Page 23 of Mountain Captive

“Is there something you need to tell me, Doctor?” she asked. “Some reason for all this security?”

“Let’s just say I’m a naturally cautious person.”

Harley sat beside her and leaned on her leg. She rubbed the dog’s ears and looked into the bedroom but didn’t go in. “Thank you,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for a better setup.”

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I work three or four ten-to twelve-hour shifts per week at the hospital, so you’ll be alone during that time. I hope that’s not a problem.”

“No. I’m used to being by myself.” She entered the room, trailed by the dog, then looked back at him. “Good night,” she said, and closed the door.

She had spoken so matter-of-factly about being accustomed to being alone, but her words made him feel a little hollow. He would have answered the same way and protested that he liked his own company. But there had been times when he had wished for companionship to fill that emptiness. He hoped he could be that for her.

Five years ago

“SOMEONEFROMTHEVINEwas here tonight.”

Chris’s mom sounded calm on the phone, but her words sent an icy shard of fear through Chris. “They came to your house? You spoke to them?”

“It was a man and a woman. They were waiting on the front steps when I came in from work. They were in the shadows, so I didn’t see them until I was almost to the door. They were dressed in suits and carrying a big Bible, like missionaries going door-to-door. But when I told them I wasn’t interested and tried to move past them, the man grabbed me.”

Chris sucked in her breath. “Mom! Did they hurt you?”

“They only frightened me. But that was what they intended.”

“What did they say? What did they do?”

“They forced their way into the house and kept asking me where you were. They said the Exalted was ready to marry you and it was time for you to fulfill your destiny.”

“I thought they would have forgotten me by now,” Chris said. “That the Exalted would have found someone else to marry.” After all this time, she still thought of him by that title. His given name—Edmund Harrison—felt too strange on her tongue.

“I promise I didn’t tell them where you are,” her mother said. “But they said to tell you they weren’t going to give up looking for you. And they said...they said...” Her voice broke.

Chris took a deep breath, trying to stop the shaking that had taken over her body but failing. “What did they say?”

“They said if you won’t come back to them, you’re dead to them. And they’ll make sure you’re dead to everyone else too.”

“They’re going to kill me just because I won’t come back to their cult and marry a man who’s old enough to be my father and already has at least one wife?” The idea was absurd, yet Chris didn’t have it in her to laugh. She still remembered how seriously the members of the group took the Exalted’s every pronouncement.

“They killed your father,” her mother said. “And I’m sure they’ve killed other people. Eliminating anyone who gets out of line is one way the Exalted keeps order.”

“You defied them by taking me away,” Chris said. “Did they threaten you too?”

“They said...if you didn’t obey, they would find a way to hurt me.”

“No.” A wave of nausea rocked Chris, but she pulled herself together, allowing anger to overcome the sickness. “That’s not going to happen.”

“I’m packing my things already. And I have my extra ID.” Back when they had first left the group, her mother had paid for new birth certificates and Social Security cards for the two of them. Later, she had paid even more for a second set of identification. Chris kept hers in a lockbox under her bed, but she hadn’t even looked at the papers for years.

“I’m coming to get you,” Chris said. “I’ll help you move.”

“No! They’re probably watching me, and they’ll see you. I have a friend who will help me. He’s a former cop. He knows a little of my story. I trust him. I’ll be in touch with my new information when it’s safe to do so.”

“What about going to the police?” Chris asked. “If we tell them about these threats...”

“There’s nothing they can do,” her mother said. “The Exalted can produce witnesses all day long to attest to his sterling character. He has money and powerful friends to protect him. We don’t have any proof they’ve threatened us.”

“We know they’ve killed people,” Chris said.

“But we can’t prove it. Better to start over with a new name. I’m getting used to it now.”

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