Page 163 of Running to You

Oh, Sam.

Thank heavens she was still looking down or she might’ve given the earpiece away with her surprise. As it was, she had to bite back tears.

“Can you let me know you hear me?”

She cleared her throat.

“Good. We see you.”

His voice was reassurance. Her fears were still there, but she wasn’t alone.

“Don’t look for us, but we’re all around. We’re watching.”

She longed for him to keep talking, but he quieted as Gil parked the SUV. He came around and opened her door, this time letting her climb out on her own. Her back ached, and when she stepped on the gravel driveway, pain stabbed the soles of her bare feet.

Gil didn’t touch her, just walked beside her toward the building, carrying the manila envelope.

In her ear, she heard, “Where are your shoes?” Sam’s voice was a low growl. “You’re hurt. What did he do?”

“Okay,” Jon said, voice as calm as ever. “We’re muting our end. Remember, just because you can’t hear us doesn’t mean we can’t hear you. The camera’s broadcasting fine. You’re doing great.”

Didn’t feel like it as she hobbled toward a porch outside a wooden structure nearly invisible in the dark. They’d been calling it a lodge, and she could see why as she approached, the way lit by a dim moon. Everything about it screamed rustic, a low building dwarfed by higher slopes and towering forest all around.

Three wooden steps led to a wide porch. She hung on the stairway’s railing, hoping to make the climb a little less painful on her back and hip, which hadn’t quit hurting since Gil had knocked her over. She was on the second step when the door opened and her gaze snapped up.

Jedediah Keller, barely a silhouette with the light shining behind him like some sort of angel of darkness. How had she not noticed how long his beard had grown? Was it always so unkempt, or had he neglected trimming and shaping it since she escaped? And maybe it was because she was a couple steps down from him, but he looked taller than she remembered. Wider. More powerful.

Or maybe that was her fear talking.

Jed looked from her to Gil and back. “What happened?”

The only thing the guard had said to her on the drive was, “If you tell him I searched you, I’ll kill you.”

Maybe it was reckless and stupid, but she couldn’t stop the words as they exited her mouth. “Ask Gil.”

Because really, he’d kill her anyway, first chance he got. He was itching to do it, payback for all the times he’d come after her and been thwarted.

Jed stepped down beside her and took her arm. “Come on, honey. Let’s get you inside.” Over his shoulder, he added, “I’ll deal with you later.”

And even though Jed was being nice to her and Gil was plotting her murder, she preferred Gil’s company. At least she knew where she stood with him.

She made it up the steps and across the porch, then stepped over the threshold into a dim room. It was filled with people.

They were everywhere.

Men with guns leaning against fake-wood-paneled walls next to windows that had been boarded up. She could make out black fabric through the slats, hiding the barriers from the outside.

She was glad the guys could see that. But those boards… How would they get in?

Women and children huddled on rotting furniture and worn linoleum floors. The men glared or leered. The women wore wide, frightened expressions, so different from the adoring looks she was accustomed to seeing on the faces of Jed’s followers.

Was it the guns that scared them? Or had Jed done something to reveal himself as the madman he was?

Remembering the camera, she turned to the right, scanning the faces a second time. Then to the left, taking in each one and recognizing most of them. Lola was watching from the far side of the room, eyes narrowed. In fury? Or suspicion?

There weren’t as many people as she’d first thought. Four men on the right side, five on the left. Two against the back wall. Including Gil, that made twelve men all together, thirteen if she counted Jed.

Eight women, eleven children. Nicole wasn’t there, and neither were the two Eliza longed most to see.