30. Imry
30
IMRY
“I want to be a member of the island paradise,” Loren says, his voice monotone and devoid of all life.
The room is silent as we stare at him. Seconds tick by before Ellory bursts out laughing. Dad presses his lips together, trying to contain his smile. The rest of us aren’t nearly as successful at hiding our amusement.
Loren frowns at us.
“You need to sound human,” Myro says. “Put some emotion into it.”
Loren’s expression is dubious. “I don’t ever have emotion in my voice.”
“He’s not wrong,” I agree. Loren nods in my direction as if saying, see?
“Ellory?” Dad says.
Ellory leans forward and clears his voice. “My brothers and I want to join your colony for a life of peace and happiness. The world is far too noisy and violent, and we really want to escape its toxicity.”
“Tiny Tim performance. Right there,” Myro says, clapping dramatically.
I’m trying not to find humor in this. Seriously, I’m not.
It’s been weeks since we’ve had guys infiltrating the colony with cameras. We’re happy to say that they’ve made it in with their hidden tech without issue. But that’s pretty much where the good news ends.
The place is more horrible than I think we imagined. It lacks basic necessities. They run out of food weekly, to the point where almost an entire day goes by before their weekly shipment arrives. They haven’t been able to make their gardens as successful as they need to be to support the population.
Even their water supplies are short, and everyone is rationed. Being that close to the equator in such a hot environment means death. Our guys have witnessed several since the first couple arrived almost a month ago.
It’s constant work to clear vegetation and trees away, build structures, and find enough food for the colony. In the evenings, they’re forced to gather around and pretend they’re living in paradise as Johnston preaches and has other members put on shows.
I wish that was the worst of it. Sadly, it’s not. Johnston and some of his appointed ‘ disciples ’ perform what they call cleansings, which, from what our guys can tell, is nothing but sexual abuse. Gender, age, and willingness don’t seem to be a concern for them. When their god says they’ve sinned and they need cleansing, that’s a final declaration.
There is no arguing when men with guns are hanging around.
Loren called the meeting this morning and decided he was ready to take care of Johnston’s utopian hell. I was to stay here with Oakley and keep him safe. We have a lot of attacks and serial killers on the Estate.
Okay, the ‘ killers ’ part may be accurate. But honestly. Oakley has never been safer in his entire life than he is on the Estate.
My heart sank when he said he’d take Ellory and Avory. It’s necessary, I know. Loren needs someone with him to be his human conscience. We’re not all higher beings as he is. There are days when I think Loren believes he’s inhuman. Unburdened by emotional influence in his thoughts and decisions. He’s able to see in black and white, where the answer is only influenced by the facts.
Sometimes, I think he’s right. That’s the straightforward, more peaceful way to live.
I’d be devastated if something happened to any of my brothers. I think I’m truly going to struggle with Ellory and Avory gone. It’s probably a good thing I’ve been handed control of Oakley’s safety. While there’s nothing here to keep him safe from, hopefully, I’ll remain distracted enough between him and Haze that I don’t freak out and stare at the feeds the entire time they’re gone.
“The plane is ready,” Dad says. “Are you packed? Have your cash?”
Avory nods. “Yep. Everything’s set.”
The plan is to rendezvous in San Diego with the last volunteer Uncle Oxley connected us with. My brothers would get with him, and together, they’d join the bus that’ll take them down to Santa Catarina where the last ship of the month goes out.
Supposedly, this is the last ship that’ll be making a regular trip with supplies and passengers for the foreseeable future. Considering they had to pay their way, and no part of the trip was paid for, I have to wonder if Johnston ran out of money already. It seems unlikely. If Voss wasn’t so busy tying up the loose ends in New York, we’d have had him tracking the money movement of the megachurch.
Once this last delivery of new settlers arrives, there will be upwards of 2500 people on the island. That’s a lot of people to feed with failing gardens. I suppose it’s possible they’ve run out of money. In my experience, people like Johnston don’t waste all their money like this, though. They bury it, either literally or metaphorically, but there’s always money to come back to.
However, that would mean his utopian paradise failed. I’m not sure he could come back from that and have the kind of success he’s used to having. Especially since the voices coming back with him would be revealing the horrors of what really took place there.
I suspect that if Johnston came back, it would be by himself. He’d leave his colony behind.
“Good. Stay in contact. We will send guns blazing if you give the signal,” Dad says.
I’m relieved we have a backup plan. We’re keeping a boat on patrol just out of sight of the island that can be there within an hour, tops, if necessary. A lot can happen in an hour, but we all trust my brothers and the now seven of Uncle Oxley’s men that are and will be there to hold everything off if it comes down to that.
Doesn’t mean I’m not going to go out of my mind until they’re home.
While Dad is hugging my two/thirds brothers, I hug Loren. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve hugged him. He finds hugs amusing, and he has a very strong aversion to touch. On the one hand, I’m kinda looking forward to seeing someone on the island touch him without his permission. Loren will lose his shit.
“Be careful,” I tell him. “Promise?”
I hear the amusement in his voice when he agrees.
“Please protect them,” I whisper.
His arms, which were mostly slack around me, tighten a little. “I will,” he agrees.
If there’s one thing I can count on, it’ll be Loren taking care of our brothers. On that island, they’re entirely his, and he’ll burn the world down to protect what’s his.
I release him and step away so Myro can give him the necessary older brother pep talk. Avory and Ellory are where Dad left them, and I take them both in my arms, gripping a fistful of their hair tightly. It’s only now that I realize Avory’s is so much longer than it usually is.
Their arms wrap me up too, and for a long minute, we don’t speak.
We’ve been apart many times in our lives, especially as adults. Including while on contracts and other dangerous shit. But this is different. We all know that. Hence the somewhat dramatic goodbyes when, most of the time, a simple text that runs along the lines of ‘ going on contract, be back in a couple days ’ will suffice.
This is different. It’s a different kind of danger.
“Please, please be safe,” I say. “Keep each other safe. Keep Loren safe.”
“We will,” they say together.
“And come home to me.” Only five words. I can’t get more out without risking my voice shaking.
Their arms tighten.
“We will,” Avory says.
“Promise,” Ellory adds.
Our embrace extends for a few minutes longer before I let them go, and we all leave the conference room together before getting into our own vehicles to head in different directions. Avory and Ellory are going to their house since they don’t need to leave until early morning. Part of me wants to be with them for a while longer, but I think that’ll only increase my anxiety more.
Instead, I head to Haze’s. I told him I’d be over after the meeting.
The cottage seems quiet when I pull into the driveway beside his car. There’s a light on in the kitchen, though the rest of the house looks dark. A glance at the clock tells me he’s probably making dinner.
I knock once and let myself in. Haze looks up when I come around the corner and smiles. I’m not sure I do a good job returning it as I walk to his side and lean against his arm. I think maybe I need to be held right now.
Since he’s stirring the contents of a pan around, he changes the rubber spoon to his other hand and wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “Are you starving?” he asks.
I shake my head. With the way my stomach is flipping, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to eat.
“You okay?”
I mean to nod because that’s the expected response, but it feels like a lie. You shouldn’t lie to someone you’re seeing, right? I’m far too conscious about how often Darren lied to me and about some really big things—like the fact that he loved me and every single thing in our lives. If I lie about something like this, that makes me no different from Darren.
But what am I supposed to say? I can’t tell him the truth.
Sighing, I press my face into his shoulder and decide I’m going to tell him something. Maybe only a little something, but something. I need to trust him. Loren trusts Oakley with a very small portion of his kill log. Uncle Noaz trusts Briar with our entire family secret, as does Uncle Arath with Elgin and all the dirty details.
I need to trust Haze with just the tip of the iceberg.
“The contracts that we work on…” I begin. Haze nods. “They require someone to execute them.” Look at me using double meanings! “Sometimes that means the people sent to carry them out are put in danger in order to complete the contract.”
“This sounds like a spy movie,” Haze says and kisses my head.
“It does,” I agree, somewhat amused. “Sometimes contracts come in and they have a common outcome they’re working toward. Usually, that means it’s a really big contract.”
“Big money?”
“Oh. Uh… yeah, I guess. I just meant that the…” I think about the word I want to use. I’ve never tried to talk about this out loud before. Nor have I tried to keep the terms I use vague. I take a breath. “The task at hand is big. The bigger the task, the more dangerous it becomes.”
“Okay. I think I’m following.”
“We’ve been following something pretty big for more than a month now. While we’ve been monitoring it, more and more contracts have come in. I think we’re up to eight.”
“Wow. All asking for the same outcome?”
“More or less, yes.” Different victims, but all asking for a rescue from this cult colony and calling for the death of their leader.
“Wow,” Haze repeats.
“Yeah. We did our own recon and research, and it’s even worse than the world thinks.”
“The world, huh?”
I grin. “Yes, actually. It’s so bad, Loren’s decided he’ll go take care of it himself. Avory and Ellory are going with him. They leave before dawn tomorrow morning.”
“Oh,” he says, his arm tightening around me. “You’re afraid for them.”
I nod again. “Very afraid.”
“It’s that dangerous?”
“It has the potential to be very, very dangerous. More so because they can’t go in with any kind of protection, or they’d not be allowed inside.”
“Weapons.”
“Yes.”
I wonder if he’s going to begin piecing this together. It already feels like he’s partially there. If I give just the slightest hint, Haze might get it. I’m not sure if that’ll be a good thing.
“They have some kind of training, right? Self-defense? They must, if executing these contracts frequently puts them in danger,” Haze says.
“They do. And they’re not alone. They have some highly trained colleagues with them.”
Haze hums. “But they’re your brothers and you’re afraid for them.”
My shoulders sag. “Yes. Staying here without communication is going to be the absolute worst kind of torture.”
“Without communication,” Haze echoes.
Yep, he’s a hair’s breadth away from putting it all together.
Instead of trying to follow my vague trail, Haze says, “I get it. Being helpless when your brothers are in danger is… harrowing. Thinking they might be dead and not knowing… Those couple hours can seem like lifetimes.”
Despite the conversation and situation that’ll be unfolding over the next couple of days, I smile. He gets it. He heard the car bombs. He heard his brother screaming. He wasn’t able to get a hold of or speak to his brother for a couple of hours.
I’ve never lived through that kind of fear. I’ve never felt that kind of fear. But I have a feeling I’m going to be experiencing it a lot. We’ve never been involved in this kind of situation before. There’s never been a time when we’ve entered somewhere without armor, without weapons, without the ability to communicate.
This is a very different kind of danger. Though this island is supposed to be a peaceful utopia, it’s surrounded by armed men. Maybe the colony was initially convinced they’re there for their safety, but now that there’s no escape, I’m sure they recognize the prison they’re in and see the guards for what they are—wardens.
“We’ll get through it,” Haze says. “We also have Oakley to entertain, though I’m still unsure why that’s necessary.”
I snort. “I’m appeasing my brother and if he can trust that Oakley’s being protected , then he can give his entire focus to what he’s doing. I won’t lose my brother’s trust, even if I think he’s being a little obsessive about it.”
“To be fair, Oakley walked straight into a serial killer’s hands,” Haze says, a frown in his voice. “I get it.”
I laugh. “There won’t be any serial killers coming for Oakley on this property.”
He huffs. “I suppose not.” His arm tightens again. “Everything will be fine. Not to get all woo-woo, but don’t envision a future where they’re not returning, Imry. The only future you think about from this moment forward is that all four of your brothers are coming home unscathed, with their contracts being successfully completed.”
“Manifest destiny?” I muse.
Haze shrugs. “Positive energy. I don’t believe in a lot, if anything, but I’m choosing to believe that the energy you put into the world will send that same energy back.”
“The energy I want back is my brothers not coming home in body bags,” I say.
“That’s a little dark. Let’s try, I want my brothers to come home safely. Positive vibes. Don’t tie the dark and negative into the energy you put out.”
I grin. “Got it.” He’s so damn cute.