by Sharon Sala
“That’s what I needed to know. Thank you,” Tara said.
“You’re welcome. We’re keeping you in our prayers. Hope you get your girl home, soon,” Eric said.
“Me, too,” Tara said, and the minute she disconnected, she pulled up Charlie’s number on her phone and called him back.
* * *
Charlie was on the freeway heading out of Dallas when his phone rang. It was in the docking station, but when he saw who it was from, he put it on speaker.
“This is Charlie.”
“Charlie, this is Tara, again. I called Eric and asked if he talked to his brother-in-law about Fourth Dimension. He said he did, and by the way, the agent’s name is Hank Raines. Eric said when he mentioned Fourth Dimension, Hank became very interested. Is that what you needed to know? Does this help?”
“Yes, it does,” Charlie said. “If we need to know anything more, we’ll call.”
“Do you know anything more about Fourth Dimension?” Tara asked.
Charlie hesitated. “Not for sure, but we are actively checking out locations now.”
“Okay,” Tara said.
“And if you get any kind of news or updates from the Feds, be sure and let us know,” Charlie said.
“I will,” Tara said and burst into tears as soon as she disconnected.
Charlie glanced at Wyrick.
“Well, there’s the leak and you have a name. See what you can find out, okay?”
Wyrick pulled her laptop from the case between her feet and went to work.
* * *
It hadn’t taken Wyrick long to find out that Special Agent Hank Raines and his partner, Special Agent Luis Chavez, were the agents going from the Dallas office.
“Well, Hank Raines and his partner are flying into Lexington tomorrow morning. It can’t be a coincidence—they can’t be going there for another reason,” she said, putting away the laptop. She then leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.
Charlie drove into the night with Wyrick asleep in the seat beside him, and that, in itself, spoke volumes about the trust she had in him.
Charlie knew nothing about that, but he did know she didn’t look nearly as fearsome asleep as she did when she was awake.
* * *
Hours passed on the ribbon of concrete that was Interstate 40, with one state after another looking much the same in the dark.
Charlie finished the coffee he’d brought from home, along with a lukewarm can of soda that he drank for the caffeine. It was nearing midnight when he pulled into a truck stop somewhere near Nashville, Tennessee, to refuel. As he began to slow down, Wyrick woke, raised her seat back into a sitting position and began to look around.
“Where are we?” she asked, eyeing the size of the truck stop where they were stopping.
“Close to Nashville. We need to fuel up.”
She scrubbed her face with her hands and looked around for her bag, removed a credit card from her wallet and slipped it in her pocket.
“If they have a deli, I’m getting something to eat,” Wyrick said.
“I’m gonna make a pit stop after I refuel. I’ll meet you at the deli. Food’s on me when we work, remember?”
Wyrick didn’t argue, but she wasn’t paying any attention, either.
As soon as Charlie pulled up to one of the gas pumps and got out to refuel, she headed into the building and went straight to the bathroom, ignoring the curious stares of the customers milling about. A trio of women were at the sinks, washing their hands when she walked in. One of them glanced up at the wall of mirrors and saw Wyrick, then gasped.
“Hey, dude! This is the ladies’ room,” she cried.
Wyrick frowned. “I’m not a dude. I’m just bald. Chill out,” she muttered, went into a stall and locked the door.
The silence that followed was obvious, and the conversation the trio had been having was suddenly silent. Wyrick heard the door open and the sounds of footsteps exiting, but she was thinking about food, and they were strangers who didn’t matter in her world. As soon as she washed up, she went back out into the main area and followed the scent of fried food toward the deli.
She looked out into the parking lot and saw Charlie’s Jeep, but since he wasn’t there, she guessed he was already inside, and headed down an aisle stocked with chips and candy. By the time she got back, Charlie was at the deli counter.
He raised an eyebrow when he saw her armful of snacks.
“Add this stuff, too,” he told the clerk.
Wyrick frowned. “I was going to—”
“Did you get enough for me, too?” Charlie asked.
She nodded.
“Then put it down and stop arguing,” he said.
Wyrick dumped her snacks and walked around him to get to the deli case. She already knew from past experience that eating Mexican food from a truck stop would not be a wise move since they would likely be camping out in the woods.
“What do you want?” Charlie asked.
“Two hot dogs with mustard and relish. I’ll need to get a—”
Charlie pointed to the oversize cup next to her snacks. “That’s yours. It’s a Pepsi.”
“Thanks,” Wyrick said.
A few minutes later they were back in the Jeep, only this time, Wyrick was in the driver’s seat and Charlie was riding shotgun with a lap full of food and the passenger seat pushed as far back as it would go. She drove back onto the interstate and began looking for the road she needed to switch from Interstate 40 onto Highway 736 North.
Once Charlie realized she was on top of the route change, he settled down to eat, fully aware she was neatly eating hot dogs, drinking Pepsi and driving his Jeep at seventy miles per hour without a wobble in her steering or a drop of mustard anywhere on her clothes. He chalked it up to just another facet of her unique abilities, and as soon as he’d finished eating and stashed his trash in the food sack, he checked his phone. Without anything urgent to deal with, he reclined the seat back and stretched out.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” Wyrick said.
He sighed and then closed his eyes. He was thinking about Annie when he fell asleep, leaving Wyrick in charge.
* * *
When the girls returned from their evening meal to find Jordan bloody and beaten, and her father at her bedside, they were dumbstruck. Then Archangel Thomas took her father away, and the moment the door locked behind the men, the girls ran to Jordan’s side. Some of them were crying at what had happened to her, some were silent and still in shock, but Randi was in awe. Jordan had been brutalized and was still defiant. She could see it in her eyes.
“Is the pain bad?” Barbie whispered.
Jordan sighed, then nodded.
“Did they doctor you?” Randi asked.
Jordan touched her lips to indicate it hurt to talk, then shrugged and pointed at a little bottle of pills on the table by her bed.
“For pain?” Randi asked.
Jordan nodded.
“Do you need one?” she asked.
“Not taking,” Jordan said. “Started period. Anything here?”
The girls moaned en masse, while a pretty girl with long brown hair and brown eyes began to cry.
“What?” Jordan asked, pointing at her.
“Archangel Jud chose Katie for his bride. Now he gets to claim her,” Randi said.
Jordan looked at Katie in horror, trying to picture her as a stepmother.
“Can you walk?” Randi asked.
Jordan nodded.
“Come with me. I’ll show you where that stuff is kept,” she said.
Jordan stood up, swayed a little on her feet and then slowly followed, every step feeling like she was moving closer and closer to a destiny she couldn’t escape.
Once she had the tampons, it took a while to deal with this all on
her own. She’d always expected her mother would be there when this need arose, and now she was figuring it out by herself. The thought of Mama made her heart ache.
She still only had two changes of clothing and had had no chance to wash the ones she’d worn here. She refused to sleep in a nightgown for fear of being snatched out of bed in the night while being that close to undressed. So she took off her bloody clothes and put the ones she’d arrived in back on.
Randi pointed to a bank of metal lockers with numbers written on them. “There are clothes in there for us to wear. The numbers are sizes. You can pick out more clothes.”
“No,” Jordan said. “I’ll wash mine.”
“I can help,” Randi said, but Jordan shook her head, and so Randi went back into the dormitory.
Jordan got a bar of bath soap, took her clothes to a sink and began washing out the blood, one piece at a time, until they were all as clean as she could get them. Then she hung them over the back of some metal folding chairs to dry.
By the time she got back to her bed, she was sick from the pain and shaking from exhaustion. She eyed the pain pills, longing for the freedom to just take one and sleep away this misery, but she didn’t dare.
Instead, she crawled between the sheets of her bed, then pulled up the covers and closed her eyes. Even though the lights were still on in places, and she could still hear the girls’ voices as they played a game of Monopoly, she dozed, but fitfully. Her head continued to throb, her mouth was so sore and swollen that it even hurt to lick her lips, and her nose was too swollen to breathe through.
* * *
Aaron Walters was sitting cross-legged in front of his meditation altar, staring at the huge chunk of crystal before him. He wasn’t into scrying, but he used it to focus.
He’d done all of his affirmations and still couldn’t get into a state of receptivity. Not once since he’d become aware of his gifts had he ever failed to connect, until today. He’d lost his mojo by letting a girl and her father back him down, and he needed to rectify that tonight. Even though it was nearly midnight, he rang for Archangel Robert, and from the confused sound of Robert’s voice, he’d been sound asleep.
“Yes, Master?”
“I apologize for disturbing your rest, but I need you to send for Archangel Jud and have the men bring him to my study.”
“Now, sir?” Robert asked.
“Yes, now,” Aaron said.
* * *
The men walking Jud across the compound were his friends—his equals—until now. Their presence behind him felt threatening, and with good reason. Being called to the Seraphim’s quarters was always a little nerve-racking, but being called there at midnight, accompanied by escorts to make sure he went, was never going to be a good sign. He’d been expecting it all evening, but when it hadn’t happened he’d gone to bed, only to be awakened a few hours later, and the timing of the demand visit made him uneasy.
The security lights lit the way, but he felt the ominous presence of the enclosure and the thick forest surrounding it. As he walked, he could hear dogs baying somewhere far away on the mountain and guessed someone was hunting.
He was thinking about what the Master might invoke as punishment when a large bird came out of nowhere, swooped down a few yards in front of him and grabbed what looked like a rat in its talons before flying away. When Jud heard the frantic, high-pitched squeal of the animal in its death throes, he shuddered. He knew just how that felt.
He glanced behind him, frowning at the escorts, and then began climbing up the steps. Halfway up, the door opened; Archangel Robert was standing in the doorway.
“This way, please. The Master awaits you in his study.” Then he pointed at the escorts. “You will wait here.” So they relaxed their stance and watched as the door closed between them.
The sound of their footsteps on the hardwood floors were drowned out by the thunder of Jud’s heartbeat as he followed Robert through the house. It was a little too “dead man walking” for his comfort. When they reached the study, Robert knocked on the door, then opened it.
“Master, Archangel Jud is here.”
“Thank you, Robert. I’m sorry your sleep was disturbed, but this won’t take long,” Aaron said, then pointed at Jud. “Enter.”
Jud walked in, flinching slightly when the door shut behind him with a click.
“Sit down,” Aaron said, waving his hand toward the chair on the other side of his desk.
As Jud sat, the fear he’d felt coming here was being replaced by a growing resentment toward the man they called Master, and when Aaron reached for his glass to take a drink of water, he suddenly focused on Aaron’s hands. He’d never noticed how thick his fingers looked...how meaty his hands were—like a prizefighter’s, and he’d used them on Jordan.
At that point Jud looked up and realized Aaron had been watching him the whole time. He’d neglected to put up his shield and now the Master knew he was angry. So be it. Jud stood up in defiance.
“If you expect me to sit here and wait for you to impose some sentence on me after you did what you did to my daughter, you’re mistaken. Just spit it out.”
Aaron’s eyes flashed angrily. “So this is where Jordan gets her unruly behavior.”
Jud just stood there, waiting.
“Fine. Have it your way,” Aaron said. “You have forfeited your right to a bride, and in the face of this added insubordination, you will pack up your things tonight and leave Fourth Dimension, never to return.”
“Fine with me. I’ll get Jordan,” Jud said.
“Oh no. Jordan stays. She’s my insurance that you keep your mouth shut about our business here.”
“No!” Jud roared. “I won’t leave here without her!”
Aaron stood, so angry his voice was shaking.
“You drive away from here alive, or I can bury your body in the forest and let everyone think you left on your own. Your choice.”
Jud gasped. The choice to leave her behind was horrifying, but leaving alive now might be the only way he could get her out later.
“I’ll leave. But know this. If she cries, I will know it. If you hurt her again, I will know it. If any man touches her again, I will know it.”
Aaron glared. “You won’t know anything unless I want you to know it!” he said.
“You may be a psychic, but you’re a stupid one,” Jud said. “You can’t control Jordan’s abilities, and we both know it. So hear me now. If anything else happens to my daughter, I will come after you. If you lock her up. If you starve her. If you mistreat her in any way, I will know it! If you let a man touch her. If you kill her to get back at me...know that I will burn this place down around you.” Then he pointed straight at Aaron’s heart. “And that’s a promise.”
Aaron blanched, and for a minute he thought about killing Jud now, but if he did, he knew the girl would know. She was already furious with her father. Better to let her think he went off and left her behind.
Jud pivoted on one heel and left the office, slamming the door behind him. Robert heard the sound and came running.
“I’ve been banished,” Jud said. “Make sure the security is off the front gate. As soon as I get my things, I’m out of here. Master’s orders.”
Robert’s eyes widened in total shock. This had never happened before, and he didn’t know what to think.
“Just turn off the security, dammit, or I’ll drive right through the gates,” Jud muttered and stomped out of the house, banging the front door behind him.
The men who’d escorted him there stared at him, uncertain what to do now.
“Get out of my face,” Jud said and stormed past them.
* * *
Jordan hadn’t been able to do much more than doze. Her headache had shifted to a dull throb. She couldn’t breathe through her nose, but it had finally stopped bleeding. She was lying on her back, watching the mo
on shadows through the window beside her bed when she suddenly sensed her father’s presence.
Startled, she sat up in bed, thinking he was somehow inside the dormitory, and then she realized he was in her head.
Don’t block me. Listen. The Master banished me. I’m being forced to leave. Don’t be afraid. Block everything but me. The Master won’t hurt you. You won’t be given to a man. You’re too much trouble, but your powers are valuable to him, so you’ll be safe. I’m going to get help. Despite what you think, I love you. I was blinded by a light that wasn’t ever real. Stay strong.
Jordan leaped out of bed and ran to the window in time to see the lights of a car move across the grounds of the commune and then drive through the gates and disappear.
Don’t leave me!
And the moment she thought it, she felt his pain. This wasn’t happening! It couldn’t be happening! She’d never been so afraid, but then she remembered his warning and shut down. She glanced around the dormitory. All the girls were still asleep. There wasn’t anyone she could talk to, and there was no one to tell who would care what just happened to her, so she crawled back in bed and closed her eyes. She was in serious trouble, and the only advocate she’d had here had just driven away.
She couldn’t breathe well enough to give in to tears, and the knot in her stomach was now as painful as the wounds on her face.
Twelve
Special Agents Hank Raines and Luis Chavez took their seats on the plane an hour before sunrise. Once Hank had informed the deputy director about the abduction, they’d been told to find out everything they could on Jud Bien, and if he had so much as an unpaid parking ticket, to get an arrest warrant and take it with them. That man might be the “in” they needed to gain access to the compound, and if they could get inside, they could ascertain once and for all if it was linked to human trafficking.
To their dismay, Jud Bien turned up clean as a whistle. The only avenue they had left was to demand to see Jud and his daughter to verify her whereabouts for the mother. They were counting on the cult complying, so as not to upset the FBI and put them on the radar of the US government.
