He breathed a sigh of relief once the men finished talking and disappeared behind the sheets of rock, apparently heading back into the cave.

At this point, they knew everything they needed to. Now all they had to do was come up with a plan to not only arrest the traffickers, but to rescue the victims who were being trafficked.

Rick moved quietly back to where Jake and Shanna remained out of sight, motioning at the path.

“Let’s get out of here,” he whispered, squeezing Shanna’s shoulder gently as he guided her toward the trail. “She was right, Jake.”

“I never had a doubt,” Jake murmured as they moved quickly, heading back to where the truck was parked.

Shanna just snorted.

* * *

The three of them sat in the truck at the hotel parking lot to discuss their plans after stopping for coffee.

“The most difficult problem will be keeping this sting operation under wraps,” Jake said gruffly. “Besides the fact that it will be Christmas Eve and I’m going to have to pull away a lot of experienced men and women from their homes for the holidays, there’s also the problem of the unknown informant from the FBI who we suspect is feeding information to the organization.”

Rick grimaced.

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