Chapter 26
Rory
“What are you doing?” I ask as Jennifer stares at my intel board like it’s hers now.
She looks over her shoulder at me and smirks. “We needed to make space for the new orders. I figured we could use this board.” She points at the few she has already pinned up. “These came from the other cells too. They’re starting to move.”
I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. Months of work—gone. Now just a pile on the chair. “You could have asked me first before taking all my stuff down. I had an entire process.” I groan and grab my items from the chair.
“Sorry,” she says softly before tacking the next folder.
I don’t answer. Instead, I watch her pin folders to the board like we're playing God. By the end, there are twelve victims. Twelve targest in one cycle.
Jennifer steps back, arms folding, and eyes scanning the faces. “Twelve.”
I grunt.
“Twelve fucking people that may or may not deserve to die.” She sighs. “But if we miss this window, they’re gone.”
I step closer to the board. “Have you read the folders of anyone yet to understand their crimes?”
She shakes her head. “I can’t bring myself to open them.”
I let out a breath and take the first face from the board. It’s a man who seems to be in his twenties, with curly brown hair and dimples. He looks like a young guy. Innocent and sweet. What could he have possibly done to be put on the hit list?
I flip the folder open—and nearly drop it. In large red letters at the top, there is a stamp that says—rapist. No way. He looks like a puppy, not a predator.
“So, what did he do?” Jennifer asks from behind me.
“He’s apparently a rapist. I have to finish reading first.”
After thoroughly reading through the file, I close it and place it back on the board.
“Well?”
“He’s a serial rapist. Fifteen victims. Council caught him last month.”
“Seems like he deserves to die if you ask me.” then her brows furror. “Maybe not like this, though.”
I nod, feeling the same. “I agree, but that’s not why we’re doing this. We’re getting the locations of the attacks so we can do what we need to do to the cult members.”
Walking past her to the table in the center of the room, I place a marker next to where the first victim's house is located. I point to it. “This is the spot. He’ll be grabbed here, then moved for the ritual. We need to intercept between.”
“How do we know which one they will grab first?”
Jennifer asks, looking over the map.
“Let me text Ryven real fast to see.” I pull out my phone and send him a quick text.
“Who do we grab first?”
“The rapist goes first, I gave you the stack in the order that we would attack.”
I glance at the board. “Are those laid out the way Ryven gave them to us?”
Jennifer nods. “Yeah, I just placed them up there, starting from left to right. They should still be in the same order.
“Okay, he said the rapist will be tonight.” I point to the man’s picture on our board.
“Looks like we better get ready for a stakeout.” Milly says, chewing on some bubble gum from the corner.
An hour later, we sit in our blacked-out suburban—one of three vehicles we rotate through—on the opposite side of the street a few houses up from the victim’s. Jennifer is in the driver’s seat, and I’m in the passenger seat, while Milly is in the back.
“How long are we going to have to sit here?” Milly groans from the back seat.
“Chill. We just sat down,” I mutter.
“Still no word from Thomas. I hope he’s okay,” Jennifer says, watching a car pass.
“No clue where he is,” I say flatly. “Would’ve been helpful though,” I try to make my words sound more convincing but I don’t feel guilt for his death. He made his bed so now he can lie in it.
There’s movement at the front door as a light comes on the front porch. “What’s he doing?” Milly asks, poking her head through the front seats.
I sigh. “You’re watching the same thing we are, Milly. Cut the commentary.”
She puts her back against the seat and crosses her arms in front of her. “Damn, why are you so bitchy tonight?”
I’m on edge right now. She doesn’t deserve to take the brunt of my anxiety. “You’re right. Sorry, Milly.”
I rub my hands along the top of my thighs. Nerves are getting to me. This is the first time we’re actually doing this, this way. This guy doesn’t deserve to be saved, but this is our only chance to know precisely where this cult member is going to be, and we need to take it.
Milly gasps, pointing at the tree line. “Look.”
Jennifer and I follow her finger to see two masked men creeping out of the trees, slowly heading toward the victim’s house. I take note of the two different colors of their masks.
Jennifer turns toward me. “I thought you said there would only be one.”
I shrug. “The file listed one guy. Maybe he needed backup.”
“Well, what do we do now? Are we going to grab them both?” Milly asks.
I shake my head. “No. I have a better idea.” This could go really wrong, but we have to try. I turn in my chair to look at both women. “What if we let them take him—follow them to the site, then grab one before it starts?”
Jennifer glances at Milly and then back at me. “That’s not a bad idea. I guess let’s watch how this plays out.”
An hour ago, we watched as both men walked into the home, but no one has emerged since then. It’s been too long, something’s off.
“Should we go in and see what is happening?” Jennifer offers.
I can’t stand the wait any longer. I retrieve my gun from the glove compartment and swing the passenger door open. If this goes sideways, there’s no backup coming. It’s just us.
Gun in hand, I cross the road toward the house. It’s silent tonight. No sound is coming from the roadway or the woods.
I press my ear to the door once I’m at the front of the house and listen for any screaming. There’s none. It’s quiet inside as well. An eerie feeling spreads through me, and my hands tighten on the gun.
I check the door handle, and it’s unlocked. That’s lucky.
Without making a sound, I enter the main part of the home. The floor creaks above as I shut the door behind me.
My head is on a swivel. Looking from side to side, I make sure nothing is going to ambush me. Then, finally, in the silence, I hear it. A soft whimper comes from down the hall.
Inch by inch, I stalk down the hall toward where the sound came from.
“Who the hell are you?” a male voice snaps behind me, and I quickly turn around, a blow slams into my arm—my gun flies across the floor.
Then the man is on top of me, kicking my feet out from under me and grabbing me by the throat. Too fast. I wasn’t ready. A cultist masks stares at me as he squeezes the life from my body. In a scuffle, I pull off his mask, leaving his face bare.
A scowl on his face and a look of determination appear back. Then the front door swings open, and Jennifer and Molly come barreling through. A shot rings out, and I jolt as the cult member's blood splashes across my face, his body going limp on top of mine. Shit, this wasn’t the plan.
The girls rush past me and clear out the rest of the house, then come back to help me.
Molly kicks the man’s body off of me and holds out her hand.
“Thanks,” I mumble as she helps me stand. “Is there anyone else in the house?”
Jennifer shakes her head. “No, it would seem they left out the back door while we weren’t looking. Either that or the other member and the victim abandoned both of you when you guys started fighting. We lost them.”
I look at the man on the floor and let out a sigh. Then I lift his mask from the floor.
“What are you doing?” Jennifer asks.
I shake the mask in the air and say, “This is our trophy. One down, many more to go.” This is just the beginning.