Fear the Wicked (Illusions Series Book 2)(83)
Stepping toward him, I tried to refocus his thoughts on the solution to the problem and not how Jericho had managed to brainwash an entire town. “Can you have a team out there tonight? How long will it take you to bring all of this together so you can get in there and rescue those people?”
He frowned. “Normally an operation like this takes weeks or months to put together. But with the Church breathing down our necks and with the possibility that a damn war could break out if your twin decides he’s angry about his wife disappearing, we need to move faster. I’ll have some agents come into town. Prepare them for what’s to come and I’ll have the state police ready to go. There’s a chance we can have this ready for tonight.” He stopped then, his feet going still over the dead leaves he was crushing with each step. Turning to me, he narrowed his eyes. “Why are you asking that question, anyway?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I shot a look toward the cabin. “I have no supplies where I am, and I’m sure my truck will be easily recognized if I drive down the roads. I can survive out here on nothing if I have to, but Sedra and Joshua need food and water. I can’t keep them here for long with nothing to eat or drink.”
He shrugged, not in an effort to dismiss what I’d said, but more like my issue wasn’t much of a problem. “I planned on taking the three of you with me. I can’t fit you into the truck I’m driving right now, but I can come back with vehicle that will fit all of us. I wasn’t going to let you spend another night out here without some kind of protection. If the sheriff is looking for you, I’m sure he’s been instructed to kill you on sight and dump the body. That’s not going to happen under my watch.”
Kicking at an errant stone on the ground near my foot, I confessed that I had another idea. “I wasn’t planning on staying here. As soon as you can get Sedra and Joshua to a safe place, I was planning on heading to the compound.”
The agent’s eyes rounded into saucers. “Like hell you are. Are you fucking crazy?”
I locked my gaze to his. “Maybe I am, but it’s doubtful my brother has told the family about me, and we’re identical twins. There’s a good chance I can sneak into the compound without Jericho knowing I’m there. Especially if he’s out searching for Sedra and Joshua. The members won’t know he has a twin. They’ll let me in as soon as I approach the gates.”
“And what good will that do?”
Smiling, I answered, “That means you’ll have someone on the inside who can open the gates for you. If your team can get in without a gunfight just to enter, there’s a chance we can keep this quiet.” Growing quiet, I chewed on the inside of my lip before admitting, “and if it’s at all possible, I’d like the chance to save my brother’s life. He’s crazy. I know that. But that still doesn’t mean he needs to be put down like some kind of animal.”
The agent frowned, pacing a few more steps before turning to look at me. “Listen, I think what you’re suggesting is fucking insane, but you’re a free man and I can’t stop you. You don’t have to get in my car when I come to pick up those two inside. You hear me? You can go off and do whatever crazy thing you want to do, but it will be without my immediate protection.” Pausing he squinted against the sun again before wiping the beads of sweat from his brow. “But, I’m telling you now, Jacob, you’d better not breathe a word of this to your brother. Doing so would only mean that more people inside that compound will die.”
My expression softened, my heart beating with the truth of his words. “I know. I won’t say a damn thing. I’ll just make sure I’m inside and can open the gates when you need me to.”
I started to walk off toward the cabin when it was clear our conversation was over. Before I could reach the door, he called out to me.
“Hey, how will we be able to tell the two of you apart? Didn’t you say you’re identical?”
I’d given that question a lot of thought after leaving the Appalachians and returning back to the city where’d I’d been raised. Fortunately for me, buying the guns had been the perfect answer. I found it funny that I hadn’t thought of it long before I’d pressed my fingers against the inkpad on the counter and left the marks on a piece of paper that would tell Jericho and I apart.
“I purchased a shit ton of guns and ammunition before coming back here. I won’t lie. I’d intended to deal with my brother myself in this hopes that I could save him and keep him out of trouble. I’ll give you the receipt from the gun shop where I bought everything and you’ll know where you can find a copy of my fingerprints to use to tell us apart. It’ll be the only way. Everything else about us is the same.”
The agent’s expression twisted with hidden knowledge, an unspoken understanding between two men that even he didn’t want to voice into the silence of the forest.
“You try to stay alive in there, you hear me? You seem like a good man with a good head on your shoulders. Dying to save your brother isn’t the way a former priest should leave this world.”
Inclining my head, I smiled. “I helped create the monster my brother became with my silence about our father. If I deserve anything, it’s to die by his side as a way to tell him I’m sorry.”
The agent shook his head and cursed under his breath, but he didn’t attempt to argue. “Stay here until I get back to pick up your friends. After that, I hope I see you alive again once all of this is said and done.”