Chapter Nine
Axton
I did some research on The Veiled Order of the Unseen Hand, and didn’t find much. Just a website and a contact number. It did state that they were a ritualistic religion guided by the word of God. I did find a Reddit thread about them, mostly it was former members giving advice on how to escape. I also did a little research on Jeremiah Brown, and he was squeaky clean, a typical boy next door type. He didn’t even have a single parking or speeding ticket. Graduated from a state college with a degree in architecture, and had a business designing tiny homes, and a construction company that built them in a factory then had them shipped across the country. There was a website for that, and it looked like he did some quality work.
When Bolton left, she took Clint to the airport then went to pick a few things up for the girl. She was going to need clothes and some other personal items. She had to guess her size because the dress she was wearing must have been handmade and didn’t have a tag, but she was able to get a shoe size.
Crock left with the promise of speaking with Dr. Ford about moving the girl. I had a feeling it wasn’t as easy as cutting off the medication and pulling the tubes.
The next day, Creed sent over the report from Allred that detailed everything she knew about the religious cult. From what I read, there was only one bishop, which was Belle’s father, but they had communities in several states and one in Canada. The females left school as soon as they learned to read, and the males had an option to seek an education at certain designated colleges.
The religion itself had quite a few rituals, that included group prayer, speaking in tongues, laying of hands, snake handling, and of course prophecies. Marriage was a very big part of their religion, and men were rewarded for their dedication and faithfulness with young brides. As young as twelve years old. They saw a girls first menstruation as a sign from God it was time to marry and bring God’s children into the world. Men worked outside their community, but they turned over their pay to the church who then distributed fifty percent to the living expenses of its members, twenty percent to spreading the word of God, another twenty for the church, and ten percent to the bishop, who was always the prophet and leader. It seemed like everything was a sin, but I read between the lines. They didn’t want the feds looking into them, so they made everything from speeding to cheating on taxes a sin. Allred also wrote about a big change that occurred about twenty years ago where they no longer offered the choice to leave the cult without consequence. The attempt to leave was also a sin. They didn’t celebrate holidays and didn’t allow idle hands or thoughts. If you weren’t working, sleeping, or doing daily chores, you were required to pray and study the Bible. They did not own televisions or radios, but they were allowed cell phones and computers that were restricted to only certain content. It pretty much sounded like pure hell. I almost laughed out loud when I read that brides came with pretty much an owner’s manual. It listed not only acceptable behavior for women, but also listed approved sexual behavior for married people. What the hell did that even mean? Honestly, I didn’t care to know. Whatever they were doing was with children and the thought turned my stomach. I had one question for the brother. If their father didn’t want Belle to marry Jeremy, why didn’t she marry someone else? Why was she off limits?
I was thankful for the bathroom attached to the hospital room. It also had a shower, which I realized was probably there for family since the patients in that unit wouldn’t have been taking showers. I ate my words when I woke up to a text from Creed asking if I shaved yet. He knew I was full of shit, but dammit he was going to hold me to it. Fuck it, the beard wasn’t going anywhere. I was still pissed at him, and he wasn’t getting shit from me. I knew what his problem was, and it was the very reason he was being so nosy. His life changed a lot, very quickly, and Creed was an operative through and through. He was bored because he wasn’t taking missions anymore and he had an itch. Hell, you’d think after Syria he would be satisfied staying grounded, but no, he missed his old life. I thought that would change once the twins were born. He would probably be too exhausted and busy to even think about missions.
After getting cleaned up for the day, I sat and looked at my email. There wasn’t anything exciting, mostly emails from Morgan wanting something or another. We were already building a small school with a lunch room, five classrooms, and a playground, but now she wanted a library. Not a small library in the school, but she wanted us to build on to the community center and build her a typical public library. What the fuck was she thinking? Clarity had a library. If she wanted to check out a book, either go there or order one online. That would definitely be a no vote from me. It was like she was trying to turn us into a little city of our own. That was never what Creed’s Lake was meant to be, it was just supposed to be a small community with homes, a safe place for medical care after missions, and a few perks to make things fun. It wasn’t meant to alienate everyone from the outside world. That was why we pushed public education for the children, and we stayed active with charities and fundraisers in the county. Last week she asked for a democratic election system. She wanted a mayor and community council. Creed really needed to bring her back down to reality. By the way she was going, even Creed would be broke in a few years. I knew what she wanted, and I understood, but it was something she brought on herself. Just because she was famous and brought a lot of attention to herself, didn’t mean life was like that for everyone. She was trying to make it, so her kids never had to leave Creed’s Lake and be hassled by the paparazzi. She wasn’t going to be able to shelter them forever. We needed to be more conservative with our land. It was bad enough when we started a DV division, but I didn’t think she understood that it was also to help keep our secrets. It was literally a front that helped better explain the privacy our community required. The foreign contracts were always to be our main priority.
I was still looking through my emails when Dr. Ford stepped into the room.
“Looks like she did well overnight.” He said.
“I wasn’t aware there could be changes.” Did he expect her to do more than sleep?
“I wanted to let you know that she will have another scan, and we will check that brain bleed. I’m aware you want to move her, but I’m just not comfortable with it yet. It’s been over twenty four hours and there’s a chance the swelling may have come down. We’ve had her on blood pressure medication, and we need to take a look at the small hematoma. There’s still a chance she may need surgery if it grows any larger. If I see the swelling has stopped and the hematoma hasn’t grown, we can discuss waking her up. I might be comfortable moving her tomorrow if everything looks as good as I hope. That does not mean I want her on a jet or traveling far from here for at least a day or so. I’d advise against any sort of air travel for at least a couple of weeks. The air pressure itself could cause the bleed to start again. I will still need to monitor her and in better circumstances I’d have her admitted for a week or two following these injuries.”
“Can I go with her for the scan? I don’t actually want her out of my sight.” Dammit, what the hell was wrong with me? My instinct to protect her was ridiculous. She probably would have been fine to just go for a scan.
“You can escort her to radiology, but unfortunately, you’d need to stay in the waiting room.” He answered.
Two nurses stepped into the room and started preparing the breathing machines and monitors to transport her. “I wanted to ask about settling her bill for services?” I asked.
“We can have someone from billing come up later to talk to you. Is Creed’s Lake footing the bill?” He stood with his hands in his pockets.
“I don’t think we have a choice.” I’d talk to Creed, but if we were the ones checking her out of the hospital then something probably had to be settled. I wasn’t happy with the expenses we had been paying lately, but for some reason the girl was a priority to me. When I returned to Creed’s Lake, we were going to have to sit down and discuss the budget.
It was quiet for a moment. “Are you saying you’d consider waking her up today if the scans look good, with hopes of transporting her tomorrow?” I didn’t want to say too much in front of the nurses.
“Most likely tonight we can ease her out of it, but it’s not something that happens rapidly.” He paused when the nurses left the room for just a moment. “I’d feel better if we could wait to transport her in two days, but her circumstances might take priority. I spoke with the front desk, and they said two men stopped in and asked if we had any patients that fit her description. Of course they couldn’t release that information, but promised to have Tara call them. She hasn’t had any seizures or anything that leads me to believe we would be doing any damage by waking her up, but she will be in pain. We can try to manage that through pain medication, which will also help her sleep once she leaves. Her brother is on board with any plans we can make to reunite them. I’ll prescribe morphine for the pain and lorazepam to fight any restlessness and anxiety, which I’m sure she will experience some agitation as well under the circumstances.”
Shit, she was close to being found. I was not comfortable leaving her with Bolton alone. Maybe having two of us with her would be best. “I think as soon as Bolton returns, it would be best if we both stayed at all times.” I stopped there because the nurses stepped back into the room with some sort of medical equipment.
“I’d say that’s a good idea.” Dr. Ford whispered. “Crock may want to post a few people outside to watch the entrances.”
I was sure he was worried about Satan’s Disciples. I wish I knew what their business was with that false prophet. Why did I suspect it had something to do with human trafficking? I was mentally keeping a list of questions for Belle’s brother.
“Alright, well, I’ll make another round here in a bit and I’ll look over her scans. Like I said, you’re more than welcome to follow her to radiology if you want to stay close.” Dr. Ford went for the door, just before the nurses rolled Belle’s bed out of the room and I followed.
Hours went by, and I thought we would see Dr. Ford again. We were back in the room after her test for quite some time. Bolton returned and once everything settled, we joined the Originals daily meeting via video call. I updated the team about everything I learned. They were made aware of Satan’s Disciples and Jeremiah Brown. We stayed on the line as Creed and Irons had the command center, who were all bored out of their minds, dig up everything they could on them. We waited as Creed made some other calls. December was always a very boring time of year at Creed’s Lake. We didn’t send out as many operatives on missions, and it was too damn cold to take any rides.
Irons spoke up. “I’d like to send a recon team out to observe this cult, and also Unit C to raid Satan’s Disciples compound and find out what the hell they are into as far as human trafficking. I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s happening, and I’d like to confirm it.”
“Great minds think alike.” Creed said. “That MC is nothing more than a thorn in law enforcement’s ass. They’re small, but still dangerous for the people living in the area. They’ve got their hands in drugs of course, but also some small time sex trafficking from what Sniper had to say when I called him. It shouldn’t be too hard to snub a group like that out. It should help the people who want to escape that cult if this false prophet is using that MC to do their dirty work. Obviously, it’s not just drugs they are smuggling across the border.”
“Yeah, I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out who this Jeremiah Brown has building those tiny homes. What do you think? False promises of earning their freedom and bringing their families safely across the border?” I asked.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t answer why the girl wasn’t made into a child bride and why the guy wants her so bad. Once you get her out of that hospital, find out from the brother. I understand he doesn’t want to see the feds raid his families homes and arrest his brothers and possibly dad, but just escaping isn’t enough. He has to help all those kids. Fucking marriage at twelve to old men, it’s disgusting.”
I sighed. “Fucking domestic cases, it’s bullshit. Did any of you suspect there would be so much of this shit right here at home? We need to get back to focusing on foreign contracts. We need them if we have to support all of Morgan’s demands. What the fuck, Creed? A library now?”
He groaned. “I’ll talk to her.”
“I think some of us are starting to lose focus with this new DV program. I can’t stress the importance of our foreign contracts enough. That’s what keeps us afloat, Creed. When I return, I want to sit down with everyone and discuss the future of Creed’s Lake. It was never meant to be what it is today.” I said.
“I’m sorry if you guys don’t like it, but I agree with Axton.” Magnus spoke up.
“Yep.” Jennings agreed.
“100%.” Said Drakos.
“Any ETA on Baros? I’d like to be home for his visit.” I asked.
“Christmas Eve till New Years. It’s the best he could work out.” Irons said.
“Yeah, it must really suck to be him. I can’t imagine being forced to kick back on a recon mission for a year. Must be terrible on that tropical island.” Magnus was being sarcastic.
“It’s a seventy-million-dollar contract, I think you’ll survive your jealousy.” Irons said.
“On to other business.” I changed the subject. “I want to know who had to pull the dildo from Santa’s ass?” I felt a kick to my leg and looked up to see Bolton looking at the doorway. “Shit, we have to go.” Dr. Ford was looking at me like I just ruined his Christmas.
“I hope you have good news for us.” I said as he still looked at me like I was the most insane person on earth.
“Yeah, she looks good. The swelling has gone down, and the hematoma is way smaller than I predicted. It may even have had some absorption already. I still want to keep her on the blood pressure medication, and I actually feel good about waking her. I don’t think the injury is severe enough for anti-seizure meds, and we probably could have gotten away with just pain meds and anti-anxiety meds, instead of this deep sleep. I truly did believe the hematoma would have grown. Her scans look much different than they did when she came in, so I’m very pleased. The ER doctor really did a great job at patching up her wounds, but those will also cause her some pain. She could visit a plastic surgeon to minimize the scarring, but I don’t think they will be all that severe. We will monitor her very closely but take her off the sleep medication right now. I need to do an exam of her other wounds if you wouldn’t mind stepping out. Dr. Bolton is welcome to stay for the exam and a nurse will be in to tend to her wounds and reapply her bandages.”
“When will you remove her breathing tube?” I asked, mainly because that was something I’d rather not witness. It was a trauma from my past sort of thing because I could remember when mine was removed, and it was not a pleasant experience. Then again, I was only eight, but still it was something that stuck with me.
“Not until she wakes up, and that could be as early as tonight or maybe tomorrow. It all depends on her. If we would have known what we know now, we probably wouldn’t have gone to this extent. It’s strange, maybe even like she had someone watching over her. The newest scans have me a bit baffled.”
“She’s healthy, that doesn’t hurt the healing process.” Bolton said.
“Yes, I’m quite pleased.” Dr. Ford typed something into the computer.
I looked at Bolton. “I’ll go grab us some dinner and be back shortly.”
She smiled. “That sounds great, thanks.”
Bolton walked over and held the girl’s hand. I walked out and got that strange warning feeling again, like I wasn’t supposed to leave her, but just shoved it down and ignored it. It felt good to walk out of the hospital for a few minutes, but at the same time something was eating at me. I made it to a Veggie grill to pick up dinner. I felt like I gained weight just from all the snacks and food the nurses kept bringing me, and I ate fast food for over twenty four hours as well. I was just getting out of my rental truck when my phone dinged with a text from Faye.
Eggplant emoji
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I chuckled.
Me : Had to cancel, business trip ended up needing my focus.
Faye: Good, you’ll be desperate when I see you next month. I love it when you’re starving for me.
Me: Already there…wish it was already next month.
I put my phone away and went to order food, but my phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize.
“This is Mike Axton.” I answered.
“It’s Crock. The brother is asking for an update and says he wants to be there when she’s woken up.”
“She’s doing very well, better than expected. The hematoma has shrank and the swelling is down. They’re going to start waking her now, but I don’t want her brother here. Keep him at that compound and keep hiding him. He’s probably in just as much danger and we can’t risk him being seen. Tell him we will be bringing her to him tomorrow.” He didn’t know that I wasn’t going to allow him near her until he told me everything he knew.
“That’s good news. All is quiet here at the clubhouse. Did Ford say when you could get her on a jet?” He asked.
“No, he will monitor her and make that decision based on how well she heals. He doesn’t want her to fly, so driving may be the only option.”
“Alright, so keep me posted. Wait, the brother is asking something.” It sounded like he removed the phone from his ear then came back on the line. “He wants to know if you’ll send a photo so he can see that she’s alright?”
“Sure, I’ll take one when she wakes up. Seeing her with tubes might upset him more than necessary.”
“Alright, but just so you know, I have to keep my bosses updated. I can’t keep buying time and they will want to know her identity. I have to update them by the end of the day.” He warned me.
“That might be a problem, but I guess we don’t have a choice. We have to do something about the brother as well. His truck looks to be totaled, so we need to get that settled so nobody else comes looking for him. Can you handle that issue?” I asked.
“I’m on it. I’ll talk to you later.”
I made it back to the hospital with food in hand. A wave of relief came over me when I stepped back into her room. She didn’t look much different. Still had tubes, but Bolton assured me they did stop the medication.