by Taylor Hart
Shay was blown away. “So this is your assignment right now? And I thought you came just to help me.” It wasn’t a big deal, but it did change things.
Jack glowered at him. “Bro, if I didn’t want to help you, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be on a different op with my team. You have no idea.”
Shay sucked in a breath. He needed to calm down. "Sorry, thank you.”
“Plan is, after they find out she’s not here, whenever that is, before or after the concert … We can’t control that,” Jack muttered, mostly to himself. “We all pretend we’re worried and looking. Of course,” he told Shay, “you can be all sour grapes and say something, very publicly, about how you never thought they would last.” He frowned at Tauni. “I’ll keep you informed, but I can’t take you with us. We don’t know what exactly we’ll be doing.”
Tauni cursed. “How am I supposed to keep in touch with you? I don’t even have a phone I can use.” She stared at Jaycee’s phone. “This one is being watched. You know it is.”
Just then, a text came in—a text sent by Jaycee's father.
Jaycee, where are you? Come down. We are starting to fill up with guests.
“Crap,” Tauni said.
More and more people were indeed arriving. All of the waitstaff were magically poised and ready by the tables in the backyard. There was light classical music playing softly in the background.
Jack tugged a burner phone out of his pocket and handed it to Tauni. “Here. It has my number; you can keep in touch.”
Her lips pinched together. “Fine.”
Jack winked at her. “I’ll have you know that not many women have that number.”
“Like I would care about that.”
Shay couldn’t believe Jack was purposefully playing with fire here. It was apparent that Jack still liked Tauni—a lot.
Jaycee’s phone dinged in Tauni’s hand again.
Tauni looked at it. “Uh-oh, our time might be running out. Jaycee’s father is coming out here.”
Suddenly, the senator walked out of the front door. “Kurt,” he called out. “Do you know where Jaycee is?”
By this time, Leah and James were done juggling, but Noah had moved Kurt into the card trick realm, and it looked like Kurt was choosing which cards.
Kurt jerked back to stare at his soon-to-be father-in-law, and then pushed the cards at Leah. “No, sir,” he said. “I was just looking for her.” He searched the crowd, and his eyes fell on Tauni.
Tauni began walking toward Jaycee’s father.
Shay and Jack followed.
Jaycee’s father fit the politician prototype perfectly, all silver suit and white teeth. It was stupid, but Shay noted that his hair was perfectly coiffed and even his eyebrows were manicured. The man’s getup was the perfect-looking billboard for a presidential candidate.
Her father hesitated when he realized he was in the midst of the Summervilles.
At that exact moment, Shay’s mother and father walked up the path.
His father put his hand out. “Senator McCade, it’s been too long.”
The senator hesitated, then nodded, putting his hand out. "Hello."
There was another camera man snapping pictures.
Shay's mother wore a conservative red dress, and her hair was done up in a French twist. She put out her hand. “Senator, it appears congratulations are in order."
Shay's heart raced, he knew his parents didn't like the man. Especially after his people had contacted them several times and threatened a law suit after the fire with Jaycee.
The senator looked caught. “Susan, you look breathtaking.”
His mother nodded. "Thank you."
People were swarming into the house and many were waiting to speak with the senator.
His parents moved past the senator, spotting them and moved toward them.
Shay noted that Tauni had stopped, her hand to her mouth.
His mother noticed her. "Tauni?"
Tauni moved toward his mother, engulfing her inside of her arms. "Susan."
"Crap." Was all Jack said.
Shay watched the reunion between his mother and father and Tauni and he couldn't help but feel happy for all of them. At one point Tauni had been so close to them.
Shay noted the senator had moved back from the crowd and was scanning the landscape. “Have any of you seen my Jaycee?”
Jack leaned into Shay. “We have to distract him, or he’s going to find out Jaycee is gone too soon.”
Shay had an idea. He broke from them and marched toward the man that he’d been so nervous to meet last summer. The man who’d kept him from Jaycee for all those months. The man who now was a threat to the woman he loved. “Sir, sir,” he called out.
The senator turned to face him, his political face breaking for a moment. “Yes."
“I just had this great idea for a song,” Shay said, as if they were old friends. “Would you mind if my brothers and sisters and I sing it for you?”
The senator glanced around. “I need to find Jaycee. And we have guests."
Suddenly his siblings were surrounding them.
"Oh you'll love this song," Liam said. "Let's go to the back of the house."
"Yeah," Shar said on the other side of the senator. "It's the best."
Leah fell in step with all of them. “The feeling of freedom that emanates from this song could get you elected as president just based on the feeling of it.” The whole mob of them, including the senator, headed around the house and onto the grasses that led to the stage.
Shay didn’t know exactly which song he was going to play for the senator, but he had an idea. There was a song he’d been tweaking for a long time, a song he’d written about Jaycee breaking free. With a few tweaks, it might work.
He and his siblings took the stage.
Leah waved them in. "You all know the song."
They nodded.
"Don’t worry, guys. Shift it to an F chord base and use the end of ‘Old Glory,’ and I think it will work.”
"Good idea," Shay said, tuning his guitar a bit.
That was one perk to playing music with each other their whole lives—they could make key adjustments easily.
A small group had formed in front of the stage. The senator, Kurt, Shay's parents. Other guests had followed. Jack and Tauni were standing by Shay’s parents.
Noah hit the drums and started into the beat.
Shar pounded on the keyboard.
He and Liam grinned at each other and both yelled into the microphone. “Summerville solid gold!”
Mason moved next to Kurt, smiling and laughing.
Shay leaned into the mic. “When off in that highway, moving so fast. Wind in your hair, and you never want to look back. When you finally discover you ain’t going nowhere, the only thing you care about is the wind in your hair.”
Liam joined in. “It’s gotta be-"
"Freedom!" They all sang together.
"Free-dom,” they sang again.
Bam! The drums hit the back beat.
“Free-dom.” Another strong back beat.
They sang together. “Strong and true. Freedom. Freedom, when you don’t know what to do.”
His siblings improvised some melody.
Shay caught the senator smiling and nodding. The people gathered around him were bobbing their heads, too.
Shay leaned in again. “All you know is that your heart is in this; you know you can be true. You gotta have freedom, freedom, the red, white, and blue.”
Senator McCade’s face was alight with passion as they wrapped up the number.
Shay closed his eyes, prepping to sing the next song and remembering why they were doing this.
For Jaycee's freedom.
Chapter 14
Jaycee didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there with Duke at her side. She felt like some dumb puppet, and now that she had a moment of reflection, she could look at herself and see how she’d been played, with the strings making her dance and sing
so many times by her father.
“This is bull,” Duke stated, still scouring a document. “It shows here that the organization met at our house every Monday, and there are secret tunnels beneath it. Did you know that?”
She grimaced as she looked at the chart he was holding, which was some kind of initiation paper for new recruits. "No."
Mr. Stetson had his boots up on his desk and a toothpick in his hand, picking at his teeth. He’d called in for pizza, but Jaycee had lost her appetite. “I think the biggest leverage you kids have is that the organization won't know how much you guys have on them.”
Jaycee’s heart pounded. It seemed like there were way too many cover-ups to count. Her journalistic mind was buzzing as she flipped from page to page. Her father had signed countless “agreements” stating that he would keep silent about everything; his life and the lives of his family were vital to it.
It all chilled her to the bone. When her father had stuck her in that psych ward, she hadn’t understood the pressure he’d been under to keep the truth to himself. Now she understood that if she kept talking about who set the fire, who killed her mother, and who was after her, he would have to cover up even more.
Tearfully, she remembered her last conversation with her father before coming to Summerville. “Be safe, Jaycee. You don’t what dangers lurk out there. I can’t keep you safe from everything. Lord knows how much I’ve tried.”
At the time, she’d thought that his desire for control was his only motivation, but now …
“He really was trying to protect you, Jaycee,” Duke said.
She nodded.
Duke stood, cursing. “His whole platform about cleaning up the government from within, about making sure there was more transparency in the system so the decisions being made by the higher-ups were easily translated to the people. It’s just bunk. Complete bunk. I just read about the whole cover-up with Mama and the fire.” He choked up. “It looks like someone did kill her because she was asking too many questions, sniffing around.”
Tears filled Jaycee's eyes. “Mama knew that things were happening,” Jaycee said. “She tried to tell us. She tried to tell everyone.”
"And I thought she was insane." Duke wiped at his eyes and turned to her. “I’m sorry, Jaycee. I’m so sorry I never believed you.” He threw his arms around her.
It wasn’t like this moment with her jerk brother would make up for everything, but she couldn’t describe how nice it was to be united again, to feel like she had Duke back again. “Thank you.”
Duke pulled back, determination in his gaze. “I say we expose Dad, the organization, all of it.” He made a sweeping gesture toward all of the papers splayed out over Mr. Stetson’s desk. “Our father is running for president. He took away all Mama’s dreams. Let’s make it so he doesn’t get his dream.”
Jaycee’s heart thumped. “How?”
They both turned to Mr. Stetson, who leapt to his feet, put on his hat, and gathered all of the papers into a file. “You kids have no idea how long I’ve wanted to get justice for your mother.” He met their eyes, and she could see that he was elated. “I have some contacts in place. They don’t know all of this, but just say the word and we’ll get it done.”
“The word,” Duke said, hands on hips. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were bloodshot. “We have to get justice for our mother. The justice she couldn’t get for herself. No matter what the risk is to ourselves.”
Jaycee nodded. "Agreed."
Chapter 15
Shay and his siblings played a couple more songs, then played 'Freedom' one more time.
The senator and Kurt were high-fiving each other and talking about how this would be the perfect campaign song. Other people kept trailing over to the stage, wanting to meet the Summervilles, and the requests started coming in.
The senator came over to Shay and shook his hand. “I have to admit that last summer I wasn’t sure how things would end up.” He held his gaze. "But I'm not going to lie, if you all would consider coming on the campaign trail with me, I don't think I could lose."
Cool as a cucumber, Mason pulled out his phone. “I’ll have our people get in touch with your people.”
“Do.” The senator frowned, then turned to Kurt. “Have you seen Jaycee yet?”
Now the party was in full swing. The sun was starting to set and there were clumps and clusters of people who had come and gotten distracted with the band, but they were clearly all waiting on the edges to talk to the senator.
Kurt threw his hands up. "I'll go find her." He moved off the stage and started walking toward the house.
The senator followed him with his eyes, then took the microphone of our Shay's hands and started speaking. “Hello, dear friends.” He put a hand on Shay’s shoulder. “As most of you have just witnessed, it’s the talented Summervilles, our local band and a sensation that has swept the country this past year.”
The crowd clapped.
Shay grinned back. He was trying to keep it cool, but he really needed to text Jaycee and see if she was okay. He guessed he was keeping the devil safe at his side. So he smiled and yelled out, “Freedom!” He put a fist into the air.
The crowd responded. “Freedom!”
“That’s it.” The senator was tremendously enjoying all of this. “So, folks, what I’ll do is say a few words.” He started recounting some of the last major political events of the year that had lead him to running for president.
Shay focused on Jack.
Jack just put up a hand as if to say, Leave it; it’s fine.
After a bit, Kurt came rushing toward the stage, shaking his head.
The senator focused on the group. “Sorry, folks, it seems we can’t find my daughter, the star of this whole thing.”
Shay wanted to grumble about how Jaycee was never meant to be the star of this party. Just by looking at the man oozing political charm on the stage, anyone who had a brain could see that the senator was the main attraction.
“Anyway, while we’re finding my daughter, I first want to say that I’m humbled to be running for your president.” His face turned contrite.
Light clapping and hollers came out from the crowd.
Shay really wanted to smack him, but he kept his anger under wraps. Liam patted Shay’s shoulder. “It’s okay, bro.”
The senator kept talking. “Truth, justice, and the American way are what drew me into politics. I have always loved the fact that America stands for something far greater than anything we can conceive on our own. I feel privileged as I think of stepping up into those upper ranks and representing you.”
Kurt held a phone to his ear, then began waving the senator toward him.
The senator put up a finger. "Just a minute." He leaned in.
Kurt whispered something in his ear.
Surprise washed over the senator’s face.
Kurt took the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem. It seems that Jaycee, my fiancée, is gone. We aren’t clear on whether she left willingly or unwillingly at the moment, but we would ask that everyone search for her or let us know if you know of her whereabouts.”
The senator paused and then turned to face Shay. He walked toward him and Liam, closing the gap quickly. “Do you know where she is?”
Shay gave him his best bad-boy country rock star look. “Sir, as you mentioned, things didn’t work out last summer, and I had to move on personally. I have no idea.”
Kurt shot all of the Summervilles a suspicious look.
“How can we help find her?” Mason asked, looking concerned and moving into the circle.
The senator shook his head, and he and Kurt rushed toward the house. “You can’t.”
Chapter 16
Tauni’s phone dinged in Jaycee’s hand. She looked up. “Shay says they have found out I’m gone.”
Duke’s phone rang.
Crap! She hadn’t considered that Duke’s phone might be tracked.
Duke answered it. “Hey. What? No, I don’
t know where she is. Where am I? Oh, I got caught up. I was just heading that way.”
The truth, Jaycee considered, was that no one expected a lot from Duke. No one would even be surprised that he wasn’t there.
“Okay.” Duke hung up, then went to the settings on his phone and made sure his locator tracking was turned off. “I don’t know if they know I’m involved.” He turned to Mr. Stetson in worry. “What should we do?”
Tires squealed out front, and three guys burst into the office.
Jaycee’s heart skipped a beat, and terror flooded through her.
“What are you doing, bursting into my office?” Mr. Stetson was on his feet, going toe to toe with these huge guys who looked like warriors. He already had his gun pulled out of his hip holster.
The lead one put up a hand. “Sorry to bust in, sir.” He turned his phone so they could see the screen. “This is Jack Summerville, and we’re working this op with him.”
“Jack?” Duke said, moving to the phone. “What’s up, Jack?”
Jack smiled on the other end. “Hey Duke, I knew I’d get to whoop your butt some other time.”
Duke suddenly broke off laughing, as if they were sharing some great joke.
“Listen, let these guys help you,” Jack said. “I have to go. We’ll catch up to you all in a bit.”
Jaycee put a hand to her chest, staring at these huge guys. “You are going to help us?”
The huge guy nodded. “I’m John. This is Dirk and Tim. We’ll be escorting you all to a safe place and then waiting on Jack and others to come.”
Jaycee felt herself start trembling.
Mr. Stetson was clearly apprehensive, hadn’t put away his gun. “Who authorized this?”
“Sir, Captain Summerville, who was just on the phone—"
"That's Shay's older brother," Jaycee filled in for Mr. Stetson.
The guy talking, John, nodded at her, then swung his gaze back. "We have an investigation going on with the Senator to expose him and his organization. We're here to offer protection to all of you until we figure out how to protect you on a more permanent basis."