Page 61 of Operation: Unify

Lacy slowed, letting the others get ahead of her then looked behind where Adam had indicated. The form stopped as soon as she turned, then dropped into the snow, making himself all but invisible.

Lacy quickly caught up to the group. There was nothing in the pasture but random trees and nothing nearby to hide them. Where could they get away from that guy? None of the Wayside men would be using rifles, they all used handguns in situations where they had to defend themselves.

She knew this land better than the man behind them did, but with dark coats on and in the moonlight, they were visible. Too visible to hide where they were going. Unless she found a way for them to spread out and blend with the snow.

“Everyone, drop to your knees and spread out. Stay as close to the snow as you can.” While her plan might make them slower, they would only stand out if they had to crawl up a hill that was facing the man behind them. If they crawled now, while they were in a low spot, and headed east, they could go around the hill and go unseen.

She headed to the front of the group, leading the way. A trio of wolves growled a few feet away. Lacy raised her arm to stop the group. Now they were trapped between a shooter behind them and aggressive predators ahead.

The wolves had caught something and were all trying to nip bites of it. Thankfully, Lacy couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was far too small to satisfy three huge animals. She pointed to her right. Even though she’d hoped to swing back around in the direction she’d been heading before, now they would have to crawl further out of the way.

The man behind them shot, but the only thing it did was scare the wolves. They ran off toward the trees, exactly where Lacy had hoped to go. If she grabbed her phone to call Connor, it would light up. Even facing the ground, it might give off enough light to give away their position.

She pulled it from her pocket and realized there had been areas where the snow had brushed against her belly and snow had filled her pockets. Her phone was totally wet and wouldn’tturn on at all. They were far away from the goal, though she could barely see the security light in the distance now. Behind her, the man with the gun stalked them.

“Mom, I’m soaked and cold,” Adam wasn’t a complainer, but it was dark, cold, and now they were wet and sore.

How could she expect them to crawl through the snow for a mile? What kind of leader was she? She’d saved them from their warm homes to freeze in the middle of a field. Doubt bashed her over the head.

“It’s okay. Just keep going. We’ll get warm and dry as soon as we get to safety,” Moira answered.

They were the only two who hadn’t been directly trafficked though Viceroy’s wife had tried to kidnap Adam and planned to use his organs to save her dying son. They both had stayed at Wayside for a better life and to start over. This certainly wasn’t better than poverty.

Lacy tried to crawl faster. At some point, they would have to risk going over a rise and that might put them in the line of fire. This close to the ground, they’d be harder to hit, but she wanted to avoid shots at all.

“Is he still there?” Adam asked.

If anyone was going to take a chance and look, it would be her. She motioned them to keep going as she crawled up the back of a small hill. Searching the darkness, she tried to find a dark spot, anything that didn’t look like snow. Worse was the fear that if she didn’t see him, he could still be there. If she told everyone they could get up and walk normally, she would be at fault if any of them were shot.

She scanned the whole area slowly once again but saw nothing. Had he given up? Were they too far away and he’d wanted to stay closer to his men? She had to be absolutely certain.

Distant shots came from Wayside, and she prayed fervently none of their men were hurt. Both Connor and his father had been shot in the last year and she didn’t want any of the others to deal with the pain and risk. That they were willing to do it for the people who lived there spoke volumes about the integrity of the crew Connor put together.

She turned back and jogged down the hill then encouraged them all to stand. “I think we’re okay to walk now. We’re about halfway there and we’ll be faster on our feet. I didn’t see the man who was following us.”

Adam happily stood, the others got to their feet, but stayed hunched either from the cold or because they wanted to stay as small of a target as possible. The first home to come into view was Teddy’s. He lived there with Gloria and Ferd.

Ferd made her way up to Lacy. “Let’s go to my place. Mom will have warm drinks and lots of blankets. No one is more ready for us than she is.”

“I thought you said she didn’t really like groups of people?” She’d thought about Gloria but hadn’t wanted the poor woman to have a breakdown at seeing so many needy people at her door.

“Nope, when Mom is needed, she is happy. Let’s go there.”

Lacy breathed a sigh of relief. She now had a destination. “Great. Let’s let everyone know. We’ll head for that first cabin with the lights on.”

Finally, the trees seemed like they were getting taller, the light glowed a little stronger. They would make it to safety. She again prayed for Connor and all the men. Junior had caught the two that had been in the barn, but there was one wandering around alone and he was the most dangerous of all.

Ferd opened the door as they reached the house and Lacy took a deep breath, allowing all the others to go in first. By the time she walked through the door, Gloria had stacks of warmblankets, and she was collecting wet shoes and coats to hang in the back room.

Praise God, they’d come to the right place.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Swirling red and blue lights broke through the dense trees. Connor let the lights distract him for a moment. His team had caught two men and so had Junior and his team. That left two men still wandering around Wayside. Two men who had managed to evade all of them.

As the dark colored cars drove up the driveway, Connor realized these were the FBI agents Brendon had said were coming, not police. He took a moment to fish his phone from his pocket and called Lacy. Hopefully, she was safely in the house where he’d left her but since two men were still missing and the house was one place they hadn’t looked, he wanted to warn her.

Her phone rang many times, but she didn’t answer. He shoved his phone back in his pocket as the line of feds came to a stop in front of the house. The passenger in the first of three cars got out and headed toward Connor.

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