Exit Strategy. Shirlee McCoy

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СКАЧАТЬ locked the trailer, tucked the key into his pocket and headed back across the compound. Security cameras lined the fence, pointing in and out of Amos Way, tracking the movements of everyone who came or went. For a peaceful, God-loving community, they didn’t seem all that trusting of their fellow man.

      But, then, Cyrus hadn’t expected them to be. On the surface, Amos Way was exactly what it claimed to be—a religious commune designed to give its members a home away from worldly corruption and materialistic excess. Underneath, they were something else. Something a lot darker and a lot more dangerous. Cyrus hadn’t needed to enter the compound to know it. He’d just had to watch the comings and goings of the armed security force. He wasn’t sure what the team was transporting in and out, but he didn’t think it was truckloads of Bibles.

      He jogged the last hundred yards to security headquarters. The squadron was housed in a ranch-style building that looked over the fifty-acre compound. Cyrus had spent the past six nights bunking with fifteen loudmouthed, brash kids who had more muscle than brains. John McDermott ran the place like a military unit, and he’d assured Cyrus that he’d be moved into “officer” housing once he made it through his probationary period.

      Cyrus had no intention of being in Amos Way long enough for that to happen. In and out. That’s what he’d promised his boss Chance Miller. Head of HEART, Chance hadn’t been all that eager to let Cyrus enter Amos Way. Cyrus wasn’t all that happy about it either. HEART specialized in rescuing hostages from the most difficult of situations. The team’s mission was to reunite families, to bring closure to those waiting for the missing. Sometimes, though, they took cases like this—a missing person who might or might not be at risk.

      Cyrus preferred overseas assignments. Work Stateside tended to get him into trouble. He owed Essex Randolph, though. The guy had saved his hide in Iraq, and Cyrus didn’t forget things like that. Not ever. Essex had been worried about Lark. A teacher at the school where he worked, she hadn’t shown up for the first day of school or for any day after. She’d emailed a resignation to the school board, contacted the principal to let him know she wouldn’t be returning. Cyrus had read the emails. They seemed on the up and up. Essex wasn’t convinced, though. Lark loved her job, and she hated Amos Way. There was no way she’d ever willingly stay there.

      That had been Essex’s opinion, but it wasn’t enough for the police to open a case. It was enough for Cyrus. He’d convinced Chance to let him check things out. He’d assured him that the case would be simple. It was turning out to be anything but that. Too bad he’d been so confident. It wouldn’t have been a bad thing to have some backup waiting nearby.

      The door to security headquarters opened as Cyrus approached, and John stepped outside. Tall with a belly that hung over his belt, the guy had a thick blond beard and balding head that made him look more like a young Saint Nick than the head of a security team. He wasn’t someone to be messed with, though, and Cyrus doubted he was easily fooled. He wouldn’t like that the enemy had infiltrated his team, and that’s what Cyrus was. An enemy to the cause. Whatever that might be.

      “You got everything squared away?” John asked.

      He knew the answer. There wasn’t a doubt in Cyrus’s mind that John had been glued to the security monitor, watching the interaction between his newest security team member and his prisoner.

      “What do you think?” Cyrus asked, because that was his persona—Louis Morgan. Kicked out of the army for bucking authority, a loose cannon who lived by his own moral code. Loyal to whoever paid the most money.

      “Answer the question,” John barked.

      “She’s handcuffed. Don’t know why you’re bothering. Doubt she has more than a couple of days left.” Cyrus shrugged like it didn’t matter, like he didn’t care that an injured woman was being held prisoner in the compound.

      “You think she needs a doctor?”

      “Not my business whether she does or not,” Cyrus responded. “I’m paid to do what you tell me. I did it.”

      The answer must have pleased John. He smiled. Not an easy happy smile. The predatory smile of a killer. “You just keep that in mind, Louie. We’ll both be happier that way.”

      He walked back inside, and Cyrus followed because it was expected. He was on night shift, working until dawn. It was his first all-nighter, and from what he gathered, it meant he was moving up in John’s esteem. No reason why he wouldn’t be. He’d done everything he’d been asked, and his cover story was faultless and foolproof. All the paperwork in order, all the background stuff put in place by HEART.

      “What else do we have on the agenda for tonight?” he asked as he entered the building.

      “We’ve got a shipment coming in at two.” John glanced at his watch. “You’re going to help unload.”

      Cyrus’s pulse jumped. He’d witnessed a couple of deliveries being made, but he had no idea what was in any of the boxes that had been unloaded and locked into storage units at the edge of the compound. He’d asked and been told to mind his own business. He had, because he’d still been searching for Lark, and he hadn’t wanted to get himself into trouble before he located her.

      “You want me to run patrol while I’m waiting?” he asked, making sure to keep his expression neutral.

      “I want you to go back to the trailer.”

      “The one with the woman in it?”

      “What other one have we been discussing tonight?” John responded as he walked into the monitor room. Seven computers. Seven security guards. None of the men looked all that excited to be watching the screens. The way Cyrus heard things, nothing much ever happened at Amos Way. People in the community followed the rules because they wanted to. They’d come to break free of temptation and sin, to aspire to the higher living that their leader preached. That had worked out well for Elijah. Whatever he’d started here in Amos Way, whatever secret he’d hired John and his team to protect, it had been safe for a long time.

      Not any longer, though. Not if Cyrus had anything to do with it.

      “I want you to go back here.” John tapped the screen that showed the inside of the trailer. Lark lay exactly where Cyrus had left her, lying on her back, her hands on her stomach. Only someone who knew she was holding something would notice that one hand was fisted and the other was slack.

      “Why?” he asked, and John frowned.

      “You know what, Louie? I don’t like questions. I like my men to wait for orders and to keep quiet until they get them.”

      “Then maybe you should talk a little faster,” he responded and wasn’t surprised when the bored kids watching the monitors glanced their way.

      “Maybe you should watch your mouth,” John snapped.

      “Sorry.”

      John eyed him for a moment, then nodded. “Good. You need to learn the rules, and you need to follow them. That’s the way things are here. Now,” he said, tapping the screen again. “Back to our problem. The woman took something from Elijah. He wants it back. You want to earn your place on my team, you’re going to get her to tell you where she hid it.”

      “You got rules of engagement?” he asked.

      “Nah. Anything goes. Just make sure you get the information before two. We ship her out when the delivery СКАЧАТЬ