Away From the Dark (The Light #2)(98)

“Bodies? What about survivors?”

“Jacoby, no one survived that blast.”

“Maybe they got out first,” I tried. “There are other exits, down by the airstrip?”

“Our agents had the property surrounded. We had aerial confirmation of the property and all the possible ways on and off. Every gate was blocked at least ten minutes before we tried to enter, even before the initiation of the raid on the campus. No one tried. Whoever was there is gone.”

“Ten minutes? Then why weren’t they up to the house five minutes earlier?”

“Agent.” Adler’s voice was calm, as if it would make what he was saying any easier to comprehend. “The bureau did the best they could. We only had eighteen casualties, forty-six overall. If we’d made it into the mansion five minutes earlier, we would have lost agents in the explosion.”

“Forty-six? Does that include victims in the mansion?”

“No, but it includes all the campuses. Over one thousand people are in custody. Those outcomes are very good.”

Incredulously I sought the right words, yet none came forth. “Outcomes, numbers? Shit! This isn’t about numbers. I need to see the pictures of every woman you found, alive and dead, at the Eastern Light. And once they get in that mansion, I need to see that too.” I turned my blurry vision out the window, before I turned back. “Special Agent, I request permission to go to Detroit. I need to see for myself.”

“Agent, we understand that you became close—”

“She was assigned to me as a wife—nine months ago!” He didn’t seem to understand. “She’s pregnant with my child.”

The interior of the SUV went silent. Not even road noise registered any longer.

“She’s not dead,” I said.

“Agent, we don’t—”

“No. I know. I don’t know if I ever believed in this shit before, but I would know. I would feel it if she were dead. She’s not, and I’m going to find her.”

He didn’t respond as we continued to drive. Finally I managed to pull my thoughts from Sara and broaden my scope to the entire mission. “What about Gabriel Clark?”

“We have him. We have them all—him, the members of the Commission and Assembly. Well, unfortunately, we’re missing one member of the Assembly at the Eastern Light. He could have been at the mansion. Also, one of our forty-six casualties is a member of the Assembly at the Northern Light. I don’t know if you know anything about that. He was found in a hallway of the pole barn near the offices attached to the hangar.”

“I know he was sent to accompany me to the hangar”—it was then I remembered the envelope—“to recover”—I reached into my jacket and pulled out the envelope and handed it to Special Agent Adler—“this. I have no idea what’s inside, but whatever it is, my gut tells me that I owe my life to it. Father Gabriel was suspicious of me since Fairbanks, four days ago. I’d received this letter from a brother at the Western Light. I’d forgotten all about it, with everything that happened with Sara.” Saying her name caused my heart to clench. “I have the feeling if he didn’t need me to fly him back to the Northern Light or need whatever this contains, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

My handler looked closely at the innocuous-looking envelope. “We’ll take it in to the field house and have it analyzed.” He turned toward me. “Jacoby, you have hours, days, and maybe even weeks of debriefing ahead. You have more knowledge of The Light than you’re even aware. As you know, we have people who can help you recover that information. I’m deeply sorry about Stella Montgomery. Maybe in all that information floating around in your head you’ll see how what you did, what she was willing to do, was beneficial to the success of this mission. Agent, because of you and her, we’ve opened a Pandora’s box of illegal activities. You’re right. We don’t have a body count at the mansion, but there have been hundreds lost to this organization, even one more is one too many. Your sacrifice will not go unnoted—and neither will hers.”

I did my best to hold it together, to be the agent I’d been trained to be, but I couldn’t. “I promised her I’d keep her safe. I promised her a few more days. I even pleaded . . .” My teeth ground together. “Where is he?”

“Who?”

“Where is Gabriel Clark?”

“He’s still at the Northern Light. We’re arranging transport here to Anchorage.”

“I need to see him as soon as he’s here.”

Special Agent Adler’s head moved slowly back and forth. “You know we have protocol.”

Anger and hatred seethed from my every pore.

“I want to look the motherf*cker in the eye and tell him that I was the one who brought him down.”

“Agent, one thing at a time.”





CHAPTER 36


Dylan


“Good-bye, Stella Montgomery,” I whispered as her body fell limp against mine.

Damn her! This was all her fault. She could f*cking listen to her husband, but she wouldn’t listen to me. I didn’t want the submissive shell he’d created. But how hard would it have been for her to keep her damn nose out of The Light?

None of that mattered anymore. I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened in the last hour. On the phone, Joel had said all the campuses had been raided. I mean, what the f*ck? How all? My mind was a cyclone. This was never supposed to happen. The Eastern Light, sure. There was always that possibility. That was why I hated going over to that place. But all of them?