Lindsey’s Wolves(79)

The drive was silent and Lindsey concentrated on the sound of the gravel crunching under the tires and then the swoosh of the road beneath them. Both her mates kept a hand on her the entire way, caressing her seemingly everywhere. For once, their touch didn’t cause her to pant like she was in heat.

She held her breath when they arrived at the motel, followed everyone inside, and spent twenty minutes in a state of suspended disbelief, nodding at what each officer told her, repeating their instructions back to them for the umpteenth time.

Everyone hoped this would go quick. In and out. Please, God.

“Do not lose contact with us, babe.” Alejandro wrapped his arms around her for only a moment, his own eyes wet when she stepped back. “Not for a minute.”

“Okay.” Thank goodness she had this link to get her through the most challenging ordeal of her life.

A brief hug from Ryan on the way out the door and she was off.

Her legs shook and her hands sweated profusely as she rounded the back of the building and came out onto the street several doors down. So far so good. She trudged the planned route to the church, her eyes scanning her surroundings and darting every so often at the tall green French doors at the front of her destination.

Wherever the cops were, she couldn’t see them. That meant the bad guys couldn’t either.

She shrugged her shoulders and tried to relax, took a deep breath as she reached the source of her nightmares, and opened the front door.

It wasn’t locked. They were expecting her. Please let them be as stupid as they are ignorant.

She paused in the rear vestibule, letting her eyes adjust to the dim lighting after her trek in the sunshine.

At first she heard nothing but silence. Turning her head to the side, she strained to listen for any sign of life.

A tiny whine stabbed her heart. Jess. Her friend of four years held against her will by these supposed lambs of God. What an oxymoron.

“Can you see anything? What’s going on, Lin?”

“Ryan, let me concentrate. I can’t be sharp if you clog my head. Give me a minute.”

“We’re worried, mi amor.”

“I know.”

Lindsey crept into the sanctuary, her eyes focused on the end of the center aisle as three people came into view. She sucked in a breath and held it. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought the scene appeared quite innocent. Just three human beings waiting for her.

“Oh, I see you chose well, my lamb.”

Her teeth gritted and she cringed as though the voice of Pastor Stone were akin to the scratching on a chalkboard. How could she have sat in these pews year after year for eighteen years and never realized what a hypocrite this mother fucker was?

At the second pew from the back, she paused. “Let Jessica go. I’m not coming any farther until you release her.”

Perverse laughter reminiscent of the Joker from Batman echoed through the hollow room. Oh, he’s cracked indeed.

“Hammond says he’s laughing. Why is he laughing?” Ryan demanded.

“He’s loony.”

“Tell you what,” Stone wiped his eyes with the back of his hands as though recovering from a fantastic joke. The two members of his flock at his sides even stared at him incredulous. He’d gotten crazier than ever. “How about we meet half way.”

He took one step forward, shoving Jess in front of him and into the ray of light coming through the stained-glass window.

Lindsey sucked in a breath and tried not to cry. Jess. Her hands were wrenched behind her back, her mouth covered with duct tape. Her eyes were saucers filled with the most horrendous fear she’d ever seen. Tear stains ran in tracks down her cheeks.

In slow motion, Lindsey inched forward.

“Don’t get too close, Miss Walters. We don’t want him to have the upper hand,” Hammond whispered into her earpiece. “Stop a few feet away and demand her release or I’m going to find myself with two women to rescue instead of one.”

Lindsey nodded as though the officer could see the motion and blinked to clear her head.

Get her out. Just get her out. Then worry about yourself.

“Could you possibly do both tasks at once, mi alma? I’m about to shit my pants as it is.”

She didn’t have time to respond.

When one hard wooden pew remained between Lindsey and Stone, who gripped the struggling Jessica far more harshly than necessary, she stopped.

“Let her go. I’m here.” She folded her arms across her chest as rehearsed, a little tip of body language that screamed “I’m not going to let you get the better of me.”

With a smirk, the crazed lunatic shoved Jess to the side. She stumbled and fell into the aisle, her head banging into the dark wooden pew.