Page 37 of Operation: Return

Dominic nodded. “I’m here because I owed Cole, if he needs me to ride shotgun, I will. If he needs my men to stand down and wait, they will.” He turned on his heel and headed out.

Cole stood and followed him until they reached the front lawn then Dominic fell into step next to him. “What’s going on?”

Edwyn would tell him the specifics of Wayside and the enemy they faced but, in the meantime, Dominic needed to know what could happen on a simple trip to town. “All the guests who stay here were once trafficking victims. A few months ago, we were found out, which was the incident you mentioned on the phone. One of the handlers managed to get in touch with one of our residents. They came in here shooting, managed to kidnap one of the people working here, and though the threat went away for a short time, it’s ramping back up.” That was the shortest synopsis of the situation he could give.

“And you want the threat eliminated without calling in law enforcement,” Dominic finished.

“The law knows they can’t do anything. They want to, but they can’t. How can you arrest when there is no evidence? How can they investigate when there are no reports?”

Dominic held up his hand. “I understand. We’ve had a few cases where we did some investigating for politicians. Everything stays quiet and no one knows we were there.”

Cole slowed his pace as they approached Scarlet and Trace, knowing the appearance of all these strange men in combat uniform would have them on edge. “I’d like you to meet Dominic Anderson. He’s here to help us and he’ll be riding along so you can get what you need. All I ask is that we get in and out quickly. This needs to be planned and executed without any hesitation. I don’t want to give these guys time to act.”

Trace stared at Dominic and inched back a few steps. He shook his head and pointed at Cole.

“He wants to go, but only with you,” Scarlet offered.

“That’s no deal. We can’t walk into a dangerous situation and pretend like nothing could happen. We can go, but we have to do this my way.” He hated to put his foot down, but safety mattered more than comfort. If Trace could choose not to go, then he didn’t need the cigarettes bad enough to warrant the trouble.

Trace scowled at Cole, then headed for the parking lot.

“I guess that means he’s okay with it.” Cole fished the keys from his pocket.

Dominic patted his side and his chest, checking his weapon and radio. “I just heard that my men are headed to the RVs we brought. So far, everything is clear that they can see.”

Cole prayed it would stay that way.

* * *

Two menin military dress with combat gear walked by Erica’s window tearing her away from her tasks. Who were these guys? Was Wayside under attack? She crept to her window and stood next to it where they couldn’t see her peering into the front yard. Cole stood next to one of them and while he didn’t look calm, there was obvious comradery there.

These had to be the men from the security force Cole had mentioned. While that should’ve made her relieved, instead she felt tense and jumpy. She’d never had good relationships with men other than Taylor . . . or Cole. She shook her head. It didn’t matter what she called him now, and she wasn’t going to think about their past right now.

Pete opened the door and peeked out. “Mom, I missed lunch. I’m hungry.”

Erica bit her lip. She was hungry too, but going out there with all those guys was frightening and she didn’t want to explain to Pete why they were there. At least not yet. “Maybe I can call Victoria and ask her to bring us a little something?” Though she hated to do that, too. Part of her wanted to stick to Cole like a peanut butter sandwich to the roof of your mouth, but that wasn’t possible. He had a job to do.

Pete wandered to the window and she reached out to stop him, but he noticed the men out there before she could get in the way.

“Whoa, it’s like a movie set out there. Are they real?”

She wished she had his innocence of what those men might be capable of. “They are real. They are friends of Cole’s.” She hoped that was the truth.

Pete wandered to the sofa near the far wall and flopped down on it, staring up at the ceiling. “Just like I’m Trace’s friend.”

She froze in place. Was Trace telling her son things no six-year-old should know? Her mama-bear kicked in a little and she pushed thoughts of the men out there to the side momentarily. “Is that so?”

“Yup. We were in the corral together two days ago and while Cole was over talking to Sam. Trace was telling me how much he wishes he could be like me. He misses feeling like a human and getting to act like a kid. I asked him what he meant, it’s not like he’s an alien. He laughed at me and said I was too young to understand and that’s exactly why he wished he could be like me.”

Erica tried to control her frenzy of questions, but only for a moment. “He . . . talked to you?” At least what Trace had said was sweet. Her son was innocent, maybe even more innocent than other six-year-olds because she protected him to the point of perhaps over-protection.

“Yeah, but he told me he doesn’t talk to anyone else. He doesn’t trust anyone. Even Scarlet. Because she’s too close to a lot of the guys here. He doesn’t trust them yet. They act like the guys he used to live with, or look like them, or something. I didn’t really understand. I tried to tell him that Cole was nice, but he didn’t want to talk about that. His voice is really quiet, like something is wrong with his throat and he has no teeth so he’s hard to understand.”

Erica’s knees went weak, and she sat on the edge of the couch by Pete’s feet. The two evenings that they’d eaten in the dining room, she’d noticed Victoria gave Trace a different meal than everyone else, always in a tall glass. Had everyone else known except her? “That’s terrible. I wonder if there’s anything I can do?”

Pete shrugged. “I don’t know. I told him to keep trying to trust Cole, because he’s a good guy.”

“Thank you, Pete. I’m glad you think so.” If she ever got to a point where she could share with Pete who his father was, the fact that Pete liked him would make the change easier.

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