by Elle James
Margaret skirted the front of the building and scurried around to the back.
Kate paused between buildings and gripped her sister’s arms. “Stay here. There’s no need for both of us to go in. I’ll get Lyla out. If anything happens to me, get out of the camp and find help.”
“Kate, I can’t let you go in there alone,” Rachel said. “You don’t understand. James is…” she shook her head. “He’s evil. He’s charismatic, charming when he wants to be, and he makes you believe what he wants you to believe.”
“I won’t fall for his nonsense,” Kate promised.
“I didn’t think I would either, but I watched so many others caught in his spell, and I was too.”
“I’m not one of them, Rachel. And you aren’t either, not anymore. You got out once. You’ll get out again. Now, wait here and be ready to go for help if I don’t come out with Lyla in the next five minutes. Got it?”
Rachel hugged Kate hard and let her go. “I love you, sister.”
“I love you, too.” Kate left Rachel hiding in the shadows.
Chuck took point on neutralizing the machine gun. He slipped through the night, placing each foot carefully to avoid making a sound.
Circling wide, he came from the rear of the machine gun nest, dropped into the fox hole and grabbed the man from behind in a choke hold.
Fortunately, the gunner hadn’t had his finger on the trigger. He struggled but was no match for Chuck’s superior strength. When the man went limp in Chuck’s arms, he lowered him to the ground, checked quickly for a pulse and then secured him with zip ties. He slapped duct tape over the man’s mouth and left him lying in the foxhole.
“Machine gun neutralized,” he informed the others.
“Got my rifleman,” Duke reported.
“Should we take out the others?” Bear asked.
“No time. We need to keep moving,” Hank said. “If they check in with the perimeter guards and find the ones we tied up, they’ll set off an alarm. Things will get sticky.”
The men moved through the night, easing into the little village.
Kujo led the way to the cinder-block building.
Chuck followed as close as he could, covering his teammate’s six.
Although it had been years since he’d been on a mission working with a team, his training came back to him. Once they were in the village proper, Chuck covered while Kujo moved forward. Then Kujo covered him while Chuck moved forward.
They didn’t know what to expect in the way of resistance inside the camp. The occupants might consider themselves sufficiently protected with the perimeter guards and the two on the road leading in. Then again, they might have snipers perched on the rooftops of the log cabins.
Chuck doubted that, but then he wasn’t willing to put it to the test. He covered Kujo as if snipers were waiting to pick them off, one by one.
Hank, Duke and Bear followed Chuck, leap-frogging their way from building to building.
Chuck made it to the concrete-block building first. The entrance door stood open with a set of stairs leading downward.
He paused long enough to shift his night vision goggles into place. A giant green blob of a human staggered out of the darkness, cursing. “That damned woman. I’ll kill her.”
Shifting the goggles back up on his helmet, Chuck stepped through the door, closed it behind him and switched on the flashlight clipped to his vest, shining it right into the eyes of the man threating to murder a woman.
That’s when he recognized him. This was the same man he and Kate had run into in the grocery store in Eagle Rock. “Where’s Kate?” Chuck asked in a low and dangerous voice. He dropped down a step. “I’ll give you two seconds to answer, which is more than you gave her before kidnapping her.”
“I don’t know where the bitch went.” His lip curled up in a snarl. “She won’t get out of camp. No one does.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Chuck descended another step. “Time’s up.” As he rushed down the rest of the stairs, Daniel roared and ran up.
They met like clashing Titans.
Though Daniel was younger, he didn’t have the same set of battle skills as Chuck. With minimal effort, Chuck twisted the man’s arm up behind his back and pinned him face-first against the wall. “Where’s Kate?” He shoved the man’s arm higher up the middle of his back.
Daniel cried out. “I don’t know. She kicked me in the gut and ran out of here with three other women.”
The door at the top of the stairs opened. “Everything all right?” Kujo whispered into Chuck’s headset.
“They were in here,” Chuck said. “If you’ll give me a hand…”
Kujo hurried down the stairs.
Chuck made quick work of binding the man’s wrists with a zip tie and then his ankles.
Kujo covered his mouth with duct tape.
Leaving Daniel at the bottom of the stairs, Chuck and Kujo stepped out of the building.
“Where to now?” Chuck asked.
“Chuck, Kujo, head north. We found two women hiding in the shadows. One says she’s Kate’s sister, Rachel.”
Chuck resisted the urge to race up the road. Instead, he and Kujo covered each other as they slipped from shadow to shadow until they joined the other three Brotherhood Protectors.
A woman who looked a lot like Kate shivered in the shadows with the woman Chuck recognized as Becca, Daniel’s wife.
Chuck’s fists clenched. “What have you done with Kate?” he demanded in a hushed tone.
Becca held up her hands. “I helped her escape,” she said.
“The hell you did.” Chuck fought to keep from wrapping his hands around the woman’s neck. “You and your husband helped kidnap her and Lyla.”
“I had to,” she said. Her chin dipped to her chest. “My husband made me. If I didn’t help, he would have beat me and my daughter.”
Chuck didn’t want to believe her, but after meeting Daniel…He tightened his lips. “Where’s Kate?”
“She went after Lyla.” Rachel stepped forward and pointed. “She’s in that building.”
The men studied the rock and cedar structure.
“It belongs to the cult leader, James Royce.” Rachel’s voice shook. Her teeth chattered in the cool night air. “He has Lyla and Mary. Kate made me promise to find help if she wasn’t out in five minutes.” She stared into Chuck’s gaze. “She’s been in there longer than five minutes.” A sob choked her last words. “Please, help her.”
Chapter 14
Kate and Margaret slipped through a gate in the walled garden at the rear of James Royce’s house.
“They lock the back door every night, but I can pick the lock,” Margaret said.
Following the woman, Kate weaved her way through a garden of vegetables and flowers to a door half-hidden by a rose trellis.
The scent of roses filling the air was incongruous with the terror constricting Kate’s lungs.
She pushed past the fear, knowing she might be Lyla’s only hope of escape. Yes, the men of Hank’s brotherhood would be there soon. She had no doubt of that. But she couldn’t risk James taking Lyla hostage or making a run for it, taking the child along as his insurance policy.
Kate had to get to the little girl before James realized the women had escaped, and before the former special operations guys converged on the complex.
Margaret reached the door first and felt about the doorframe with her hand. She retrieved a narrow metal file and stuck it into the lock on the doorknob.
With a few quick jiggles, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. Pressing a finger to her lips, she led the way into the house and down a long corridor.
The doors on either side opened outward and had padlocks on the outside.
A chill raced across Kate’s skin. What kind of monster locked the people of his household inside their rooms? What if there was a fire? They’d all perish before anyone could get them out.
Even more determined to find Lyla, Kate pushed forward with Marga
ret leading the way.
The hallway ended in a large, starkly-furnished living area. The floor was made of stone tiles with no soft rugs for bare feet to walk on.
There wasn’t a speck of dust or dirt anywhere to be seen. The area barely appeared to be lived in.
Margaret turned and walked along the wall to another hallway much like the first. She stopped halfway down that hall and used her file to pick the padlock hanging on the hasp.
The lock clicked, echoing loudly in the quiet corridor.
“What are you doing here?” a woman’s voice called out from behind Kate and Margaret.
Margaret pulled off the lock and turned to face the woman. She pushed Kate behind her and whispered. “Find your girl.” Louder she said, “I came back for my son.”
“He is no longer your son,” the woman said. “You were cast out of this household. Your children belong to James.”
“No,” Margaret said. “I will not abandon my children. They belong with me.”
Kate fumbled with the door handle and pulled hard. The door didn’t open. Glancing upward, she noted a latch. She reached up and flipped the latch over then jerked open the door. “Lyla?” she called out. “Mary.”
“Mama?” a little voice responded. The five-year-old Kate had met at the park rose from a pallet of blankets on the floor.
“Mary, come with me, now.” She rushed in, grabbed Mary’s hand and led her toward the door.
Half a dozen little heads lifted from their pallets. All eyes looked toward Kate. They were all little children, probably no more than five years old. Kate’s heart pinched hard in her chest. And none of them were her niece. She turned to Mary. “Where’s Lyla?”
“He took her.” Mary’s face scrunched, and tears welled in her eyes. “I want my mama.”
“Who took her?” Kate asked. In her gut, she already knew.
“Our father,” Mary said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Please. I want my mama.”
The other children in the room heard Mary crying, and started crying too.
Kate hated leaving them, but she had to find Lyla before James did something stupid.
She backed out of the room to find Margaret pressed against the wall by a woman twice her size and a man standing nearby, holding Lyla in his arms.
Kate straightened with Mary’s hand in hers. “Let Lyla go, James. She’s done nothing to hurt you.”
“Mama,” Lyla called out and leaned toward her with arms outstretched.
James tightened his hold on the little girl. “Quiet!” he thundered, his eyes narrowing. “I value each of my children. They are the future. I will not allow them to be poisoned by the heathens existing outside our paradise.”
Kate snorted. “Paradise? What kind of paradise forces its residents to stay when they want to leave? What kind of paradise locks its people in at night?”
“They are locked in for their protection.”
“Against whom?” Kate demanded. “The only person I see who poses a threat is you.”
He raised a finger and pointed. “You are a pariah. You know not of what you speak.”
“Oh, cut the preacher crap. You don’t impress me. A man who threatens women and children isn’t a man at all. He’s a coward who can only control those who are weaker.” Kate let go of Mary’s hand and eased past the woman holding Margaret hostage.
One rescue at a time. Lyla needed her.
“Let go of the child,” Kate reiterated, her voice dropping to a low, menacing warning.
“Or what?” James cocked an eyebrow. “It appears I’m the only one with anything to bargain with.” He tipped his head toward Lyla, who was crying softly in his arms. “If I like, I could snap her neck before you reach me. Is that what you want?” He asked like he was inquiring what flavor of ice cream she preferred. Then his tone grew deeper and his lips pulled back in a feral snarl. “Because if you come one step closer, that’s what I’ll do.”
Kate stopped five feet short of where James stood with Lyla. The man was insane. She wouldn’t put it past him to hurt Lyla.
“Just put Lyla down. Take me in her place. She’s just a little girl.”
“Mama,” Lyla cried. She wiggled and slipped free of his grip. Sliding down the man’s body.
James grabbed at air, unable to catch her.
Lyla landed on her feet and darted toward Kate.
James dove after her, grabbing her by the hair.
Rage ripped through Kate, and she lunged for James, plowing into him headfirst.
When Kate hit him in the gut, he released Lyla’s hair as he flew backward and slammed against the wall.
Kate yelled, “Run, Lyla!”
James grabbed Kate around the waist, rolled her over and straddled her back. “You have been nothing but trouble since you and Myles came. I should have done away with you when I did away with Myles.” He gripped a handful of her hair and pulled back her head. “If you aren’t a believer, you’re done.”
Kate was pinned to the ground with no way to fight back. She closed her eyes, prepared for the man to slam her head against the hard stone floor. Her head would crack open like a melon. “James, don’t,” she said, her voice raspy, her throat stretched with the force of him pulling her backward.
“What you don’t understand is that I do as I please. I’m the messenger of God.”
“Not anymore, you’re not,” a deep voice rumbled off the walls. The weight on Kate’s back lifted, but the hand in her hair dragged her up with it.
Kate’s heart filled with joy. Chuck had found them.
“Let go of her,” Chuck commanded.
“No.” Royce’s voice was nothing more than a gasp.
“Do it, or I’ll snap your neck like you threated to snap Lyla’s.”
Kate couldn’t see behind her, but she could tell Chuck had a hold of Royce and was hurting him.
Eventually, the man released his hold on Kate’s hair.
She dropped to her knees and crawled forward. Once she was well out of his reach, she leaped to her feet.
Chuck had Royce in a chokehold, his face set in grim lines. “Nobody threatens my family,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Do you understand?”
Kate’s heart thudded dully. She’d never seen that look on Chuck’s face.
Royce could only nod, his face turning red and then blue from lack of oxygen.
“He’s not worth it, Chuck.” Hank entered the hallway behind Chuck. “I have the state police on their way. This man is going to jail for the rest of his life. He deserves to die there.”
Still, Chuck refused to release the man.
Kate touched his arm. “Chuck. Let him go. He can’t hurt us anymore.”
Chuck stared down into Kate’s eyes. “He would have killed you.”
“But he didn’t.” She smiled, although her scalp still hurt from how hard Royce had pulled her hair.
Lyla ran to her and wrapped her little arms around her legs.
Kate lifted her up and hugged her tight. “We’re okay. Let him go.”
Finally, Chuck relinquished his hold to Kujo who bound the man’s wrists with zip ties and led him out of the building into the night.
Margaret stood beside Hank. The woman who’d held her captive sat on the ground, her face buried in her hands. Her wrists were bound in front of her.
“Give Margaret the keys,” Kate commanded of the woman.
The woman unhooked a huge ring of keys from a belt around her waist, and handed them to Margaret.
Margaret went from room to room, unlocking the padlocks. Duke and Bear helped. Soon, all the women and children were freed, many of them crying, not knowing what was happening or what would happen to them now that they weren’t under James Royce’s control.
Chuck took Lyla in his arms and wrapped his arm around Kate’s waist.
Kate held onto Mary’s hand, and they walked out of Royce’s house into a clear, star-studded Idaho night.
Becca ran to Mary and pulled the little girl into he
r arms. “Thank you, oh, thank you,” she cried and hugged her daughter to her.
Rachel reached out for Lyla, who went to her mother and clung to her, crying.
By the time the police arrived, the Brotherhood Protectors had the men lined up and cooperating. With their leader subdued and sequestered in the same cell he’d locked Kate and Rachel in, the others didn’t protest. They laid down their weapons and waited for the sheriff to arrive.
Along with the local sheriff’s department came the state police and a contingent from the ATF.
Hank had his men ground their weapons before the authorities arrived to make certain no one got trigger-happy and started firing at the Brotherhood Protectors, thinking they were the bad guys.
For the next few hours, Hank fielded most of the questions, while buses were brought in to take the women and children to shelters.
“It’ll take the authorities a long time to sort through everything Royce has done,” Chuck said.
Kate nodded. “And longer still for those touched by his madness to recover.” Her heart ached.
Her sister sat on the ground with her daughter. Someone had brought out a blanket and wrapped them in it. Rachel rocked back and forth as she held Lyla who’d fallen asleep in her arms.
“She’ll need time,” Kate said. “Despite how badly Myles had treated her, she was still shocked that Royce had killed him.”
“Time and the love of her family will get her through.” Chuck pulled Kate into the curve of his arm. “I’d like to be there with you to help.”
Kate leaned into him, glad for his support. “I think we have room in our hearts. But are you sure? Sticking with us might come with a commitment clause.” She arched an eyebrow.
Chuck laughed. “I’m one hundred percent committed. I knew it as soon as I opened my big, fat mouth and said I couldn’t. Like I said, I made a mistake.” He turned her to face him. “Please, forgive me and let me make it up to you.”
“Don’t promise anything you aren’t comfortable with.”
“If there’s even a slim chance you could fall in love with me, I’m all in.”
Kate’s heart soared. “Slim chance?”