As Micah and Hawk moved through the forest toward the small cabin where three FBI agents were hiding out, Micah couldn’t get Olivia and her children out of his head. When Sam had pulled himself up using Micah’s legs as support and given Micah that wide grin, something soft had risen up inside Micah, something he hadn’t known he possessed.
The last thing he wanted at this moment was to embrace anything soft that might be hidden on the inside. He needed to be tough. He needed to be strong and single-minded for what lay ahead.
Get Ethan and Devin out of town and take down Samuel. Avenge Johanna’s death and cut the evil cancer from the earth forever. It was like a constant mantra in his head as he moved behind Hawk toward the meeting place.
Still, it was hard to stay tough, and not to allow some of the softness he’d discovered to seep to the surface whenever he was around Olivia.
It had been a week since he’d found her crouched in the bushes and had taken her to the safe house. In the last couple days, she had seamlessly fit into the group, offering to help whenever possible and building a special relationship with Darcy because of the two missing children.
He’d spent a lot of the last week with her, talking not just about the Cold Plains and Samuel, but also about her life with her alcoholic mother and her desire for something so much more, something so much better for her own children.
It was only after Sam had gone to bed, when the night was full upon them that he saw the despair creeping into her eyes, that he watched the slight tremble of her hands as she realized yet another night was about to pass with Ethan still gone from her arms.
When she finally went to her room, he fought the impulse to go with her, to hold her and comfort her, because he feared that comfort would lead to another kiss and a kiss would lead to something far more than either one of them needed in their lives at this time.
He was here with a single purpose and when that goal was accomplished he had no idea what the future held for him, but he was certain it wasn’t a fragile blonde with two fatherless children.
They were in the very depth of the forest now and Micah knew Hawk was as tense as he was as utter darkness folded in around them. Scurrying noises indicated furry creatures shunning their human presence in the wild domain that should have belonged only to them.
Micah knew the difference between the natural sounds of the forest and the alien sounds of hunters and he knew Hawk could discern the difference, as well.
Each man carried a penlight to shine on the faint, overgrown path they followed. Although they would prefer to move with no light at all, it was impossible as not even a sliver of moonlight penetrated the wildness that surrounded them.
Some of the tension that had ridden Micah’s shoulders eased as he spied a faint light flicker in the distance. The cabin. Hawk had told him there were three FBI agents holed up there, coordinating the investigation, and Micah was anxious to talk to them, to kick around ideas for making some sort of forward progress.
He felt as if everything had stalled out, and each time he saw that sadness that shadowed Olivia’s beautiful eyes, his need to do something to break the case wide open grew more intense.
Hawk halted abruptly and Micah nearly back-ended him. The agent took a radio from his pocket and warned the men in the cabin that he was coming in with one.
From the outside the cabin appeared to be an abandoned hunter’s hideaway. The rough wood of the small place blended perfectly into the tall trees that huddled against it.
As the two men approached, a flash of light shone at a window, there a moment and then gone. It was only when the door opened that a light spilled onto the forest floor and then quickly disappeared as the door slammed shut behind Hawk and Micah.
In the first instant of being inside the cabin, Micah was eternally grateful that he wasn’t one of the three men sharing the small space. Before the introductions between the men were made, Micah felt more than a faint touch of claustrophobia building up inside him.
Boyd Patterson, Stephen Jeffers and Lawrence Rosenbloom all had the wild eyes and vibrating energy of men cooped up in a small space for too long. They greeted Micah and Hawk with the friendliness of long-lost relatives, obviously eager for somebody’s company besides their own.
They gathered around a wooden table that took up the center of the room. Three cots lined the walls and a small cookstove and sink took up what was left of the cabin.
“Pretty stark conditions,” Micah said as he eased down across from Boyd.
“Hey, at least we have a bathroom with running water. Things could be worse,” Lawrence said.
“You really do look like him,” Stephen observed, his gaze intense on Micah.
Micah nodded and reached up to touch a length of his long hair. “The major difference is at the moment Samuel is working his movie star persona and I’m sporting more of a homeless look.”
Stephen cast him a wry grin. “I hope that’s not the real major difference between yourself and your brother. Still the resemblance is really remarkable.”
Just that quickly the conversation turned serious as Micah began to tell the agents about the Samuel he’d known as a child, the Samuel who had appeared to come into his own during high school and the man who was now the charismatic leader of the “perfect” people in the “perfect” town of Cold Plains.
“I still don’t know all the players,” Micah said. “Hawk has been trying to fill me in, but there’s a lot going on in town. I do know that two children are missing and one of my personal priorities is to find them and return them where they belong.”
Boyd nodded. “Rafe Black’s baby and Olivia Conner’s son. We’re aware of the situation and we have agents attempting to find the location of the children, but so far with no success.”
“People are afraid to talk even if they aren’t a part of Samuel’s nonsense. Their fear of reprisal from him is too high,” Lawrence said.
Stephen leaned forward. “What we were hoping you could give us is some idea of any weaknesses that your brother might possess, some quality that we can exploit to our advantage.”
Micah frowned. “I’ve stayed up nights trying to figure out a weakness Samuel possesses that can be utilized. The only real weakness is his own arrogance, but he’s also highly intelligent and apparently has made few, if any, mistakes.” Micah shrugged. “I’m not sure anything I know about him can help you.”
Micah didn’t even consider mentioning to these men that Darcy Craven was his brother’s daughter. There was absolutely no way Micah wanted her used somehow as leverage even if it meant losing the war. He would not allow his newly found niece to be collateral damage in the battle against Samuel.
“We’ve been keeping track of the traffic in and out of town and, if it’s any relief at all, we believe the children have not been transported from the area,” Boyd said.
“Has anyone managed to get inside Samuel’s house?” Micah asked.
“None of our people, but we’ve spoken to some who have been inside. We’ve surveyed the area around the house and have found nothing suspicious. But without a warrant, our hands are pretty well tied. Why?” Boyd’s gaze was as intense as the other three on Micah.
“We know about the secret passageway beneath the Community Center. I assume Samuel probably figures that’s an escape route for him if anything goes down there and he needs to get out. I can’t imagine him not having another from his home,” Micah replied.
Stephen nodded. “We’ve thought the same thing, but the house is guarded 24-7 and we can’t find a way to get inside legally, and of course officially we can’t go in illegally.”
“You can’t, but I can,” Micah countered. “I don’t have to cut through red tape or follow anyone’s rules. I don’t work for the FBI.”
“Yeah, but to get into that house, you’ve got to go through big burly men carrying big burly guns,” Lawrence said.
Micah recalled what Olivia had told him about the wall of sliding glass doors that led out to a balcony. “Maybe…or maybe I can find a way around them.”
Hawk’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Micah replied, deciding the fewer people who knew his plans the better. “Now, tell me exactly where we are in the investigations into the murders.”
It was a little over an hour later when Hawk and Micah finally left the cabin. They moved silently through the forest until they reached the place where they normally met to speak to one another.
“Are you heading back to the safe house?” Hawk asked.
“No. I’m heading into town. It’s relatively early and Samuel should be in the middle of one of his nightly brainwashing sessions,” Micah replied.
He needed action. A restless adrenaline surged up inside him. He needed to do something to break this all wide open. For Olivia. For Darcy. And for every vulnerable person in Cold Plains and the entire state of Wyoming or wherever Samuel might decide to set up a new kingdom.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Hawk said softly. “We still need you alive and working on our side of this thing. You’re a vital piece of this operation.”
“Trust me, I plan on being around until the bitter end. I’ll check in with you tomorrow,” Micah said as he turned and headed toward town.
He knew that almost every night at eight o’clock Samuel gave his seminars and demanded that most of the townspeople attended. If anyone was going to get inside Samuel’s house and explore, the best time would be during the seminars when Samuel was busy “teaching” his flock.
Micah had no intention of trying to get inside tonight. He’d need the right equipment to play spider and get up to the balcony. He didn’t have time to get the hook and rope he’d use from the safe house and then return to town and take care of business before Samuel ended his nightly meeting.
Tonight was strictly a reconnaissance mission, to see the lay of the land around his brother’s house and find out how many guards were on the place.
Although he’d been in the area almost two weeks, he had stayed away from Samuel’s home, instead focusing on checking out the Community Center and
learning the positions and names of all the players in this deadly game.
It was difficult to be thrust into the middle of an operation where you couldn’t be sure who to trust, where the enemy could come at you with a smiling face and a knife tucked behind his back.
He’d had months of catch-up to accomplish, thanks to the bullet to his head. But now he was ready to truly begin the hunt, both for the missing children and the key to bringing down Samuel’s kingdom.
As he headed into Cold Plains, his thoughts went to the victims that they were certain had been killed by Samuel or at the very least at his bidding.
Shelby Jackson had been found five years ago in Gully, Wyoming, a mere five miles away from Cold Plains. She’d been twenty-nine, single and rumored to have been dating Samuel at the time of her disappearance. Hers had been a cold case until the other victims had begun showing up.
The second victim was the Jane Doe that Darcy suspected might be her long-lost mother. Her body had been found four years ago and she’d had a tiny temporary black D written with a Sharpie pen on her right hip. It was possible she’d been attempting to pull herself off as a Devotee without getting the actual tattoo, perhaps working undercover.
Victim number three had been Laurel Pierce, found three years ago. She’d been dating Jonathon Miller, a personal trainer at Cold Plains Fitness, which was owned by Samuel. Miller had been cleared of any connection with her death.
Abby Michaels had been a new teacher’s aide at Cold Plains Day Care Center, the mother of the missing Devin. Her body had been found in the Laramie area, fifty miles away from Cold Plains, a few days before the fifth body was found.
And finally there was Johanna Tate, found on April 2, almost six months ago. It had been the report of her body being found that he’d watched in that coffee shop in Kansas, along with a fresh-faced reporter indicating that her body was one of five all tied to the small town of Cold Plains and a man named Samuel Grayson.
In the moments immediately following the newscast, a myriad of emotions had crashed through Micah. A grief like he’d never known before, coupled with a killing rage directed at his brother, nearly brought him to his knees.
He’d paid for his coffee, stepped out of the coffee shop and had immediately put in a call to the FBI, deciding at that moment that he would join their fight to bring down the brother who he knew was evil at his very core.
It had taken only hours before Micah got a call from Hawk Bledsoe, the agent in charge of the investigation. They had planned a place and a time to meet the next day. And that night Micah had gotten into his car to drive to a café for some supper and before he could start his car engine, Dax had appeared at the side of his car.
“Your brother says hello,” he’d said as he’d shot Micah through the head.
Micah stopped in his tracks, drawing a series of deep steadying breaths as he fought against the memories of the past. He’d had no idea how Samuel had found him in that small town. According to the doctors and nurses it had been nothing short of a miracle that he’d survived the gunshot at all, especially without any signs of brain damage.
There was nothing he could do now about the months he’d lost in the coma. There was also nothing that could be done to save Johanna. All he wanted now was to somehow save Olivia by finding her son and in the process get whatever information he could to see to it that Samuel was destroyed.
As usual when he entered the town, he moved through the backyards of houses, using trees and brush and whatever else was available to hide his presence.
When he got close enough to the Community Center, he moved closer to the street where he saw cars and trucks parked in front, attesting to the fact that Samuel’s nightly gathering was still ongoing.
A slight nausea welled up inside him as he thought of Samuel preaching to his flock, filling their heads with the kind of cult programming that stole away the ability to think for oneself. If he listened carefully, it was possible he would hear chanting coming from the building, the chanting by rote that altered the way people viewed their surroundings, the entire world. Us against them, that was the message Samuel would deliver on a regular basis. Us against the rest of the world. He’d use those words to work on building paranoia and allegiance to his cause.
The still-in-progress meeting would definitely make it easier for Micah to check out his brother’s house. Despite the guards he’d been told were always on duty around the mansion, he wanted to get as close as possible to survey the landscape around the structure, to see if getting onto the balcony and in through the
sliding glass doors that Olivia had described was a viable option.
Samuel’s neighborhood was one of the newer upscale areas that had appeared in the small town. Micah had heard the house next to Samuel’s had been built by a successful actress who used the place as a vacation home when she wanted to escape the stress of Hollywood.
Micah wasn’t sure who the other neighbor was, but it was a no-brainer that whoever it was was wealthy and influential and had bought into Samuel’s fantasy of life in this particular small town.
Thankfully the houses were built on two-acre plots that were covered in trees, making it easy for Micah to keep his cover as he advanced closer to Samuel’s place.
He stopped behind a large tree when he had the house in sight. Just as Olivia had said, it was an impressive structure and from his vantage point he could easily see the balcony that ran the length of the place, a balcony that could be reached with a simple grappling hook and rope.
He tensed as he saw a large man with a rifle slung over his shoulder walk around the back of the house. One of the guards, Micah thought. He wondered vaguely how Samuel justified armed guards on his home in a town where he professed there wasn’t any crime.
The guard looked bored; he walked the perimeter at the rear of the residence without casting a single glance around the area, as if the last thing he expected was any kind of trouble.
Good. Complacent guards were far easier to take out or to get around. Still Micah remained where he was, knowing he needed to keep watch to see who else might make the rounds, see if he could get an exact number of men and how often they made the trek around the structure. He checked the illuminated dial on his watch to note the time.
As he waited, he couldn’t help that his thoughts returned to Olivia. Her appearance made her seem fragile, but he knew there had to be a core of steel inside her and he found that as attractive as her aura of vulnerability.
And it wasn’t just Olivia who was crawling under his skin, it was Sam, as well. The kid had definitely taken a shine to Micah and he had to admit he found the little boy both fascinating and charming.
He kept telling himself he needed to keep his distance from both her and the kid. He didn’t know how to be a partner and he definitely didn’t know how to be a father. He was the very last thing she needed in her life.
He was built to be alone and she needed a man who would know what normal was when he saw it. Micah had never known normal. His family had been the poster image for dysfunctional and he would never know if the parenting he and Samuel had endured was ultimately what had created a monster like his brother.
As a second man began to make the trek around the back of the house, Micah instantly recognized him as Dax Roberts. Micah glanced at his watch and realized fifteen minutes had passed since the previous guard had made the rounds.
He settled in to watch for another hour or so, wanting to make sure that the timing of the guards remained about the same. In fifteen minutes Micah could easily be up a rope and onto the balcony without anyone
realizing his presence. But he had to be sure of the routine of the guards before he could chance a bold move like that.
The next hour ticked by slowly, but confirmed to Micah that the guards made the rounds every fifteen minutes or so. There appeared to be only two guards, as Dax and the other man alternated trips around the house.
After an hour had passed, Micah felt that he had the information he needed. He waited to leave until Dax had made his pass around the back of the house.
Dax was halfway around when he stopped suddenly and his head snapped in the direction of the trees where Micah hid. Micah froze, scarcely breathing. He knew he hadn’t made a sound, but it was as if Dax sensed a presence…a presence that didn’t belong.
Micah remained frozen, hoping he blended into the landscape perfectly. There was no way Dax had actually caught sight of him. Maybe he was just doing a general scan of the area, taking his job more seriously than the other guard had done.
Both men were frozen in time, Micah hidden and Dax hunting. Sweat trickled down Micah’s back as Dax took a step toward the area where Micah was hidden.
The last thing Micah wanted was a showdown now and instinctively he took a step backward and the crisp snap of a twig beneath his foot cracked in the air.
“Who’s there?” Dax’s rifle was immediately ready to take aim as he began to run in the general direction of where Micah was standing.
Micah’s gun was ready as well, but in an instant all kinds of scenarios flew through his head. The sound of a gunshot would bring more men and there was a possibility that Micah would never make it back to the mountain alive.
At one time he would have taken the chance, he would have shot Dax and to hell with the consequences, but he had the weight of a pair of beautiful green eyes and a promise he’d made to Olivia to consider.
If he died now, who would look for Ethan Conner and Devin Black? The FBI agents were focused on bringing down Samuel, and Micah feared that finding the kids was secondary to their ultimate goal.
Someplace in the very depths of his soul, Micah believed he was Ethan’s only chance. It made no sense to feel that way, but he couldn’t control what he felt in his heart. And with this thought in mind for the first time in his life, Micah ran from a fight.
He turned and didn’t even bother to mask the sound of his escape. He just ran, dodging from tree to tree to avoid a bullet to his back. “Hey!” Dax shouted. “Halt.”
Micah did no such thing. He crashed through the trees and then along the back of the houses, heading toward the mountain at the other end of town where he knew the terrain, where he knew he could get lost.
As he raced, he was vaguely aware of the sound of Dax chasing after him. Too much moonlight, Micah thought as he tried to keep himself from becoming a target for the shotgun.
As skilled as Micah was in subterfuge, Dax proved a worthy opponent when it came to hunting. Not only was Dax an issue, but the other guard had apparently joined the game, as well.
Micah breathed shallowly through his nose, his focus solely on getting to the mountain wilderness where hopefully he could lose both of his pursuers. Still, his heart pounded with adrenaline as he jigged and jagged through yards, around houses and behind sheds. He jumped fences and crashed through bushes, ignoring barking dogs and the flash of backyard lights blinking on.
He’d just managed to reach the woods when Dax’s voice rang out from far too close behind him. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”
Micah felt the rifle pointed at his back and he knew Dax wouldn’t have a problem pulling the trigger. The only thing he had going for him was an element of surprise. Hopefully he could use that to his advantage.
He stopped and slowly raised his hands above his head as if in surrender and then turned to face Dax. In the bright moonlight that spilled down, he saw Dax’s face blanch of color and for just a moment the rifle in his hands dipped toward the ground.
Micah sprang sideways, throwing his body down to the ground and into the brush. He rolled as far as possible before rising back to his feet and running.
He’d only gained a few seconds’ lead, but it was enough to momentarily lose Dax. He knew that if he ran to the left he’d be taking Dax in the general direction of the safe house. If he ran straight ahead he would eventually wind up on the cliff with no way to escape. The only choice he had was to veer right and hope he could somehow lose the man he knew would kill him if he got the opportunity.
He ran as fast as he could for several minutes given the darkness and the terrain and then stopped, slowed his breathing and listened.
He heard a faint crunch of leaves to the left of him and knew that a true cat-and-mouse game had begun. He had two objectives. If he couldn’t lose his hunters, then he could at least lead them far away from the direction of the safe house. His second objective was to find a hiding place so good, they’d eventually give up looking for him and head back to town to report to Samuel.
The moonlight created dancing shadows among the trees, and every nerve in Micah’s body was on edge as he tried to move as silently as possible while keeping alert to any imminent danger.
He knew there were at least two of them and there was no way of knowing if they’d radioed for any backup. There was a strong possibility that, within minutes, the forest would be swarming with men all with one single goal in mind—to kill Micah.
And Micah didn’t dare try to use his radio to summon backup. The crackle of the radio would alert anyone nearby to his whereabouts. He just couldn’t take that chance. He was on his own.
He threw himself to the side, his heart skipping a beat as the rifle cracked and a piece of bark chipped off a tree nearby. His heart pumped as fast as his thoughts while his gaze darted first one direction and then the other, seeking escape.
Funny, he’d never thought much about self-survival before this moment. Throughout his years as a mercenary, he’d taken dangerous risks, aware that the outcome might ultimately be his death and that had never bothered him before.
But now he had Olivia and Sam to think about. He had two little children missing from their parents who needed him to find them. He had a niece he had just met, a young woman he already admired and would like to get to know better.
For the first time in his life he felt as if he had people depending on him, a reason for being and all he wanted to do was get out of this forest alive.