Page 38 of Operation: Chosen

The faint glow from the security lights shone off the perspiration on Terrell’s forehead, or Eric wouldn’t have seen him shaking it. “You showed me all day that you needed my help. Did you think I was going to let the only guy who ever saw anything in me get shot?”

He appreciated Terrell’s worry but his lack of fear might get them both injured or worse. “I’m not going to get shot.” Though he couldn’t really say that for certain. Eric prayed none of the other men, horses, or dogs had been shot.

All of a sudden, the shooting came to a stop, and Connor’s voice came from just over the next rise. “Freeze. I’m placing you under citizen’s arrest for committing assault with a deadly weapon in my presence.”

Eric strained to hear. With Terrell at his side, he couldn’t rush in and help Connor as he normally would. He couldn’t trust Terrell to stay back. He’d already proven he wouldn’t. Another ATV roared to life behind Eric. He slowly pushed to his feet as Sam rode by toward Connor.

“We should go and make sure they have everything under control.” Terrell started to stand to follow Sam.

Eric gripped his arm, stopping him. “You are not going anywhere near that car. They were just shooting. They’ve proven that they have the intent to kill you. Why would you want to just walk out in front of them?”

“I just wanted to help.”

Offering assistance was a positive step, and Eric didn’t want to crush that, but this wasn’t a situation where he wanted Terrell to put himself out there. “I need you where I know you won’t get shot tonight. I appreciate your help, but this isn’t something I want you to deal with. This is what I was hoping tokeepyou from having to deal with.”

Terrell shrugged as he threw one last glance toward the noise over the hill. “Either I do what’s right all the time or none of the time. I hate playing it safe.”

Sam came back over the rise on foot with both Big E and Jayzon. Eric stopped him when they got close enough so he didn’t have to yell. “What’s going on? I thought they were in their cabin.”

Sam gripped each boy above the elbow. “Junior caught me as I was headed this way and told me he was headed back to his cabin to look for the boys because they were missing. He thought this might have been a diversion to get everyone busy so they could go after Terrell.” Sam glanced over at Terrell. “Now I wonder if this wasn’t planned in advance.”

Terrell shook his head. “I didn’t do anything. I was only out here to help Eric.”

Eric held up a hand to stop him. “But can you see how this looks bad? You didn’t follow orders and now—innocent or not—you look guilty even for trying to help because you’re all out here when you shouldn’t be.”

Big E and Jayzon tugged against Sam. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We just wanted to see our brothers.”

Red and blue lights sliced through the night, and Big E tugged harder against Sam’s hold. “We need to get back to our cabin, or they’ll think we had something to do with this.”

“Didn’t you?” Sam waited. “It seems awfully suspicious that you never leave your cabin, but as soon as someone breaks in, all of a sudden you were both out for a late-night walk.”

“You can’t prove anything,” Jayzon muttered. “We never even got close to the car.”

Doors slammed and voices rose is the distance.

Sam shuffled the boys toward their cabin, and Eric and Terrell followed. Eric let the others get far enough ahead that they couldn’t hear him, but still lowered his voice. “When the police talk to those boys, will their story match yours? If it comes out that you arranged for them to be here, Connor will consider that your last straw. He’s already keeping you here to try to get you to see the light when he was supposed to send you back at the first sign of trouble. You don’t believe it, but Connor is your ally. He wants to see you succeed. But if you don’t even try, there’s only so much he can do.”

Terrell sighed at Eric’s side, and he wondered what the boy was thinking. They’d worked together so well all day, but one day wasn’t enough to know Terrell well. He wanted to trust the boy and work with him, but sneaking out at the same time the other two boys had made him look guilty of trying to meet up with the gang members.

Eric and Sam followed Big E and Jayzon into their cabin. The rooms were messy, but Eric first noticed a sweet, almost chemical smell in the room more than the disorder. Lacy was adamant about using natural cleaners, so he wasn’t smelling anything used to clean the rooms. With the disorder, he couldn’t be smelling a cleaning agent.

He headed for the first bag on the floor and rifled through the disordered contents.

“Hey! You can’t just go through my stuff.” Big E reached for the bag.

Eric tugged free a homemade meth bowl. The room went silent as everyone stared at what Eric had found. “Where did you get it?” Because Big E couldn’t have had it when they’d left the juvenile detention center accompanied by one of the officers. They hadn’t left Wayside and hadn’t received any packages that Eric knew about. So, they had to have gotten it some other way.

“What about privacy?” Big E asked, his chin thrust out at a stubborn angle.

“You have no guarantee of privacy here any more than you had there. Coming to Wayside wasn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. It was a chance to show the warden that you deserved a second chance.” Eric headed for the next bag. “Am I going to find more?”

All three boys were silent for a moment. Finally, Jayzon glared at Terrell. “Is he?”

Terrell backed away a step. “This isn’t my room anymore.”

“If our stuff gets checked, your stuff should too.”

Eric glanced at Terrell, and his gut twisted at the guilty look on the boy’s face.

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