“Yes. He said his church had purchased a parcel of land but before they could build they needed to clear some trees to make room for the new sanctuary.”
“Did you give him a recommendation?”
“Yes. A friend of mine, owns Clear Tree.”
For the love of Christ, why hadn’t the man led with that information?
I had my head dipped down looking at my phone, sending a text to Dylan, when John asked, “Would you like me to call my friend and ask if he did the work?”
“That would be helpful, thank you,” Jasper grunted.
I finished sending my message and glanced at Luke who looked like he was losing patience as well, but definitely had more of a handle on it than I did.
My phone beeped and Jasper asked, “That Dylan?”
My eyes dropped back to my phone. “Yeah. He’s still digging.”
“Harold.” John’s voice boomed. “How’s business?”
I gritted my teeth in an effort not to explode.
“Good, good,” John continued. “Last year, I sent one of my tenants to you. His church was looking for some…” There was a pause. “Glad that worked out. What was the name of the church, do you remember?” Another pause. “No, no problems. The missus and I were thinking about trying a new church.” Another pause, this one longer. My nerves were getting harder to contain when John spoke again, “Yes, you’re correct. Doesn’t seem like a place we’d be interested in. I’ll let you get back to it. Let’s set up a game soon.”
Mr. Swanson put the phone back in the cradle and slowly lifted his head. And when he did, my stomach pitched at the look on his face.
“He didn’t give me a name but said the property is at the end of Millers Road.”
“What else did he say?” Luke prompted.
“Said I wouldn’t be interested because he didn’t get the feeling it was a church as such, more a cult. Said there was housing on the property and he thought it looked like a compound and they weren’t very open to outsiders. When he and his crew showed up, women and children made themselves absent. And only the pastor would speak to him.”
How in the hell had a cult gone unnoticed?
“Thank you for your help, Mr. Swanson. We appreciate it.”
We were making a hasty exit when John called out, “Will you let me know?”
“Mr.—”
“I don’t want a member of a cult in one of my houses.”
“We’ll let you know,” Jasper agreed.
We were back in Jasper’s truck when he said, “Your call.”
“Say again?”
My mind was so wrapped up in finding Hadley I had no idea what Jasper was talking about.
“Your call,” he repeated. “The three of us can hit Millers Road alone or we can call in the team for backup. We call them in, Ethan’s part of that.”
Fucking shit.
That cost Jasper. I knew it did. Not even the fog of wanting to get to Hadley was thick enough to block out the tone of Jasper’s voice. Hadley was Jasper’s. His daughter. But he was giving me the call. What he wasn’t saying was, if Ethan was there, everything had to be done by the book.
I turned slightly in my seat and craned my neck to look at Luke.
“Call in the team.”
“Brady—”
“Luke, call in the team,” I repeated. “Priority is getting Hadley out. Everything else is secondary.”
“Call them in,” Jasper told Luke. Then in a low, menacing tone, he said, “When the time’s right, I got your back.”
I jerked my chin but didn’t comment or commit to Jasper’s offer. If I didn’t get my shot today, when the time was right, I would handle what I needed to handle and I’d be doing that alone.
I heard Luke calling in the team.
I watched the scenery go by in a blur.
And I did both of those with more fear than I’d ever felt in my entire life threatening to pull me under. I couldn’t allow myself to think about what could be happening to Hadley. I couldn’t allow myself to think about her being scared. And I seriously couldn’t think about the possibility she’d already been injured or worse.
What I did do was allow the inferno to sear deep. I let all civility slip away and I became the man I once was. The man I never thought I’d be again. The man Hadley needed me to be.
Ruthless. Brutal. Cold.
33
Deep down in my heart, I knew Brady and my family were looking for me.