“What?” I asked. “Do what?”
He squeezed both my hands hard. And then he dropped to one knee. I blinked because it was almost like he—
My hands flew to my mouth. OH GOD!
He pulled a box from his pocket. Opened it to show me a silver ring with a square-cut diamond that threw dazzling patterns against the wall as the light caught it.
Blue eyes looked up into mine. Desperate. Determined. “Will you marry me?”
I wasn’t ready for the emotional response. It hit me like a truck, stealing every breath of air from my lungs and damn near doubling me over. I could feel my eyes huge and staring: I had no idea! It was the very last thing I’d expected from him. All the love I felt for him rushed inward to my heart and just exploded into pure happiness because now it could be forever. I couldn’t speak. Tears were flooding my eyes: I thought I wasn’t like that, thought I wasn’t a girl who cried but—
Aedan swallowed. He thinks I’m saying no! “I know I’m just a fighter,” he said, every syllable echoing through me. “But you complete me. I need you to marry me, not because I want a life with you: because I can’t imagine a life without you.” He swallowed again. “And—And if—”
I finally found my voice. “YES!” I screamed, tears running down my cheeks. “YES, YES!” I dived forward and he stood up just in time to catch me. He whirled me around in sheer joy, lifting me like I weighed nothing, my legs flying out behind me. He kissed away my tears, panting in relief, as we spun. As we gradually slowed, more and more of me settled against his body. My breasts pressed against his pecs. My stomach kissed his abs. My groin settled onto his. My feet still dangled off the ground because he was so much bigger than me. I hung there, kissing him, and I never wanted to be anywhere else.
He finally put me down and I staggered, drunk on love. Then he was taking my left hand on his. What’s he—Oh my God! I’d almost forgotten about the ring part. My chest closed up tight as he slid the band onto my finger. A man is putting a ring on my finger! It felt enchanted. It had power, tingling and throbbing against my skin, sending waves of excitement right through me. Everything swelled up inside me again and I almost started crying anew: I’d never known what so happy I could burst meant until that moment.
Aedan wrapped me up in his arms. Touched his forehead to mine. “I have to go,” he said.
And it was okay because I knew he didn’t want to: he needed to. I nodded, breathless. “Go.” He stepped away but I grabbed his t-shirt, the thin cotton stretching in my fists. “Hey!”
He turned back.
“You’re marrying me when you get back,” I told him, my voice catching.
He nodded and smoothed his hand down the back of my head. “Damn right I am.” He bent and kissed me, his lips tasting me and then his tongue seeking out mine in a kiss that lifted me right up onto my toes, glittering sparkles shimmering right down my body. I’d never felt so light, so girly.
He stepped back and then he was gone, marching off down the drive to the waiting SUV. The ring felt so heavy on my finger, weighing my hand down as if it weighed a thousand tons. I kept fingering it, stroking it. I couldn’t get used to it, couldn’t not feel it.
“Come back soon,” I whispered to myself.
50
Sean
We drove for hours, way out into the sticks. The towns grew further apart and there wasn’t a light for miles. Eventually, we turned onto a side road and began to climb up a grassy hill. Kian stopped just before we reached the crest and killed the engine. He pointed to the map on the GPS. “If Mary’s right about the location, it’s on the other side of this hill.”
We all climbed out. The adrenaline was pumping, now: this was it.
Kian fished in his bag and brought out a huge, boxy handgun that looked like it could bring down an elephant. He shoved it into a shoulder holster under his leather jacket. Carrick brought out the carved, monstrous shotgun he called Caorthannach and concealed it under his cut. The four of us crept up to the top of the hill to look. We should have brought bolt cutters, I thought suddenly. There’d be a fence, probably with razor wire….
I peeked my head over the crest...and blinked.
On the other side of the hill, laid out like a picture postcard on the floor of a valley, was an idyllic little town. It was tiny, maybe a few hundred people. Every building was white painted and everything was traditional: there was what looked like a town hall, a big three story mansion that might once have belonged to the mayor and streets of perfect little houses with—I squinted—Jesus! Actual white picket fences.
“You put the coordinates in wrong,” grunted Carrick.
“It’s right. I double checked,” said Kian.
Aedan shook his head. “So where is it?” There was no place to hide a camp full of cult members in the tiny town below. It would have stuck out a mile.
Kian shook his head. “The co-ordinates are right. Let’s go take a look.”
Half an hour later, we were wandering through the heart of the town. It was late but the place was still busy. Some of the stores were still open, there was some sort of live music playing in the town’s one bar and families were strolling around eating ice cream. It reminded me of a holiday resort but there was no attraction to come for: this place was in the middle of nowhere. These were locals.
We passed an old man sitting on a bench, doing a crossword puzzle under a streetlamp. Further along the street, a couple of guys were playing chess. It was so quiet. I realized what I wasn’t hearing: sirens. In LA, there’s always a siren blaring somewhere. We kept thinking that, around the next corner, we’d see a huge barn or something surrounded by razor wire fences and guys with guns. But there was nothing that looked remotely shady.
“Maybe only the leader lives here,” said Kian at last. “The compound or camp or whatever, where they take people like Bradan, is somewhere else. That way, if it ever gets raided, the leader’s safe. It would explain why Mary traced the computer here: it’s just one guy in his house, with a laptop.”
Carrick nodded reluctantly. “That makes sense. Shit! I thought we were close.”
“We are close,” said Aedan darkly. “We’re going to find that son of a bitch and make him tell us where Bradan is.” He looked around. “This is the sort of place where everyone knows everyone. Let’s start asking questions.”
He marched into a diner that looked like it had come straight out of the fifties. In fact, the whole town had that look about it. The town planning committee must be strict as hell because I couldn’t see a McDonalds or a Starbucks anywhere. I followed Aedan, the other two behind me.
Inside, it was still busy. People were chowing down on slices of apple pie, coffee and ice cream: late-night dessert must be a thing, here. I sat down beside Aedan at the counter and ordered coffee. Kian and Carrick joined us.
“Just passing through?” asked the waitress. She was pretty, with auburn hair pinned up and a pencil tucked behind her ear.
“Yep. Just stopped for gas.” I gave her a friendly smile. “Seems like a nice little town.”
She smiled.
And I froze.
She turned away and I sat there staring at her back as she poured our coffees, suddenly deeply unsettled. Her smile had been friendly but her eyes hadn’t matched. They’d been cold and hostile but also pitying. I’d seen that look somewhere before.
“What?” asked Kian, leaning across Aedan to reach me.
I didn’t answer. I was still staring at the waitress. In my head, I was back at the house where the cult had initiated Sylvie. The woman there had looked at me while she called the cops and she’d given me the exact same look: I was the enemy, but I was also somehow beneath her because I was an Outsider.
She was one of them. She was part of Aeternus. But what were the chances of us stumbling across the leader of the cult as easily as that?
I turned on my stool and looked at the people in the diner. Then the people walking past on the street outside. The old men. The couples.
The children.
I gripped Kian’s arm hard to make him listen. “Stand up,” I grated. “And walk out.”
Carrick blinked. “What? Why?”
I was already sliding off my stool and throwing a few dollars on the counter. “Sorry,” I told the waitress. “Change of plan.” And I headed for the door without waiting for a reply.
My brothers followed but Carrick was muttering in my ear, asking questions. “Outside,” I told him.
On the street, I tried to keep them moving, heading back the way we’d come. But they all wanted answers. “What happened in there?” asked Kian.
“We found them,” I said under my breath.
“Where? The diner?”
“The town,” I told him in a strangled voice. “That’s why we couldn’t find it. We’re already in the middle of it.” I was glancing at each person walking towards us, expecting them to jump us. Everyone had that same look in their eyes: we were Outsiders and they knew it. “Every fucking person in this town is part of the cult.”
Kian drew in his breath. I saw his hand twitch, a hair’s-breadth from going for this gun. But guns wouldn’t help us, here, not when we were outnumbered hundreds to one. Our only chance was to get out of town while they still thought we were just tourists who’d wandered in by mistake.
There was the woop-woop of a siren behind us. I turned to see a cop car pulling up outside the diner. Two cops immediately climbed out and started walking towards us. Shit. And ahead of us, that short blast of the siren made every head turn.
They looked.
They identified us as Outsiders: ones wanted by the police.
And then my blood turned to ice as every single person on the street started towards us. Young lovers out for a stroll dropped each other’s hands and walked towards us. Mothers pushed their children behind them and then started forward. Young men who’d just left the bar, old men who’d been playing chess: everyone started to move in our direction. Their faces were stony, their eyes cold. We were the enemy. It was the single scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“Run!” yelled Kian.
We ran, charging down the sidewalk towards the edge of town. The townsfolk grabbed at us as we passed or ran to block our path. We had to shoulder them out of the way but there were too many of them: we were going to be overrun long before we reached safety.
A big guy with a beard leaned in and made a grab at me from the right but I shoved him aside. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone else rushing in from the left and I raised my other hand to punch...but at the last second, I realized it was a girl no older than Kayley. I dropped my guard and she barreled into me, tackling me to the ground.
The girl and I separated as we landed but others were rushing forward to grab hold of me. They would have got me if Carrick and Kian hadn’t taken a hand each and hauled me to my feet. Aedan pushed back the two guys who were closest but it was like trying to hold back the tide. I saw Kian reach for his gun...but just as quickly, he shoved it back into his holster. There were kids and teenagers everywhere.
Two guys grabbed Carrick around the shoulders and tussled him to the ground, then tried to drag him away. Kian snarled and launched himself at them, shouldering one aside and punching the other so hard he folded silently to the ground. He grabbed Carrick’s hand and hauled him up...and I saw something in Carrick’s eyes: respect, relief and a little pride.
“What?” snapped Kian.
Carrick shook his head: nothing. But I was pretty sure I understood that look. He was realizing his brother hadn’t gone soft at all.
We staggered on but there was no way we were going to make it to the edge of town. My heart was hammering. This was terrifying: everyone was against us.
“Down here!” yelled Carrick and led the way to an alley. We had no idea where it led, but at least it was free of people. We sprinted down it, legs burning, lungs aching. But I could already hear more people in the street beyond. It didn’t matter how fast we ran: we were surrounded.
At that instant, a bright red jeep tore out of a side alley and screeched to a stop in front of us, so close that Carrick had to stumble to a stop to avoid running into it. Shit! Now that way was blocked. We all turned towards the side alley it had come from, hoping we could duck down there—
The driver leaned out of his window. “Get in!”
We all gaped at him. What? The guy was a stranger. And it made no sense: we had no friends in this town. Was he just trying to delay us? I could hear the townsfolk pouring into the alley behind us.
“Get in!” the guy yelled again.
Kian hesitated, as confused as I was. Who the hell was this guy and why was he trying to save us? I checked over my shoulder. A solid mass of people filled the alley behind us. The closest ones were only seconds away.
“For fuck’s sake,” roared the guy. “It’s me!”
The face was many years older than I remembered it. But I finally recognized the black hair, the blue eyes. “Oh Jesus,” I whispered. I looked at the others, all of us making the connection at the same time.
I’d been wrong. We had one friend in this town. Just one.
We piled into the car and slammed the doors. “Where are we going?” panted Kian.
“Somewhere safe,” said Bradan.
The crowd arrived. Bodies slammed against the car and hands pressed against the windows. Bradan floored it so hard that we were mashed into our seats and we were gone before they could get a door open.
We hurtled through the side alley, walls whipping past with only inches to spare. Bradan turned into another alley, then onto a street. This was his town, not ours, so we couldn’t do much to help. That gave us time to glance at one another and it looked as if we were all thinking the same thing.
We found him!
I’d been thinking about it for so long. In the last few weeks, I’d been constantly aware of it: self-conscious, almost. I’d been able to feel him getting closer and closer, always just beyond my fingertips. He’d been the first thing I thought of in the morning, the last thing at night. But I hadn’t known what we were going to find: would it be an unmarked grave in the desert?
What I hadn’t realized until now is that I’d been thinking about it long before that: ever since he was taken from us. I’d buried it inside me so as not to go insane but it had always been there, along with my mom’s death, filling me with that rage that had come out in every swing of the sledgehammer. It had been with me for so long, I couldn’t believe it was over.
He was here. I could reach out and touch him. Bradan! I could see scars on his neck and his forearms were thickly muscled from constant use. He reminded me of Kian: a warrior’s body.
And then the guilt hit.
He’d been in the same fucking state as me for years. He’d been through hell while we’d all been living our lives. I looked at the others again, seeing the same realization in their faces. We looked for him, I told myself.
We could have looked harder.
Bradan threw the car into a tight turn and we tore down a concrete ramp that led underground. We were plunged into darkness for a second, then my eyes adjusted and I made out a small parking garage. Bradan jumped out as soon as we stopped. Blinking in surprise, we slowly climbed out as well. Why had he brought us here? Shouldn’t we be getting out of town?
Five men stepped from the shadows. Four of them were in police uniforms, their guns drawn. The fifth was an older guy, mostly bald but with white hair stretching back over each ear.
The cops leveled their guns at us. We all slowly raised our hands, looking at Bradan in shock.
The old guy embraced him. “Well done, Bradan,” he said. “Well done.”
51
Aedan
The cops led us upstairs, which was when we realized that Bradan had driven us to the police station. It looked like it was still being built, or maybe remodeled, because there was construction gear down the hall. They took our weapons and cell phones and pushed us into a holding cell
with bare cinderblock walls, the door swung shut and the cops left. As soon as they were gone, the building was utterly silent: I wasn’t even sure they’d left someone on night duty. Then it clicked: in this town, with every citizen loyal to the cult, there’d be no crime.
The cell had a tiny, barred window, a toilet and sink, a couple of bunks, and that was it. Kian and Sean sat down on the bunks. Carrick slumped down on the floor, back against the wall. I grabbed hold of the iron bars that fronted the cell and just stood there raging, my knuckles white where they gripped the metal.
How could we have been so stupid? He’d been with them for years. Of course he’d be on their side. But all he’d had to do was show up and we’d trusted him instantly. And then he’d— I wanted to throw up. I understood why. I’d seen what Sylvie was like after just a few days. They’d had Bradan for years.
But he was our brother. And he’d betrayed us like it was nothing. Like he didn’t even know who we were, anymore.
None of us slept that night. Nobody came for us. Why aren’t we dead? Why hadn’t they just shot us, taken us somewhere far from town and dumped the bodies?
The sun had been up for a few hours before the cops returned. We were cuffed, pushed into the back of a police van and driven a short distance. When they hauled us out, blinking in the bright sunshine, we were looking up at a large, grand house that overlooked the rest of the town. Immediately, I had a pretty good idea who we were going to meet.
He was seated at a dining table, eating breakfast. Apparently, we didn’t warrant our own slot in his busy schedule. Rich, golden scrambled eggs were piled in a neat crescent on his plate. Two strips of crispy bacon were stretched out next to it, precisely parallel. A mug of black coffee was at exactly one O’clock. On his left, the day’s newspaper, folded back on itself to show just the page he needed. On his right, a gunmetal-gray laptop, the lid closed. It wasn’t posh...it wasn’t bone china cups and silver teapots. Everything looked normal. But everything was perfect.
Brothers Page 24