Page 52 of Operation: Return

Junior shrugged. “I’m not sure about it. I don’t think Deputy Blake understands what he’s asking. Just like the police didn’t understand the last time.”

“We don’t have any other women who could stand in for Scarlet, and none of our men are built like Trace.”

He was wiry and short, unlike any of the Wayside men. There would be no easy way to put a decoy in place for either of them, but Deputy Blake had put out a request.

Blue lights appeared in sequence down the stairs to the undergrown hideaway that very few people knew existed. As soon as Cole and Junior began their descent, more lights illuminated lower and lower until it reached the bottom.

Cole stopped and plugged in his security code to close the door above them, starting a timer for them to descend all the way to the bottom before the lights would shut off and each stair tread would tip upward, making going down in the dark impossible.

Junior reached the bottom a few steps ahead of Cole and waited until the lights went out, then made their way down the hall to the lightly illuminated thumbprint pad that would open the door to the hideout. Junior pressed his thumb to the pad and the door made a soft click, then opened.

Gabby waited just inside the door, her eyes wide. “It’s us,” Junior said and she immediately relaxed.

“I was hoping. We could hear you making your way down the hall and weren’t sure if we should be terrified and shut off the lights again or hopeful that our stay might be ending.” Gabby looked hopeful.

Junior shook his head. “Sorry, honey. We still haven’t found Pete, but we did get a ransom.”

She seemed to deflate. “I’ll take the others back into one of the rooms to give you some privacy.”

“Thanks.” Junior gave her a quick hug then she showed the other two guests to a room down the hall.

“We can’t keep doing this,” Scarlet said, raking her arm with her nails. “As long as we’re here, they’re just going to keep coming. We should leave, go somewhere they will never find us.”

Trace pounded his fist into his hand, over and over, until Scarlet touched his shoulder. “I’ll tell him.” She turned to Cole. “Trace wants to help.”

“Help? He doesn’t even know what is going on.” How could he? They’d collected the guests shortly after Pete had been taken just in case Pete’s abduction was a dry run for their other guests.

“He does. He wants to go along when you make the trade. He wants to make them pay.”

As if Trace had spoken the words himself, he emphasized them with another punch.

Cole was again faced with being unsure how to deal with Trace’s anger. How could he help Trace if he wasn’t willing to communicate when they needed him to? “The kidnappers want to trade both of you for Pete. We are not going to do that. Deputy Blake wants to send body doubles for both of you with a professional hostage negotiator and see if a miracle will happen.”

“You don’t sound convinced.” Scarlet cocked her head. “I thought you believed in miracles.”

He believed they used to happen. He believed what the Bible said was true. But he didn’t believe they still happened. Not this kind of thing. The chances that the man who took Pete would just release him were somewhere between slim and none.

Cole changed the subject away from his own faults. They held no bearing on the situation. “What do you want to do?”

“Me?” Scarlet asked. “I can’t go through with a trade, obviously. They’ll be expecting me to do something like last time.”

Trace paced to the end of the room, then back again. His jaw moved like he was gnawing on something, or hiding something. When he’d been talking about Trace with Erica earlier, she’d looked like she was hiding something, but he hadn’t wanted to press it. She’d hidden a lot from him, then again, he’d hidden the fact that he was alive from her so he couldn’t judge too harshly. Had she known Trace could speak?

“Deputy Blake is trying to find some people to stand in your place. We don’t have much time and it’s proving to be difficult.”

Trace turned to face them and pounded on his chest.

“He wants to go. But I’m going to warn you, if you thought he was defensive at the gas station, you’ve seen nothing. There’s a reason they did to him what they did. Trace is a fighter. He considers Pete like a brother. Pete was kind to him. Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

Junior sat down on a nearby sofa and Cole took the cue. Sitting would help everyone talk more clearly and focus better. “You mentioned leaving. Do you have somewhere in mind?”

Scarlet directed Trace to a seat. “I don’t know. I haven’t looked. We’d have to be secretive or there would be no point. Wherever we go, we’ll be alone. That has its own risks.”

Cole had questions they didn’t have time to delve into. “What if The Guardians take down Viceroy? Would you stay then?” Though he couldn’t help but doubt Viceroy would ever be captured. Dominic and his team might be great, but from what they knew most of the people who were the leaders of these big trafficking rings were very important, very influential people. People so connected that they would never see prison and never stop.

Trace looked at Scarlet and gave her a nod. She sighed and bit her lip. “Trace’s parents are from Montana. We’ve been thinking of going there. The trouble is, they don’t believe we’re only friends. We lived together for years, but our relationship has never been romantic. It never will be. If we go there, I’m worried his parents will push us to marry.”

Surprise would be unsensitive, but Cole found himself hiding just that. Trace and Scarlet, though there was a definite age difference, acted like a couple who’d been married for years. He’d assumed the two would eventually marry once they both were able to move beyond what they’d been through. Maybe he believed in miracles more than he thought.

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