Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
S wirling red and blue lights broke through the dense trees. Connor let the lights distract him for a moment. His team had caught two men and so had Junior and his team. That left two men still wandering around Wayside. Two men who had managed to evade all of them.
As the dark colored cars drove up the driveway, Connor realized these were the FBI agents Brendon had said were coming, not police. He took a moment to fish his phone from his pocket and called Lacy. Hopefully, she was safely in the house where he’d left her but since two men were still missing and the house was one place they hadn’t looked, he wanted to warn her.
Her phone rang many times, but she didn’t answer. He shoved his phone back in his pocket as the line of feds came to a stop in front of the house. The passenger in the first of three cars got out and headed toward Connor.
“I’m Connor Kincade, owner of Wayside.” He held out his hand to the man heading for him.
“Trent Barker, Special Agent in Charge.” He glanced around. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Connor explained where the four men were who’d already been captured. “We need to find those other two men. No one here is safe until we do.”
“And none of the four were Nicholas Viceroy?”
“Affirmative. We haven’t seen him yet,” Connor confirmed.
“Where have you looked already?” He gathered his men around him.
“We’ve covered the driveway, the barn, the paddocks, the outbuildings, and the ATV shed. We have not checked the lodge or any of the cabins.” He turned to the cabins, and something was off about them.
“Usually, the lights are on. Everyone must have shut them off so no one would know where they are.”
“That’s smart. Take Agent Ross with you and look through the lodge. The rest of us will split up and look through the barn and cabins. We left one man at the end of the driveway near the cars to keep anyone from attempting to leave.”
Connor nodded his agreement to the plan. Now that the men were there who could legally take the traffickers into custody, he holstered his weapon and led the agent to the house.
“How many people should be inside?” Agent Ross asked.
Connor did a quick count in his head. “Should be eight people.”
“Great, I’ll stick with you or one of your men so I don’t threaten anyone who should be here.”
Since at least two of the people inside were former victims of trafficking, he appreciated the willingness to hold off on aiming his weapon as he went through the house. They went inside and he expected to see Lacy with Ferd there in the living room, but it was empty.
“At least three of the eight should be down this hall.” He headed toward Brendon’s office. On the way, he knocked on Rebecca’s door. Inside, Rebecca and Dee played a game of checkers.
“Sorry for intruding. Just doing a check.” Connor waved and backed out of the room. Other than the bathroom, there was nowhere else for anyone to hide in that small apartment. If there had been anyone else in there, Dee and Rebecca would’ve looked terrified.
He headed for Brendon’s office and knocked on the jamb. Brendon waved him inside.
“Connor?” He glanced at the federal agent with him.
“This is Agent Ross, he’s helping me search through the house but if you’ve got Nadine on the line, she can probably tell us where everyone is.”
Brendon snorted and picked up the receiver of his phone, then hit three numbers. It rang and Nadine quickly picked up.
“Yo.”
“Nadine, I need to know who is in the lodge right now,” Connor asked.
“No problem.” Her fingers clacked against the keys. “Right now, I am here. Obviously. Brendon hasn’t left his office. I saw you go down the hallway, so that’s where you are too with a guy I don’t recognize.”
She typed some more. “Doesn’t look like I’ve seen anyone in that hall for an hour, so Dee and Rebecca are in her room. Victoria is still in the kitchen, even though she usually leaves well before now. Teddy is with her, helping her clean up. That’s it.”
“Wait,” Connor leaned closer to the phone. “Where are Lacy and Ferd?”
She did some more typing. “Looks like they left within five minutes of you.”
Lacy and Ferd were gone after he’d told them to be safe and stay in the house. She wasn’t answering her phone and two of the most dangerous men to ever set foot on Wayside land were loose. “Can you look over the cameras and tell me if you see them?”
He swallowed hard. If he’d lost her without ever making up what he’d done, he would never forgive himself. He’d looked forward to slowly bringing her back around to loving him. It wouldn’t be easy. He wasn’t a great guy, but for her, he could try.
“Um . . .” Nadine stalled.
“Nadine, answer me,” Connor hated using the boss card, but this was important.
“She and Ferd went to all the occupied cabins, and they headed for the barn. They were in there for about fifteen minutes, then raced out the back. After that, I lost them. Wait . . . Right after they passed the camera on the back of the barn, a shadowy guy followed them. I’m sure I see the outline of a rifle when I stop the video.”
Agent Ross tapped his shoulder and indicated they should leave. He followed the agent to the hall.
“If a figure followed them, we need to go look at the barn and check for footprints. That will give us some clue where they went.”
Connor nodded and grabbed his phone to call Junior. If he was already out there, they could check first. “My phone is dead.” He shook it, knowing that would do no good, but still angry that it happened. He’d had to use his phone so much over the last day that he’d had no time to charge it. That was the one weakness of cell phones.
“When we meet back up with Trent, we’ll get our numbers distributed so you’ll be reachable.” He kept walking.
Connor was less worried about his men, who could and would simply call anyone else on the team to find him. He was worried about Lacy who wouldn’t know who he was with, where he was, or how to reach him. Assuming she wasn’t captured.
He quickened his pace and got to the barn in record time. The florescent overhead lights were on, which was strange, they rarely used those preferring the dimmer incandescent bulbs. He switched on the other lights and turned the larger ones off.
Maximus was out of his stall and munching on a sack of grain that had been left on the floor. “What are you doing out here?” He took the horse’s halter and led him back to his stall.
Junior followed him. “Maximus was out when I got to the barn. The guys said he almost trampled them. He also claimed there were people in the barn who’d let the horse out.” Skepticism gave his voice an edge.
“I’m thinking the people he saw were Lacy, Ferd, and everyone from the cabins.” Connor tied Maximus back where he belonged and edged out of the stall.
“Why would they be out here?” Junior asked.
“I can only assume Lacy was worried about the safety of our guests with men coming. She couldn’t leave them stranded in their cabins. So, where would she take them?”
Edwyn strode up. “Unfortunately, they ran out the back and that’s where all the horses are let out to pasture. There’s not a hint of snow left there to look for tracks. But, over near that fence that connects to pasture two, there are prints over there that make no sense.” He leaned his head in that direction.
Connor went over to investigate, and Ross followed him. Agent Ross took out a flashlight and clicked it on. In the powerful beam of light, a trail of many footprints led to the fence, then over it. Ross followed the trail with his light until it disappeared over a small hill.
“I think we know what direction they went,” Ross said.
“Warm showers are available to anyone who wants them,” Gloria said as Lacy accepted a mug of hot coffee. “I put all the coats and shoes on the back porch. They’ll take some time to dry, but I have a heater out there.”
Gloria had taken charge the moment Ferd had welcomed everyone in. She’d dug through her own clothes, gotten out blankets, put coffee on, and made hot soup, all before Lacy could even think of what to do to help.
“Girl, sit. You’re soaked to the skin and dripping,” Gloria took her arms and led her to a kitchen chair. “That kind of thing will take the starch right out of you.”
Lacy found she could do little more than nod. She had to get word to Connor that she and everyone else were fine, they’d made it, but she didn’t know where he was. If he was still hunting those men, a phone call could give away his position. Even with his phone on silent, it would light up if he had it with him. She suspected he’d put it on do not disturb, which meant she couldn’t get through anyway.
With shaking fingers, she handed her phone to Gloria. “Do you have any rice? If I was like every other woman and carried my phone in my back pocket, it would’ve been safe.”
Gloria laughed. “I don’t do that nonsense. I’m too old to fish my phone out of my back pocket. Mine stays in my purse where it belongs.” She took the phone and laid it on the counter. “I’ll see what I can do.”
It wasn’t urgent and she wasn’t surprised when Gloria was immediately sidelined by one of the ladies who’d cut her knee while she was crawling through the pasture. The gash wasn’t deep but needed to be cleaned.
Ferd approached her, already changed into dry clothes and ready to help her mother. Without skipping a beat, she grabbed a box of instant rice from the cupboard, put some in a zipper bag and dropped the phone in it, then handed it back to Lacy.
“I sent Brendon a message, letting him know where we all are and that we are safe. I figured messaging my brother was a bad idea.”
“Good plan.” Her jaw shivered.
She’d wanted to make sure everyone got blankets and what they needed before she took anything. Their comfort and wellbeing was more important. Ferd headed to the stack of blankets and grabbed one off the top, then draped it around Lacy’s shoulders.
“If you want to, there’s a shorter line for my shower. You can use it in a few minutes.”
“You have two bathrooms in these houses?” She hadn’t been a part of designing any of the houses built on the Homestead. Connor had wanted each of them to be a little different and not the same as the cabins. He’d wanted them to feel more like permanent homes so all of Wayside’s families felt comfortable and wanted to stay.
“Yes. I love it. I basically have my own hallway which is great because I need privacy sometimes.”
“I bet.”
Ferd had hinted she wasn’t completely happy here, that she wanted to spread her wings, and Lacy had immediately tried to convince her otherwise to suite her own needs. “Are you really thinking of going over to the Northern Guardians?”
“I don’t know. I’ve literally never lived away from my mom. I wanted to know all about Wayside, but it’s not my dream. I don’t know that Minnesota holds my dreams either. I just want to find out where I fit in the grand scheme. Where does God want me? I’ve never considered that it might be somewhere other than where I’ve planted myself.”
In some ways, Ferd was more responsible than Lacy had been. She’d grown up, married, divorced, and stayed attached to her former husband. The first time she’d ever felt she truly heard the Holy Spirit directing her was when she knew beyond a doubt that she would be married to Connor again. Being married to him meant she would be at Wayside.
“I know I tried to convince you to stay, and I still think you should give it some time, but I understand if you want to test the waters, travel, find a new path. I just don’t think you can determine that this place isn’t for you without giving it time. These guys are great, but they’re also stuck in their ways, as you discovered with the Christmas tree.”
Ferd snorted. “Yeah, that was a lot of work to learn that lesson. I don’t know. I’m not willing to walk away right now. Mom is still figuring out how she fits in here too. Dad has said she doesn’t need to work, she can enjoy retirement, but she’s bored sitting here in the house all day.” Ferd laughed.
“She doesn’t have to. Connor should’ve offered her something to do or asked if she wanted to. She probably feels unwelcome because Connor can be a bear, and he doesn’t show his emotions easily.”
“I don’t think many men do.” Ferd took a deep breath that hinted at her knowing exactly what she was talking about.
Lacy reached out and took her hand. “I still feel like I’ll have a sister when I’m with Connor again. Assuming he isn’t furious with me for taking all the guests across the field without telling him what I was about to do.”
Ferd laughed. “I love what Wayside does. This is Connor’s dream, and I have no desire to change it. I heard him talking to Randy about adding cattle over here though. I’ve helped my uncle with cattle most of my life. That’s one part of Wayside where I could add value.”
She was happy to hear that Ferd had no desire to ask Connor to sell off half of Wayside for her inheritance. “I think he’ll be excited to hear that.”
Ferd took her phone out of her back pocket and looked at it. “Still no response from Brendon. Sometimes, the signal is poor over here. We need to talk to Connor about that. It’s a safety risk.”
“Hopefully, after this, we won’t have to worry about safety anymore. I agree though, you should have the ability to call when you need to. Can I borrow your phone?”
Ferd handed it to her then headed over to help Gloria. Lacy couldn’t wait a moment longer, she needed to talk to Connor and hear that he was alright. He had to know she’d done her best, even if that was to go against what he asked. She had to think of the safety of everyone, not just herself. She never could’ve lived with herself if she’d been safely tucked away in the lodge while the cabins were wide open to attack.
She opened Ferd’s phone and skipped the contacts, instead punching in Connor’s number from memory. The phone rang five times before going to voicemail. Since she’d called from Ferd’s phone, she didn’t want to leave a message, but she did anyway.
“Connor, this is Lacy. We made it Gloria’s. All of us are here. We’re cold and wet, but safe. Come and get us when the danger has passed. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, but I couldn’t leave vulnerable people to deal with this attack all on their own.”
She bit her lip, then decided to finish the message exactly as she’d wanted to. “Love you. Call this number when you get this. My phone is trashed for a while.”
She hung up and took a deep breath. The warmth from the room and the blanket was finally working and she’d stopped shivering.
Gloria came back to her side. “You’re taller and skinnier than I am, but Ferd might have some things that would fit you. Go ahead and get out of those. We’ll put them in the drier for you while you take a shower. No sense in giving yourself pneumonia.”
She was pretty sure that wasn’t how people came down with it, but being freezing cold for a long time probably didn’t make her immune system stronger. “Has everyone else used them? I don’t want to make anyone wait.”
“Yes, dear. You’re the last one. I hope there’s still some hot water for you. Go and warm up. We’ll wait for any important calls.”
As much as she wanted to wait for Connor to call back, she needed the shower and dry clothes. “Okay. Thank you, Gloria.” She quickly wrapped the woman in a hug.
As if she wasn’t the slightest bit concerned about getting herself cold and wet, she hugged Lacy right back. “Now, shoo. I’ll have some more soup done by the time you get out.”
She wasn’t sure which sounded better, the hot water or the soup, but she was glad she was being offered both.