Page 100 of 5 Golden Flings

“Brynn, if someone finds out you are your father’s daughter, we don’t know what they will do, who they might tell. After all, we have no idea what secret they are hiding or how far those who currently know about it will go to keep it under cover. I think your original plan is the best one.”

She nodded, reminding herself she’d made that plan with the best of intentions. So why did it feel like her only solace was about to walk out that door and never come back?

Man, she hadn’t expected to become this head over heels this soon. At all. It just wasn’t like her. Yet here she was. Could shetrust him to leave her behind and actually come back? He had no reason to, but she had to admit—if only to herself—that was what she wanted.

As if he could feel the conflict inside her, Colby cupped her cheeks with his hand. “Now here’s my plan. I’m gonna trek back to my truck, dig it out, and go back to my apartment. Act like nothing happened. And if anyone asks me, I saw no one. I figure it will take a couple more days before anyone out this way actually notices there’s smoke coming from the chimney.”

He kissed her forehead before pulling back. “I’ve got an emergency charger for my phone. As soon as they are working again, I’m gonna call a buddy of mine.”

She pulled back a fraction, fear streaking through her. “Who?”

After all, they’d already eliminated anyone in a position of authority to help her.

“I have a friend who is ex-military. He was born here, raised here, then like me, left for quite a few years. He recently returned to take over security for a boy’s preparatory school just a little outside of the city.”

He clenched his fists and released them, repeating the cycle a few times. “Remington Gray is his name. He’s never been in the elite class. His parents had even less than mine. And from the rumor’s going around right now, I gather he and the other school leaders aren’t high on the favored list at the moment.”

“How come?”

“Sounds like the county didn’t want the school to actually happen. They got around some of the restrictions by using a Nashville lawyer who kept the plans on the down low. But his friends are in a position to take on the resistance. I’m hoping between that and his military background, he has some ideas on how we should move forward. He’s always been a solid guy. Evenlost part of his leg in Iraq trying to save a group of women and children.”

He stared deep into her eyes, making her feel both connected and somehow scared. “I promise you I’ll come back.”

His idea made sense. It did. So, it all came down to Brynn.

Did she trust him? Or no?

CHAPTER 14

Two days later,Brynn woke to a slight hum that she couldn’t place. What was that noise? The whole time she’d been in the house, everything else had been drowned out by the howling wind outside.

She opened her eyes to check on the fire. It took her a moment to realize the Christmas lights over the fireplace were on.I thought I’d unplugged those?

Sure enough, the hum was the return of very welcome electricity.

The first thing she did was turn the heating unit back on. It would be a relief to not have to keep the fireplace going 24-7 for a while. The sound of the hot water heater kicking on while she stood in the kitchen sent a shiver of delight over her.

The next important thing? Coffee. And plugging in her cell phone.

Unfortunately, the long-awaited kick of caffeine only made her restless.

I have to get out of this house.

Brynn knew she was going a little stir-crazy. She couldn’t even talk to Colby, as her emergency charger was dead too. Butwhile he’d been able to get his four-wheel-drive truck home to his apartment—going very slow and sliding a few times—she knew she couldn’t get her little car out of here anytime soon.

She’d been all over the house, except for the basement room. The atmosphere was such that she just couldn’t bring herself to return there. She wasn’t sure what it was.

Common sense said that room was simply the original church set up. The history of this building was known, after all. But something about thefeelof it was just...off.

Just like the pictures.

Except for a few—the weird one of the girl lying down. A couple featuring the golden masks. The one her father had written on with her in it. The rest were relatively benign. Groups of people at picnics or in fellowship halls. There was a series that she was working on now of men, she assumed, in robes and golden masks walking down some kind of tunnels. Of course, she was still trying to separate them. Part of her didn’t want to see what was in the rest of the stack.

Who knew what was on the film reels. Even if they were clean, she didn’t have a projector to play them.

But they all just felt off. She’d incorrectly assumed her father’s “evidence” would be more straight-forward.

I really need to get out of here. Think about something else.

---