Page 23 of Knight

"Will do, and with any luck we'll be bringing Taylor home tonight."

Chapter Nineteen

Rina

Since I had my discussion with Mason, I've been on edge. Knowing where he's headed, and what he's about to do is one of the most stressful things I've had to deal with, while still being at school. "Please use this time as a study period. There's a lot going on today, and I think we all need the day off."

"Does that mean Mr. Harrison is involved with what's going on today?" One of the students asks.

I don't know how to answer this question. More than anything I want to be honest with them, but I'm unsure if I can handle it. "He's working to get Taylor back. He doesn't tell me what he's going to do every day."

"C'mon, leave her alone," another student calls out. "Her husband runs to danger instead of running away from it."

Not the teenager recognizing just how much danger my husband could be in, and putting voice to it. I clear my throat. "I don't know what he's doing today, he doesn't always get to tell me, but after the press conference he had, I hope he's getting Taylor."

"That's what we all hope," one of the guys in the back says. "We had a car wash over the weekend so we could add money to her fund."

"That's really nice of you, I'm sure when Taylor finds out what you've done for her, she'll be so grateful."

"We didn't do it so she'd be grateful, we did it because we care about her," he buries his face in the crook of his arm. "No one should have to have something like this happen to them, especially someone as nice as she is."

If the world turned on wishes and people getting what they deserved, we'd all be in a much better place. I wish these kids were able to get everything they want, everything they work so damn hard for. Unfortunately that's not how life is. Although we can hope and wish things go well, we can't guarantee it. "Agreed, no one should have to go through something like she has, and on the same token, I'd like to save men like my husband from having PTSD when they come home from missions like this. It can harm everyone. The cops, the first responders who have to do their jobs every day, all of us. How many of you've been anxious since you found out Taylor was taken?"

Almost every hand goes up in the air. Several mumbles go around the room. "I find myself looking both ways before I get into my car after leaving work at night," one of the younger girls says. "I've started carrying pepper spray, which I've never done before. I'm looking for self-defense classes, but can't find any."

"Is self-defense something you're interested in?" I ask. "I can ask Mason if he'll run a class. It's been years since I took my first class, and I know I could use some refreshers. I don't mind."

Every person in the room says an affirmative, even the guys. "I think the more we know, the better we can be prepared when things happen," one of the football players says. "Like coach always says, we can't be surprised if we've studied our opponent well enough."

"While I agree with your coach, I do believe there's always a chance when you won't know your opponent. You can always be taken by surprise. It's how you respond to it, and how you manage to get out of the situation. Self-defense can help all of us with that. I'll get it set up for us."

Everyone appears to go back to studying, but I can't help but watch my phone, hoping like hell I don't get the worst phone call a wife can ever get.

Chapter Twenty

Menace

Adrenaline is a crazy thing. It's flowing through my body as if it's a river of blood. My office is the only place I can get a few moments of peace before we move on the house we found in one of our grid searches. It was dumb luck we even found the house.

Out in the middle of nowhere, none of us were even sure what we'd found. Completely off-grid. No electricity, no running water. There's not even a damn address on it.

"Hey, you feeling okay about what's about to happen?" Holden asks as he walks into the office.

"Shouldn't you knock on the door? I mean, this did used to be your office, but it's mine now. I would think you'd want to set a good example."

"Fuck you," he laughs. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Tell me I'm not making the wrong decision. I'm not willing to wait on this guy to decide he's sick of keeping her alive for the sake of keeping her alive. I feel like if we don't do this now, we're not going to get the chance to do it again. I've taken a lot of liberties with calling him out. If I don't do this now, I'm not going to have a chance to do it again, will I?"

"No," Holden shakes his head. "There's only so many times you can call him out, and him not respond. Eventually he's going to get sick of it, and he's going to make an idiot out of you."

Rubbing at my beard, my stomach bubbles up with annoyance and anxiousness. "You're right. We have to do this today, otherwise we're not going to get another chance."

"I'm not going to go with y'all, because I don't want someone to call it out and get shit thrown out. I'll be in one of the cars though," Holden takes a drink of the Coke he has in his hands.

"Good, I want you there, even if you can't help with the actual arrest."

*****

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