Page 54 of Unexpectedly Wanted
Dune’s steps halted. He turned his head with an eerie slowness before pinning Austin with a look that said he really wanted to punch our jokester teammate.
“Knock it off, you two.” I pushed on Austin’s shoulder to get him moving and away from Dune.
“What?” Austin said, sounding clueless. But I wasn’t dumb enough to fall for that act.
We drew closer, but stopped before we could be spotted.
There, barely fitting in a space in the middle of the trees, was an RV that looked as if it was seconds away from collapsing in on itself. There was a light on in the back, which happened to be the part that was facing us. But the curtains were drawn and we couldn’t make out any sign of movement.
“Plan?” Dune asked, looking to me for what was next.
My eyes scanned the area. There wasn’t shit around. One good thing about this. We should have been able to sneak up with no problem. If we were lucky, this would go down smoothly. But we didn’t know what he had in that RV. We didn’t even know if this was him. Though the location did seem about right. Not a house, but it was the only thing around for a mile or so.
“Two doors on the cab and one additional one on the passenger side that leads to the back area,” I said as I took in the RV. It wasn’t that big, and I couldn’t even imagine all three of us trying to get in there at the same time. “I’ll hang back, watch the rear and passenger side. Austin, you’ll go around and check the driver’s seat. Dune, you’re on the other side and Austin will work his way around. Both of you breach the back door. Dune you’ll be in first position. Got it?”
“Yep,” Austin said.
“Got it,” Dune replied.
I moved slowly, doing my best to make it to the back of the RV as quietly as I could. The ground was soggy and littered with brush and twigs and any kind of obstacle you could imagine. There was no sign of life coming from the place. But that light was on, so I was hoping that he was in there and he was asleep. If we could catch him off guard, this thing might go down a little smoother.
Everyone was in their positions. Austin signaled that he couldn’t see anything from the side window before he made his way around the front. I shifted my position and now had eyes on Dune. With a nod in my direction, Dune pulled his firearm from his holster and reached for the door handle with his free hand. It made a small clicking noise as he pulled it, and I knew we all were a little surprised to find it unlocked.
This part was usually hard for me. The part where I was the one that stayed behind. I was there, but I felt useless. The backup to the backup. The guy there for the ‘just in case.’ I tried not to let those thoughts get to me, but sometimes, they were there. It was better when I was in a vehicle, acting as command post. At least then I had something to do. Some way to guide them and have their backs.
There was a commotion and yelling after Dune and Austin disappeared out of my sight. Someone was in there. It was a relief, and not, at the same time.
“Clear!” Austin called out. “We got the little girl!”
And there was the full feeling of relief.
I could tell by Austin’s tone that she was okay. Well, maybe not okay, but she was alive.
Dune lumbered out of the doorway, a tiny figure cradled in his arms. I couldn’t see her face, but her mop of dark brown hair moved and there was that sense of ‘thank fuck’ that got to me every time.
I was part of a team. We all had a part, small or not. We all worked toward the same goal.
And it was moments like this that reminded me why I was here. Why I pushed aside those thoughts telling me I was useless.
It took the rest of the day to actually wrap everything up. We had to coordinate with our FBI connections and the local police. Crawford Tiller was taken into custody. The little girl, Ally, was checked out by paramedics at the scene, and then taken to a local hospital. Dune and Austin stayed with her, while I got in touch with her parents.
By the time Austin and Dune picked me up, we all were looking about ready to drop.
As much as I wanted to get back, I knew it would be reckless for us to try.
So we stopped and got a hotel room. Where we took turns crashing and showering.
After a three-hour nap, I was itching to get back on the road. But Dune and Austin both said that we weren’t heading back until we got a decent meal.
They made fun of me for practically shoving the whole turkey burger down my throat the moment it was in my hands.
“Anxious to get back?” Austin asked, a cocky smirk on his face.
I was. Anxious for a number of reasons. I had no idea what I was going back to. Should I even go back to Milo’s house? How had the talk with his parents gone? We were done? The smart thing would have been to call him. But I had been avoiding my phone since I called him last night. I would continue to avoid it.
I probably shouldn’t take advice from Austin, but I was going to. I just wouldn’t check my phone, which meant that I’d have no clue about any messages that may or may not be there. Any calls that I could have made to find out what was going on. I’d just play dumb when I showed up at his house.
And that lasted until I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was like I couldn’t ignore it. I opened my phone to a slew of messages. All of them from Milo. I couldn’t help but smile as I read through all of them. Though he hadn’t said it outright, I could sense the worry in his texts. But I got to the bottom and the last few hit me like a sledgehammer to the gut.
