TONY
“C’mon in, y’all.”
Standing behind Providence in the doorway is a short, curvy woman with strawberry-blonde hair. She looks to be about the same age as Providence—must be Mellie.
“Mellie Brown?” I ask, with my arms still wrapped around Providence. She pulls away, and I let her go as she makes the introductions.
“Guys, meet Mellie Brown. Mellie, this is Tony, Mike, Pat, Evan, and Adam is bringing up the rear.” Each of my men raises his hand as she says our names.
“Happy to meet you. Let’s get inside so we can figure out what’s going on.”
Clasping Providence’s hand in mine, I lead her into the house. The guys follow close behind. It’s what I’d call quaint, decorated in sixties Southern. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, and it fits since I need to remember it’s Mellie’s parents’ house and not hers. It makes me wonder if Providence grew up in a house like this. She’s never talked much about her childhood—mostly just that she’d rather forget it.
As we step into the living room, an older woman comes in from the kitchen. She’s like an older version of Mellie, except with gray hair and a little plumper. Mrs. Brown is wearing an apron and twisting her hands together. For a moment, I have a flashback of my mom looking the same way when I told her I’d joined the Navy.
I give Providence’s hand a squeeze, then release it to greet the older woman. Holding out my hand, I say, “Mrs. Brown? Thank you for letting us visit. I’m Tony Knox, and this is my team. We may not look like much, but we know how to get the job done.”
“Please call me, Trudy, and we appreciate y’all coming to help our Mellie. Taking care of this is long overdue. Like forty years too long.”
I hear one of the guys, I think it’s Evan, say, “Hear, hear,” to her comment. I agree one hundred percent. “Thank you, Trudy. Is there a place we can sit down to talk about our plan where we won’t be in your way?”
“Of course. Anywhere is fine, you won’t bother me. I’ll be in the kitchen finishing up dinner. Mellie will get you anything you need.”
“We appreciate it. So, where do you want us?” I direct my question to Mellie. She’s rolling her bottom lip between her teeth and staring at Pat like he’s the best thing since sliced bread. I don’t even try to hide my smirk when I see him checking her out.
Providence smiles when she notices too. “Um, Mellie?”
“Oh, yeah, what? Umm, yeah, how about the dining room? Then you can see what we have for you and work out your plan.” It’s cute how flustered she is, but honestly, I can’t wait to give Pat a hard time about it later.
Mellie leads us into the dining room and leaves us to look over the weapons spread out on the table while she and Providence head to the kitchen to get more chairs. Pat takes offafter them to help, and the rest of us just grin at each other. This could be interesting. Not now, but still definitely interesting.
Adam reaches for a rifle and checks it out. “It’ll do. Not my baby, but she’ll get the job done.”
I nod as the rest of us select a weapon. There’s even a Sig on the table and I’d bet it’s Mellie’s. I grab that and a knife. It’s got a sharp blade and will take care of business. That’s all I need.
Pat strolls back in carrying three chairs, with the women following him. “Hey, did you leave anything for me?” he growls as he glances at the table.
“You snooze you lose,” Evan snarks. “We left you a rifle. Stop whining like a baby.
Yup, these are my men. They’re just a bunch of bratty children until you put them in the field, then they turn into war machines.
We sit around the table, with Providence on my left and Mike on my right. Mellie sits at the head, and Pat takes the seat next to her. When our gazes connect, he just shrugs. Yeah, I know exactly how he’s feeling. It hit me the same way the first time I laid eyes on Providence.
Evan pulls his laptop out and boots it up. As soon as he’s ready, he tips his chin at me.
“You did a great job in getting so much information, Mellie. It must not have been easy finding that house, like that,” I comment, taking in all her reactions. I know both women are planning on coming with us, but if I don’t think either can handle it, I don’t care how much of a hissy fit they throw. I won’t have anyone putting themselves in jeopardy on my watch.
“It wasn’t easy at all. It also brought up a lot of unanswered questions. Like how on God’s green earth did we get out of there on our own? We were so far out of town, it was pure luck someone even found us wandering around out there.”
I nod in agreement. We’ve all wondered the same thing. The police station has no record of a call coming in to report seeing the girls. It’s definitely a conundrum, one we may never have the answer to.
“We wondered that ourselves. There was nothing in the police report about it. Not much of anything actually. Without knowing where you escaped from, they didn’t have a lot to go on. Things were different forty plus years ago.”
“Right. I get that. It’s just frustrating. If they could have solved it, those girls would be safe at home with their families now,” she says, her voice rising in anger. Again, I can’t blame her. We’re all furious.
“We’ll get them now, Mellie. They won’t ever do it again,” Providence tells her friend. Her voice is firm and convincing, and I appreciate the support. I just hope she’s right.
“That’s the plan. To rescue the girls and take out the kidnapper or kidnappers. We don’t really know if there’s more than one.”
