Gemma pulled her fist back, twisted her hips, and slammed her knuckles into the heavy bag. She pounded it again and again until her shirt clung to her back with sweat. If Dan wanted to put his life in danger for this stupid town who was she to stop him? Sure, he was probably going to pray through the whole thing and wind up fine, while Antonia had gotten killed for her trouble, but he would still be in danger every second.
Mentally she knew one person was not more valuable to God than another person. Intellectually, she got the point. And it wasn’t like God had favored Dan’s life all that much. It would never have gone the way it had with his father if God did that kind of thing. Dan told her about his “blessings,” but it wasn’t like God had saved either of them from his father.
Gemma stepped back and did her roundhouse kick over and over for thirty seconds. Then the other leg.
This was probably all because she’d pushed him. She did want to leave Sanctuary, and Gemma wasn’t going to deny it. She was an artist. She wanted to travel, to find a place in the world that was hers and not just the home that had been given to her. Plenty of people left the town they’d grown up in to search for their own path. Why should she be denied that opportunity?
Dan wasn’t punishing her, but he was trying to save a town Gemma was beginning to care less and less about. She had found some good things here, but most of those involved Dan so it was logical to ask him to come with her. If he wanted to get married that meant they needed to share each other’s dreams. Why not travel together? Except that it would exclude them from being able to come back to Sanctuary.
Why did the government have to put them in this position in the first place? She’d have left years ago had the previous sheriff, Chandler, not denied her the chance. Now she was way too wrapped up in Dan to contemplate going anywhere that he wasn’t there. Or to go on any journey when he wasn’t with her.
Just the thought of leaving this place made her feel free, where Sanctuary had genuinely become her prison. Dan’s father might have been the only convict in this town, but they were all inmates. Denied the ability to go where they wanted, to do what they wanted. Conditions. Rules. She was just completely stuck here, and she wanted nothing more than—for once in her life—to know she was free. To feel it the way she’d never been able to feel it before.
She might just have to take up skydiving while she was on the journey.
Gemma alternated sides until her left leg dropped, and she couldn’t do any more.
“I’m tired just watching you.”
She spun to find John in the middle of the gym. “Now you know how we all feel when you guys do those ridiculous strength competitions at the park, and try to one-up each other.”
John grinned for a second, but then his “sheriff” face came back. “You know this is a crime scene.”
“My house was a crime scene. The library is a crime scene. The lake. Is there anywhere I can go in this town and be by myself that isn’t a crime scene?”
“Good point.”
She motioned toward the office. “I’m pretty sure the crime scene is in there, anyway. And if I’d wanted to contaminate it, I’d have done that when I found Sam in the first place.”
“I took a look at the library. You were right, they knew exactly what they were doing. Internet for the whole town is down.”
“You’re going to have a whole lot of crabby people on your hands.”
“I’ll deal with it. At least the satellite TV still works.” He sighed. “I should get back to the sheriff’s office soon. I don’t know where Mei is, and people are going to show up since the town’s internal phones are down, too.”
Gemma sighed and unwrapped her hands, tossing the material on the edge of the ring. “Who is guarding Sam Tura?”
“Michael and Louis. I sent an update email to the committee, but I don’t know if it went through at this point. I have to be real careful who I’m trusting. Dan saw Sal at the mayor’s house, a man who went through the destruction of Bolton’s house with Beth and Remy. I’d never have thought he would sell out to the mayor’s grand plan.”
Gemma liked fictional worlds and the interaction she had with the townspeople at the library. She wasn’t trained for this cloak and dagger stuff, and she didn’t have the first clue how to be some kind of covert agent. Neither did Dan. A farmer and a pastor and he was out there, playing undercover agent.
“This is all your fault.”
John blanched.
“He only got the idea for this because of Antonia. You didn’t see how he reacted when we found her. Dan can’t handle this.” She didn’t like the fact her friend wasn’t all the way mentally stable—who was?—but she was a realist. “You could have let anyone else do this, but you didn’t. You swung him out there the same way you let Antonia swing.”
“That isn’t fair, Gemma. Dan did this of his own accord. Antonia knew what she was going into, and she thought it was worth the money and the chance to leave. I explained the risks to her so many times she could recite them back to me, and she trained with Sam Tura. She was as prepared as I could have made her. Now Aaron’s taken my iPad for some reason. He knows he’s not supposed to play with it, and usually he’s good about that. I think he was coerced into it because he’s vulnerable.”
Aaron might be a young adult, but he was special needs. And though he’d thrived since he moved in with John, Andra, and Pat, he was still susceptible. There were people in town who would take advantage of that.
“Your list of the mayor’s associates?” When John nodded, she said, “Does it include Phil and Matt?”
“Yes.”
“You might want to add Dan’s name to that list now.”
He already knew, but she was mad enough at him that she needed to say it.
He’d made it sound like she was the last person he’d want to be seen with. Dan’s parting words might have been a lie she hadn’t known he was capable of speaking, but they still stung. Gemma shouldn’t have been surprised it was an act. No one was good all the way through. Everyone had that seed of darkness inside them, some just chose to hide it less than others.
John ran his hand through his hair. “I didn’t want him risking his life, but I also can’t stop him. Believe it or not, he can handle himself. He’s trained with me.”
As if that was going to protect him against a gunshot like the one that had killed Antonia.
“Maybe you should figure out how to stop him,” Gemma said. “He’s not being smart. This is dangerous, and it’s like he just doesn’t care that people care about him.” Her breath hadn’t slowed from the workout, still coming too fast for her to try and calm down. If he got killed, what was she going to?
Gemma hung her head and tried to get enough air. She didn’t want to leave if Dan wasn’t going with her. How would she even do that when she needed his help to navigate the outside world? She needed him to be with her, to hold her hand. Ugh. Gemma didn’t like being needy and helpless, but apparently she just was. Somehow she was going to have to find strength to do this.
“I’ll talk to him,” John said. “But I’m not going to tell you not to worry.”
What good was that? She was freaking out here!
John stepped closer. “What would Dan do? What would he tell you to do?”
He’d tell her to pray. Of course he would. Gemma shot him a look. John grinned. “So let’s pray.” He set his hand on her shoulder. “Ready?”
Gemma nodded. As John prayed, she said her own in her head. She needed God’s help to do what she wanted to do but didn’t think she had the strength for. When John said, “Amen” she did the same aloud and then lifted her head. “I want to leave Sanctuary, and I want you to start the paperwork right away.”
“Gemma—”
“I tried to leave years ago, but I wasn’t given a chance that should have been mine.”
“You’d have left forever?”
“I wanted out of here. Dan or not, I didn’t want to be with these people. But Sheriff Chandler, either never filled out the paperwork and just lied to me, or he did and something happened. At first he told me to stop asking him about it, but then he just straight up told me my application had been denied.”
It had hurt so much to even say that she wanted to go, but it had hurt more to stay and never get that opportunity to see the world. Dan would have understood. Eventually.
John frowned. “Can I look into that for you?”
Gemma shrugged. “As long as it doesn’t delay my leaving. I want out, Sheriff. I want to leave Sanctuary.”
**
Dan stared at the yellowing paper on the mayor’s desk. It was the middle of a mess of papers, but this one was different. Instead of typed or hand-written words it was a pencil drawing. A map?
“Then he shoved her good, and we left.” Phil had reiterated the story like they were the most important team in some elite army.
The mayor’s gaze moved to Dan. “Trouble in paradise?” He sneered.
Dan said, “None of your business is what it is.”
The sneer turned into a grin. “I’m starting to like you, Daniel.”
Phil and Matt looked mad. Too bad they didn’t have time to do something about it before two more guys walked in.
“You’re back.”
The first man nodded. Dan didn’t know him well, but he worked construction around town. “It’s all done.”
“Good,” the mayor said. “The internet is off. Phones are down, and it won’t take long for people to realize they’ve been cut off from the world.”
They’d hijacked the town. Dan fumed, but couldn’t say anything else while the mayor stared at him like that. These men were taking this entirely too far, and he wasn’t going to convince them that he was on board with it.
Dan gritted his teeth. “I can’t be a part of this. I’m not going to stand around while you take people hostage.”
He took two steps toward the door, but Phil moved in front of him. “Not so fast.”
“You need to get out of my way.”
“Don’t think so.” Phil folded his arms. “You aren’t going anywhere.”
“He’s right, Daniel,” the mayor said behind him. “You can’t leave, not while the pieces are moving.”
Phil’s eyes narrowed. When they were done moving pieces this guy was probably going to take him out to the woods and bury him in a shallow grave. “You can’t keep me here.” Dan turned to face the mayor. “You were supposed to be about making the town better. That’s what I signed up for, not this kamikaze, putting-people’s-lives-in-danger business. I won’t be a part of that.”
The mayor sighed. “I guess it was too much to ask that there be even a little bit of your father in you.”
“If there ever was he beat it out of me a long time ago.”
No one moved. “Be that as it may,” the mayor said. “You still aren’t leaving.” He motioned to an armchair. “Have a seat.”
Phil moved to guard the door, and two more men strode in. “The charges are set.”
Dan moved to get up, but Phil shifted toward him. Dan settled back down. “There haven’t been enough explosions in this town already?”
The mayor shook his head. “That Navy SEAL was sloppy. Those boys are all about overkill, while I’m a man of finesse. Localized charges, just enough to get the job done.”
“What job?”
Phil said, “You ask a lot of questions. Guess you like the sound of your own voice, but we all knew that. Running that church by yourself. Better than everyone else, holier than everyone else.”
“I’m guessing you have some kind of problem with people who have faith.”
“Faith in what? Ain’t no one up there that’s gonna save us,” he said. “That’s why we have to save ourselves. Make the world what we want it to be.”
“That’s an ideology which considers other people as inferior, nothing more than a stepping stone to a better life for yourself.”
“And who’s going to stop us? The sheriff?” Phil made a, “pfft” sound with his mouth. “Yeah, right. I don’t see him here doing anything about it.”
“Enough, boys.” The mayor clapped his hands. “Besides, it’s time for our next field trip.” He opened the desk drawer and got out a phone that looked a lot like the sheriff’s.
Dan filed that away in his head even, as he wondered how he could work it out so that he stayed behind. The mayor crossed the room. He nodded to Phil on the way, and the man opened the door for him. “Let’s go, Daniel.”
Phil strode over, grabbed his elbow and hauled Dan from the chair, halfway through the door. He wouldn’t have thought the skinny guy had it in him. Two men in front, the other two—including Phil—walked behind him. Dan glanced back and then front, where the mayor strode ahead of them.
Dan couldn’t get out of this huddle even if he tried, tripped or faked some kind of injury. They’d boxed him in, and he hadn’t realized until too late. Dan reached back and found his pocket-size Bible in the backseat of his jeans. He needed that reminder. You’re in control, not them. As much as they think they’ve got this whole thing figured out. Bring the plans of man to nothing. Turn their hearts to You. Hosanna. Save now. That seemed like an applicable prayer. God was their Savior, and sometimes that wasn’t realized to its full potential until heaven, but it could be theirs now. Each of them, even these men.
Two golf carts took them to the farm. For the first time Dan was actually glad the mayor’s house was on the same side of town as his farm. It meant no one saw him with this posse.
They drove past the caution tape, all the way up to the porch of his house. Phil smirked. “Time to go inside.”
But he didn’t know Dan wasn’t afraid anymore. This house wasn’t the source of his nightmares that it had been. Thank You, Papa. Dan had shed that fear once and for all, so it didn’t matter what these men would throw at him, what they planned to do. Dan wasn’t scared.
Not even when they led him to the basement.
Were they going to kill him and leave his body down here?
They waited by the tables, the men milling around clearly knowing what was about to happen. Dan watched the mayor, his attention on the tunnel. What was going to come through? That was when he heard it. Boots. Footsteps, getting closer and closer. Dan braced.
The man stepped into the basement room and looked around. “Good. You’re all here.” He was dressed in jeans and a blue shirt, not tired or sweating at all from that walk through the mine. Still, his hair was gray as it had been the day he left Sanctuary, diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Apparently, though, he wasn’t dead.
“Sheriff Chandler.”
He hardly moved, but the reaction was there. Then Chandler looked aside at the mayor, “And the girl?”
“Not hard to find.”
“Good. Is everything else ready?”
The mayor nodded.
Chandler shifted a backpack off his shoulders and unzipped it. Out came two rifles, then four handguns.
“Grenades?” the mayor asked.
“I’ll hang on to those.” The former sheriff put the backpack on his shoulder. Everyone checked their weapons. No one gave one to Dan. “Now for the fun stuff.” He lifted his chin to Dan, still playing nice despite the undercurrent. “You still have those horses?”
It had been more than two years since Chandler left town. “Yes.”
Dan had figured the man would be dead by now. Not in a mean way, but it had been a pretty final diagnosis from what he knew. Why was Chandler here, alive? A person didn’t just bounce back from terminal cancer. He’d gone out of town for some experimental treatment. Had it worked?
The group moved upstairs and outside. Dan stood on his lawn.
“Go saddle the horses, Daniel.”
“Why? What do you need them—” A gun-butt connected with his temple. Dan’s knees hit the grass, and he blinked away the pain that sparked through his skull.
“Saddle the horses, Daniel.”
Hands hauled him to his feet. Not the first time, and he still didn’t like the sensation of helplessness that came with being pushed around by someone bigger—or someone who thought they were bigger.
Dan saddled his horses and led them out one by one, saving Bay for last. Dan rode her out of the barn because he wasn’t going to give these men any chance of being the one who did. She’d rear them off and then kick them. Bay didn’t like anyone but him and—
Chase strode across the grass from the fields, pulling off his work gloves. Dan saw when he noticed the mayor and the group of men now on horseback. The hanger’s-on waiting on the ground for orders because there weren’t enough horses. The looks. The stances. The guns.
“Hey, Dan.” Chase gave him a look like, What is going on? “You okay?”
“Yeah, Chase. I’m good.”
“What are…. Sheriff Chandler? No way. It’s um… good to see you, and so healthy.”
Chase barely got the words out before Chandler lifted his gun and fired a shot.
Dan’s friend fell to the ground.