Page 14 of Operation: Return

“You and everyone else. There is nothing tying me to that house and I won’t be able to afford it after I get back if I don’t work. Like I told you, I don’t have a job waiting for me when I return. It’s a safety measure.”

He nodded once then stood and stretched slightly showing a tattoo on his arm of the earth and an anchor with writing above and below. “Get some sleep if you can. We’ll all need to be watchful as we leave tomorrow.” He headed for the other bed and laid on his back, propping his hands behind his head. “I’ll wake all of you at first light.”

She tried to calm her racing thoughts. First light couldn’t come fast enough.

ChapterSix

Cole woke Trace first to make sure he was up before Erica and Pete, just in case Trace had any residual reactions from being awakened. These were variables that had to be taken into account with a new client.

Trace woke with a start but didn’t say anything and quickly gathered his bedding as if he’d heard the conversation between Cole and Erica the night before and knew they’d be heading out early. He hated to rush them off without breakfast, but he didn’t want to linger in a town he didn’t know against an unseen enemy.

Erica heard movement as he and Trace picked up around the room and she woke Pete. He was slightly out of sorts at waking up where he couldn’t remember falling asleep, but Trace occupied him with a few optical illusions, giving Erica time to go use the bathroom and freshen up her face and hair. At least, that’s what Cole assumed because she came out looking even better than when she’d gone in.

She gathered her gun from the safe and secured it in her waistband, then helped Pete get ready.

“I hate to rush all of us, but we can have a good breakfast at the ranch and we’re only a half hour away. If I see we’re being followed before we leave town, then I’ll stop for food because I’ll have to lose our tail before we go to the ranch. I don’t want all of you waiting hours to eat.”

Erica nodded but said nothing in reply. She made sure Pete had washed his hands and face then they headed to the lobby to check out. After quickly turning in the key card, he had Trace and Erica wait in the lobby while he took Bubbles to check the parking lot under the auspices of giving the dog a chance to relieve itself. Whoever was following them couldn’t know Cole was on to them. As long as he didn’t make it easy for them to tell, he could figure out a plan more easily.

He headed toward the back of the lot to a distant patch of grass and noticed all four of their tires had been slashed. The blue car wasn’t in the lot anymore and he didn’t see anyone standing around who might be waiting to see his reaction.

He grabbed his phone while he waited for Bubbles and called Edwyn. Having the car fixed would take a long time and leave them sitting exposed with nowhere to go. That wasn’t safe for any of the people with him.

“Cole, where are you?” Edwyn answered immediately.

“Stuck here. Someone took out all four tires on the car. I can call in a tow and repair, but I don’t like sitting here.”

Edwyn was silent for a moment. “I don’t either. I was going to send Junior, but I don’t like leaving Scarlet defenseless if someone is after you. I’ll send Eric with another car and he can wait for the repair. Do not take the highway home. Even if it takes twice as long, find back roads to get here. They haven’t come here, but that doesn’t mean anything. If they targeted your car, then this is a threat. There’s no wondering anymore. I’ll call Lacy and let her know.”

Cole hated that. If Edwyn called Lacy, that meant Connor would know what was going on and he’d want to rush right home to take care of everything when he needed to heal. “If you think that’s best. As far as I can see, our car was the only one hit, so this was definitely meant for us. It wasn’t someone hitting a bunch of cars.”

“Okay, you call a tow and I’ll send Eric. Be watchful.” Edwyn hung up.

Cole hung up the phone just as Bubbles returned to his side. The poor dog was so thin he couldn’t force the dog to wait so he got the bowl and a portion of the dog food from the back of the car and took it to the hotel lobby where the others waited.

“What’s going on? What took so long?” Erica had Pete pulled to her side.

“We’ll be here for a while.” He didn’t want to say what had happened in front of the boy and scare him. Things were hard enough for him being away from home and heading to a place he didn’t know.

“How long is a while?” She made air quotes over the last part as she bit her lip.

Cole neared her and touched her elbow, directing her to turn away from everyone. He lowered his voice as far as he could. “We have to wait for a replacement car. They’re about a half hour away. I’m calling a towing company to bring a flatbed for it.”

She sat down and Pete’s lip trembled. “Does this mean we’re not going to meet the horses today?”

He was thankful that was all that Pete could think about. “Don’t worry. You’ll get to meet them soon. I’m sorry you didn’t get to wake up on the ranch this morning, but tomorrow you will. We’ll see if you can even get in a ride yet today.” And as long as he didn’t have to pull extra security duty, he’d make that happen.

Trace leaned against the wall behind Erica and stared at the front door. Cole got the sneaking suspicion he’d spent a lot of time in his life watching and waiting. He stepped a few feet away and called the towing company that was closest to them according to his phone. By the time they arrived with the flatbed, Eric was just pulling into the lot.

He ushered Erica, Trace, and Pete leading Bubbles out to meet him. Eric got out of the car and handed him the key. “What have you got there?” he asked, lowering himself to meet the dog.

Bubbles sat a few feet away and wouldn’t approach him. “I found him in a parking lot. Maybe I should’ve tried to find his owner, but he looked so starved and had no collar, so I didn’t bother.”

“He definitely has that wild look about him of one of those dogs that’s been on the streets for a while. Don’t forget to let Sam know before you bring a new dog out. He’ll want to have the vet there and make sure all the other dogs are secured.”

“And that there’s an open bath available,” Cole snorted. Sam was known for keeping the dogs what he calledrelentlessly clean.

Cole had been so worried about being followed and the safety of the people he was bringing to the ranch, he’d skipped protocol in calling Sam. “I will do that right away though. I also called the Police after the tow truck and explained we were probably not in imminent danger. They should be here soon.”

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