by L. J. Wilson
“His father. When Ezra mentioned Isla de la Muerte you said you’d circle back around to it. You never did. I get why—the rest of what Ezra told us was enough to make anybody’s brain overload. But given a little hindsight, I thought you might have—”
“Asked how the hell either of them knows about that island?”
“It’d be my next question… and it was. Do you really think I needed an escort to the parking lot in the middle of no-fucking-where?”
She seemed furious with him, but Alec smiled. Jess’s cleverness and ability to compartmentalize was better than his. “And did the good Reverend have anything to add?”
“Not so much him. From the gist of it, Ezra didn’t travel back to South America after the mid-eighties. It became his father’s sole domain. But he said that over the years Duncan talked about the island from time to time. He called it his personal haven, his reward, from the mainland infidels. If nothing else, I thought it was odd because of the island’s gruesome history.”
“Unless gruesome stories about cannibalism were just that—or better still, a good way to keep unwanted people out. Seems like a lot of sudden coincidence, doesn’t it, Jess? The remote island, my parents’ plane, no bodies… and it all somehow links to Duncan Kane.”
“Kind of where I was going with it.”
“Do you still have those papers Hannah gave us—the letters and that contact doc?” Jess plopped her cell into her tote bag and retrieved the larger envelope. They traded the coffee tray and information. Alec took out the paper he’d identified as CIA. “Can I have your phone? Mine’s in the cabin.” She fished her cell back out. It was vibrating again. Julian. Without asking permission, he ignored the call. Then Alec started dialing.
“Seriously?” Jess said. “That contact number can’t possibly still be valid.”
“I guess we’ll… Uh, yeah.” Alec widened his eyes, responding to a voice then reading off the code of letters and numbers. In the moment his SEAL background was a godsend—Alec having a solid idea about what to say to the person who’d answered. After a brief exchange, he ended the call. “I guess we’ll…” He looked up. Aaron was coming toward them.
“What the fuck happened to you two? Honor called. I put her off, but I didn’t feel too good about it. Maybe that should be our priority, deciding how and if we tell her about—”
“Just wait,” Jess said. “We might have a fresh lead about your parents.”
“A fresh lead? From where?”
“Langley,” Alec said. “I just spoke with the operative at the call-in desk.”
“You did what?” Aaron said, reaching for a coffee cup.
“Langley—the phone number Pop left for Mom years ago, it still worked. But it could be days—maybe longer until we hear back, if ev—” The phone vibrated again. Alec was prepared to see Julian’s name light up. His heart jumped a few beats as the screen read “Private Caller.” The three of them exchanged a look as he answered. “Alec Clairmont.”
By the time he ended the call, Jess’s phone was almost dead. For the past half hour, Alec had listened as he and Jess and Aaron sat on the steps of Our Daily Bread. Alec didn’t get a last name, but Sam provided a wealth of information neither Hannah Blyth nor Ezra Kane could have possibly known. “And that’s where things ended up after Mom and Pop disappeared,” Alec explained. “After a serious search and rescue, with nothing to show for it, Sam, regretfully closed out the case. But here’s the part that will blow your minds: Seems Duncan Kane was more than a minister with an overly righteous attitude. According to Sam, he was once a drug-runner, which somehow tied into Pop’s background.” Jess gagged, nearly spitting out her coffee. “Your father was a drug dealer?”
“No—I don’t think so… Sam said that part was complicated, too hard to explain in a phone conversation. But his father—Andor Christos—definitely was.”
Aaron inched back. “A drug-runner… Pop’s father?”
“Yeah. Greek mafia ties from what Sam said. Seems Andor passed away in the late eighties. Before that, the elder Reverend Kane was the US point of transfer for cocaine shipments out of South America. Apparently it was an undetected and lucrative operation for years. But when it finally went stale, the Reverend switched to gun running. Remember how I said the rebel forces ran that country for years?” Jess and Aaron nodded. “That’s where Pop came in, but he worked with Sam, ultimately destroying Reverend Kane’s newest endeavor.”
“So why isn’t his ass sitting in a cellblock similar to my old address?” Aaron asked.
“Sam didn’t give me all the details, but he did indicate that Duncan Kane served a better purpose by carrying out real mission work. Between Sam and Pop, they had the Reverend working the straight and narrow for years.”
“Then you were right about your assumption that your father worked for the government,” Jess said.
“Seems so. Sam said he could be more specific with a face-to-face meeting back in Nickel Springs. He retired from active service about five years ago. But he warned me to be suspicious of Duncan Kane. According to Sam, it’d been part of Pop’s job to monitor the Reverend’s activities. In the years after they disappeared, Sam admitted that there wasn’t enough manpower to keep a close watch on the Reverend. That the area had quieted in terms of rebel insurgence. Trouble started gravitating toward the Middle East and most operative forces withdrew from La Carta and the surrounding cities.”
“Meaning Reverend Kane was probably left to his own devices,” Aaron said.
“Meaning we’re not leaving here without taking last night’s discussion to the next level.”
Alec and Aaron stood, heading down the dusty main street of Good Hope. “Hey! Where are you two going?” Jess said.
The brothers turned at the same time. “To see Duncan Kane.”
Alec and Aaron stood outside the Fathers of the Right meeting hall. “Good a place as any to start,” Alec said. They took the steps two at time with Jess following. He turned the knob. “It’s not locked.”
“I’m guessing crime isn’t an issue in Good Hope,” she said.
Inside a dark vestibule were another set of double doors. Alec didn’t hesitate, flinging one open. The sunlit sanctuary was startling—a plain, simple setting with the exception of one magnificent piece of stained glass set in the side of the building. Alec headed up the aisle. Suddenly Aaron wasn’t beside him. He turned back. His brother had stopped midway and was staring at the glass. Alec took two steps back to where Jess met up with Aaron. “It’s very pretty,” she said. “The colors, they’re the most vibrant thing we’ve seen in Good Hope.”
“Especially the green,” Aaron said.
Jess glanced between Aaron and the robe of one of the men depicted in the scene. “Huh. You’re right. It’s also the exact same green as your eyes.”
“And we’re wasting time critiquing it because…?” Alec said.
“Nothing… no reason.” Aaron shook his head. “I just saw it, and I had this weird sense of déjà vu, like maybe I’m not the first person to have noticed the green.”
“Come on,” Alec said, though with a bit more reverence.
As they neared the altar a man entered through an adjacent door. He must have thought them early worshipers, his greeting going from, “Good Sunday morning” to a startled gasp. The words, “Lord help us…” came rushing from his mouth.
The man ogled them as if they were ghosts. He backed up at a furious pace, knocking over a vase of wildflowers. Glass crashed to the floor, but it didn’t disrupt his frantic retreat. “I… I must tell Reverend Kane immediately!” He never turned, stripping glasses from his face and wiping his eyes with a handkerchief as he stumbled backward through a swinging door.
“What the hell?” Aaron said.
“Wait!” Alec chased after him, and Aaron was right behind. They pounded over broken glass and wildflowers, pushing through the swinging door. The light dimmed again. Alec could hear the man rambling. He stopped and listened. He sounded terrifi
ed—as if the three of them had entered the sanctuary waving assault rifles. Alec held up his hand, indicating the need for stealth-like silence.
“I’m telling you, Reverend. He’s come back—and not as one demon but two! I saw them. It’s exactly as you prognosticated, we needed to be vigilant in our sequestering of the mission. You were right! He is cunning and dangerous. He… they, they’ve come to finish us all. I swear to you—”
“Brother Creek, it’s early for hysterics.” The voice was low and heavy, certainly unconcerned. “I’m sure it’s nothing… your mind playing tricks again. Something like those perverse dreams you finally confided to me about you and the mission—together.” The man cleared his throat. “These demons you think you’ve seen, it should serve to reinforce the need to keep secret the mission’s true fate. I told you his presence here, years ago, was direct temptation from the devil. Now get ahold of yourself before someone hears you babbling.”
Alec knew the voice. It belonged to Duncan Kane and his boyhood memory.
“I assure you, Brother—” the elder Reverend went on, “I’ve followed God’s direction. I’ve seen to it that the mission spends his days on Earth serving penance. From there I shall be satisfied to let the devil deal with him.”
Alec bolted forward. Aaron grabbed him in a choke hold. Preparation might have been an advantage, but it wasn’t what the moment delivered. Alec went for a surprise attack. He broke from Aaron’s grip, executing with the precision of any Navy SEAL raid.
On sight, Duncan Kane’s composure crumbled. He was visibly shaken, his weight on his arms as they pressed hard into the desk. “How… how is this possible?” He looked to his panic-stricken manservant then looked back. As Aaron turned the corner, the Reverend fell back into his chair. Alec didn’t give a fuck. He went right across the desktop, grabbing the elderly man by his vestments, yanking him to eye level.
“You son of a bitch. I swear to Christ and anybody else who is listening. You tell me what you know about my father, or I will end you right here, right now!”
Voices yelled from behind—Jess and Aaron shouting, as well as Ezra Kane who’d likely heard the commotion. “Stop! You’ll stop this instance. Let him go! He’s an old man—he doesn’t know anything about your father or Evie.”
Alec held the power of life and death in his hands. He could easily deliver the latter. But a small part of his brain comprehended that taking out Duncan Kane would not be to his benefit—not this second. Jess was grabbing him from one side, Aaron from the other. He released the Reverend, who sank back into the chair, his gray eyes wide and wary.
Alec, slightly calmer, turned toward Ezra. “I know what I heard… What we all heard. He just spoke in the present tense. Duncan Kane just indicated that he was overseeing the mission’s penance while here on Earth. Unless you’ve got anybody else who you identify by that name, I suggest you start asking questions.”
Clearly stunned, Ezra’s gaze flicked from Alec to his father.
“You can do it, or I can,” Alec said. “But be aware, Reverend. My methods won’t be sanctioned by God. Just the United States government, and they made damn certain I know how to get results.”
“Father?” Ezra said, his voice shaking. “If there’s something you know… something I’m unaware of, I think now might be a good time to be forthcoming.”
The elder Kane eased back in the chair, smoothing his vestments. “Surely, son, you don’t believe a word of what these heathens have spewed. I was startled when they came in. Obviously, after so many years, their resemblance to the mission is apparent. I don’t deny knowing him—saving his life, in fact. But I’m not sure what they think they heard.”
“I know exactly what I heard.” Alec looked toward the weaker prey, the man with glasses who seemed to be trying to blend into a bookcase. He cocked his head. “What about you… Brother Creek, was it? What do you know about—?”
“Nothing,” he said, his voice pinched. “I know nothing.”
“Brother Creek,” the Reverend said, interrupting. “You’re to leave here immediately. Remain in solitude until I come for you. Do you understand? You’re not to speak to these men or that woman.”
“Yes, Reverend.” He started for the door.
Alec was having none of it. “Try again, Brother. You may bend over obediently and regularly for your Reverend. Not here. Not today.”
“I’ve never done any such thing with the Reverend,” he said, mortified.
Alec furrowed his brow at the curious reply. “Think it through, Brother Creek. It’ll only take one Clairmont, but you’d have to get through four of us to keep whatever you know quiet.” Alec came toward him. “Those are pretty shitty odds.” Brother Creek backpedaled until he hit the wall of books again. Alec was on him, his arm cutting decisively across his throat.
“Alec!” Jess said. “Calm down.”
“We won’t stand for it—not that kind of violence,” Ezra said. “Not in our sanctuary.”
Alec didn’t give a rat’s ass, pushing harder into the man’s throat, knowing the precise pressure that balanced life and death.
“Brother Creek, tell him what you know—if anything. Please…” Ezra turned toward his father. “Do something! I don’t doubt him. He’ll kill him. Will you have that on your head, Brother Creek’s blood on your hands?”
Duncan Kane smiled, tipping his head at Brother Creek, whose color faded as he wheezed for air. Alec looked over his shoulder. “Smile if you want, old man—but know the second he’s of no use, you’re next.”
“He’s alive!” Nolan Creek hissed in a metered breath. Alec swiveled back around, keeping the pressure steady.
“Brother Creek!” Duncan Kane shouted, slamming a fist on the desk. “I’ll not tolerate this insolence.”
Glasses sat crookedly on Nolan Creek’s face, and his eyes bulged as he looked into Alec’s. “It’s true. The mission, he’s alive.”
“How? Where?” Alec demanded, not letting up. Aaron drew closer.
“I… I don’t know…”
Alec pressed harder.
“Somewhere in South America—I don’t know the exact location. God told the Reverend he was to punish the mission for the sin he brought to Good Hope, spiriting Evie away—dishonoring his son as she did.” Brother Creek’s panicked gaze moved to his Reverend. “I’m sorry. But I’m not ready to die, Reverend. I can’t yet face the hell and wrath to which I’ll be banished for my sins.”
“How do you know he’s alive? Proof… I want proof—now!” The muscle in Alec’s forearm tensed, a vein rising from the pressure he held against Brother Creek’s neck.
“The safe… behind the painting.”
“What safe?” Ezra said.
Everyone in the room followed Brother Creek’s teary gaze. Aaron was on it, tossing a Last Supper painting aside. “Alec?” he said, faced with a combination lock.
Alec turned back to his captive source. “I don’t know the combination,” Nolan Creek said. “I swear it.”
With his weight still on Brother Creek’s windpipe, Alec looked back at the Reverend. “If I have zero qualms about taking out you and your brother here, imagine my indifference to blowing open a safe. Your choice,” he said shrugging.
“Father, you’ll tell them the combination immediately—or I’ll aid his effort myself. If Sebastian… If Evie…” he said. Ezra gripped the leather of a high back chair, his hand as ghostly as his face. “With God as my witness, I’ll kill you myself if you’ve done anything to harm her.”
The Reverend’s expression shifted, his smile settling to a humorless line. While he’d been caught, it was also as if he’d been waiting to twist the knife. “She’s dead,” he said. “She’s been gone since the night their plane crashed into my island and God saw fit to deliver them to my hands. Evie survived a few hours—a slow bleeding, inside and out. That was how it was described to me.”
“Described by who?” Jess said.
Duncan Kane blinked, looking as if her confusion we
re unwarranted. “Why, by the mission, of course.”
“The combination… now,” Alec said, his mind whirling, his body rigid. He released Nolan Creek and moved toward Duncan Kane, tossing a chair aside like it was made of paper.
Ezra stepped in his path, facing the elder Reverend. “I’ll give you but one chance, Father. Then I’ll turn him loose on you.”
He was angry but compliant and a few moments later Jess was the only one steady enough to spin the safe’s dial, the combination clicking into place. The safe creaked open and Aaron reached inside. He discarded miscellaneous items onto the floor. But as he withdrew a clear plastic bag, shudders were audible. Inside the bag was a familiar strip of leather with a rugged-looking emerald stone attached. Aaron took it out of the bag. The stone and leather strip lay in his palm. His glassy gaze rose to meet his brother’s. Alec cocked his chin at the other item in the bag. A phone. Aaron held it out to Alec, his hand shaking. He turned it on.
“What?” Jess finally asked.
“Text messages.” His voice was sharp and stricken. “They’re reports. ‘The mission’s status remains as instructed’ over and over… that’s all it says.” He scrolled back. “Jesus… they go on for forever…”
“Only a dozen years,” Duncan Kane said. “He’s not yet met with his eternal damnation.”
Warily, Alec’s thumb hovered over the photo icon. He traded a look with Aaron. Alec clicked on it. For all his bravado, it was all he could do to stay upright. “Holy...” Aaron raked his hands through his hair, his green eyes staring at the screen. It was like slow motion, Alec holding the phone out so Jess and Ezra could see the photos—some dated only weeks ago. They were photos of Sebastian Clairmont, caged like an animal, but very much alive.
“You miserable son of a—” Alec went after Duncan Kane like a rabid dog. It took the combined strength of his brother, Ezra, and Jess to pull him off.
“Alec, stop!” The shouting came from all three of them, though it was Aaron’s voice that finally got through. Maybe that and the iron grip his brother had around him—not so different from the one he’d had around Nolan Creek. Alec struggled, snorting like a bull until he finally began to get ahold of himself. “If I let you go, are you going to stop, control yourself?” Aaron had a firm lock around him, his voice right in his ear. “I may not have your skills, Alec, but I’ve taken down my share of crazies behind bars—don’t make me do that to you. Don’t do anything to make Duncan Kane the victim here.” Alec nodded, jerking free as his brother eased his hold.