One gun went down. And then another. The men exchanged confused glances. Some of the women in the clearing grabbed and held their children, as if they’d only just realized the danger their families might be in.
The last of the guns aimed at them went down.
Someone started crying loudly.
Stepping out from the trees, the rest of the agents moved in. There was a small army of law enforcement. Roger Dawson was with them, and Ryan Anders.
And Detective Mulberry. Morrison had clearly ordered his followers to cast suspicion on him. And they had almost fallen for it.
He was a good cop.
Ellison was there, too.
Seeing them all, Amy felt a strange swelling inside. Yes, there were men like Morrison out there.
But there were men and women like these agents and officers and detectives.
And it was good to be among them.
Hunter shoved Morrison to the ground and waited for another agent to come in and cuff him.
Then he turned to Amy.
Shaking now, she threw herself into his arms.
“Billie!” she said. “We have to find Billie!”
“They have her already,” he assured her. He turned and watched as agents dragged a cuffed Morrison to his feet.
For a minute, Morrison stared at him. His eyes widened, then narrowed with hatred.
“I know you! You’re that stinking little brat, Cameron!”
“I was,” Hunter said.
He turned to Amy with a smile. “They’ve got this—let’s get out of here.”
She smiled. They’d worked hard, with their hearts, minds and souls.
And now, it was over.
Well, due to the lives they had chosen, it was never over.
But over for now.
And it was time for a break.
She knew that they would spend it together.
EPILOGUE
Fall, present day
Sam
Sam leaned against a tree at the resort in the Bahamas, relaxed, smiling, as he watched his son.
He felt the pleasant bark of the tree against his flesh and thought of how good life had become.
His son stood at the end of the dock, laughing as he and Amy prepared to jump into the water for their dolphin dive. One of the dolphins was entertaining visitors with all kinds of antics, enjoying people even as people enjoyed him.
Hunter Forrest.
It was a good name. And his son was a good man.
Admittedly, he had worried about his son’s future now and then. Not as far as his career went; Hunter had made his choice. Life had guided him, and he had determined that he would serve others, first in the military, and then as an FBI agent.
It could have gone so differently.
Of course, Sam didn’t know everything. He did know that both Hunter and Amy had received commendations; they had taken down murderers in the middle of cult activity without losing a single life. Not a shot had been fired.
The team had been commended, as well. Their actions, so well played, had taken out a great deal of the firepower, allowing for the positive end result.
There were multiple arrests, and they had Ethan Morrison on multiple charges. The case against him was strong, and horrifying. With any luck, Morrison would rot in prison for the rest of his days.
It would take Pastor Jared Colby a long time to recover, and he would have to test his own faith if he was ever to find forgiveness for his children, and thus for himself.
There were a few who had gone to the hospital.
Both his son and Amy seemed to know how to incapacitate the enemy.
Which brought him back to being grateful. Hunter had spent his first years in a cult that had been every bit as scary as the one he had just broken. It hadn’t been about religion; religions—many different religions—had saved many people. It had been a deadly desire for power and money—going how high, they were lucky they would never now know.
Morrison’s sons would go to prison or worse—they were facing charges in a death-penalty state and might face federal charges, too.
Sam remembered back—when Ethan Morrison had gone by a different name, too. When he’d been young, but always basking in his father’s position with Brother William, always planning on being a leader himself.
Life was funny.
Everything could have been over all too quickly.
Or have gone in a very different direction.
Despite the admirable route Hunter had chosen, Sam had feared for him. He’d taken on a risky job. But that honestly hadn’t been Sam’s main fear. He’d been afraid that Hunter would never meet the right person for him in life. Someone who was fun, who could laugh and care for others.
And someone who could be just as tough and kick-ass as Hunter was.
Now, watching them, Sam felt that there was a touch of magic between Hunter and Amy.
He knew that magic himself.
Through anger, through fear, through trials and tribulations, through joy, of course—the birth of their son had brought them joy. Watching him grow had always been magic.
And today, Sam loved his wife just as much as he ever had. No matter what life had brought them, Jessie had made it more bearable during the tough times, more wonderful during the good days they’d been so blessed to have.
He watched as he saw that Amy’s parents and her brother were heading out to the dock; they weren’t going to be part of the swim, but Amy’s brother had promised—or threatened—to take the most ridiculous pictures of the two of them that he could.
As he watched, his wife—his love, his life—joined him at the tree.
“Well, Jessie-Connie,” he said, addressing her as he did sometimes when others couldn’t hear them. “What do you think?”
She laughed, leaning against him as he swept his arms around her.
“Strange vacation!” she said. “They asked us and Amy’s family. I mean, this is a beautiful place. So romantic! You’d have thought that...well, you know. That they’d want to be here alone.”
He laughed softly. “You do know that her family is leaving tonight—we’re flying together to Miami, and then we’ll head on home from there.”
“Right, so—”
“Hunter and Amy aren’t coming home tonight. They’re here another week.”
“They’re pretty special, huh?”
Sam looked at the dock again. “They wanted us all to meet. I guess that means they plan on being together for a while.”