Operation return wayside.., p.5
Operation: Return (Wayside Ranch Book 2), page 5
She breathed a sigh of relief as he closed his eyes again and his breathing soon evened out. Slowly, she stood and came back to the table. “So, I don’t have a choice. I have to go to this ranch. What about when I want to go home in a month?” Because she absolutely would. Nothing would get her to stay now.
“This is a threat we need to neutralize. We have too much at stake to push them, but now we may have to. They aren’t going away. Without taking actions to keep our residents safe, we risk losing everything Connor has spent ten years building.”
“Who is Connor?” Every time Cole opened his mouth it muddied the waters with more information, making her more confused.
“He’s the man who owns Wayside Ranch. It is a place for people who have been trapped in human trafficking to heal and slowly regain the ability to live as normal a life as possible.”
Erica held her breath as her mind screamed a warning. Human trafficking. She glanced at Trace and he’d hung his head, refusing to look up at anyone. Bubbles moved from her side to his and nosed his knee until Trace moved to pet him. She couldn’t help but think the dog was going to do well in a place for healing.
But what about her? For her, this ranch would be like a well-appointed jail. She and her son couldn’t leave until this threat was gone. Her little gun in the back of her jeans was great, but that would only keep men away for so long. She couldn’t even claim she’d used the gun often enough to shoot well. Her son was with her all the time, so when could she practice?
“So Connor is going to get some sort of investigation going?” And how long would that take? Granted, she didn’t watch much television, but crime shows made the process seem really long. She didn’t want to celebrate Pete’s graduation by finally being able to leave Wayside.
“Connor is in the hospital recuperating from getting shot.” Cole’s voice didn’t change modulation at all, making her feel like he was trying to be honest but also to give her the barest of facts.
“Someone shot him?” If she couldn’t go home, she’d catch a bus. Somewhere. Anywhere but on this ranch with these guys and this danger. What in the world had she done?
“Yes, he was protecting Scarlet.”
Trace flew to his feet. Bubbles yelped and ducked under the table.
Cole held up his hand for calm. “She’s fine. She requested that we look for you. That’s the thing. We weren’t sure what to think. After Connor was shot, things went silent. We learned not long ago that every one of the men and the one woman who were arrested all died in custody. Viceroy must have been focused on them. If there had been any hint of danger before I left, I wouldn’t have come to get you.”
“Why did you?” She had to know. Taylor wouldn’t have joined a ranch like this. He’d planned to be in the military for life. The marines and the United States were the most important things in the world to Taylor. He’d planned to marry her after he’d returned from deployment, but he’d told her he was a lifer.
Nothing could’ve been more true. He’d given his life for his country.
“It was time you knew the truth.”
She shook her head, refusing to give in. “You might look like him and know a few things, things he could’ve told you at some point, but there’s one thing you will never replicate and that’s Taylor’s heart. I’ve watched you and the way you look cold. You aren’t Taylor and I will never believe that you are.”
Chapter Five
Trace stood, silently and effectively excusing himself from the conversation that obviously bothered him. Cole wished he didn’t have to put Trace through this, but, if this was Viceroy’s men, they had most likely been looking for Trace. He had the biggest connection to Scarlet and they’d probably been watching for someone to get him.
He couldn’t tell Trace that his timing was a miracle when Trace would feel that it was anything but. Trace yanked a blanket from the small dresser in the room, grabbed a pillow from the middle of one of the unused beds, and headed for the sofa.
Cole had planned to tell him to take the bed since he likely wouldn’t get much, if any, sleep but the man looked like he didn’t want to hear anything Cole had to say.
Erica looked at him, waiting. Just seeing her was killing him. He wanted to start right back where they’d been when he’d last seen her. He wanted to caress her cheeks and guide those lovely lips to his own, claiming them. He wanted to hold her until she knew for sure that he was who he said he was.
Except in a lot of ways, she was right. When the military had let him down, he’d lost more than his name. He’d lost his whole identity. He was an officer, some would say a hero. He’d had aspirations of becoming a Warrant Officer. Their ‘mistake’ and the red tape to fix it had left no room for the military in his life. He would always act like a marine, but he would never again be a marine.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” He kept his voice low in the small room.
“You don’t look it. You don’t even sound like it.” She stood and crossed her arms.
Trace started softly snoring and the realization that he was—basically—alone with Erica hit him. He’d only loved this woman. No other. There had never been anyone else he’d wanted. But that wasn’t the case with her. She’d loved someone else. And now he had to protect Erica and the child she’d had with some other man.
“I don’t say what I don’t mean.” He tried to keep his tone emotionless but failed.
Her narrowed eyes told him everything without a word passing her lips. She believed everything he’d said up to this point was a lie. She seemed to think he was some government spy trying to figure out something about her.
She yawned and he bit back all the things he wanted to say. “You should get some sleep. We’ll be up early and try to get out of here unnoticed.”
“Right. Because if they’re sitting out there in their car, they couldn’t possibly be staying awake like you are?” She rolled her eyes and headed for bed, then reached for her back and stalled. “I . . .”
He’d known she had that gun and couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable she had to have been riding in the car with it shoved into her waistband like that. Then again, if she felt safe with it, he hadn’t wanted to mention it.
“You can use the safe. It’s in the closet. You create the password, and they delete it when we check out. I won’t ask you for it.” He motioned for her to go ahead.
“That’s not my concern. I don’t know you and I don’t know him. If I put away the only thing I have to protect Pete and I, then I’m putting us at risk. But I also don’t want to have it in the bed with him.”
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but if my intent was to kidnap you or hurt you, I’d have done it by now. I knew you had that gun with you. I knew exactly where it was and I could’ve subdued you without any trouble at all. I’m not going to.”
She stood at the end of the bed, biting the insides of her cheeks. She made him feel powerless. To give her enough comfort in the situation to rest, he went over by the door, as far from her and her son as possible and took out his phone.
A text from Edwyn waited for him.
Where are you? I expected you back here hours ago.
He was glad Edwyn had initiated the text, making a phone call unnecessary. He typed in a reply explaining briefly what had happened and turned off the sound on his phone. Since no one would get much sleep that night, there was no sense keeping them up with needless noise.
Edwyn quickly replied.
I checked with the security detail. They’ve seen nothing on our cameras and we have a low risk assessment. Nothing even remotely strange here. You’re safe here if you can get home. Need backup in the morning?
The team at Wayside was already short with missing Connor and now he was gone overnight unexpectedly, meaning more of the guys would have to do extra chores in the morning to get everything done. Healing was only part of what they did, it was still a horse ranch and the horses had to be taken care of too along with the dogs and managing a massive property that had to be safe.
He typed in: No. I’ll manage. Just pray we make it out of here without incident and we aren’t followed.
Part of him still hoped the blue car was a coincidence. There had to be at least some chance that the same blue car followed him off the highway to a strange out-of-the-way gas station, then drove by him when he finally reached his destination. Then, completely by chance, managed to be leaving at the same time and went to the same hotel. He was no mathematician, but he was sure the chance wasn’t zero. It might be close, but not zero.
You know I will. I’ll be watching for you in the morning. If you change your mind, I’ll send Junior. Scarlet has been worried sick since you didn’t get back when she expected you.
Scarlet knew the dangers and carried the scars. Different from Trace, but in some ways the same. Trace was mute, either medically, emotionally, or by choice, no one knew. He’d been through so much that no doctor had been able to rule out any one possibility. Edwyn had shared Trace’s medical file with Brendon, the resident therapist, but he’d talked through parts of it with Cole, since he’d be the one working with Trace while he stayed at Wayside.
The ultimate goal was healing. Some people only saw minor wins in the entire time they lived at the ranch and moved on still dealing with the anxiety and pain daily. All learned different coping skills to help them navigate the fear that came with everyday life after captivity.
Cole went to the window, taking a moment to look at Erica now that she was relaxed and almost asleep—he wasn’t sure how he knew she wasn’t asleep yet, but she wasn’t. She hadn’t seemed to age much in seven years. Perhaps there were tiny lines by her eyes that hadn’t been there before and perhaps her face had changed slightly, but in so many ways she was the same.
In look, but not in action. She’d never been so suspicious before. Erica had been loving and accepting of everyone. Erica seven years ago might have accepted his story if he’d bothered to try to tell her, but she would’ve been utterly shocked by it.
He’d been in no mental state back then to do the right thing. He knew that now. He’d known that then. But that didn’t make looking back any easier. That’s what made regrets, regrets after all. He’d wanted to do his term, come home, marry the woman he loved, and keep working. He’d wanted to defend his country for the rest of his life, now he defended a very small but important part of his country.
And what he defended against was just as evil as anything he’d faced anywhere else.
Pete made a small sound in his sleep. Cole headed for the boy, hoping to keep him from waking Erica, in case she’d just fallen asleep. He stood next to the bed, holding his breath so he made no noise, and waited to see if Pete would continue to wake or fall back to sleep.
That’s when he noticed Bubbles had wedged himself under the side of the bed right beside Pete. In fact, if Pete wasn’t careful, he’d step on the dog in the morning. Bubbles was awake, with his nose resting on his paws. He’d taken to Pete and Erica almost immediately.
Maybe one thing he’d done on this trip would turn out well after all.
Erica tensed in the bed lying next to her son when she sensed Cole’s presence next to them. He waited and she wondered what he was up to. Just as the light went out, she opened her eyes. He stared down at her and again the resemblance to Taylor tore at her heart.
She wanted to sleep, to ignore everything she’d just heard from Cole, but that was impossible. Couple that with what she would face when she went home and she wasn’t sure which situation was worse.
Without a job, she couldn’t pay rent. She’d barely managed to pay the rent and buy groceries last month. Her landlord had warned her, one more payment even a day late and she would have to leave. Since he only owned her place, he didn’t have to follow landlord rules of eviction. As long as she paid, she could stay. The moment she didn’t, he could tell her to leave.
Since Rock Point was so small, she’d pretty much worked her way through all the jobs she could do. She’d left messages about working administratively, but they’d always turned her down in the past. Nothing would make them more likely to accept her now.
With no job, she had no house. With no house, she had nowhere to live with Pete. There were no shelters in Rock Point and she had no close friends because moving from job to job added a layer of discomfort with every new person she met. Why would they keep talking to her after she’d left a job?
Cole sat on the bed near her feet making her realize she hadn’t closed her eyes again while her mind had wandered. She’d hoped to make a decision about what she could do while everyone else slept but that wouldn’t happen now.
“You’re still awake?” Cole muttered softly.
She nodded, propping her elbow under her head. “There is no good decision between my two options. My life has been, for a long time now, a choice between the less bad of two uncomfortable options. This tops all of them.”
He swallowed and she watched his Adam’s apple bob. “I spoke to the foreman at Wayside. He’s looked at the security footage and talked to all the guys. So far, there’s no indication of any breach there. I think you’ll be safest there. You will absolutely be safer there than at your own house.”
“Unless you hadn’t come.” Not that turning back time was an option.
He gave a resigned nod. “Seeing you was part of why I was in the area. I suppose I could’ve skipped it when I first saw that car, but I might not have had the chance ever again. And I felt it was time to come clean with you.”
She held up her hand, tired of the charade. There were enough differences, like his hair being darker than it was before and his strange attitude shift, that she couldn’t trust his word. Taylor would’ve found her if he’d been alive. But were they somehow related? That was the only way she could describe how similar they were.
“I can’t force you to stay like we talked about. I told you I’d take you back when you were ready. If that’s now, then tell me. But I won’t leave until you call the police and tell them you might be in danger. I won’t agree to this any other way.”
Chivalry wasn’t dead, whoever this Cole Bradley was. She’d give him that much at least. He said this ranch was safer and while she was there she’d be surrounded by a bunch of people to keep her and her son safe. If she went home, she’d have to rely on her very tiny firearm and the very small police force in Rock Point, who didn’t have the resources to do anything.
“He’s sure? How sure can he be?” She wasn’t certain how things worked on a ranch, but they were usually huge. How could anyone watch a massive plot of land and say that it was secure?
“With the security cameras we have in place, the various dogs we have for protection, and riding the perimeters to see with our own eyes, pretty good. I trust his evaluation of the situation.”
“So you could be wrong? This could be nothing? There might not be anyone after us at all?” Though the acid in her stomach said that was too much to hope for.
“It’s a possibility. But after a life of training, I don’t ignore things when they look off. Even if this isn’t the people I think it is, something isn’t right.”
Though she couldn’t claim to know Cole, she could sense that he wouldn’t have gone to this trouble needlessly. Even though she’d wanted to argue every step of this journey from stopping to get drinks at the gas station to coming to this hotel, he’d made the choices he had to keep them safe.
Which made his insistence that he was Taylor even more confusing.
She wished Taylor’s parents were still alive. If they were, solving this mystery would be easy. One trip to their house would prove this man to be a liar. No one ever fooled Mrs. Creed. Erica had loved them like they were her own parents. In a lot of ways, they had been. Even when Mr. Creed was unduly hard on Taylor, he was always good to her. As a child who’d gone through the foster system and been blessed enough to have good homes but no adoption, they’d filled in where others hadn’t.
“Trusting you is hard. I don’t know you.”
He reached out to touch her leg through the blanket, then pulled back. “I know. Your life was never an easy one and you haven’t had it easy since I left. I’m trying to be the man I was to make this easier on you, but I’m not comfortable in this skin anymore.”
She didn’t want to think about that too deeply, especially when it didn’t matter at this moment. What he’d done so far may be overprotective, but it was more protection than she had ever had with Pete before. Cole could very easily be wrong and if she turned back now, she’d lose the one chance she had to have help with her son and give him a summer he would remember.
“I’ll go. But I can’t just sit around all summer. Is there a chance I could find a job in a nearby town?” Maybe someone could let her borrow a car, so she could get there. Then she’d have money to pay rent after.
“Gabby drives into town every day and she might be able to help you find work and give you a ride. You’ll need to talk to Edwyn about that. Gabby was the first person they’ve ever approved to go on and off the ranch daily. We try to keep to ourselves as much as possible.”
“Because of the people you help.” It seemed like the only likely answer.
“Yes.” Cole’s glance moved quickly from her over to Trace and back again. “The closer we keep our ranch to an environment without outside forces acting on it, the safer our residents are.”
She turned her focus to Pete. Was she doing this to get a break? Was she risking his safety for a few minutes of alone-time? Or was she really considering all the potential issues and making the wise decision? She’d seen the blue car. They had been followed. She was no match alone against anyone wanting to do something to her and her son.
“I guess I’ll have to take that up with Edwyn when we get there. I’ll go with you. All I ask is that you drop this ruse. Saying you’re Taylor just hurts. I don’t know what your goal was to come into my life and push this on me, but I’m asking you to give it up. At the end of a few weeks or whenever Edwyn determines it’s safe for me and Pete to go home, then I’ll go back to pack and move again.” Because now that he knew where she lived, she couldn’t stay.
