Away From the Dark (The Light #2)(31)

She made me more vulnerable. For that reason alone I should forgo asking and just tell Special Agent Adler that she’d said no. Then I should kiss her good-bye and let her walk away into witness protection. She’d be blissfully unaware of the repercussions, but I’d be confident of her safety.

Sitting at the table, I laid my head on my arms. With my eyes closed, I tried reassuring myself that the entire three years weren’t a bust. My testimony alone could put Father Gabriel, the three Commissions, and the three Assemblies away for a long time. They all knew something. It wasn’t as if each individual knew the extent of the wrongdoings. Hell, I hadn’t even known about the entire pharmaceutical scheme until recently. But once this was over, deciphering the details and determining the extent of each person’s involvement wouldn’t be up to me. It would be up to others in the FBI and then the judicial system.

The idea of putting all those men behind bars made me think about the wives and other followers. As the fast food churned in my gut, I feared that if the timing was off—at all—if all the raids didn’t happen at the exact same time, Father Gabriel had an escape plan and would use it. The only part of his plan I knew for sure was that it involved flying to an unknown destination. What concerned me was the fate of those he would leave behind. Every day, as I became closer and closer to people like Raquel and Benjamin, I feared more for their safety. I’d never been told of a mass suicide plan, but I was terrified one might be in place.

Sara’s hand landed on my shoulder. I hadn’t even heard her get up.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” she asked.

I covered her hand with mine. “Investigative journalist, huh?”

She walked in front of me, wrapping herself in a blanket she’d found in the top of the closet. Though the lights were off, with the soft glow of a night-light from the bathroom, I watched as she covered her bra and panties. “Yes,” she replied, sheepishly adding, “I’m good at asking questions.”

“Too good.”

“So why aren’t you sleeping? You were the one who said we had a long day.”

I took a deep breath. “I’m thinking about tomorrow.”

“Tell me.”

“I can’t.”

Her volume rose. “I thought you said no more secrets.”

“I can’t tell you, because it’s not up to me, and if it were, I can’t decide what I’d choose.”

She sat on the edge of the bed. “You’re saying that tomorrow is my decision? Then give me my options.”

I sat back and ran my hands over my face. My normal scruff had grown longer and softer. “Number one, we say good-bye to each other and you’re taken to someplace safe. I’m leaning toward that option, by the way.” I didn’t know how far I was leaning that way, but her being safe outweighed the alternative.

She nodded. “You want to say good-bye?”

“No, Sara, I want you safe.”

“And option number two?” she asked.

“Number two, we go back to the Northern Light and resume our lives.”

“Option two means that you get to continue your assignment and keep working to bring down Father Gabriel?”

I nodded.

“What happens to Father Gabriel if I choose option one?”

“Well, right now he’s at the Eastern Light.”

“In that huge-ass mansion in Bloomfield Hills?”

“Jesus, you know about that too? Don’t tell me Richards took you there.”

“No! He didn’t even know that I knew about it.” She shrugged. “I guess he did know I knew about the house. I remember him being with me when I looked it up on Google Earth, but the way I figured it out had to do with a trail of ownership. I deduced that Father Gabriel was really Gabriel Clark, son of Marcel Clarkson.”

I stared in amazement as she recounted the accurate information. No doubt The Light had taken her before she could expose them. More accurately, Richards had handed her over before she could expose The Light. As she finished speaking, she asked, “So what happens to Father Gabriel?”

“If you choose option one, the FBI will move as soon as it can. They want their raids coordinated. If neither of us returns to the Northern Light, those in control will undoubtedly get suspicious. I don’t know the particulars. There’s a lot I’m still learning, but I suspect the Commission on each campus has a plan in case of discovery.”

“What kind of plan?”

“Like I said, I don’t know.”

Sara stood and paced, the blanket falling from her shoulder, revealing the satin strap of her white bra. “A plan, like Jones’s Kool-Aid?”

“It’s not your concern. You didn’t ask for any of this.”

“What about all the followers? What about our friends, the women who didn’t ask to be there? What about the children?”

I shook my head. “That’s not how this works. I can’t pick and choose. I can hope the raids happen before the Commissions figure it out. I mean, they all have to be timed perfectly.”

“But you said you don’t know it all. Why can’t you go back without me?”

“Because I can’t explain your disappearance. If I show up without you, they’ll go after you. That’s why you can’t go back to your life. You have to go into witness protection.”