"What if you're wrong?" Delia grabbed Jeremy's arm. "What if you're wrong and it isn't Gary at all? What if it's someone else, some rand
om person…
"
"I don't believe that it is, Delia," Jeremy told her. "I've had a trace on each one of these birds as they have been released. All of them are present and accounted for. Except for two. Last seen in Virginia Beach about ten days ago."
"Virginia Beach is not very far down the coast," Jody said aloud from the doorway, a tray bearing a large white coffeepot in her hands.
Jeremy went to take the tray and she stepped
around him, saying, "I have it." She placed the tray on the low table in front of Delia and returned to the kitchen for a second
tray of cups and saucers, avoid
ing Jeremy's gaze as she passed.
"Why were you keeping an eye on these guys?" Matt asked.
"When Delia first asked me to check up on Gary, I never expected to find anything. A minister who gambled away his church's money is probably not the most moral man in the world, but it didn't necessarily make him a dangerous person. I know the warden at the prison where Gary is incarcerated, so I thought I'd just make a quick inquiry for Delia, just finish up the file, so to speak. But when I brought up Harmon's name to my buddy, I could feel the tension right through the phone. It seems your old friend Gary has established quite a network of loyal admirers. His 'gospel' has spread from prison to prison. His ministry—which he calls the Sword of the Lamb, by the way—has become a sect unto itself."
"Like a cult?" Georgia frowned.
"Very much like a cult," Jeremy nodded, taking the cup of coffee offered by Jody, "with Gary as it's leader."
"So you're saying that Gary could have told one of his disciples to kidnap Laura?" Jody asked. "Why would he do that now, after all these years?"
"I haven't been able to figure out what triggered it," admitted Jeremy, "but I feel very strongly that's what happened."
"So what do we do now?" Matt stood and repeated an earlier question. "How do we know where to look?"
"I think we need to try to think like Gary," Jeremy said.
"There's a scary thought," Jody muttered.
Georgia asked, "Okay, let's start with, how does he see her?"
"As his wife," Jody answered without hesitation.
"From what Laura said, she hasn't seen or spoken to him in years," Tucker said.
"They haven't, but that seems to make no difference to him." Jody shook her head. "As far as he's concerned, they are married for life.
Till death do us part
…
"
"Laura said the same thing recently." Matt frowned. "It didn't make any sense to me then, and it doesn't make any sense to me now."
"She never showed you, did she?" Jody said softly.
"Showed me what?"
"The letters she got from him."
"From Gary?"
Jody nodded. "Every week or so, she'd get something from him. Generally it's just ranting and raving, a lot of Bible stuff. Laura just threw them out."
She paused.
"But
…
?" Jeremy walked to her and took her by the arm.
"But not too long ago she got one that seemed to rattle her. We were in the kitchen and she was opening the mail. She opened this one envelope, and she just went white and her hands started to shake. Laura crumpled it up and threw it into the trash and walked out of the room without finishing her sentence."
"How did you know it was from him?" Jeremy asked.
"Please." she rolled her eyes. "If one of your friends reads something that makes them bolt like that, you take it out of the trash and you read it."
"What did it say?"
"It was something about sin finding you out." She frowned. "It didn't make any sense."
"And there were others?"
"Yes. Every week."
"When did they start?" Matt asked.
"Laura's been getting letters from him for as long as I've been here. Three years."
"How many did you see?"
"Several," she admitted. "They were all pretty much the same."
"When did the last one come?" Jeremy asked.
"The last one that I saw was about a week or so ago. It was another weird one that made no sense. Something about the scribes and
Pharisees and a woman taken…"
She stopped, the words sticking in her throat.
"Go on," Jeremy turned to her.
"A woman taken in adultery," Delia said softly. "
'And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.'
It's from the Gospel of St. John."
"Why would he write something like that?" Georgia frowned
. "Unless he thought she was…"
"She wasn't," Tucker stood up and repeated, in case anyone had not understood the first time,
"She wasn't."
"But supposing he had someone watching her," Georgia turned to Tucker,
"and they thought she was…
"
Tucker stared thoughtfully at her.
"You've been staying here at the inn for several weeks now. You've taken walks together. You've spent a lot of time together
,"
Delia said, not as an accusation, but as a statement of fact. "If Gary had someone watching her, they might have made the assumption that you were lovers."
"And that could have been enough to set Gary off." Matt frowned.
"Where would he have had them take her?" Tucker said abruptly.
The room was silent, save for the ticking of a clock in the hallway.
"The house on Manor Road." Matt stood up. "If we're assuming that
Gary has this Laura-is-now-and-
always-my-wife fixation, maybe he'd want her in the house they lived in together."
"It's as good a place as any to start." Tucker headed for the door.
"We'll take my van." Jeremy was right behind him. "Matt, you'll have to show us the way."
Georgia grabbed her shoulder bag and slung it over her shoulder. She leaned down, kissed her mother's cheek and said, "We'll call you as soon as we find her."
The three men paused in the doorway, then turned to look at each other, then at Georgia.
"Georgia, we're the 'we,'
" Matt pointed to Jeremy, Tucker and himself. "You are not part of the 'we' who is going."
"Oh, yes I am." She started through the door.
"Georgia," he grabbed her by the elbow, "this is
not the
Movie of the Week.
This is very real, and it could be very dangerous."
"Matt is right, Georgia." Delia protested. "It would be foolish—mor
e than foolish—for you to go…"
"If they've
…
if something has happened to her
…
if they've hurt her, she'll need me," Georgia said.
"Georgia has a point. But," Tucker turned to Georgia, "no crazy stuff, hear? We have to assume that these are dangerous people who think they are serving a higher power. They will not be happy to see us. Anything can happen."
"I understand. I won't get in your way. But if she's hurt, I want to be there for her." Georgia turned to her mother and said, "Maybe Ally should go to a friend's house after school, at least until things settle down here."
"That's not a bad idea." Jody stood up. "I can call Samantha's mother. I'm sure she'll take Ally home with her."
"That might be wise. Yes, that might be best." Delia nodded.
"I'll do that right now, and then I'll call the school and let them know who Ally may leave with. They're used to me calling, so no one will be alarmed." Jody headed back to the kitchen to look up the necessary phone numbers.
"We'll be back," Georgia assured her mother. "With Laura. If she's there, we'll bring her back."
The rescue party of four headed out the door.
"Maybe we should take the rest of Gordon's crew with us," Georgia said to Matt.
"What rest of the crew?"
"You know, the big bald guy with the tattoo, and his buddy," Georgia said as she dosed the door behind her.
"Who is she talking about?" Gordon frowned and turned to Delia. "I don't have a
ny 'big bald guy' on my crew…"
twent
y
-
f
ive
T
he drive to the house on Manor Road was, for the most part, a quiet one, what little conversation there was being restricted to Jeremy's asking directions and Matt giving them. At the top of the road, just off the highway, several houses had been built since Matt had last been there. He cautioned Jeremy to slow down until he got his bearings.
"What will we do when we get there?" Georgia asked.
"What do you mean, what will we do?" Matt frowned.
"How will you know if Laura's there? If she is, she won't be by herself."
"I think we need to see what the situation is when we arrive." Jeremy pulled slightly to the shoulder of the road to let a car pass. "How much farther?"
"Just past those trees," Matt leaned forward and pointed, "on the right. It's a two story gray stucco house
…
right there. Slow down."
The house was set back slightly from the road, a
pleasant-looking house with black shutters and a flagstone path leading from the driveway to the front door. A trellis next to the front door served as support for a climbing rosebush upon which dozens of large red roses bloomed. Flower boxes spilled over with red and white petunias.
The foursome in the car drove past slowly.
"This is really strange," Matt said. "That does not look like an abandoned house."
"Maybe it's been sold." Tucker suggested.
"I think Laura would have mentioned that. And I'd bet my life that my sister has not set eyes on this place since the day she moved back to the inn."
"Then who's been taking care of it? The grass has been cut, the flowers in the front there are obviously newly planted." Georgia frowned as they slowly passed the house.
"Well, maybe Gary has rented it. It would give him a little income while he's in prison," Jeremy said thoughtfully.
"Someone's in there," Georgia pointed back at the house as they drove on down the road at a snail's pace. "There's a blue light—there, in the back of the house."
"Looks like someone is watching TV." T
u
cker turned to look. "Jeremy, find a place to turn around. Take another swing past the house."
"I have an idea," Georgia announced. "Why not let me drive, and on the way back, I'll come to a real slow stop, just in case someone's looking out the window
…
"
"Why?"
"So that when I walk up to the door and ring the
bell and say that my van just died on me and could I please use the phone to call my husband, it will look credible. That way, I'll get to see who or what is in there."
"Georgia, you're not going near that house." Matt shook his head. "Not under any circumstances."
"Matt's right. That's out of the question." Tucker turned his head to look back toward the house.
"Does anyone have a better idea?" Georgia asked.
"I thought we'd get out here, go through the woods to the house, and see what's going on." Jeremy pulled the van to a stop on the other side of the woods and turned in his seat to face Georgia. "I was figuring on having you drive, though."
"But supposing someone sees you. What if you startle someone and they get nervous," Georgia protested. "They might hurt Laura."
"And supposing
you
startle someone and they get nervous," Matt said. "They might hurt both of you."
"First things first. We need to establish who is in that house," Tucker
told them, "so a little surveil
lance is the first order of business here. Jeremy, I think you and I will go through the woods to the back of the house and we'll see what we can see from there."
"What about me?" Matt asked.
"You'll stay with Georgia," Tucker told them as he removed his miniature field glasses from his jacket pocket. "Jeremy, do you have any equipment in this van?"
"I have some infrared glasses," Jeremy nodded. "I think that's all we'll need this time around."
"Tucker, if you think that you're going to leave me
in the van while you and Mr. Priva
te Eye launch a big rescue…
"
"Nobody's launching a rescue immediately. We'll be back in less than twenty minutes and hopefully by then we'll have an idea as to whether or not Laura is in that house. If she is, we'll need you to h
elp get her out. Right now…
"
"Right now, you're wasting time, and I'm going with you." Matt said tersely.
Tucker sighed. The last thing they needed was an inexperienced man crashing through the woods.
"Matt, it's daylight. It's going to be difficult enough for Jeremy and me to get close enough to that house to see what's going on, and we've both been in situations like this before."
"I'll just follow your lead," Matt told him, "but I'm going. I won't do anything that would jeopardize my sister."
Tucker shrugged, then turned to Georgia and said, "I don't want the van sitting here while we're gone, so I'm going to ask you to drive the van down the road for about ten minutes, waste a little time, then turn around and come back slowly. But don't drive past the house. If someone is in there and is watching the road, they might get suspicious if they saw us go by the first time. We'll meet you here in about twenty minutes."
"Okay," she nodded, and took the driver's seat as Jeremy hopped down. "Be careful, guys."
"You too." Matt leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Pray that she's in there."
"I will." She squeezed his arm as he got out of the van. "What do I do if you don't come back?"
"We'll be back," Tucker told her as he closed the door.
Georgia watched the three men disappear into the dense woods, then shifted the van into drive and pulled onto the road. It was twenty minutes to four on an overcast afternoon. She drove slowly down the narrow two-lane road, past several farms and a new cul-de-sac where ranch-style homes had recently been built, the development still new enough that several of the front yards were still more mud than lawn. A gas station sat across from a fruit stand where handwritten cardboard signs boasted local strawberries for sale. She pulled in to the fruit stand and bought several quarts of fresh berries, checking her watch as she walke
d back to the van. Three forty-
seven.
Georgia drove across the road to the gas station and pulled up in front of the full-serve bay. The attendant, who looked to be no more than fifteen, came out of the small office area and shuffled across the parking lot to the van.
"Hi," she smiled.
"Whatcha need?" he asked dully, obviously annoyed at having had to get up and walk a whole twenty feet to the pump.
"Fill it, please."
Georgia watched the young man through the rearview mirror as he took his time opening the gas tank. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel to keep them moving and give them something to do besides shake. The clock on the dash said three forty-eight. She pulled out her wallet and opened the door, hopping down and heading toward the soda machine
near the door to the office. She counted out her coins and slipped them into the slot, then pushed a button to make her selection. Nothing happened. She banged impatiently on the machine.
"It don't work," the attendant told her, coming up behind her and causing her to jump nearly out of her skin. "That's nine dollars for
th
e gas."
Georgia fought an urge to smack him. He could have told her before she plunked her last quarters into the machine. Instead, she took a five and four ones from her wallet and handed them to him before getting back into the van. Three fifty-one.
She headed slowly back down the road, the butterflies in her stomach having turned into something more menacing and the ache in her chest causing her pain. She reached her destination with two minutes to spare. Letting the engine idle, she watched the woods with her heart in her mouth. Three minutes later, she was startled by Jeremy's appearance at her window. Followed by Matt and Tucker, Jeremy had come from behind the van, rather than the front where she had been watching.
"What's going on?" she asked as the three men got back into the van.
"Well, as closely as we can see, there are four people inside the house. One of them," he said, his dark eyes narrowing, "is Laura. She's in the kitchen, on a chair. There do not appear to be any guards outside the house, though, which will make it a little easier."
"How will we get her out?" Georgia asked. "Shouldn't we call the police and have them take it from here?"
"This is a rural area where it's unlikely the police have had experience in situations like this." Tucker shook his head. "I think our best bet is for us to get her out fast and dirty before anyone knows what happened. Jeremy, what do you think?"
"I have to agree with you. My instincts tell me that we are Laura's best bet."
"Matt?"
"Have either of you been in a situation like this before?" Matt asked warily.
"Actually, I have," Tucker told him coolly.
"Well, that probably puts you one up on the local guys—all four of them. It could take us all day to convince them that Laura's in there against her will, and another day while they figure out what to do about it. I'm with you. The sooner she's out of there, the better."
"I think we need to distract them for a few minutes while we go in through the back door." Tucker said to Jeremy.
"How are we going to do that?" Matt frowned.
"How 'bout if Georgia just drives toward the house, pretends to have car trouble, and pulls the van over to the side of the road in the vicinity of the house. Then she gets out, raises the hood, pretends to be looking at something. Maybe one of them will watch from the window, maybe ev
en come out to offer a hand…
"
Matt frowned. "Why aren't I driving the van and getting out?"
"Because she's prettier than you are." Jeremy said. "At the very least, I think they'll be watching her, and with any luck, it will draw their attention from the
back of the house long enough for me to pick the lock on that side door."
"What happens once you get inside there?" Georgia asked. "They might have guns."
"I'm sure they do," Tucker said.
"Well, what will you do if they start to shoot at you?" She grimaced.
"Shoot back," Tucker told her calmly. "Ready, Jeremy?"
"Yes. Georgia, give us five minutes, then drive. Go really slow, start and stop a few times in case someone is looking out the window."
"Don't worry. I can do this," she said confidently.
"Great. Tucker?" Jeremy asked.
"Let's do it," Tucker slid from the side door of the van and walked toward the woods, then turned back and called softly back to the van, "If all goes well, this will be over within ten, fifteen minutes."
"And if it doesn't go well?" Georgia turned to face Matt.
"I think we're going to have to trust them," he told her.
"Jeremy has never let my mother down before. And I think that Tucker would walk through fire for Laura."
She had no way of knowing that before the day would end, Tucker would do exactly that.
G
eorgia drove the van slowly, stopping and starting fitfully, as Tucker had suggested. As she neared the house, she began to let it roll to a stop on the side of the road.
"Here goes," she whispered to Matt, who was in the rear, windowless section of the panel van.
"Georgia…"
"I'll be fine." She hopped out and slammed the door.
Lifting the hood of the van, she peered this way and that, pretending
to know what she was looking
at. Leaving the hood up, she stood, hands on her hips, looking up and down the road.
"How long have we been here?" she hissed through her teeth in the direction of the open door.
"About three minutes," Matt told her.
"Guess I'd better go look at the engine again."
Returning to the front of the van, she peered once again into the eng
ine, reaching a hand in and pre
tending to touch or turn the various hoses and gizmos.
"I guess it would help if I knew a little something about car engines," she muttered, wiping her greasy fingers onto her jeans, and pacing back the length of the van.
"Matt, this is stupid. It doesn't make any sense at all that a woman would just pace back and forth."
"Get in and make like you're starting the engine again," he suggested.
"That oughta kill a few seconds," she told him as she swung herself b
ack through the open door and
turned the key.
"Does it look as if anyone is watching from the house?" Matt asked.
"I can't really tell. There are curtains on the windows, but without staring at the house, there's no
way to know." She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel for a long moment. "If they are watching, they must think I'm a moron."