“I don’t know,” I said, “I’m not sure if I can make it.”
He gripped my shoulders and spoke slowly. “Listen, Stella, I know you fucking remember. I also know I need to get you out of this house. We don’t have any choice. I’m sorry that I’m not as big as your damn husband, and I can’t carry you all the way, but if we don’t move now, there won’t be a later.”
I didn’t understand what Dylan was saying, but the urgency in his voice was loud and clear. Even though I’d blown my charade with Fred’s name, it seemed like with whatever was happening at this mansion, leaving with Dylan was my best option. I nodded, bit my lip, and ran through the pain. I concentrated on my footing, careful of the wet, slippery grass, made that way from sprinklers. By the time we reached the outbuildings I was clammy with perspiration and my slippers were soaked.
I waited as Dylan disappeared into the building where Micah had stayed. The still night hung heavy with a feeling I couldn’t identify as I searched the sky for stars that were more visible during the dark season at the Northern Light. Looking up to the heavens, I knew the feeling I was having. It was an impending sense of doom, and it was getting closer with each passing minute. The opening of a garage door caused me to turn and face the far end of the building.
“Get down here!” Dylan yelled.
Standing still after running had intensified the cramps, yet I pushed past the pain and made my way to the SUV that he’d pulled out of the small garage. It was older than the one Brother Elijah drove and reminded me of one of the vehicles I’d seen nearly a year ago in Highland Heights.
Dylan opened the back door. “Get down on the floor. If the cameras at the gate are still working, they won’t be able to see you.”
Loud, angry voices cut through the thick, humid air, coming from Father Gabriel’s mansion. Momentarily I turned back, peering through the darkness toward the mansion.
“Get in, now!”
Dylan didn’t need to tell me again.
CHAPTER 32
Jacob
“You were told what I’d said to the Commission?” I asked Abraham. My fried brain couldn’t remember who’d been present when I’d told my story, but I thought it was only the Commission.
Abraham smugly turned in my direction. “I’ve been told lots of things—things about here, Fairbanks, phone calls, and the Eastern Light.”
I turned away, watching rows of small trees clear to large areas of open land to be swallowed up again by trees. As the landscape passed by the windows, I tried to assess what he was saying. “Congratulations,” I finally replied. “You’re apparently in the know.”
“You’d better hope whatever it is Father Gabriel wants you to find is out here.”
Abraham stopped the truck and pushed the button for the garage door. After he pulled inside the pole barn and as the door was going down, I turned in his direction. “Wait a minute.”
Abraham’s eyes widened as his brow furrowed.
“He has it, doesn’t he?” I asked. “Father Gabriel already has it. Someone went through our apartment while I was at the Eastern Light and found it, or came out here. What the hell am I doing out here if he already has it?”
Abraham shook his head. “That’s not what I was told. I was told that I’m supposed to be here until you find something that Brother Noah needs . . . something Brother Michael from the Western Light never intended for Brother Reuben to give to you. I heard you screwed up and if you don’t find this thing, you’re not the only one who’ll suffer.”
Veiled threats against Sara were becoming less veiled.
I opened the truck’s door and started walking in the direction of the hangar. Pointing behind me, I called over my shoulder, “There’s the living quarters. I don’t need a damn babysitter.” Without turning, I knew Abraham hadn’t listened and was following in my direction. As I opened the door to the middle part of the pole barn, the area before the hangar, his footsteps got closer.
“I was told to not to let you out of my sight. I follow Father Gabriel’s orders.”
Asshole.
The hallway veered to the left and ran through the center of the building, allowing space for the offices on the right and workshops on the left. If I wanted to be nice, I could have flipped the switch and turned on the lights, but I wasn’t being nice. Besides, the hangar had windows, and the beams from the perpetual sunshine created a literal light at the end of the tunnel.