Page 24 of Operation: Unify

Lacy collapsed into an overstuffed chair, unable to keep up the pacing any longer. She’d been awake for hours and the lack of sleep with the adrenaline crash was getting to her. “I appreciate your help, but can you see this from my perspective? I was trying to keep my friend safe and now she’s back in the same predicament as when I got here. Worse, maybe, because now he knows she wants to leave. She probably had to endure worse than she usually does because I took her away. He’ll be ready for anything I try to get her back out.”

He shook his head slowly and frowned at her. “I didn’t try to do anything to hurt you or her. I wanted to help.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Guess I messed that up too.”

“What do you mean? Do you feel like you’re always messing up?” He’d said something similar before.

“Dad thinks I’m pretty useless. I didn’t go to college right out of high school. I took a gap year to save money so I wouldn’t have to take out so many loans. Well, with the online school, I have enough to pay for tuition as long as I keep working while I’m taking classes. I won’t have much saved when I’m done, but I’ll be qualified to earn more than I do at the front desk of a hotel. At least, I hope so. Dad doesn’t think online college is real, so he thinks I’m getting scammed too. He keeps asking when I’ll get my Kracker Jack degree.”

“That’s horrible.” Her parents had never encouraged getting a degree, though at the time she hadn’t wanted one. “I think it’s great that you’re planning to do this in a way that you won’t have debt when you get out of school. It’s really responsible.”

“Thanks.” He frowned slightly. “I’m sorry Melinda is back with him. Anything I can do?”

She snorted. While he had absolutely helped her so far, his help could also lead her to a worse situation. He was too close to the source of her worry. “I don’t think so. I’ve called in the cavalry, and he’ll be here in a few hours.”

Randy’s eyebrows rose. “The cavalry, huh? That’s pretty big.”

“Connor is big. I’m hoping that having him here will scare Tod into letting Melinda go.” Though she doubted it would be that easy. More than likely, he’d be afraid, but twist the facts to make Connor look like the aggressor. Because Connor was an outsider, the police would probably believe Tod.

Randy gave her a doubtful look. “I hope you have more of a plan than that, ‘cause I don’t think it’ll work.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now that you’ve checked in on me, was there anything else you needed?” Connor had told her to keep everyone out and she didn’t want to explain to him that Randy was naive and harmless. He’d probably played a few too many computer games instead of having people interactions, which made him really good at formulating the plan with the sprinkler system, but hadn’t thought ahead when it came to staying at this house.

“No. I wanted to check on you and I didn’t have anything else to do until my shift, if I even have a shift. I already slept some.” He glanced at the fridge. “Mind if I grab a drink?”

As much as she wanted him to go quickly, being alone while she thought about every possible issue that could crop up had made her more than a little jumpy. “Go ahead. I just don’t want you to be here when Connor gets here. I don’t think he’d like that you’re here.”

Randy snorted. “One of those guys, huh?” He tugged open the fridge and pulled out an energy drink.

“What do you mean?” She’d never considered that a guy who was protective might be seen in a bad light.

“They aren’t much different from Tod, at least in feelings. They act like they own you and tell you where you can and can’t go. They treat you like property, which is why they are so protective. They don’t think you’re capable of doing anything.” He cracked open the can and took a long drink.

Lacy took a deep breath and thought about her words. This was a young man who had to have seen some relationships like that for him to have that mindset. “Connor couldn’t be less like that if he tried. Heisprotective, but not because I’m his. We’re actually divorced. He just loves me and doesn’t want to see me get hurt. As far as doing exactly what he says, that too, is a huge no. He didn’t want me to come here, but he wasn’t going to stop me. No one but God owns me.”

He seemed surprised by her last comment. “What do you mean that God owns you? He’s just air. There’s nothing that proves He exists.”

She was far too frazzled to have a coherent conversation about God with someone who didn’t believe. “There are lots of things that prove He exists and has always existed. If you want something scholarly to prove it, there are thousands of non-religious texts that prove the accuracy of the Bible. As far as how does God own me, because I have given my life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is within me. That means I was bought with the blood of Jesus. I know that might sound confusing, but it’s the easiest way to put it.”

His brow furrowed as he took another long drink from the can. He glanced away. “I don’t even know where to start with that, so I won’t say anything. It just sounds weird.”

To someone who hadn’t grown up in the church, she was sure it did. “Anyway, I just want you to know Connor is nowhere near similar to Melinda’s husband. He’s the opposite. Where Tod wouldn’t cross the road to help Melinda, Connor would cross a continent for me.” Even if he’d asked her for a divorce.

“Then why are you divorced? If he loves you so much, that makes no sense.” Randy finished his comment and took another drink. She got the feeling he wasn’t as thirsty as he was looking for a way to give himself time to process what she said.

“I know. It really doesn’t. It was a time of a lot of stress in our lives. We’re older now and working on fixing what was broken when he got out of the military. And before you jump on the military, it wasn’t that. He had family issues.”

Randy chuckled. “Saw that accusation coming, did you?”

“You don’t seem like the type to be pro-military, though I’ve recently found that my gauge for determining what people are supposed to be like can be wrong.”

He laughed, acknowledging her mistake about him. “Yeah, but I’m not an easy one to read. I’m not pro-military, but I’m not against it either. I just didn’t want to be a part of it. I could tell you that I’d never make a good soldier so having to sign up for the draft was stressful. I’m glad your cavalry is coming, though, and I’m glad I was wrong about judging him too.”

“It’s easy to do.” She bit her lip as she looked at her phone. If only Connor were already there.

Chapter Nine

Dark covered the sky blending to barely a thread of pink glow at the horizon. Soon, Connor would have to really concentrate on the road. He’d already seen elk and deer as he’d headed closer to the address Lacy had given him.

His brain, ever the taskmaster, created lists of things to remember when he reached town. He’d need to get gas right away so he could take Lacy wherever she might need to go without having to force her to stop and sit in his truck alone while he pumped gas. She’d also been sitting at the house all day alone, meaning he should bring some food.

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