Chapter 20 #2
Elena suppressed a shudder. She knew what that meant—isolation, indoctrination, breaking down identity until nothing remained but obedience. “But you just said you had freedom. You’re high up on the totem pole now. Why not just leave?”
“I may. After I make you pay. Get comfortable, sister. You’re home now. For good. And just so you know I’m not completely coldhearted, I’ll send someone with some food.”
After Iris left, Elena sank onto the cot, mind whirling. Her sister—the sweet child she remembered—had become this vengeful stranger. Had orchestrated violence and aligned with criminals, fueled by resentment over Elena’s escape all those years ago.
“Hello?” Elena called out in a whisper to the teen in the other cell. “Are you all right?”
“I can’t talk to you. There’s no talking in here.” The voice was also a whisper.
“Just tell me if you’re hurt.”
“I’m not hurt. Just scared.” A pause. “It helps that you’re here.”
Then maybe God had a reason for Elena’s presence in the little room after all. And if she could, she’d get the other girl out too.
She examined the cell once again, looking for any way out. Six by eight feet. One barred window too small for escape. No way to unlock the barred door. No weaknesses in the walls. They’d taken her boots, leaving her in socks. No belt, no hairpins, nothing useful.
Elena closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing to calm the rising panic. Her only hope was that someone had found her note. That Sully and the others were searching for her. But even if he was, would he find her in time? Before the “reeducation” began?
She thought of her father’s defeated posture, the shame in his eyes.
Was that an opening there? A crack in his loyalty to exploit?
And Iris, consumed by bitterness but clearly intelligent.
Elena couldn’t help but wonder if there was a way to reach her, to make her see she was being used by LaVoy and his mob connections.
But a tiny part of her wondered if it was really Iris using LaVoy. She hated that that thought snuck in.
Elena lay on the cot, staring at the ceiling.
Her body ached from the drug, her heart from betrayal.
But still, she forced herself to harden her feelings toward her sister and father.
She wasn’t the same frightened fourteen-year-old who had fled this place.
She had skills now. Knowledge. And something to fight for.
She wanted her life back. And she’d get it one way or another.
A door opened and closed. Then muted voices came from the office at the end of the hallway. Then a little louder. “. . . said I could visit her! Now, I’m going back there. Stop me and I take it up with Iris.”
Her father?
Silence. Then, “Fine.”
Elena sat up, and soon her father came into view. His eyes met hers, then he scowled at the guard. “You can leave us.”
The man hesitated, then shook his head and stomped back toward the office.
Elena shivered. It was cold in the cell.
Not as cold as outside—they were pumping heat into the building—but it was still chilly enough to make her wish she had her coat.
She’d already discovered if she pressed her cheek on the bars of the door, she could see into the office at the end of the row of cells.
She could also see her coat hanging on the wall.
And her boots. She curled her toes into the hay on the hard concrete floor and stared at the man who’d wrapped his fingers around the bars separating them. “What do you want?”
“Not this.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head forward to rest on the wrought iron. “I’ve been a fool, Elena.”
“I’d agree.” He flinched and she sighed. “What do you want, Dad? You set me up.”
“No. She set you up. Set us up. Hence the label of fool. She tricked me.”
“Iris tricked you into thinking she wanted to leave?”
“Yes. For the past month or so, she’s come to me, restless, questioning if she wants this life and so on.
So, when she said she wanted me to reach out to you, bring you to the clearing and tell you that we both wanted to leave, I fell for it.
The woman who helped take you is a friend of Iris’s.
I thought Iris had taken her into her confidence, but she threatened me just before we reached the clearing—and you.
She was just Iris’s spy.” He ran a hand over his eyes and shook his head. “And I’m a gullible fool.”
“But you want out?”
“Yes. More than anything.” Tears reddened his eyes but didn’t fall. “I wish I could go back and change everything, make different decisions that weren’t so self-serving, but I can’t. All I can say is I’m sorry.”
“Get me out of here, Dad. If you’re sorry. Get me out.”
He sniffed and nodded. “I’ll find a way. Let me see what I can do.” He left, and Elena gripped the bars of the door, then went to the cot and lay down.
Outside, an owl hooted. Elena closed her eyes and listened, mapping the sounds of the compound settling for the night.
Footsteps passed her door, and she peeked, then shut her eyes again, pretending to sleep as the guard made his rounds.
Distant voices, a generator humming. She cataloged everything, searching for patterns, weaknesses.
Tomorrow would bring the council’s judgment. Tonight she would plan.
It had been twenty minutes since the text message had glowed on Sully’s screen. “We have Eleanor Higgins. Leave our land now or she dies.”
That was one way to ensure he wasn’t leaving.
They’d huddled together, discussing the plan of action—and still working out the mechanics of said plan—when another text flashed.
We’re watching you. Go or people start dying including Eleanor. You have ten minutes.
Sully showed the message to Agent Martinez. “Fall back,” Martinez ordered into his radio. “All teams, retreat.”
Sully stared at the tree line ahead as he walked away, knowing Elena was somewhere beyond it.
Every instinct screamed to push forward, but without a plan, he would sign her death warrant.
His partner’s dead face flickered in his mind, and he did his best to shove it away.
He hadn’t been able to save Rick. He had to save the woman he’d come to care about in such a short time.
“We need to regroup,” Martinez said.
The team backed away, moving in practiced formation until they reached a small clearing well out of sight of the compound.
Donovan reported that the remaining Whitestone deputies and several FBI agents were still at the ranch.
He’d asked neighboring law enforcement agencies to send protection there as well.
Knowing that, Sully could concentrate on everything else.
Martinez gathered everyone in a tight circle. “All right, this is a hostage situation. We need to proceed with extreme caution.”
Agent Ramirez, a tactical specialist, pointed toward the compound. “We have cause to use force. We go in hard and fast, extract the hostage.”
“No.” Sully shook his head. “You don’t know these people.
Before Elena educated me, I would have thought the same thing.
Yes, they hate law enforcement, but more than that, they’re willing to die for their cause.
If they think they’re being invaded, there’s no telling what defensive measures they’ll take.
Remember, they like bombs. Knowing that, we need to think out of the box.
This isn’t a textbook hostage situation. ”