Page 41 of Operation Rescue
“Good start.” He walked over to the driver’s door. “Thought I’d go throw some gas into it. It’s pretty low.”
“She’s worried about paying for all this,” Blaine said frankly, “so let me give you—”
Rafe cut him off with a shake of his head. “You’re Foxworth clients now.”
“But that can’t include vehicle maintenance. Not to mention the price of gas here.”
The former sniper smiled. “It can if the Foxworth agent in charge says so. And right now that’s me.”
Blaine studied him for a long, silent moment before saying, “Man, no wonder you like this job.”
“I do,” Rafe agreed. “It’s the best thing—”
He stopped as the door opened behind them. Erin stepped outside. Blaine braced himself. He didn’t really regret that parting shot, since it was pure truth, but he didn’t expect to walk away unscathed. Although as he watched her come toward them, she did not look like someone looking for payback. In fact, she looked like someone barely hanging on. And that got his gut churning.
Just as she reached them Rafe’s phone rang. He looked at it, and answered so quickly Blaine figured it had to be his lady or his boss. Boss, he decided, when Rafe explained to the caller about what the pet store video had shown them, that as of yesterday Ethan was still okay and still local.
If it had been the brave lady he would have walked away to give the guy some privacy.Or to avoid hearing him talking to the woman he loved, and who still loved him despite whatever it was that had pulled them apart?
Rafe was listening now. Then he said, sounding a little surprised, “He doesn’t have to—” He stopped, and for a moment closed his eyes. Then, quietly, in a tone of utter respect Blaine doubted he gave many, he said, “Yes, sir…thank you.”
The call ended and Rafe looked at them. “Let’s go inside. We have a couple of things to talk about.”
He leaned in and shut off the car, then handed Erin back her keys. “It sounds…new,” she said.
“Should run better. I wasted some gas doing it, so we’ll top it off later,” Rafe said as he headed for the office door. The guy had learned some tact along the way, and he wondered if the lady had managed that.
Maybe she could teach me.
He smothered a sigh as he followed Erin back inside. Rafe walked over to the workstation they’d been using, hit a few keys, but then came back and indicated they should go back to the couch, specifically together, in front of the flat-screen on the wall.
Erin gave him a sideways look, but sat. And feeling he had no other choice, he sat down beside her. Only when he looked up did Blaine realize the flat-screen on the wall had come to life.
“Call coming in in a few,” Rafe explained.
Then he sat down to one side and looked at them both. In the manner of someone giving a briefing, he said, “Quinn’s going to fly Walker back to help. He’s been here long enough now that he’s got some more local contacts. Plus he’s got some special experience that might help.”
“Special experience at…?” Erin asked.
Rafe shifted his gaze to her. “Do you remember that big terrorist sleeper cell the Feds took down a while back? The ones behind those bombings at local arenas in Chicago and Philadelphia?”
“Yes.” Blaine saw she looked horrified, no doubt wondering what that had to do with Ethan. As he was.
Rafe continued. “Remember the civilian they credited with getting all the intel necessary, and saving thousands of lives? The one who just happened onto them, but risked his life and practically lived undercover with them for five years to help take them down?”
“Yes,” she said. “I do. I remember thinking how incredibly brave he was.”
“That guy,” Rafe said with more than a touch of wonder himself, “was Walker Cole. My boss’s brother-in-law, his wife Hayley’s brother.”
Blaine stared at him. “The Walker you said runs this office?”
Rafe nodded. “And apparently he’s adapted that undercover experience to where he’s got some connections with the local gangs that have been occasionally…helpful.”
Blaine let out a low whistle. This had to be what Rafe had been so…awed by, when he’d been on the phone with his boss. He himself was a bit awed, that his boss would have somebody drop everything to come back and help a guy he’d never even met. “And he’s coming back here?”
Rafe nodded again. “Should be here by late this evening. Jace—” He stopped and explained to Erin that this was one of the local Foxworth guys, then went on. “Jace is going to stay there to finish the location search, and Quinn has to head back home, but he’ll drop Walker off on his way, and I’ll go pick him up. That way I can read him in on the way back.”
“This Walker…he’s really coming back here to help look for Ethan?” Erin sounded a little stunned.
