Page 50 of Operation: Discovery

Dee fidgeted with the torn fabric of the knee of her scrubs. “I don’t like this. It’s really obvious there’s no one there, or at least no on-duty officer here. We’re sitting out in the wide open.”

Brendon killed his lights and took a deep breath. “I just have to be sure I’m not leading a car that tried to run us off the road to Wayside.”

After seeing no cars through the town, one crossed a side street a few blocks away and unease skittered up Dee’s back. “If we’re just sitting here, they’ll do more than tap our bumper.”

Brendon had been silent for a while, and she wished he would say something. Suddenly, his phone rang, and he looked at it, then hit the speaker button. “Brendon here.”

“This is Nixon. I think you’re safe to drive home. I called ME to talk on the way. After what was discovered there, I also called the governor’s office and asked for assistance from the State Patrol. They are to be on the lookout for a vehicle matching the description of that dark car. There was some evidence found on the body and I think we’ve IDed that nurse.”

Brendon scooped up her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. “That’s good news. So, you think she’ll be too busy hiding from the State Pat to worry about us?”

“I do. Especially because I’m pretty sure she has a police radio and is well aware of what we put over our secure channel, which is why I’ll be calling my men with information about this case. It will not go through dispatch. She’s always one step ahead and having a police scanner is probably the way she manages that. Other than the BOLO, we’re going radio silent on this case. We only put that over the scanner to draw her away from the area. Be safe. Get home. Let me know when you get there.”

“10-04,” Connor said with a chuckle that held no amusement. He turned on the engine and the lights. “Let’s go home.”

Brendon hung up the phone call. “He didn’t say who he thought it was. Either he’s sure we don’t know her, or he’s sure we do.”

Connor drummed his fingers over the steering wheel. “I’m going to give Nixon the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s just following protocol. He has to once in a while and I’d prefer if he did on this case and not jeopardize any possible evidence or testimony.”

Brendon made no reaction. His lack of engagement was beginning to worry Dee. She squeezed his hand to let him know she was there and supported him. He gave a faint smile, then let her fingers go. “That’s true, but I always worry when we’ve got someone stealing bakery trucks to get to us or casing the school, knowing we’ll be there. It tells me that we might know someone within the inner circle. We have enough cameras around that someone isn’t just trespassing to see how we spend our days and who delivers our food. They knew already.”

Dee hadn’t thought about that because she’d been so worried about the outcome. How had the person who’d set off the car bomb known which store delivered bread to Wayside? With the school, the nurse was probably there looking for someone in particular, and it wasn’t Dee. It could be Adam, but it also could be another child, someone they didn’t know, who might be a target.

“I’ll talk to Victoria and ask if she’s hired anyone new or temporary in the last few months. I’ll talk to Lacy about our donors and what they know and don’t know. Other than that, there are only two people here who are completely new, before this started.” He glanced at Dee for a moment. “Dee and Rebecca.”

* * *

Sittingin the far too narrow seat next to Dee had been difficult but once Brendon had settled into his room that night, all Brendon could think about was what Connor had said. There was very little chance Dee could’ve brought on the sudden arrival of this group of traffickers. He wouldn’t believe it.

That left either coincidence, which he rarely believed, or Rebecca. Her past was a mystery that even she didn’t seem to know. She wasn’t sure exactly where she’d been held or if she did, wasn’t willing to talk about it. Not only that, she’d been in the hospital for some time before coming to Wayside, so this nurse could have some connection to Rebecca.

The connection broke at the blood drive, though. There was no way to know if Rebecca would go to the blood drive, so if they were trying to draw her out, they picked a very poorly targeted avenue of finding her. In fact, they hadn’t even come close if Rebecca was the real target.

All this left him unable to sleep all night and now he was cranky the next morning. He sat at his desk, nursing his morning coffee, and staring at this candy bowl willing it to give him insight. How and why had these people chosen Piper’s Ridge? There were many small communities all over Wyoming, some with barely twenty people in them. Why choose a town with only about 450 people and stalk it so doggedly?

He pulled a map out of his desk and opened it so Cheyenne and Piper’s Ridge could both be seen. He looked at the map, the distance between the cities, and the proximity to the highway. Piper’s Ridge was the first city to the west of Cheyenne that sat directly off the freeway without having to drive a few miles away from the highway. That was the only thing geographically he could come up with.

Connor knocked on his door but didn’t wait for admittance before entering and sitting in one of Brendon’s chairs. “Sleep well?”

“No, you?”

Connor snorted. “Hardly.”

Brendon went back to hunting the map. “You must have some news, or you wouldn’t be here.”

Connor leaned forward, his fingertips all touching. “Nixon called me a few minutes ago. He’s still in Cheyenne, working with the evidence gathered from the ME’s report. He said two men are out at the church combing through the grass to see if there’s any evidence of murder there. So far, they’ve only found those bodies, which means whatever happened to these people is happening elsewhere and they are being delivered here.”

He’d assumed as much and his stomach turned at the idea that these people had invited the town to make a pretty tomb for five people, and possibly more. “Are they done digging?”

Connor shrugged. “I wasn’t given that information. I’m sure we’ll see people inside if they are. I wonder how long they’ve been using that site. If it’s been a while, then this isn’t a new sect.”

“You mean, if some of those boxes were there awhile, this could be proof that we’re looking for Viceroy’s men?” He hadn’t thought about that angle, but it made sense.

“That’s what I was thinking.”

Brendon wasn’t sure why Connor had come to see him. As much as he’d love to go look, he’d have to be out of his chair on the ground to be effective and he didn’t love moving around on the ground. The floor didn’t bother him, but gravel and grass did. “And?”

Connor snorted. “I already took a look at your schedule today, and I know your afternoon is booked, but I’d like your eyes helping the men out. You’re better at unscrambling puzzles than anyone.”

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