Page 75 of Operation: Return

You are reading on AllFreeNovel.com
Font Size:

Page 75 of Operation: Return

“You already lost her. She left an hour ago to catch a plane. I won’t say where and you’ll never find her.” He laughed. “How is your boss going to take that failure?”

The kidnapper growled and squinted, tightening his trigger finger ever so slightly. Cole had less than a second to consider the consequences before he defended himself and Erica. The man crumpled to the ground and Erica raced to Cole.

“Cole!” She hugged him tightly and he forgot everything for a moment as he held her close.

Sirens blared a block away. They were late but would be to the scene in a moment. Then this would all be over.

“You haven’t seen the last of us, Cole.”

Erica screamed and backed away enough from him to look at the man he’d thought was dead. His arm was raised, and a flash exploded from the end of his pistol. In the next instant, a burning pain sliced through Cole’s lower abdomen.

He dropped to his knees on the sidewalk and Erica screamed and cried his name. She said something, but he couldn’t hear her over the rushing in his ears. His body weakened so quickly, but he needed to tell her he forgave her. He didn’t want her living with guilt.

“Erica,” his voice was weak.

She stopped speaking and cradled his cheeks in her hands as laid on the pavement. Pete raced up and landed on his knees at Cole’s side. “No!”

“Buddy, it’s going to be okay. I want you to know I love you. Okay? If anything happens, I want you to know I love you.”

“Cole, no. Don’t you dare.” Tears raced down Erica’s cheeks and she clung to his hand. “You died on me once and I thought I couldn’t live. I can’t go through losing you again. I can’t. If you won’t fight for me, fight for Pete. Please, please don’t go.” Her voice cracked and she clung to his hand.

What seemed a million miles away, he could hear Deputy Blake calling in an ambulance. His voice sounded unusually rushed and Cole knew he didn’t have much time.

“There.” Cole breathed as deeply as he could. “Now I did what I should’ve done from the start. I should’ve risked my life for you, Erica. I’ve always loved you. No matter my name.” He closed his eyes as the pain took over.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

Erica paced in Lacy’s small cabin until Lacy stood up and moved in her way. “He’ll be home in a little while. Do not question such a miracle. You don’t realize how good you have it.” Lacy tipped her chin down and gave her a serious look directly in Erica’s eyes. “Connor wants to see you first anyway. Why don’t you stop wearing a hole in my carpet and go talk to him?”

Nervous energy flowed through her, and she wasn’t sure how to combat it. Connor had been in the hospital for months, but Cole had only been in for a week. He’d made huge progress and though his doctors had ordered no horse riding for at least a month, he was coming home sometime today. Teddy was already there to pick him up.

She pushed her way through the front door of the ranch house and waved to Victoria in the kitchen. Now that she had a full-time job at Wayside, she was making an effort to become friends with everyone there. Once Cole returned, she might not have the chance too. She knocked on Connor’s office then went inside when he answered.

“Erica. How are you enjoying your job?” Connor asked, as he leaned back in his chair.

She sat, knowing he’d want her to and tried to smile. “I like it. Everyone here loves Pete and I’m learning new things every day.” Like when to give Lacy space. She was incredibly independent and sometimes didn’t want Erica around at all. Other days, she had more work for Erica to do than she could get done in three days.

“Well, everyone here loves you, too. Not just Pete. I hear you’ve got him enrolled at Piper’s Ridge Elementary?”

She nodded quickly. “Gabby drove me in on Monday and I got him registered. He was able to meet his teacher and he’s pretty excited for new friends.”

“Kids are really resilient. It’s pretty amazing. Did Junior take you home to get everything from your house?”

Erica wasn’t sure why he was so interested in her, but his questions kept her from thinking about Cole and why it seemed to be taking a long time for Teddy to bring him back home. “Yes. There wasn’t much. Since I didn’t have a car, we never acquired material things.”

“That’s probably good. There isn’t much room upstairs.”

Heat flushed her cheeks as she found herself hoping they didn’t have to stay there long. She and Cole had planned to marry six years before. There was no reason to wait. She loved him and never wanted to live without him. All that was left was to find out if he really loved her as much as he loved their son.

She hadn’t answered, but Connor went on. “I asked you in here to let you know about some . . . sensitive information. I’m telling you this because you were the one he attempted to kidnap. Before he died in the hospital, your kidnapper gave up some information that led to the arrest of the person we believe is Viceroy’s second in command. A woman named Evie. Her arrest would be a very big blow to Viceroy. It might even lead them to Viceroy.”

“Enough that we won’t hear from him again?”

“Evie will have to give up a lot of information if she hopes to see the light of day again and I think they are dangling that option knowing they have enough to charge her with that it’ll never happen.” Connor drummed his fingers on the desk. “It feels so easy, but I know it isn’t. Until Viceroy is behind bars, it never will be completely done.”

She nodded and started to stand when Connor motioned for her to sit back down. “What is it?” She glanced around the room. “Is there more?”

“I want to ask you something and see what you think.” He glanced at the door, then back at her. “And while you can share this with Cole when he returns, you can’t share this with anyone else.”