Last Writes (32 page)

She nodded, watched him go, wanting to call him back—as if she could turn back the clock by keeping him from walking into the church. As if she could change whatever had happened.

Jovanic entered the church and Claudia began counting off the seconds. Twenty. Thirty. Forty-five. Sixty.
What is he finding in there?
Seventy-five. Ninety.

His shadow appeared in the doorway.
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Claudia’s heart was thumping fiercely as she watched him emerge from the building. He had taken off his outer shirt and rolled it into a bundle to cover his nose and mouth. Dropping the shirt to the ground, Jovanic leaned over and put his hands on his knees. He gulped a deep inhale, filling his lungs with fresh air, and she knew he had been holding his breath the entire time he was inside.

When he straightened he was breathing hard, as if he’d run a long way. He stared at her, horror darkening his gray eyes.

“They’re dead. All of them. The place is filled with people—families, old people, kids. All dead.”

The impact of his words made it impossible to take in the reality of what they meant. But some part of her must have understood because suddenly she was shaking all over. Every cell in her body was being hit with its own little earthquake. She tried to speak, couldn’t get the words out. “Wha—how—?”

Jovanic grabbed her in his arms and held on to her, and she could feel him trembling, too. His voice was scarcely above a whisper. “I don’t know how. No visible signs. Maybe drugged. Maybe—I’ve never seen anything like this.” He kept talking, as if doing so would stave off the reality that he would have to face with silence. “Not CO
₂
poisoning, their coloring would show it; their faces would be—”

Claudia finally found her vocal cords. “Stop! I don’t want to know.” She closed her eyes. “What about Kylie? Erin?” Then she realized that he had never seen Kylie or Erin, would not recognize them if he had come across their bodies in the church. “Kelly. Omigod, Kelly . . .”

Jovanic was already regaining control of his emotions. His face had gone hard and expressionless, the way he’d learned to do as a detective when he needed to protect himself.

“I didn’t see Kelly, but I just looked to see if anyone was moving. I couldn’t hold my breath anymore. If she was in there it’s too late for her. I’m sorry, babe, but until we know what it is we’re dealing with, we can’t go back in there. Let’s get back to the main house and find a phone.”

Claudia sagged against him, choking back the lump of emotion in her throat. “We found them, but we failed.” Jovanic didn’t answer, but he kept his arm tight around her as they started walking back.

Rodney raised his head and saw them coming. He pulled himself to his feet and wailed, “James—everyone—they’re gone, they’re all gone. They left without me.”

 

 

 

Claudia went over and took Rodney’s trembling hands in her own. They might as well have been blocks of ice. Stress did that, and there was no greater stressor than what lay beyond the doors of the church. She had no words of comfort to offer. What meaning would sympathetic words have to a man who has just lost everyone he held dear?

She stood there quietly with him until he gathered himself. When he spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. “We’ve got to find Kylie and Erin.”

“I’m sorry, Rod, but we can’t go in there,” Jovanic said. He put out a warning hand as the other man started forward. “Until we know what killed them—”

Rodney looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. “The gas won’t affect
us
. Fentanyl dissipates fast and they’ve probably been in there for hours.”

“How do you know that—what you said about the gas?” Claudia asked sharply.

He turned the look on her. “We
all
know. We’ve known for a long time how we would travel to the other side. Fentanyl is quick and easy.”

“That’s what the Russians used a few years ago against the Chechen rebels,” Jovanic said roughly. “Only they didn’t
intend
to kill anyone. You’re saying this is a mass suicide that’s been planned?”

“Our departure has been planned, but it’s not suicide, it’s a passage to a wonderful new life. Everyone gives their agreement when they join TBL.”

Claudia shoved him, nearly knocking him off his feet. “If this new life is so wonderful, why were you so hot to rescue Kylie from it? Jesus Christ, Rod, what the hell’s wrong with you?”

Rodney’s head dropped and he started sobbing again. “James was right, I was weak. I couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing her again. And then, it’s just—the last few months, Brother Stedman hasn’t been himself. Some of the things he’s been saying—I was afraid something wasn’t right. And when James called me in the mountains and told me what he’d heard Brother talking about—” He put his hands up to his face and pressed them against his eyes as if to shut out what he had seen. His left eye, swollen after his encounter with Jermaine Johnson, was now rimmed in purple. “I don’t want him to hurt her. We’ve got to find them.
Please!
”

Suddenly, Claudia understood what he was saying. “They’re not inside the church with all the others? They’re not dead yet?”

“No, they’re not in there. The congregation had to go first, to prepare the way for the governing board and the Chosen One—my baby Kylie. They’re ‘over there’ now, waiting for her.”

Claudia was beginning to think she had gone through a worm hole to some other universe. Maybe all the shocks of the evening had made her hearing suspect.

Jovanic stepped in front of her and grabbed Rodney by the front of his shirt. They were about the same height, but Jovanic’s anger made him seem immense. “Do you
know
where Kylie and Stedman are? If you do, you’d better tell me now, goddamn it, so maybe, just maybe we can save your daughter’s life.”

Rodney took a step backward, half stumbling as he pulled away from Jovanic’s grasp. “I was thinking they might be in the sanctuary, but they’re not; I looked there. They’re not at my house, either. I don’t know where else they could be.”

Overhead, the sky suddenly lit up like day and a deafening crack of thunder startled them all. Then came the smell of rain and the clouds opened, unleashing a furious downpour.

Claudia had to raise her voice over the noise. “The bomb shelter.”

“Those buildings are always kept locked,” Rodney shouted back at her. “But Sister Ryder might have a key. She keeps them with her all the time.”

Warm rain beat on their heads and ran in rivulets down their faces, soaking their clothing. Thunder boomed again and colossal forks of lightning sent blue-white branches into the sky. Jovanic bent his head against the onslaught. “Claudia and I are going to the infirmary to get the keys. You go to the bomb shelter and wait for us there.”

“But—”

“Don’t give me any bullshit, Rod. I’m not in the mood. Right now you’re a liability. You can’t run, you can barely walk. You can’t even see with that left eye. Now, do as I fucking told you and we’ll meet you in a few minutes.”

 

The rain stopped as suddenly as it began and the air was a sticky blanket once again. By the time Claudia and Jovanic reached the infirmary, their wet clothing was clinging to their bodies like Saran Wrap.

They found Lynn Ryder sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning forward; holding on to the bed railing for support. When she saw them come through the door, she tried to stand. “The phone. I have to call—”

“Not yet,” Claudia said to her, gently pushing her back onto the bed. “We need your keys. We have to get into the bomb shelter.”

Ryder’s hand immediately went to the jailer’s key ring on her belt, protecting it. “Are you crazy? I’m not giving you my keys.”

There was no time for finesse. It crossed Claudia’s mind that shocking Ryder into compliance might be the fastest way to gain her cooperation. “The congregation is
dead,
Lynn. If you don’t hand them over, Kylie Powers will be dead, too. Is that something you want on your conscience?”

Ryder had a ready comeback. “We’re dead for only an instant. We’re immediately resurrected to a new life in another place. Kylie will be fine. We all will.”

“She won’t be fine if Stedman sticks a knife into her!” Claudia saw the shock in the other woman’s face and continued, relentless. “That’s what he’s got planned. He’s going to sacrifice her, literally sacrifice a three-year-old child. Lynn, we know you’ve been working for the Feds. Why don’t you want to help us now?”

“They
made
me work for them. I had no choice; they had something on me. I didn’t want to go to prison.”

“But when you got here, what? You were taken in by Stedman’s preaching?”

“I realized that Brother Stedman was teaching the truth.”

“How can you think child sacrifice is okay?”

“That’s
not
what we do. It’s a ceremonial sacrifice.”

“Maybe it was before, but things have changed,” Claudia said.

“If it has changed, the directive comes from the Lord God. Brother Stedman would never lie and he would never do anything that wasn’t for our greater good.”

“I bet you don’t tell the Feds you feel that way.”

“I did what they told me I had to do,” Lynn Ryder said bitterly. “I betrayed my brothers and sisters, and now you’re telling me they’ve gone on to the new world without me. That will be my punishment to bear; I’ll still be here when the cataclysm comes. I will be destroyed with the rest of the outsiders.”

Jovanic made an impatient noise. He stepped closer to the bed. “We don’t have time for this conversation. Now, we can do this the nice way or I can arrest you for obstructing a police investigation. I’d rather avoid the paperwork, so give me the keys now.” He moved his shirt aside, letting her see the silver black grip of his weapon in the holster.

Lynn shot him a look of pure venom as her hands fumbled to get the jailer’s ring off her belt. Claudia offered help, but she refused.

“Everyone is really dead?” Talking to herself, trying to take it in. She flung the ring of keys at Jovanic. “I was supposed to go with them, I . . .”

Jovanic grabbed the keys as they arced through the air and spun on his heel, heading to the door. Following him, Claudia stopped and turned back to the Ark’s security chief. “Why do you want to call your handlers if you expected to ‘leave’ with the rest of the members?”

“It’s what I was supposed to do if anything happened.” Lynn sank to the floor and put her arms around her knees. “Stupid of me. There’s no point now. It’s too late. Too late for everything.”

“Rodney Powers is still alive. If there is a God, Erin and Kylie are, too. It’s not too late for them.”

Lynn Ryder looked up, a flicker of hope alight in her face. “Find them. They’ll want to go with our family to the other side. We’re going to create a new world together.”

Claudia shook her head in disgust. “Not this time, sister.”

 

Rodney Powers was waiting by the bomb shelter door as Jovanic had directed.

“What time is it?” Rodney demanded as they rushed up. It was too dark for Claudia to see her watch. She opened her cell phone. The lighted LCD showed that midnight had passed three minutes earlier.

“What time was Kylie born?” she asked. The urgency to get the door open and find Rodney’s child still alive was almost unbearable.
Alive, but in what condition?

“It was close to one a.m. Why?” Realization glimmered. “She won’t actually turn three until then. Brother Stedman knows that. He won’t do anything before the proper time. Hurry! We’ve still got time to find them!”

Jovanic handed Claudia the flashlight and began inserting keys in the lock. “Rod, you wait here. Claudia, when we get inside, I’ll go first; stay behind me. If they’re here, I’ll take care of Stedman and anyone else. Assuming Kylie’s there, you grab her and bring her up here to Rod. If I have to use my weapon, I want you and the kid out of the way.” He dropped the key ring, swore at himself, picked it up and tried another key.

Claudia watched him insert one key after another. They worked together in concert as if she could read his mind. He didn’t need to ask her to explain what they would find behind the door. She held the light steady on the lock. “There’s a short hallway, then around the corner a staircase going down. At the bottom of the stairs, you’ll see a hallway with doors on both sides.”

Rodney was leaning against the wall. He’d eased the shoe from his injured foot, which had swelled to twice its normal size. Pain and fear were reflected on his face. “What about Erin?” he asked. “You’re not going to shoot her, are you? You’re not going to—”

“I’d like to avoid shooting
anyone
. If you’re right and they don’t have any weapons, it shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”

The satisfying thunk of the lock retracting in the metal door told them that key number seven was the lucky one.

After the thick, humid air outside, the bomb shelter felt like a refrigerator, making Claudia shiver in her rain-soaked clothes. The stairwell lights were already on, casting Jovanic in their sickly yellow glow as he went down the stairs sideways, the Beretta pointed at the floor. Claudia followed him two steps behind.

When they reached the bottom, they stood in silence while Jovanic got his bearings. He motioned for her to wait for him as he stole along the corridor, soundless in rubber-soled sneakers; stopping at doors, putting his ear to each, moving on to the next one. He wouldn’t attempt to kick any door open without a good idea of what was behind it, but Claudia was getting more itchy by the minute—worrying about Kylie, worrying about Kelly. She couldn’t make herself care much about Erin after Kelly’s sister had put them all in this untenable position.
Kelly
. They still didn’t know whether she had been in the church when the fentanyl gas was released. She pushed it all aside to deal with later. For now, the only thing that mattered was finding Kylie.