Page 55 of Operation: Return

“Yes, that’s the name I knew him as before. He didn’t tell me exactly.” Though that wasn’t really true either. The moment she’d laid eyes on him, she’d known what he was going to say, but hadn’t wanted to believe it could be true. Part of her had worried that she would believe it, find this was all a dream and Taylor was still dead, and she’d have to grieve all over again.

Brendon handed some of the pages to Edwyn and started scanning the sheets he was left with. Edwyn ran his finger across and down each page, quickly skimming. It couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds per page, but to Erica it felt like a lifetime. Pete’s and Cole’s lives were on the line.

“Here. Found it.” Brendon tapped a section at the bottom of a page. “Either we can trust this guy as someone who knew Cole, or he’s our kidnapper. Not sure how he hid from Cole, because Cole never mentioned knowing any of the other guys besides Dominic.”

Edwyn reached for a walkie on his belt and pressed the talk button. “I need Spenser Cadence to report to Brendon’s office. Spenser Cadence to Brendon’s office. Over?”

They waited, no one speaking until the walkie came to life. “Ten-Four. This is Sam and he’s with me. He’s on his way.”

* * *

The carslowly pulled to a stop at the end of the Lakely drive. The ranch looked desolate, like it hadn’t been touched in a century, not just a few years. Weeds grew more than knee high and blew in the slight breeze. Cole’s senses tightened until he could hear the breathing of every person in the car.

“There’s no disturbed grass. No cars. No people. No sign of anyone.” The negotiator looked at his watch. “We’re right on time. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know what we should do when there’s no one here to do a trade.” The woman officer sitting in as Scarlet’s double said from the tightly packed back seat. Dominic, Trace, and Scarlet’s double Katrina, took the back. Cole and the negotiator sat up front.

Dominic looked around. “I’m going to check that house for any signs of disturbance. Maybe they came in the back and this is a ploy to distract us. Wait here.” He made a motion for them to hold still, quietly exited the car, and pulled his gun. He headed for the front of the house, his gun slowly sweeping ahead of him. Though his movements were stealthy, walking through the thick, tall grass made him slower.

Cole chafed at being ordered to wait, but his job was to protect Trace, who was still in the back seat and agitated at the situation. He clenched and relaxed his fists, then bounced his leg until it shook the whole car.

“Is he alright?” Katrina asked as she slid over giving him more room now that Dominic was gone.

“Yes, he was just hoping to be done with all of this as soon as we got here. He’s worked up, just like the rest of us.”

Trace made a low growl and shoved open the door, forcing Cole to follow him. “What are you doing?”

Trace ignored him and strode for a small building that looked like it might house an old well. It was the closest building to the car and sat between the car and the house. Cole rushed to catch up while trying to watch the distant trees for signs of movement. “You can’t just take matters into your own hands. There’s a right way and a wrong way to handle situations.”

A glare was Trace’s only response. He reached the small building that looked like a very small house and moved the spin clamps to release the door. It fell open and Trace lifted it to the side then took a moment to trample the grass down right in front of the door so he could get down on his knees and look inside. He peered in and Cole crouched next to him.

The pump house was empty with only a cement base and a rusted metal well cap. Even the old well housing had been torn out. Spider webs strung from various corners, filling the depths of the darkness. There was no way to know what kind of situation Pete was in, but Cole was thankful he hadn’t had to be trapped in there.

Trace pounded the side of the well then stood up and reached for the door. Cole stood and kept watch around them. The whole situation felt off, like they’d walked into a trap and were just waiting for the hammer to fall.

There were two barns behind the house, the upper hay loft door had long fallen open exposing the view of the inside of the roof, even from so far away. The point of the broken door hung low enough it came within four feet of touching the ground, leaving only the bottom half of the barn door accessible. It would take a lot of time, effort, and money to get the ranch back up to any standard of living.

Dominic exited the house and looked in all directions until he found them then notched his chin up in recognition of where they were. If there had been a sign of anyone, he would motion them over or to safety. If this had been a trap, someone would’ve made themselves known the moment Trace got out of the car because that was a weak moment.

Dominic slowly approached their position.

“Do you think they pulled back when they saw Katrina wasn’t Scarlet? Noticing the difference is pretty hard until you’re face to face with her though,” Cole said as Dominic came to inspect the well house. He took the door from Trace and resecured it.

Cole hated the feeling of standing out in the open, exposed. His senses wouldn’t relax, even with nothing to keep them on alert. “I don’t know. I get the feeling this was a test, to see if we would follow orders. We should’ve left the sweet talker at the ranch instead of bringing him here.” Dominic tilted his head toward the car where Katrina and the negotiator still waited.

“Maybe, but we thought we’d need him. Anything in the house? Any clue why they sent us here?”

Dominic motioned toward the house. “You can look for yourself if you don’t trust me, the only footprints in there are mine. It’s full of dust. They can’t even be showing that house to potential buyers anymore. The second floor has patches where the floor is rotting out from the leaky roof. I checked the basement too, though it’s more of a crawl space. Nothing there either. Other than spiders, it’s vacant.”

Birdsong around them gave Cole the clue that men were not waiting just out of sight, even though the trees were well away from the house. Or if they’d been there, hadn’t moved in quite some time. “Let’s check the barns for good measure, then head back to Wayside.”

He got halfway to the barn when his phone pinged with a text. He tugged the device out of his pocket while he kept walking, knowing Trace wasn’t going to wait for him. The message was from Edwyn and was so short he could read it without opening his phone.

It’s a trap. Get home.

“Dominic, wait. We need to get back.” He grabbed Trace’s arm hard enough to brook no argument and turned him back toward the car. When they were halfway there, he released his hold and Trace came along without anything more than a questioning look expecting an explanation.

There was no way to know what Edwyn knew or how much danger they were in by staying. He had to follow orders. Edwyn was still higher in Cole’s chain of command than Dominic.

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