Chapter 28
28
The barbecue had been a reprieve, and then what had happened to Aubrey had distracted everyone in the family for days. Emerson had missed his meeting with Adrian and the church elders, but they had understood. He’d been with Gunn when the call about Aubrey had come in. Gunn knew Adrian and the rest would understand.
But now… Emerson had to do what he had come to Texas to do in the first place.
It was time for them to do this. For their church. And for Emerson’s own well-being. Gunn was worried.
Today was going to be hard. He knew Emerson was dreading it. Gunn was dreading it, too. They’d thought everything with JD Rei’s cult was over. That the denomination was moving forward now.
Both Gunn and Emerson knew it was going to be a tough meeting. Emerson was even quieter than normal. He’d been that way since he had driven Greer and Hala home the night Aubrey had been attacked.
He’d told Gunn that Gunn’s sister had told him what had happened to Aubrey and Ayla as children. Gunn was getting the feeling his best friend was having a real crisis of faith right now. Gunn just didn’t know how to help him through it. He just didn’t.
Adrian Barratt had taught them both at the seminary. Emerson knew him well, too. Adrian and Gunn had flown up to Nebraska after Emerson’s church had been set on fire, to help with the fall-out. After what had happened, the church had suffered.
They had lost more than forty-five percent of their active membership, after what had happened. Some of the smaller churches had been forced to fold. Gunn had been in serious fear for his own, but his board of deacons had voted to stay under the Hope Life name. He’d been told his congregation wasn’t going anywhere. That they trusted Gunn and believed in him, and that they knew he had their best interests at heart, that Gunn was a man of faith.
Their support had touched Gunn completely. He was not going to ever do anything to endanger that trust.
Emerson had lost seventy-five percent of his congregation that day. More than fifty men—and ten women—had faced charges with abductions, human trafficking, assault, and murder. Men and women Emerson had cared about and wanted to lead under God. Another ninety or so had left the church. Some had moved to other churches, others… had just disappeared… after the federal authorities had questioned them all.
Emerson had let it slip that he still suffered nightmares about that day. About the two little girls locked in his church, with it burning around them. The girls had been rescued, as had their baby brother. They were being raised by their aunt and her husband—they were safe and happy and well cared for.
But there had been so many young women who had been taken through the years. Moved, trafficked, to be brides for men throughout the United States. Every time Gunn thought about what those women, what their families had endured, he thought about his own sisters. About the day he had watched, helpless, as two men had taken Greer right from their front yard, as revenge against Gunn’s father. She had been nine, and he hadn’t been able to stop them.
He would never forget that.
Gunn had gotten Genny back that day. He had been close enough to yank Genny away from one man—but he hadn’t been able to get both of sisters to safety. It had taken him a long time to reconcile to that failure. To accept that what had happened was God’s will. It had been the hardest lesson for him to learn.
Greer had nearly died—she’d been in a coma for three days, and had had to learn to walk again over the next year—and Gene could have died. Grady had jumped into his own truck and followed while Gunn had run back inside to call 911.
Help had been only minutes away. Minutes; if it hadn’t… Greer would have died.
He would never forget the pain those men had caused his family that day. And when he thought of the young women and boys taken by JD Rei and his followers… Gunn would never stop imagining their pain.
Who had helped the victims of JD Rei? Gunn had been tormented by that question, too.
He didn’t want to see what had happened destroy his friend now.
Adrian shook his hand, awkwardly. There was a little blonde toddler with big green eyes riding on his hip. “Welcome, gentlemen. We have a special attendee today. Her mother was called in to work at the hospital just up the road. Serenity here is keeping Grandpa company at the church until her daddy can get here. He’s in a meeting at the TSP for a bit.”
Adrian’s son Turner was the mayor of Finley Creek. Gunn had met him many times before. Seeing the little girl had him relaxing a little. Adrian wouldn’t have his granddaughter there if he was expecting this to be tense or heated or angry.
“We’re waiting on a few more people to join us, then we’ll get started. But first… Emerson, I want you to know we aren’t angry with you about anything, or plan to do anything about your appointment. We just have a few more questions that have come up with the federal investigators. We’re just trying to make sure everything makes sense.”
“I understand.” But Emerson was tensing. It was hard to miss.
Adrian turned to Gunn. “I understand your younger sister was the nurse who was injured at BCGH, recently. How is she doing?”
Gunn answered, not surprised Adrian knew. He tended to keep an eye on what was happening around him, especially with the ministers that he guided. The Hope Life Church had a hierarchy, of course. Most denominations did. “She’ll recover fully, thankfully. She’s now engaged to Dr. Fields, a pediatrician at the hospital.”
Someone knocked. Adrian called for them to enter and the door pushed open. A small, pretty redheaded woman in glasses and a business suit came in, looking around almost hesitantly. A big burly blond man walked right behind her, protectively. He stopped, and just looked at Gunn for a moment.
Gunn recognized him immediately. “Cam, I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
“Gunny, old pal. You are a surprise here to me too.” Ronnie’s oldest brother held his hand out to Adrian and introduced himself quickly. “I am multi-tasking. Finishing up a few questions on an old case involving Hope Life members, and then, I am going to go check out the two newest Lake Monsters.”
“Hiller babies,” Gunn corrected. This was an old refrain, but he genuinely liked Camden Lake. “They are Hiller babies.”
“Lake Monsters. It’s in the DNA. My wife tells me so all the time. Especially lately. She should know, you know.” Cam’s wife Kyra was over eight months pregnant, Gunn had heard. He had known Kyra his entire life, they’d been in the same class at school. “We all make Lake Monsters, even the girls. ”
Well, Ronnie and George’s four older daughters looked very much like their Uncle Cam, as did George’s baby boy Max. But baby Mira… she was baby Genny all over again. There was no denying that.
“Agent Lake,” Emerson said, quietly. “Leina, I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
“Hello, Emerson. I was called down here due to some sudden discrepancies in PAVAD records regarding what happened, that we hoped the Hope Life elders could help us clear up,” the petite redheaded woman with Cam said, looking right at Emerson.
“Leina is my partner with the Bureau. I am just here to keep her out of trouble, until I deliver her right back home to her big scary football player husband.” Cam sank into the chair next to Gunn. “Leina, this is Gunn. Gunn’s big brother Georgie captured my precious baby sister Veronica a decade ago and did highly unmentionable things to her. That’s how I got to be the favorite uncle and everything. They have six now. They are the ones with the newbie Lake Monsters.”
“I have new pics,” Gunn said. “I stopped by the hospital this morning to check on them. And I’ve heard I am the favorite uncle, you know. Mari Lynn told me so.”
He pulled his phone and showed George’s brother-in-law the babies. Mira Aubrey and Georgiano Maxwell IV. They were miracles, both of them. That they had all survived was also a miracle—his sweet little niece almost hadn’t survived. Gunn would never forget. Guthrie had told him privately how close it had been for baby Mira. “Ronnie’s feeling better, too.”
“I have yet to see them in person. I am a man on a mission today,” Cam said. “After we leave here I am going to Bert’s and Verity’s to get my little wifey and the spawn-of-Kyra, then heading out to the Hiller Ranch, where my sister and her precious younglings are supposed to be tonight. Yes, Gunny, I will be at your house for dinner. My wife was very cranky to have missed the annual Hiller barbecue, you know, but she was needed to testify in a crooked politician case from two years ago. We both greatly value our judicial system, after all.”
Cam also held a law degree. He liked to argue with George and Giavonna every chance he could. He was a bit different, Camden Lake. But Gunn had always liked him.
“I’ll warn the family to cook double.” Because if one Lake brother showed up, there might just be others heading that way. Or Lake sisters. They were as close as the Hillers were. “Dinner is going to be a big one; we’re celebrating. Guthrie was bringing George, Ronnie, the babies, and Aubrey home to the ranch this afternoon.”
“I have yet to meet this Aubrey.”
“A very nice, very kind-hearted doctor who works closely with Dr. Alvaro and is best friends with Genny. She was injured yesterday at the hospital. She’s getting out today. Guthrie hasn’t left her side. He’s in love. ”
“Great. I’ll tell the wife there will be food for her tonight. She may or may not eat, though. She’s getting finicky lately.”
“How is she doing?” Gunn asked. Cam had married Kyra Dillon, a few months later her brother Jake—the librarian—had married Cam’s youngest sister Celia. Kyra had almost died during a case gone bad. It was one that wouldn’t be forgotten in Value anytime soon.
Gunn and his brothers had been a part of the search crews looking for her and Bailey Addy, the woman who had married the sheriff, too. Both Bailey and Kyra had suffered far more than any human being should have. Sometimes, the evil in the world threatened to overwhelm him. Why did evil always target the most innocent?
That was a question he had yet to answer.
“She is in the million months pregnant and very cranky stage. She nearly chewed my face off this morning, and I was completely innocent . I seriously love that woman, and I tell her that all the time, but she nearly chewed off my face . Kimmy is with Grandma Verity, though. They are keeping an eye on Kyra for me. She wanted to come check on Ronnie herself. She’s a bit stubborn, my woman.”
“Pot, kettle, Cam. She says the same about you,” the small redheaded woman said. She was looking at Emerson—who was looking away from her. Deliberately.
Gunn could feel the awkward tension between them.
Gunn looked at her. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met.”
“I’m Leina Chalmers, with PAVAD. I am… also… ”
“Leina was Rei’s true target,” Emerson said, almost harshly, as Adrian’s granddaughter climbed over Emerson’s feet and babbled something at him before waving at Leina. “She has the kids from… that day, Gunn.”
That explained the hurt in both their eyes. Those little girls haunted Emerson. Gunn suspected they would until Emerson let himself truly find peace with what had happened.
“I see. I am sorry for what JD Rei did,” Gunn said. “That is not representative of our church at all. Please understand that.”
“I do. I am a profiler with the FBI. Cam and I work REY—Runaway & Endangered Youth. We’ve been working for a few years to try to track the victims of JD Rei.” She looked at Emerson again. “I was hoping you would be willing to help us with that.”
“And the church board wanted some of us not connected to assist. And… they have asked that Gunn and I help oversee,” Adrian said. Gunn knew Adrian had taken on a major role after what had happened to Emerson’s church. The head of the Hope Life Church denomination had stepped down amidst what had happened—claiming it was best for the church as a whole to have a fresh start. Every church that hadn’t been implicated had been asked to vote what they thought and wanted. “Agent Lake called me last week, and when I learned he had family here and was already planning to be down here… that’s one reason we asked you to come here and speak with the elders.”
The elders were located in Finley Creek now, Gunn had assumed that was why Emerson had been summoned. It had been the darkest time in his church’s history.
Adrian was voted in almost unanimously to be the acting head of Hope Life Church countrywide. Adrian was not taking that responsibility lightly.
“We thought… maybe meeting away from Evalyn would be a little easier, considering. For… both of us,” Leina said.
Gunn wasn’t blind to the truth here. There were undercurrents. He just didn’t know what they were.
But he was going to find out.
“So… what is it you want to know?” Emerson asked.
“We are still looking for six people,” Cam said. “Tracking them, and… well… they were the ones responsible for setting up the deals after young women between the ages of twelve and twenty-four disappeared.”
Gunn felt sick at what Ronnie’s brother was saying.
“How many girls have been found? Please tell me you’ve found them all?” Gunn asked. Twenty-four years old. Greer wasn’t twenty-four just yet. Ayla and Hala were twenty-four.
That just sat on his soul for a long moment.
“We’ve found most, Gunn. We’ve found most.”
“Cam has been searching for them since… what happened in Evalyn. He’s located almost all of them now. Or… we at least know what happened to them,” the redheaded woman at Cam’s left said. “Some… like my brother’s late wife passed away. But from what we can find, it was natural causes.”
“How many?” Emerson asked.
“Eighty-four, from… about the time my brother was first targeted, until the week your church burned,” Leina said. “For an average of a quarter of a million dollars a year. James David Rei banked most of that money in personal accounts. He wasn’t doing what he did because of some corrupt religious ideology, Emerson. Nothing you ever did convinced him to even start, or caused this. You were just a kid when he began. He targeted Lance, because he saw a boy who had no sense of belonging at home. That was our parents’ doing. That was how he operated. By targeting boys and young women who were alone. Because there was real profit in it for him. He had more than four million dollars in his account. And we suspect there was more, for the cult specifically. We’re tracking that now—well, Cam is. As a victim, I’m not allowed.”
“Eighty-four, and you’ve found all but four?” Adrian asked. “That’s rather amazing, isn’t it?”
“Cam has made it a personal mission,” Leina said. “He’s very good at finding missing people, especially women and kids. One of the best I’ve ever seen.”
Cam acted like a clown constantly, but deep down Gunn knew the man took what he did very seriously. There were few men he respected as much as he did Cam Lake—he knew how what Cam did weighed on his soul at times. They had discussed that privately a few times before. “James David Rei destroyed lives. If I can do my part to fix that, I will. My family has lived that hurt. We were just lucky enough to get Celia back twenty years later.”
Gunn patted Cam on the shoulder.
There was just far too much pain.