CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

 

 

JEAN COULD NOT believe the security that the Ever Life Church had built up around their main compound. She and Mary Jo and Susan had taken the next week digging out every detail they could find about the place, including original plans for most of the buildings.

The sixty-acre compound draped over a ridgeline on the edge of the Sierra Mountains, with views out over Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area in the far distance.

One major two-lane paved road led into the compound, winding up a valley from below. High stone walls and electrical fences on top of the walls surrounded the entire complex.

Jean had seen less security at major prisons.

And clearly there was a vast amount of money in the compound. Over forty homes, a number of what looked like condo complexes, dozens of large halls and other areas, not counting the large mansion that sat on the highest point of the ridge.

The place was a marvel of architecture and art.

The security systems were combinations of electronic, guards on foot, dogs, and a no-mans-land along the edge of the wall on the inside with electrical fences and from what Jean could tell land mines.

Drones patrolled the area outside the walls like a vast swarm of bugs.

The entire compound also worked off the grid, with its own electrical generation plant and wells and sewage facility.

And there didn’t seem to be any Internet connection going into that compound. Or at least none that they could find.

After three days of all of them focusing on finding any flaw in the security of the compound, they met at the small kitchen table in the condo. Mary Jo had made a wonderful chicken meal the night before and had saved some of the chicken for sandwiches on fresh bread.

For Jean, the handmade mustard Mary Jo had done made the sandwich heavenly.

“What would make these people get so paranoid as to build this compound?” Susan asked.

“Not a popular religion,” Mary Jo said.

“It’s a cult and cults have their detractors,” Jean said, “like sane parents who would go to all ends to rescue their children.”

“So anyone have any idea how we get in there?” Susan asked.

“We don’t need to go in,” Jean said, smiling.

Mary Jo laughed. “I love it when she gets that twinkle in her eye and that devious smile.”

“So how?” Susan asked, smiling as well.

“We take him out from a distance. All three of us.”

“Sniper?” Mary Jo asked.

Jean nodded. “From three sides. But we need to flush him out of his mansion and into the open in his compound first. And to do that, we use his own defenses against him.”

Mary Jo laughed. “I have no idea what you are thinking, but I sure like the sounds of it.”

“How about we go down to Steven’s Deli for some cheesecake dessert,” Jean said as she pushed her empty plate forward, imaging how wonderful that cheesecake would taste right about now. “And I’ll explain the bones of my plan there.”

“Perfect,” Mary Jo said.

“I sure like how you two think,” Susan said, laughing. “Especially over dessert.”

At the deli, Mary Jo set up the sound-blocking device so they couldn’t be overheard or recorded in any fashion, then Jean laid out her plan.

“Step one is hijacking the drones,” Jean said as she cut into her thick piece of cheesecake with a fork.

“Override their frequencies,” Mary Jo said, nodding.

“No need to override them,” Jean said after letting the first bite of the cheesecake melt in her mouth for a moment. “Just short them out or block them completely. Basically just shut them off.”

“They would fall out of the sky like dead birds,” Susan said, nodding.

“But that’s not going to flush him out of his mansion,” Mary Jo said. “That might put him deeper in hiding, actually. Which reminds me, we need to triple check for hidden escape tunnels as well.”

“Already checked for them twice,” Susan said.

“I did the same,” Jean said after another bite of the wonderful cheesecake. It was so good, it made her mouth water between bites. “But I’m betting they are there and we haven’t spotted them yet.”

“So you got an idea on how to get him out into the open?” Mary Jo asked, smiling at Jean.

Jean loved that smile, loved everything about Mary Jo, actually.

“I got a hunch that our target will come out of his house if Jack Kelsall walks up to the gate.”

Both Mary Jo and Susan stared at her for a moment, then started laughing.

Jean had a hunch that meant they both really liked her plan.