34. Chapter 33
“This isn’t what I was expecting.” Bradford scanned the pristinely mowed lawn and home from the woods, saw a two-story farmhouse with white paneling on the side and ferns hanging from the front porch.
There was a basketball hoop in the driveway and evidence of kids, given the random toys in the front yard.
The place was on seven acres and tucked back from the nearby main road.
“Me neither.” Adalyn lowered her binoculars. “But this showed up as a location that White visited at least once a week.”
As they remained hidden in the woods, a minivan pulled out of the garage so he raised his binoculars again.
A blonde-haired woman was driving, and even with the tinted windows, he could see at least two kids in the back, maybe a third in the last row.
“That’ll be Amberlyn Jones,” Rowan said. “According to what Berlin found. Looks enough like her from the file we’ve got.”
“I say we go in now, do a search of the home and shop,” Bradford said. “She might just be running errands but we should have half an hour or so at least.” The property was far enough out from town that just her driving there would be about fifteen minutes in one direction.
Adalyn looked at her watch, then nodded as she pulled out her jammer. “Rowan and I will take the main house, you and Tiago take the workshop.”
Bradford nodded, then he and Tiago made their way across the lush green lawn, past the driveway, the sparkling pool behind the house, and onto what, according to the plans that Berlin had found during her research, was a workshop for the husband, Wesley Jones.
The guy didn’t have a link to White that they’d found. But that didn’t mean much if Jones was using a burner to talk to White. Still, the guy owned a restaurant and a couple feed stores. He was definitely well off, but Bradford still couldn’t see the connection.
And Berlin hadn’t found one.
It didn’t take long to pick the lock, but he did notice there were three cameras in front of the workshop. “Three seems like overkill, right?” he murmured as he and Tiago stepped inside.
Even though they were jamming the Wi-Fi signal, they still wore masks. Sucked because of the heat, but they weren’t going to risk revealing their identities to anyone.
“Yeah, it’s interesting all right.”
Inside the shop, the two walls on the left and right were lined with neat bins and organized tools. It was big enough to hold a four-wheeler and two worktables. There were a couple rocking chairs in progress and six empty beer bottles scattered around the other empty table.
“This might be where Jones meets with…whoever,” he murmured to Tiago as he nodded at the bottles. He could have a poker night or whatever, but White’s consistent presence here, according to his phone’s logs, had them all curious to know who this Jones guy was.
They moved methodically through the bins, checking each one for weapons or drugs. But it was just normal storage stuff like Christmas decorations and tools.
“Guys, time to get out of there. Someone’s turning onto the drive. Truck plate tells me it’s Wesley Jones,” Berlin said through their comm line. She was back on the main road as lookout.
“Nothing here anyway,” Adalyn said.
“We’ll be out in a minute,” Tiago said, motioning for Bradford to join him at a giant filing cabinet near the back with a heavy-duty padlock on it.
Bradford’s heart rate kicked up at the sight. “That’s some serious hardware. Can you open it?”
But Tiago was already kneeling in front of it.
“We’re going to need a few more minutes,” Bradford said. “Might have something.”
“He’s in the driveway now.” Adalyn’s voice was tight.
“Got it,” Tiago said triumphantly.
“Parking,” Adalyn continued.
Bradford moved the door of the shop, ready to knock the guy out if he came this way. It wasn’t ideal, but he could knock Jones out so fast he wouldn’t even see who’d attacked him or how many people were in his shop.
“Shit,” Tiago murmured.
“How’re we looking?” Bradford asked.
“He’s heading inside the house. Your window is closing. Get the hell out of there now.”
Tiago let out a short whistle, motioned him to the back of the workshop.
“We’re leaving,” Bradford said, even as he jogged over.
Tiago had his phone out and was taking pictures of…
“What the hell?” Bradford pulled out his own phone, snapped away before Adalyn had enough.
“Get out of there now! I can see him in the kitchen window on the phone. His back is to the pool and shop. We don’t want him to know anyone was here.”
Bradford eased the cabinet door shut and Tiago snapped the deadbolt back in place.
“We’re at the door. What’s your visual now? We clear?” Bradford asked as he wrapped his hand around the doorknob.
“He’s still in the kitchen…but now he’s heading out to the pool.”
Shit. The pool faced the shop.
“Hold on, I’ve got this,” Berlin said. “Get ready to run.”
He wondered what she was going to do, then seconds later the ear-piercing sound of an alarm filled the air, audible even in the insulated workshop.
“He’s heading inside. Go now,” Adalyn snapped.
They slipped outside and he twisted the bottom lock into place. They didn’t have time to relock the top one so this would have to do for now.
Instead of heading the way they’d come, they looped back around to the rear of the shop and raced for the nearby woods. It was going to be a trek returning to the main road from here, but they’d gotten away unscathed.
Only now he had more questions than answers.
***
Bradford had to hide his surprise when Hope greeted him with a hug in front of everyone. She slid right off the high-top stool at the kitchen island and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.
She might not have said the words he needed to hear yet, but she’d called him her husband. And he knew what that meant for her.
Things had shifted and he was never letting his Hope go.
“Berlin texted,” she said against his chest. “Said you found something. ”
“Berlin texted you?”
“That’s right.” Berlin was right behind him and fist-bumped Hope as she leaned over and grabbed a spanakopita pocket from the big round plate on the island. “Gotta keep my girl in the loop.”
He blinked at Berlin’s words, but Hope just grinned.
And that was when he realized that his friend had not only accepted Hope into their world, but she genuinely liked her.
At the end of the day, he didn’t need approval from anyone when it came to Hope, but it still mattered that his people—especially Berlin, one of his favorite humans—had not only accepted her, but was welcoming her into the fold.
When Hope turned back to grab a spanakopita for herself, he nudged Berlin and she winked at him. And he swore his heart grew three sizes.
“So, spill,” Hope said, sliding one of the spinach and cheese pastries onto a plate in front of him.
His stomach growled, but he wanted to get this out before he ate, so he sat down at the island as the others filtered in and took seats. Tiago was next to him, his expression a grim mirror to Bradford’s own.
“Berlin already has the pictures,” he started, nodding once at her. “But basically, there was a handbook—”
“Multiple instructional pamphlets,” Tiago murmured.
Bradford nodded. “Yeah, exactly. Instructional pamphlets for how to make bombs. The instructions break it down into what’s essentially a DIY YouTube instructional.
There’s a little symbol on the top left of the copies that’s been linked to an extremist group.
No actual stated political affiliation, but their beliefs are very right-leaning—heavy themes of white supremacy. ”
“Terrifying shit,” Tiago murmured. “There was also a sort of manifesto that read like their bible, I guess. The symbol is on every page of the manifesto as well. ”
“But we didn’t find any actual materials for making bombs or weapons, and no drugs either. We didn’t get to do a deep dive, but the place looked clean at first glance. And…” Bradford shrugged. “As far as I know, there’s nothing illegal about possessing bomb-making instructionals.”
“If they distribute them with the intention of committing a crime, it’s a federal offense,” Hope murmured.
Bradford wasn’t even surprised that she knew that. She’d written multiple stories on extremists with different ideologies.
“While their literature was terrifying…I still don’t know how this ties into Killeen.” Adalyn shoved her hands into her pockets as she leaned against one of the countertops.
“I don’t think it matters at this point,” Hope said quietly. Then she looked between Bradford and Tiago. “Were there any specifics in the literature you saw? Any plans?”
He shook his head, even as his gut tightened. Just because there hadn’t been anything tangible didn’t mean these guys weren’t planning something.
“I’ve called in the Feds.” Skye’s voice from the doorway made them all turn as she and Axel strode in.
“I know how much we can handle, but they’ve got more people.
Hazel is on this, flying in today. She’s already mobilized a team—mostly because I already gave her a heads-up that shit was going down here.
I think she’s bringing in the DEA now too. ”
Bradford knew it wasn’t an oversight that Skye had said Hazel’s name in front of Hope.
Then Skye looked at Hope. “I don’t actually think I need to say this, but you know you can’t write about any of this, right?”
“I know. I might write a story about Killeen later—if he actually gets arrested. But not about this, not about you guys.” She slid up next to Bradford, wrapped her arm around his middle.
“I would never put any of you in danger. You’ve all saved my life and it’s clear that you’re doing really good work. So thank you.”
Skye blinked, then grinned. “Okay, then. For right now, we’re sitting back and doing nothing. I know that’s going to be hard, but the FBI has got this. And we need to let them do their jobs.”
“Maybe we could help them a little,” Hope murmured, her expression almost feral.