Page 62 of Operation: Unify

“I’m Connor Kincade, owner of Wayside.” He held out his hand to the man heading for him.

“Trent Barker, Special Agent in Charge.” He glanced around. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Connor explained where the four men were who’d already been captured. “We need to find those other two men. No one here is safe until we do.”

“And none of the four were Nicholas Viceroy?”

“Affirmative. We haven’t seen him yet,” Connor confirmed.

“Where have you looked already?” He gathered his men around him.

“We’ve covered the driveway, the barn, the paddocks, the outbuildings, and the ATV shed. We have not checked the lodge or any of the cabins.” He turned to the cabins, and something was off about them.

“Usually, the lights are on. Everyone must have shut them off so no one would know where they are.”

“That’s smart. Take Agent Ross with you and look through the lodge. The rest of us will split up and look through the barn and cabins. We left one man at the end of the driveway near the cars to keep anyone from attempting to leave.”

Connor nodded his agreement to the plan. Now that the men were there who could legally take the traffickers into custody, he holstered his weapon and led the agent to the house.

“How many people should be inside?” Agent Ross asked.

Connor did a quick count in his head. “Should be eight people.”

“Great, I’ll stick with you or one of your men so I don’t threaten anyone who should be here.”

Since at least two of the people inside were former victims of trafficking, he appreciated the willingness to hold off on aiming his weapon as he went through the house. They went inside and he expected to see Lacy with Ferd there in the living room, but it was empty.

“At least three of the eight should be down this hall.” He headed toward Brendon’s office. On the way, he knocked onRebecca’s door. Inside, Rebecca and Dee played a game of checkers.

“Sorry for intruding. Just doing a check.” Connor waved and backed out of the room. Other than the bathroom, there was nowhere else for anyone to hide in that small apartment. If there had been anyone else in there, Dee and Rebecca would’ve looked terrified.

He headed for Brendon’s office and knocked on the jamb. Brendon waved him inside.

“Connor?” He glanced at the federal agent with him.

“This is Agent Ross, he’s helping me search through the house but if you’ve got Nadine on the line, she can probably tell us where everyone is.”

Brendon snorted and picked up the receiver of his phone, then hit three numbers. It rang and Nadine quickly picked up.

“Yo.”

“Nadine, I need to know who is in the lodge right now,” Connor asked.

“No problem.” Her fingers clacked against the keys. “Right now, I am here. Obviously. Brendon hasn’t left his office. I saw you go down the hallway, so that’s where you are too with a guy I don’t recognize.”

She typed some more. “Doesn’t look like I’ve seen anyone in that hall for an hour, so Dee and Rebecca are in her room. Victoria is still in the kitchen, even though she usually leaves well before now. Teddy is with her, helping her clean up. That’s it.”

“Wait,” Connor leaned closer to the phone. “Where are Lacy and Ferd?”

She did some more typing. “Looks like they left within five minutes of you.”

Lacy and Ferd were gone after he’d told them to be safe and stay in the house. She wasn’t answering her phone and two ofthe most dangerous men to ever set foot on Wayside land were loose. “Can you look over the cameras and tell me if you see them?”

He swallowed hard. If he’d lost her without ever making up what he’d done, he would never forgive himself. He’d looked forward to slowly bringing her back around to loving him. It wouldn’t be easy. He wasn’t a great guy, but for her, he could try.

“Um . . .” Nadine stalled.

“Nadine, answer me,” Connor hated using the boss card, but this was important.

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