Page 56 of Operation: Unify

She sat back down at the table and took a sip of her coffee. She’d probably regret drinking it later when she wanted to sleep but with danger just down the road, she didn’t want to be caught nodding off. Ferd strode in and grinned at her.

“You’re home! I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re back. Even in a slow season, your job is so much more than I was expecting.” She plopped into the chair across from Lacy.

“You did a fantastic job. I know you mentioned the trees, but they are lovely. I don’t know who would complain. You did so much better than I ever have.”

She laughed. “Well, when you have to do both of them twice, you get good at it very quickly. Teddy helped me as much as he was able to. I should’ve asked him which tree went in which room, but I was stubborn. That’s what I get for assuming I knew what was going on.”

“I know it feels like a big deal, but you didn’t know we open presents in the living room. It’s really the only time the guests use that room at all, and none of the guests who are here now were here last year. You must have gotten pushback from the guys. So, I’m sorry about that.”

She shrugged a narrow shoulder. “I think it was more that it wasn’t you doing it. They are all very protective of you. Even if they are usually kind to me, they want you in your job. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to take over your position.”

“They’ll get used to it.” They had to because she didn’t want to stay in the situation she was in. It would be a conflict of interest if she was Connor’s wife and doing the job she had always done. She would be at risk of doing something to benefit her husband above the clients who stayed there. That couldn’t happen.

“I don’t know that they will, and I don’t know that I want them to. I like Wayside and what it does, but I’ve been thinking about things. Nadine told me about the Northern Guardians, in Minnesota. They train people to handle security. Sometimes, they even do big jobs like helping the Secret Service. I don’t know what I want to do, but that sounds fascinating.”

“And dangerous.” Lacy hoped she could stop that idea before it went any further. Connor hadn’t even taken the time to get to know his sister yet and she was thinking of leaving?

“That too. I don’t know. I haven’t made any permanent decisions yet. It’s on my mind though. Especially now that Connor’s brothers might be coming back. It feels like that family has a lot of healing to do and Mom and I might get in the way of that. Mom and Dad are together, that won’t change. I’m like an adult third wheel in this whole situation.”

“Wayside is your inheritance as much as Connor’s. You don’t have to leave. I understand your feelings, but the guys here will never adjust if you aren’t here for them to get used to. Knowwhat I mean?” She refused to be selfish and say that she wanted Ferd to stay so someone could do her job. As much as she felt Ferd was perfect, that couldn’t be the reason why Ferd stayed, or she might hold it against Lacy someday.

“In my head, I know that. I know everything worth anything is work. I guess I was looking for you to tell me to chase after my ideas.” She laughed shortly. “I’ve never left Wyoming. I don’t know why, after just being here a month, I want to get back on the road and keep going. Maybe I’ll feel better if I stick it out here for a while.”

“I hope so. I’ve never had a sister before and if Connor and I get back together, you’ll be my sister-in-law.”

Ferd’s eyes widened. “Is that an option? I thought you both were strictly done?”

“We were, until I realized I was the one keeping us apart, because I was afraid of being hurt again.”

Ferd tilted her head to the side. “And now you’re not?”

That was a tough question, one that deserved an answer before she could ever agree to marry again. “Let’s say it’s under advisement.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Connor grabbed the phone and called Brendon. “Are you with Nadine? What does she mean that the men are on the move?”

Brendon turned his phone to speaker, and suddenly the call sounded more distant. “Yes, I’m here with Nadine. She can probably tell you what she meant better than I can.”

Nadine’s voice and the sound of typing came through the phone. “I was flying my drone as close to them as I dared. It’s quiet, so I was hopeful they wouldn’t hear it from within their cars. I was more worried they’d see it. Anyway, I got close enough to see that they’ve moved their cars to about fifty yards or so on each side of the driveway. They are focused on us completely.”

“Why wait out there? What in the world could they hope to accomplish?” Usually, guys like this were more likely to come in with guns blazing, like they had at first.

“Likely because the two guys who sent them packing are still here and they know there are more than just those two guys available. So, they’ll wait us out. My main concern is that you’ve got company coming and they probably know thatwith Christmas almost here, they are likely to be able to take hostages. Once they have people we care about, they’ll have a bargaining chip.”

He hadn’t considered that they would camp out there in the cold for that long. Did they have the wherewithal to do that? “Have either of them left at any point?”

“Hard to say. I only just began random fly overs with the drone. If they left to get gas or food earlier, I didn’t catch it.” Her typing paused for a moment. “I’ve also checked the perimeter cameras. I didn’t see either of those cars drive by those cameras. My gut is telling me they haven’t yet. Do you want to know if they move?”

“Yes,” Connor said without hesitation. If they were gone, even for a half hour he could move his guests to the bunker where they’d be safe in case Viceroy and his men made it through. “Are we fairly certain this is Viceroy?”

“Unsure,” Nadine answered. “I can zoom in on the cars, but they have tinted windows. I can’t see who is in them or even how many of them there are.”

Brendon spoke up, “I just had an idea. I’ll call John and see if he can drive to the cars and count how many are in each one. Since they aren’t doing more than directing cars that aren’t headed for Wayside around their barricade, that would be a good way to find out how many men we’re dealing with.”

“Good plan. Just tell him to be careful. If these guys are tired of waiting, they may do something we’ll regret. More than they already have.”

Brendon said, “I put a call in to Nixon’s family. They tell me he’s doing okay and mad as a hornet that they got him.”

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