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CHAPTERONE
King
Orders were a language King spoke fluently. It’s what he preferred. To be given a direction and then execute. That’s how he was programmed. The reason why was becoming clearer these days. A brush with death was providing a new found clarity that had been obscured for too long.
When the Rossi family took him in and put him to work as a young man, they also changed him on a cellular level. It was all under the guise of their altruism. Taking this helpless kid off the street and giving him a better life. But the cost of that life had proven to be like selling his soul to the devil. He’d finally worked out a way to buy it back.
There were times he’d wondered who he would have become if not for their influence. Maybe now was his chance to see what life, free of them, might be like. Redemption was in sight. But only if he could pull this off.
The GPS indicated there were nineteen miles left on his trip and his gas tank was perfectly aligned. Just as he’d planned it. While he would have preferred more time to prepare for this job, he understood the urgency when Carmen hired him. The alternative for him was a no brainer. Nothing was left for him back home. He’d burned every bridge. Hell, he’d blown them up. The target on his back would have burned bright, every enemy he’d ever made ready to strike. Not to mention the cops would have been pretty damn interested in what he had to say if he’d stuck around. Leaving was the best option and at least he had a purpose to run toward.
Out here there were no burned bridges. No people chasing him down. The peaks of mountains in the distance were a stark contrast to the skyscrapers of the city he’d just flown from. The airport was hours in the rearview mirror, and signs of all civilization were dwindling like a dying campfire. It had been ages since he’d passed another car. The winding road was closing in around him with thicker brush and looming trees, however it was the furthest thing from claustrophobic.
Cruising with the windows open, the mountain air had a distinct scent of pine trees and rain, though it wasn’t raining now. The closest thing he could compare it to was the way it smelled in the city when the asphalt was blazing hot and summer rains fell, though out here it was much more refreshing.
Exhaustion and unease weighed down his every move, but the distance he’d put between him and his former life was a gift. One he wouldn’t squander.
His ringing phone broke his gaze on the distant skyline. Carmen had been calling frequently with nervous requests for updates, even when next to nothing had changed.
“Hello?” King masked the annoyance in his voice. This was still better than being in prison and having to face his former life of crime. He’d put Lou Rossi in jail, and there would be hell to pay for that if he wasn’t cruising on this desolate road right now, and Carmen was the one to thank for that.
“Are you there yet?” Carmen’s voice rattled with nerves. “You should have been there by now, right?”
“I’m getting there. Should be another half hour or so. I got slowed down by a bunch of wild turkeys that wouldn’t get out of the road. I’m pretty sure one gave me the finger. Is that possible?”
“A gang?”
“What? No not a gang, turkeys.”
“That’s what a group of wild turkeys is called. A gang.”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “Then maybe they did give me the finger. They definitely looked edgy.”
“King, please be serious.” Carmen’s voice broke and she sounded as exhausted as King felt. “You do know you can’t just roll up and join a commune, right? Did you read all the material I sent you? Cults are not all that welcoming to strangers they think might disrupt their system of control. You definitely look like a disrupter.”
“I read everything you sent.” He’d answered these questions already, but he understood why Carmen was asking them again. He was an unknown commodity. A wild card. She was trusting him with something vitally important to her, not because King was her most reliable option. But because she was trying to do this clandestinely. Everyone else she worked with would have talked her out of it. Or downright shut it down. It didn’t fit the mission of the work they did. It fell outside the purview of what was safe and right. That was where King did his best work.
He respected what Carmen and her team did for a living. They swept in and continued the work of Gloria Kinross. When someone was experiencing abuse that was on track to be fatal and couldn’t get help from the normal channels, they’d step in. With funds and a network of safe houses they would help people get out of situations that seemed impossible to escape. They’d done it for King’s former boss’s wife and child. Saved them from Lou when King hadn’t been able to do so on his own. For that, he felt a deep sense of gratitude to them. And so he’d let Carmen ask as many times as she needed to until she had the answers she wanted.
“And you have a plan?”
“I have the framework of a plan.Plan lightif you will. It may involve those turkeys now that I know they’re part of a gang.”
“King,” she sighed. Levity was no help. He took note of that.
“I’ve got it under control. I need to get the lay of the land and the people. It’s going to require some observation. Time. I know you’re anxious.”
“Don’t call me anxious.” Carmen punctuated the words with a sigh. “I just hate when people call me that. I’m focused. Driven. Determined. This isn’t anxiety.”
“Got it. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m on this. I know I haven’t done anything yet to prove myself to you. Trust is earned. I get that. When I have an update, you’ll be the first to know.”
“I don’t want to fail Bailey. That’s going to make me a pain in your ass. Can you deal with that?”
“I can deal with anything.” He didn’t let an ounce of humor weave into his words. She needed to know he meant it.
“I hope you’re right about that. Bailey is a wonderful person who has been through a lot. I’ve seen her at her worst but I’ve also seen her pull herself out of that. I want her to be safe and happy. She deserves it.”
“I got that impression from the information you sent over. I’ve done some reading on communes and cults. I know about her father. His arrest. The charges.”
