Away From the Dark

  I took a deep breath, my cramping nearly gone. “Mindy?”

  “Last I heard, she made it to a campus. I’m not sure which one, and I honestly didn’t want to know.”

  “But she wasn’t investigating The Light. Why did they take her?”

  “She was investigating a business from outside The Light, Motorists of America, MOA. It’s a shell corporation. She stumbled across too many things, like you.”

  I recognized that name. It was the company Foster had told me about—the one I had been too impatient to listen to him discuss. Oh, shit, it was the one that Foster had found when he was investigating Dylan. Dylan’s name was on a utility bill for a house in Bloomfield Hills that was owned by MOA.

  Could that be where we were? Was this the house Foster had found by researching Dylan’s name?

  Dylan ran his hands along the dark-blond scruff lining his defined jaw. “I fucking warned you. I told you to leave it alone, but you were too stubborn.”

  I closed my eyes. “Did Bernard or Foster ever see my research?”

  “Come on, you’re smarter than that.”

  A tear trickled from my eye. “So they never knew what I’d learned?”

  “No.”

  “My parents?”

  “Your mom still calls me.”

  My chest clenched as I laid my head on my arms. “How could you do this and talk to her like you didn’t know?”

  “I didn’t see any other options. Do you?”

  “Yes,” I whispered. “Yes.” My words gained strength as I lifted my head. “I see many other options. Tell the truth. Tell law enforcement. Do something. Stop this travesty. What The Light is doing is human trafficking and drugs. Oh, God . . .” My volume decreased. “Do you know what happens? Last Sunday, here at the Eastern Light, I witnessed a man and woman—”

  Dylan raised his hand. “I don’t want to know.”

  “What? That doesn’t make sense. You’re supporting this, condoning this, and you don’t want to know?”

  “We are all part of a greater good, part of the body. I have my responsibilities. I don’t need to know about the others and what they do unless it interferes with what I do.”

  It was time for my eyes to narrow. “I don’t know what your responsibilities entail, but let me tell you, I watched a man be murdered. The woman, she survived to end up in the basement . . .” My stomach knotted again. “Now she’s dead.”

  “If you’re talking about the woman in the bed, in the room where you were left, she was unconscious. The explosion was probably easier on her than the others.”

  “How can you be so callous? How can you talk about life like it doesn’t matter?” Suddenly a thought occurred to me. “How? Wait a minute. Why are you being this open with me? Why are you telling me all of this?” My hands began trembling. “Are you going to kill me?”

  Dylan stood and his footsteps moved about the kitchen. “Glass of water, Stella?”

  What?

  “No.” The hairs on the back of my neck rose to attention and my skin prickled with goose bumps. “Tell me.” My volume rose and I stood to face him. “Dylan, tell me.” I stared into his piercing blue eyes and tried again. “For old times, for what I’ve been through, please tell me what is going to happen to me.” My volume rose. “If you’re going to kill me, be man enough to own it.”

  He reached out and caressed my cheek. I sucked my lip between my teeth and forced myself to remain still as his words rolled forth and his warm beer-scented breath skirted my cheeks. Though his tone was soft like an apology, his words were sharp in their meaning. “Stella, I know you may hate me, but you should know, at one time, I thought I could love you. The you I loved was strong and sure. I’ve been around subservient women all my life. My mother was one. I loved her but hated the way she acted around my father and the other men.” He looked deep into my eyes, his finger tracing my cheek and lips. “I loved your fight, sharp tongue, and stubbornness. I loved all of that, but it wasn’t worth the cost. The price was too high—not only to you, but to me and The Light.”

  His tone softened as his touch dipped to my collarbone and his gaze lingered at the neckline of the dress. “Besides, they took those parts of you away. That asshole you call your husband did that.”

  I wanted to tell him it hadn’t been Jacob, it had been his uncle. It was Father Gabriel who was responsible, but I kept my lips closed and let him continue.

  Dylan took a deep breath. Bringing his eyes back to mine, he tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. “Even so, for all the reasons I said, I wanted you to know the whole truth. I wanted you to understand that I tried. I really did.”

  I took a step back. “Please . . . you’re scaring me.”

  “Don’t you understand? Don’t you see it now? The Light can’t be stopped.”

  I nodded, again pulling my lip between my teeth.

  “That explosion changes everything,” he explained. “I’m trying to make you understand. No matter what happens to me or to you, The Light is here and there and everywhere. There’s no escaping it. My uncle was right. Allowing you to go back to Stella’s world would be impossible.”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s not! I won’t tell. I promise. I’ll pretend, like I was doing earlier. I can do that.”

  He took a deep breath. “Believe me when I tell you this hasn’t been an easy decision.”

  “What hasn’t been easy?”

  He leaned closer, once again cupping my cheek. “Do you remember how good we were together? Do you remember how easy it was?”

  I nodded, tears raining down my cheeks.

  He cooed, “It was easier with you than anyone. I wanted . . .” He touched his lips to mine, the cold contact feeling more like a good-bye than a hello. “But,” he went on, “we don’t always get what we want. I’ve known it all my life. The Light is bigger than me, than you, than both of us.

  “I told you everything, because things changed tonight—because of you. I wanted to be honest, for old times’ sake . . .”

  I saw the syringe from the corner of my eye. It was like the one Elijah had tried to use on me earlier.

  “. . . even though I know that when you wake up, you won’t remember a word of it.”

  “No!”

  The sharp pain in my neck transported me back to the parking lot in Detroit, just before my world went black.

  CHAPTER 35

  Jacoby

  I landed the small plane in Anchorage a little ahead of schedule; however, as we rolled to a stop along the runway, my mind wasn’t thinking about the time or even about the blur of commotion on the tarmac. My mind was in Bloomfield Hills. The raids should all have been started if not carried out, and I wanted details. I needed to know Sara was safe.

  “Thank you.” Benjamin’s voice came through the earphones, reminding me that I wasn’t the only one worried about a wife. “Jacob, I mean Jacoby, Raquel’s pulse is weak, but she still has one. Thanks to you. I know if you hadn’t . . . she wouldn’t . . .” His voice trailed away.

  I turned and, with a strained smile, nodded in his direction. “They’re waiting on us. They’ll have her in surgery soon.”

  Though it was after ten at night, the airport where I’d been told to land was alive with activity. Just as Special Agent Adler had promised, there was an ambulance, and as I unbuckled my seat belt, it was moving slowly toward the plane. I opened the hatch door and lowered the steps before going back to help Benjamin.

  As I reached for Raquel’s seat belt, Benjamin grabbed my hand. “I don’t know if she’ll make it, but I know she wouldn’t have made it up there. I owe you. Anything. You’ve got it. You can count on me.”

  “Right now, concentrate on Raquel. Until we know how the raids went and what’s ahead for us, listen to the FBI. They’ll keep her safe. They know what we’re dealing with better than we do. I’ll do my best to convince them to let you stay with her, but . . .” I shrugged. “Honestly, you were on the Assembly. There’s a case against you. You knew thin
gs. You worked in the lab, but really your future is up to you.”

  Benjamin took a deep breath. “It’s up to me, like we told followers. Nothing was up to them, and I have the feeling that nothing’s really up to me now either.”

  “It is. I’ll talk to my handler. I’ll do all I can to persuade them to allow you to stay with Raquel until she’s no longer critical. If you want more time than that—”

  Benjamin looked away, his red-rimmed eyes downcast. “I want forever. Is that too much to ask?”

  “No. I want the same thing. You just need to talk to the agents—be one hundred percent honest with them, be willing to turn state’s evidence and testify. That’s what you can do to get back to Raquel.” I patted his shoulder. “I’m behind you. I hope you know that you’ve got my support.”

  We turned as paramedics made their way into the fuselage.

  “What about Abraham?” Benjamin asked in a hushed tone.

  I shook my head. “You should get a damn medal. You also saved my life. I’ll tell them what happened.”

  “What about her?” he asked, looking at Raquel as the paramedics lifted their gurney. “Legally, I mean. Is there a case against her too?”

  “It’s not up to me. It’s all up to the FBI, but I’ll tell them what I know, which is, as far as the Assembly wives are concerned, from my knowledge they were all blissfully unaware. They were never informed of the workings of the Assembly or Commission. I’ll be truthful in everything.”

  “Sir, is this your wife?” the young female paramedic asked, looking to Benjamin.

  Benjamin looked at the paramedic and again at me.

  “We,” I said to Benjamin, “were married under The Light. I plan on using that legality to find Sara. Until it’s disproved, your answer is yes.”

  Benjamin nodded and turned toward the young woman. “Yes, she is.”

  The woman’s eyes widened as she scanned Raquel’s injuries and looked back to Benjamin, seeing his bloodstained shirt.

  “Miss,” I said, attempting to derail her obvious train of thought. “I’m Agent McAlister of the FBI. This woman was attacked and beaten by someone who has been dealt with, not by her husband. I’ll testify to that.”

  “Yes, Agent. Sir,” she said to Benjamin, “please come with us. They’re waiting for us at the medical center.”

  “Miss”—I read her name tag—“Kellogg, this woman’s husband and another agent need to stay by her side.”

  “Agent, they can follow—”

  “No, they will be with you.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, tightening the restraint and securing Raquel on the gurney. Without another word she and the other paramedic wheeled Raquel down the stairs toward the ambulance.

  I handed Benjamin the burner phone. “I’ll get one from the bureau and call you. I plan on heading east immediately.”

  He nodded and tucked the phone in his pocket. “You know, the last time I accepted this phone . . .”

  I shook my head. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “No, Raquel was right. She wanted to help. Just find Sara.”

  I took a deep breath as Benjamin stepped through the doorway and followed his wife.

  As I descended the steps, the weight of three years lifted from my shoulders. I’d done my part. The Light was behind me. Looking out at the sea of faces, I searched for ones I recognized. When my eyes met one man’s, that of an agent probably fifteen to twenty years my senior, a weary smile graced my lips. I’d spoken to him, but I hadn’t seen him in over three years.

  When he nodded in my direction, my grin broadened toward Special Agent William Adler. While he’d grown a few more gray hairs and even gained a few pounds, I recognized my handler immediately. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, he met me and patted my shoulder.

  “Agent McAlister, you’re a sight for sore eyes.” He scanned me up and down. “It doesn’t appear that you’re too much the worse for wear. Maybe you’d like to do another three years in The Light?”

  “No, sir. Let’s flip that switch and move on.”

  Adler’s welcoming expression faded. “Come with me, Jacoby. We need to talk.”

  The four words we need to talk splintered my already frayed nerves, leaving them in shreds. Before I could speak and ask him what we needed to talk about, he ushered me away to a waiting vehicle. I tried to protest, letting him know I didn’t want to go to the field office. I couldn’t go to the field office. I needed to get on a plane to Detroit. Instead of listening or even acknowledging my protests, he and two other agents flanked me and herded me into the large black SUV.

  Once we were safely away from listening ears, Special Agent Alder turned toward me. “Listen, Jacoby, you’re not authorized to leave, not yet.”

  “What do you mean? I told you on the phone that Sara’s at the Eastern Light. I told you that you needed to get to her . . .” My shoulders drooped and words failed to form as the weight I thought I’d shed fell heavily back upon me.

  “Listen to me,” Adler said. “Can you do that?”

  I nodded. I could listen, but first I needed to quiet the mayhem alienating the words and phrases coming from his mouth. Though his lips were moving, I wasn’t seeing him. All I saw and heard was her. I was back in that damn bathroom in the outbuilding at the mansion with Sara in my arms. Her sweet trusting voice filling my ears while her beautiful blue eyes dominated my vision. With her hand reassuringly upon my chest, she said, “I trust you with my life. I have and I’ll continue to do it.”

  Her confidence was steadfast, and I’d left her, walked away and abandoned her.

  “Agent, did you hear a word I just said?”

  The vehicle had pulled away from the small airport, taking me farther away from Sara, not closer, not where I’d promised to stay. I looked beyond my visions and searched for the ambulance. It must have already left. If I strained I could hear its sirens wailing in the distance.

  “I’m sorry,” I replied. “What? You completed the raid at the Eastern Light?”

  Agent Adler nodded. “When’s the last time you slept?”

  “That’s not relevant.”

  “I’m sensing you’re in shock or going into shock. That’s understandable. You deserve to rest. Without you this would never have been as successful—”

  “Special Agent, you were telling me about the Eastern Light—about Sara.”

  He nodded. “After I spoke to you, we moved on the Eastern Light first. That raid began earlier than the rest. Once you told us there was no mass suicide or homicide plan at the other campuses the timeline seemed safe. Being that we struck after one in the morning, we believe that helped decrease the number of casualties. We found everything you promised on the campus and hidden in what appeared to be abandoned buildings, including four women who were in a room resembling a clinic.”

  My heart clenched.

  “Sara?” I asked.

  “We don’t believe so. Due to their injuries, it’s difficult to be sure. Once we get to the field office we have pictures you can check for visual confirmation. There were only eighteen casualties on the campus in Highland Heights. They appeared to be the crew of followers working within the production plant. Identification is underway, but given the lack of fingerprints, we have our work cut out for us.”

  “The rest?”

  “Taken into custody.”

  I nodded. “Sara wasn’t on the campus.”

  “No one came forth with that name, or Stella Montgomery, under questioning. Of course, few are talking, especially the women. According to the agents at the scene, they believe the women were too afraid to speak, even with female agents and interrogators. However, after my brief conversation with Miss Montgomery on your phone, I’d assume that she would talk and give her true identity.”

  I nodded. She would. “Bloomfield Hills, sir?”

  “Agent, the raids were planned simultaneously. The timing was close.”

  Oh, fuck! I was going to be ill.

  “Close? What does t
hat mean?”

  “The subdivision that housed Gabriel Clark’s home in Bloomfield Hills is gated. The mansion on Kingsway Trace is also gated. By the time we gained access, there was a five-minute discrepancy.”

  Though the vehicle was moving, I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t focus. The weight was crushing, suffocating. My body fought to complete involuntary tasks. Expanding my lungs and contracting my heart required thought. The life-sustaining processes were chaotic at best. I worked to speak. “What happened in five minutes?”

  I waited, wondering whether I’d actually spoken.

  He reached for my arm. “They must have known we were coming. The entire mansion blew. The way it exploded, it was a planned defensive measure. The home must have been sitting on a powder keg of explosives or maybe it was an intentional natural gas explosion. ATF is working on it. It’s still burning. The investigators can’t get close enough to even start looking for bodies.”

  “Bodies? What about survivors?”

  “Jacoby, no one survived that blast.”

  “Maybe they got out first,” I tried. “There are other exits, down by the airstrip?”

  “Our agents had the property surrounded. We had aerial confirmation of the property and all the possible ways on and off. Every gate was blocked at least ten minutes before we tried to enter, even before the initiation of the raid on the campus. No one tried. Whoever was there is gone.”

  “Ten minutes? Then why weren’t they up to the house five minutes earlier?”

  “Agent.” Adler’s voice was calm, as if it would make what he was saying any easier to comprehend. “The bureau did the best they could. We only had eighteen casualties, forty-six overall. If we’d made it into the mansion five minutes earlier, we would have lost agents in the explosion.”

  “Forty-six? Does that include victims in the mansion?”

  “No, but it includes all the campuses. Over one thousand people are in custody. Those outcomes are very good.”

  Incredulously I sought the right words, yet none came forth. “Outcomes, numbers? Shit! This isn’t about numbers. I need to see the pictures of every woman you found, alive and dead, at the Eastern Light. And once they get in that mansion, I need to see that too.” I turned my blurry vision out the window, before I turned back. “Special Agent, I request permission to go to Detroit. I need to see for myself.”