“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 that 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?”