FORTY

Jordan believes you are ready?” Brij asked gently. The two of them followed a path up the hills, away from the cabin, where they’d left all the others behind.

“Soon.” Caitlyn didn’t want to elaborate. Her joy in seeing Papa alive had not dissipated, but she was overwhelmed by their conversation. And what he’d asked her to do.

“Papa has been one of the Clan for years, hasn’t he?” She felt there was so much she hadn’t known about him.

“He’s been serving us and those around him since he first fled to Appalachia.”

“With me.”

“With you.” Brij must have understood some of her bitterness. “Don’t be harsh on him. He had no choice. Coming here with you was the only way he could protect you. And now, it seems, you are the only way to protect us. He did explain, didn’t he?”

Caitlyn nodded.

“It wasn’t his idea. It was mine.”

They pushed upward, with Caitlyn leaning on her cane every step. Papa had wrapped her ankle, but it still throbbed.

“Since you were a little girl, he’s wanted you to have the surgery. It was impossible when you were young, at least here in Appalachia.”

Caitlyn remembered that day in the doctor’s office, the day after her sixth birthday. Wearing the red shoes. Hearing her father and the doctor talk about wings. And believing they had meant the crippled bird.

“He did tell you that there is a surgeon waiting for you Outside?”

Caitlyn barely fought back quiet tears. She managed to nod.

“I was the one to ask Jordan to find a way for officials Outside to learn of your presence in Appalachia,” Brij said. “To assure they’d send someone in to get the two of you.”

“Why?”

“Instead of telling you,” Brij said, “let me show you.”

He pointed up the mountain.

Pierce knew when he heard the sound of the choppers that it would be the roar of defeat. Mason had forced Carney and him downhill far enough that when the girl approached, she’d be unaware that the men were there—especially Mason, the watchful hunter who’d be hiding in a tree.

He and Carney would be in the hands of Bar Elohim by nightfall, the girl would probably be dead, and Pierce’s mission to capture Caitlyn a failure. He was unaccustomed to experiencing defeat, but this bizarre country kept him confused and off balance. No one was who they claimed to be.

The entire way downhill, Mason gloated to the bound men.

“After the girl goes into the mountain, I light the heat flares, which will bring in Bar Elohim’s men, the soldiers. I’m going to tell them where to find you. Then, I get the girl and destroy the Clan.”

Mason told them to stop, and after a warning shot that nearly grazed Carney’s head, he forced the sheriff to wrap Pierce to a tree with duct tape, then his own legs and waist. Mason finished the rest, and with final flourishes, he pasted tape over their mouths. “Hope you’ve enjoyed Appalachia, Agent. I think you’ll get to see some more elite attractions soon. You might never want to leave.”

Mason left to watch for the girl, and Pierce continued to wait for the choppers.

From his hidden viewpoint in the tree, Mason sat motionless near the hidden entrance. In the heat, he was slick with his own sweat, but he didn’t mind. He knew his body was working hard to keep his temperature regulated.

The sweat led to a deep thirst that was worsened because he had deliberately avoided drinking water earlier, anticipating the effect it would have on his bladder. He couldn’t afford to move to relieve himself and had no intention of wetting his pants like an infant or a debilitated old man.

He was fine with the thirst. His reward would be well worth it.

Time continued to pass easily for him as he waited for the girl. He enjoyed visualizing the moment when his knife would cut through flesh and muscle and imagining all the different ways that Caitlyn would react in horror.

This pleasure gave him a feeling like serenity, and he was almost disappointed when he caught his first glimpse of her, walking up the path with an old man leaning on a walking stick and showing a distinct limp.

They moved to the entrance without even looking around to see if it was safe. The old man lifted the door, and they disappeared down the steps.

Mason decided to give them a five-minute head start.