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Obviously, I’d fallen asleep, because when my cell rang, I nearly fell out of the recliner, I was so startled. I could hear it blaring a Beatles song but couldn’t find it. I had to climb over the side, which looked more like falling over the side, because I didn’t want to chance putting the recliner down and breaking it.
“Hey Gunner, did you catch the elf?” I yawned. “You should have placed a bet on my falling asleep.”
“We did. We also made a bet on what time the elf would show up,” Gunner said. “I won the bet on you. We’re still waiting on the elf.”
“Did you call me just to see if you were right?” I yawned again. “If so, then what did we win?”
“We didn’t win anything but bragging rights,” Gunner chuckled. “I’m not so sure you wanna brag about that.”
“You have a point there, but I’m a new man now,” I said. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“There hasn’t been any movement,” Gunner said. “There will be.”
“I think there is right now. Look at the monitor on the left of the screen.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“You didn’t see the elf slippers next to Santa’s chair?” I groaned. “Rewind the film. You’ll see there were slippers there and now they’re gone.”
“Hold on. I’ll be darned. You’re right,” Gunner said. “Boys, it’s time to go catch an elf.”
“Gunner, hold on. Keep your cell on you so I can communicate with you,” I said, excited. “I’ll be watching.”
“No, I don’t want you to give me away if I’m sneaking up on this wily elf,” Gunner snarled.
“Just put it on vibrate. I could be useful. If I’m watching, all of you can be out there hunting,” I argued.
“Yeah, yeah, okay, but only message if you see something,” he demanded. “Now let me go get this thing.”
“Don’t hurt it,” I said, but he was gone already.
I was wide awake now. I was finally going to see what was running around the mall. I sat on the edge of the recliner, then paced in front of the screen. I spotted Gunner and the boys exiting the office on the floor, then splitting in different directions. They appeared to be having a conversation with their hands. This was the coolest thing I’d ever scene. My cell buzzed with a text.
“Do you see anything?”Gunner asked.
“Nothing.”I kept it brief.
The four men had the workshop zone surrounded. They were slowly moving in, still on the floor. I could see Charlie under the bigger Christmas tree. Gunner was creeping slowly in front of Santa’s chair.
Where are they heading? They must think the elf is in the workshop, but how? It’s so small.
“Gunner, I don’t think it’s in there. I keep seeing it over at the food court.”I messaged.
Gunner looked up at the camera and made an angry face. I knew it was meant for me. I had to laugh, seeing these Special Ops crawling in a mall chasing an elf. I’ll bet they never thought they’d be doing this all those years ago.
“Gunner, what’s going on?”
“Stop texting me.”
They were now on all sides of the workshop, about to catch the elf, when the lights went off.
Chapter 38
Paige
Isnuggled into my blanket and closed my eyes. I laid there thinking about my situation and making a mental list of places to contact. I heard Kim walk into the Santa area whispering my name, to no avail. I wasn’t going to be able to let her know I was there.
One of these days, I’m going to tell her everything.
