by Geri Krotow
She looked forward to watching these bastards go down.
* * *
Lionel left the trailer and headed out to accomplish what Brother Wise had told him to. He wasn’t going to stay for the sermon; he couldn’t. Because, at the end of the sermon, the New Thought mothers would be safely tucked away and soon be impregnated. The other women—no one needed them. He’d have to circle back and get rid of the older bitches. The young mothers would take up where they left off.
Lionel had his job to do. It was the final fire, the flames that would let the world know that what Brother Wise preached wasn’t made up or crazy. It was the truth.
And it was too late for those who hadn’t already heeded the call.
* * *
“What kind of timeline are we looking at?” Rio addressed FBI agent Andrea Locklear as they sat around the SVPD conference table with Colt.
Keith listened in on a phone as he hid near the quarry, but Abi was already in place to go into the underground bunker as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Keith could see her from his vantage point and relayed her action to the group. Colt knew Keith was full of fear; he was in the same place. They both had to trust that their women would survive.
Andrea worked a laptop and her phone as if she’d been born with them attached. “FBI and NSA are working together on the cyber part of this. I’m not even privy to that, but my director for this op is saying we have twelve hours, tops.”
Colt slammed his fists on the table. “That’s not enough time to evacuate all the civilians in Silver Valley!”
“No evacuation is happening. A cyber attack doesn’t mean they’ll blow up Three Mile Island. It does signify that they want to show the world that they can take over the systems of the nuclear plant. But to actually blow it up?” Andrea shook her head. “Don’t see it happening.”
“But it could, Andrea.” Rio spoke.
“Doubtful. I think the most that has happened here is that the fake students at the Army War College were sent in by their terrorist organizations. They were sent here to feel things out on the ground, without having to worry about being placed under any kind of surveillance by our government. They’re simply students, right? They were able to find out from Taylor and his family about the cult, which only helped them. They’ve used the cult’s activities as a screen, to predict how we’d react.”
“And now that they know how we handle fires and emergencies? You mean they didn’t know that already?” Keith whispered into his mic.
“I can’t explain everything—you all just have to trust me on this. Higher levels are taking care of the cyber attack and any resulting threat to the nuclear plants. But this has tied up our resources to the point that we can’t be as much help with the final apprehension of Wise and his cult leaders, as I said before.
“What you need to do at the local level is the heavy lifting with bringing down the cult and keeping those civilians involved safe. We all know how ugly it gets when a crazed sociopathic cult leader is cornered.” Andrea’s words hit Keith in the gut.
“You still there, Keith?” Rio’s voice.
“Yeah.”
“You need to report back here ASAP. Your department needs you. They’re already on their way to where Wise has sent men to set off flares and fireworks in a perimeter around TMI.”
“I’m needed here, Rio.” His department knew what they were doing.
“You have to come back and lead your department. Rio’s right. Let Abi do her job.” Colt’s voice was barely audible. Keith’s phone signal was weak. Damn it.
“Roger.” It went against his gut instincts to leave Abi, but his other instincts told him his team needed him, too.
No, not gut instinct. Heart instinct. Abi was his heart, and her life was at stake.
* * *
Lionel ordered six teams of five men each to the places where they’d planned for months to establish a ring around the Susquehanna and Cumberland valleys. The center of the “ring of fire,” as Brother Wise called it, was the famous Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Brother Wise said that man’s evil need for power was underscored by the existence of Three Mile Island, even after it had suffered a near catastrophic nuclear accident in the seventies.
“Do not speak to anyone as you go to your firing point. Do not launch. Repeat, do not launch your rockets until the signal is given. Does everyone have a fully charged phone?”
The men nodded and murmured their compliance. “We’ve practiced this enough. Once you launch your rockets, you may be approached by law enforcement. Do not resist. Let them see that you’re not afraid to go to jail for the best reason ever. You are representing the New Thought, the True Believers of years ago come back. You are the servants of Brother Wise and are bringing salvation to the world by letting them know the truth.”
“Amen!” The men clapped and stomped their feet together, in the practiced move that was unique to their community. Lionel had never been more proud or excited. He was in charge, for now.
And if anything happened to Brother Wise and his immediate circle of trusted men, Lionel was ready to take over their entire flock.
“Brother David, do you have your kayak ready?”
“Yes, Brother Lionel.”
“Then go now—you need extra time. Be quick and silent.”
Brother David was going to be the one closest to the nuclear reactors. The only way to reach them was via the river. Brother David had rowed crew when he’d been at a university, still under the influence of the world’s evil ways. He was strong and good with the oars. And he’d shown no fear during their practice run on the small private lake in the Poconos a month ago. Brother Wise had a friend up in those mountains who owned a cabin on the shores of a remote lake. They’d practiced an entire weekend until everyone was sure the fireworks would go off without a hitch.
Leonard let the rush of exaltation surge through him. Soon the world would know who was really in charge.
Chapter 21
Abi felt Keith’s supportive gaze on her the entire time she was crouched near the quarry’s entrance to the cult’s bunker. The opening hadn’t been difficult to spot; the fake Japanese maple trees placed in front of steel doors set into the hollowed-out entrance were a giveaway. From a distance it appeared as if weeds or wild trees had started to overtake the base of the abandoned quarry. Up close, the camouflage was ridiculous.
Her phone had died and it didn’t matter; she’d be here when the busloads of women and girls came in. Claudia’s note and the FBI agent’s further intel had helped her figure out Wise’s next steps.
And more importantly, hers and Claudia’s.
The bastard had already sent his minions out to surround TMI, and the international cyber terrorists were at work to freeze the facility’s systems. Abi couldn’t worry about any of that. She had to do what she could—save the young girls being bussed in here at any moment.
Tires crunched on gravel and the lumbering sound of a school bus shifting gears echoed against the quarry walls. She looked up for Keith’s gaze, his reassurance.
Keith was gone.
As he’d promised her, he’d left to do his work—with his department. She sent up a prayer that he’d be safe, that the work around TMI would be straightforward, no life-threatening fires, no nuclear meltdown. From her FBI work, she had every confidence in the national law-enforcement agencies and their ability to lock out the cyber terrorists. The arsons set by the cult around TMI could be handled, too. That was Keith’s job. It was Leonard Wise and his unpredictable behavior with innocent girls that she was concerned about.
She forced her thoughts from Keith and mentally rehearsed her plan before the goons arrived with the girls, and hopefully the other women, too. As the school bus drew closer, she strained to see the profiles in the windows. All young girls. Pure evil. Wha
tever happened over the next few minutes, she had to keep the girls from going into this bunker. Once they were behind digitally programmed steel doors and under hydraulic lifts, she’d have little ability to free them.
* * *
Keith was hot, sweaty and nearly to where they’d stashed the mountain bikes yesterday. He was switch-backing around the side of the quarry, getting farther and farther from Abi.
Colt’s words echoed in his mind, but not as loudly as Abi’s. She’d implored him to do his job so that she could do hers.
But Keith had done his job. He’d prepared his department for all eventualities, ensured each and every firefighter had the best training money could buy and that he could give them, too. He slowed down, stopped. No one would ever think twice about him leaving Abi on the side of a mountain to go do his work as a firefighter. No one would blame him. In fact, he’d face recrimination for not being there with his department, not leading them into the fight against the cult and its attempts to light fires around Three Mile Island. The very thing he was hell-bent to achieve—complete redemption from the citizens of Silver Valley—wasn’t important to him any longer. He’d been crazy, trying to show that the accusations against him were false, even after they’d been dropped.
He took a long last swig of water from his plastic pouch. A funny, tingling feeling began in the center of his chest and ran up the back of his neck and down his spine. It wasn’t cardiac arrest, but it had to do with his heart. Abi.
He turned around and ran back toward the quarry.
* * *
Claudia lay between two back benches on the floor of the dilapidated school bus, covered with the tote bags each of the girls had been instructed to take with them to the “refuge.” She’d looked into the bags—sanitary napkins, cheap perfume, toothbrushes and toothpaste. That’s what the sick Leonard Wise was sending his virginal sacrifices into a goddamned bunker with. The good point was that the bags were light and she could stand with little effort. The bad side was that she was on the floor of an old school bus, being banged and jolted as it ground up the mountain.
“Are you okay?” Vivian’s eyes peered through the bags as the girl pretended to tie her shoes. She’d agreed to help sneak Claudia on board and had enlisted three of the others to help. None of the underage girls were under Wise’s spell, unlike their mothers, who’d been left at the trailer park. Presumably to rot, but Claudia feared for their safety, too. She hoped Colt was on it.
“I’m fine. Be ready as soon as the bus stops. How many men are with us?”
“Two. The bus driver and the guard.”
“Does the guard have a weapon? A gun?”
“Yes, a long, rifle-looking one.” Vivian’s quick response made Claudia smile. This girl might be a future Trail Hiker.
“Good girl. Now sit up and be prepared.”
Claudia acknowledged the adrenaline that surged through her system in anticipation of what she had to accomplish. It made her hands shake, her heart pound in her rib cage. She’d felt it before, in Fallujah. As soon as the bus stopped, Wise’s cronies were done. She had to disarm the man with the rifle, no doubt an AR-15, as had been reported in Wise’s stash of assorted arms.
She’d never been more proud or grateful for what she’d learned during her first basic training, Plebe Summer at the Naval Academy. The Marine Corps Officer Basic Training didn’t hurt, either. They both prepared her for this moment.
* * *
“That’s it, Colt. We’ve taken out six of the eight suspected fire starters, with Detective Campbell and Officer Pasczenko apprehending the seventh now.” Rio sat between Colt and Agent Locklear in the command vehicle.
“All on the ground?” Colt had to confirm they were secure before he could go where he really wanted to be. Not Silver Valley Police Department, not in this communications van outside of Three Mile Island.
“All but one or two. Trail Hikers got two of the men to talk and there’s one man, possibly two, on a boat, probably a kayak, headed for TMI.” Rio looked at his notes as he spoke, checking off each item, accounting for all of SVPD’s officers.
“Chief Todd, I just got a report that the cyber terrorists have been arrested, all six of them.” Agent Locklear looked as pleased as punch as she delivered the news.
“Six? I thought there were four at most.”
Agent Locklear shrugged. “We catch them as we need to.” She stood from her laptop and stretched, bent over, as she was taller than the comms van was high.
“So it was all a ruse, so that Wise can do God knows what at that quarry. He never counted on the cyber terrorists, but wouldn’t have cared, either. Goddamn it!” Colt wanted to tear the electronic panels off the inside of the van.
Rio’s eyes filled with concern and understanding. He knew what it was like to have the woman you loved in danger. “Yes, sir.”
“That’s it, then. FBI’s on the cyber part and Special Ops will get the remaining rats in the water.” Scuba teams were positioned throughout the Susquehanna to take out Wise’s attempt to draw national attention to his cult.
“Yes, sir. I’ll bring in the rest of the department, Chief. We can all meet back at headquarters.” Rio all but pushed Colt out of the van.
“Good job, everyone.” Colt nodded first at Rio then at Agent Locklear. She lifted the corner of her mouth.
“Claudia’s got this, Chief Todd. And Abi’s well prepared for it, too.” Agent Locklear’s expression revealed nothing, but by the nature of the case and the level of Trail Hikers involvement, Colt knew the FBI agent knew who Claudia and Abi were. What they were capable of.
And what they were up against at this very moment.
“I know.” Colt grabbed his coat. “Rio, call in to the station and tell them I want the ATV waiting for me at the bottom of the AT entrance on Silver Pike Highway.”
“On it.”
Colt fled.
* * *
Abi waited for the bus to stop, then ran up behind it at the one moment she could approach it from the rear with the least risk of the driver seeing her with his side mirrors. Giving a light tap on the back door, she waited. Meanwhile, the side door of the bus squeaked open. She dropped to her stomach and saw the booted feet of the guard or driver make their way to the bunker’s steel doors. Peering around the side of the bus, she saw it was the guard. He had an AR-15 slung over his back. When a second pair of large, booted feet hit the ground, the driver’s, Abi knew she had less than a minute to save a busload of girls.
She pounded on the back door again, this time harder. It didn’t matter if the men heard her—she had to get them free. Shuffling, a shout of “Quiet!” and the door flew open. Claudia stood at the back door, tote bags falling from her shoulders and onto the girls grouped around her. Several had started to whimper.
Claudia turned to an older girl. “Vivian, now!”
Vivian motioned for the girls to follow her. “This way!” The girls jumped off the back of the bus, Abi helping them down, urging them to run as fast as they could. “Head for the ridge, up there. Stay to the side of the quarry. Get as far away from the bus as you can.” She counted twenty-two in all.
Shots rang out and Abi didn’t waste time to look; she knew what an AR-15 sounded like. She met Claudia’s commanding gaze. Claudia nodded, shoving the last five girls off the bus.
Worst case, at least the girls would survive. They had to. Abi knew Claudia agreed. Best case, the girls would survive and Claudia and Abi wouldn’t, but they’d take out the driver and guard in the process.
The very best scenario would allow Abi and Claudia to take out the men, then wait for the one who’d caused all of this. The one man who had wreaked havoc on Silver Valley and threatened these girls.
Leonard Wise.
Abi knew Wise was her target, but since Keith had told her he loved her she’d had the h
ardest time keeping him out of her immediate thoughts. And remarkably it wasn’t affecting how she did her job. In fact, she felt she had more clarity than ever before. Finding true love did that to a girl. Unfortunately for Wise, he’d targeted her man when he’d coached that couple to bring false charges against Keith. She didn’t take kindly to anyone who threatened or hurt her loved ones. This one was for Keith, too.
Abi gripped her weapon and headed for the bunker.
* * *
Colt sped along in the department’s ATV, willing the new engine to go faster, damning the city for not funding a helicopter for SVPD.
“Hang on, Claudia. Hang on,” Colt shouted over the noise, feeling like a madman and not caring. He had five more minutes. Five minutes to get to the quarry, five minutes to back up Claudia and Abi. Or not—an AR-15 bullet killed instantly.
As he fought to maintain control of his sanity, he spied a male figure running along the same route. What the hell was Keith doing out here? He was supposed to be with his department.
Colt slowed the vehicle down. “Hop on.”
Before he said the words, Keith was seated behind him. “Go! There’s a school bus of girls and Abi’s alone to deal with it.”
Yup. He and Keith were heading for the same destination.
Shouting over the engine, Colt filled Keith in on the operation so far. All that he knew, anyhow.
“No one told me Claudia would be going into this, too.” Keith’s voice was hoarse, his trepidation palpable.
“It’s her job. She’s had the same great training as Abi. They’ve got it, don’t worry.” Why the hell was he trying to console the fire chief? He was as worried as him, for the same reasons.
“Shouldn’t we slow down, go on foot as we get closer?” Keith’s shout saved them from giving away their presence. Colt wouldn’t have stopped until he’d driven into the quarry and taken out every one of the males in the damned cult.
It would have cost Claudia and Abi their lives.