Tal

TAL

When Lee comes in, I tell him what I saw in the trailer. I won’t let Ava stay in the room. I don’t want her hearing that. I know she’s tough. I know she could probably handle it. But I’ll never get what I saw out of my mind. Never. And I don’t want to know I’m responsible for putting those images in somebody else’s head, at least not unnecessarily.

Lee gets it instantly and starts making calls. By the time he’s alerted everybody, it’s getting light outside, and I tell him I’m pretty sure that’ll be a bust. They’re only operating at night. If there’s anybody out there during the day, they’re just acting as security, and nabbing them will alert the rest. If they want to catch these guys, it’ll have to be after dark. Lee gets the coordinates from me, then says thanks but they’ll take it from here and tells us to go get some rest.

I spend the rest of the day in my bed, curled up and trying not to cry. The things I saw through those windows… No one should do those things to children, and that’s what those kids are. Just children. Ava warms some soup for me halfway through the day, and I try to eat it, but I can’t. It chokes me. I just want to hide from the world, but I’m thankful she’s right beside me, stroking my hair and holding my hand. I haven’t felt this helpless since I lost Gigi and Brynn. At least I know when Gigi was scared, Brynn was right there with her. These kids had no one in their darkest times.

As night falls, I step out onto the porch and sit down in the swing there. I can hear peepers singing and crickets chirping, and I try to relax, listening to the familiar, soothing sounds, but it’s not working. When Ava sits down beside me, I grab her hand and clutch it. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” I whisper.

“They’re taking care of it, babe. It’ll be fine.” I feel her hand under my chin and she rises up and presses her lips to my cheek. When I turn my face to hers, she kisses me.

The next three hours are spent pounding into her in the middle of my big bed. While I’m buried up to my balls in her, I’m not thinking about anything but her tightness and wetness and softness and warmth, and it keeps me from feeling completely untethered and set adrift. Our bodies spent, I draw her up against me and hold her tightly to me, her tenderness comforting.

It’s barely light outside when I hear someone on the front porch, and then there’s banging on the door. My boxer briefs are within reach, and I grab them as I bounce out of bed. “Who the hell is that?” Ava croaks.

“Who’s there?” I call out, trying to drag my pants on.

“It’s Lee.”

“Fuck.” I take the five steps to the door and sling it open. “What’s going on?”

“We got ’em. We got ’em all, Rand. Eight men and all the kids.”

“They’re all alive?” a breathless Ava asks from beside me.

“Yeah. They’re in terrible shape mentally, physically, and emotionally, but they’re alive. They’d, um, use them until they were unconscious, then lock them in that trailer you saw out back of the mobile home. One of the girls will probably lose most of her, you know, organs, and a couple of the boys will have to have some surgeries on, well, you know, but otherwise, they’ll likely be okay physically. But you guys did it. You found the kids and stopped these bastards.”

“No, you guys did that,” I say to correct him.

“Rand, without you and Morrow, it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t approve of how you put yourselves in danger, but it’s okay. You wouldn’t believe the video footage, and they’re searching the apartments of the guys they arrested now. Those assholes are going to jail forever.”

“Good. That’s all we wanted. No notoriety. Just them in prison.”

“They’re going there. So good work.”

“Thanks. Now can we go back to bed?”

“Yes. Please do. I’ll be calling you later. You’ll need to give statements.”

“Gladly. Later.” I watch him go, then turn to Ava. “We did it.”

“You did it, Tal. It was you.”

“No. It was you too. We make a good team.”

She smiles. “Yes. We do.”