Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Jake
If I’d known all hell would break loose while I was on my date with Blondie, I would have extended our little getaway to three days instead of overnight.
Blondie and I returned to Sterling Ranch after our date to the news that Orlyn Moffatt, the cult’s prophet, is missing.
Ever since, the Wylie gang has been in meetings to decide our next move.
Today, things have come to a head. The group has gathered at the ranch one last time to hammer out the plan and get everyone on the same page. Wylie, Olivia, Ellis, Louisa, Barrett, Goldie, Jefferson, Georgie, Joaquin, and Jasmyn.
“It’s the damndest thing,” Wylie says.
“What is?” I ask.
“Well, I was just complaining that I didn’t have a plan to distract the elders enough to get the remaining women and children out of the compound. And then an angry mob showed up with a battering ram to the jail. Nobody has seen Orlyn Moffatt since.”
“Yeah,” I say, eyeing my brother. “It is a damn coincidence.”
Ennis scoffs.
“What is it?” I ask.
“We seem to have a lot of coincidences around here,” my younger brother says.
“I know what you’re getting at,” Blondie says. “And you’re barking up the wrong tree, Ennis.”
“But we don’t even know your name and we’re supposed to trust you,” he says.
Curly butts in with, “She’s my responsibility and I vouch for her.”
Ennis scoffs.
A silence hangs in the air. I clear my throat. “I know you have questions, Ennis…”
“I sure do,” Ennis says suspiciously. “Especially since you refuse to see what’s going on here. You know that group has planted people in law enforcement before. How do you all know she’s not playing you?”
There is no doubt in my mind that Blondie is the real deal, and my brother is dead wrong. I’m so sure that I’m flush with anger at the suggestion she might be screwing us over somehow.
I don’t know what comes over me, but I’m across the kitchen and pinning my brother against the fridge.
Everyone reacts with shouts, while some of the men try to step in to break us up. Wylie tries to pull me back, but he can’t. Not when I’m this worked up.
Blondie shrieks. “Jake! What is wrong with you?”
“Your girlfriend thinks you’re overreacting, Jake,” Ennis says.
“Apologize to her.”
Ennis laughs. “To who? You don’t even know her name!”
“Nelly, OK! My name is Nelly!”
All eyes turn to Blondie.
“Nelly?” I ask.
You could hear a pin drop.
She smiles, and her throat bobs. “That’s me,” she breathes.
“Yeah, I knew that,” I hear Joaquin mutter.
“My brain hurts,” Jasmyn whispers.
A long moment follows where nobody says anything.
“Nice to meet you, Nelly,” I say, still pinning my brother against the fridge.
“Son, apologize to Special Agent Nelly Carter, whom I handpicked for this assignment. Understand?” Curly orders.
Ennis wheezes, “I understand. I’m sorry, Nelly.”
Nelly is unfazed. “It’s no problem. I understand why everyone in this room is supremely annoyed with me and suspicious of me,” she says. “I’m used to it.”
I let go of my brother, and Wylie backs off. Ennis huffily adjusts his shirt. Most of us take seats around the table while Ennis raids the pantry for snacks.
“If you two are done, let’s get down to business. Whatever you’re planning,” Curly says, “We have to do it fast before they figure out that our operative walked out of the hospital undetected.”
And had an overnight tryst with a cowboy soon after that. I will say, Nelly and I know how to make good use of our minimal time together.
She catches my eye across the table, and I get the feeling we’re both thinking about the same thing. I give her a wink, and she looks away, blushing.
“It’s best to assume, based on cases like this, that Moffatt’s already dead,” Curly says. “Angry mob justice usually doesn’t end well. How do we use that to our advantage?”
Ennis tosses a piece of popcorn in the air and catches it in his mouth. “Oh. Orlyn Moffatt is very much alive,” he says.
All heads turn to look at Ennis.
“How do you know that, son?” Curly says.
Ennis chews on his popcorn, considering whether to tell us what he knows.
“Ennis? Out with it,” I say.
“Please,” says Nelly.
“I know that because it was me. I took him out of the jail.”
We all look at each other, checking to make sure we all heard the same thing.
“I’m sorry, bro. All eyewitnesses we’ve talked to said a big crowd rushed the jail and busted the door down,” I say.
Ennis tosses another piece of popcorn into the air and catches it.
“Oh, they did rush the jail, alright,” Ennis says. “But there wasn’t any battering ram.”
“How did they get him out, then?” Nelly asks, deeply invested in the details.
“Most of the deputies were dealing with crowd control on the square, where people were protesting against the cult. Well, there was a group of about twenty at the back of the jail, just waiting for an opportunity. Some staff came out the back door, and the people rushed in. There was only one jailer left inside, and they weren’t about to risk their life to protect that inmate.
Dani and I were in the thick of the anarchy, and we wrestled Moffatt into my truck and drove away. ”
“You did what?!” I shout.
“We’re fucked,” Barrett says. “We don’t need this mess.”
Jefferson and Joaquin exclaim in shocked curses.
Nelly looks confused. “Who’s Dani?”
Curly rubs his temples.
“You guys said we needed a diversion,” Ennis says. “Well, can anyone think of a better one than sending the elders a video of their prophet in captivity?”
Curly growls, “Son, where is Orlyn Moffatt right now?”
Ennis shrugs. “I got him locked down in one of the cabins.”
“The cabins are not secure! Who is watching him?” I ask.
“Dani!”
“Will someone tell me who Dani is?” Nelly exclaims.
Wylie scrubs his face. “She works for me. One of my ranch hands. And now you’ve implicated her in a kidnapping, Ennis.”
Ennis shakes his head. “It’s not kidnapping if he’s already supposed to be in jail.”
“Son, that’s not how this works,” Curly says.
“Do any of you have a better idea?” Ennis asks the group.
We all look at one another, but nobody has any suggestions.
“If anyone asks,” Curly says to Nelly, “we didn’t know about that little detail.”
Nelly nods. “Good enough for me.”
I
Wylie and I follow Ennis out to the old ranch hand cabins on the property. I have to see this with my own eyes in order to believe it.
Nelly stays with Curly and the rest of the group at the main house. I don’t need them witnessing anything.
There he is. The Prophet.
“The orange jumpsuit really brings out your eyes,” I tell him.
The old man sits on the bottom bunk of the small, rustic but cozy cabin, staring daggers at all of us. He’s got a chain tying his ankles together. One hand is handcuffed to a wooden rail at the foot of the bunk. “I want my lawyer.”
Ennis laughs. “Boy, did your kind let Georgie have a lawyer before shutting her up in a concrete box?”
He says nothing, but casts his gaze around the room, seemingly remembering all our faces. His frame is smaller than I imagined. His cheeks are sunken, and his hair is oily and thin. He doesn’t look at all like someone who could command an army of polygamists.
“Now I know he looks pathetic,” Dani starts. “But he’s been getting better than three-hots-and-a-cot since he came to stay with us.”
“Isn’t that right, old man?” Ennis says.
“You will be punished in the afterlife,” he croaks, a thin smile on his sallow face. “For taking what’s mine.”
The sound of his voice makes my blood run cold.
For the first time, it occurs to me that he might not survive the trial. And wouldn’t that be a bitch, if he didn’t get what he deserves in this life?
“They’re human beings and they don’t belong to anyone, least of all you,” I say.
“They were my flock. And you ravaged that flock,” the old man says.
“Don’t listen to him. All he does is talk crazy,” Ennis says.
“But God will forgive you. We’re all God’s children,” Orlyn says.
“As you know, children struggle with obedience. We all must listen to what God is telling us. We have to keep working for the greater good. But God will not forgive you for tainting his chosen people. He won’t forgive you for sullying innocent women and turning them against his people. ”
“Sure, sure,” Dani says. “Here, eat your lunch, now. We have to keep your strength up.”
It’s beyond me how anyone would let someone be in charge who preaches misogynistic gibberish. I stopped trying to understand people a long time ago.
The man can’t refuse a hot meal that’s better than what he’s getting at the jail, and better than whatever crap he’d been eating while in exile.
When he’s finished, he looks up at Dani with anger. “What are you doing? Put that away?”
I turn to Dani, who’s been recording Orlyn the whole time.
She pauses the video and says, “I’ll put it away once you tell your men that you’re OK. That you’re being treated nicely, and that your captors are demanding ten thousand dollars.”
“A she devil whore cannot put words in my mouth,” Orlyn says. “You are beneath me, Jezebel.”
The unexpected sound of Dani racking her lever-action rifle makes us all stand back. She points the barrel at The Prophet’s face.
“How about we let the .22 put words in your greasy mouth, then? Words like ‘ouch’ and ‘oh god, you shot me in the penis,’ and ‘please let me die’?”
Dani is scary when she’s pissed.
And I think Ennis might be in love.
I think Orlyn will comply with this home video now.