by Lori Ryan
“Minutes now. Maybe two or three.”
“Drive by the front of the church then pull around the block onto Alameda. There’s a break in the shrubbery there that lets you see into the compound a bit. See if there are people around, what the activity level is. It’s still pretty early. Then move a block away and call me back.”
“Okay.” He didn’t like having to wait at all, but his dad was the one who would know how to handle this. Besides, his dad was no idiot. He’d given Kemal something to do instead of telling him to sit and stick his thumb up his ass until he got there.
Kemal kept his thoughts on Eve as he drove the last few minutes to the church, trying to keep his sanity and ignore the fact that she could have been missing for over twenty-four hours and no one had done anything about it. Trying to ignore all that meant, including the fact that it might be too late for Eve already.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Eve threw her weight into the swing. She put everything she had into the first blow to the reverend, aiming at where she thought his stomach would be. She would have aimed for his head but if she aimed too high, it would be too easy to miss. Center mass was the best shot she had.
He grunted and doubled over and she brought her knee up to meet his face. It wasn’t as cleanly executed as the move might have been during a sparring match at the gym, but a real fight never was. And since she couldn’t see much after his flashlight went flying, she was just glad to connect with his head at all.
He grabbed for her but she was ready. She didn’t stop swinging. She punched and shoved and swung again. She had gotten enough of an advantage with the element of surprise. He got one good blow to the side of her head in, but she kept punching, shoving, never daring to stop. No way would she let him drag her back to that room. And no way would she let him get the best of her and get Camille back. That girl was getting out of this hell hole today.
She put her all into the fight and he went down, his feet coming out from under him with a satisfying whoosh.
The sound of his head hitting the rock when he landed was sickening. Eve scrambled back, trying to catch her breath as she grabbed the light that had gone flying and centered it on the man.
It wasn’t the reverend. It was Faith Richardson, the reverend’s wife.
Eve didn’t stick around. She turned, shining the light ahead of her and ran after Camille. She just hoped she’d bought them enough time to get to the end of this tunnel and out of the compound.
She hadn’t gone more than a few yards before she heard the heavy sound of footfalls coming behind her again. Had Faith gotten up or was it someone else?
Eve didn’t want to find out. She pushed herself, glad for the light that now let her run instead of shuffling along feeling her way in the dark.
She could see Camille ahead of her and called out to let the girl know she was coming.
When she caught up to her, she slowed her pace a bit, guessing that the girl wouldn’t be in shape to run flat-out since she looked like she must be seven or eight months pregnant.
“I took one of them out,” Eve said, a little shorter of breath than she’d have liked, “but there’s someone else coming. We need to keep moving. Are you okay to jog?”
“Yes,” Camille said, but Eve saw her clutching her belly.
She took hold of the girl’s arm trying to support her as they moved. If she had estimated the size of the compound right, they should be coming out to the end of the tunnel soon. They just had to pray that when they came out, they weren’t surrounded by church members determined to keep them from getting to safety.
She didn’t know how deep into the church this went. Were they all aware the reverend was keeping women in his basement? Or was it only the reverend and his wife?
If they came out into another part of the church and ran into someone other than the reverend and his wife, would they help them? Or would they help Faith and Reverend Richardson get them back in that basement? Or worse?
Did they know about the sick depravity of their so-called spiritual leader?
Up ahead, Eve could see the slim outline of light coming through the edges of a door. She only hoped they had time to get through the door before their pursuer caught up to them.
She urged Camille on, keeping the light focused on the ground in front of them. If they tripped and fell now, there would lose their chance at getting out of there.
Her heart battered against her ribcage, fear at what might be on the other side of the door nearly paralyzing her. They could be stepping out into something she couldn’t fight her way out of.
Eve pulled Camille to a stop when they reached the door, then leaned against it, listening.
There was nothing but silence on the other side. It could mean they’d be safe going through it, or it could mean there were ten church members reading their bibles on the other side of it, waiting to take them down.
The irony of that image hit Eve. She knew there were people in the world who didn’t believe in the same God she did. That they twisted and warped the teachings of the bible to justify doing horrible things to people.
Still, it hit her every time she was faced with something like this.
She could hear the footsteps behind them closing in. There was no time to hesitate. She tried the handle and found it locked.
“Hold this,” she said, handing the flashlight to Camille. “Shine it on the lock.”
She pulled the hair clips she’d used to pick the lock earlier from her pocket and knelt in front of the lock. She didn’t need to see it so much as feel it, but still, she reached up to adjust the direction of Camille’s arm, aiming it toward the lock as she put her pick and lever in.
Her stomach clenched as she began to feel for the tumblers. If she couldn’t do this, she’d have to try to fight off whoever was coming. She’d left the table leg behind when she’d run after taking out the reverend’s wife. That had been stupid, but at the time, grabbing the light and getting out of there had been her priority.
She found the first seized tumbler and eased it loose, seeking the next one as she tried to block out the sound of Camille’s panicked breathing and the echoing slap, slap, slap of footsteps coming at them. She dropped her bobby pin and cursed, grabbing the light from Camille to find it. It took far too many precious seconds, but she grabbed it and went back to the lock.
She focused on breathing steadily, calming her mind and her heart-rate as she fussed with the guts of the lock.
Slap, slap, slap. Whoever was coming was almost on them.
The tumblers eased into place and she turned the knob. She forced herself to crack the door open and look through it instead of throwing it wide and barreling through it.
Eve’s heart rose at the sight of the church’s sanctuary. It was empty. And better yet, she knew where it went. They could get out through the front of the church. The rest of the compound was fenced in, but this section opened to the front of the property and led right out onto the sidewalk.
Slap, slap, slap.
“Come on,” she said, pulling Camille. They ran into the church, just as the sounds of their pursuer closed on them. They were halfway through the pews when she heard the door slam against the wall behind them.
She risked a glance over her shoulder. They were so close.
But the reverend was reaching for her. She shoved Camille ahead of her and turned to face Reverend Richardson.
His face was red with rage and he struck at her. She felt the blow as though it rattled her brain in her skull and the harsh burn where he connected with her cheek blinded her. Tears stung in her eyes, but he was already raising his arm to strike again. She used his momentum, ducking beneath him and grabbing hold of his arm to sling him over her back and slam him to the ground. She jumped over him and ran for the door. Camille was only a few strides ahead of her. They were close. So damned close.
But she heard the reverend coming behind them again. She had knocked him down but he hadn’t stayed there.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Kemal fought not to slow as he drove by the front of the church. He didn’t want anyone at the church realizing they were coming. He’d already spotted a patrol car at the end of the block and wondered if they were there because the detectives had told them to be on standby for when they got their warrant.
He looked at the fence line leading up to the church. It was covered in high shrubs that made it impossible to see anything in the compound. The stone façade of the front of the church made the place look so peaceful but he didn’t want to think about the sinister secrets they were hiding in there. He didn’t want to think about what Eve might be going through behind those walls.
If he hadn’t been such a jerk to her, maybe they would at least have discovered she was missing sooner. If he’d answered her text message right away instead of acting like a high school asshole with a grudge, he might have known where she’d gone and realized she hadn’t come back. Instead, she was in the hands of the reverend and his sick parishioners.
He was passing the church’s wide stone steps when the doors burst open and two figures ran out. He recognized the long black hair flowing out from behind the taller of the two right away.
“Eve!” he yelled, even though she couldn’t hear him in his car. He slammed the car in park and threw the door open, not bothering to pull to the side of the road. “Eve!” he called again.
Time slowed as he realized someone was chasing Eve and the other woman. He heard the sirens of a squad car and some part of his brain processed that the car that had been on the corner had screeched to a stop behind his car and two officers were getting out.
Eve turned to Kemal and he reached for her, but the officers were screaming at him. It wasn’t a big surprise to him to see that they’d drawn their weapons on him but it did send an eerie wash of cold running through him. He had known his entire life that there was a possibility of ending up in a situation like this someday.
But Eve was there and the reverend seemed frozen behind her, a look of horror on his face as he took in the situation.
Kemal wanted to put himself between Eve and the reverend. She looked shaken and a large bruise was blossoming on her face.
Kemal saw red at the realization she’d been beaten. He turned to the reverend and headed that way, a growl building in his throat.
“Don’t move!”
He heard the shouts of the officers and froze, cursing as he raised his hands.
The cops were young. Damnit, he remembered what Eve had said about incidents where cops might shoot because they were panicked. That they didn’t have the training to handle the situation they found themselves in. Would that happen here?
Eve was putting herself in front of Kemal. “I’m Captain Eve Scanlon, badge number DF14032.” She pointed to the reverend, every bit of her stance and tone filled with the authority of one who earned her position in the department despite the fact she looked like she could have been living on the streets the last few days. “Arrest the reverend for abduction, false imprisonment, assault. I’ll add to the charges later.”
The officers looked hesitant but then one stood taller, dropping his weapon to his side. “I recognize her,” he said to his partner. “I volunteered in Major Crimes a while back on a case. That’s the captain.”
“Ma’am,” he said to Eve with a nod, as he moved toward the reverend.
His partner looked from Kemal to the reverend another time, but then moved the barrel of his weapon to train it on the reverend. The reverend must have found his legs because he turned to run back up the steps.
The officers were now shouting at the reverend, with the same commands they’d been giving Kemal moments ago. The reverend wasn’t listening, but the officers were faster than he was. Kemal watched as they took him down, pinning his arms as they held him down on the steps.
Kemal went to Eve, wanting for all he was worth to pull her into his arms, to hold her close and tell her she was safe. Oh hell no, that was a lie. He wanted to pull her to him to assure himself she was safe.
He didn’t. He wouldn’t do that to her in front of her officers.
He moved to stand beside her as other cars rolled up, his dad’s among them.
“You’re okay?” Kemal asked, his voice low. God, he wanted to reach out to her. He closed his fists tight and kept his arms locked to his sides.
She nodded at him and for a minute, he thought she was going to break the tight hold she had on her emotions. He could see her wrestle with herself before she turned away from him and back to the girl who’d come out of the church with her. And then there were detectives and officers swarming the scene and Kemal was pushed back as they surrounded Eve and the girl.
He watched as they were led to an ambulance and the area was cordoned off. A few people came out of the front of the church but they were quickly stopped by the officers and told they had to wait inside.
Kemal couldn’t help but compare what would have happened if this had been a church in his neighborhood. If those were black faces coming out of the church where two women had just escaped from. Would the officers have told them to wait inside? He doubted it.
Would the officers who’d held their guns on him moments ago have stopped if Eve hadn’t been so convincing? If she hadn’t dripped authority despite her appearance. If she hadn’t been powerful enough in her presence and her title to stop the situation that had spiraled out of control in a heartbeat.
“You all right, son?” Kemal’s dad put his hand on Kemal’s shoulder.
Kemal nodded, letting out a huff of air, his emotions pouring out of him with it. He looked at his hands, knowing before he saw the tremor that they’d be shaking.
“She’s fighting going to the hospital,” his dad said, nodding his head toward Eve and the ambulance.
“She’s strong,” Kemal said, and he meant it. She’d gotten herself out of there. And it looked like she’d gotten someone else out with her.
Kemal realized the girl was pregnant. She was being loaded into the ambulance, already an IV of some sort attached to her arm. Eve was arguing with her detectives, but Kemal could see she was losing. She groused the whole way into the ambulance, but she was loaded and before he knew it, the doors were shut and she was being driven away.
His dad squeezed his shoulder. “We can follow them to the hospital. We can go wait for her to be cleared, make sure she’s okay.”
Kemal nodded but didn’t speak yet. He didn’t think he could without choking up.
That was too damned close. The whole thing had been too damned close. The way she’d had the reverend on her tail like that. The way the officers had held their guns on Kemal. The way Kemal realized that his feelings for Eve went far beyond simple like.
He was falling for Eve Scanlon. And he didn’t think he wanted to stop whatever was happening. He didn’t think he could. He was into this too deep and too hard for that.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Eve borrowed a pair of scrubs as soon as she got to the hospital. She’d never been a patient person and waiting for the doctor to clear her hadn’t been easy, but she’d at least gotten some food in her and gotten hydrated while she waited.
Now, she was making her way to Camille’s floor. They’d taken the young girl to labor and delivery to monitor her and the baby. Eve would bet they were worried about malnutrition given the girls thin arms. And she doubted she’d been getting proper prenatal care.
As much as Eve wanted to be over with her detectives at the church scouring the grounds and figuring out what else the reverend had been hiding and who else had been involved, she wanted to check on Camille before she went back to the scene.
Sevier had checked in with her by phone several times already. They had pulled the reverend’s wife out of the tunnel. She was treated at the scene but they were bringing her to the hospital soon to have her nose set. Eve had broken it, something she wasn’t the least bit sorry for.
She stopped at the sight of the two men waiting for her in
the hallway.
Glenn reached her first. He wasn’t a hugging kind of guy so it surprised her a bit when her former partner pulled her into a bear hug.
“You took a few years off my retirement, Captain,” he said, the words spoken quietly for only the two of them.
Eve felt her eyes prickle with the sting of tears and she blinked them back before answering. “Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn’t smart to go in there by myself. I just…” She shook her head. She didn’t have words to describe how stupid she’d been. How much she’d miscalculated the situation. How she’d put her faith in the women of the church, thinking they would want to be rescued from the life they were living.
She couldn’t have been more wrong, apparently.
Glenn pushed her back, looking her over. “You’re okay? Nothing permanent?”
Eve nodded her head. “I’m good.”
She wasn’t sure about how she was doing on the inside. She had a feeling she’d have nightmares for years to come over the helpless feeling of being drugged again and again. That out of control helplessness wasn’t something she was handling very well. The thought of it sent her hands shaking again and her stomach clenching in knots.
Glenn looked from her over to Kemal, who’d hung back behind his dad until now.
“Why don’t I go grab us some coffees?” Glenn said, stepping away and heading for the elevator in an utterly transparent attempt to leave Eve and Kemal alone.
Kemal wanted to reach for her and pull her to him. He wanted to hold her, assure himself she was all right. He wanted to tell her that knowing she was in danger had slayed him. Laid him bare and shown him what an idiot he’d been.
But he didn’t feel like he could do that. There was still so much unsaid between them.
He felt like there were miles between them and even the relief he felt at seeing her whole and safe didn’t seem to be able to close that gap.
Still, he had to try. He wanted to try. He didn’t want to walk away from what he felt for this incredible woman in front of him.