Page 26 of Operation: Return

“When did you start carrying that?” Brendon asked.

“Right after I was kidnapped. Some things just never leave your memory. I don’t feel safe walking alone. Not even from my car to my office. Not even in such a small town.” She shivered.

“What happened then?” Edwyn asked.

“I thought I heard something and turned. There was a van coming down the street toward my office. I didn’t think anything of it until they pulled into my lot. I hurried to get to the door, convinced that if I got inside, I’d be fine. I told myself I was silly for being afraid of a van, but my instinct told me to run.”

Gabby swiped the tears from under her eyes. “The side door slammed open and two men were inside. One tried to grab me into the van. I turned on him and gave him the full voltage of the taser as I tried to run. He grabbed my purse, and I ducked out of it, which is why I couldn’t call you right away. He kept my purse.”

“But you managed to get away,” Edwyn said.

“Yes. I realized that trying to unlock the building would take too long. I’d never make it. So, I ran around the back of the van because I thought they’d just run me over if I went in front. I climbed into my car and sped away, glad that my keys are on the ring with my taser.”

Fury coiled in Junior’s eyes. “I’m not keeping Gabby in a situation that isn’t safe. If this group is going to continue to target us, then it’s time we took an active stance against them. We’ve beenreactiveuntil now, but I’m finished. We need to make sure Wayside is safe for anyone who comes here.”

Edwyn nodded. “I’ll call the police. If they have Gabby’s phone, we might be able to find out just where they are with the location services. They may just have made their worst mistake.”

* * *

Erica glancedat the door for what felt like the hundredth time then back at Pete. She’d found him a few coloring pages and printed them off, then found some colored pencils in one of the desk drawers, but that would only keep him occupied for so long.

She wanted to know what had happened with Gabby. Something important or frightening had to have happened for Cole to skip a session with Trace. Pete was an extra duty and his work had to come first, but this had been even more important than work.

The voicemail from that morning got her thinking. Had Dominic known Cole for a long time, like, when he was supposedly Taylor? Would she believe Dominic even if he was? He could just as easily have sworn to cover for Cole, especially since he was offering to come help Cole now.

And why had he called Lacy’s phone when it sounded like the two were friends? Wouldn’t he have called Cole’s phone? She picked up the receiver and listened to the man’s voice. There was a pleasant, very masculine quality to it, but Dominic didn’t make her heart race like when Cole spoke to her.

She wrote down the number he’d left, then hesitated. What if Gabby was right and doing all this snooping around eventually hurt her? If Cole was Taylor, he would see her mistrust as a reason to end any relationship they’d begun. He’d literally taken on a new life because of mistrust.

“Mom?” Pete sat up on the couch and looked at her.

“Yes?” She thanked God for Pete’s distracting her away from where her thoughts had taken her.

“Do you think my dad would’ve liked Cole?”

Sudden mist filled Erica’s eyes and she blinked away the moisture. “Why do you ask?”

Pete’s brow furrowed and he pulled his knees to his chest. “He’s nice to me, but he doesn’t treat me like my teachers at school or church. He’s different. He acts like he wants to spend time with me and he’s not afraid to tell me I’m doing something wrong, but . . . I don’t know. He’s just different. I just was wondering if my dad was like him. I’d like it if my dad was like him. Then I would know he was a good guy.”

Erica wanted to speak, to tell her son that his father had been an even more amazing man than Cole. To her, he had been. This person who was so like Taylor, still wasn’t the same. There was an edge to him, a coldness that made her want to stay back and protect her heart. Because what if her intuition was wrong and her head was right? What if Cole wasn’t Taylor at all? Then she would fall for a stranger and a lie.

“Your father was a lot like Cole, yes.”

Pete beamed and held up a picture of a horse with a small rider and a man in a great big cowboy hat standing to the side with his arm up. There was a bright sun in the sky and someone standing off to the side. “Is that Trace in your drawing?”

Pete laughed. “No, silly. That’s you.”

She took a minute to think deeper about that and decided that was a bad idea. Pete wouldn’t be putting her in the background intentionally. She should be glad she was in the picture at all. Having anyone but her be the focus of Pete’s art, was sobering.

* * *

Edwyn stoodand leaned over Connor’s desk as they continued their meeting. Cole didn’t envy the position. He probably wished Connor was back right about now. But wishing wasn’t going to turn this tide back. Edwyn remained silent for a moment as if gathering the right words. “We will need to call in help. There just aren’t enough of us with me, Brendon, you both, Teddy, Sam, and Eric. Even if Connor were here, we don’t have the manpower.”

He hadn’t had a chance to think deeply into the phone message Erica had told him about that morning. The timing of his friend reaching out was odd but the Lord worked in mysterious ways. “I have someone I can call. One of the men I worked with is in private security. He would be able to help.”

Edwyn’s shoulders dropped about an inch. “I don’t know that we have the extra funding for help like that and Lacy isn’t here to petition our supporters for more financial backing. That’s not something we can have Erica do. She doesn’t have the relationship with these people that Lacy has.”

“I won’t know what they will charge until I ask. They offered to come.”

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