Page 45 of Redemption

“Okay, sounds good,” Trick replies.

Pete prints off the map for each of us. Every safe house has one for this reason, and then we split up to study it.

∞∞∞

“Alright, everyone load up,” Trick announces, pulling me out of my daydream. “When we get to the house, we’re watching it for a while before we head in to see if there’s any movement, where Linda is, and if she’s with anyone, the usual.”

Everyone nods and then splits off to grab their stuff, and I head to the bathroom to pee. There is nothing worse than being on a stakeout and needing to pee.

Once we’re all geared up and before we head out of the door, Pete says, “Hold up, guys, I was double-checking the cameras near where we’re going to park the cars before we head up through the woods to Linda’s house, and there’s a strange signal. I can’t locate its origin. It’s not enough for me to call off the operation, but I do think we should be extra careful. All the earpieces need to be off unless there is an emergency or we’re heading in.”

“Got it,” I reply. We have a tendency to chat if the earpieces are on permanently anyway. “Do you think someone could pick up the signal and either know that we’re there or be able to hear what’s being said?”

Pete frowns as he shrugs. “I’m not sure. It’s most likely nothing, but I would like to err on the side of caution.”

“Agreed. We’ll keep the comms quiet,” Trick says. “Off, unless absolutely necessary.”

“Good,” Pete replies. “The phones won’t have signal either. That’s got nothing to do with that weird signal that I picked up on. It’s just because we’re heading to one of the remotest parts of the island.”

“Thanks, Pete,” Rage smiles. “Let’s go.”

As usual, a thrill goes through me as we get into the cars and head to the location where we’re going to park them.

I absolutely love what we do, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Thankfully, now that the sun is starting to set, the heat has drawn back a little bit, and it’s not quite as unbearable as it was when we first arrived.

I am not a hot weather person. Occasionally I like it, but not for very long. Fall and Winter will forever be my absolute favorite times of the year, although I do think that’s mostly because some of my favorite holidays are in those seasons.

Christmas is my absolute favorite, of course.

We find the place that Pete has designated for us to park really easily. There’s an overgrown turning that leads into the trees and to a small clearing that has a huge rockface on one side and then is surrounded on all other sides by trees.

The whole place is very overgrown, and it’s clear that it isn’t used that often. There aren’t any signs of anyone being here recently.

On the off chance that someone does show up, hopefully they’ll just think that we’re parked up for a late-night walk. From the maps that Pete showed us, Linda’s place is still quite far away, so no one will suspect that we’re here for her.

Which is the whole point of us parking here.

Pete was right. The houses out here are few and far between, which makes the signal that he was picking up on even more strange.

Having said that, there are literally no phone bars out here at all, and I imagine that things like Wi-Fi are pretty bad too. So it could just be someone rigging something up themselves, and that’s the unrecognizable signal.

Linda’s place is huge, and so are the surrounding gardens. She’s got at least ten or so acres, most likely more.

The walk through the woods is long and hot, and I am absolutely not a fan. However, the edge of Linda’s property finally comes into view.

We keep conversation to a minimum. We’ve gone over the plan enough that we know what we need to do as we walk the edge of the fence to find the break that Pete found.

Once we find it and we’re over the fence, successfully utilizing the blind spot that Pete found earlier, we split up into pairs, apart from Trick, Luc, and Pete, who are heading to the control panel to loop the cameras. I have the map that Pete made us with the security cameras on it, and there really aren’t as many as there should be. Which works to our advantage. Trick gives us each an area where we can watch the house and driveway from, and we all disperse, heading to our places to find somewhere to hide that still gives us a good vantage point.

“Now we just sit and wait,” Rage says quietly as he settles in next to me. “I kind of like this part.”

“Me too,” I reply. When he gives me a skeptical glance, I add, “Okay, so maybe not completely. I mean, I get bored after a while.”

Rage grins, “I know. Hopefully we won’t have to wait for too long.”

Jensen