Page 14 of The Job

“I think I’ve found her,” he replies triumphantly.

I beat back my excitement as I ask, “Her who? Dude, I’m going to need you to be really fucking specific right now.”

“Ever, I am pretty sure that I have found Ever,” he clarifies.

I can literally feel the excitement and the tension rising in the car at his words.

I try to keep my reaction to his words under wraps as I reply, “Send me the details, and we will check it out.”

“They should already be in your inbox,” he replies.

“Thanks, man,” I reply earnestly.

He chuckles. “No problem. I really hope it’s her.”

“Me too,” I reply and then hang up.

I immediately pull over as I snatch my phone up and scroll onto my emails.

“Well?” Riot says, his voice on edge.

“The city is around four hours away. She’s working at a restaurant there called Ricardo’s,” I explain to them as I go through the email.

“Do you think it's her?” Jensen asks me, cautious hope in his voice.

I sigh, “I honestly don’t know. We have had so many false leads by now that I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“There is only one way to know for sure,” Cash says, “we need to go and check it out.”

“We may as well; we have nothing else planned, and it would be typical if the one time that we don’t go and check it out, it’s actually her,” Luc says.

I nod, “You’re right. It looks like we are all staying at yours for a couple of nights, Cash.”

“Let’s hope the parents buy it and don’t try to check in on us while we’re there,” he replies, with a slightly furrowed brow and most likely worrying about it.

“It will be fine,” Jensen tries to reassure him. He asks, “Okay, what’s the plan?”

I check the time on my phone, “Well it’s only mid-morning, if we are quick enough and the parents don’t kick up a fuss, then we could get back, pack and head out. We should get to the restaurant for the dinner service,” I suggest and then re-read the email, “Luke said she should be working that shift.”

“Let’s do it,” Rafe signs, a light in his eyes that I haven’t seen for a long time.

It worries me because the chance that this is actually Ever is incredibly slim, and I hate watching that light go out of his eyes every time that we get a lead that turns out to be nothing. He did get better at not letting himself get his hopes up, but it’s been a long time since we have had one of our contacts say to us,‘I’ve found her go here’, usually it’s a,‘there was a mention here, but it turned out to be nothing’.It’s incredibly frustrating and chips away at us every time it happens.

“Okay, I’ll drop you guys off, go and pack, then come and get you again,” I reply as I start the truck, and pull out carrying on the drive. I look in my mirror at Jensen, “Do not get distracted, we are on a timeline if we want to get there for the dinner rush and her shift.”

“Got it,” Jensen replies. He’s not even offended; he knows that he easily gets distracted.

“I will check the restaurant out and see if we need to book a table or if we can just turn up,” Cash says as he pulls out his phone.

“Good thinking,” Riot replies, “it would be embarrassing if we couldn’t get a table, and she did work there.”

“Don’t forget to make sure you are all armed, just in case,” I warn him as I pull up outside of his place. He nods as he hops out, and I watch as he jogs up the path to his house.

It doesn’t take me very long to drop everyone back to their houses. The only stumbling block that we are going to have now is if some of the parents say no. Mainly because we’re going to go anyway, and there isn’t really much that they can do to stop us, except ground us when we get back. It’s just a complication that we don’t really want to have to deal with. Cash’s parents are obviously away, so we don’t need to worry about them, and I don’t see why the other parents would have a problem with it.

We stay at each other’s houses all the time, especially in the summer. Of course, if one of the guys gets too excited and doesn’t manage to hide it very well, then the parents are going to get suspicious and think that we are throwing a party or something, which means they would try and put a stop to it.

My thoughts are going around in circles. I think it’s because I’m nervous about whether this really is Ever. I push it all out of my mind as I pull up to my house and hop out.

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