Stay

“Yes. Better than anyone.”

“And he knows you just as well?” she continued.

“Yes, but what does that matter?”

“You said you’d listen.” She put a hand on her hip.

“We’re listening. Just keep going.”

“If I wasn’t here, would you have assumed he went into hiding?”

“Yes.” Owen answered first. “Once the shock wore off that is. Levi would have found a way to protect Allie.”

“Ok, so let’s run with that.” She paused. “Building off that, he’d have expected you two to have found this.” She gestured behind her to what was the house.

“Considering I’m the only one who knew they were here, yes. That makes the most sense.”

“Well, clearly you weren’t the only one,” she raised an eyebrow, “but you are the only ones he generally confides in.”

“Just spit it out. What are you circling?”

She sighed. “Fine. Bottom line, he’d expect you to go along with his plan. You work for him. You’d do whatever he asked.”

“Technically, yes.”

“Then continue with his plan. Assume he knew trouble was coming and got away in time. What would he have done? What was he expecting the enemy to think?”

I thought over everything she’d said. “You’re right. He would have wanted the enemy to think he was dead. He’d want them to think they’d won.”

Vera nodded. “All Tiffany wants is for Casey to take over as queen, let’s let her think she won this battle. It might make her sloppy. Murphy seemed to think he’d succeeded, and look at how sloppy he was.”

Owen jumped in. “And she wouldn’t look for him. They’d be safer wherever they are in hiding.”

“Exactly.” She smiled. “I knew you guys were smart enough to handle this.”

“But won’t they already know there aren’t any bodies?” Owen asked.

Vera shook her head. “Murphy was probably in charge here. We’ll just have to wake him up enough to tell the powers that be that the mission was a success, unless he contacted them already.”

“Again with the mission….” I ribbed.

“Shut up. We need to be serious. Do you think you can wake him up?”

“I can try.” I bent down and slapped Murphy in the face. He didn’t move. I tried it again, this time shaking his body. “Okay, time for a plan B.”

Owen seemed to consider it. “How do you think he was communicating with his people? Cell phones don’t work, right?”

“I have an idea, but you guys might not like it.” Vera flipped her hair off her shoulder in a surprisingly feminine gesture.

“What is it?”

“We send the message ourselves.”

“What?” I shook my head. “No way. We can’t scare everyone like that.”

“It’s going to be short term. We just have to get the word out there.”

“We should have someone call it in to Georgina.” Someone working with the boss was watching her. There was no question about that. “I’m not doing it myself. She’d probably have me killed since she hates me already.”

“Fine. I’ll make contact with someone. I’ll also have someone come pick up that son of a bitch. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Owen took off before I could even respond.

“But we’re really going to be searching for them. I’m not giving up. If they’re in trouble we can’t just go home.” I balled my hand into a fist.

“Of course we will. This is all just to buy us time. It also buys Levi time,” Vera quickly reassured me.

“But all of this means lying to Casey. Even if it’s indirectly, she’s going to find out.” I looked at Vera. “Are you okay with it?”

“This is to protect her too. We need to get Levi back and lure Tiffany out. How long would it take them to get Casey ready?”

“A few days at least. Georgina is going to want to do everything right.”

“Then we have a few days to find them, and hopefully Tiffany and everyone she’s working with show their face during this.”

“Okay, but do you have any idea where we start our search? Did they leave any clues?”

She smiled. “I think so, although you guys are going to have to tell me yourself. Let’s wait for Owen.”

“Just show me.”

“I’m waiting for him.”

I waited impatiently for Owen to return. A few minutes later he landed. “What’s going on?”

“She found something.”

“What?”

“Show us,” I demanded. “Don’t hold anything back.”

“Is that the way to treat your leader?” she teased.

“You’re only in charge temporarily.”

“Temporarily? Ok, I’ll take that for now. Be right back.” She dashed back over to the remains of the house and returned with a black suitcase. “Does this mean anything to you?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Casey

Waiting around for Tiffany to attack us didn’t sound like a particularly good idea, but I wasn’t sure how much trouble I’d stir up by arguing with Gareth. Insisting I leave was essentially telling him that I didn’t think he could keep me safe, and considering all his talk about welcoming me home, I didn’t think that would go over well. That didn’t mean I was going to sit back and do nothing though.

Gareth was a natural born leader, and that leadership extended to military endeavors. As soon as he finished talking, he’d gone to get his men ready. We started to follow Gareth when Daria and Maddock stopped us. No one said anything until Gareth disappeared back up the path.

“Let Gareth do what he does best. There are more important things for you to be doing.” Maddock gave us his trademark glare.

“Ok, what could be more important than preparing to fight Tiffany?” Eric asked. I was seeing such a different side of him. It was a much less annoying side.

Maddock looked right at me. “Casey needs to leave. You all said it yourselves.”

“Is Gareth going to be okay with that plan?” I asked.

“Gareth is a good leader, but he doesn’t know what’s best for you,” Daria lowered her voice to a near whisper.

“What are you suggesting?” Toby leaned in closer to her.

“Use Gareth’s plan as cover. Tiffany is going to see the preparations, and we can get you out.”