Page 54 of Two Hearts' Accidental Heroes

At about four in the afternoon, the first message from the U.S. Coast Guard finally came in. Their neighbors to the north in Canada would also be listening in on the operation since the ship had supposedly been loaded from there.

“There’s a vessel appearing on our monitors, it’s distance about a mile away from the shore. I repeat, there’s a vessel on our monitors approaching the shoreline.”

“We didn’t want to bring in the choppers too soon in case it made them suspicious,” Jake said, passing by to speak to Shanna, obviously noticing her mood.

Another twenty minutes went by before Jake made the call.

“It’s time for the freighter to move into place,” Jake said into the microphone before him. “I repeat, get the freighter into place.”

It was another thirty minutes before everyone at the command center moved into action.

“We’ve got a cruiser in sight, heading toward the ship,” a voice shot out from a different speaker. “I repeat, there’s a cruiser in sight.”

“Send in the divers,” Jake said loudly. “I repeat, send in the divers.”

Turning, Jake motioned at Rick, who turned to another pilot along with the two copilots who were preparing to head out first. “Ready?”

“As we can be,” one of the pilots replied, grinning.

There seemed to be a sense of exhilaration in the air as Shanna headed out with Rick, already in her bulletproof vest and parka.

Another fifteen minutes later, as Rick hovered overhead, ready to land at the clearing on the trafficking property, someone did indeed start shooting, Shanna realized, as the other man who was with them in the chopper began shooting back with the rifle he’d had slung over his shoulder.

They finally landed safely, and Shanna was able to identify four different traffickers inside the cabin who’d interacted with Wes in the past, all of them staring at her with disbelief.

The operation went smoothly. The ship had been carrying over fifty victims, including women, children and teenagers, many of them male. Most were of different nationalities, but some, it turned out, were even U.S. citizens, who were apparently being moved to a different location.

There was a look of relief, yet weariness in the eyes of everyone who’d been rescued. No one smiled, of course, because their experience as victims would stay with each of them for the rest of their lives.

* * *

The next month was difficult. Rick could sense that the longer they stayed away from Crystal Rock, the more that Shanna was longing to be with the kids. Rather than draw this out by returning to Crystal Rock for visits, they’d decided to forge ahead and identify all the locations that Shanna could remember.

Rick didn’t tell Shanna that part of the reason that Jake wanted them to forge ahead was because he was afraid that someone would attempt to silence Shanna since she’d been recognized at the sting.

But finally, in February, after completing their mission successfully, they were heading home.

Epilogue

It was so good to be home, Rick couldn’t help thinking as they walked into the house, surprising both Grace and Johnny.

“Mommy, mommy,” Johnny cried. “I thought you’d never come home. We sure missed you.”

After Johnny was through hugging Shanna, he turned to Rick, running into his arms. Picking him up, Rick swung him high in the air until he started giggling.

“We sure missed you, John,” Rick said firmly, resting Johnny’s feet on the ground as he rubbed a hand over his short blond hair.

Grace wiped away tears from her eyes as Rick approached and gave her a big hug. “I don’t know what we would have done without you. Will you come along with us tonight to fetch Anya? Shanna has been missing everyone so much.”

“Are you sure I won’t be in the way? I’ll admit, I’d love to see the reunion, not only between Shanna and Anya, but also between Shanna and her sister.”

“Let’s order a bunch of food and have it delivered before we arrive. They won’t know what the heck is going on,” Rick muttered.

“That’s a great idea,” Shanna said, crying in full force as she hugged Grace tightly.

* * *

They sat in the SUV for nearly ten minutes waiting for Shanna to get the courage to head to the front door of the old family cabin.

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