“I’ve got juice boxes for when you’re thirsty.” Alace found herself smiling, this one not forced or manufactured, but a pure reflection of the joy on the children’s faces. “Crazy kids.”
When Eric arrived, he and Kelly conferred for a brief span of time, then set to work rearranging the patio furniture, carrying various pieces into the yard and placing them at angles from each other. Alace couldn’t figure out the intent until Eric passed by on another trip from the house to the yard with an armful of blankets. Impromptu tent erected, he took Lila from Alace and shooed her inside.
She paused in the doorway and turned back to watch. Eric settled Lila onto a blanket in the shade between two loungers and crowed, “Who needs sunscreen?”
Shaking her head, Alace went upstairs to her computer, surprised at the reluctance she felt. This had nothing to do with worry about Lila. Eric would care for her in all the ways Alace would. No, this was more an unwillingness to miss out on something, anything, to do with the kids.
Job to do, she reminded herself, locking the door and unlocking the computer.
She brought the tracking software to the front of the screen and checked on everyone’s location. All as expected.
Fifteen minutes later, work-board posts complete, Alace was digging into Donald MacLeod in earnest.
She was still working away when her computer dinged, the sound loud through the headphones she wore. Taking them off, she realized she could hear rumbling chatter from downstairs, Eric and the kids apparently back in from the yard. Glancing at the clock in the corner of the screen, she realized nearly three hours had slipped past.
I’ve got them, though. The time spent had been worth it. She had identities on virtually all expected participants for MacLeod’s party this weekend. As fit the profile so far, none were uber rich or highly connected. It was almost as if they’d been recruited for the ring because of their ordinariness. And shared perversions.
Alace set the files to upload into the folder shared with Owen and then navigated to the other window with the darknet request. She’d hit paydirt there, too, her researcher finding six accounts for MacLeod that weren’t in his official portfolio. She downloaded the data, immediately queuing an upload to the shared folder before opening the file.
As that all worked in the background, Alace shifted to the tracker software. MacLeod was back at home for the day, August still in position, Doc waiting at the motel, and Owen was a scarce hour out from his destination. So many moving pieces to their plan, and while she’d built in room for error, most things had to fall into place for them to find success in the end.
She keyed into a texting application on the computer, entering the number for the burner phone Owen was using.
Stop for food and supplies at the next town.
There hadn’t been enough time to stock up the RV before he had to be in place for the bank skim, and while Doc had shopped at several stores for the over-the-counter medical supplies they might need, she hadn’t thought to ask him to grab things like water or snacks.
Doc’s got food covered. The bubbles appeared that said he was sending another message, so she waited before responding. It was nice to send him that picture too. Thanks.
Her stomach gave a slow roll.
Alace chewed on the corner of her bottom lip, trying to find the source of her instant unease. It wasn’t that she didn’t want them talking. She expected a certain amount of interaction between her guys. All three had burners, all three phones had three numbers in them, each of the other two guys, and one for her.
Pristine numbers, not supposed to lead any investigator anywhere. Certainly not bring them back to her doorstep.
The picture.
Her blood ran cold, then hot, heating her chest from the inside out as a flush rose up her neck.
Oh my God.
She hadn’t thought twice about sending the picture to the devices, which was a serious breach of protocol. It hadn’t sunk in until she realized Doc had used the same phone to send it on to Owen.
Shit.
She’d been so caught up in the normalcy of the moment, she’d forgotten who she was.
Forgot what I am.
“Alace?” Eric’s voice shook her free from stasis, breaking the pall of disbelief and disappointment. The doorknob rattled, his words coming from just outside the door. “Beloved, the kids and I have food ready. Do you want to take a break and eat a bite?” Eric, kids, Lila—I’m not what I once was. She didn’t know how to classify herself in this changed circumstance, but it felt oddly healthy.
She looked up to see several unanswered texts from Owen, the last few sent with greater urgency in the messaging. The final simply said, Goddammit Alace, a clue that her silence had frustrated him.
“Alace, honey?”
She shook her head, not a denial of response, but an awakening. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Everything okay?”
She rested her fingers on the keyboard, attempting to compose a reply to Owen. “Yeah, it’s all good. Everyone’s good.” Husbutt and kids made dinner. AFK for 15. “I’m right behind you.”
She stood, and before she could step away, she saw another text from Owen flash into view.
My kids feeding my friend. Sounds about right. Talk soon.
A tap of her fingers locked the screen, pictures of Lila slowly fading in and out. More evidence of how her priorities had changed.
Life is never boring.
***
Owen
“I’m not going to be able to stomach these guys.”
He was back in the RV following the initial meet and greet with the other attendees, and had found having to shake MacLeod’s hand the final straw breaking his limited patience. Pleading exhaustion and implying a base desire to rest up before tonight’s main event, Owen had escaped back to the RV.
August looked up from where he sat next to Doc, both heads bent over a map. Without raising his head, Doc asked, “What’s plan B this time?”
“Plan B.” Owen stalked past them to where a tablet was mounted on the wall. “I’ll show you plan B.” He tapped the surface to wake it, snarling, “Alace, we need a solution now. I can’t go through with the original op.” Turning around to face Doc, he lifted his chin. “Alace is plan A, B, C, and D, all rolled into one.” He twisted back to the tablet, the surface now showing an empty chair. “Where the hell is she?”
“She is right here.” A shadow moved across the far wall in the video, and Alace stepped into frame, perching on the edge of the chair. “If we don’t wait for the event to begin, we won’t have viable evidence for the cops.”
“I’m past wanting the cops in on this one. He’s got six kids, Alace. Six little girls. Other than being scared and a little shook up from the rough handling, they’re not hurt. Not yet.” His head moved back and forth in an uncontrollable rejection of their original plans. “I can’t do it.”
She looked past him, and Owen turned as August stood tall. “I vote plan B.” The man’s rumbling agreement settled Owen, helping him dial back the disgust and revulsion that had been flooding through him. “Kids are already separated from the guests; it won’t take much to bring the little ones back to the RV. Doc can tend to them while Owen and I wipe a little bit more of the earth clean from the pollution of these bastards.”