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Desperate Rescue
Barbara Phinney
No one left the cult without paying a price.Kaylee Campbell had tried to rescue her sister, only to fall prey to the threats of the leader, Noah Nash. After two horrific years, her faith shaken, she managed to break free. But when her sister was murdered in retaliation, Kaylee couldn't ignore her guilt and doubt.Now, on Kaylee's doorstep, there's a mystery man who looks very much like Noah, desperate for the help she's quick to deny him. And he says he can help her in return– if together they brave a perilous, faith-affirming road.
Desperate Rescue
Barbara Phinney
To my husband, my daughter and my son.
We grow in faith together, and I will always thank our Lord for each of you.
You make my life special and blessed.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ONE
Fear had a way of heightening the senses.
A chill crawled down Kaylee Campbell’s spine as she neared the driveway of her rented home. Not from the cool autumn morning. No, this ominous shiver came from a foreboding sense of danger acquired after years of being watched and followed every waking moment.
Kaylee glanced around the quiet cul-de-sac in the central New Brunswick village chosen for its peace and security. It was too quiet.
Someone was watching her.
“Don’t worry,” she muttered, drawing in a deep, slow breath the way the counselor had taught her. “Go home. You’re safe. You’re free.”
Her Saturday-morning walk had failed to soothe her nerves and neither did these words. Her chest tightened.
A car inched along the adjacent street. Over her shoulder she caught a glimpse of an out-of-province license plate.
The chilling wash returned. Her senses heightened; awareness ripped into high gear.
The car turned down her street. She listened a moment, then threw another glance over her shoulder.
Blond hair. A sinister sense of familiarity. Her heartbeat accelerated and she stopped with the pretense of tying her shoelace to cast a desperate glance around. Maybe one of her elderly neighbors was out this early.
No one. The cold autumn wind rattled the dead beech leaves that clung stubbornly to the tree on her front lawn.
Lord, help me. Keep me safe.
Doubt trickled into her as she tried the prayer. It wouldn’t help. None of her prayers were heeded. Why should they be, after what she’d done?
She straightened, desperate to control the wild panic now racing through her like a torrent of spring rains.
Build a hedge of protection around me, Lord.
Nothing. She felt no safer now than a moment ago. And the car behind her was inching closer.
She pulled her control in sharply. Her fear was ridiculous. The nightmare of these past two years was over. There was not going to be the final confrontation Noah Nash had threatened.
She shut her eyes, screwing up the courage to take flight and race those last few yards to her house.
But her feet froze to the sidewalk beneath her. Her legs, stiff and beginning to ache, refused to obey.
She dared another peek over her shoulder. The car slowed behind her. It stopped. Its door opened. She gasped the choking kind of breath that seemed to lodge in her throat.
Noah Nash had come after her, just as he’d threatened.
In front of her and deadly close, stood the man she most feared and dreaded.
He’d come back to kill her.
Her world dissolved into darkness as her stiff legs melted to jelly.
Eli Nash let out a frustrated noise as he rushed toward Kaylee. This was his own fault. He’d been warned not to approach her. Even his own mother had firmly condemned his plan.
“You look too much like Noah. You two could have been twins,” she’d said. “And you act too much like him, too. You’ll end up scaring her half to death.”
Shoving aside the warning, he caught Kaylee before she crumpled to the sidewalk. She slumped against him and he shifted to support her head as it rolled back. The boneless feel of her body surprised him as he dropped to his knees. Her jaw slackened and he heard a soft breath escape.
He wanted to kick himself for his own impetuous stupidity in not calling first, but there would be time to berate himself for that later. Right now, the best thing would be for him to simply carry her to her house and set her on her front lawn until she revived.
He knew he should have waited, but it was too late now, he thought as he lifted her off the ground. He should have used the police as an intermediary. Or a local pastor. Riverline had a church.
But he couldn’t wait. Waiting could lead to more deaths, possibly even his own sister’s.
Noah wouldn’t think twice about killing a blood relative if it meant furthering his own plans.
A breeze drifted by, cool and sharp with the tang of autumn. In his arms, Kaylee Campbell shivered and awoke.
He peered down at her grimly, resisting the urge to sweep away the waves of black hair that fell across her cheek as her dark eyes fluttered open. Her skin looked so pale. Naturally pale, he hoped, not pale because the blood had drained from her delicate features at the sight of him.
She was lighter than she looked, not surprisingly. Noah had a habit of keeping tight control on his cult members, both the willing, such as his sister, and the unwilling, such as Kaylee, through malnourishment. It looked as if Kaylee hadn’t yet regained her strength and weight.
“It’s okay. You fainted.”
Her eyes widened. Eli tightened his jaw. He was scaring the daylights out of her, but if he set her down she’d probably collapse again.
“I won’t hurt you,” he told her softly as he walked. “Let me carry you to your house. Where are your keys?”
She threw a furtive glance down at her right jacket pocket and her right hand moved ever so slightly. But she didn’t offer them.
He considered helping himself to the keys, but any search, however modest, would scare her further. Instead, he leaned forward and set her down on her single, pitted cement step, waiting for her to produce her keys.
Keys in hand, she swiftly slid toward the door and he knew he had to say something fast or risk losing the chance to explain.
Too late. No sooner had he stepped closer when her leg swung up and her foot connected with his midriff in one nasty, fluid kick.
He toppled to the lawn.
Stunned for a moment, he watched as Kaylee scrambled to her feet, tore inside her house and locked her door.
Then he sagged. Oh, this was just great. Well, he was bringing this all on himself, so he better learn a bit of patience. But after years of searching for his sister, he was desperate.
With a grimace of pain, he stood and rubbed his stomach. Through the door’s small window Kaylee stared at him, wide-eyed. The expression wrenched his heart.
She was terrified. So scared she didn’t realize that she’d dropped her house keys. His mouth a thin line, his brows lifted, he scooped up the keys and dangled them from his fingers.
“Ms. Campbell. Kaylee. I’m not who you think I am.”
Her gaze darted around. Obviously, she was searching for some other way to defend herself, should he unlock her door. He had no intentions of doing that.
“I’m not Noah. Kaylee, listen! I’m his brother, Eli. Listen to me, please.”
She snapped her head to the front, enough for him to catch the shock.
Patience. Father, please help me. If You want me to be patient, help me now.
Maybe he should be praying for his sister’s life, instead. If she heard his prayer, she’d accuse him of being selfish, jealous, looking again to upstage Noah.
He took a step back. “Look at me. You can see I’m not Noah.”
Kaylee shook her head. “No, I can’t. You kept yourself hidden most of the time. You’ve cut your hair and shaved that beard. You won’t get away with kidnapping me. I won’t cooperate, Noah! There’s nothing to hold me there anymore, thanks to you! You didn’t fool me with Trisha’s death. I know you killed her!”
She drew in a shaky breath and battled on, “I won’t be blackmailed! You can kill the lot of those fools who follow you. I refuse to care!”
“Listen!”
“No! You threatened to kill me before, but you won’t get away with it this time!” She turned to move away from the door.
He raced to the door. “Wait! I’m not going to hurt you! Just listen! I only want to talk to you.”
Thankfully, she stopped. He fished his wallet out of his pocket. Then, from the battered slice of leather, he drew his driver’s license.
He plastered it on the windowpane. “Who’s this?”
She read it quickly but shook her head. “IDs can be forged.”
With a growl, he thrust it back into his pocket. Thinking a moment, he pushed his short hair away from his hairline and tilted his face to the ground, showing her a scar. “Does Noah have this?”
She fell silent. Thank You. He’d finally reached her.
A brittle moment later, she answered, “Noah didn’t cut his hair, so we didn’t see his forehead. He kept hidden, too, and when we did see him, the room was always half dark.”
Eli offered his left hand and the scattered islands of wrinkled skin, the remains of an old burn from when he and Noah had been playing with the wood-stove at their grandmother’s house, thirty years ago. “What about this?”
“I didn’t see his hands, either.”
Great. Back to square one. Just as he was trying to remember another childhood injury, she added with a soft whisper, “But you’re left-handed. Noah’s right-handed.”
Of course. Relief sluiced through him and he let out a long sigh. “I forgot about that.”
She met his stare, her expression soft as a deer’s, with watery eyes shimmering. She wet her lips. “Who did you say you were?”
“Eli, his brother.” He backed away from the door but she just stood there, staring at him, keeping the door firmly shut. “I need to talk to you.”
“You want to talk? Talk. This is the only way we’re going to communicate.”
He sighed. Better than nothing. “I need you,” he repeated. “You’re the only one who can help me.”
Kaylee blinked. So much had happened so quickly. This morning, she awoke and looked forward to her walk, anxious to put together her life after Trisha’s…
After all the awful things that had happened…and all the things she’d done.
“Kaylee? Will you listen to me? I need your help.”
Noah never begged. He had complete control over his followers.
Eli’s voice filtered in through the myriad images that always surrounded Kaylee’s thoughts of the cult. The compound, called The Farm by cult members, whisked through her brain. The gnawing hunger, the biting cold.
The tears at night, her sister begging for her compliance. At first. Then later, when she weakened—
Forget all that. “What do you want?”
He ran his fingers through his short hair, allowing her to study his face. Though she hadn’t seen much of Noah, she’d seen his sharp blue eyes enough times, and the piercing stare always unnerved her. Eli’s eyes were different. Softer.
Finally, he spoke. “My sister, Phoebe, lives with Noah. I need you to go back—”
“No!” Still focusing on Eli’s face, she shook her head. “Forget it! You don’t know what you’re asking. I’m never going back there!”
He captured her gaze and held it. His tanned face wore a driven and determined expression. “You’re the only one who can help me reach Phoebe. She won’t talk to me.”
“Then get your mother to. Everyone listens to their mother.”
“My mother has tried, but each time she’s written, the letters have been returned unopened. Both of my parents are getting old and can’t travel. Mom tried to call, when they had a phone, but she was always told Phoebe was busy or that Noah would take the message.”
That sounded about right. Noah owned a cell phone, but the few times it rang, only John or one of the men were allowed to answer it. She could still recall the one time it rang and there were no men. The women let it ring on and on, a creepy nonaction that still irritated her.
“We’ve all tried. I’m hoping that she’ll at least talk to another woman who lived with her. Can you go back—”
Her breath clouded the cool pane of glass between them, thankfully breaking the lock his stare had on her. “Are you nuts? We can’t help them! And I won’t go back to try. Phoebe knows I hated all of them.” She let out an incredulous laugh. “Trust me, you can’t help them. I spent two years there! They’re all beyond help.”
Eli bent closer to the door. His pale brows pressed together. “Did you say that when you went looking to save your sister? Did you believe that when you went searching for Noah’s compound? Remember how you got that info?”
She shrank away. “How do you know that?”
“You were on CNN, Kaylee. You paid a local to reveal the exact location of the compound.”
He’d done his homework. Yes, she’d paid for the information. More than five thousand dollars. But she’d been desperate to find her sister, willing to deplete her meager savings. And she’d found out where exactly in eastern Maine they were.
Like Eli was now, she’d been anxious, hurt by her sister’s actions.
She threw off the sympathy. “So why don’t you just go talk to Phoebe? You’re her brother, just as much as Noah is. Surely she’d see you? Can’t you say that your parents are worried about her, too?”
His nod of agreement was barely perceptible. “Yes, they are concerned. And at a loss of what to do. Phoebe had just turned eighteen when she left and they couldn’t force her to come back. But she was so innocent.”
Like Trisha. Young, naive, an idealist with visions of what the future was supposed to be like.
“Phoebe made her decision and she’s had plenty of opportunities to escape if she wanted to. She’s chosen to stay with Noah. As crazy as that is.”
He fell silent, his lips pressing tight and his expression looking as though he struggled with some inner pain. The pain of losing his sister to a cult?
Or maybe her words struck a nerve. What had she said exactly? What was it that led to this desperation?
Again, she ignored her growing empathy. “Go away. I’m tired and I don’t have to answer any of your questions.”
“Not even when it means saving someone else?”
She gave him a level stare. “If you think pushing guilt on me is going to crumble my resolve, think again. They want to be there. Besides, what are you hoping will happen? That she’ll just leave and walk into some counseling service just because you’ve asked her to?”
He blinked, swallowed. “I don’t know what to do. I’m at the end of my rope. If I weren’t so desperate, I wouldn’t have come here to ask you for help. I was hoping you could talk to her.”
Her heart tightened, but she gritted her teeth. “I had hoped the same thing.” She’d done more than hoped. She’d considered kidnapping, as dangerous and traumatic as it could be. Now Trisha was dead. “Leave your sister alone. She wants to be there.”
With that, she walked away from the door and into the living room.
With rattled nerves, she sank down onto her secondhand couch. Why, Lord? Why did You drop him into my life? He’ll bring nothing but grief. Why do You want me to suffer so much? It’s not fair.
Lois Smith, her right-side neighbor, had told her to pray, but her gritty prayers had a petulant edge. And God never answered her, anyway.
The outside fell quiet. She liked the stillness, the peace it could bring. But today? No.
Abruptly, the phone rang and she let out a short cry.
Eli? Did he have a cell phone and was now calling her from her front door? Shaking, she listened to the insistent rings. Four, five…She snatched the receiver. “Leave me alone!”
“Kaylee, dear? What’s wrong? Who was that man at your door?”
She sank against the wall. Lois. With their homes being so close, Lois’s wisdom, along with her hugs and a hot cup of tea, were barely ten feet away. All that stood between them were some dying pansies and a chipped, cracked walkway.
No. Today, Eli Nash stood between them.
Kaylee fought back tears and after a swallow whispered, “That was Noah Nash’s brother.”
She heard Lois’s little gasp. “Call the police, dear!”
“No. I think he left.”
“I’ll check.” She could hear the older woman walk to her front window. “Yes, he’s gone. Kaylee, dear, do you need some company?”
She wasn’t the kind to grab company when it was offered, unlike so many of the friendly people here in New Brunswick. But Lois would provide a hug and a sympathetic ear, make the tea and offer advice if asked.
And if asked, the sweet old lady would suggest she help Eli. The Christian thing to do. Not what she wanted to hear right now.
Kaylee bit her lip, not wanting to snub her neighbor, and not sure she wanted to be alone.
“I’ll be right over,” Lois decided after the pause. “Let me put the dog out first. He hasn’t been out yet today.”
Minutes later, sympathy crinkling the skin between her sparse, graying eyebrows, Lois arrived. She held Kaylee’s keys in her thin, arthritic hands. “I found this in the lock. Look at you! You’ve had a fright! You could use some hot tea.” She bustled into the kitchen. Kaylee shuffled in behind and dropped into the nearest chair.
“What did that man want?” Lois asked.
She rubbed her forehead. “His sister’s in the cult and he wants me to go back in to talk to her.”
“Oh, my! What did you tell him?”
“I refused. I can’t go back there.” She watched Lois pour the tea, thinking of all those times she’d been monitored by the women in the compound. And ogled by some of the men. Never having a moment to herself.
It had pushed her, a natural introvert, to the point of desperation. Noah had known what would grate at her. She hadn’t fallen under his spell as quickly as Trisha, but the months of poor food, cold nights and raw nerves had lowered her resistance. Then the unthinkable happened.
Noah had begun to make sense.
Lois squeezed her hand. “You’ll get over this. Trust the Lord. He’ll do what’s right. He knows where you are in your life journey and will meet you right there, if you ask Him.”
“He’s not moving fast enough,” she muttered, disliking the words even as she said them.
“The pain of loss never goes away fast enough. You know, I lost a baby and my mother the same month, a long time ago. It took me years to get over the loss.”
With a furtive glance over her mug, Kaylee sipped her tea. Lois always knew the right thing to say. Had her counselor subcontracted her work out to Lois? It sure seemed so.
The old woman smiled sadly. “But I had a wonderful husband, even if I had to share him with the army. He went to Korea, you know?”
“It must have been hard for him to leave.” Harder than me leaving Trisha that day, three weeks ago. A knot of tears choked her as she remembered when Trisha had accidentally left her, and the back door, unattended. A split-second decision later, Kaylee slipped outside and then out through a gap in the chain-link fence. She went straight to the police.
Oblivious to Kaylee’s memories, Lois chuckled. “I had a friend whose husband was going to Korea on the same ship as Walter. We were supposed to say our goodbyes at the train station, but my friend devised this plan to drive down to Halifax where their ship was waiting.”
Looking conspiratorial, Lois leaned over. “Two women traveling all that way alone? There was no highway and her car was held together with rubber bands and a fast prayer.”
Despite herself, Kaylee smiled. “What happened?”
“We broke down as soon as we reached Nova Scotia.”
“So you missed your husband?”
“No! An elderly man stopped to help. He drove us straight to the dockyard! Oh, he was as nervous as we were, not knowing who we were or what would happen.” She finished with a teary laugh. “We wouldn’t have made it to Halifax without that man!”
Kaylee’s lips thinned. “You’d have found a way.”
“No. The Lord sent us that man. God wanted him to help us, even if we did scare him. He was so sweet and a good Christian man to trust the Lord.”
Eli and his desperate situation filtered back to Kaylee. Phoebe could easily end up like Trisha. Her heart clenched. God may have been showing her that she was supposed to help Eli, but it was too late now.
Eli was long gone.
TWO
Kaylee struggled through work that next Monday. Eli’s plea dogged her steps. Since she’d returned to normal society, she’d been fortunate enough to get a job in the town’s recreation center. It paid minimum wage, but she hoped to find a better position soon.
She assisted the rec coordinator with everything from sorting well-worn sports equipment to brushing the autumn leaves off the basketball courts.
But working proved futile. On Mondays, she should be tidying up after the weekend’s activities, but all she could manage was leaning heavily on her broom.
“You’re in another world. What’s wrong?”
She looked up at Jenn, her supervisor. “Bad weekend.”
Jenn strode across the gym floor. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. Stress, maybe?” Together they looked around the small gym. Kaylee hadn’t done too much. “Sorry, I’ll try to get the sweeping done before noon. I’m not lazy, you know.”
“I know you’re not. Don’t worry about me thinking that.”
Kaylee returned to her sweeping, holding back a sneeze when a stray draft threw some dust up at her face.
Jenn flicked her head toward the door through which she’d just come. “There’s someone in the office looking for you. Why don’t you take an early lunch? No hurry in here.” With that, she turned.
Cold dread doused Kaylee as she watched the older woman leave. Someone was looking for her? Today?
No. Please not him.
She’d spent yesterday morning at church, having given in to Lois’s gentle but persistent invitations. When she first came to Riverline, Lois had asked her to her Sunday services. She’d declined, even though the counselor she was seeing had thought it a good idea.
She’d had enough religion to last a lifetime.
But Lois had needed help bringing things to church and, feeling that she owed her kindly neighbor, she agreed.
Then Sunday afternoon she and Lois helped one of the seniors make some meals for the coming week. Throughout the day, Kaylee had even managed to keep away the guilt she’d felt whenever she thought of Eli. And she’d almost completely managed to keep thoughts of him far from her.
But now—
The door at the far end swung open. In walked Eli.
He had the same confident swagger as his brother. But where Noah preferred long hair, a thick beard and an air of mystery, Eli kept his hair short, almost a crew cut, and his smooth, square jaw gleamed, a handsome addition to a tanned and fit frame.
There was no mystery about what Eli wanted. He wanted Kaylee to help him. Period.
Their gazes locked. Natural light from the high windows proved complimentary to him. Despite the knocking of her heart, she tried her best to look unmoved.
She was not going to get caught up in a fascination of this man. Even if he was a law-abiding citizen wanting only to find his sister, Eli was still Noah Nash’s brother. And Noah Nash had threatened her and forced her to do and say things that she still struggled with today.
Eli stopped a few feet from her, concern etched in his blue eyes. “I’m sorry.”
She blinked. He was sorry? She hadn’t considered that he might apologize.
A contrite smile formed on his lips. “I was way out of line on Saturday. My mother had told me not to contact you, but I did it anyway.”
Kaylee felt a small surge of victory. She was right—vindicated by this man’s own mother. “Even when she’s so desperate to reach Phoebe?”
Eli straightened. “It does mean a lot to her to find Phoebe,” he answered slowly, “but she didn’t want me just barreling up to you. My mother realizes that you’ve been traumatized. She was worried I would ruin even the slimmest chances of finding Phoebe. But that’s what I did anyway. I’m sorry.”
She returned to her sweeping. “Apology accepted. If you’ll excuse me, I have work to finish before lunch.”
“Your boss said she’d give you an early lunch.”
“She’s feeling bad because of all I went through.”
“You told her?”
She stopped her sweeping. “Like you said, I was on CNN. Must have been a slow week.”
“Hardly. You were tortured for two years!”
“I wouldn’t go that far—”
“I would. My brother kidnapped you.”
“No. I went there willingly. I’d hoped to talk to Trisha, let her know I was worried. I figured she’d come home with me, if only for a short visit. We have mutual friends, an aunt who would have loved to see us…” She heard her words die off.
“But Trisha refused. Then Noah refused to let you leave. In that way, he kidnapped you.”
Her grip on the broom tightened. “Noah decided that I could be useful.”
“He threatened and manipulated you for two years. And that’s the same as kidnapping, you know? He wanted someone who could help him with his cult. You fit the bill. You had to lie—”
She dropped the broom. The clatter of wood on wood rang harshly in the stale air around them. “How do you know so much? This is way more than CNN reported.”
“I hired a private investigator who has connections within CNN. He was able to get a copy of the full interview.”
She bit her lip. Yes, there had been an extensive interview and she’d been surprised and yet thankful that the majority of it had never aired. The interviewer had been good at her job, coaxing information from her. “Well, that’s good for your investigator.”
“He’s the best. He also knew what to ask the State Troopers and the Houlton Police, too.”
“He really earned his pay,” she murmured.
“Yes, well, he also owes a few people, now. Look, I know that Noah saw an advantage in you staying there. I know he twisted the reasons around and threatened you to keep quiet and stay or he’d kill both you and Trisha. Then he got you to play the part of a prophetess.”
She hated that part almost as much as losing Trisha. The shame of what she did and how she’d nearly fallen under Noah’s spell still haunted her. “I’d rather not rehash it. Besides, this righteous indignation doesn’t suit you.”
He paused before answering. “It may not and I had no right to approach you with my requests. It was inconsiderate of me.”
With a glare, she added, “So was coming here.”
He stooped to retrieve her broom. If her harsh retort bothered him, he didn’t show it. “You’re right. But where my sister’s concerned, I’m not always thinking straight.” He handed her the broom and the moment stretched before them. A slight frown appeared when he blinked. “Phoebe means a lot to me.”
Her own eyes welled up. Small and blonde, Phoebe projected an air of innocence and, to Kaylee’s constant chagrin, total adoration of her brother, Noah.
“What’s she doing for my brother, Kaylee? Tell me about her.”
She shook her head. She’d built up an armor of resistance to the people in Noah’s cult. No matter how much they loved being there or believed in Noah’s vision of a new world or how much of a victim each might be, she’d layered on a disgust and dislike for all of them except Trisha. It had been a matter of survival for her when she realized how vulnerable she was becoming.
Begrudgingly, she answered, “Phoebe loves being there. Your brother has enthralled her. She believes in his vision of separating themselves from society because the world will soon end.”
“Is that what you were made to predict?”
She folded her arms. “Among other things.”
“Why? Why didn’t you just tell them that you were being held against your will and you weren’t a prophet?”
“He threatened to kill Trisha if I didn’t do exactly as he said. At first, I didn’t believe him. Then one day Noah had me brought down to the basement. There were only candles lit, so I couldn’t see well.” She steeled herself against the onslaught of harsh, ugly emotions. They still lodged hard in her throat, swelling until she felt breathless. “He told me in explicit detail what he’d do to Trisha if I left. From that day on, I had no doubt he would do it, too.”
Eli shut his eyes. The frown deepened and his lips tightened to a tortured, thin line. “Phoebe has always looked up to Noah,” he finally said. “She’s not sharp or quick-witted. She’s a baby, a victim. You know that, too. I can see it in your expression. Phoebe may be an adult, but sometimes adults are children.”
In the counseling sessions she’d attended, she learned they were all victims of Noah’s insanity.
And victims needed help.
But they’d all hurt her. By allowing Noah such horrible free rein, especially with her, they’d moved from victims to perpetrators. Her stomach clenched.
Eli opened his eyes and met her stare. Fighting the unwelcomed guilt still rising in her, she returned to her sweeping, not before dashing away an errant tear. “Go away, Eli. Neither of us can help them.”
She could feel him step closer to her. Too close. “We can help them. Phoebe needs you.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “She’s a victim just like you were.”
Phoebe was too trusting. And too easily beguiled and willing to do anything for Noah, even if it meant hiding to prepare for the end of the world.
Kaylee struggled to fight the sympathy leaking in. And she struggled to fight the way Eli’s words drew out the righteousness in her.
“Kaylee?”
She blinked back tears to focus on him. All she could see was gentle sympathy.
“I know how you feel. And I wish that what I was asking of you was easy.”
He didn’t know how she felt. “What are you asking, exactly? That I just talk Phoebe out of that cult? You sound like you think she’ll listen to me. Considering what I’ve said and done and what Noah did to Trisha, I’d be the last person they’d open their door to, even if I did agree to go.”
“But you know the compound. You know the house and grounds and everyone in there. You’d know how to get into it.”
“So you need someone to tell you the layout of the house and then you’ll just ask Phoebe to come outside?” She shook her head. “You’d have to be as smart as Noah to convince her to give it all up. Or as sly and shrewd.”
Again, that hint of strife within him flitted across his face. Only for the briefest of seconds, she noticed. Then it was gone. “I’ve been trying to talk to her for years. You’re my best shot right now. I don’t know what else to do. I’ve prayed about it constantly.”
“Yes, well, prayer may be okay for finding a bit of temporary peace, but you have to be proactive or nothing works.”
He frowned. “Why do you say that?”
“You better come up with a plan. Even if we get into the compound and then into the house, you still need to deal with those people. God only helps those who help themselves.”
Eli frowned. “Is that what Noah taught you? God isn’t some passive overseer. He’s powerful, strong, willing to do anything to bring back His lost sheep.”
“His lost sheep? He abandoned Trisha and let her be murdered!” she lashed out. “A drug overdose in a motel, the coroner reported. And everyone in that cult, Phoebe included, told the police Trisha was depressed because I left. They lied and said I was disillusioned because Noah had spurned me. I couldn’t convince the police otherwise.”
Her next breath caught in her throat and her head suddenly pounded. It was all so fresh, so hard to bear. “But it wasn’t going to bring back Trisha and I wasn’t strong enough to fight it all. I had to let it go, but believe me, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do.”
When he didn’t answer, when his lips tightened and she saw his throat bob, she glared at him. “Do you really think Phoebe’s going to follow either of us out? You have to come up with something more drastic than that, I’m afraid.”
He looked as if he wanted to say something, but held it back. His face had become so easy to read. “You don’t have a plan, do you?”
It was an accusation. She was angry.
He shook his head, barely. Allowing the surge of shock and anger to overtake her discretion, she burst out, “You’re expecting God to step in with some divine intervention? That’s admirable, but frankly, it’s insane!”
“This is important to me, Kaylee. I can’t explain it any more than that.”
On her heel, she spun away from him to grab the dustpan. There was nothing left to say.
“Kaylee, I need to save my sister.”
She pursed her lips to fight the compassion. She’d tried to save Trisha, even going to the police after she escaped, secretly hoping that their investigation would somehow free her sister. But they didn’t take her claims seriously. “I tried to do the same.” Her whisper rose as she continued speaking. “But the police believed everyone except me. Because I’d willingly stayed in that cult for two years, they didn’t think I was held captive. And there was no evidence to back up my claim. All that I did to save my sister’s life ended up condemning her to death!”
He didn’t react to her outburst. “Do you go to the church in town? Is that where you were yesterday?”
Caught off guard by his question, she nodded. “I went because Lois, my neighbor, asked me to. She’s been inviting me to go since I came. I didn’t want to, believe me.”
“Why?”
She gaped with shock at him. “Because, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve had more than my share of religion lately.”
“No. You’ve had your share of a dangerous and evil man and his warped views.” He wet his lips and with a look of concern, he tilted his head. She could see the faint scar he’d shown her on Saturday.
“Kaylee, you have to replace a negative behavior with positive behavior, right away. You have to be proactive when changing those thought patterns that lead only to the wrong attitudes and crippling fear.”
“Like getting back on the horse when it throws you? No, thank you.”
“No, not like that. It’s important to replace negative thought patterns with positive thought patterns immediately, or else you risk being overwhelmed by your own fear and hatred. You can’t ignore that part of you that hates everything that reminds you of Noah’s cult. It’s unhealthy.”
When she said nothing, he asked, “What does your pastor say about suffering?”
“He’s not my pastor. I just went to the church to please Lois.” She bit her lip. “She said that we’ve all sinned. Yeah, except I didn’t deserve what I got and I know Trisha didn’t, either.”
“If you disagree with the church, then why did you go?”
She shrugged. “Lois kept asking me to go and caught me at a weak moment. And she’s been good to me since I came here to Riverline. But I think I should take a break from church for a while. Give myself time to heal.”
“That’s an odd thing to say,” he answered with a soft smile. “Churches are famous for their healing.”
She bristled at his little quip.
“Don’t give up on church, Kaylee,” he said softly. “That’s like saying that Noah was right to form his cult, his own religion to suit himself. Don’t let him win.”
Kaylee bit her lip. She wanted nothing to do with Noah, ever again. She didn’t want to think of him again, let alone face him. A shudder ran through her.
Eli leaned forward slightly. “What did your parents do when you stayed in that cult?”
“My parents are dead. My father worked on the oil rigs out in the Atlantic. One of them a few years back had an accident during a storm and he was swept overboard.”
“I’m sorry. And your mother?”
“She developed lung cancer. She’d worked in a restaurant for years, supplementing the income and trying to stave off boredom, only to have all the second-hand smoke kill her.”
“So no one missed you?”
“Only my aunt. But Trisha told me once that she wrote to her saying we were both fine and I’d seen the light and joined her group.” The very idea that Trisha had lied and not felt guilty about it cut deeply into her. “She told me it was for my own good and that I’d thank her some day.”
She pulled herself together. “Trisha was all I had left. But now she’s gone, too.” Her voice cracked and she hated the show of weakness.
Eli took her hand, as tenderly as his gaze held hers.
“You can help Phoebe. She needs you. You can save another from Noah. I know it’ll be the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but you’re my last hope. You couldn’t save Trisha, but you can save my sister.”
The armor she’d hardened crumbled as she stared in Eli’s handsome face.
And found herself nodding.
Two days later, exhilaration still surged through Eli. He’d spent the last seven years praying for this and while Kaylee had declined his invitation to lunch to discuss what needed to be done, she had agreed to go with him to the compound early Wednesday morning.
So now, pulling into her driveway to pick her up, he smiled to himself again. Thank You, Lord.
His smile wavered as another thought hit him. What would Phoebe say to him when they finally saw each other? That he was being selfish and jealous again? That any time Noah had something, Eli wanted it?
Kaylee’s appearance at her door dissolved the worry. She turned to check the lock, then trotted down the single step toward his car, carrying a small knapsacklike purse. Today, she wore the same jacket she’d worn on Saturday, but her pants were lighter, probably thanks to the warmer weather. Her dark hair was pulled back into a loose, wavy ponytail, something he felt would slip away if a strong wind or hand slipped into it.
A hand like his?
No. He shoved away the notion in time for her to reach his car.
As she opened the passenger door, she peered inside. “Are you expecting to be able to drive right up to the compound in this thing? It’s too low to the ground.”
“We’ll go as far as possible, then walk in.”
With a doubtful bite of her lip, she settled in beside him. Her knapsack remained in her tight grip. “We have to be careful. After what happened to Trisha, some of the locals are nervous about the compound.”
“I imagine. They’re as valuable to the border patrol as the surveillance cameras. There have been some pretty unsavory characters sneaking over the border.” That was pretty much what his investigator reported. It was dangerous to live near the U.S.-Canadian border. Dangerous thanks to people like Noah.
Anger built in Eli and he fought it with a quick silent prayer. Lord, take away my bitterness.
“When Trisha died in that motel,” Kaylee whispered, interrupting his prayer, “I knew it was Noah, but he’d managed to convince the police that Trisha missed me so much she deliberately overdosed and did so away from The Farm to save them from getting into trouble.” She snapped her head over, her eyes hot. “He staged her murder to look like suicide! The police closed her file without another thought!”
Eli held his breath. What other dangerous things was Noah doing with his flock?
Keep Phoebe safe, Father. Use me to stop Noah.
The highway narrowed to two lanes as it wound through small towns at the western edge of New Brunswick. The border with Maine lay half an hour ahead, but Eli couldn’t content himself with the passing scenery of quaint cottages, now closed for the season.
He cleared his throat. “How did Trisha get involved with Noah?”
“It wasn’t him initially,” she answered tersely. “It was another member. John Yale. Trisha was camping at Baxter State Park when she met John. He spent a lot of time talking to her.”
John. So their second cousin still hung around. Eli hadn’t been able to confirm if he’d stayed on when Noah had moved his cult from Florida to rural Maine.
“He’s an older man,” she continued. “But for his age, he sure can climb mountains.”
The strong, wiry John had been a fixture at family get-togethers and, taking a liking to Noah, would dream alongside him of running big companies and changing the world.
Eli gripped the steering wheel. Noah had always wanted power and control. Even as a child, he’d bullied and ruled their home. “So John recruited her there?”
Kaylee nodded. “Pretty much. Trisha was always an idealist. I told her once that she’d probably love to see the world blown up because then her ideals would be justified. We had a huge fight and didn’t talk for weeks.”
“We’re you both living at home then?”
“Yes.” She toyed with the straps of her knapsack. “In Nova Scotia.”
“Did your parents always live there? How did you end up in the middle of New Brunswick?”
“My father worked on the oil platforms. He met my mother in Halifax and settled there. I took some college courses in agriculture and management and was close to securing a job up here at a local potato-processing plant.”
He glanced over at her. “And you lost all chances when Noah kept you?”
“I’d been gone for two years and there wasn’t much fight left in me. Plus, I’m still malnourished. That was Noah’s way of gaining control over people. Hold back just enough food to ensure you’re always hungry.”
Eli’s already firm grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles ached.
Kaylee looked as if she could barely stand discussing this. Still, she said, “I came to the point where I just got used to the gnawing hunger. Everyone around me was the same way and they didn’t complain.”
He felt the uneasy pause.
“Certainly not in front of Phoebe or Noah.”
He was at a loss at what to say. Finally, he murmured, “Doing without can make us better people.”
“What good is doing without food?” She pulled up on her knapsack as she snapped, “It destroys the body and you’re certainly not any better for it.”
Guide my words, Lord, he prayed swiftly. “Have you asked your pastor about that?”
“I told you, Pastor Paul is not my pastor. I went to the church in Riverline because Lois asked me to and I owed her for helping me settle in. That’s all.”
He swallowed. “When bad things happen to Christians, we try to remember that our time here is miniscule compared to eternity in Heaven.”
“Yeah, if you’re good.”
Eli shook his head. “No! You’re saved by faith, not by works.” He hadn’t expected to witness to Kaylee and pulled a face as he tried to concentrate on his driving. And where they were going. “Do you like Lois’s church?”
She took her time answering. “Yes. The people there are wonderful. They’re kind and considerate.”
“They’re doing God’s work—not for salvation, but because they love Him.” He felt his tight grip on the wheel relax, hoping to give good answers without his full attention. “I wish I could take back all the awful things my brother did to you. You didn’t suffer any permanent damage, did you?”
“Physically, no.”
He knew what she meant. “Emotionally, you’re strong, too. You’re here today, aren’t you?”
She twisted around in the seat and pinned him with a steady stare. “Were you kids raised in the church?”
“Mostly. I don’t know the reasons for the breaks we took from church. Mom and Dad didn’t discuss it. All I know is that Phoebe loved church and would become withdrawn when she couldn’t go. Being the youngest and the church having some great kids’ programs, she had all the fun. Our parents felt that Noah and I should sit through the regular service. We were treated as though we were the same age, even though he’s eighteen months older than I am.”
Noah bullied everyone. It wasn’t until he started his cult that his parents saw that. By then, he’d taken Phoebe and hurt them all.
As if reading his mind, she asked, “How long have you been looking for Phoebe?”
“Actively? Five years,” he answered.
“Searching must have been hard for you,” she murmured. “But in all honesty, Eli, it’s not going to be easy to talk to her.”
The forest deepened and the quiet road narrowed. The sun retreated behind a bank of thick clouds and the brilliant fall leaves mutated into dark, ominous clumps.
“Then just get me in,” he finally said.
“I won’t be welcomed, you know. Noah was the only one who wanted me there. He called me Deborah, the prophetess. I was to reveal knowledge that he’d been secretly feeding me.” Despite her derisive tone, her voice quivered. “I could barely handle it.”
“But you did.”
“It was either that or he’d kill Trisha.” Her voice shook. “So I ended up doing as he said.”
Eli glanced at her. He should pull over, take her and hug her. Tell her it’s over; she’s safe from Noah.
But was she? The border crossing had just appeared ahead of them. There was no turning around now. They were headed right back into the very danger from which she’d escaped.
He was as cruel as his brother was.
The border guard checked their identification and asked some basic questions that Eli answered just as briefly.
The whole time, Kaylee remained silent, probably thinking of the last time that she’d crossed the border, having escaped from the compound. Trisha had paid for Kaylee’s freedom with her life.
And now he was taking Kaylee right back into that den of evil.
The guard handed back their identification and wished them a pleasant day.
Eli drove into the United States. Within minutes, they reached the main highway that ran parallel to the international border. A few moments later, he pulled into a small, rural service station.
“We need gas,” he told her.
Kaylee peered warily around her. When she caught his eye, she explained, “I know what you’re thinking. It’s over. There’s no way that Noah can hurt me again. Still…” She offered him a watery smile.
He found his heart pounding at her small smile. “I won’t let my brother hurt you again. We’re doing the right thing here, reaching out to Phoebe. I know if I can just talk to her…”
Except he didn’t know. He was just hoping…hoping for a miracle.
He glanced again at Kaylee’s face. Tears flowed down her cheeks and he felt his heart clench suddenly.
“I—I’m sorry,” she stuttered out, while swiping her face with the back of her hand. “I don’t think I can do this, Eli. I’m not just scared of Noah. But also of myself.”
Wariness prickled the hairs on his neck. “What do you mean?”
“There’s something you should know.”
THREE
Kaylee wished she could wipe away the alarm growing in Eli’s expression. But he deserved to know the truth. Something she hadn’t told a soul and had barely begun to acknowledge herself.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She gnawed on her lower lip. “Going back there…I mean, it’s not going to be easy. You have no idea…” She couldn’t form the right words.
Eli reached across the console and took her hand. His palm felt warm and comforting on her cold skin and she wished she could cling to him.
No. He was a stranger, a brother of the man who’d killed her sister. As much as he, right this minute, offered warmth and comfort, she knew she’d have to be crazy to be swayed by his charisma. One forceful Nash was enough for any lifetime.
“Talk to me, Kaylee. Tell me what’s going on.” His voice turned smooth, soothing her raw nerves. She liked the way he said her name.
“Noah convinced everyone I was a prophetess,” she whispered. “And, yes, he threatened me with terrible things to get me to say what he wanted. But it wasn’t completely like that, not toward the end.”
“I don’t understand—”
She pulled back her hand, unable to focus on her thoughts while he held it. A tendril of her hair had worked loose. When it dropped against her cheek, she hastily tucked it over her ear and was glad for the distraction. “At first, some of the women asked Noah to kick me out because I was so adamant about being there against my will and they were tired of listening to me. But Noah refused. He was insane and power-hungry. To him, I must have represented the secular world and he wanted to be able to control it. I think he also must have thought that if he managed to tame me, it would send a message of dominance to the rest of his cult.”
Eli’s blue eyes snared hers. Deep within them she saw uneasiness. “How did he manage to convince you to stay?”
“His threats grew. At first I refused to listen to them, because they were vague and full of innuendos. Then they got specific that one day. And later, his threats against Trisha became too real. One day, she got hurt outside. A board fell on her from the top of the woodshed. Noah looked at me and I knew he’d staged it to show me he meant business. So I shut up. I was scared.”
She paused, wondering why she was rehashing all the pain with this man, Noah Nash’s brother, of all people. But then, a second later, the rest poured out of her as if a plug had been pulled from a sink full of bitter, dirty water. “The months of semistarvation, of cold, browbeating captivity. There came a point where I just did what he said, period. I’d been taken to the lowest point in my life.”
She struggled in vain against the tears and the humiliation that she’d just let loose with all her fears and pain. “Before I escaped, though, I’d actually started to believe what I was prophesizing.” Shame added to the burn in her cheeks.
Through a swim of tears, she spied Eli climbing out of the car and walking around the front. He opened her door and tugged her to standing. Beyond, the gas attendant chose that moment to step out of the store.
Eli ignored him to pull her close. For a brief, delicious moment, she felt important, cared for. For that time, she didn’t care who he was. He was what she wanted. Strong arms wrapped around her, protecting her. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“It’s all right.”
“Noah had started to make sense. The way he was interpreting things that had happened around us, the past and even what the Bible said. He’d started to really sound right.”
Eli tightened his grip on her.
She cried for a while longer. “I don’t want to go back there. I know what happened to me. I had started to believe some of the things he was saying. Then one day, Trisha left me alone in the kitchen. The back door was there and the yard was empty. I made this split-second decision to escape. I…I think it was just as possible that I would have stayed there. I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to risk getting trapped again.”
He stiffened but held her tight. She felt his shoulders drop slightly. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let anyone hurt you or take you.”
“What about Phoebe? What if Noah hurts her to get even?”
His mouth thinned and he tightened his jaw. “We just have to trust that she won’t end up like your sister. That’s all we can do.”
“The day after I escaped, Trisha was found dead in that motel close to the border. It could happen—”
“Kaylee, I wish I could change the past, but I can’t. You have to move forward.”
Run. Leave. Go away. The urge to flee surged over her like a tidal wave. Leave now while you still have a chance to prevent what could happen.
She peeled free of his arms, giving him a push to put a few feet between them. “Easy for you to say!”
“Kaylee, wait!”
She stilled, but couldn’t lift her gaze to his.
“Look at me,” he said, the tone strong, full of command and confidence, yet strangely gentle.
She wound her gaze up his frame. Again, she saw only compassion in his eyes as he spoke. “I need you. Phoebe needs you. If she stays there, what’ll happen to her? Or the other women in the group?”
She bit her lip and with her index fingers, wiped a few errant tears from under her eyes. While she was at The Farm, one of the women got married, with Noah officiating, of course, and she became pregnant. The baby was stillborn and they nearly lost the mother, too, because she had no prenatal care. Tiny Phoebe wouldn’t survive if she got sick.
A knot formed in her throat as the attendant asked them if he could fill the tank. After Eli nodded, they moved away. “But what I did in there…What I said, and…and what I started to believe—”
“Don’t think about that.”
Her lips thinned as she formed a grim expression. Did he think she could just drop a thought like it was an unwanted bread crust or scrap of trash? He had no idea of the lies she’d been forced to say.
And yet, a voice within her asked, can you disappoint Eli? Or risk Phoebe?
Phoebe was Noah’s most ardent follower, a voice inside reminded her. Think of the blow it would be to the group.
Kaylee swallowed. But Phoebe didn’t have to be there, she argued internally.
Eli walked around the car, stopping only to thrust a few bills out at the attendant. “Let’s go.”
“I’m no good to you. Take me home.”
After the young man left, he said, “We don’t have time. We need to get to the compound. They go shopping on Wednesdays, remember?”
She blinked. “Yes, but how did you know that?”
“Remember, I have a very good investigator. He knows Noah nearly as well as I do.”
She frowned. “Knowing your brother doesn’t mean you know the cult’s schedule.”
Their gazes locked across the roof of the car. The hairs on her neck danced. Panic threatened again.
“Trust me, Kaylee. I’ve done my homework.”
She narrowed her eyes. Finally, he went on, “Only the trustworthy women and one man to help were allowed to leave the compound. Noah used to tell everyone it was for safety and spiritual reasons. Should the end come, only being in the compound would save them, like being in the ark when the rains came.”
He knew so much. “But you don’t know if Phoebe is going to be one of those that leave. Yes, Noah would trust her, but she could just as easily stay.”
“That’s where faith comes in. Let’s go.” He climbed into the car before she could reply.
They drove past a small picnic site, turned and then bumped over a culvert onto the next side road, heading east. She peered up at the low hanging branches that scraped the roof. The car dipped into a long rut, splashing mud over the bracken ferns that clawed their way onto the path. Like a drowning victim clinging to a lifeline, she gripped her knapsack.
“Hang in there,” Eli said softly.
“The last time I was here, I was fleeing for my life.”
He winced. Kaylee checked her grim satisfaction. She’d meant her words to be harsh. Noah was dangerous and Eli’s faith wasn’t going to help them. Nor would she trust her life to a God who’d allowed Trisha to die.
When Eli slowed down, his eyes alert, on the lookout for any visible activity, she searched for another subject to calm herself. “What do you do for a living?”
“When Phoebe went missing, I sold my business and devoted my time to finding her.”
“Why did it take you so long?”
“Halfway through my search, I took some psychology courses and negotiation training. I actually got a short-term job working for a local police station.”
The road straightened out and both of them fell back into silence. With the car crawling along the dirt road, Kaylee spent the time digesting his words.
Itinerant. Nothing to tie him down.
With her father gone so much when he was alive, her mother found herself doing many things to stave off boredom, both Kaylee and Trisha had learned to appreciate security and stability.
Eli, a wanderer and one who could just hand over his life to the Lord. It was easy to understand how Lois could do that—she was a widow in the winter of her years—but how could he?
She stole a fast look at him. His handsome chiseled profile could lure a woman in. Under other circumstances, she might even have considered dating him.
No. She reined in that thought. He was a driven man who defined himself by his one noble goal—saving his sister. And once he’d achieved his aim, he’d be gone like a shot. He was one of those who were only in a person’s life for a season—in this case, a short one.
The car bumped over some rocks, jarring her to the present situation. “We’re getting close. I remember tripping over those rocks and some of the women would complain that they should be removed. Noah disagreed.”
The tips of the rocks scraped the undercarriage, a terrible grating noise. “Of course. They serve as a natural early warning system.” He slowed down even further, obviously trying to avoid any more detection. Branches scoured the doors, issuing more surreal screeches as they scratched the paint.
Kaylee nodded. Eli certainly knew his brother. She leaned forward, staring down at the road ahead. “Stop.”
Eli stopped.
“No fresh wheel tracks, and it rained last night. No one’s left the compound today.” She paused, wracking her brain for a possible reason. “Up ahead, past those blackberry bushes, is a turnaround point. You’d better take advantage of it.”
He maneuvered the car until it was safely facing the way they’d come. They climbed out as quietly as they could before Kaylee leaned over, her voice dropping. “After the next bend, you can see the compound. But they can also see you.”
“Then we’ll move off the path now.” He headed into the thicket.
She held her breath, hating the anxiety growing in her again. “Setback city, here we come,” she muttered.
Eli held back a branch for her. She heard him chuckle softly. “What may seem like a setback could be a test.”
She stepped past the branch, tossing him a cool look as she slipped past. “And all your setbacks? There were bound to have been some. Did you call them tests?”
“Yes. The investigator couldn’t find anything for years. It wasn’t until CNN reported on you that we got a lead. I was so grateful for it.” His voice cracked as he peered through the bushes ahead of them.
Unexpectedly, tears sprang into her eyes.
A bird called behind them.
Are You there, Lord?
Eli held up his hand. “I see it. Get down.”
She knelt and, with a preparatory breath, looked up. Chain-link fencing, topped with barbed wire, encircled the overgrown old farmhouse and the two outbuildings that sat askew to it. One was a washhouse for the men, the other the men’s quarters.
She’d never seen Noah enter or exit them. Driven and dangerous, he’d always stayed in the dark basement, keeping his face hidden. Trisha and Phoebe would say he was praying, but Kaylee couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t do that in a warmer and drier room.
Driven and dangerous. Her heart hammered in her throat. Eli shared those same qualities with his brother.
Behind her, Eli’s sharp inhalation drew cool air across her neck. Without warning, she was swamped with the urge to plow into him and stay safely huddled against his chest until this nightmare was finally over.
Caught between the compound that ruined her life and the man that could do the same again, she should run now while she had the chance.
“There’s no one around.”
Quickly, she scanned the area. “I don’t even see the truck. Maybe it’s been gone all night.”
“What could they be doing?”
Shaking her head, she answered, “I don’t know. Praying, maybe? Sometimes Noah would take them all to the basement for a prayer vigil. With him doing the praying, of course.” Her last words turned derisive.
“Yes, it’s called it seeding. With him controlling the prayers, he could be seeding his flock with specific instructions.”
She shivered. “I remember the things he’d ask for.”
Eli rubbed her arm lightly. “It’s all right. You don’t have to say any more.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You should know. Noah would take one of the flock and pray for them, claiming that it had been revealed to him that the person needed to have his or her wickedness purged.”
“Sounds par for the course.”
“Yeah, but it was me who delivered those lies.” Oh, how she hated what she’d done. Crouching down, she scowled at the drafty old farmhouse. The weather had been brutally cold last winter and everyone suffered. Even now, the memory chilled her bones. All those icy nights when she took pairs of socks or a sweater and jammed them in the leaks in the old bedroom window, anything to stop the drafts. Whose were they? Who complained in the morning when their clothes were stiff with frost?
She couldn’t remember.
She didn’t want to remember.
“I guess that’s why God doesn’t answer my prayers like Lois promised He would. I told awful lies for two years. I allowed Noah to intimidate me. My punishment, I suppose.”
Her words had been soft, barely audible and not really meant for Eli’s ears. But in the quiet woods, where even that lone bird no longer called, he heard. She should have kept her mouth shut tight.
“His grace is sufficient for you. You didn’t need anything else, nor do you now.”
With a twist around, she snapped at him. “Why are you quoting Scripture to me? It’s as if—” She tried to curb her anger by shutting her mouth, but being here, knowing Trisha had died…the pain was still so fresh.
The knot in her throat tightened. She waved her hand. “Forget it. Don’t answer. Let’s work our way around back. Sometimes there’s more life there.” Without looking at him, she thrust through the dense forest.
Eli caught her arm. “Let me go first.”
At the back, the forest encroached on the fence even more. If unchecked, it would soon swallow up the apron of cleared land skirting the chain link. Like the front gate, the back one was closed and locked with a huge padlock.
She looked up past it. The rear of the farmhouse lay as empty as the front. Kaylee’s gaze wandered up to the second-floor bedroom, the one she’d shared with Trish and Phoebe for a short time.
She’d been a prisoner there, allowed out only for ablutions, the occasional meager meal and prayer service when her “abilities” as prophet were needed. Left alone for hours in that freezing bedroom with its cracked and drafty window. Trisha and Phoebe would join her at night. Most of those nights they’d all huddled in the same bed. Phoebe had often reminded them that the pioneers survived and they would, too. That God was preparing them for the hardships that come with starting a new world.
Evil propaganda fed to them by Noah.
“No one’s around,” Eli whispered. “Would the kids also be downstairs?”
Kaylee threw off the thoughts and shook her head. “No. The older ones would have taken the younger ones outside. There’s no smoke from the chimney, either. And no chickens in the coop. This place looks like a tomb.”
Eli drew in a sharp breath.
She cringed. “Sorry. Bad choice of words. Maybe we should get a bit closer.”
Eli held up his hand and stood. Only then did she realize that he’d chosen his clothing well. His jacket, while not camouflaged, was a dark moss-green and his pants were chestnut. Only his pale blond hair stood out, but amidst the autumn golds and yellows of the birch and poplar, his coloring blended well.
He scanned the ground slowly, methodically, his gaze intent on finding something where trees met unruly grass.
Kaylee’s heartbeat quickened through her temples. A wild mix of emotions barreled into her chest and out to her shaking hands. She leaned forward, casting wary glances around them. “They’re gone, Eli. Taken off. Let’s go. I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”
He studied the yard, not answering her. Just as she leaned forward to tell him she’d wait for him in the car, he turned. “How did you get out of this yard? Did Noah leave the gate unlocked?”
She met his stare. His eyes were an incredible electric blue. Her naГЇvetГ© reared and she wished she could read him. She sensed someone wanting desperately to find his sister, or at least desperate to get into this compound. But she also sensed something else and hated not being able to recognize it.
Finally, she flicked her head toward the south side of the yard. “Over there.”
“Show me.” He stood, stepped back and wrapped his strong fingers around her wrist. Then, twisting her around, he led her through the woods the way they came. She wanted to tug her hand free, but having someone close felt good, especially here.
They pushed through the thick woods and around the corner of the yard.
“Where?” he asked.
She stepped past him and scanned the fence. There had been a large bramble bush that had caught her clothing. The children had told her it hid the break.
There! She bent down and after pulling her sleeve over her hand to protect it, she swept the prickly bush away to reveal the narrow break. When she turned back to Eli, his face was lit with anticipation.
“You may be too big to get through it,” she commented.
“I’ll manage.” He bent back the chain link, tearing it up slightly from the ground. “You go first. I’ll hold this back for you.”
She hadn’t needed him to do that, but once he stepped to the left, she swallowed down her reluctance and slipped into the compound.
She straightened. For a brief moment, Eli stood there, his eyes locked on hers. Wasn’t he coming in, too? Doubt flooded her. Was he returning her to his horrible place—
No. His expression told of his own mixed emotions. Finding Phoebe, but in what condition? Or finding nothing but pain and a missed opportunity. Kaylee wanted so much to pull him into her and hold him tight.
She knew all about mixed emotions. That day she’d escaped, the jumble of dos and don’ts tangled into her reasoning. Then, in a millisecond, she’d made her decision and escaped. She knew the pain Eli was feeling right now, and wished she could somehow take it all away from him.
She drew in a breath, hating the sudden attraction that both lured and frightened her.
“We don’t have to do this,” she said softly.
“I need to.” His expression melted. “And I’m glad you’re here with me.” Then he stepped through after her.
“Where first?” she asked.
“The house?”
She wet her lips. “I’d rather not, thank you.”
“I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” He dusted off his pants, tugging free a dried bramble twig as he did so. “Okay, we’ll do the outbuildings first. I wonder what they’re for.”
“The men sleep in one and wash up in the other. Only the married men were allowed to sleep in the house and only one man was married. Noah had strict rules about those sorts of thing. I don’t know why, but I was glad.”
“Perhaps abstinence was part of the starvation routine he used to wield his control.”
Good point. She hadn’t considered that, but it made sense.
Eli led her across the lawn to the front of the buildings. “Where does Noah sleep?”
“I don’t know. He never slept when I was awake. He was always the first up and the last to bed.”
“He always was a night owl.”
She watched as Eli searched the men’s building. It was much newer than the old farmhouse. Occasionally, she’d wondered what had been its original purpose. But she’d never heard the men complain about it. It must have been well insulated.
Finally, Eli came out. Without looking at her, he walked into the other one and within a minute, came out again.
The disappointment showed clearly on his face. The buildings were empty.
She felt her own heart sink and yet at the same time, relief sluiced through her.
Eli walked up to her. “There’s no one in either building. The beds are made, everything is reasonably neat and tidy, like they just left it.” He turned to the house.
“I don’t want to go in,” she blurted out. “Not into the house.”
Eli blinked, his mouth softening from that tight line she’d seen before to something sympathetic. He reached out and took her hand. His fingers warmed hers.
“I know. But I have to find Phoebe. This is my life, Kaylee. And my parents need answers.” After a moment of holding her hand, he dropped it. “I’ll be back.”
The wind slid across her face like strips of cold, wet cotton, the kind she’d used to wipe the dishes in The Farm when it had been her turn. Ahead, Eli stepped upon the rotting porch. She could hear it groan under his weight and the sound brought back a vivid memory. The day those who remained ate spring greens while the rest went grocery shopping. The woman who’d picked and steamed them had lifted her head sharply at the sound of those front boards relenting to Noah’s weight.
Kaylee could still remember the look of apprehension on the two starving children who were still finishing their greens. When the door creaked open, the children gobbled up the rest on their plates and hurried to the sink. They dumped them in there and dashed out the back door.
“It’s open,” Eli said, breaking into her difficult memory. He pushed on the front door, then still outside, threw her his own version of that fearful expression.
Her heart squeezed. He didn’t want to go in and find the cult dead, murdered by his brother or, just as bad, all having taken their own lives.
She pushed aside the terrible worry. This wasn’t fair to Eli.
“Eli?”
Just inside the door, he turned.
“Maybe you shouldn’t go in. Maybe we could call someone to search this place for you.”
He frowned. “Like who? The police?”
She cringed. He knew her history, probably from the diligent investigator he’d hired. He knew she wouldn’t want to deal with the police here ever again.
He shook his head. “Like I said, this is something I have to do.”
Then, with gritted teeth, he walked inside.
FOUR
Tears diluted the scene before her. She didn’t want to go inside her prison of two years.
But being out here, on what some might have been called the front lawn, wasn’t desirable, either. Her mouth dried, then her throat. She swallowed hard in order to break the crackling feeling. Around her stood remnants of farm life; a rusting hoe and one of those rakes that tractors drag behind them. Propped against an old skeleton of a pickup was an equally ancient tractor wheel.
Her gaze wandered upstairs. From the room upstairs she’d looked down for hours on end, asking herself time and again if she’d break her neck should she try to escape through the window. She’d always stayed put, afraid that should she misbehave, she’d end up in that dungeon of a basement where Noah spent so much time.
A blue jay called out a shrill, indignant cry behind her and flew off to her left. To her right, the cause of the disturbance rustled the bushes.
It sounded big.
And it wasn’t that far from the break in the fence. From this distance, she could see the break and the crushed, waist-high grass and weeds where Eli had twisted the chain link. Whatever was following them would see it, too.
The rustling moved toward the break.
Her heart leaped and pounded in her throat and one of her mother’s favorite sayings burst into her mind.
Better the enemy you know.
She broke into a run toward the house. Eli had left the door open and she leaped up past the squeaky plank, right to the stain where a welcome mat once lay and in the next step, over the threshold.
“There’s no one in the kitchen.”
She spun, so quickly she nearly lost her balance.
Eli didn’t seem to notice her agitation. He’d already turned and headed into the living room. To her left stood the stairs. Up to her prison.
Get a grip, she scolded herself. They’re gone. No one’s here. That rustling was just an animal.
Eli appeared at the end of the hall ahead that lined the stairs, having walked the circle from the living room to the back hall. “Let’s try upstairs,” he said, his voice tight with anxiety.
“You fully expect to find someone here, don’t you?”
He didn’t answer. She barreled on anyway. “There’s no one here, Eli. I can feel it.”
“How so?”
“In the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping, or when they were gone for supplies and there were only a handful of us here, you could tell. There was life here. Now there’s nothing.” Her voice wobbled.
“You don’t sound completely convinced. What’s wrong?”
“I heard an animal outside, that’s all. It spooked me.”
With a frown, he studied her. “Noah wouldn’t be noisy, if that’s what you’re thinking. You just said we’re alone.”
She bit her lip at his comment. She wanted to leave and to have Eli leave with her. But she knew what she’d said would only cement Eli’s resolve to find out for himself. Not to prove her wrong, but to prove to himself that there was no one here, dead or alive.
He brushed off her comments. “We need to look for any clue to where they may have gone. Let’s try upstairs, then work our way down.”
She nodded, telling herself again that she was here for Eli. She’d agreed to get him into The Farm, to help him find Phoebe.
Eli swept past her and up the stairs. They all could be upstairs, but she doubted it. Even dead, she wagered that Noah and his cult would command a certain presence.
And there was nothing here. With a deep breath, she forced herself to remember that. And that Eli was here. She was safe. There was nothing in this house to hurt her.
The urge to run still burned in her. Swallowing it down, she climbed that first step with shaking legs. Then another step, each worn tread giving way to her. Without staring at Eli’s legs as they walked upstairs, she knew he was there, guiding her in a way he didn’t realize. “So who slept in what room?” he asked casually when he reached the top.
A moment of righteous anger surged through her. Didn’t he realize that this was one of the most difficult moments of her life, here and now? Couldn’t he show some compassion?
At the top, Eli turned, fully expecting an answer. She stepped on the upstairs hall floor before giving him one. “Um, Phoebe and Trisha and I had this one.” She pointed to her right. Each door of the five small bedrooms was closed. “The older women had the two end rooms and the kids slept there.” She pointed to middle room.
He flicked his eyes from door to door. “There are five rooms up here.” He looked at the one she hadn’t mentioned. “Who had this one?”
“The married couple.” She didn’t want to think of them. They’d been the hopeful pair to lead the way for all of them to start a new generation. Except their plans hadn’t turned out the way they wanted them to.
Eli shoved open the door of the room she’d shared. It was empty. Only then, did she realize she’d pulled in a breath and held it. Letting it out felt like a relief. She focused on her old room, noticing that all the furniture was still there.
It only added to the eerie atmosphere.
She found herself stepping into the bedroom. The bed was made, the threadbare bedclothes not quite as neatly made as she remembered. The cheap, thin pillows, three in a row on the double bed ahead of her, barely made a lump under the faded chenille bedspread. The whole room had a hasty-looking feel to it, not at all like Phoebe’s usual meticulous standards.
She walked over to the window and looked down at the front yard. The same view as she’d seen so many times before.
Movement to her left caught her attention. That animal? Could it still be there, not scared off by her sudden flight into the house? She must not have made enough noise.
Like the silent house around her.
Silent? She cocked her head, listening. Hadn’t Eli just opened a door? What was he doing?
“Eli?”
Nothing. She peeked one more time at the far view outside, but saw no movement or rustling in the woods that had closed in on the compound.
“Eli?” she called again.
Still nothing. Swallowing, she moved from the window, avoiding any accidental glance around the room as she slipped into the hall.
All the bedroom doors were open. “Where are you? Did you find anything?”
There was nothing but a chilling silence. She dared to peek into the next bedroom, then the far one and soon all of them. No one. Not even Eli.
She hadn’t heard him walk down the stairs. They were old, and creaked—especially on cold, windy nights when falling temperatures and harsh eastern winds shifted the house.
Where was he? What was he doing? Trying to teach her not to be afraid of ghostly memories? To trust in God when there was nothing left to trust in?
Anger bubbled in her, followed swiftly by fear.
Maybe he’d left her in this house and that movement by the fence was him leaving.
His way to teach her a lesson on trust?
Just like Noah. The thought spat into her head and close on the heels of that accusation was another.
He was Noah. Eli Nash didn’t exist. That was why Phoebe never mentioned him. He didn’t exist. For all she knew, Eli was Noah’s middle name and he was both left-handed and right-handed and had sought her out to avenge her desertion and fulfil his threats.
And Noah, now that he knew how she had escaped, was going to make sure she didn’t escape again.
Tears burned her eyes. Her throat hurt from the choke of falling totally apart.
She had to get out of there.
Whirling, she flew down the stairs, missing the last two treads in a blind panicking stumble.
Two arms caught her. Firm, well-muscled, they wrapped around her torso and stopped her from falling on her face.
Pinned by them, she let out a cry and threw them off. “No! Let me go! What kind of sick lesson are you trying to teach me, anyway? You’re insane!”
“It’s me, Eli!”
Total panic flooded into her and her eyes widened in horror. “No, no! You’re Noah! There’s no such person as Eli! You’re trying to trap me in here! To kill me like you threatened to do. I saw you!” She thrashed away from him, twisting until she was free.
“Kaylee! It’s okay!”
She heard him, but couldn’t control the fear racing through her. She flung herself at the front door, finding it closed. Then, firing it open, she fell over the threshold.
Eli shouted her name again. This time it registered, but she didn’t dare listen. Gulping in the fresh fall air, she raced across the front yard, not headed to the cut in the fence, but straight at the gate.
She tripped over something and fell ungracefully on the dry, dormant grass.
“Kaylee, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself. I’m not Noah! It’s me, Eli!”
She saw him close in on her. Even now, with the panic settling in her, she couldn’t stop herself. She knew the craziness of her actions, but she was beyond any self-control. She stumbled to her feet and began a zigzag trek around the house.
Reaching the back gate, she thrust out her arms and shoved hard. The posts, weakened by too many high winter snows, had lost their grip on the ground. One good shove from her and they toppled loudly, dragging brittle brush with them.
But they weren’t so weak that they gave her full rein. She stumbled and crawled over them, only to have one post fight back. Her weight wasn’t great enough to keep it down and she found herself scraped and tangled in the mix of chain link and barbed wire.
“Kaylee! What’s going on? Are you crazy? Stop! You’ll cut yourself to shreds!”
She stared up at Eli. He stood over her, worry frowning on his face.
There was no mockery, no smirk on his face. He held out his left hand and she saw the puckering scar he’d shown her before.
Confusion swept through her. Did Noah have that scar?
No, he didn’t. She was sure now. “Where were you?”
“You mean, just now? I went into the basement.”
“Why?”
“Looking for—Looking for any clues to where they went.”
“Didn’t you hear me call?”
“Once, but by the time I got up into the kitchen, you were already racing down the stairs. I had to grab you when you stumbled. You could have killed yourself.”
Her panic drained away. “What did you find in the basement?”
He pulled in a deep breath and shook his head. “Not much. A table, a few chairs. It looked as if it was set up for one of those prayer sessions you described. A few candles. There was a lightbulb hanging from one of the beams.”
A light? The times she’d been down there, only candles were used and she’d kept her head down in hopes no one would notice her. A shudder danced through her. Old knobby candles that smoked and stank and shot long shadows through the basement.
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