Page 7 of Operation: Chosen

“Did they say anything to you?”

“Not a word.,” Eric said. “I barely got a grunt out of two of them. Terrell narrowed his eyes at me, then pretended like I didn’t exist until I left. Not sure if they are just putting up a few defenses because they’ve never been in a situation like this, or if they really don’t realize this is the last stop on the end of the line before they go to real prison.”

Something smacked against a nearby building with a loudcrack,and dog barking erupted loudly from outside. Eric let Skyfall’s hoof loose and followed Connor through the barn toward the kennels. All three boys stood outside, two of them holding large rocks ready to launch.

“Hey! Stop!” Connor yelled.

The boys ignored Connor and hurled the rocks toward the kennel. Luckily, both stones hit the wood siding, doing no damage except nicking some paint, but the dogs were obviously bothered and kept yowling. Connor rushed closer.

“I said, stop. Now.” He caught Big E by the arm as he raised another stone.

“Who do you think you are? You can’t do anything to me.” The boy raised his foot to stomp on Connor’s, and Eric came from behind, gripped him around the waist, and backed him off. Not easy to do to a very solid seventeen-year-old boy.

“Big E, you can’t throw rocks at the dogs.” Eric tried a little common sense.

“I didn’t hit any of them. We were just bored.”

Jayzon chucked his rock toward Terrell. The boy ducked out of the way but said nothing. “Why did you even come out here? You just stood there,” Jayzon taunted.

“Let’s go inside. Looks like we need to have a little conversation before chow time,” Connor said, thumbing toward the main house and his office.

Big E planted his feet and crossed his arms. “I’m not a dog. I don’t eatchow. I don’t want to be here. I want to be back with my friends. Do you think this is better than what we came from? It’s not. In juvie, we had cable. Most of my friends were there. I was going to get out in a month anyway. This is such a waste of time.”

Both boys took up similar stances, and it became obvious that Big E was more than just the bully of the group, he was the leader. Since they were all in jail because of gang activity, Eric wondered how much Big E had done that the police didn’t know about and if he was the prime recruit Connor had mentioned.

Connor gave him a conspiratorial look. “Release? I hadn’t heard that. I was told that if you do anything that makes waves out here, you’re going back and serving the rest of your time.” He shrugged as if the choice were theirs to believe him or not.

The adults had to establish who was in charge, and that was only going to happen by taking something the boys expected as a reward and holding it, so Connor’s words made sense. Eric wondered if Connor was stretching the truth to gain a little power, but he’d never seen Connor break any of the ten rules, and truth was number nine.

The boys followed, though they obviously weren’t excited about what would happen once they got there. They’d only gone a few steps when Sam came around the kennel with a dog at each of his sides. “What’s going on?”

“The boys riled up your dogs. We’re taking them inside to talk about how a clean slate works and that they really should look at it as a blessing.” Connor kept walking.

Clean slate, that was rule two. There was no way Connor could break a rule, then mention those very rules a moment later. So, these boys weren’t going home at the end of the month. He almost felt bad. Each boy had made their choice to live like they had, but what about their families? Didn’t they matter?

Eric followed the group, making sure the boys kept following Connor. He was more than happy to let his boss take the lead on this one. After never having children, he didn’t see how to talk to them without losing his cool, something he never allowed.

Except where Ali was involved.

He wondered how long she would stick around. Wayside was nothing like the big city, where she was probably used to having whatever she wanted as close as a taxi ride away. Not only was nothing close here, but there were also no taxis to get her there. He stopped his train of thought right there. Thinking about her wasn’t going to put him in the right frame of mind to deal with the boys.Theywere his job right now, not her.

Ali was going to have to wait.

* * *

What was makingthe dogs bark like that? Ali glanced out of her small kitchen window above the sink but couldn’t see anything. Every once in a while, the dogs barked but they usually stopped quickly. This had been going on for about five minutes. She slipped on her heels and rushed to investigate. The thick, soft grass didn’t handle her choice of shoes very well, and she barely kept herself from twisting her ankle as she made her way to the commotion.

Eric, Connor, and—she tried to remember the other cowboy’s name—maybe Sam, were about thirty yards away from the huge dog kennel building, heading for the house along with the three boys she’d seen the night before. By the look of the boys, they’d done something they shouldn’t have. This was her chance to prove to Eric that she was more than he remembered. If they’d done something wrong, feeling a little guilt would get them to turn around. That’s how the criminal justice system worked.

The boys saw her first. She always knew when men saw her. Their reactions gave them away. The moment the boys stopped to stare, the men turned and noticed her approach. At least, Sam spotted her. Connor seemed annoyed, and Eric looked like he’d swallowed bad fish or something.

“What happened?” Though it was a question, she put enough power behind the words to let all of them know they weren’t going anywhere until she got an answer.

Eric looked away. The rejection stung, but she’d only just arrived. The process of gaining his trust again would take time. Sam glanced at Connor, who finally answered her. “The boys were chucking rocks at the dogs. We were headed to my office to have a little discussion about what’s expected while they’re here. It’s not for you to worry about. I’m sorry the noise bothered you.”

“Throwing rocks at the dogs? Were any of them injured?” Ali tried to keep her shock in check.

Sam shook his head. “I spotted all of them in the run when I came around. None of them seem hurt.”

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