Amy smiled at her. “Ryan is staying.”
“Oh!” Kaila was either relieved, or pleased. Hunter hid a smile. He looked at Ryan; the kid was going to be a good agent.
And they needed to get going—nothing else was going to happen here.
Their lead, Billie, was gone.
14
Fall 1993
Sam
Walking toward Sam was Special Agent Dawson, the man who had slipped into the commune undercover, who had offered him this chance.
Sam didn’t think he’d ever seen a more beautiful human being in his life. Dawson was making his way across an open patch of ground, where the forest gave way to low shrubs, in between him and where Sam’s family was hiding in the deeper woods.
“It’s all right!” Sam said. “It’s all right!”
He heard Jessie let out a soft sob.
She looked at Sam, relief and hope mingling in her eyes. She hugged their son and said, “It’s all right, Cam, it’s all right! We can go to him!”
Cam knew the agent; Dawson had spent time with them all. Young himself—in his late twenties—he’d been assigned to watch the children during his undercover days at the commune.
Cameron looked at both of his parents, questioning.
Sam nodded. “We’re right behind you, buddy!” he told his son.
Dawson stepped closer, and at Sam’s gentle push, Cameron started to run to him.
The sudden explosive sound of a shot rang out.
Terror flooded Sam. His son, his beloved boy, was out in the open.
If they had somehow gotten Cam, he prayed that death would take him quickly, too, because he’d no longer be able to endure life.
But Cam barely faltered as he kept running. Then Sam saw other men, all in camouflage, come out of the woods behind Dawson. Five of them, Sam counted. Other agents. And it was one of those agents who had fired, who still had his gun pointing at Brother Colin, who had stepped from the woods to their left to take aim at Cameron.
“Down!” Dawson shouted, throwing himself on top of Cameron and bearing them both to the earth. Sam put his arms around Jessie, dragging her back into the trees.
More gunfire crackled. In the silence a few long moments later, Sam saw agents moving toward the direction from which the shots had come. Dawson stood, and helped Cameron to his feet, as well. Sam started running to them, pulling Jessie along at his side.
Dawson kept Cam’s hand in his as they came together. Jessie fell to her knees to hug her son.
“There were two of them out here. I guess they thought they’d chase you down and get rid of you easy enough,” Dawson said. “Looks like Brother Colin is dead. Think that’s Brother Anthony who was behind him, and we’ll get an ambulance for him. We’ll get the three of you out of here, and then we’ll be going in—today.”
“Thank you—I don’t know how we’ll ever thank you,” Sam told him.
Dawson grinned. “No, Sam. Thank you. We need your testimony because we’re going to try to bring them in, clean out the whole hornet’s nest.”
“You have my testimony.”
“And mine!” Jessie said, standing. “This has all been my fault. I fell into something far worse than what I thought I’d been leaving behind. I was so stupid!”
“Jessie, don’t beat yourself up. You and Sam at least saw the truth. You knew Brother William was using people, sucking them dry—and killing them, as well. You did the right thing. Not everyone has that kind of courage.”
“We couldn’t have done anything without you. You saw what they’d do. They’d have killed us. They were going to shoot Cameron, shoot down a six-year-old boy!”
“But they didn’t get me,” Cameron said, looking up at Dawson in admiration. “They didn’t get me, because of you guys!”
“They’re the good guys,” Sam said, setting his hands on his son’s shoulders. “They’re the good guys.”
“But there is still danger,” Dawson warned them.
“We, uh, have money. We haven’t touched it. Brother William knew Jessie’s father died, and he left everything to her. He was figuring a way to get her to transfer everything over to him, but thank God you came along. Again, thank God—we do have that to fall back on. We can go somewhere,” Sam said. “Somewhere far away.”
“We need you to testify, and after that, well... What I’d like for you to do is enter witness protection. They can set you up with identities that will let you lead new lives. Cam can go to school...”
“Witness protection would be great,” Jessie said. “Sam, we can start over. We can be new people and let Cameron have a normal life.”
“Let’s get out of the woods here first, eh? And get through the operation we have planned for today.”
Sam, Jessie and Cameron were taken to a safe house in Los Angeles.
And the operation did happen that afternoon.
An ATF team went in along with a contingent of men and women from the FBI.
Brother William had been stockpiling weapons illegally.
He ordered his followers to take suicide pills when he saw the law coming. But happily, most did not. Instinct kicked in with most people.
They wouldn’t kill their children.
Brother William was cornered in his office; he didn’t take a pill himself. He swore he’d be judged innocent in court, that he’d done nothing wrong.
But there were others besides Sam and Jessie who testified he’d taken them for everything, and he’d ordered the murder of a young woman and attempted to murder them, as well.
Brother William tried hard. He claimed his henchmen had worked on their own.
Brother Colin was dead, but Brother Anthony protested and turned witness himself. The case was federal—he wanted to avoid the death penalty.
Brother Darryl disappeared; they were never able to find him, which made witness protection even more appealing to Sam and Jessie.
After the trial, it was time to start their lives again.
Special Agent Dawson introduced Sam to Special Agent Barry Clooney, the man who would set up their new lives.
“Naturally, we have to create identities for you,” Clooney told them. “For your new names, anything you want to avoid, or anything that comes to mind?”
“Forrest,” Sam said. He looked at Dawson. “This man saved us when we were in a forest.”
“Connie. Connie Forrest!” Jessie said. “I always liked that name.”