Grabbing a fistful of my hair, Brother Elijah threw me from the sofa to the floor. Dazed and sore, I tried to make out the words as his threatening voice boomed through the office, echoing in my ears.
“. . . playing us for a fool. No one leaves The Light! Your zero-tolerance policy has expired.”
“I don’t understand,” I managed as he pulled me to my feet. However, as I stood I saw his fist, not even an open hand as Thomas had hit me with, and I turned, shielding my face. Unfortunately, my cheek hadn’t been his intended target.
I coughed and spit as my lungs tried to inflate. The second blow to my stomach sent me back to the floor.
“No!” I screamed, covering my face and pulling my knees to my stomach.
This couldn’t be happening.
Who would do this, knowing I could be pregnant?
As Brother Elijah’s large foot reared back to kick where he’d punched, I closed my eyes and prayed for a miracle.
Sound.
Loud.
Deafening.
The room exploded. A flash through my closed lids sent shock waves that accelerated my already too-fast heartbeat. The vociferous bang echoed endlessly against the walls, submerging and drowning out everything else. The kick never came, as I floated in the waves of the explosion, and my heart ached at the loss I feared I’d already suffered.
A few days, that was what Jacob had said.
I didn’t want to open my eyes. I wanted to go back to the north acres. Maybe if I gave in to the waves . . .
“Sara,” the deep voice coaxed, as a warm hand smoothed my hair away from my face. “Sara, we have to get out of here.”
I shook my head. No! This wasn’t Jacob. It was Dylan. I needed Jacob.
“Sara,” he said more emphatically, pulling on my hand. “Can you stand? Oh my God! I heard him. Get up. I need to get you out of here.”
My eyes, filled with questions, opened.
Before I could process the idea that Dylan was taking me away, I gasped. Inches from where I lay, right in front of me, were the dark eyes that had looked at me with intense hatred. No longer did they send fear through my body. They were open and lifeless while around them Brother Elijah’s black skin sagged and spit dripped from his partially open mouth.
Painfully I jumped to my feet.
“Oh! He’s . . . he’s . . .”
“He’s dead,” Dylan confirmed, tucking his gun back into a holster I remembered he occasionally wore beneath a sports jacket. “And we need to get out of here.”
“B-but.” I couldn’t articulate as my stomach cramped, doubling me over and bending my knees.
“No, Sara. No fainting. We need to leave now.”
I nodded, petrified to leave but terrified to stay.
Dylan seized my hand and pulled me toward the door. Just as my slippers hit the marble and I left behind the carpet that was now literally red with blood, I stopped. When Dylan’s panicked blue eyes met mine, I said, “Fred! We can’t forget Fred.”
Immediately, I knew my mistake.
“Brother Dylan,” I said, trying to recover, “wasn’t that what you called the fish?”
For a millisecond his panicked expression changed and his eyes narrowed. And then, instead of speaking, he rushed past me, into the office, and grabbed Fred’s container. Securing it in one hand and my hand in his other, he led me through unfamiliar hallways, pulling me until we emerged into the backyard.
“We need to get down to the outbuildings. There’s a car down there. There’s no way we can leave from the front of the house.”
I gasped at the darkness. With the only indication of light coming from the pool, the expanse before the outbuildings seemed insurmountable. I stood unmoving, my midsection cramping and the reminders on my back still sore.
“I don’t know,” I said, “I’m not sure if I can make it.”
He gripped my shoulders and spoke slowly. “Listen, Stella, I know you fucking remember. I also know I need to get you out of this house. We don’t have any choice. I’m sorry that I’m not as big as your damn husband, and I can’t carry you all the way, but if we don’t move now, there won’t be a later.”
I didn’t understand what Dylan was saying, but the urgency in his voice was loud and clear. Even though I’d blown my charade with Fred’s name, it seemed like with whatever was happening at this mansion, leaving with Dylan was my best option. I nodded, bit my lip, and ran through the pain. I concentrated on my footing, careful of the wet, slippery grass, made that way from sprinklers. By the time we reached the outbuildings I was clammy with perspiration and my slippers were soaked.
I waited as Dylan disappeared into the building where Micah had stayed. The still night hung heavy with a feeling I couldn’t identify as I searched the sky for stars that were more visible during the dark season at the Northern Light. Looking up to the heavens, I knew the feeling I was having. It was an impending sense of doom, and it was getting closer with each passing minute. The opening of a garage door caused me to turn and face the far end of the building.
“Get down here!” Dylan yelled.
Standing still after running had intensified the cramps, yet I pushed past the pain and made my way to the SUV that he’d pulled out of the small garage. It was older than the one Brother Elijah drove and reminded me of one of the vehicles I’d seen nearly a year ago in Highland Heights.
Dylan opened the back door. “Get down on the floor. If the cameras at the gate are still working, they won’t be able to see you.”
Loud, angry voices cut through the thick, humid air, coming from Father Gabriel’s mansion. Momentarily I turned back, peering through the darkness toward the mansion.
“Get in, now!”
Dylan didn’t need to tell me again.
CHAPTER 32
Jacob
“You were told what I’d said to the Commission?” I asked Abraham. My fried brain couldn’t remember who’d been present when I’d told my story, but I thought it was only the Commission.
Abraham smugly turned in my direction. “I’ve been told lots of things—things about here, Fairbanks, phone calls, and the Eastern Light.”
I turned away, watching rows of small trees clear to large areas of open land to be swallowed up again by trees. As the landscape passed by the windows, I tried to assess what he was saying. “Congratulations,” I finally replied. “You’re apparently in the know.”
“You’d better hope whatever it is Father Gabriel wants you to find is out here.”
Abraham stopped the truck and pushed the button for the garage door. After he pulled inside the pole barn and as the door was going down, I turned in his direction. “Wait a minute.”
Abraham’s eyes widened as his brow furrowed.
“He has it, doesn’t he?” I asked. “Father Gabriel already has it. Someone went through our apartment while I was at the Eastern Light and found it, or came out here. What the hell am I doing out here if he already has it?”
Abraham shook his head. “That’s not what I was told. I was told that I’m supposed to be here until you find something that Brother Noah needs . . . something Brother Michael from the Western Light never intended for Brother Reuben to give to you. I heard you screwed up and if you don’t find this thing, you’re not the only one who’ll suffer.”
Veiled threats against Sara were becoming less veiled.
I opened the truck’s door and started walking in the direction of the hangar. Pointing behind me, I called over my shoulder, “There’s the living quarters. I don’t need a damn babysitter.” Without turning, I knew Abraham hadn’t listened and was following in my direction. As I opened the door to the middle part of the pole barn, the area before the hangar, his footsteps got closer.
“I was told to not to let you out of my sight. I follow Father Gabriel’s orders.”
Asshole.
The hallway veered to the left and ran through the center of the building, allowing space for the offices on the right and workshops on the left.
If I wanted to be nice, I could have flipped the switch and turned on the lights, but I wasn’t being nice. Besides, the hangar had windows, and the beams from the perpetual sunshine created a literal light at the end of the tunnel.
“Fine, whatever,” I offered sarcastically. “Knock yourself out.”
Only our boots echoed against the concrete floor as we made our way down the hall. When I reached for the handle of the door at the end of the hallway, the one leading to the hangar, my steps stopped. I spun backward, my movement precipitated by a loud thud followed by another odd noise that had come from behind me. I watched, in shock, as Abraham fell to the floor, his knees buckling before he fell backward. A sickening squish—like the sound of a dropped watermelon—filled the hallway as his skull made contact with the concrete. Within seconds a dark pool of liquid began to form around his head.
When I dragged my gaze away from Abraham, my eyes met Benjamin’s. In his shaking hand was a large wrench, now dripping with the blood of our Assembly brother. I rushed toward Benjamin and, before he could say a word, wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
“You’re alive! I’m so sorry.” My emotions were jacked. Guilt flooded through me, guilt at what had happened to him and to Raquel because of me. “I’m sorry about you and Raquel. I never thought about the cell towers.”
Benjamin’s shoulders hunched forward as his head moved from side to side. Very quietly, he whispered, “Microphones? Out here?”
“Didn’t used to be,” I answered softly, flipping the switch to acknowledge his concern. The bright light brought crimson to the dark pool around Abraham’s head. I looked away, focusing on the ceiling and seams in the tiles. I scanned the floorboards and door frames. “No, there’re none in here. There are some out in the hangar, but we usually only turn them on during loading and unloading of merchandise and supplies.” I shrugged. “That doesn’t mean they’re not on now. I don’t know what the hell’s happening.”
“Sara?” he asked.
Pressing my lips together, I slowly shook my head. “She’s still at the Eastern Light. Father Gabriel’s holding her there until I get him some envelope I was given at the Western Light.” I ran my hands through my hair. “I just can’t remember what I did with it. It was when Sara . . .” I let my words trail away. We both knew what’d happened. We were both living with the consequences.
I took a step back as the loud clank of the wrench hitting the floor reverberated through the air, and scanned Benjamin up and down. Normally, he was well dressed, always neat and clean. Not now. Today his pants were torn and the knees were covered with dirt and grass stains. His shirt hung loose and was equally filthy. On his shirt were smears of blood, and, judging by the color, it was dry and hadn’t come from Abraham.
“What happened? I thought they said . . .” I didn’t want to say the word banished.
It was as if someone had deflated Benjamin, as if he were a balloon losing air. His entire body shrank and lines covered his face as he cleared his throat to speak. “Him,” he said. “Him!” He spoke louder, kicking Abraham’s side. The man didn’t move. With the way his skull was opened, with some sort of gray matter visible, I was pretty sure he never would.
“He what?”
Benjamin took a step back, avoiding the growing pool of blood. “While I was at the lab, he went to our apartment, to the place we lived, our home! He questioned Raquel.”
My already knotted stomach convulsed. “Questioned?”
In Benjamin’s dark eyes, which usually held compassion and understanding, I saw an unfamiliar glare of hatred.
“Questioned,” he repeated through locked jaws. “I had no idea it was happening. It wasn’t until I was called to the temple to the Assembly room that I knew anything about it. Something to do with isolating the location of the phone and only two possibilities.”
I nodded. “The Commission told me, Raquel or Sara.”
“I told them I’d talked to you, on our regular phones. I had no idea where it was leading, but with all four of them sitting there he”—Benjamin nodded his head toward Abraham—“brought her to me.” Tears descended his cheeks, clearing paths through the dirt, grime, and blood. “She was crying, and bruised, and upset, and apologizing. I wanted to kill Abraham. I wanted to kill them all.”
I looked down and lifted my brow. “Looks like you accomplished part of your goal.”
Benjamin shook his head. “I know it upset him.”
I doubted it had upset Abraham at all.
Benjamin went on, “He was my overseer, our overseer. I worked with him every day, but Brother Raphael said he didn’t have a choice.”
“But you’re not . . .”
“Dead,” he said, finishing my sentence. “Not yet, but I will be. Brother Raphael told us to run, to go into the dark and see how long we’d last.”
The flicker of hope that was born when I saw Benjamin grew to a flame, fearful of being snuffed out. “Raquel?”
He nodded toward the hangar. “She’s in there, but Abraham beat her pretty bad. I’ve never been so scared. Even if we had a place to go, she can’t walk. I carried her here.”
“Wait,” I said, lifting my finger to my lips. Opening the door to one of the offices, I went to the computer and prayed they hadn’t changed the password. A sigh left my lips as the screen came to life. A few clicks of the mouse and pass-phrases later and I was into the hangar’s security feed. With Benjamin over my shoulder, I nodded. “The cameras are off. The last recording was the day I came back from Fairbanks.”
“Does it have Sara? Had they seen her?”
I shook my head. “No, I knew it’d be running and got her out of the plane before I tugged it into the hangar.”
“I’m getting back out to Raquel.”
“Take her to the living quarters. This computer oversees all the security. Nothing’s being recorded in there either.”
As we stepped back into the hallway, I kicked Abraham’s side. “We need to get him outside.”
“I’m moving Raquel first.”
Nodding, I reached for Abraham’s jacket and took out his phone. Holding it in my hands, I suddenly wondered whether I could use it to call the FBI. But first I needed the envelope, praying it would buy me time.
“I need to check the plane in the hangar for something Father Gabriel wants,” I explained as we started to walk away from Abraham’s body. “How did you know he’d be here?”
“I didn’t.”
I turned toward Benjamin with my eyes wide. “So the wrench was for me?”
The very corners of my friend’s mouth moved upward. “I heard the garage door and was on my way to see if it was you when I heard your voice and his. The wrench was just handy, and someone should have done that a long time ago.”
I patted his shoulder. “No argument from me, Brother. Take me to Raquel.”
As we walked toward the far end of the hangar, I saw the drops of blood I’d seen earlier on the floor and tried to scuff one. This time it didn’t budge.
“You were here when we first got back from the Eastern Light, weren’t you?”
Benjamin nodded. “We’d just gotten here. The door on the far end by the landing strip was unlocked. I’d just gotten her inside. That’s how I knew about Sara. I overheard you and Micah talking when you arrived from the Eastern Light.”
“I’m getting her back.”
He didn’t respond. No one believed me, except me.
Benjamin led me to the far corner of the hangar, behind a row of skids and shelves filled with boxes of supplies. I stopped walking as the bile rose from my stomach. Raquel’s normally pretty face was red, with areas of darker blue. One cheek and eye were swollen so badly that it didn’t appear as though her eye would open. She was lying unmoving on her side.
As I stared at my friend, I felt no remorse about Abraham. I was glad he was dead and hoped he rotted in hell. How he could continue to do this to women was beyond me. The man was a psychopath who’d found an acceptable outlet for his
desires. I hadn’t thought of his wife until this moment, but I doubted that Deborah would mourn her husband’s loss.
“Raquel,” Benjamin said softly, kneeling by his wife’s side. “Brother Jacob’s here. He said for a little while we can move you to the living quarters. It’ll be better than having you lie on this hard floor.”
She nodded and her face contorted as Benjamin helped her sit.
“B-Brother Jacob . . . I’m sorry . . .” Her voice was weak.
I knelt beside her. “No, Raquel. You have nothing to be sorry about. It’s my fault. All of this.”
“But Sara . . .”
“Raquel, don’t worry about her. I’m going to get her back. I just need to find something first.”
We all jumped as the phone in my pocket buzzed. Benjamin’s eyes met mine. “Yours?” he asked.
Pressing my lips together, I shook my head. After a deep breath, I swiped the screen of Abraham’s phone and read his new text.
Father Gabriel: HAS HE FOUND IT?
I looked up to Benjamin. “Well, that blows my theory that Abraham brought me out here for something else.”
“You’d better answer him.”
I hit “Reply” and held the phone so we could both read.
Abraham: NOT YET. STILL LOOKING.
Father Gabriel: DON’T LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT AND GET ME THAT ENVELOPE.
Benjamin’s and my eyes locked. “What about you?” he asked. “Is he supposed to take you back to the community?”
Fuck!
My heart raced as I hit the buttons.
Abraham: JACOB?
We waited.
Father Gabriel: AS WE DISCUSSED.
Away From the Dark Page 26
