He nodded toward the hangar. “She’s in there, but Abraham beat her pretty bad. I’ve never been so scared. Even if we had a place to go, she can’t walk. I carried her here.”
“Wait,” I said, lifting my finger to my lips. Opening the door to one of the offices, I went to the computer and prayed they hadn’t changed the password. A sigh left my lips as the screen came to life. A few clicks of the mouse and pass-phrases later and I was into the hangar’s security feed. With Benjamin over my shoulder, I nodded. “The cameras are off. The last recording was the day I came back from Fairbanks.”
“Does it have Sara? Had they seen her?”
I shook my head. “No, I knew it’d be running and got her out of the plane before I tugged it into the hangar.”
“I’m getting back out to Raquel.”
“Take her to the living quarters. This computer oversees all the security. Nothing’s being recorded in there either.”
As we stepped back into the hallway, I kicked Abraham’s side. “We need to get him outside.”
“I’m moving Raquel first.”
Nodding, I reached for Abraham’s jacket and took out his phone. Holding it in my hands, I suddenly wondered whether I could use it to call the FBI. But first I needed the envelope, praying it would buy me time.
“I need to check the plane in the hangar for something Father Gabriel wants,” I explained as we started to walk away from Abraham’s body. “How did you know he’d be here?”
“I didn’t.”
I turned toward Benjamin with my eyes wide. “So the wrench was for me?”
The very corners of my friend’s mouth moved upward. “I heard the garage door and was on my way to see if it was you when I heard your voice and his. The wrench was just handy, and someone should have done that a long time ago.”
I patted his shoulder. “No argument from me, Brother. Take me to Raquel.”
As we walked toward the far end of the hangar, I saw the drops of blood I’d seen earlier on the floor and tried to scuff one. This time it didn’t budge.
“You were here when we first got back from the Eastern Light, weren’t you?”
Benjamin nodded. “We’d just gotten here. The door on the far end by the landing strip was unlocked. I’d just gotten her inside. That’s how I knew about Sara. I overheard you and Micah talking when you arrived from the Eastern Light.”
“I’m getting her back.”
He didn’t respond. No one believed me, except me.
Benjamin led me to the far corner of the hangar, behind a row of skids and shelves filled with boxes of supplies. I stopped walking as the bile rose from my stomach. Raquel’s normally pretty face was red, with areas of darker blue. One cheek and eye were swollen so badly that it didn’t appear as though her eye would open. She was lying unmoving on her side.
As I stared at my friend, I felt no remorse about Abraham. I was glad he was dead and hoped he rotted in hell. How he could continue to do this to women was beyond me. The man was a psychopath who’d found an acceptable outlet for his desires. I hadn’t thought of his wife until this moment, but I doubted that Deborah would mourn her husband’s loss.
“Raquel,” Benjamin said softly, kneeling by his wife’s side. “Brother Jacob’s here. He said for a little while we can move you to the living quarters. It’ll be better than having you lie on this hard floor.”
She nodded and her face contorted as Benjamin helped her sit.
“B-Brother Jacob . . . I’m sorry . . .” Her voice was weak.
I knelt beside her. “No, Raquel. You have nothing to be sorry about. It’s my fault. All of this.”
“But Sara . . .”
“Raquel, don’t worry about her. I’m going to get her back. I just need to find something first.”
We all jumped as the phone in my pocket buzzed. Benjamin’s eyes met mine. “Yours?” he asked.
Pressing my lips together, I shook my head. After a deep breath, I swiped the screen of Abraham’s phone and read his new text.
Father Gabriel: HAS HE FOUND IT?
I looked up to Benjamin. “Well, that blows my theory that Abraham brought me out here for something else.”
“You’d better answer him.”
I hit “Reply” and held the phone so we could both read.
Abraham: NOT YET. STILL LOOKING.
Father Gabriel: DON’T LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT AND GET ME THAT ENVELOPE.
Benjamin’s and my eyes locked. “What about you?” he asked. “Is he supposed to take you back to the community?”
Fuck!
My heart raced as I hit the buttons.
Abraham: JACOB?
We waited.
Father Gabriel: AS WE DISCUSSED.
I blew out a puff of air as Benjamin shook his head. Well, that wasn’t informative. I slid his phone back into the pocket of my jacket.
Raquel winced as Benjamin lifted her from the ground. As he did, her blouse rode up, revealing a large purple bruise. I opened my eyes wider. Her side wasn’t only black and blue as Sara’s had been, the skin was distended. I’d seen it before, not at The Light, but in Iraq. I swallowed.
“Is that hard to the touch?”
Benjamin nodded.
“Brother, I think she has internal bleeding.”