Page 48 of Rescuing Sara

“Danni wouldn’t have seen any problem with sharing where she was with Mrs. M.,” Kristopher said. “They share a love for Sara so she would never suspect there was anything wrong.”

“It’s happening too fast,” Patrick muttered. “Something’s about to break or else why take Danni now?”

“I sent Griff Tyler the stuff from the board last night and asked him if he could do some digging for us,” Kristopher shared. “I’ve been thinking about what my dad said about cults and thought Griff could do some hacking on them or just plain digging. That man could find a needle in a field of haystacks.MIT has offered him a fortune to work for them, but he says Massachusetts is too cold for a Southern boy like him. I texted before we left to tell him we’d be at the police station.”

“Damn, I’m glad you’re so organized,” Patrick said. “Gives me hope.”

“We’re going to find them, Patrick,” Kristopher promised as he pulled up in front of the precinct’s front doors. “Go on in while I park this beast.”

Inside Patrick was met with a flurry of activity and quickly found a weary-eyed Grant Miller. He waited until Miller was finished talking to a female officer. When she was gone, Patrick asked, “Do you have anything?”

“We’re still working on Suzy,” Miller says. “She’s not asked for a lawyer yet, but she’s being coy. Says she can call someone who can get her out of trouble, but he won’t take phone calls for religious reasons.”

“Have you heard from Griff Tyler?” Kristopher joined them and handed him a printed photo of his notes from last night.”

“As a matter of fact, we have,” Miller said. “Just came across the fax machine. Are either of you familiar with a group called Soli Deo Gloria?”

“No,” Patrick said, and Kristopher shook his head. “My Latin is rusty, but it means ‘To God Alone the Glory’, right?”

“Right,” Miller said. “It calls itself a philanthropic organization but they’re also a church. According to the info Griff Tyler sent, they’re almost like a cult.

“Celia Masters, Robin’s mother told Danni and me her husband recently joined some philanthropic group that was almost a church. Do they have a chapter here in Knoxville or East Tennessee?”

“Most likely.” Miller joined them. “But we’ve got no record of any kind of trouble with a group by that name. They claim to be law-abiding, up to a point, are very patriarchal, believein traditional roles for men and women, including how much education women need and they have almost no leadership positions. My fiancée would have a stroke. And get this. They encourage early marriage for girls.”

“Oh my God,” Patrick breathed out. “Danni got it right. Look at that stuff Kristopher sent you, Grant. She was thinking these girls were snatched to become breeders as soon as physically possible. Who better to do that than a bunch of crackpots who want babies to have babies?”

“And since we know Sara and Robin have families who work at La Belle Monde, it all leads back to them,” Kristopher added softly. “How much do you want to bet they had someone to take the girls? Someone the girls knew from LBM?”

“So, what’s the connection between LBM and Soli?” Grant demanded.

“I don’t know,” Patrick said. “But put Kristopher in front of a computer and we just might find out. I just hope we can find what we need by morning.”

Later that night.

“Wake up, you little bitch!” Freidman’s order was followed by a stinging slap. Danni’s head jerked away, and she would have struck back, but her hands were tied behind her.

A lone light bulb shone from the ceiling and through the gloom, Danni could see she and Mrs. M. were bound to chairs with rawhide ropes. Mrs. M. was awake and watched Freidman with anger-filled eyes.

“This is an awful lot of trouble to go to just because you don’t like my writing,” Danni commented.When frightened, go for humorher dad had always told her.

“Shut up,” Friedman raised his hand again. “This is all your fault. I never should have allowed Harris to let you write that damnWhere Are the Childrenarticles.”

The realization of what had happened all this past week hit Danni even harder than his slap. “It was you,” she whispered. “All the time it was you. You’re behind Sara’s kidnapping? Not The Cadre? I assume you know who they are.”

“Of course,” Freidman snorted. “They just find those who are willing to sell their daughters, granddaughters or nieces to The Cadre and then we buy them from them to become wives for our members.”

“We?” Danni asked cautiously around the distaste in her mouth.

“Soli Deo Gloria,” Freidman said proudly. “To God Alone the Glory. We’ve been doing it for years, but only in East Tennessee for the past few years.”

“Child brides?” Recalling what Kristopher had told her and Patrick last night, Danni nearly choked on her words. “Are you serious?”

“Younger girls can start breeding soon after their first two menarches.” Friedman adopted the lofty tone of a professor lecturing to a group of incoming freshmen. “Our ranks need new blood, new sons who will one day rule the world, so we need a constant supply of fresh breeders.”

His crazed eyes narrowed to tiny slits and in the dim light his bald head gleamed. “Then you started writing thatWhere Are the Children?series. You were going to find out the truth about Soli Deo Gloria and stop us from getting child brides. Our members expect to have those as they rise in the ranks.”

“You mean men like Ed Turner and Mr. Masters,” Danni accused. “All who work for La Belle Monde. What is it? Some kind of gift if they do well and reach a senior position? Why LBM?”

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