Page 77 of Operation: Unify

“Randy,” Lacy answered. “We know you took him.”

“You don’t know anything.”

Connor put himself in front of Lacy, but Melinda pushed in front of him. “You have no right to take anyone. Randy didn’t do anything to you.”

“Oh, but he did. He set off the fire alarm. That one action put Cal in the hotseat, you see, the way he had the doors set to unlock in a fire alarm isn’t legal. Investigators found out about it and now he’s facing an investigation. Mostly though, we knew you’d come to look for him.” Tod laughed.

Cal’s voice came from behind Connor, and he realized a serious error. He’d assumed the old man had been the one firing on Officer Daniels. It was probably Cal out in the woods. Now they were stuck and couldn’t leave.

“So, you decided to come all on your own. How nice of you.” Cal flipped open his revolver and slowly refilled it.

“You don’t have to do this, Tod. You wanted me. Trade me for Randy.” Melinda slowly put her hands up and took a few steps forward.

Tod aimed his gun at her. “You aren’t enough anymore. Honestly, without the money your death would’ve brought in, you aren’t worth anything anyway.”

“That’s what you say, but it’s not the truth,” Melinda stood taller.

“You don’t get to decide how I feel about you.” Tod closed one eye.

Connor found his footing, ready to tackle her. Instead, the old man yanked the barrel of the gun down. “What do you think you’re doing? It’s one thing to shoot at someone when they don’t know who it is. If you think you can take care of all five of them without a chance anyone will get away, then by all means, fire away. But I don’t want to go to jail for you.”

Connor took the distraction as a chance to pull Melinda back closer to him. There had to be a way out of this situation that he wasn’t seeing. If he reached for his own gun, either of them could scattershot, and take out any of them. He didn’t want anyone getting shot.

Edwyn and Cole backed up until they formed a circle, all of them facing outward so there could be no surprises. He heard someone behind him calling someone. Very quietly, he heard someone answer.

Cole taunted Cal, “You missed that officer. He made it out.”

“You won’t be so lucky!” Cal’s voice seemed to get closer.

Connor wouldn’t turn around and risk missing something from the men in front of him. He had to trust his own guys watching his back. “Tod, you need to let us go. That officer was supposed to meet us back at the gas station. Within a few minutes, he’ll see that we aren’t there. A few bullets won’t stop him if he knows there are five people held hostage in here. He’ll probably call in reinforcements.” Connor hoped he could force these guys into a little critical thinking.

Cal’s voice was now very close. “Let’s get them inside. Without a warrant, they can’t prove we have anyone and by the time they get a warrant, they’ll be gone and so will we.”

“Oh, you planned to leave me holding the bag, huh?” the old man said. “That’s just like you two to run away. You ran off to the south when you were about to get arrested before, and now you’ll do it again. I’m not covering for you.”

Tod aimed his gun to the back of the old man’s head. “I don’t think you realize you were going to be the fall guy all along. Cal, gather them up and bring them up here.”

Connor held tight to Lacy’s hand while trying to protect Melinda from Cal’s grasp. Edwyn pushed back against Cal, and a tussle broke out between the two of them. Connor drew his pistol and aimed for Tod while Cole and Edwyn worked to immobilize Cal.

Melinda took off running toward Tod. Lacy screamed for her to stop. Time stood still. He pulled the trigger, and a wide pool of red opened over Tod’s chest. He looked momentarily surprised as his aim faltered, then he fell to the porch. Still.

Melinda stumbled to her knees with a gut-wrenching cry. Lacy took off after her while Connor kept the old man in his sites, just in case things took a turn.

“I always hoped I’d be good enough. I always hoped that eventually, he’d love me like he said he would.” Melinda’s sobs filled the air.

Officer Daniels pulled into the yard and got out of his car. Connor held his gun in the air, knowing that he’d have to answer for what he’d done. Even though Tod had been pointing his gun at Melinda, there were still questions to be answered.

Cal was taken into custody as Connor called in for the ambulance that was likely to determine he was dead on arrival. The old man didn’t move from his chair until Officer Daniels came to take him into custody. Once that was handled, he cameover to Connor who was waiting outside the house to look for Randy.

When Melinda approached him, he turned her away. This part he’d be doing on his own. If Randy hadn’t made it, he didn’t want Melinda to see that. It worried him that they hadn’t heard any noise from the house during the arresting process.

Officer Daniels told Melinda and Lacy to head back to the car along with Cole and Edwyn. He would take Connor inside to look for Randy. The whole scene had changed. Whereas just an hour before, he’d been sure he would get shot, now the house felt oddly haunted, dirty, and lonely.

Both men had out their pistols in case someone they didn’t know about was waiting to ambush them. There was no way to know if the house was empty until they cleared it. They’d looked through all of the rooms and had almost given up when Officer Daniels saw a narrow door in the living room that seemed to lead up to an attic.

Cobwebs hung from the corners, and something scurried near the top of the dark staircase.

“Got a light?” Connor asked. “All I have is my phone.”

---