Page 25 of Operation: Integrity

You obviously don’t care about Jasmine. She paid for your mistakes as usual. Don’t miss the next meeting. It will be more than Jasmine who pays if you don’t. Meet me by the fence tomorrow night at 8PM. Come alone.

“I hate you.” She wasn’t supposed to hate anyone and immediately felt guilt for saying the words yet couldn’t bring herself to take them back. “I’m sorry, God. I’m sorry that I can’t find a shred of care for him. I need to leave that up to you.”

She scrolled to the very bottom of the screen and pressed the icon to reply, speaking her text aloud. “Where is my money? You said you were saving it for me. I called my bank. I know you’re a liar. Why should I believe you now?” She pressed the send button.

Her breath came faster as she waited for a response, but what could he really say that would change the truth? He’d lied. She’d done horrible things thinking she was working her way out of a pit and into the truth, only to discover the pit was bottomless.

Her wrist buzzed and the reply was short enough that she didn’t need to scroll at all to read it.

I own you.

Sam satwith Connor and Lacy in Connor’s office. He was getting used to having the door closed, but not feelingtrapped. He hated that his leg bounced, giving away his worry. He wasn’t supposed to worry. He was supposed to always have everything under control. Since Kelly had arrived, his entire world had been tossed into the air like confetti and pieces of him were landing all over like he’d never be one again.

“It’s okay, Sam. We can do this,” Lacy said as she gave him a weak smile, “but we’re going to have to think of a new way to protect her because I think Kelly caught on to me last night. She knew something was up when I wouldn’t leave her alone.” Lacy toed off her boots and tucked her feet under her with her legs akimbo on Connor’s sofa.

Sam wanted a distraction, needed it like he needed air, but couldn’t let go of the worry. “She’s going to do it. She’s going to find a way to meet with him against our wishes. We can tell her not to, and she will. What is the hold this guy has over her?”

Connor took a deep breath and laid a huge hand on Lacy’s knee, completely covering it. “You’re right, Sam. Until she trusts us, we won’t know. Dominic thinks he’s found the line of communication, but it will take time to hack into. It’s like the watch has its own internet and that makes hacking it more difficult.”

“It’s a good thing you saw that image, so we had confirmation she didn’t have that watch before she arrived here. I would’ve looked pretty ignorant if I’d called the halfway house and accused them when they knew nothing about it,” Lacy said, twisting her long hair into a loose knot.

“Nathan has some pull over her, whether it’s real or imagined, physical or psychological. I talked to Brendon this morning and he told me she hasn’t said anythingabout the communications, but he did note that she was really nervous at her session today. She kept gripping her wrist, spinning the watch, and looking out the window every few seconds. He said if he didn’t know better, he’d think she was on drugs. She seemed that paranoid. We know that isn’t the case,” Connor said.

Someone knocked outside Connor’s office, then opened the door. Dominic came inside and sat in a chair near Sam, facing Connor and Lacy on the sofa. “I did some digging into the drone Sam shot down. They are made at a shop in Denver, Colorado. Most of the sales are over the counter and they come in two sizes. Interestingly, the smaller one is used for surveillance and the other for deliveries. Lots of small cafes and similar places use the larger ones for food delivery to save money. They don’t have to hire someone if they can deliver by drone, take a picture of the door as they’re dropping it off and email a picture to the consumer.”

“We’re only a couple hours or less from Denver.” Sam shifted in his seat. “Is that where the halfway house is?”

Connor nodded. “That’s why the halfway house was somewhat eager for us to provide a place for Kelly. They didn’t think it was safe for her to remain in the same town she’d been kept for so long. Though, whether it’s a mental block or if she truly didn’t know, Kelly has never said where she was held.”

Sam hadn’t asked her. There were a lot of things he hadn’t asked her. He’d avoided her the rest of the evening the day before, letting Lacy do the job of making sure she stayed in her room. There was no way he could face her after hearing Edwyn run her bath. He hadn’t been able to stay there to make sure Edwyn left when he should. Noteven to tell Connor what he might have heard. Confrontation was his worst enemy, but avoidance left him tied in knots.

“I think Edwyn should stay with her. We should move her into one of the family cabins and Edwyn can stay in the second bedroom.” His words stumbled out of his mouth like he hadn’t slept in days.

Lacy’s eyes softened as she looked at him. “Why do you think Edwyn would be good for that job? Didn’t he scare her the first day she was here?”

Should he accuse Edwyn when he didn’t know everything? He would hate to be accused of a crime if he didn’t commit one. “I heard him helping Kelly earlier. I think they are closer than either of them let on.”

Connor sighed and let his head fall against the couch. “First my dad gets a wild hair and decides he’s going to a little town near Devil’s Tower for a month, now Edwyn is doing things behind my back? What is going on around here?”

Dominic grinned. “People tend to have their own minds. I know your rules are there for safety purposes, but your men are respectful. If Kelly feels comfortable with someone, she should be able to.”

Connor shook his head. “No, that’s where your lack of training in human trafficking betrays you. Kelly barely trusts anyone. She literally can’t make the choice to have a relationship yet. If she is choosing that, it’s because she thinks she has to, for some reason. Even if we count the time she was at the halfway house, which was less than two months, that’s not long enough for her to know herself well enough to commit to anyone. There must be another explanation. Not to mention the fact that Edwynknows Kelly is at Wayside, so that Sam can work on mending the disagreement between them.”

Dominic glanced quickly between Connor and Sam. “Sam is part of the second chance missions? Kelly is a second chance?” His eyes widened. “I’m surprised you allowed that.”

Connor frowned, and Lacy laid her hand over his. He took a moment before he spoke. “I had to pray about it. Ultimately, I decided that if Sam could talk with Kelly and they could come to some sort of an acceptance of one another, a happy ending after a bad break, then that might help her heal from other trauma, too. It would show her that she’s worth working for. She’s worth fighting for.”

Dominic slowly nodded. “Very commendable. I hope it works.” He paused, then took a deep breath that foretold he had something very weighty to say. “I’ve broken into the messages sent between Kelly and Nathan. He is telling her that he is hurting one of her friends if she doesn’t do as he says. She is to meet him tomorrow night in the pasture where she was knocked off her horse. I suspect that accident wasn’t an accident because she was supposed to meet him there yesterday. I’m glad you arranged for her to stay in her room last night, since you didn’t know what was going on. If you hadn’t, she wouldn’t be here now.”

Sam closed his eyes and breathed a prayer of thanks. Sometimes God worked in little silences, not in weighty sentences. “So, now we need to figure out how to keep her out of his clutches when she is clearly working against us,” said Sam.

Connor looked Sam straight in the eyes. “Well, I thinkit’s time we have a meeting with all the Wayside men, except my dad, and tell them what’s going on. We’re to keep eyes on Kelly at all times. If she’s outside her cabin, she’s not alone. I like Sam’s idea that we move her in with someone, but I don’t think Edwyn is the right man for the job.”

Sam slowly shook his head, knowing exactly what Connor would ask of him. This was too much. Working with her was too much, but living in the same cabin? He couldn’t. He’d have to watch her every moment. How would his heart be able to withstand that? “Don’t.”

“Who else?”

All eyes were on him, and he hated that he knew there wasn’t anyone else he would trust to do the job. He’d already accused, at least only in his head, his friend of doing something with Kelly merely because of what he’d heard. If he had no right to look at her the way his heart screamed at him to look at her . . . then no one else could either.

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