Whirlwind (Rachel Hatch Book 8) by L.T. Ryan & Brian Shea

Author:L.T. Ryan & Brian Shea [Ryan, L.T. & Shea, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liquid Mind Media
Published: 2021-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

Hatch passed the carriage back in town and was now miles ahead, having already passed Clem's red mailbox. She turned onto the dirt road to the Eternal Light compound. Ben sat in the passenger seat, twirling a cigarette between his middle and forefinger.

"I'm going to park at the bend where you were posted last night." Hatch slowed to a stop. "I want you to wait here."

" Are you kidding?"

"If I'm going to have any chance of meeting with the preacher, it's going to be without you at my side." Hatch could see from the distraught father's pained expression that this was not sitting well. "It'd look a bit off if I walk in with the father of the missing girl. It’ll be a lot harder to sell my backstory."

"I get it."

Hatch grabbed her notepad that was tucked between her seat and the center console before exiting the Jeep. She held the door open for a moment. "Remember when you asked me what my specialty was?"

Ben stopped the cigarette in mid twirl and nodded.

"Interview and interrogation." Hatch closed the door and followed the dirt path around the bend.

The wooden gates to the compound were open wide. A light drizzle fell, settling the dusty road. She heard a voice rise over the gentle rustle of leaves in the late morning breeze. Beyond the gates was a circle of people, like the night before, except there was no fire roaring and no singing.

Instead, one man stood at the center in front of a large stone altar, commanding the full attention of all present. The others sat cross-legged on the ground and held their hands up in worship. They swayed like branches in the wind, entranced by the sermon or the man delivering it, or both.

Hatch came to the gate and saw no sign of the shadowed giant who blocked her access the previous night. She stood at the threshold of the entrance and listened.

"When Eve was led astray in the Garden, her innocence was unprepared for the devil's forked tongue. And with the hissed words whispered in her ear, Eden was shattered. We will not be led astray. We see the innocence of our young, the eyes with which they behold the world, the purity of their hearts and souls. It is our duty to take refuge and shelter from the evils of this world, to protect our young before that age of transcendence, that moment when child and woman meet at the turning. We don't turn our eyes from it. Instead, we look upon that change, and we ready the child for the world that awaits, a world we keep at bay. How long have our walls stood while those outside of them are ravaged by the forces of nature commanded by God's heralding angels? When the water rises after heavy rains, and the river that runs through floods our banks, what do we do?"

"Rejoice," the group chanted in unison.

"Rejoice and celebrate." The Shepherd smiled and nodded, taking the time to make

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