When Shadows Fall (19 page)

Chapter
40

SAM WENT INTO
the kitchen with her cell phone and called Baldwin. He answered on the first ring.

“Kaylie Rousch is here in my house.”

“I know. Xander called me. I’m already here, waiting outside. Think she’s up for company? Xander said she’s a little leery of men.”

“Yes, but you’re going to have to be careful, she’s very reticent. In my professional opinion, the girl’s suffering from severe PTSD, and God knows what else. She was repeatedly raped, forced into all sorts of things at a very young age. She assured me there was nothing physical between her and Doug Matcliff, but I’m not sure I believe her. And she’s mentioned a man named Adrian who seems to be the sledgehammer, for lack of a better term, and this Curtis woman, the cult leader, was—is—clearly mad. Kaylie suggested Adrian is responsible for the current spate of attacks, so there’s a partial name ID for you.”

“Got it. Did you get anything that might give a clue where Eden is now?”

“Not yet. I didn’t want to push her too hard until you were here to guide things.”

“Okay. I’m coming to the door now.”

“Before you come in, just a heads-up. She’s a bizarre mix of child and adult, sane and insane. Her language vacillates between complete frankness and paranoid obfuscation, and she’s not all there, if you catch my drift. She’s very, very intelligent, though. But the things she’s telling me—Baldwin, we have to find this cult and stop them. Now. If they have Rachel Stevens, if they’re the ones who have been kidnapping these girls all these years, the poor things are undergoing some horrible treatment. I can’t even imagine how Kaylie stayed even partially together. Doug Matcliff must have really helped her.”

“I hear you. Ring-a-ding,” he said, and her doorbell rang.

She heard Kaylie’s high-pitched voice react from the living room, then Xander’s deeper voice telling her this was their FBI friend and not to worry.

Sam hoped they were telling Kaylie the truth. There was more going on here, currents running through the house that unsettled her.

She opened the door and Baldwin came in. He’d changed into jeans and a white button-down—the tie gone, the collar open, the sleeves rolled up. He looked casual and friendly, not at all like a cop, and she nodded her approval. Their best approach with Kaylie was going to be the relaxed one. Letting her set the tone, the pace and the rules.

With any luck, after an hour with Baldwin, they’d have every detail they’d need to find Rachel Stevens, and then lock up these horrible people for good.

Sam bolted the front door, then went to the back to double-check it was also secure. Thor was curled up on his plush dog bed, watching her actions with curiosity. Even with her precautions, she wanted him keeping an eye out, so she knelt by him, scratched his ears and said softly, “Thor,
achtung
.” Pay attention.

She could have sworn he nodded. She dropped a quick kiss on his snout and went to the living room, satisfied they were covered for the time being.

Baldwin was waiting for her in the hallway. She smiled and gestured for him to let her go first.

Kaylie was staring into the fireplace with a distant look on her face when Sam returned. But she focused and brightened immediately. A friendly face was welcome, clearly.

“Kaylie, this is my friend John Baldwin. I promise you can trust him. He and my very best friend in the world are going to be married. I wouldn’t let her near him if I didn’t think he was awesome. All right?”

Kaylie looked at Baldwin with open curiosity. Sam wondered what she was thinking. Baldwin was very handsome, which opened many doors, and closed a few, as well. But he radiated intelligence and compassion, and Kaylie visibly relaxed.

“Hello, sir.”

“Hello, Kaylie. I have to say, it is wonderful to meet you after all these years. I’m sorry we didn’t know you had survived your kidnapping.”

“Do you have a gun?” Her eyes were wide, guileless. A child’s question.

That startled a little laugh out of him. “I do, but I don’t have it on me.”

“Good. I don’t like guns. I suppose you want to know what happened.”

“Why don’t we get to know each other a little first? How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

“Where were you born?”

“Bethesda, Maryland.”

“Who are your parents?”

“Clive and Maureen Rousch. Dr. Owens acted strangely about them before. Is my father still alive?”

“Your father, unfortunately, has passed away. But your mother will be happy to know you’re okay.”

She had that distant look again. “I thought so. He didn’t look well when I looked in the window. And Maureen will not be happy when she finds out. Please don’t tell her.”

“Why not?”

“They both hated me. It was easier for them when I was gone. They didn’t have to deal with my constant crying and attention-seeking. I was a bad child, and it was better for them without me.”

Baldwin’s brow furrowed for a moment. These were words Kaylie had been fed, probably by Curtis Lott, but he kept on. “I have to ask, Kaylie. Can you show me your birthmark?”

“No! That’s nasty. You’re a nasty, nasty man.”

The walls went right back up. She pulled her legs up onto the sofa and curled into a little ball and started to rock, crooning to herself.

Baldwin nodded. “Okay, Kaylie, fair enough. Would you be willing to show Sam?”

“No, no, no, no.”

“All right, that’s fine. We can come back to that. Stay with me, honey. Do you remember what happened the day you were taken?”

She stopped rocking. “Yes.”

He waited for her to continue, then nodded and sat back in his chair, relaxing his arm over the back. Open. Unguarded. Exactly her physical opposite. “Okay, Kaylie. Tell me this. Do you know where you were kept? Before Doug saved you?”

“We were on a farm out in the country. I woke up there and never left until the day Doug took me out, and I was very sick, so I couldn’t tell you exactly where we were. Doug said it was northern Virginia.”

“Did you move around at all? Did the group move from place to place? Or did they stay in one spot?”

“One spot.”

“Did they ever talk about moving to other places?”

“Not to me. But Doug said that they were careful to stay one step ahead of the law. Like we were doing, staying one step ahead of Adrian and Curtis.”

“Tell me about them.”

“How do you describe the moon and the stars?” She shook her head hard and tapped her palm to the side of her head, almost as if she were trying to dislodge water from her ear after swimming. Her voice was suddenly adult again, lucid, a bit abashed. “I’m sorry. That’s something
she
would say. Adrian is very big, very tall and muscular and mean. He had something wrong with him, and Curtis used it against him. She exploits weakness. It’s her best tool. ‘Learn what the weak points are, my girl, and then you’ll always be able to make them do your bidding.’ She liked to teach me things about people.”

“What was wrong with Adrian?”

“Doug told me his mother dropped him on his head when he was a baby, and she felt so guilty about it she committed suicide. He was left alone a lot. His values became warped. Curtis liked that. She liked giving him presents.”

“Presents?”

“People to kill. He liked it. A lot. He told me once, when we were...when he was touching me. He told me how he liked to squeeze the life out of people. He said Curtis had shown him a past life during a ceremony, when he ate the wafer of life with her, and he was descended from a great anaconda snake. He lived in the water and ate things much bigger than he was. He enjoyed it so much. He wanted to squeeze the life out of me, but Curtis said no.”

“Did he do everything Curtis asked?”

“Yes.”

“Did he ever act on his impulses outside her view?”

She scratched her nose. “Do you mean did he use me outside of the Reasonings? No. He was much too dedicated to her to disobey. But when he did come, he didn’t hold back.”

“Did anyone else? Use you, I mean.”

She shook her head quickly. Too quickly.

Baldwin stepped carefully now. “Is Adrian a threat to us?”

“Yes. He’s a threat to everyone he comes in contact with. Whether he plans to kill you, I don’t know. He only kills who Curtis tells him to. I am definitely a target.” She hesitated a moment. “You are a grave threat to the life they lead. I would not be surprised if you are all targets. Elimination is one of Adrian’s favorite pastimes.”

Baldwin glanced at Sam, nodded at Xander, who went off to check the doors and weapons for what seemed to be the hundredth time. They’d already done everything they could to make the house secure, but hearing Kaylie’s words sent another shiver through Sam. Of course this freak of nature would be after them. They were severely screwing with his world.

Baldwin continued. “All right. You mentioned the wafer of life. What was that?”

Kaylie settled on the couch, more comfortable with this line of questioning. “It’s the great truth. It was gifted to Curtis and she was the only one who was allowed to bestow the gift on the people of Eden. Sometimes everyone took a wafer, and they danced all night naked under the stars. Sometimes it was just one person, and he or she would disappear into Curtis’s chambers for a week and a day, for a Seasoning. Only the very special were chosen for the Seasonings. Doug did it once. He said he thought she gave him some sort of LSD. It took hours and hours to wear off and he saw all sorts of weird things.”

“And did you ever see strangers? Did anyone from the outside ever come to Eden?”

“Not that I saw, though when there were pods, there was a lot of excitement, and then Adrian would go away for a few days.”

“Pods?”

“The children born to the women of Eden,” Sam said quietly.

Baldwin took a deep breath. “Kaylie, did you ever see any large quantities of drugs moved around the farm?”

“I don’t know.”

“The reason Doug went to Eden in the first place was that we had charged Curtis with drug possession and distribution. There was a marijuana farm next to the land Eden owned. He went to find out if Curtis was selling drugs. Did you ever hear about this?”

“Drugs? No.” Kaylie looked absolutely shocked. She dropped her legs to the floor and sat forward, all shyness forgotten. “I thought you knew. Eden wasn’t selling drugs. They were selling pods.”

Chapter
41

Near Lynchburg, Virginia

ADRIAN DIDN’T WANT
to be here. He wanted to be in D.C., at the house of the doctor, planning how he was going to wrap the wire around her long, delicate stalk of a neck and rip it tight. Feel her kicking, spasmodic and faint, then drop her body on the ground and walk away. He might even get a chance at her man. His size, his strength—yes, he would be a challenge, but Adrian would best him.

And then he’d be left face-to-face with Kaylie, the one who was prophesized to ruin them all.

He could stop it. Stop their ruin, their demise. If Curtis would let him.

But Curtis had other plans. Curtis had been blessed with a great vision. Her fiery sword was sent to eliminate the last connection between them and the girl. Then, and only then, would he be allowed to follow his own rules. Make his own choices. Slip the thin wire around the doctor’s neck and make her see God.

He found himself becoming aroused, and forced the thoughts of her away.

He liked the night sounds. The chirp of the crickets and the high-pitched screech of the bats and the slither of the snakes through the soft leaves. He sat cross-legged in the woods and watched the house go to sleep. At 10:00 p.m., the target had turned off the lights downstairs, but it was past midnight now and there was still a lamp burning in the master bedroom.

He was tempted to go ahead, but with everything that was happening, the target could be prepared, waiting for him, and the last thing he needed was a gut full of shotgun pellets before he finished his job.

McDonald wasn’t going to be as easy as the others. Adrian wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been warned by now, to watch his back, shut things down. Get out of town—he certainly hadn’t listened to that warning. Not that Adrian was shocked by this. Fred McDonald wasn’t a very smart man. Cunning, yes, but he had always overestimated his own intelligence. And underestimated Adrian’s control.

He thought back to the previous day with bitterness. He’d listened to the raging wash of the waterfall and known the girl was gone. Stupid, stupid, stupid, letting her get away from him. Surely she was dead—the cliff was at least one hundred feet high, the water spilling over the edge into what looked like an eddy pool. He’d fought his way down and searched for hours, but the water had washed her away. Washed her clean.

Your sins are gone now, Kaylie. But they are not forgotten. Never forgotten.

It was his fault, and his alone. He’d taken one look at her and just like the first time he’d laid eyes on her, her glowing hair so like that of the woman he loved, he wanted to play, to pull the wings off the proverbial fly. A huge mistake, not his first with the girl. He should have knocked her on the head, gathered her up and carried her back to Eden. Where she belonged.

Where she’d still be if she hadn’t escaped with Doug.

Just thinking of him made Adrian’s stomach knot.
Traitor.
Stealing their finest for himself. How he’d managed it was beyond Adrian, but he had, snuck her off into the night without a backward glance, not to be heard from again until a month ago, when Adrian saw him driving down the road. What were the odds? Really? He’d followed him to the cabin. He knew where he was, and reported back to Curtis. But not before leaving his old friend a note, hammered into the wood of his bedroom door.

I’m coming for you. Don’t make me kill you. Do the right thing.

His first act of betrayal in twenty-five long years.

Curtis had been furious with him when he shared the news. Doug was dead. Kaylie, well, he didn’t know. Alive, or dead, he was without her.

Curtis knew there was one way to draw her out. Adrian had completed the task, then headed south again, to finish what he started. Even though he disagreed with Curtis’s plan.

He felt that if Kaylie was still alive, she would have gone to the doctor. He’d found the evidence in Doug’s cabin. They’d picked this woman, this stranger, to see them to the end.

But Curtis wanted all ties to Eden eliminated instead.

He knew in his core this was a grave mistake, and told her. She threatened him with eternal damnation, and instructed him to do her bidding, then return to Eden.

And in all things, the Great Mother was to be obeyed. So he marched forward, with doubt in his heart.

Adrian wasn’t a starry-eyed seventeen-year-old anymore, seduced by the power of physical love and the honeyed words of an insane succubus. He knew exactly what Eden was, exactly who Curtis was and how the group funded itself. He’d helped with the management of those funds after Curtis realized he had a facility for numbers, and he’d grown their meager savings into a little more than ten million dollars over the years.

There was no redemption for Adrian, nor did he particularly want it. He’d done awful things on his own, and worse under Curtis’s instruction. Alone, he’d been a monster. Together, the two of them became horror incarnate, creatures more evil, more depraved, than anything he would have become on his own.

And he had reveled in their glory.

Curtis had been searching for Doug and Kaylie for years—violently upset at their betrayal, wanting retribution, but continuing laser-focused on maintaining the health and harmony of the remainder of her flock. Now there would be no rest until she was back in the arms of her great Mother. This time, Curtis must be the one to steal the blood from her veins, to take the strength of the girl into her own body.

So it was written, and so it must be done.

There was one problem. And this was Adrian’s fault, his folly, his responsibility. Before Doug died, he had exposed them, which threatened the thing most sacred to Curtis.

Lauren.

Just the thought of her made him smile.

Lauren was Curtis’s daughter, and the rightful heir to Eden. Just as Curtis had taken over from Susan, her mother, when she was no longer capable of bearing children, Lauren would inherit the flock from Curtis. Lauren was the only child who was allowed to stay in Eden. She came from Curtis’s womb, which had before then been untouched by the joy of an embryo.

Lauren was perfect in all respects, a honey-haired beauty with light, cornflower-blue eyes. The only pod that really mattered.

Lauren was meant to be a mystery to them all. Curtis had managed to become pregnant without lying with Adrian, or any other of the men.

Lauren was the Immaculate. Pure, unsullied. The chosen one. It only happened once in a generation, when the great leader fell pregnant without the sperm of a mate. They were always girl children, and they were always destined to be the heir. It had been happening this way from the beginning.

Despite his deep belief in the covenants of his religion, Adrian, well schooled in biology, knew it was impossible for a female human to become pregnant without sperm.

Though it was great sacrilege, Adrian believed Lauren was not immaculate. As the great father to many of Eden’s children, he was aware of his powers of procreation, knew how many bellies he’d caused to swell.

He knew she was his child.

He wasn’t allowed to have these thoughts, and was very careful never to give them a voice. But as Lauren grew tall and her hair became the color of wheat and her eyes took on a slightly almond shape, Adrian saw his mother in her face.

And he felt pride, for while the rest of Eden believed Curtis, believed in Lauren’s immaculate conception, he knew the truth. And with all that he was, he loved her.

Thinking of Lauren had him off track, as usual. He knew he’d fathered many, many children over the years, but he’d never seen any of them grow past the first few days of infancy.

He shook off the memories, the maudlin excuses. He had screwed up, royally, and he had to find a way to make things right. Over twenty-five years of service, with everything happening the way it was dictated by the stars and the moon and Curtis, had made him complacent, and sloppy. Doug would be his undoing.

His reverie was interrupted. The light in the bedroom went out, drawing his attention back to the house.

His pulse picked up. Two in the morning now, and the night had gone silent with its sleeping. He walked with a hunter’s stealth into the backyard, climbed over the fence. McDonald didn’t have dogs, the idiot. Dogs were the best deterrent, though Adrian knew many ways to circumvent them. A juicy steak laden with ketamine was his favorite method. He recognized the irony—humans were fair game, but he would do most anything to avoid killing an animal.

But there were no dogs here, no electronic monitoring or well-armed security system, just the peaceful certainty of a man who slept with a Remington shotgun within easy reach that he could handle any and all situations that might arise in the night.

He’d never experienced a nightmare like Adrian, though.

He was across the lawn in five short seconds, walked directly to the back door, used a simple set of lock picks to open it.

He stepped inside, testing the air, smelling, feeling, seeing, tasting, using every one of his predator’s senses to ascertain the situation.

He was in the basement. His eyes adjusted to the murky interior, and he started across the room toward the stairs. The house had three floors, and a wide, curving staircase wound to the upper floors.

He’d just put his foot on the first riser when he heard the deep, unearthly metallic clang of a shotgun jacking a shell. His body coiled and his heart nearly stopped.

“I’ve been waiting for you, you big-assed son of a bitch.”

And the man pulled the trigger.

As he fell, Adrian thought of the light that was his great Mother, and the strawberry blonde girl who had set him on the path of the damned.