“Why are you back here?” Vikki asked, sitting down next to Ricky.

“We need to find all of Giano’s places of residence,” Ricky said, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. We all were daydreaming about our jobs, The Flying Monkey bar, you know, normal stuff.”

“Yeah, somehow normal was taken from each one of us.”

“Think Erickson is okay?”

“No, I really don’t.” Ricky kissed her temple and stood up. “Miles told me what happened to Zia and Cris. If we have them pissed off, which I think we do, I can only imagine the shit they’re doing to Erickson.”

Miles walked into the room. “Erickson has not been on the force long. I really don’t know if he can handle it.”

“Well, if you knew his past,” Cooper said, grabbing a chair and sitting down. “He’s stronger than you all realize.”

“Should I ask what happened in his past?” Ricky asked.

Cooper paused before continuing. “He was abused by a neighbor. She cared for him when his parents were at work.”

“How did they find out it was happening?” Miles asked, sitting down next to Preslie.

“I’m not sure,” Cooper said.

Ricky noticed how the room was silent. They were having a conversation with everyone who had been hurt by Giano. He noticed Cris recoil at the words abused. This all should’ve been discussed in private, but they all had details that could help find Erickson and bring him back safely.

“Johnny, can you think of a place where Giano would go to hide out?” Cooper asked, turning in his chair.

“We went stateside a couple times, and we took a trip to Italy once. He let me travel with him not long after he brought me on as an associate,” Johnny said, sitting down opposite Cooper. “You think he left Canada?”

“Yeah, I do.” Cooper nodded.

“We’ve contacted the American authorities, and they are still searching his properties there,” Ricky said, reaching for his phone. “I’m waiting to hear the word. He had four places in the states that we know of that need to be inspected.” He looked over at Cooper. “Are we heading back stateside?”

“You and Miles are,” Cooper said. “You’ll be working with an agent stationed there.”

“Sounds like fun,” Ricky said sarcastically. “Johnny, can you remember anything special about the homes in the U.S.?”

“He has hidden compartments, doors, and secret passageways. His homes are usually hidden by a twelve-foot brick wall and sit on several thousand acres of land.”

“Well, we should be able to narrow that down some.” Ricky hit reply on his phone. “Looks like two of the homes came up empty. We’ll head out and help with searching the other places now.”

Cooper stood up and headed to the door. “I would like to say, get a good night sleep before you leave. Unfortunately, I have to ask you to leave now.”

“I don’t think I will be able to sleep until Erickson is home safe,” Miles said, standing up and following behind Cooper. “You ready, Ricky?”

* * *

“Finley okay with staying back?” Ricky asked, sitting down in the plush seat. Cooper had set up for them to use the private plane. He set his duffel bag on the seat next to him.

“Yeah, he told me they moved to a new city every two days,” Miles said, sitting opposite him.

“Shit. They must be exhausted.”

“Cristiano was starting to really struggle with that way of life.”

“I can imagine. How old is the kid?”

“Thirteen going on thirty.”

“We need to finish this and soon. They need to get back to a normal life.”

“I don’t think any of us will ever experience normal again.”

“Do you think Letizia will go back to St. Cloud and run her bakery?”

Miles nodded to the flight attendant who set down a drink. “I wonder about that, too. I can’t see Finley ever leaving the force, though.”

“Yeah, he does feel like a lifer.”

“Aren’t we all?”

Ricky’s eyebrows shot up. “I was or so I thought.”

“Then you saw the light.”

“This whole situation has made me miss the cop life.”

“Really?” Miles reached for a file in his bag.

“Yeah, I have been thinking about asking for my old job back.” Ricky shrugged. “If Cooper will have me.”

“With all you have done with this case, I bet Cooper would throw you a welcome back party.”

He burst out laughing. “I’ll pass on a party, unless they are serving chocolate cake.”

“Would there be anything else?”

They continued to talk about the Emergency Task Force and Ricky’s future. He knew this life was not ideal, but there was something about it that gave him a rush every time. The thought of working as a cop again made him nervous and excited. He wondered how Vikki would be about his decision. She seemed comfortable with cops, but would she want to be a part of the cop world?

The young flight attendant leaned on his seat. “We’ll be landing soon, sir. Could you please fasten your seatbelt?”

“You ready to finally bring Giano home?”

“Can we choose body bag or handcuffs?”

“Body bag is preferred,” Miles teased, “but I think Cooper wants us to bring him in alive.”

“Make him suffer the way we all suffered.”

“Exactly.”

* * *

The plane was set to land on a military airbase outside of Denver, Colorado. When the plane was starting to make the descent, it hit a large amount of turbulence. The pilot had to make the split-second decision to land at the Denver airport instead. Cooper had set it up to have a service car take them to the hotel first and drop off their stuff. Since they were not at the military base, Miles let Cooper know they would grab a cab to the hotel.

They didn’t have time to relax once they got to their room because an undercover officer was waiting to take them to Giano’s house.

Ricky thought about the homes Giano owned. Each one of the properties were at least four stories high and had at minimum, twenty rooms. The place they were heading to was the last one that had not been inspected. Cooper told the authorities Miles and Ricky would come help run through each place with them.

Before they left Toronto, Johnny mentioned the home in Denver was supposed to be top secret. After looking at an aerial view of the property, it was hard to see the home with all the trees surrounding the place. The local cops had circled around the property several times and were now just doing a drive-by about every thirty minutes.

Ricky grabbed the night-vision goggles from his bag. “We don’t split up. I think we need to help each other with how huge this place is.”

“I agree,” Miles said, placing a few magazines in his pockets, ready and loaded with bullets.

“If Erickson is still alive.”

“He will be. I can’t think any other way.”

“Right. When we find Erickson alive, we need to be ready to possibly have him airlifted out.”

Miles nodded. “Cris was bad when we found him. Letizia later told us they had used the waterboard technique on her. With how pissed Giano is, I can only imagine Erickson’s wounds will be much deeper.”