"Got you, you son of a bitch," Rick muttered with a smile, looking to Daryl.
"That's him," Daryl whispered, listening to the voice on the police scanner. Eugene had worked all morning and by lunch time he had the scanner working. The difficult part was sneaking around, trying to keep everything secret since they had no idea when the mole was watching.
Rick had packed up all the supplies and tools in a backpack and said he was taking a carepackage to Eugene who wasn't feeling well. They had Eugene fake the flu and he asked Jessie to stay away for the day to avoid catching it. Carol kept her busy to make sure she would keep her promise and not go and check on him.
Carol also started a rumbling through the community about the fact that Michonne was missing. Daryl had to admit, she was a damn good actress. No one would have a clue that Carol knew exactly where Michonne was, especially not the mole, whoever he was.
They were about to find out exactly who the mole was… "What the fuck?" Daryl mumbled in shock. "It's… it's… a woman?" He didn't know why he found that so surprising, given that any of the women he'd spent the last couple of years with could have easily acted as moles. But he'd just had it in his mind that they were looking for a man. This was an interesting development. He listened closely to the woman's voice informing the man on the other end that Carol had brought up the fact that Michonne was missing, but it didn't seem like she had any inkling of what might have happened to her.
Daryl recognized the voice. So did Rick. "Holly," he whispered, thinking back to the very first time he'd met her - when she was hitting on him at welcome party and Carol had rescued him. She'd been on the expansion crew, but she asked Carol recently about switching jobs. She told her a story about her grandma being native american and how she taught her a lot about botany and healing plants. She asked if she could help the expansion crew part time and spend a few days going out into the surrounding woods to gather plants. Carol thought it was a great idea, remembering how much Hershel believed in the healing properties of plants. Eventually they would run out of medecine so if Holly could start creating natural treatments it could be very beneficial.
It was all making sense now. They must have run into her while she was out and threatened her somehow. But Daryl had a strange feeling there was more going on. He'd always got weird vibes from Holly since turning her down that first night. And though she'd never been anything but kind to Carol's face… he was sure he caught Holly glaring at her a few times.
"So what's the plan?" he asked Rick, breaking the stunned silence.
He took a long deep breath before speaking. "We should monitor her for a couple days I think. Get an idea of the kind of things she's telling them. Then I say we take her hostage, use her to our advantage and assemble a team to go after them, get Michonne back."
Daryl thought about the plan and nodded in agreement. It made sense. They needed information before they could act. And they would definitely need to manipulate Holly at some point. Daryl hoped to hell she would cooperate. He hoped there was nothing malicious behind her intent. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't going to like her explanation for her behaviour when it came time for that.
"Gotta keep up the charade that everything is normal except we're worried about Michonne missing. Maybe we can somehow work a search party into an ambush… Or…" Rick suddenly had an idea. "Maybe you should make a point of telling us that you ran into Michonne when you were hunting and she said she was heading out for a few days to clear her head." Things were so confusing but Daryl tried to follow Rick's logic. "It might force a meeting with the boss guy again for you to explain why you did it. You tell him that we were organizing a search party and it would have impeded your ability to make your morning deliveries so you made up a lie."
By the time Rick was finished Daryl was fully on board with the plan. And now that they knew who the mole was they could be careful about what they said and where they said it, making sure Holly wasn't around. Dary felt fairly confident that she didn't have bugs planted anywhere, but there was still a slight possibility. Talking outside would always be the safest option.
They heard Holly arranging a meeting for that very afternoon. "Wonder what that's about?" Daryl asked Rick. She had the walkie talkie to report back, so why would she need to meet them face to face?
"Don't know… but I think we have to send someone to follow her and find out," Rick replied.
"I'll go," Daryl said quickly.
"Nope, it can't be you," Rick said. "You get caught and they're gonna know something is up. But if we send out someone else we can plan an excuse for them to use if Holly catches them."
Daryl wanted to be the one to go, but he knew Rick was right. They had to bring someone new into the mix. "Who?" It was a tough decision, given how potentially dangerous the task was. They could be sending someone to their death if they got caught, which meant it had to be someone who wouldn't get caught.
"I really want to send Glenn," Rick admitted. "But I can't do that to Maggie after everything he's been through already… What about Tara?" he suggested. "I know we can trust her and I think she has the skills. Glenn has taught her a lot…"
"Noah," Daryl replied. "Send Noah." As much as he didn't want to send the kid out there, Daryl had personally trained Noah and he was 100% confident that he could follow Holly undetected and get close enough to spy on the conversation. He also had incredible sharp shooting skills and could take out targets from a long way away if it came to that.
"Are you sure?" Rick asked, waiting for confirmation.
"Yeah," Daryl nodded. He'd pushed Noah away lately, trying to keep his secret and it would feel good for the kid to at least have an understanding of why.
"Okay," Rick said, putting a comforting hand on Daryl's shoulder. He knew how hard a decision it was for Daryl to make, even though it was the right decision. "Let's find Carol and fill her in and then you can meet up Noah and let him know what's going on."
Rick turned off the scanner, hid it away safely and they went to find Carol. They wandered through town talking very quietly, smiling and waving as they passed other residents. The three of them were getting pretty good at talking without being heard. Once Carol was up to speed Rick took off. They tried to limit the amount of time the three of them were seen together. With Carol being Mayor and Rick being the Sheriff it made sense they would have to meet quite frequently, but they still wanted to be careful not to arouse suspicion.
"Come with me for a minute," Carol said softly. She led him to their house and sat him down at the kitchen table. Carol moved closer and stood between his legs, pulling his head against her chest. "This is the right decision," she whispered, lightly playing with his hair. "No matter what happens this afternoon I want you to know that it's not on you. Rick and I completely agree and I am sure that Noah will be more than happy to do what needs to be done."
Daryl needed her words of encouragement and support. He knew it was the right decision, he really did. If anyone had a chance to get it right it was definitely Noah. And if he somehow got caught by Holly they would have a story prepared. But if he got caught by the others… well, that was the part Daryl didn't even want to think about. Part of him thought that they might spare Noah's life because he's so young. But his rational mind knew exactly what would happen.
He looked up at her and said thank you without speaking. He and Carol had a look they shared where they both knew exactly what the other was saying. She nodded and leaned over to kiss him. Daryl forced himself to keep it short and simple. He would have loved to just take her upstairs to bed and forget about everything for a little while. But he had to go find Noah, explain everything that happened and let him in on the plan.
And they also had to set the other plan into motion and start spreading the false truth that Michonne had told Daryl she was taking off for a few days. Everything was so messed up and confusing. Lives were at stake. Daryl didn't want to lose anyone else, especially not Michonne, or Noah. And certainly not Carol. He needed that woman more than anything else in the world.
They said their goodbyes and Daryl went to find Noah.
Carol left the house several minutes after Daryl. She was headed to talk to Maggie when she saw Holly heading towards the gates. It was just after noon. She shouldn't have been leaving that soon. Daryl hadn't even had a chance to get Noah ready yet. And Holly hadn't even come to ask Carol if she was allowed to go outside the gates.
"Holly," Carol called out, jogging to catch up. "Where are you going?" she asked. Carol was wracking her brain, trying to figure out a way to allow her to leave, yet still stall her long enough to give Noah time to be ready.
"Oh, I was just gonna go out and look for something to help Eugene. I heard he's got a flu bug or something," Holly replied sweetly.
"But you know I haven't cleared anyone to leave since Aaron…" her voice trailed off. It was still so fresh and hard to believe Aaron was really dead. She was used to him being gone for days at a time and he always came back. This time he wasn't coming back and it really hadn't sunk in yet.
"Oh I won't go very far," Holly replied. "I promise. And I'll be back in less than an hour."
"I don't know…" Carol started. She still hadn't figured out a way to stall.
"Please? There's this root that I can steep into a tea that I know will make Eugene feel so much better," Holly pleaded. If Carol didn't know the truth she would have admired the woman's desire to help out someone who was ill. But knowing why Holly was really going out there, that she had ulterior motives… just made Carol very angry.
She buried the rage and smiled. "Okay. I'm gonna allow it, but… you have a weapon, right?" Holly moved her shirt to reveal a handgun. "Only an hour or I'm sending people out to look for you…God… maybe this is a bad idea," Carol added, waffling back and forth. "With Michonne missing now too…"
"Oh, you haven't heard?" Holly replied. "I thought for sure you'd be the first to know," she gave her a suspicious look. "Daryl said that Michonne told him she was taking off for a few days. She wasn't actually captured."
Carol's mind was spinning as to how to play this new development. She didn't know Daryl started spreading the news yet or how damn fast it would spread once he did. "Of course I know," Carol said quickly. "But I didn't know he was telling people yet…" she muttered. "We were gonna keep it quiet for a while as one more reason to keep people on this side of the wall," Carol lied. "I'm gonna have to talk to him," she added in an irritated voice. She wanted Holly to think she was angry with Daryl for telling people.
"Maybe he just wanted to ease people's minds," Holly said gently. Carol knew she was doing a great job with her own acting, but she had to admit Holly was doing a damn good job as well.
"You're probably right, but I have to go find him," Carol said, clenching her jaw and keeping up the act that she was pissed off at her significant other. "Go ahead," she said to Holly, indicating that she could leave.
What a fucking mess, Carol thought. There was only one thing she could do now. Carol waited until Holly was outside the gate and closed it behind her with a wave. As soon as she disappeared into the woods Carol opened the gate… and took off after her.
