Page 44 of Operation: Discovery

He stared down at the phone, willing it to give him information he didn’t have. “You last saw her at the school?”

Moira nodded. “She ran around the back. We waited and waited until every other car was gone from the lot. It didn’t take long to clear out. I waited as long as I could, then followed her orders. I’m so sorry. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have asked for her help. I tried to tell her not to go. Maybe we should’ve grabbed someone from the school to help …”

He shook his head. “People at the school are there to educate children. It’s better that you didn’t put them in danger. Did you see any police there? I’ve been told that sometimes they patrol the parking lot. Teens aren’t always the safest drivers.”

She shook her head quickly. “If I’d have seen anyone in a marked car, I would’ve gotten their help.”

Adam tugged on Moira’s sleeve. “Is Dee going to be okay? We left in her car. She has no way to get home.” His young eyes were wide with worry.

Brendon didn’t want to give him a pat on the head response. That only taught children and adults to dislike answers that might be true and undermined relationships. “I’ll go see if I can find her, and I’ll bring Connor with me.”

He rolled past them out into the hall. What was considered the evening meeting had begun happening at 4:30 now that a few of the men were married and wanted evenings with their spouses. Brendon appreciated the end of the day earlier than previously, but today, he’d be interrupting the meeting.

He knocked on Connor’s door and waited for him to look up.

“What is it?” Connor asked.

“It’s Dee. She went with Moira to help pick up Adam. She chased someone out of the parking lot on foot and hasn’t been seen since.”

Connor stood and grabbed his hat from the peg on his wall. “Want me to drive?”

He’d tried using his rental car, but it was difficult to get in and out of since the doors didn’t open as far as the model he’d had. He would be getting a replacement car soon, but his new vehicle was currently in the shop, having his driving aids professionally installed. “You’d better.”

Conner dug his keys out of his desk drawer and followed Brendon out of the house. “How long ago did this happen?”

Brendon glanced at his watch. He hadn’t been given an exact time by Moira, but if school let out at 3:15, it had to have been close to that time, meaning she’d been gone for an hour. “It will be over an hour by the time we get to town.”

His stomach felt like a rock in his gut. An hour. Dee had no weapons of self-defense. She wouldn’t hurt anyone. She felt an innate sense of justice and fairness. All those things would converge against her if she’d been trying to bring in a criminal. She was just too nice for that line of work. Too willing to see the good in people.

Please, be okay.The prayer stayed in his head, but he felt it to his bones.

Why hadn’t she come to him? She’d been avoiding him all week, ever since they’d shared that kiss when she’d kneeled in the grass, and he’d remembered all the reasons he’d cared about her so long ago. He’d remembered that at first, he’d wanted to forgive her and be the first to go through the second-chance mission.

He saw now that the hardening of his heart may have been one of those situations where God used evil for ultimate good because Dee had been instrumental in getting Rebecca to open up. She was the only one Rebecca willingly spoke to on a regular basis. If he’d gone first, Dee might not have been there for Rebecca.

Brendon looked up at Connor’s truck. He could get in there. Lifting himself in was possible, though he didn’t usually have to. The issue would be putting his chair somewhere. He knew buddies from his time in the hospital where there had been many other paraplegics and amputees who even drove semi-trucks for a living. They used arm strength to get up into the seat, then had a cord attached to their chairs to pull them up into the cab next to them. But Connor didn’t have a cord like that, and Brendon couldn’t leave his chair in the parking lot, or he’d be stranded in the pickup.

“Go ahead and get in. I’ll lift your chair in the back once you’re seated.”

He hated having his chair ride in the back of a dusty truck, but for Dee he’d concede. Sam could help him get it like new again once he was home and Dee was safely returned to Wayside. First, they had to find her.

The moment Brendon was solidly on Connor’s truck seat, Connor lifted the light chair into the back of the pickup and covered it with a weighted blanket then came around and got inside.

“Thanks.”

Connor shrugged as he buckled in then he started the pickup. “I wouldn’t want to sit in the dust if I didn’t have to and I have that back there to cover up my groceries when I go to town. I don’t like grit in my food any more than the next guy.”

Brendon gave a nod, and then watched out the window as they flew up the driveway and onto the road. Connor raced toward town, obviously hoping to beat the clock. “You said she was last seen at the school?”

Brendon related all that Moira had said to him. “So, where do you think she could be? Piper’s Ridge is not that big. Moira called the police, and no one has called us yet to come pick her up.” He clutched her phone, wanting a connection with her.

Why had he held a grudge? What did it do but hurt them both? Love didn’t hold grudges, so what did that say about him? “I’m not sure. Let’s start in the business district, then work our way out.”

“Sounds like a solid plan. We’ll find her. Remember, the police haven’t called us to tell us she’s missing either. Have hope. Keep hoping.”

He couldn’t think about her being captured. Especially not by this particular group who seemed to want to kill without care for anyone but themselves. Obviously, the blood wasn’t for this nurse who was in excellent condition and could get away from Dee who was fit. If she couldn’t, Dee would’ve caught up to her and something would’ve happened.

He gripped the phone tightly. Then again, she couldn’t have called anyone because she’d been more concerned about Moira and had known that Moira didn’t have a phone of her own. He’d have to talk to Lacy about getting an inexpensive one Moira could use while she was staying at Wayside. Dee couldn’t be without.

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