Chapter 49
He glanced at Kori. “Are you Kori?”
Kori nodded. “I am.”
“She’s been asking for you.”
“She has?” Kori froze. “For me specifically?”
“By name.” He shifted his weight. “Been asking since about six this morning.”
Kori looked at Wyatt. He looked equally as surprised.
“Has anyone else come to see her?” Wyatt asked.
The deputy shook his head. “No.”
Wyatt nodded. “We have clearance to speak with her.”
“I heard.” The deputy nodded and stepped aside. “I’ll be out here if you need anything.”
Kori pushed open the door.
The room was dim, the blinds angled against the early light. The woman in the bed was awake, propped against the pillows with her hands folded over the blanket.
She looked better than she had in the woods. Her face now had color, and the wild fear was gone from her eyes.
She watched them come in but didn’t speak.
Kori stopped near the foot of the bed, and Wyatt stood slightly behind her. Thunder settled without being told, his presence quiet and steady.
“Thanks for seeing us,” Kori started. “It means a lot. We know you’ve been through an ordeal.”
The woman stayed quiet, and Kori wondered if this would be a repeat of yesterday.
Then the woman drew a slow breath. In a small, thin voice she said, “My name is Wren.”
Kori’s breath caught. “Hi, Wren.”
“There’s something I need to tell you.” Wren’s eyes stayed on hers, steady and serious. “The Remnant is out there, and they’ll kill anyone who stands in the way of their plans. You have to stop them.”
Wyatt stood at the edge of the room and let the words settle. The Remnant?
That was the first he’d heard that name.
He stepped closer. “What is The Remnant?”
Wren shifted against her pillows, seeming to measure how much to divulge.
Finally, she said, “The Remnant is a group of people who believe the government has gone too far. They want to build their own off-grid community somewhere remote enough that no one can reach them. They don’t recognize law enforcement’s authority, and they don’t intend to follow anyone’s laws but their own. ”
He and Kori exchanged a glance.
That fit with what they knew about Bartholomew. He probably hated the government after they’d taken away his land.
“How did you end up with them?” Kori asked.
Something moved across Wren’s face. Not shame, exactly. More like regret.
“I had been living in Charlottesville. I worked in the lab at a hospital there. I had a nice life. I really did. But . . .”
“But what?” Kori asked.
“But then I went to a concert—this country music star. I met a man there. Name was Toby James. We hit it off right away. We both had similar views on things. For example, neither of us liked government overreach. But he felt much more strongly about this than I did.”
“Can you give us an example?” Wyatt asked.
“I know this is ironic since I worked for a lab at the hospital, but I feel that way about some public health mandates. Toby really hated the restrictions some people said the government would put on guns. He was stockpiling them—just out of principle, he said.”
Wyatt shifted. “What happened then?”
“He mentioned this new community that was being set up out in the wilderness. He made it sound like moving there would be an adventure, a fresh start. He said we’d be building something that mattered, something our forefathers would be proud of.
” Her voice trembled. “I didn’t understand what I was actually walking into until I was already there. ”
“What did you walk into?” Kori asked.
Wren shook her head. “They were militant. They had all these rules and ideas. Anyone who wasn’t in line with them was treated as an enemy.
They say they hate the government, but honestly, they’d formed their own kind of government—and it was scary.
Men ruled the place, and the women there didn’t really have a voice. They just did as they were told.”
“What happened when you tried to leave?” Wyatt asked.
“Bartholomew—the leader—told me I couldn’t. He kept me there. He tied my wrists and ankles together when he thought I might try to leave.” She turned her hands over slowly, and Wyatt saw the same scars he’d spotted yesterday.
Bartholomew. It was him. This confirmed it.
“I’m sorry to hear about how they treated you,” he murmured.
“I knew I was on my own when Toby refused to help me,” the woman continued. “He turned against me too. When the snowstorm hit a few days ago, everyone was distracted as they prepared for it. I managed to get the binds loose and slipped out.”
“You made it a long way in those conditions,” Wyatt said.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it.” Her voice cracked, and she rubbed her throat. “I didn’t know who to trust—but I knew they’d try to find me. I figured they would. I’d lost hope. Then you two found me.”
Kori stepped forward. “I’m really sorry to hear about all of this. But Wren, I have to ask: What about my sister?”