Dark Prophecy, page 1
Dark Prophecy
Lynette Eason
Lynette Eason LLC
Dark Prophecy
by Lynette Eason
Dark Prophecy
© Copyright 2019 Lynette Eason
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — for example, electronic, photocopy, recording— without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, it’s coincidental.
Published by Lynette Eason, LLC
Cover design by Ken Raney
Moon photo taken by Lynette Eason
Interior design by Lynette Eason.
Printed in the United States of America.
About the Author
Lynette Eason is the bestselling author of Oath of Honor, Called to Protect, and Code of Valor, as well as the Women of Justice, Deadly Reunions, Hidden Identity, and Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of three ACFW Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and theInspirational Reader’s Choice Award, among others. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and has a master’s degree in education from Converse College. Eason lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children. Learn more at www.lynetteeason.com.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
1
“I’m telling you, she’s in there!” Riley Matthews pointed to the gated entrance of the Swiss Saints compound. She lasered daggers at the sheriff who looked like he was ready to cuff her and haul her to the small jail at the bottom of the mountain.
“And I’m telling you, she’s not.” Sheriff Saunders planted his hands on his hips and glared back. “This is the second time in twenty-four hours that we’ve bothered these people because of you. Do you know how many influential people are a part of this group? Group. Not cult, as you refer to it. A lot. Doctors, lawyers, people looking for a simpler life, an escape. I get it. Every week, Applewood speaks at the high school gymnasium. He’s charismatic, charming, friendly, and an all-around good person. He also does good things for this community. Sometimes I’m tempted to join them and be done with chaotic life. Chaos that you’re adding to. Now I’m done here.” He jabbed a finger at her. “We’re done here.”
Riley drew in a breath in an attempt to calm her pounding pulse and raging frustration. “I have access to Beth’s computer. I know her password and she knows mine. It’s a safety thing we do.” When Beth Sawyer, her friend and investigative reporter, hadn’t checked in with her three days ago—another safety thing they did when Beth was on an undercover assignment—Riley knew something wasn’t right but gave her friend an additional six hours to contact her.
When Beth didn’t, Riley called the local police to ask for help. Ever since that first call, she’d gotten nothing but delays and excuses and found herself three days later still trying to get some real help from them. “I know this is the second time, but as I explained to your deputy when we visited yesterday, she’s been working undercover and checking in with me every day, then stopped all communication three days ago. I went looking for a reason why and found all kinds of interesting information on her computer.”
Including the name Master Ivan Applewood and LS, NC.
Ivan Applewood, formerly of San Diego, California, but now transplanted in North Carolina, had purchased seventy-five acres on the outskirts of Little Switzerland, North Carolina—a small town boasting about fifty residents.
“She was doing research on the Swiss Saints because her brother told her he was joining them,” Riley said, “so Beth came here,” she mimicked his action by jabbing her finger in the direction of the compound, “a couple of weeks ago. Deputy Jennings and I arrived last night to look around and got nowhere.”
Not ready to concede defeat, Riley had returned to her hotel room to see if she could formulate a plan. In her notes, Beth had highlighted July 14th - EOW?
Tomorrow’s date. EOW. End of the World? Was Applewood prophesying that the end of the world was happening tomorrow? She tried to remember everything she’d speed-read and thought that rang a bell.
“An hour ago,” Riley said, “I got a text from her that simply said, ‘Help.’”
“Which led you to rushing into my office screaming like a banshee.”
“I didn’t scream.” Who cared anyway? “And if you’d done your job the first time I asked, we wouldn’t be here.” They’d promised to check it out. Twelve hours later, after Riley’s tenth call, they’d finally said Beth wasn’t there.
Riley knew she was.
She’d jumped in her car and made the three-and-a-half-hour trip to the police department of Little Switzerland only to find out the cops hadn’t done anything more than simply knock on the gate and ask if Beth was there. When told she wasn’t, they’d left.
Which was why Riley now found herself arguing with the scowling sheriff. And getting nowhere. “I know they’re keeping her here somewhere—against her will—and you’re letting them get away with it.”
Help.
One word from an unknown number, but Riley had known it was from Beth. She couldn’t explain how, she just did. She’d texted back immediately and gotten no response. And now the sheriff was refusing to help—or at least help in the way she thought he should.
Saunders slapped his hat on his head and waved a hand in the air. “You came storming in our office yelling that your friend was in some kind of danger from these good folks and refused to leave until we tromped up here to investigate. Again. Well, we did, and guess what? She’s not here. We talked to the leaders. Again. We searched the place. Again. Now, we’re leaving and so are you.” His nostrils flared. “Before I arrest you for trespassing and anything else I can think of.”
“But—”
“Don’t. Just don’t. I’m not playing, little girl. You’ve disrupted my department—and this compound—two times too many. We’re done.”
Little girl? Riley saw red and blinked until it faded. She bit her tongue on the lashing she wanted to dish out. Now wasn’t the time to fight. Sometimes the wiser option was retreat—or at least the appearance of retreat.
She dropped her shoulders and sighed. “Fine. I’ll keep calling and texting and hope she answers.” She wasn’t going to change his mind, and the last thing she needed was to push too hard and wind up in jail for . . . whatever reason Sheriff Saunders decided was plausible.
He raised a brow, then narrowed his eyes as though he didn’t quite believe her. “Jennings?” he shouted, keeping his eyes on Riley.
“Yes sir?”
“Come here.”
Deputy Jennings trotted over. The good-looking officer gave her a hesitant smile then cleared his throat. “What you need, Sheriff?”
“You searched this compound, right?”
“Yes, of course.” He frowned. “Three of us did.”
“And you didn’t see any sign of the woman?”
Jennings crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Come on, Sheriff, really?”
“Right.” The sheriff hitched his belt. “Satisfied?”
“No,” Riley said, “not at all, but what else can I do?”
“Exactly. I’m glad you see reason. Go home. Your friend is probably just hanging out somewhere or holed up working on a story. You’ll see.”
“And if she’s not?”
He sighed. Paused. Then nodded. “If you haven’t heard from her in the next twenty-four hours, come back and we’ll discuss putting out a BOLO on her. But as far as I’m concerned, she’s not here.”
He climbed into his cruiser and sped away. Two other deputies followed behind him, leaving Riley to stare at the now shut—and locked—gates while she pondered her next move. Wait twenty-four more hours when she was scary-certain Beth was in trouble?
Absolutely not.
Shortly before she’d gotten the text from Beth, she’d texted Steve Patterson, her former boyfriend—and current headache—to cancel their lunch date. Correction, their noon meeting.
She’d given him a brief sketch of the situation and he’d texted back that he was on the way to help. She’d told him she was fine and could handle it, but knowing him, he was on the interstate headed her way.
Steve was a protector. It was in his blood. It didn’t mean he thought she was incompetent or helpless, it just meant he was determined to help in whatever capacity he could.
Which might not be a bad thing in spite of their rocky history—and the fact that she was keenly aware that speaking to him—being in his presence would rip the band-aid off the wound that still wasn’t healed.
She pulled out her phone and sent a group text to her friends and coworkers to fill them in, and she knew they’d be on the way as soon as they could. Riley also knew she’d probably need their help.
Because there was no way she was leaving this place without her friend.
Katie Matthews rushed into the Elite Guardians office, cell phone clutched in her right hand. Her friend and cowor
“Did you get a text from Riley?” Katie asked.
Olivia’s fingers paused, but her glare remained on the screen. “No, why?”
“Check your phone.”
“I heard it buzz,” Olivia said, her features finally smoothing. She grabbed her phone from under a pile of papers. “I was trying to finish up this report.” She read the text and gasped. “What in the world? She’s not ready for something like that.” She stood and grabbed her keys.
“No kidding. None of us would go in there alone.”
Olivia raised a brow. “We would if we thought we had no other option—and that backup was on the way.”
“True enough.” They headed out the door. “Should we tell Charlie to meet us there, too?” Charlie was the only male on staff with Elite Guardians.
Olivia shook her head, leading the way to her new Chevy Suburban. “He’s covering that politician’s dinner.”
“Lizzie?”
“Same dinner.”
Maddy was home with her new baby, and Haley and her husband were out of the country. “Guess it’s us then. Steve’s almost there, I think.”
“Steve?” Olivia raised a brow.
“He and I’ve been talking.” Katie slid into the passenger seat. She’d known Steve since he was a senior in high school and dating Riley. And she’d been there for Riley to help pick up the pieces when Steve had chosen to drop out of her life six years ago. “He wants to win Riley back.”
One eyebrow went up and Olivia shut the driver’s door. “Good luck with that.”
“I know. They were supposed to have lunch today to talk things through.”
“Well, I don’t know how I feel about that. I remember how hurt she was when he left. It took her a long time to get past that.”
“She never got past it,” Katie said, her voice soft. “She moved on, but she never stopped missing him—and wondering how he could leave her like that.”
Olivia nodded. “Well, be that as it may, the fact that he’s near Riley makes me feel a tad better.” She pressed the button and the vehicle purred to life. “Did you text her and tell her we’re on the way?”
“Getting ready to.” Katie buckled her seat belt then tapped out a text.
Stay put, we’re coming.
The only problem was, they were about three and a half hours away. Four, if traffic was bad. Katie placed a hand on her friend’s arm. “Head to my house. We’ll fly.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
“I’ll call Daniel.”
2
An hour and fifty minutes after the officers left, Riley studied the exterior of the compound. I’m coming, Beth. Just hold on.
Using the machete, Riley punched through the next wall of vines and made her way to the copse of trees just before the gated entrance.
One would think she could have found something a little more high-tech to help make her way through the woods, but no, not in the little store at the base of the mountain. She’d found a machete. Seriously? But she hadn’t wanted to take more time to search for something else.
Shortly after Saunders had left the compound, Riley had followed, the plan formulating as she drove. Twenty minutes down the mountain, twenty minutes at the library to print things from her iCloud account and get organized so she wouldn’t be going in blind, twenty minutes in the general store, and twenty minutes back to the compound.
Only this time, she was going to have to be creative in entering. Thirty more minutes had passed since she’d made her way back to the compound and found her current spot.
She glanced at her phone. Steve should have been close by now, but nothing from him. She squashed the hurt, telling herself she shouldn’t be surprised. Not really. Not after the way he left her six years ago.
They’d been high school, then college sweethearts until he’d darted off to join the Marines at the end of their junior year. He’d left barely acknowledging her presence and had communicated about as well while he’d been gone. The anger simmered, but if she was honest, she was more hurt and confused than anything else.
He’d come home two months ago wanting to pick up where they’d left off—or some version of it. “Not likely,” she muttered.
Although she had to admit she wanted to. Which was probably why she’d convinced herself that meeting him for lunch was okay. She’d planned to flat-out ask him what his problem had been, hear him out, and walk away.
But a little niggling in the back of her head taunted her with the question of whether she would have actually followed through with that plan.
She pushed away thoughts of Steve and scanned the compound again. She really didn’t want to do this on her own. It would be incredibly risky, but it didn’t look like she was going to have much choice. Beth’s one-word text kept flashing in her mind. What if she was too late already?
Hovering behind the huge oak trunk, Riley studied the concrete walls with bars on the windows, locked gates, and cameras around the perimeter.
Old-model cameras that would produce grainy black-and-white pictures but still had the power to ruin everything if she wasn’t able to get past them. If they had so many high-ranking, high-profile members, why didn’t they upgrade their security? Or was it all just for show to make them look less fortified, less prison-like, than they actually were?
Why would anyone choose this over the freedom to come and go as they pleased? Then again, not everyone had it as well as she did. While she’d suffered agonizing grief at the loss of her parents, she’d had her Uncle Daniel step up and give her a loving home. And after he’d married Katie, things had just gotten even better. She was loved. She had a support system. Not everyone had that.
When she thought about it that way, she supposed she could understand the draw of the place. The facility was known to attract people looking for peace, a lack of drama, simpler times, and a community that cared about one another. What was not to like? Right?
A whole lot, as far as she was concerned. And after the experience with the cops and the leaders, she was even more skeptical.
Beth would never just disappear like she had. Her friend had done in-depth research, and her notes included a map of the compound and the names of people who’d sold businesses and homes in order to give the money to Ivan and join the minimalist cult. Donors that included Beth’s thirty-year-old brother, the whole reason her friend was so interested in—or obsessed with—the cult.
Out of range of the cameras, Riley studied the gates. In addition to Beth’s notes, Riley’s earth-mapping software had told her a lot about the compound, including one area that looked like she might be able to breach without being seen or setting off any alarms.
Maybe.
As she made her way around the perimeter, using the printed map to avoid the wires that would trip alarms—again with the old-fashioned security—she thought about the ladies she worked with.
Olivia Savage, Katie Matthews, Maddy Holcombe, and Haley Rothwell had been major influences in her life since her uncle Daniel had become her guardian and then married Katie.
A group of elite bodyguards, they’d taken Riley in and trained her to be one of them while Riley had worked hard to earn her college degree. They’d always been there for her and they’d come through this time. As soon as they got her messages. Which they should have by now.
So why hadn’t she gotten a response? Not even from her uncle. Weird. She glanced at the bars at the top of the screen and groaned.
No signal. Really?
She frowned. She’d had a signal at the bottom of the mountain while in the library, but not since she’d been back on the mountain. But she remembered having a signal when she’d been arguing with the sheriff. Double weird.
Maybe it would come back once she was in a different area. Riley once again pondered the idea of going back down the mountain and waiting for the others to arrive, but Beth was in trouble.
