“To what do I owe this pleasure? After all, we just saw each other at the Assembly meeting. Did you miss me?”
Not amused by my greeting, Brother Timothy formed a straight line with his lips. “Brother,” he continued. “Due to the recent events, as we said in the meeting, all codes have been changed.”
“I understand not wanting Thomas or other unauthorized individuals entering the community. However, I’m hardly an unauthorized individual. The last I heard, I’m still an Assemblyman.”
Brother Timothy shrugged and tilted his head toward Abraham. “Brother Abraham, also on the Assembly, is here to escort you to the hangar and back. We want to be sure there are no unforeseen changes in your flight plans.”
My chest inflated and my fingers balled to fists as I suppressed the first response that came to mind. Instead I swallowed my retort and replied, “I don’t anticipate any, unless I am forced to once again protect The Light.”
“Father Gabriel wants the letter you need to find. Brother Abraham is merely joining you to help. Once you retrieve what you’ve lost, then the future is up to Father Gabriel.”
I knew he was baiting me about Sara, but I couldn’t let him know how close to losing it I was. I stepped closer. “Father Gabriel will see that I’m devoted.”
As the two men exchanged glances, it took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to knock the smirks off their damn faces. “Of course he will, Brother,” Brother Timothy said, still using his overly placating tone. “I spoke with Brother Mark from the Eastern Light. Your devotion has been noted.”
I audibly exhaled.
“Now,” Brother Timothy continued, “Father Gabriel wants the message in the envelope from Brother Reuben. Go out to the hangar and find it. Brother Abraham has a new code. He’ll help you.” He turned toward Abraham. “Won’t you?”
“It’ll be my pleasure.” Abraham turned my way. “I’m always willing to do what the Commission and Father Gabriel ask of me.”
This wasn’t good.
“Fine, get in the truck,” I said, turning around. “I have an envelope to find.”
“Give him your keys, Jacob.”
What the hell?
My expression, as I spun, must have spoken for me, because Brother Timothy continued, “The security codes are entered from the driver’s side.”
“They’re in the ignition,” I replied through clenched teeth as I walked past both men to reach the passenger’s side. Slamming the door, I waited. In the side mirror, I watched as they conversed about something. Finally Abraham walked to the driver’s door. Before getting in, he smiled through the window.
I hated that man, well, both of them, with a passion. Every time I looked at Abraham I remembered what he’d done to Sara, and how he’d planned to do more. Out of the corner of my eye I watched as he consulted his phone before entering his new pass-code. By the third gate he had it memorized.
What a genius!
The truck jiggled over the rough terrain of the road as we traveled toward the hangar in relative silence. Only road noise and the occasional screech of a hawk flying low could be heard until we neared the pole barn.
Turning toward me, Abraham asked, “Thomas? You said you dumped his body out here?”
CHAPTER 31
Sara
I stared at the phone’s screen, representative of a number pad but devoid of numbers Dylan had programmed. And then it changed. The keypad vanished and the time—10:36 p.m.—appeared. Biting my lip, I sighed.
A few more days!
That was what Jacob had said. I was numb. The hunger that had rumbled earlier in my stomach was gone, and so was the excitement. In the middle of Father Gabriel’s office, I was without direction. With the solution in my hand, literally at my fingertips, I couldn’t proceed.
Calling Bernard would risk the entire FBI mission. It risked everything and everyone.
Bernard may have had contacts, but would he be able to get to the right people? Involving my old boss risked too many lives—the lives of all my friends at the Northern Light, the lives of terrible people I didn’t honestly give a damn about at the Eastern Light, including those in this mansion, and even the lives of people I’d never met at the Western Light. Involving Bernard could put his life at risk, yet as I stood motionless, staring at a now-dark screen, the only life that I honestly cared about was that of the man I’d called my husband. If I called Bernard, I would jeopardize not only Jacob’s mission but also his life.
I couldn’t do it.
With my freedom a phone call away, I couldn’t dial the numbers. It was clear that I loved Jacob more than I craved the biggest story of my career, and somehow even more than I feared this terrible house.
A lump formed in my throat as I imagined explaining to my dark-haired, dark-eyed son or daughter that it was I, the child’s mother, who’d made the call that had cost my child his or her father.