“They must have some way of alerting the public when they hold their meetings,” Rachel said.
“There is. They post notices at various places.”
“Where?”
She seemed too tired to think, almost too tired to care. “I don’t know. I never did the posting. I couldn’t leave the compound. Only the Spiritual Guides can enter Satan’s domain and be allowed to return. Only they are deemed strong enough. Anyone else would be contaminated.”
According to her own words, she was now living in Satan’s domain. “We have to wait until Ethan posts a notice?” Rachel asked. “A lot could happen before then. We’re worried for this girl. And we want to help your son. Please think. There’s got to be another way.”
“There’s not. You have to go to a meeting—” Her head snapped up. “Wait. There’s a bulletin board at the Museum of Natural History in Portal.”
During the few times Rachel had passed through town, she hadn’t seen any museum. “In Portal?”
“It’s up the canyon a bit. I heard Sister Maxine talking about it. Her husband works on the flyers and distributes them. He used to be in marketing. If there’s a meeting coming up, the information might be posted there.”
“How do they appeal to nonmembers?” Nate asked.
Martha’s expression grew sad. “They promise to love you no matter what. They say, ‘The great Alpha and Omega opens his arms and his heart to you.’ But it’s a lie.”
“Aren’t they supposed to mean God when they refer to the great Alpha and Omega?” Nate wanted to know.
“Once you join, you’re taught that Ethan is God. ‘By me or my messengers, it is the same.’”
Rachel and Nate exchanged concerned glances. Ethan held the ultimate power, just as they’d suspected. “We’ll check at the museum, see what we can come up with,” she said.
Martha stood and reached out for her, then clung to her hand. “If you get in, if you see James, please tell him…” She fell silent.
How could a mother even begin to explain a situation like this to a child so young? Rachel wondered.
“Tell him Mommy loves him.”
That was about all that could be said, all he might understand. “We will,” Rachel promised. Then they showed themselves out.
When they got to the truck, Nate slid behind the wheel but didn’t start the engine. Instead, he turned to face her.
“You realize what the situation could be like if we infiltrate this group,” he said.
“I do.”
He squinted against the glare bouncing off the buildings in front of them. “It could be worse than anything either of us has ever faced. Could be a lot worse.” He finally started the engine. Then he pinned her with a frank stare. “Especially for you.”
Rachel knew what he meant. She’d read or heard about the most notorious cult leaders, was fully aware of the atrocities they’d committed. She now believed Ethan was as twisted as any of them and that he was particularly focused on women.
“Milt knew, didn’t he?” she said.
Nate didn’t answer, but that muscle flexed in his cheek, the one that flexed whenever he was unhappy.
“That’s why he sent us down here as a married couple,” she went on. “He’d found out enough about Paradise to know we’d have to be married to take the Covenant of Brotherly Love. And only if we do that will we learn any of the secrets that could bring Ethan down.”
“You don’t have to go through with this,” Nate said. “I can drive you to Phoenix, put you on a plane and finish this myself.”
But then he’d have much less chance of infiltrating the group, of finding Courtney Sinclair….
Blowing out a sigh, Rachel looked up at the apartment they’d just left. The blinds had been drawn again. Behind those blinds was a woman who’d nearly been killed by Ethan because she’d wanted to see her son and sleep with her husband. Rachel felt obliged to help Martha get James back. She also felt obliged to find Courtney and stop Ethan. He was drunk on power and running unchecked, which meant a lot of people could be hurt. And what about Ethan’s stash of weapons?
But if she joined the Covenanters, she’d be treated like the other women in the commune, would be expected to make the same sacrifices. If she didn’t, she and Nate might never gain the trust necessary to be effective.
“This is the question we face every time we go undercover, isn’t it?” she said.
He jammed a hand through his hair. “What question is that?”
“How far are we willing to go to make it seem real?”
“Infiltrating the Covenanters could compromise your safety. I say you go home.”
Somehow she knew he’d suggest that. But every job “compromised her safety.” She wouldn’t let Ethan scare her away. Neither would she let him continue to use religion to manipulate others. “His days as Alpha and Omega are numbered. I’m staying.”
“Rachel—”
“You need me on this one, Nate,” she interrupted. And for the first time since she’d received this assignment, she was willing to admit she needed him, too.
10
Nate had had a bad feeling about this assignment from the beginning. After hearing what Martha had to say, he knew why. He wouldn’t have brought Rachel into this volatile a situation had he known. Milt must’ve guessed as much or he would’ve been more forthcoming.
The fact that Milt would hold out on him made Nate angry, but it shouldn’t have surprised him. Milt generally had a good reason for what he did, but that didn’t mean Nate always approved of it.
Still, Ethan had to be stopped, and that wasn’t going to happen without significant effort and risk. It made no sense to leave two hundred people—virtually everyone in Paradise—in danger in order to protect one woman. He and Rachel had come this far. They had to finish. But he’d have to be more diligent than ever before, or this assignment could go terribly wrong.
As they approached a fast-food joint only a few blocks from Martha’s apartment, Rachel pointed at it. “You want to grab lunch?” Although she’d mentioned lunch when she spoke to the Auto Zone clerk, they hadn’t yet visited a restaurant in Willcox. They’d eaten a late breakfast, which made this meal late, too.
“Might as well,” he said. “We need to send a quick report to Milt, let him know what’s going on. And while we’re on the Internet, I’d like to check Mapquest to get directions to the museum. I’m sure we’ll have a better connection here than at the café in Portal.”