Page 53 of Operation: Chosen

“If you think I’m letting you go alone, you’ve got another think coming.” Eric pushed to his feet alongside her, surprising her with his agility.

“Fine, but let’s get this over with.”

Eric chuckled softly like he knew exactly why she wanted to be done.

He was only half right.

* * *

Eric glancedin his rearview mirror again, hoping they weren’t being followed. Ali had managed to get pictures of the truck, trailer, and all the horses that had just arrived. He wished he could’ve been there earlier when the men had discovered that the five horses that had been there earlier were gone.

None of them had slipped up enough to mention their boss’s name. That would’ve made everything a lot easier. But at least Eric and Ali had what they had and he’d heard a very familiar name that got his mind racing. Clayton… Could Big E’s brother really be a part of this? Without seeing him, he couldn’t be sure. There had to be a lot of Claytons in Wyoming.

“Shoot,” Ali muttered from the passenger seat.

“What’s wrong?” Eric glanced across the cab at her, and his breath caught at seeing her profile in the glow of her cellphone screen.

“The license plates don’t match.” She scrunched her face. “I don’t know if one or both of them are stolen, or if they could be taken from other vehicles owned by the thief… But the front plate and the rear plate were different on the truck. No wonder they drive at night.”

“So, it’s a dead end.” He held his frustration in check. They’d found out other things, but the photos were the concrete evidence. The rest would require memory and would force Ali to admit she’d been there. She’d been sure that she would lose her job for that since it was trespassing which came with a heavy penalty.

“The plate on the trailer was originally on a boat trailer.” She sighed. “It was all for nothing.”

“Not nothing.” At least they’d managed to rescue five of the horses from earlier and gotten pictures of those that the thieves were transporting that night, though those pictures had been taken through the windows on the trailer and weren’t clear.

“What do we do now? We should’ve followed them.” Ali glanced back as if they weren’t already ten miles from the plot of land where they’d stayed hidden for a few hours.

“And on empty roads, they would’ve figured out we were following them within minutes.” He’d already considered that.

“Then I don’t see that tonight was helpful at all unless these plates are owned by someone who would lead us to the boss. I doubt they would be that stupid.”

“Probably not,” he agreed. “But running the plates won’t be a waste of time. I also had another idea. There’s a livestock auction in five days and they mentioned the auction. The only other people who know how many horses Wayside has, and what they look like, are the owners of the Endangered and Abused Livestock Auction company. I used to work for them.”

“Endangered? What kind of animals do they get?” There were a lot of animals people wanted for pets that were not legal to keep. Many times, they were on endangered lists or considered rare or too dangerous for untrained people to keep. That’s how they became the animals that got neglected or abused, because they were more than the average pet owner could handle.

“When I was there, they had a few tigers come through, but both went to proper zoos. There were some alpacas and even a llama. I don’t know if things have changed since I left. I haven’t been with them for quite a few years.”

“Maybe they started to realize they could make good money off of animals that were in good condition and highly sought after, not just abused ones.”

Her speculation about Herb, his former boss, made him terse. He’d liked working for him. There had been nothing wrong with the operation then. “I don’t know. It was just a hunch that I’m willing to test by going to an auction. Especially since I would usually go anyway.”

“As an expert at reading people, would you mind if I tagged along?” she asked.

“Five more days puts you after the date you were supposed to be back to work. Didn’t you tell me you had to be back? That would put you past the deadline. I know you said you didn’t want to go, does that mean you’ve made your decision?”

He wanted to make certain she really felt like staying before he made any move toward a commitment with her. He wanted to start something meaningful, but only if she really wanted to be at his side this time. His heart didn’t want another investment, then early withdrawal.

“I don’t know what to do, but I still don’t want to go,” Ali said. “I feel like we’ve only just begun here, but I’ve worked so hard to be there. It’s not an easy decision to make.”

And as much as he wanted her to stay, he didn’t want her thinking about her job or what she’d lost and just create another regret. He wanted her to be here and excited about a new path full of change and lots of new things. Excitement. Not trepidation.

“If you need time, I’ll be here. I’ll probably be here for the rest of my life. If you need to go back and get things settled, then I think you should.”

“You want me to go?” Her head whipped up from where she’d been buried in her phone, and she stared at him.

He couldn’t afford to keep his eyes off the road for more than a few seconds, but that wasn’t the reaction he thought he’d get. “I didn’t say that. I want you to know that I understand if you have to. I would like you to stay here for selfish reasons, at least until we can get things figured out. But you worked hard to get where you are, and I don’t want you to lose that when I’ll still be here. The job might not.”

And that was the long and short of it. Her job wanted her and had threatened to terminate her if she didn’t return when they needed her to. He wasn’t going to make her choose again. Granted, he wasn’t ready to hand her a ring again yet either.

---