Elena remembering her grandmas’ pleas for her to go and now she was actually trying to persuade someone else to.
Ironic.
“Yeah, I’d like that. We can see if Roger and Amy want to go as well. It’ll be good for all of us.”
Elena turned over on her back, Alex still hovered over her.
“You are going to be an awesome dad, I can see it already,” Elena said softly, biting her lower lip.
He smiled, looking at her with a smirk, then leaned in to kiss her. It was amazing to her how her want for him hadn’t dwindled at all in these past months. He was so perfect to her and for her; his tan square jaw, the curls laying on his forehead, his strong arms over her.
She always got lost in his big blue eyes that seemed to know her. The way he looked at her, like he was dreaming and still not believing what he was seeing, made her knees weak and shaky. He could persuade her to do anything with those eyes.
He rolled over to lay beside her and face her, twining their arms and legs together.
“So, I’m wondering why I haven’t heard from Agent Wright yet,” he said with a sigh.
He put one hand over his chest with her hand under his. He was rubbing the back of her fingers with his thumb doing fantastic things to her skin and heartbeat.
“I’m sure everything’s fine. Probably just getting all their ducks in a row,” Elena reasoned just as Alex’s cell phone rang out with “Another One Bites The Dust”.
“No one has this number but him, it’s past 10:00 at night already... Hello?” Alex answered, a wary look on his face. “Yes, we’re all here. What’s up? Any news?...Uhuh... ok...so now what?...hmm...ok...ok...oh...ok, yep...talk to you soon. Thanks.”
Alex hung up and began telling Elena what had been said before she could even ask.
“He said they are pretty sure they have located the traffickers that supply the women to the community, but can’t move in on them yet. They are hoping to get more information to make sure so as not to scare them off and lose them again. If they move where they are taking the girls now, they’ll have a heck a time finding them again. But they are planning a raid on the community in five days. They are sending a mole tomorrow to scope out everything. He’ll let us know when they know anything.”
* * *
The next two days flew by as rainy, sleepy, couch and movie watching days. It was getting a little tense, all four of them stuck in the house all day and night. The guys were anxious to do something, anything, maybe even work part time somewhere. They all got along well, but stir crazy turned into cranky.
Everyone was so quick to apologize for any slightest bit of squabble and no disagreement lasted more than four minutes. Elena quite enjoyed the humor of it all and felt blessed to be ‘stuck’ with such wonderful people.
They heard a knock on their front door late one night. Agent Wright stood there, hair beaded with rain. He shook off his coat before coming inside, a less than enthusiastic look on his red face.
“Have you heard from anyone but me?” he asked impatiently as he took his coat off and set his umbrella to lean against the foyer wall. “Has anyone called you or have you seen anyone parking in the street near the house?” he demanded, glancing around the room like he was looking for something.
“No, no one. What’s this about? What happened?” Alex too sounded worried now.
“Where were you today?” he asked tersely.
“We were here, all day. Why?” Alex answered with a frown creasing his forehead.
“I’m sorry. Alex...we have a mole.”
Everyone froze, wide eyed, holding their breath.
“What? How?”
“I’m sorry, we don’t know what happened but they knew we were coming. My agent is dead.”
The girls gasped and Elena covered her mouth with her hands. Amy curled herself into Roger’s chest, whose face was shocked. Alex sat down on the couch edge and watched Wright, thinking that he must have known him personally as well as professionally. The twinge of guilt crept up as they watched Wright fight for composure over his dead agent.
Wright cleared his throat and straightened himself before going on.
“We don’t know who or how but somehow, there is a mole in my operation. We are still gonna do the raid, even though they may know we’re coming then too. We’ve got no other choices at this point. We’re going in the morning instead, in two days. I’m not giving any orders until we are heading that way so hopefully, they won’t get a heads up about it. This has never happened to me anyway. I know my guys. I can’t believe…I can’t imagine who it could be.”
“I’m so sorry about your man,” Alex began, getting up and placing a hand on Wright’s shoulder. “I can’t believe this. I knew they were viscous but...Agent Wright, I’m so sorry. I feel responsible. I didn’t stress enough their intense protection of their community.”
“No, it’s not your fault. He was well trained, we aren’t sure what went down yet. His bug was removed and destroyed, maybe that’s how they found him out. Listen, don’t talk to anyone but me, I don’t care what they tell you, or who they say they are, until we get this figured out. I know it’s late, I’ll get going and let you back to your evening. I just wanted to let you know in person, didn’t want to call you so you’d know it was me for sure. I’ll be in touch.”
He waved sullenly at the girls, before he went out the door.
Alex walked him out to his car. When he came back in everyone was stunned by what they heard, that night the four of them didn’t talk much. They zombied through dinner and dishes and sat silently in front of the television, no one paying attention.
There really wasn’t much that anyone could say or do.
Eventually, they all went to bed. Alex and Elena lay, awake, looking at the ceiling, Elena lying on his arm as a pillow.
Suddenly they heard a noise, loud like breaking glass. Alex jumped up, throwing on some pants.
“Stay here,” he ordered as he buttoned his jeans.
Elena sat up further and covered herself with the sheet.
“Alex, be careful.”
She decided it best to get up and throw on a shirt. Alex’s button up oxford was on the foot of the bed so she grabbed it, wrapping it around herself. Alex carefully peeked out the room door, Roger was already in the hall, same as him, barefoot, jeans and shirtless.
They crept slowly down to the kitchen, the girls slowly came into the hall as well, walking and holding each other’s arms, scared but not wanting to miss anything and more than anything else, not wanting to be left alone.
There were glass shards all over the floor and the kitchen door windows were broken out and the wood splintered and hanging. Alex slowly opened the door holding an umbrella as a weapon he had grabbed in the hall earlier. He blew out a sigh of relief as he picked up a large broken branch off the porch.
“The storm must’ve blown it. It’s ok. I’ll get something to put over the window.” Alex went to the garage to get some cardboard and Roger began sweeping up the glass.
“Girls, go on back to bed. It’s ok now. We’ll take care of this,” Roger said turning to look at them and looking away even more quickly.
Elena, remembered what she was wearing and practically ran down the hall. I forgot to button the shirt! Jeez! She had just pulled it together in her haste and stood there holding it shut with it barely covering her thighs.
She ran to her room and grabbed her jeans and buttoned the shirt. Her and Amy and sat on Amy’s bed together until Roger came back, then Elena headed to her own room.
After the window incident, everyone went back to bed, thinking that everything was fine, thinking they were safe, thinking the window had been a casualty of the storm and not letting the thought of something sinister even cross their exhausted minds.
Chapter 12
The next morning, Roger and Alex were sitting at the table, trying to come up with a plan; a money plan. Though they had quite a bit of a stash between the two of them, with no income
coming in, it would be taken down pretty quickly. Making money wouldn’t be as easy for either one of them as it had in the past. Neither one was quite sure of what avenue to take. Maybe go into business together, cabinets and taxes.
“Ha! That would be a first for sure,” Alex said laughing.
“Yeah.” Roger chuckled. “It’s alright, man. We’ll figure something out.”
“Maybe we should do the stock market thing?”
“Maybe. Either way, we can’t all sit here in the same house all day every day and not do something. No offense. I love ya, buddy, but not that much.” Roger laughed and punched Alex in the arm.
“Ditto.”
* * *
The girls had been doing laundry and cleaning an already clean house. The house was definitely spotless with two women and nothing to do all day, not to mention one pregnant and nesting. They got along surprisingly well Elena, thought. She had always heard that saying about more than one hen in a house. That definitely didn’t apply to them.
They were trying to give the guys a little space. She knew they were struggling a little with all that was on their shoulders. Plus being cooped up and waiting was neither of the guys’ specialties. She and Amy had even talked about surprising them with a boxing lesson and then a movie and dinner to get out of the house and blow off some steam.
A guy movie of course.
Elena had checked the listings and times for that night. She heard them laughing in the other room and was glad things seemed to be not so tense.
After lunch they all took a nap, the girls coercing the guys. They wanted them to be rested for their afternoon out. The guys didn’t mind, of course. Lots of times there was more than sleeping going on in a house with two sets of newlyweds.
Elena was so relieved when they moved in when she realized their bedrooms were on opposite ends of the house. They each had a bathroom right next to their rooms also, big ones with his and hers sinks. It was a perfect little set up for their present situation. Now they were just waiting on Agent Wright to get back with them all the details.
About three o’clock that afternoon the girls informed the guys they had scheduled them a two hour long boxing lesson at the local gym. The guys were more than a little excited about it and quickly dressed and kissed the girls to head out.
Amy and Elena laughed at their eagerness to get away from them. Neither of the guys had a gym to go to in the community so this was a treat and something fun to do to work out some stress. What better way than to beat the tar out of your best friend? And the gym happened to be two blocks away so they didn’t worry about the girls.
They came back after a while and got another surprise.
The guys seemed happy, really happy in fact, that the girls wanted to go see a movie. Probably, if nothing else, to get out of the house, but with the new Stallone playing, the girls knew it wouldn’t take that much work.
The guys showered and dressed, they all piled in Roger’s truck and left.
Dinner was quick and good. This town definitely had a niche for small hometown restaurants with excellent food and good service. They all devoured their made from scratch chicken and dumplings, the house special.
They bought their tickets and popcorn and went inside the theater like normal couples would. Roger and Amy had never been to a movie together or any kind of date really. Amy was so ecstatic she was bouncing on her toes the whole way in. They started to sit in the very back first but there was quite a lot of teenagers back there, sitting boy-girl-boy-girl. They chuckled, knowing what was gonna be going on back there once the lights went down and decided to sit in the middle instead. Alex made some joke about them not being young enough to sit in the back anymore, but it was true all the same, and they laughed about it.
Amy scarfed her and Roger’s popcorn before inhaling a box a chocolate covered raisins on top of that. Roger just sat back and watched her with an amused expression as she licked the chocolate from her fingers.
Elena even enjoyed the movie, more than she thought she would for a rough-em-up, beat-em-down kind. They stopped for some ice cream on the way home, Amy’s idea, sitting out on the benches in the warm breeze that melted their ice cream quickly and caused more mess than wanted and the girls laughed as they tried to suck their fingers and bite the ice cream instead of lick it. Roger and Alex rolled their eyes amusingly at the girls and helped them until it was all devoured.
They piled back into Roger’s truck, full and sticky and arrived home late, Amy almost passing out on the short drive home.
The girls grabbed their leftovers from under the seat and walked behind the guys to the front porch.
“Wait. Girls, go get back in the truck and lock the doors,” Alex ordered, holding his arm out as if to shield them.
Everyone looked up to see the front door open and the the lock smashed in.
“Go!” Roger yelled to them as he ran cautiously up to the porch.
The girls did as they were told.
“Do you see anything?” Alex whispered, now on the opposite side of the door frame as Roger.
“No, it’s too dark. I don’t hear anything either.”
“Me either. What do you think? I think our mole paid us a visit.”
“Really? You don’t think it’s more likely someone from the community was here?”
Alex shrugged his shoulders as he crept slowly through the door.
* * *
The girls, watching from the truck, were terrified not knowing if someone was still inside. Elena debated calling Agent Wright on the pre-paid untraceable cell phone Alex had bought her for emergencies. She didn’t know if it was safe though and wanted to wait for Alex to tell her it was ok as she watched Roger’s back move out of sight.
After a few minutes they saw the kitchen light come on. Then Alex’s face coming towards them out the door. The girls opened their doors and made their way to meet him in the driveway. Alex hugged Elena to soothe her, knowing she’d be freaked and began to explain before she could even ask, like he always did, and she loved that about him.
“Someone broke in, but it doesn’t look like they took anything. Come on, it’s late and I don’t want the neighbors to be suspicious. Let’s get you both inside.”
They walked inside together and looked around. It didn’t appear anything had been touched except for the door.
“I wonder what they were looking for?” Roger asked as he pulled drawers open and searched the desk. “Maybe they thought we were here, asleep.”
“Maybe. I’m starting to think our branch through the window the other night was no accident either.” Alex mused lacing Elena’s fingers with his when she gasped. “I think someone was checking to see who was here. I played right into it too, walking out on the porch to check it out. Maybe you’re right, Rog. I don’t think it was the mole. I think they were here.”
Everyone knew which ‘they’ Alex was referring to.
The Community.
It was time to go.
Even though it was past 11:00 p.m. Alex called Agent Wright and he was just as shocked, waking out of his anything but peaceful slumber in his cruiser. They were apparently still out preparing for the raid and he wasn’t in town.
He told them to get out of the house immediately, which they’d already planned on, and don’t say where they were going over the phone. He would contact them later. Nobody had to tell them twice.
They didn’t leave town but went to a hotel that took cash. This had come down on them faster than they had imagined or guessed they would have. It had only been a week since they left. So they picked a crappy motel, one that wasn’t very nice or popular form the looks of things.
Everyone tried to sleep in their conjoining rooms but worrying about someone coming in to kill you in your sleep makes for a restless night. No one knew it but Alex had prepared himself for such a day, after the branch incident he’d already been thinking about it. Being scared and helpless, carrying an umbrella for goodness sake as a weapon had been the last
straw for him.
He’d bought a gun.
Before they left for the hotel with only a couple changes of clothes he made sure to grab the hand gun he had recently bought from the bed side table drawer and pack in in the bottom so Elena wouldn’t find it.
* * *
Elena woke, lying on her stomach, with the sun shining in her eyes from the side of the curtain. She felt behind her for Alex and when she found cold sheets instead of him she quickly jumped up looking around the room.
He was sitting in the arm chair in the corner, asleep, his head fell back on the back of the chair with a pillow in his lap. Elena stayed in bed looking at him for a bit. Looking around the room, a shady motel room, it wasn’t just outdated, it was desolate. But, Elena was happy at least that it was clean and cheap in case they needed to be there for a while.
She wanted to check on Amy and Roger but couldn’t tear her eyes from Alex. His brow was furrowed and even though he was sleeping he looked as if he was tense and alert, in a severely cute husbandly way.
She crossed over the brown carpeted floor to put a blanket on him as it was still kinda early and chilly in the room. When she took the pillow from his lap she was startled and covered her mouth to keep from waking him with her gasp.
There was a gun laying in his hand under the pillow, finger not on the trigger but close enough for easy access. She realized the chair was pointed toward the door.
It all flooded over her in a wash of emotion, the danger that was literally on their doorstep and Alex, though putting on his brave face, was just as scared and worried as she was. The danger was immediate and real, there was no where to run without letting it all go.
Letting the help they felt owed the girls go. They couldn’t do that. She and Alex had spoken of this before. “Even if only one girl is saved, it’s all worth it”. Elena thought to herself that was just as true a statement as it had been months ago.
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