Page 57 of Phoenix Rising

“Nice to meet you both. You will love Guru Phoenix,” Helen told them. “He is very compelling.” She went on to extol his virtues as she had the first time while she handed them paperwork to fill out. She obviously didn’t recognize them, which was a good sign.

The doors behind them slid open, and Audria knew without looking it was Talia and Hunter.

“I’ll be right with you, folks,” Helen chirped. She finished checking them in and smiled. “You two are good to go. Enjoy!”

“Thanks.”

Audria gave a friendly nod to the McGraths as they headed to the auditorium. It was a shock seeing Talia wearing makeup with her hair down. Audria was used to her in warrior mode as they competed together and against each other in war games at the compound. Through her comm device, she heard Hunter announce, “Mr. and Mrs. McKay.”

They arrived earlier this time to sit closer to the stage. They wanted to make sure Talia and Hunter could get a good look at the guru and he at them. The auditorium had yet to fill, so several openings were available down low. They selected two at the end of the second row, with a perfect view of the stage. A few minutes later, Talia and Hunter arrived and claimed the seats in front of them, but down a few spots so it didn’t look like they were together.

“We noticed all the cameras,” Talia said through the comms. “That is very Elijah-like.”

“I don’t like being here unarmed,” Hunter complained.

“Right there with you, brother,” Reese commiserated.

“What do you think the capacity is in here?” Talia wondered.

“About two hundred,” Audria guessed. “It was mostly full last time we were here.”

“It’s filling up now,” Hunter noticed.

A little while later, Audria glanced at her watch. “Get ready. It’s show time.”

On cue, the room plunged into darkness. The people not prepared gasped in shock. Guru Phoenix stood on the dais in his brown monk’s robe when the lights snapped back on. Sitting this low, Audria could see more of his beard, but his features were in the shadows.

“Welcome, everyone. I am Guru Phoenix Valo.”

Applause sounded around them. “I can not tell if it’s him,” Talia muttered.

“He’s the right size and build,” Hunter noted.

Guru Phoenix recited the same lecture he’d spouted the first time. “You are here because you’re interested in a power greater than yourself.” He moved around the stage, and then he faced them. “Spiritual awakening is a call to a higher state of deeper mental awareness and—” He froze mid-sentence. His head jerked, causing the hood to fall to his shoulders. His mouth dropped open, all the blood drained from his face until he was white as a sheet, and his eyes were wide with shock. It looked as if he’d seen a ghost . . . or two.

“My God,” Talia murmured. “It is Elijah.”

Chapter Seventeen

Guru Phoenix Valo, formerly known as Elijah or the Keeper of the Light and real name Richard Caraway, was in his element, standing before a crowd of adoring fans. Well, maybe not fans. But these people hung on his every word. This was what he was made for. It was the rush he craved, the blood in his veins, the air in his lungs. It was like a drug, and he was a junkie.

Several months ago, Elijah—the name he thought of himself as now—hadn’t believed he would experience this endorphin rush again. His life had been in shambles. Crashed and burned. Everything he’d worked hard for had been cruelly ripped away from him, leaving him broke and desperate. Even his offshore bank account was gone. Panic and despair had consumed him.

Elijah had almost been caught in the destruction. If not for his sister, Tilly, breaking her ankle, he would’ve been sitting inside his cottage when the authorities had raided his sanctuary instead of safe at the hospital. A loyal employee had given him a heads up, and with the help of an accommodating nurse, he’d been able to get away with Tilly and make a new life for them. It had been a harrowing time.

Elijah had been despondent at first. Everything had gone to hell in a handbasket, and Tilly’s continual cries of pain almost had him driving off the edge of a cliff. He’d hated that she was suffering, but he had been trying to keep them alive.

At first, Elijah had been adrift, not knowing what to do next or where to go. Even sex hadn’t held any appeal. That’s when he’d known he was in a bad way. Then, God had come to his aid. As clear as day, Elijah had heard Him whisperJosiah Porter, Josiah Porterrepeatedly. It must’ve been how the Virgin Mary had felt when Archangel Gabriel visited her to let her know she would birth the son of God.

Elijah hadn’t thought of Josiah in years. He was Elijah’s preacher father’s best friend. They had started out touring the country together, doing revivals at fairgrounds and church parking lots. Somewhere along the way, Elijah didn’t remember how, Josiah came into money. Truckloads of it. He’d stopped traveling, purchased a rundown resort, and turned it into his private church and sanctuary.

When he was young, Elijah’s dad had taken him there several times while he’d served as a guest minister. He remembered sitting in the audience, knowing that one day he’d be the one up on the stage, hypnotizing the masses with his killer sermons.

He’d been right.

Josiah had always been eccentric, but he’d turned full-blown paranoid as he aged. He’d handed over the pulpit to another minister and retired to his land in Montana, becoming a recluse. He’d never had a family, so he had been living out his last years alone.

Elijah had kept in contact with him until Josiah shunned communications with the rest of the world. He couldn’t call because Josiah was off the grid, so Elijah had decided to show up at his place unannounced.

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