Enemy Infiltration. Carol Ericson

powered on her laptop and entered Logan’s name and Dallas, Texas, in a search engine, her eyes widening at the number of articles scrolling down her display. No wonder Logan believed she could just pick up and leave. No wonder he felt a person shouldn’t have to put up with an uncomfortable situation.

      Easy for him to lecture her about principles—he had all the money in the world to buy them.

      Sighing, she snapped shut the lid of her computer and swept it off her lap. Now she had to try all over again to get Logan off her brain, and after discovering more about him that became even more important. Given Logan’s background and situation, he could never be right for her.

      She got another cup of tea and settled back on the couch, this time losing herself in the English accents and costumes of a period drama on TV. As she clicked onto the next episode, frantic banging on her front door disturbed the English countryside.

      Knots tightened in her belly. She hoped none of the horses had been taken ill. She kicked off the blanket wrapped around her waist and strode toward the front door.

      With her hand on the doorknob, she peeked through the window and her heart skipped several beats as she looked at the tear-streaked faces of Carla and Daniel McGowan. Bruce had better not be on one of his rampages, terrifying the children.

      Lana jerked open the door. “What’s wrong, kids? Where are your parents?”

      Carla placed a hand on her little brother’s shoulder just like Lana used to do with Gil. “Daddy’s not home. They’ve taken Mama. We hid in the closet.”

      Lana’s fluttering heart banged against her chest. She gathered the children toward her and into the house and slammed the door. “What are you talking about? Who took your mother?”

      She crouched in front of Daniel and wrapped her arms around his shaking body. Had Dale gotten involved in drugs along with her drinking? Bruce’s wife had been associating with some rough characters in the dive bars she favored.

      “I don’t know, Lana.” Carla sniffled and wiped the back of her hand across her nose. “Mama was downstairs watching TV. I heard the doorbell ring and then loud noises when she went to answer the door. When I looked through the banister from upstairs, two men were in the house and they were hurting Mama.”

      Lana put a hand to her throat. Dear God, what had Carla witnessed? “Is that when you hid?”

      Carla nodded. “I made Daniel get away from the stairs and we hid in the closet.”

      “Did these men look for you?” Keeping Daniel by her side, Lana walked backward toward the kitchen and her phone charging on the counter. Carla followed them.

      “They stayed downstairs, yelling at Mama. I kept quiet.” She patted her brother’s head. “And I kept Daniel quiet, too. Then I heard the front door close and I couldn’t hear anything else. When we went downstairs, they were gone—Mama, too.”

      Lana held up her phone and her hand had only a slight tremble. “Have you called 911 yet? Your father?”

      “I couldn’t find Mama’s cell phone and I didn’t want to stay in the house, so we ran over here.” Carla dropped her lashes. “Is that okay?”

      “Okay? That’s super amazing. That’s precisely what you should’ve done.” Lana blinked back her tears.

      Lana called 911 and told them as much of the story as she could. Bruce might’ve preferred to handle this on his own without the police, especially if one of Dale’s lovers or some drug dealer had her, but he’d just have to suck up the embarrassment on this one. It sounded like Dale was in serious trouble.

      “The police are on their way, sweetie.” Lana curled her free arm around Carla’s stiff little body, inhaling the sweet scent from her hair. “You are so brave, Carla. Did you hear what the men were saying to your mama? The police are going to ask you some questions.”

      “They kept asking her about a gerbil. Where was the gerbil? Where had she put the gerbil? We don’t have a gerbil.”

      “Of course not.” Lana bit her lower lip. That made no sense. “Did you get a look at the men?”

      “They had masks on.” Carla formed her fingers into circles and put them over her eyes. “Like when you go skiing and it’s really cold.”

      Daniel had been patting Lana on the back, so Lana squeezed him tighter. “Are you okay, Daniel? You’re very brave, too.”

      She didn’t want to play favorites.

      “They didn’t say gerbil, Carla.”

      “What, sweetie?” Taking Daniel’s hand, Lana sat back on her heels. “You didn’t hear gerbil?”

      “They didn’t say, where’s the gerbil? They said, where’s the journal? They hit Mama on the face and said, ‘Give us the journal, bitch.’”