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As soon as the man leapt from the truck, Seth saw the resemblance—same eyes, same chin, same grave expression. But when his eyes fell on Beck, Zacharias looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Gideon.” Awe transformed his face. “Praise God. I can’t believe it’s really—”
“Stay where you are.” Beck raised his weapon, completely unmoved by their reunion.
The smile fell from Zach’s face. “I’m not your enemy, brother. I’m here to warn you.”
“Before this conversation goes any further, I need to pat you down,” Seth insisted.
“I’ve got a knife in my boot,” Zach readily admitted.
“Take it out, nice and easy, then place it on the hood of your truck,” he instructed, keeping his AR at the ready.
Zach did. “I’m glad my brother has you for reinforcement, but it will take more than two of you to stop Jed.”
Seth patted the man down thoroughly and found no threat. Despite Zach’s easy compliance, he still wasn’t convinced the man didn’t have ulterior motives. But it was also possible he had valuable information that might mean the difference between life and death. So Seth stepped back and gave the surgeon a nod, determined to hear this intel. “He’s clean. Proceed.”
“Is that cocksucker coming for me now?” Beck asked his brother.
“I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but he’s actively on the hunt, Gideon.”
“My name is Beck now. Don’t ever call me Gideon again.”
“If you wish.” Zach nodded.
Beck raked a hand through his hair. “How did you find me?”
Guilt settled over Zach’s features. “I’ve spent months looking for you. The closest I came was the private eye’s office. I finally saw you pick him up yesterday, but you were already halfway down the street before I could even start my truck. I waited, hoping you’d come back, but a dark-haired man went into the office instead. When I tried to talk to him, he wasn’t very forthcoming, so I left my warning…then I put a tracking device on his truck, hoping he would lead me to you. And he did.”
The hair on the back of Seth’s neck prickled.
“Is there any chance Jed and his army followed you here?” Beck demanded, obviously not caring that Zach seemed pleased with himself.
“I-I don’t think so, but he’s not talking to me these days. And he hasn’t been acting like himself for the last few months. That’s why I’m here. I’m worried that—”
“Jed is coming to kill me?”
“Yes, among other things. I don’t want you to die, and I don’t want your blood on my hands.”
“Isn’t it dangerous for you to consort with ‘Satan?’” Beck sneered.
“Very, but I-I wanted to see if you could help. Things back home are…bad.”
So Zach wasn’t simply here out of the goodness of his heart. He wanted something…
“What do you mean?” Beck remained tense, as if he hadn’t heard the dread in his brother’s tone. Either he didn’t believe Zach and his motives or he just didn’t care. “Tell me what’s happened since I left Messiah City.”
“I’ll have to go back that far to explain. Mother watched you leave with Father after Blessing’s funeral. She was already singing hymns and laughing. In hindsight, it was like she knew—”
“Good ol’ Dad intended to make sure I wasn’t coming back?”
“Exactly. But when Father didn’t return and dark fell, she sent the Saint Squad out to find him. It didn’t take long for them to bring his body back and tell her they couldn’t find you. She went insane and sent them out to search with orders to kill you on sight because Satan had taken your soul.” Zach drew in a deep breath. “I never prayed as hard in my life as I did that day. It would have crushed me if they’d brought your dead body back, too. Finally, after months of searching the desert, Mother decided that you’d crawled back to hell and told them to stop looking.”
“Because she’d found a way to override the covenant and let Jed claim the title of Messiah then, even though he was only fourteen?”
“No. Things were still touchy. A few more ambitious elders made power grabs, but when Uncle Peter assumed the role of Messiah until Jed turned sixteen, they were all forced to accept him.”
Beck snorted. “Peter has the spine of a noodle. I’m assuming Mother really ran the show?” At Zach’s nod, Beck’s mouth took a bitter twist. “Of course she did. And since Jed was always a mama’s boy, I assume he’s been her puppet every day he’s been the Messiah.”
