She passed the phone to Tobias, whose eyebrows lifted as he read it. Without a word, he handed it back to Turner.
"What does she mean none of them can get out?" Agent Jackson asked. His sharp blue eyes seemed to have already memorized every bit of her decor.
"Well, the Light Keepers don't like people leaving. I'm proof of that. But she's obviously a child, so of course she can't leave without her parents. My parents. I guess." She touched her forehead, feeling a little lightheaded. "I can't believe I have a sister and they never told me. Can I see that again?"
Agent Turner passed the phone back to her. She read the note again, more carefully, now that the initial shock had worn off.
"She says she's afraid. What's going on?"
"We're not sure. They seem to be holing up. No one from the community has been spotted outside the property for weeks. Joseph Brown was the last, apparently. Since he went back, not a peep. And then this note was found."
Carolyn's stomach dropped in a sickening plunge. Ever since she left the group, she'd worried they might get even crazier. All those weapons, all that paranoia, all that training—someday, they might decide to use it.
"Can't you guys do something? Find out what's happening? Use satellites or something?"
"We did some old-fashioned surveillance. I managed to get onto the property, but I couldn't do much and I didn't find out anything useful. They had guards on me."
"You? Personally?" Her shock must have shown on her face, because Turner gave her a wry look.
"It turns out there's one kind of black person they allow on their property. They wanted their Internet fixed, and I was the only repair person available. Congratulations to me."
Caro's face flamed. She could well imagine the kind of treatment Agent Turner must have received. "I'm so sorry," she said, in a strangled tone. "That could not have been easy."
"Jackson here could have gone in, but I thought it might be useful to rile them up a bit. I took comfort in that."
"Did you wear that wedding ring?" Carolyn asked, glancing at her hand.
"Of course I did."
Tobias scratched at the back of his head. "How does the wedding ring figure in?"
"According to the Light Keepers, a single woman over the age of twenty-one is pretty much the devil," Carolyn explained, distractedly. "There's no way Agent Turner would have gotten in if she weren't married, I don't care how much they wanted their Internet back." She jumped to her feet and began pacing across the room. She had a sister. Maybe. A half-sister. Sarah. Who needed her. Who knew about her!
A frantic kind of emotion flooded her. The words from that note chanted through her mind—she could practically hear them spoken in a child's voice. Tell her to come get me. I'm afraid. I can't leave. None of us kids can.
Was Sarah just being dramatic with that phrasing—"none of us kids can"? It sounded as if they were being held against their will. Even more so than the Light Keepers usually mandated.
She wheeled on the two FBI agents. "So what's next? What happens now?"
"We're investigating. That's why we're here." Agent Jackson sounded irritated. "Has this sister tried to contact you in any other way? Email? Phone?"
"No! I didn't even know she existed. Kids there don't get access to email or phone." She wrung her hands together as she paced. Her sister—Sarah—couldn't be more than nine or ten. Maybe younger, judging by the writing on that note. She was just a little kid! A scared little kid hoping some big sister she'd never met would come save her.
"We thought that you could try to call your father," Agent Turner said. "Maybe you can get a hint about what's going on in there, read between the lines kind of thing."
Carolyn shook her head. "It won't work. He won't take a call from me."
The agents exchanged a glance.
"I can try," she said quickly. "But you'll need a plan B. What if the kids are being held prisoner somehow?"
"We don't know that. The neighbors say they're never any trouble. We have no probable cause to go in there except this note."
"Isn't that enough?" Carolyn waved at the phone. "That note's pretty damn clear."
"No it isn't. The kids are with their parents. We have no evidence that they're not safe. For all we know, this note is a joke. It could be from last month, or it could have flown against the fence in the wind. Maybe it's a fucking art project, who knows?"
"Are you kidding? Does that look like an art project to you? I don't see a single stick figure human or…or sun with rays coming out. And I'm an art history teacher.”
That didn't make much sense. She plunged her hands into her hair, feeling her temples throb with an oncoming headache. Sarah aside, she didn't even know the kids at the compound now. Depending on their ages, they might have been babies when she left. Or not yet born. It didn't matter. She felt a deep kinship with them no matter who they were. She knew how it felt to be trapped behind that fence, with every detail of your life dictated to you.
"Don't worry, we're not going to ignore the note. But we have to handle it delicately. We can't go in with guns blazing. The last thing we want is some kind of shootout. They'd probably like that. Those fringe groups with all that firepower…" Agent Jackson shook his head. "People would get killed. Innocent people."
Kids, he meant. Violent shivers racked Carolyn's body again. She could picture it, the brigade members with their machine guns and their bulletproof vests with the Light Keepers logo. The agent was right; they would relish the chance to put their training to work.
But Sarah…Im afraid … Oh God, she had a sister … a sister in danger…
A firm hand descended on her shoulder, interrupting her frenzied thought process. "Carolyn." Tobias. Tobias was still here? She'd forgotten about him.
She stared at him blankly. "What?"
"I need your help."
"Help? What are you talking about? This is a crisis. Did you hear what they're—"
"I heard. Come on. I need you in the kitchen. It's the crack of dawn, we need coffee."
He was already relentlessly guiding her toward the kitchen.
"We'll be right back with coffee," Tobias told the agents. "Hang tight."
In the kitchen, he turned on the fan over the stove. Its droning hum masked the sound of his voice, which he pitched low as he got the coffeemaker going. "Take a breath, Caro."
"I’m fine. I mean, I can’t believe I have a sister. A sister. And she’s asking for me. But those agents—" She shook her head in frustration.
"They have to follow their procedures and it’s a tricky situation. I have an idea. But they can't know about it. Get me?"
She stared at him, his intense eyes, his serious face. " What plan?"
"I'll tell you all about it. But we have to get rid of them first. If they get so much as a whiff of it, they might block it."
Her thoughts slowly cleared. She nodded, and did as he'd suggested at the beginning. Took a deep breath. To collect herself further, she gathered together cups and spoons, milk and sugar, and placed everything on an enameled tray that depicted a medieval Madonna and Child. The image soothed her, grounded her, got her feet back on familiar ground. She hadn’t even gotten this rattled by the letters and the vandalism.
She had a sister.
When the coffee was done, Tobias followed her back to the living room with the coffeepot. But the agents were already on their feet. "Sorry, we just got a call. We need to get going." Agent Jackson gave the coffee a regretful glance.
"Thanks for coming by," Carolyn managed. It was a good thing they were leaving. Acting normal was beyond her reach right now. "Will you keep me posted?"
"Absolutely," Turner assured her.
She waited in an agony of suspense until they'd left her house, walked down her front walkway, and disappeared into their official federal vehicle. Then she turned on Tobias, who was in the midst of filling cups with coffee.
"Okay, what's your plan?"
He set the coffee carafe on the tray with a c
latter. "Simple. I'm going in." He picked up a cup and blew on it, meeting her eyes calmly over the edge.
"Just like that? Not much of a plan. Why would they let you in?"
"Why wouldn't they? Don't I look like a paramilitary type with a lead on some black-market weapons?"
Her gaze traveled up and down his body. He wore a t-shirt and sweat pants and bulged with muscle. He was right. Tobias looked every inch the tough, soldierly, aggro male. She knew that his appearance didn't tell the whole story, but they wouldn't. In fact, he represented the ideal of what most of the men in the Light Keepers aspired to. Most didn't have his powerful presence or his incredibly honed physique, but they wished they did. He could be the poster child for the "Brigade" part of the Light Keepers.
Another poster child for the fringe group. She and Tobias had so much in common. "I guess you do. But you don't have a lead on any black-market weapons, do you?"
"I'll get one. I have some contacts I can lean on. It might take me a few days, and I have to find someone who can vouch for me, but I'll be prepared by the time I show up at their door."
"Their front gate. Which is about a mile from the actual compound."
"Front gate." He acknowledged her correction with a nod. "Obviously you'll have to brief me on everything you remember."
She pictured him driving up to the outer gate with its security cameras and barbed wire. Pressing the buzzer. Talking to the armed men guarding the gate. Always men. Women never guarded the gate. It was a man's world there. They really only wanted women for one thing…
Slowly but surely, she felt the mantle of "art history professor" slide away. It had always been a safe haven, a way to exist in the world without force or violence. Underneath, there was a different Carolyn Moore. A person who would battle for what she believed. A person who would never stand by and let kids pay some twisted price with their lives.
And just like that, a plan fell into place. Her own plan.
Strange chills passed through her body, down to her feet, back up to the crown of her head. It was almost like feeling trapped all over again, as if the relentless march of destiny had led her here, to this very moment.
"No," she said, then cleared her throat. "No." It came out more firmly this time. "We can't wait a few days. And there's too much you don't know about the place. It has to be me. I'm going back."
He scowled at her in clear shock. "You can't go back. You said you were banned from the property."
"Yes." She nodded, feeling a little like a bobblehead. "But there's one way I can get back in. It'll work, if we do it right."
His eyebrows shot up nearly to his hairline. "We?"
"Yes. We." She drew in a deep breath. This was the weird part. The part she had no idea how he'd react to. "We have to get married."
25
"Married?" Carolyn couldn't have surprised him more if she'd told him they had to dig their way in with a spoon.
"I mean, pretend to be married," she said quickly. "Pretend to want to get married. I know, it's a stretch, given how we both feel about marriage. But that's why it might work. It'll be a total charade. An act."
"Back up, buttercup. Explain this to me step by step. Like I'm one of those non-professor types."
She tugged her fuzzy bathrobe tighter around her and perched on the edge of the couch. "Sacred vows like marriage are very important to the Light Keepers. All marital unions are supposed to be sanctioned by the father. Even though I've been named a pariah, they would most likely grant my request for my father's blessing. Especially if I go crawling back begging. Which I will do."
From her expression, he imagined that would be about as fun as crawling over broken glass. "It's too dangerous," he told her. "They banned you. It's not safe for you to go back." He shook his head, the whole idea setting off every alarm bell he had. There would be no way to guarantee her safety if she walked into a compound full of people who hated her. Armed people. He turned away, decision made, coffee halfway to his mouth. "Absolutely not."
Before he could get his coffee to his mouth, something hit him on the arm. Coffee splashed onto his shirt and his coffee cup vanished from his hand. He spun around to see Carolyn holding it, her blue eyes spitting fire.
"I just disarmed a Night Stalker," she pointed out. "I can take care of myself, and by the way, it's not your decision. It's mine."
"You stole my coffee." He stared at her, dumbfounded.
"To make a point." A tiny muscle flickered in her jaw as she took a sip of his coffee.
"A minute ago you were suggesting we get married. Now you're stealing my coffee?"
"Pretend to intend to get married. If you're not interested, I can find someone else." Cool as cucumber, she sipped again.
Fuck that. Fury simmered deep inside him at the thought of someone else taking on the Light Keepers in his place. "No. If anyone's going to pretend to marry you, it'll be me. But Caro—"
"I am doing this." Her steely tone left no doubt about her determination. "If I have a little sister in there, and she needs me, I'm going in. The FBI obviously isn't going to do anything right away, so I will. Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same if it was one of your brothers."
He scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck. Damn, she'd found the one argument he couldn't counter. Of course he would. He'd probably already be on his way, coming in hot, spoiling for a fight.
But this situation required more forethought and planning. They couldn't just barge in. “What happens if we find her? What then?”
“I don’t know. Right now, I just want to talk to her. I want to make sure she’s okay. Then we’ll go from there.”
“What’s the risk to you? Will they want to punish you because you left?”
She held his gaze without flinching. “It’s possible, but nothing I can’t handle. I’m choosing this, Tobias. I’m willing to take that risk.”
He paced around the living room, sorting through various scenarios. “We’ll need backup. I’m not letting you go in there without someone standing by on the outside.”
“The FBI? It’s not like they can stop me from visiting my father.”
He shook his head. “They’d find a way. We’re civilians, especially you. I’d rather ask my brothers. Will was a deputy sheriff and Ben was in the Air Force. We can trust them, and they’d keep a lower profile.”
“Agreed.” She released a long breath. “Are we actually doing this then?”
He still wasn’t entirely convinced. What if the Light Keepers got suspicious? What if he and Caro couldn't pull off looking like a blissfully engaged couple? "We need to make it look real. I'll get a wedding ring, we can use my grandmo—"
"No."
Her sharp, almost desperate tone shocked him into silence.
"No grandmother's ring. We need a ring, but it has to be something with no sentimental attachment whatsoever. We can only do this if we both understand that it means nothing. It's not real. It's an act. We're not actually getting married. Ever."
He stared at her, trying to understand. "I get it. You don't want to marry me."
She turned away, the coffee cup shaking in her hand. She wasn't as cool as it had seemed at first. "I told you what marriage means for the Light Keepers. The only way I can handle going back there, pretending to be engaged, is if I know with one hundred percent certainty that it's not real and will never be real."
She set the cup on the tray. He watched her bend over in her fuzzy lamb bathrobe, feeling as if his heart was being ripped from his chest. If he agreed to help her, he'd be agreeing to never marry her.
Which shouldn't be a problem. He hadn't ever given much thought to marriage. Until recently. He could easily go back to not thinking about it. Couldn't he? She'd already given very clear signals that she was in this for the sex, not for some fairy tale ending. Nothing was changing. They were just making it official. Committing to never committing.
"Understood." He spoke the word coldly, professionally, like a soldier. "Hard pass on the wedding
ring. We'll find something meaningless."
She nodded and drew in a long breath. "One more thing. You have to promise to do what I say in there. Promise to obey me, so to speak."
"Excuse me?" He scowled. "That's…uh…very old-fashioned of you. They don't usually put that in the vows anymore."
"If I'm going to go back, I need to know that you're going to do what I say. I need to be in control of the situation—at least our part of it."
"I'm not going to do anything you don't want, Caro. You know me better than that."
"Just promise me. Word of a Knight brother. To pull this off, I'm going to have to act…subservient. It'll make my skin crawl. I might want to throw up. If I know that you'll do what I say…it'll help me, that's all."
He turned it over in his mind. From the tense lines of her face, the clenching of her fists, this was going to be hell on her. As a man, he probably couldn't really imagine it. If she needed that assurance, he should give it to her.
"I promise," he said softly. "With one exception—if I think something is necessary for your safety, or our safety. I'm trained in infiltration, combat missions, surveillance. We have to use that to our advantage. Do you agree?"
She thought it over and finally nodded, a faint smile crossing her lips. "I do."
Oh, the irony of that "I do." Somehow, it didn't seem that funny to him.
"There's something I want to do before we go in," he told her. "I think it might help both of us."
"Bring it on. I trust you, my non-husband."
He gritted his teeth. Better get used to it. A non-husband was all he'd ever be.
TOBIAS HAD BEEN WANTING to take her up in the Cessna, but now he had an actual mission-critical reason to. The Light Keepers compound was located a couple hundred miles up the coast, easily within the range of the Cessna 206. An aerial overflight would help him understand its layout and potential escape routes. And it might be a good shakedown cruise for Carolyn.
He brought her to the Knight and Day reception office first, so he could enter the paperwork for this unplanned trip. He and Ben had decorated the place for Christmas, putting up sparkly tinsel around the door and windows. A Christmas tree in a planter, decorated with little toy airplanes, filled one corner.
Coming In Hot (Jupiter Point Book 6) Page 18