Away From the Dark

by Aleatha Romig

  “Over here,” Richards said, reminding my feet to move.

  Each step physically hurt; the pain inside me was excruciating. I couldn’t leave her here. I’d promised her I’d stay with her. The sound of an opening door caused me to look up, away from Sara’s face, which was burrowed into me, as it had been when I first lifted her after her accident.

  Suddenly the smell made sense. The door Richards opened revealed a room that looked like our clinic, or more accurately one room of our clinic. This room had two hospital beds. I swallowed, knowing that the newly acquired wives were kept in a clinic in the building across from the church.

  Why was there one here, in Father Gabriel’s house?

  My feet forgot to step as I saw the occupant of one of the beds. Her face was black and blue, as Sara’s had been when I found her at the clinic. Her eyes were covered in bandages, and around her neck was a thick, leatherlike collar. Though I was sickened by the woman’s injuries—or more accurately the girl’s—it was her identity that shocked me. Attached to an IV was Sister Salome from yesterday’s service.

  When I turned to the other bed, I saw the IV pole with the clear bag of solution. I recognized it from Sara’s accident.

  “You said no medicine,” I said, more as a question. I didn’t want to trust this asshole, but I was out of options.

  Richards nodded. “I meant it.” He shrugged. “I just can’t promise for how long.”

  He pulled back the sheet and blanket of the unoccupied bed. At least it all appeared clean. When I laid her upon the mattress, the déjà vu almost knocked me off my feet. It was as if I were back nine months in the past. I wished with everything in me that I were. If this were nine months ago, I would call my mission complete before Sara ever stopped taking her medicine. I would take her away, make her safe, and call for reinforcements.

  Sniffling like a child with a cold, I gently smoothed her beautiful blonde hair away from her face, and turned to Richards. “Please?” I was too devastated to fight.

  After he nodded and stepped from the room, I collapsed upon Sara’s chest. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” My words were indistinguishable as they ran together and overlapped one another. “I love you, Sara. I won’t let this be the end. Stay strong. I know you can do this. Believe in yourself. Give this to me. I’ll take it. I’ll make sure you’re safe any way I can. Never forget me or how much I love you.”

  The eyes that stared up from her bruised face shredded me. If I stared at them much longer there wouldn’t be anything left. I reached for her hand and whispered, “Like before. Remember? Do you trust me?”

  She squeezed my hand once, and despite the hell we were in, I smiled.

  “I will get you out. I promise.”

  She squeezed again.

  “I love you and our baby.”

  She squeezed again.

  “Only a few days,” I said, softer than everything else.

  As she squeezed my hand she tugged me closer.

  With my ear near her lips, she whispered, her words barely audible, “Bring him down. Don’t think about me. I’ll figure a way. You worry about your mission. I know after everything we’ve been through, we won’t fail.”

  I started to shake my head. It wasn’t her place to be the strong one.

  She tugged me closer.

  “We won’t. Because one day I’m going to take you up on that promise of a new name.”

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. As much as I wanted to be the one to save her, I knew I had to have faith in her. I had no idea what was in store for her, but I believed that while Sara knew how to survive The Light, Stella would be the one to figure out how to escape.

  Covering her with the blanket, I kissed her forehead.

  “Jacob,” Richards called from the other room. “You’d better hurry. My uncle’s already pretty pissed.”

  I swallowed my emotion and whispered, “It will happen”—I lowered my voice more—“Mrs. McAlister.”

  And then I did the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. I walked away.

  CHAPTER 24

  Dylan

  I pulled the door closed, but not before taking one more look at Stella. She had to be unconscious. She hadn’t moved since she’d collapsed in Gabriel’s office. Maybe if she could stay out cold for a little longer I’d be able to get back to her. Once I was sure Gabriel was in the air then I’d be in charge.

  The tumblers echoed against the cement block walls as I locked the door.

  “Tell me you’re the only one who has a key to that door.”

  My teeth clenched at the sound of Jacob’s voice.

  I wished I were the only one with a key. I really did. If he hadn’t fucked up and gone to Fairbanks, she’d still be at the Northern Light. It wasn’t as if I wanted her there, but it was a hell of a lot better than what Gabriel had planned.

  I found my cockiest tone. “Are you now saying you’d be OK with that?”

  His hands balled into fists, but at least he was keeping them at his sides. “No. I’m not OK with any of this. You’re pissed because she had a blackened eye. Have you looked around this place? Did you see the woman in the other bed?”

  I put my hand up to make him stop. “I’m serious. My uncle will be more upset than he is, if he has to wait for you.”

  “That’s it? You’re going to leave her here. What do you think will happen to her?”

  I knew damn well what would happen. Did he think I was a fucking moron? But this place did have one advantage. I took a step toward him as my answer came out staccato. “I. Think. She’ll. Be. Away. From. You.”

  Hatred glowed in his eyes. I’d seen it before, but not in a follower. Most of these Light psychos had the intellectual fortitude to be frightened or at least respectful of me. That wasn’t the vibe this guy was giving. His expression wasn’t like that of a normal follower. It reminded me of the look I’d seen on more than one asshole’s face as I was about to arrest him. They were the ones breaking the law, but they blamed me for locking them up. It was the same thing. This guy had been the one to screw up, to cause my uncle to question his loyalty. He’d been the one who blackened Stella’s eye, yet from the way his nostrils flared, he was blaming me because she was here.

  Before I registered his movement, he was on me. His words spewing with spittle through clenched teeth. “You asshole! You think what you just did is better?”

  He was the asshole. One word from Gabriel and me would turn him into polar bear food.

  Before I could tell him, his forearm came against my throat, pinning me to the wall and momentarily halting my breathing.

  “I could kill you right now,” he threatened. “No one would hear or find your body until your uncle’s forty-three thousand feet in the air, flying across this goddamn country at nearly seven hundred miles an hour.”

  I pushed toward him and backed away, giving myself much-needed air. “Asshole!” I seethed. I was a fucking cop. I dealt with lunatics like this before breakfast. I didn’t care how fucking big or strong he was, I knew what I was doing.

  My hands came up, and as they did, so did my leg. My boot planted to his torso. As soon as my leg straightened, he was the one gasping for air, his body tumbling backward against one of the filthy old couches before he regained his balance.

  If I told my uncle now, Stella wouldn’t have a chance. “You’re really losing it,” I said. “If I fucking tell Gabriel any of this, you’re the one who’s dead.”

  “I don’t give a damn about myself. You think I give a shit about me when my wife and child are locked in there? If I can’t help Sara, I don’t—”

  Wife and child? As if any of this shit was real.

  I ran my hand through my hair and slowed my words. “That’s not her name.”

  “I know that. I was told the name she used in the dark, but now she’s in The Light—where you put her.”

  “She’d be dead if I hadn’t, and you were wrong earlier. It is all her fault. I tried to stop her. Hell, Mind
y hadn’t gotten as deep into it, and they took her. I did everything I could to stop both The Light and Stella. She’s stubborn as hell, and too damn good at what she did. By the time she was too deep, Gabriel wanted her dead. I convinced him to take her as far away as possible, and do the memory thing. I didn’t know how it all worked. Fuck, I can’t be seen around the temple or any of the buildings in Highland Heights. I’m mostly only here. I don’t want to know what happens here, much less over there.”

  Jacob stilled before tilting his head to the side. “Wait, who’s Mindy, and are you saying Sara’s a cop? Or she was?”

  This guy really was clueless, and the last thing I needed to do was be the one who filled him in. I shook my head. “No, and fuck, I shouldn’t be saying any of this, but I did try to save her. Now, Gabriel’s pissed at you. I overheard the conversation. You did something that’s made him suspicious. That never ends well. I know enough about how this works to know that if you don’t get your shit together, your days are numbered, and if you’re banished, so is she.”

  I went on, “I had to think of something, so I asked Gabriel for confirmation that she was alive. For some reason he agreed. There were never any plans for her to go back to Alaska. Reassignment was, is, her only hope.” I shrugged toward the locked door. “I even tried to have her given back to me, but he was adamant that wasn’t an option. They’re too concerned that allowing her back to her real life would result in the return of her memories.”

  I refused to think about my uncle’s plans—the brides. I had a plan too. It was to get Stella assigned to the Western Light. It was better than here. I respected my uncle and all he’d built, but he was a sick twisted bastard when it came to women.

  The shrill ring of Jacob’s phone filled the basement, echoing off the walls. From the look on his face, the way the color drained from his cheeks, I had a pretty good idea of who was calling. Father Gabriel didn’t like to wait.

  I shook my head. This guy was doing everything he could to be polar bear food. Pressing my lips together, I leaned against the wall and watched as he pulled the phone from the pocket of his jeans.

  He took a deep breath, and his chest inflated and deflated before he answered. “Brother Jacob . . . I’m on my way . . . Yes, I understand . . . I’ll go through the yards.”

  I gave the guy credit. He held it together on the call.

  His eyes met mine. “They’ve already driven to the landing strip. I’ll get your uncle everything he needs. I’ll find that damn envelope, and get my shit together.” He emphasized my words. “Please, watch out for her.”

  I nodded. “It’s safer here right now, with him at the Northern Light.”

  That was the truth. Part of me actually felt sorry for this guy. No matter what he did, he wasn’t coming back. Once he found the information that Gabriel needed, he was as good as dead. I’d even heard they had a new pilot set up to take his place.

  Gabriel didn’t put up with shit from anyone. Half of this fuckup had started at the Western Light. The envelope Reuben was supposed to give to this idiot had been simply a test. Somehow either Michael or Reuben had given him the wrong one—the one with the pass-phrase needed to access overseas accounts. Michael might be one of the original three, but I’d bet he’d received an earful from my uncle on that move.

  Personally I would have laid Michael out too. Then again, if he hadn’t given Jacob that envelope, even by mistake, Jacob probably wouldn’t have made it back to the Eastern Light, and then neither would Stella. If he had made it here with the envelope, tomorrow on the police scanner I’d be hearing about some tall white dude with no fingerprints dead in an abandoned building in Highland Heights.

  They really needed to spread out the bodies better. I’d told them more than once.

  “If you ever cared about her—”

  I lowered my voice. “Haven’t you listened to a goddamn word I’ve said? I cared. I still do.”

  “Then watch out for her, and try to hold off on that medicine.”

  I nodded, though the medicine was exactly what she’d get. It was the only way to reassign her to the Western Light.

  I glanced at my watch. Right now he needed to get out of here, so Gabriel would be gone. That would give me at least a few days to figure out my plan. I tilted my head toward the steps. “Let me show you the best way to the backyards.”

  I hesitated on the second step while Jacob stared at the door to the room where we’d left Stella. When I cleared my throat, he squared his shoulders and turned toward me. I didn’t turn back around. I didn’t need to. The heavy sound of his boots stayed close behind as I walked back up the stairs and closed the door to the basement. We walked silently through hallways and rooms, down another set of stairs, and finally out to the back lawns.

  There were things I could say, things to hurt him. Part of me wanted to. By all rights I should do more than that. I imagined pulling my gun from the holster and planting a bullet in his forehead. After what he’d done to Stella, not just the eye, but changing her, turning her into one of the zombie wives, he deserved it.

  I didn’t need to be the one to dirty my hands. As soon as the envelope was found, his fate was sealed. The way I saw it, he’d never see Stella or even Bloomfield Hills again. Jacob was yesterday’s news.

  As he passed me he didn’t turn in my direction. That was all right. As I watched him start running through the grass toward the landing strip, an appropriate movie quote came to mind.

  Under my breath I muttered, “Dead man walking. No”—I smirked—“running.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Jacob

  Sara’s words haunted me, while at the same time they reinforced my resolve.

  “Bring him down.” Her determination and faith in me repeated over and over as I ran down the hill and through the yard.

  It took everything I had to walk away. I wasn’t sure I could have done that without knowing that Stella was awake inside her. Sara’s conditioning could have left her vulnerable, and I’d have been responsible for that. But Stella, she was the backbone behind Sara, and I had to have faith that she’d make it.

  If it weren’t that the Cessna Citation required two pilots, I’m certain Father Gabriel would have had Micah leave without me. As I passed the pool and tennis courts, I recalled the other reason that he wanted me to return to the Northern Light. It was that damn envelope.

  I forced my mind to do what Sara had said and think about the future—the mission. Why would Brother Reuben give me something so important that Father Gabriel was asking for it? Had he? Or was this some mind trick—some dumb test—some move to get me back to the Northern Light where my banishment would be more easily hidden?

  I tried to remember what I’d done with it. At the time I’d concentrated more on the way Reuben removed it from his jacket, purposely exposing his firearm. I’d never suspected that it contained something important.

  Richards’s words came back, blaming Stella for all of this, and indignation rose up. He was wrong. The Light was to blame, and so was Father Gabriel. It wasn’t her. Being good at her job was why she’d decided to come back to The Light. She wanted them to go down as much as I did. I said a prayer that the stubbornness he’d mentioned would keep her alive.

  Though she’d sworn to save herself, I couldn’t stop the weight of responsibility that bogged down my steps as I neared the outbuildings. Regardless of what Richards said, Stella Montgomery was in this compound, in that basement, for one reason. Because of me. If she hadn’t agreed to help my mission, she’d be safe in witness protection. Barring some miracle that would allow her to escape, the only way to save her, once I left for the Northern Light, was to authorize the raids.

  In the chaos a small smile graced my lips. Damn, he was right about her stubbornness, and I loved it. I wanted it.

  Sara and I ran farther than the distance from the mansion to the landing strip all the time, but today was different. Today I was running for my life, for her life, and consequently, by the time I reache
d the outbuildings, my breathing was heavy and labored. As I opened the door of the building Sara and I’d shared, the scent of floral shampoo caused my chest to clench.

  Instead of my giving in to the overwhelming urge to crumble, the aroma gave me strength. I needed to be strong too. I couldn’t let leaving her here at the Eastern Light ruin me. If I did, all that I’d accomplished over the past three years would be for nothing. For her future as well as my operation, I needed to face Father Gabriel and convince him that I was a changed man. I wasn’t the man who had stood in front of him and pleaded for his wife. I’d learned my lesson, and was now the best damn follower he’d ever had. It was the only way—our only chance.

  As I’d said—the best performances of our fucking lives!

  Taking a deep breath, I remembered that today was Monday, only three days since Sara had left the Northern Light. A glance at my watch told me it was just after four in the afternoon here in Michigan. With the time difference and the time it took to fly to the Northern Light, we’d land about half an hour after we left Bloomfield Hills. Taking a deep breath of the floral-scented room, I turned, straightened my shoulders, and walked back out into the Michigan sunshine.

  My goal was that both Sara and I would make it until Wednesday. Just two more days.

  Micah and I were scheduled to fly to Fairbanks on Wednesday for supplies. There was a special distributor that provided the ingredients for the pharmaceuticals. We made the exchange only once a month. I’d been included on those runs since I first came to the Northern Light. Since it was only raw materials, this exchange didn’t require the higher clearance I’d needed to deliver the actual pharmaceuticals. However, due to the sensitivity, it had always been done with two pilots. It was one of the reasons Father Gabriel had insisted I return to work after Sara awoke. When we made it to Fairbanks, I’d buy a burner phone and authorize the raids. It wouldn’t happen immediately, but it would happen.