Hearths of Fire (29 page)

“And what if it leads to more?” Charlotte’s fingers came down over his hand as he was about to clip his side holster to the waist of his jeans, stopping him from doing so. Her chin had that stubborn tilt to it that he remembered so well. He’d seen it the day she’d called off their wedding. “All I’m asking is that you don’t discount what we’re feeling as leftovers from our past.”

“My emotions
are
leftover, Char. I never got the closure you apparently received when you left me standing there at the church.” Neal gently pulled away and clipped his holster, ensuring that it was secure before reaching for her face. He stroked a thumb across her cheekbone as he struggled to find the right words so that she wasn’t hurt. “We’ve always been physically cohesive and the years haven’t changed that. But we
are
two different people who have grown and matured separately. Just as your sister thinks she has and needs our help. Time hasn’t erased that connection either and as a kind of brother of sorts, I’ll do what I can to make sure she’s safe.”

“And what about this? Us?” Charlotte asked, not giving him an inch. Neal hadn’t expected her to take this the way she had. They’d been in agreement and she was now trying to alter the terms. “I’ll be the first to agree that we need to help Mandy out of this mess that she’s gotten herself into, but I refuse to allow you to make this into a one-time thing.”

“Make no mistake, Char,” Neal said, bringing up his other hand and cupping her face so that she didn’t miss what he was about to say. “This wasn’t a one-time thing. I’m nowhere near done getting my fix of you, but keep this in mind—if you’re going to make more out of this than what it is, I’ll bury whatever physical temptation lies between us in an instant.”

‡

N
eal parked a
good mile away from the compound down an old secondary road he’d used many times in his youth for hunting and some parking. It ran off the main road primarily to give access to the rail line and a small lake all the teenagers used during the summer to get wet and tease each other. It was one of those places in time that would bring back memories for a lifetime. He found himself pacing through history as he made the rest of the trip on foot, ensuring that he was on the south side of the property so that he could get a good visual of the area. He reminded himself to not forget why he was here as he approached. He needed to get his head back in the game.

Scanning the region and listening for any movement other than his own, he waded into the long green grass that was already losing its color due to the colder weather. Laying his black bag on the ground and taking up position on a small rise, he pulled out a standard pair of old binoculars that Charlotte’s dad must have once used for hunting. They were Zeiss 8x30s, which were pretty good back in the nineteen fifties. He had to retell himself to be careful of reflections. These old style binoculars didn’t have the anti-reflective coating of his Leupold MK4 Tactical 12-40x60mm Scout Sniper Observation Telescope (SSOT) that was sitting in his equipment rack back at Red Starr HRT. They would do though—necessity being the mother of invention. He low-crawled up the natural rise feeling the familiar adrenaline rush of approaching a target juxtaposed to that of the cold ground, planting both elbows into the cold dirt as he brought the antique Swiss-made optics up to his face.

There were numerous people milling about in front of the reconstructed barn the members were now using as a church. Richard and Patricia Ashe were standing near the opening, greeting each and every person who entered. Now that he knew where the two leaders were, he needed the layout of the compound. Swiveling the binoculars to his left, he started with the far side of the land where they were building the wooden housing structures. Some remained unfinished and as he was about to scan to his right, something caught his attention. A man dressed in black, obviously belonging to Ashes to Dirt, stood guard while resting against a fence post. Neal didn’t spot a weapon, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t carrying one.

By the time Neal took inventory and examined the compound from afar, he’d counted six guards planted at various intervals. From their apparent lack of interlocking fields of observation and improper placement on the terrain, one thing was strikingly obvious. It was an unprofessional detail that demonstrated the Ashes didn’t know anything about force protection. They were a typical run of the mill cult that used brawn versus brain without a single veteran among them.

“What have we got here?” Neal murmured, setting his sights on the church. Garreth was walking toward the building with Mandy on his arm, both grinning and then exchanging embraces with his parents. Neal’s fingers tightened on the binoculars, wishing he wasn’t witnessing this false act that only further drew Mandy into the web of lies. “Son of a bitch.”

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Garreth would bring Mandy to Sunday’s service. After all, it would be the perfect time for the Ashes to announce something of this significance to their members. It technically worked in Neal’s favor because he would only need to worry about the men posted to watch for intruders. The haphazard way they were watching the property would allow him easy access through the one of many gaps in their coverage to search the premises.

Neal felt his phone vibrate in his coat pocket. He’d purposefully pushed all thoughts of Charlotte to the far recesses of his mind. Thinking of her and how she desired to take things further than what they should have would serve no purpose and only break his concentration. Unfortunately, he couldn’t take the chance of not answering in case something went wrong at home. Keeping the binoculars against his face, he pulled his cell from his pocket and gave it a quick glance.

“Daegan. What’s up?”

“That was my line,” Daegan said, although he answered the question without any more preliminaries. “Patricia Ashe was arrested two years ago in an attempt to abduct a fifteen year old girl.”

“What the fuck?” Neal lowered the binoculars although his gaze remained fixed on the probable lane of enemy approach from the area around him. “I pulled everything there was to find on Robert
and
Patricia. There was nothing.”

“That’s because the arrest was thrown out and somehow her lawyer managed to get it expunged.”

“Which is why it didn’t show up in the standard records check,” Neal muttered, finishing off where Daegan was going with this. Neal also read between the lines. “Did you get this information from the chick in the operations intel cell? You’re so going to get our collective asses canned.”

“Being the good old boy from next door isn’t going to get you what you want.” There was a pause on the line and Neal had to wonder if the woman in question wasn’t by Daegan’s side as he relayed the information. His Irish blue eyes had a way of capturing the attention of every lady within a ten-mile radius. “It took some deep searches in following Ashes to Dirt’s history and then pulling up the local newspapers before getting a hit on the small article that didn’t even make the front page. It turns out that the girl later recanted her statement and said she made false claims against the Ashes after she was back home in late October.”

“Let me guess,” Neal said, bringing his binoculars back in place. “This girl’s birthday falls on Halloween.”

“Hold on.” Rustling papers could be heard in the background along with the clicking of a keyboard. Neal might have been wrong about Daegan’s informant being in his bed. “Here it is. Melanie Stewart. Her birthday is…October thirty-first.”

Neal thought back to what Becky had told Charlotte in regards to a ritual along with the Ashes thinking their son was the messiah. He didn’t know much about cults or the various beliefs, but combine those with rituals and All Hallows’ Eve and it couldn’t be good. If Patricia Ashe would go so far as to try and abduct a girl for her son, what other lengths would they go to? Had they taken Becky? There was only one way to find out.

“There is one week before Garreth Ashe turns eighteen. I’m doing some recon now, but my gut is saying they abducted Mandy’s friend thereby keeping her from going to the sheriff.”

“Do the Ashes not realize that several people already know what this girl overheard?” Daegan asked, his skepticism coming through the phone line loud and clear. “You said that you relayed the information to the sheriff.”

“It’s hearsay and not enough to get a search warrant.” Neal sat back on his heels and calculated the odds of being able to search the entire property. “Once I have a better feel for the place I’ll call you back.”

“Wait. Is your girl going with you?”

“Charlotte would only get in the way,” Neal said, not wanting to engage in this topic. Daegan would undoubtedly have some fucking Irish radar that would give away the fact that Neal had slept with her. “I’m losing time here. I’ll touch base soon.”

Neal disconnected before Daegan could say anything else, feeling somewhat satisfied that he’d stopped that conversation in its tracks. Having already picked out the route he would take onto the property, he quickly packed the binoculars back into the bag and exchanged them for a pair of lineman’s pliers—which he stuffed in his back pocket—and a pair of gloves. There was no telling what he’d find once he was inside the compound, but there wasn’t much that a good pair of lineman’s pliers wouldn’t help out with. He swiftly gathered some leaves and a few long reeds to camouflage his bag as a precaution for anyone on roving patrol who might stumble across his hide while traversing this area.

It didn’t take him long to access the property as well as slip past the two men guarding the east side of the compound. Neal looked at his watch, waiting for the seconds to hit the minute mark. He pressed the side button that would start his timer and give him the forty-five minutes needed to scour the property. He was erring on the side of caution. Most likely the sermon that was being given would conclude within an hour. He wouldn’t take the chance of getting caught trespassing and tampering with any evidence that might be needed at a later date.

The first three buildings were housing structures, containing ten cots per building. Each assembly had a small kitchen and bathroom attached, although there were no personal belongings other than various black clothing. By the time he’d made it to the renovated church, fifteen minutes had passed. Neal could hear the murmurs of voices through the wooden planks. The sermon was in progress, so he stole around the back and had to waste at least four minutes of his time while one of the guards took his time before returning to the other side of the barn. It would be impossible not to be seen by walking around the front of the house, so Neal hastily made his way around back and tried the door. It was locked.

“Fuck,” Neal muttered, weighing his options.

He kept his eye out for anyone close to the residence as he tested all of the windows. Every single one of them was bolted tight, which didn’t leave him much of a choice. He could either break one of them and hope that the noise didn’t carry or work his way around the front and take the chance that the front door was unlocked as well as moving by unseen. It would have to be the quiet route since the noise would carry. If the front door was dead-bolted he’d have to come up with another scenario.

It took another five minutes as he lay in wait for the cult member in front of the church doors to decide to walk around the other side. Where the other buildings were situated on the west side, he didn’t have to worry about being spotted by the two guards working that area. Neal grabbed the railing of the porch and hopped over, landing quietly on his feet. Closing the distance to the entrance as swiftly as he could, he pulled open the screen door and placed his hand on the doorknob. When it turned in his hand, he didn’t waste any time entering the house and quietly closing it behind him.

Listening carefully and hearing nothing but stilled silence, Neal made sure to stay away from the windows as he searched the first floor, looking for anything that would indicate that Becky was on the premises. Nothing stood out so he took the stairs up to the second level and entered the first bedroom. It was almost clinical with the way the white sheets and blanket covered the mattress that laid on the floor. The only furniture in the room was a dresser and he found that there were women’s clothes inside…all black, of course.

Leaving things in place, Neal then made his way to the second bedroom. Same style of detached design, although the dresser contained men’s clothing. Before he made any assumptions he went to what a normal family would have considered the main bedroom. Thinking he would find the same dispassionate taste, he wasn’t prepared for what he saw when he opened the door. Yes, there was a mattress on the floor and a dresser off to the side. It was the altar surrounded by black and red candles that caught him off guard. A mirror hung in the middle so that whoever knelt at the makeshift altar would be able to see him or herself. It was a safe bet that this was Garreth Ashe’s room, whereas that meant that Robert and Patricia no longer shared a bedroom.

Neal didn’t waste time searching the closets and bathroom that was located on the other side of the hallway. Nothing caught his interest and he made his way down the stairs and back into the kitchen, opening up the door to the basement. A quick glance at his watch gave him the amount of time he had left. He stood at the top of the stairs with his head bent, listening intently but he couldn’t detect a sound. He pulled the small flashlight off of his belt and clicked the button, shining the beam of light down the steps. Taking one at a time and keeping his back to the far wall, he made it downstairs in less than thirty seconds. The ray of light caught something of interest, so once he did a clean sweep and determined that no one else was in the basement, he walked over to the set-up on the wall.