Cambria Chapter 5
It was a good thing I didn’t have any urgent projects at the moment.
If I did, there was no way I’d be able to work on them.
My mind was a whirling mess. I kept trying to think of what I should do not only to stop this, but to protect myself.
The terror that more people would discover who I was and where I lived made me sick.
I kept recalling what it had been like after Garen’s arrest and the whole time until his conviction a year later.
I’d lived in a cage and been harassed, slandered, and threatened.
Back then, it hadn’t so much been the fanatical groupies at first. It had been the regular citizens and the families of those he murdered.
They were angry and wanted to blame someone for not stopping him.
I was an easy target for their rage. They hounded me, asking why I hadn’t known he was a murderer.
Asking if I’d known and protected him until he turned on me.
Why hadn’t I suspected anything and gone to the cops?
It went on and on. I’d lived for a year in federal protective custody in an undisclosed safe house. It had been awful.
I couldn’t talk to any of my friends or extended family.
I wasn’t allowed to go to school. I continued my schooling online so that I could graduate on time.
I had to mourn not only the loss of my mom, but of my dad.
Although after he killed Mom and tried to murder me, I could no longer refer to him as Dad.
He became Garen. He was a stranger to me.
I never knew the monster that lurked under his smiling, usually charming exterior. He was a true sociopath.
Over the years after his arrest, I educated myself on serial killers and sociopaths.
I wanted to know what made them that way, and what I had missed.
The scary part was that they were experts at disguising their true selves.
They were very manipulative to get their way.
They could pretend to love and care for others, but beneath the surface, they were incapable of forming those kinds of emotional connections.
Armed with my new vast knowledge, there were minor signs that I would’ve picked up on if I’d been educated in sociopaths and serial killers.
There wasn’t a year that passed that I didn’t think of his victims and their families.
If I could’ve apologized to them and made it mean something, I would’ve.
It was a weight I still carried. I’d worked over the years to build my life and to learn to be happy.
I still had a hard time letting people in.
Brae had been the only one to penetrate the wall I built around myself.
There had been a guy or two whom I’d gotten close to, had become lovers with, but before I could tell them who I truly was, we’d parted ways.
One time, it was due to the guy cheating on me. The other time, I had called it quits.
Brae encouraged me not to be a hermit, but it was hard. I wanted to have connections with others. I longed to have a husband and family. There was a dreaded thought. What if I had kids, and I passed Garen’s mental disorder to them?
Every sound outside made me jump and run to a window to peek outside.
I had to turn off my phone because the constant ringing drove me mad.
I texted to let Brae know to call my home line if she needed me.
They hadn’t gotten that number yet. I paced.
I stewed, and then, when trying to read failed, I went online to figure out where I had been exposed, in case I could fix it.
I forced myself not to read any more of Garen’s clueless groupies’ posts.
I cried out in alarm when my house phone rang. Cautiously approaching it, I saw the caller ID showed Brae’s name and number. I sighed and snatched it up.
“Hey,” I said breathlessly.
“Hey, I don’t need to ask how you’re holding up. I can hear it in your voice. Sorry that things took longer than expected, but I’ve got a plan for you.”
“A plan? How?” I asked.
“First, it involves you trusting me. And you need to listen to me. Okay?”
“Okay, you know I always trust you, Brae.”
“Thank you. First, I have to apologize. This is, at least in part, my fault. A few weeks back, I mentioned that you were working a case for me while I was on leave to Rage and Mom. I didn’t think anything of it.
They asked how I was handling not working.
Rage wanted to know who my investigator was.
Have you been vetted by one of the clubs?
I told him no, you hadn’t, because it was unnecessary. I refused to give them your name.
“Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for him.
He took a barely recalled conversation I had with Mom, where I slipped up and called you Cam once.
He went to his club’s deep-dive hacker, Shadow.
I’ve mentioned him to you. Anyway, he asked Shadow to find out who you were to make sure you weren’t any kind of threat. ”
When she paused to breathe, I jumped in. “So he was good and somehow found out my past and leaked the information,” I said woodenly.
“He didn’t leak it intentionally. He had no idea he had left any footprints or trails, as he called them, to you. He’s shocked and appalled that this happened to you, Cambria.”
I struggled with how this news made me feel. I mentioned another possibility that occurred to me.
“Shadow might not be to blame. I have that online stalker, remember. He’s probably the one who did it,” I said through gritted teeth.
Brae didn’t respond immediately. When she did, I heard the dismay in her voice.
“Cam, honey, it was Shadow regardless. He’s the stalker you told me about. He’s been tracking you,” she said softly.
Disbelief hit me. “B-but why? Why was he following me? That stalking happened before the other, right?” I couldn’t keep the order straight at the moment.
“It did. And he said his attention was brought to you because of a flag you tripped when you sought information about him online. He has flags planted all over, or something.”
My heart skipped a beat. Fuck, I’d seen the flags, and that’s why I stopped researching him like I had done to the rest of his club before. However, I thought I’d avoided them all. I moaned out loud.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I started this. Fuck!” I shouted.
“You started it? How? You’re not making any sense.”
I told her about checking into Shadow after one of our recent talks about how I couldn’t get much on him during my original vetting of the Pagans. Brae was groaning when I was done.
“Son of a bitch. You’re telling me, we’re the guilty ones. If I weren’t your friend and you weren’t concerned about who I was surrounded by, and if I hadn’t refused to tell Rage and Mom who you were, this would’ve all been avoided? Motherfucker!” she shouted.
“Brae, calm down. It isn’t your fault,” I rushed to assure her. In the background, I heard Loki’s voice.
“What the hell is wrong?” he asked anxiously.
“Nothing, other than your wife is a total idiot,” she told him.
“What?” he asked.
“I’ll explain it later. I’m okay. I need to finish talking to Cambria.”
“Alright, but any more outbursts and I’m coming back and staying,” he warned her.
“Okay, he’s gone,” she murmured not long afterward.
“It’s not your fault. I was the one who chose to dig into the Pagans and the Warriors in the first place.
And I was the dumbass who went back to do it a few weeks ago because the fact that I hadn’t found much on Shadow bugged me.
You know how I am about mysteries. As for you not telling Rage and your mom who I am, who would’ve thought he’d go that far, or Shadow, with only Cam as a clue, could find me.
If I wasn’t so pissed that he somehow exposed me, I’d be impressed and want to ask him how he did it,” I grudgingly admitted.
“So you don’t hate Shadow and want him dead?” Brae asked.
“No, of course not. What do you take me for, a nut like those fools who worship Garen? No, I don’t hate Shadow or want him dead.”
“Oh, good, then this will be easier than I hoped.” She sounded relieved.
“Easier? What’s easier?”
“The clubs are working to fix the leak and rebury your identity. If it can’t be hidden, we have friends who can provide you with a completely new identity.
A new one that will stand up to even the best hackers’ sleuthing.
In the meantime, those crazies calling and on the internet are the concern.
What if they discover where you live? You could be in danger.
The guys want to put a security detail on you.
And before you say they don’t need to, understand it’s happening whether you like it or not.
Anyway, they could rotate guys there, but your house isn’t totally secure.
The best place for you is to come to a compound where you’ll be behind secure walls with eyes on you day and night. ”
I saw where this was going. “No, no way. There’s no need for me to come to Hunters Creek. I’m not bringing danger to all of you.”
“I knew you’d say that. So here’s your choice.
You have been offered sanctuary at the Pagan Souls compound in Oconee, Georgia.
They have only two women and one child there.
And I’ve told you about Lunatic. She can more than handle danger.
If you refuse to go to them, then you leave me no choice.
I will leave Branton here, and Loki and I will come to stay with you in Aiken until the threat is neutralized.
If that takes months, then it’ll be months. ”
I heard the resolve in her tone, and she was stubborn enough to do it.
There was no way I’d take her away from her newborn or have her and Loki exposed to danger because of me.
I could disappear, but I didn’t know how to do it thoroughly enough not to be found.
The official identification would be the problem.
I’d need that to live. It left me with only one choice.
“You bitch, you did that on purpose, didn’t you? You know I can’t allow you to do that, Brae,” I growled.
“Damn right I did. So, what’s it gonna be? You have us as houseguests, or are you going to Oconee?”
I made her stew for a couple of minutes before I gave in.
“Fine, you win. I’ll go to Oconee. I’ll need directions on how to get there. I won’t be able to leave until tomorrow or the next day. I have to get things arranged around here. Tell them I’ll be there soon.”
“You can tell them yourself, and no need for them to send you the address. They’ll show you. You should have someone knocking on your door within two hours, at the most. You’ll know it’s the right people when you see their cuts.”
“They’re coming here? Now?!” I squeaked.
“Yep. Okay, I know you have a lot to do to get ready. If you need help, let me or the ones coming know. They’ll get it done. Thank you for doing this. It’ll greatly ease my mind. I can’t let anything happen to you, Cambria. Our friendship means too much. I love you,” Brae said.
“And I love you too. Damn, you worked me into that trap,” I mumbled.
Her laughter was still ringing in my ears after we disconnected.
Looking around my place, I was hit with the need to tidy up and make a list of the things I had to do before leaving town.
I’d tackle the living room and kitchen first. The cottage wasn’t terribly messy or dirty, but I’d been sidetracked and not doing my usual cleanup. I hurried to the kitchen sink.