Page 60 of Valor

“We wait until I can talk to a friend in cyber security. I don’t have anyone like that on my force, but I have friends. We’ll have them look into it as soon as possible.” He stopped at a wide window with a narrow ledge. There was one small area where items could be passed under the glass, but it was filled with a door.

“Jackie, she’s with me.”

A woman sitting behind a bank of computer monitors nodded her head and pushed some buttons in front of her. The door next to the window buzzed, then opened. Heather had never seen a door quite that thick, yet it swung out all on its own.

She hurried into the room behind Allen, and it closed behind her, much quieter than she expected, with aclickto lock them in.

“Any calls?” Allen sat down in a rolling desk chair near Jackie.

The dispatcher looked at him, then over at Heather, and back again, as if to ask if she was allowed to say anything in front of the stranger. Allen nodded at the unasked question, and Jackie proceeded.

“We’ve had one drunk and disorderly. The only other calls tonight were out to your house. Did you see anything? Is everyone alright?”

Heather didn’t want to look too closely at anything, since she knew she really shouldn’t be there. He’d only brought her because she was in danger and there was no one else she could stay with. She wandered to the window and noticed a keypad near the side which had to open the little door under it to allow things to pass through without opening the big door to the side.

She ignored most of the conversation going on behind her, telling herself that she shouldn’t make anything here her business. She had enough with what was going on in her own life.

Allen’s deep voice penetrated her thoughts. “Is Shady Oaks still open for the season?”

The place was old and out of the way, if she recalled correctly. Mom used to rent one of the cabins there every summer, just to get out of the house. The owner gave Mom a discount because they’d been school friends. That fact hadn’t sat well with Dad, but he always enjoyed their mini vacations all the same.

“Far as I know, they are. I think they try to stay open until the temperatures get below a certain point, but you’d have to ask Ben.”

In the reflection of the window, she saw Allen check his watch. “It’s early for Ben. Doesn’t he do campfires out there with doughnut making?”

Jackie laughed. “That he does, though he may have stopped for the season. I think business slows down quite a bit after school starts.”

Allen snorted. “There are enough people homeschooling now that it’s probably busier for longer. I’ll head to my office and give him a call. Thank you for the update.”

Jackie waved him away and after the sound of a few buttons clicking, the heavy door opened once more. Heather wanted to ask more questions, but she’d already been a burden on Allen tonight. He’d been shot at in his own home for her, someone he didn’t like. His comment about voting had made her feel like he was losing trust in her as much as he’d thought she didn’t trust him. Being an elected official, he probably thought people who didn’t vote at all were useless. She’d always felt that if she didn’t know exactly what someone stood for, she would not go into a voting booth and elect them.

She followed him further into the belly of the building, which felt very closed in, despite looking large on the outside. Even the florescent lights made the space feel cramped. Allen used a scan card to open his office, and he let her inside.

Papers scattered his desk and file cabinets lined the back. Even though he’d been in office for almost a year, nothing on the walls was his own. Allen sat at his desk and made a call to Shady Oaks. Ben answered and she heard his muffled voice tell Allen they could use a cabin free of charge. He’d even lock up the security gate to keep people out.

For some reason, that didn’t make her feel any more secure about going there.

CHAPTERFOUR

Heather satin the passenger seat of the unmarked car as Ben met them at the gate. He unlocked the chain around the post, then walked it open. Her neck tingled in apprehension, but she told herself she was only nervous because she’d been shot at twice already. She had no desire for it to happen again.

Allen waved to Ben as he pulled through, and she watched him disappear in her rearview as Allen drove down the wooded path toward the main lodge. “How will we know which cabin to go to?” Heather glanced over her shoulder back at Ben and said a prayer for him. She didn’t want anyone getting hurt because of her.

“He told me over the phone which one to go to. I kept that information from everyone except Jackie. She’s my dispatch, and she has to be able to reach me.”

He was the sheriff, so she couldn’t expect him to disappear while she needed him. Even if she wanted to disappear herself.

Trees covered the landscape, drawing her attention away from Jackie to the fact that they were all alone out in the woods. When her dad had been there to protect her, she hadn’t been bothered by the trees that seemed to close in on her or the owls hooting. Now she felt alone. If Allen weren’t a public servant, he wouldn’t be helping her, and she would be alone.

He pulled to a stop in front of a small cabin. As she got out of the car, she heard night sounds. Crickets chirped nearby, though she couldn’t identify the other noises. During the day, those same sounds probably wouldn’t put her on edge.

Allen headed right for the door and pushed it open. He held it for her. “Bob said the key would be inside and we should lock the door as soon as we find it. Give me a second to check the house.”

Her feet stayed rooted to the ground. Last time she’d gone into a house that was supposed to be safe, she’d been shot at. Before that, when she’d tried to go home, her house had been full of invaders who’d taken her father. No matter how much she told herself there was nothing to fear inside that dark cabin, she couldn’t make herself go in.

Allen stepped in and flicked the light on. He was a good man and would make a trustworthy friend if that were ever an option. She’d never actively defied her father, especially with something he was passionate about. Maybe in this case, she could. Her father was missing out on knowing someone he would get along with.

That made her curious about what her father could’ve seen in Allen that she wasn’t seeing. She’d assumed the issue was Allen’s father and his drinking, which perhaps had led to carousing. There had to be more to that story that made Dad distrust him and his son by default.

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