Page 32 of Operation: Discovery

She shrugged. “That wouldn’t be a phrase if someone hadn’t tried it at one point.”

He wasn’t sure if that was logical or not and wasn’t going to argue a point he didn’t know. He directed her to the freeway and soon they were zooming down the road, heading for the unknown. Unease prickled down his shoulders. No matter how much he told himself that they wouldn’t find anything, he couldn’t stop worryingwhat if they did?

Dee cleared her throat. “Did you learn anything else? I talked to Moira, but didn’t you mention you wanted to talk to someone else who might know something?”

He’d forgotten that he’d mentioned wanting to talk to Scarlet. “I talked to Scarlet and Trace since I wanted to see if they ever saw children or knew about any organ harvesting. If they said they didn’t, that wouldn’t eliminate Viceroy, since they wouldn’t know everything he was doing. But if they’d said they saw children there for very brief periods or heard anyone talking about organ harvesting, then that might point to Viceroy.”

“And?” Dee glanced at him, then turned on her turn signal to merge into the other lane.

“And … they didn’t know much. Viceroy wasn’t in need himself, and neither Scarlet nor Trace saw children. The only clue I got from anyone was Rebecca. She said her handler joked that he’d wanted to replace his black heart. I still don’t know if we’re talking about men working under Viceroy or if this is someone new. My gut says Viceroy since Evie owns Moira’s house.”

Dee pursed her lips. “I don’t know enough about transplants to say with any authority, but I would think they’d need an adult to do a heart transplant on an adult. Wouldn’t they?”

He didn’t know either, but there had to be a reason they were looking for children. If they’d wanted an adult heart, they wouldn’t have had to offer fake vaccinations. What was the connection to the children?

“Do you think there’s more to this than just organs? Did Moira say if they were blood typing the adults as well as the children?” He wondered if they weren’t looking for both organs and blood.

“Yes, they tested Moira too. They also took her name to label the vial and she said that the nurse at the front had collected enough information to check her son’s vaccination record. They have a lot of information on those people, and we have no way of knowing what they kept and what they’ll use.”

Brendon kept his worry to himself. He had no proof on which to base his fears. He’d taken some anatomy courses, but Dee probably had him as far as knowledge of the human body. An eight-year-old child would only have a little over a half-gallon of blood running through their veins, while an average adult had almost double that. Would they look for a heart from a child, then blood from an adult? Had they hoped to find a parent and child with the same blood type, meaning it would be less likely anyone would notice right away that both were missing, making Moira as much of a target as Adam?

The missing boy was from the same neighborhood as Moira. What was the connection with that part of town? “I can’t forget the fact that Evie owns Moira’s house and two children from that neighborhood were targeted.”

“So, they might still be there, thinking that a poor neighborhood is easier to draw from.” Dee let her foot off the gas and her car immediately slowed. “I’m heading back. I think we need to look in that neighborhood first.”

At least they would be close to town that way and Officer Blake would be nearby if he wasn’t off helping one of the other towns in his jurisdiction. “I don’t think that could hurt.” They could also talk to others in the neighborhood to see if they’d seen anyone putting out the signs or picking them up. There had to be clues in that neighborhood if anyone was willing to spend the time looking for them.

A few minutes later, Dee pulled off the highway and headed back into the residential area of town. Brendon was impressed that she knew where she was going without looking up anything on her phone or asking him for directions. Her memory was good, and she found the neighborhood quickly.

Knowing what he did, the area felt dark and ominous. The signs for the blood drive were still posted, though some had blown over in the wind. “Dee, look.” He pointed to an odd sign down the street. “Do you see that?”

She nodded at the hand-painted sign at the end of the block.

Help Wanted: Painting an old church. Will pay all helpers.

Wed. Aug. 30thfrom 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM

“That could be a legitimate sign. We don’t come all the way into town for church services, so I don’t know any of the local pastors.” He stared at the sign, willing it to give him more information.

“There’s an arrow pointing toward the church. It looks like it’s heading out of town, though. Do you know of any churches out that way?” she asked.

None that he’d ever heard of. He dialed Connor, since he’d lived in town his whole life. “Hey, you busy?”

“Some. What’s up?” Connor answered.

“You know of any rural churches out on East 5thStreet?” He tried to see further outside town, but the houses clearly ended within sight and a field butted right up to the last yard.

“A church? No. There used to be an old body shop a few miles out there. It’s been closed for a long time. Police used to bust moonshiners out there about ten years ago. Might be a church now, but I doubt it. It’s never been in that great of repair. The floor was dirt last I heard.”

He turned to Dee. “We’d better go check that out. There’s no chance that sign is what it claims.”

ChapterFourteen

After driving past the last house, Brendon searched the horizon for the church mentioned on the signs. The landscape was surprisingly devoid of anything but pastureland. Maybe Connor was wrong. Maybe someone had acquired the old building Connor had mentioned and was genuinely turning it into a church. When he was about to give up the hunt, the old pale-yellow building with a sagging roof came into view.

Gray chipped paint along the front bay door of the desolate building gave away the age of the garage, or at least that it had been there for a very long time. The yellow paint had been bright at one point but had faded to a butter color. Two newer cars sat outside, but there was no one in sight.

“I expected to see another sign saying this is the place or maybe a person, something to say we’ve found the right building,” Dee whispered. “I feel like if there’s anyone inside, they might hear anything I say.”

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