"I think there's a car following us," I tell him. "It's been trailing us since we turned onto the main street from the house."
He looks behind us, and the headlights start sinking back.
"Keep an eye on them."
I watch through the mirror for the rest of the drive. For the next few minutes, the car varies its distance from us, getting closer for several seconds, then falling back. I can't see what type of car it is because of the glare of the headlights. We're almost to the storage unit when the car hesitates, then turns onto a residential street.
"They turned," I say.
"Just try to calm down," Sam says. "You're getting too worked up."
"Let's just get the boxes and go back to my house."
We go through the gate and to the back of the parking lot. The tall light posts create their pools of light on the pavement but don't offer much else. Sam goes to open the door to the unit as I walk around to open the trunk. Seconds later, I hear a crash and the sound of metal grinding against pavement.
"What the hell was that?" Sam asks.
He starts running toward the entrance moments before headlights slice around the corner. The mangled front gate clings to the hood as the car speeds toward us. Sam tries to get out of the way, but he doesn't have a chance.
He crashes hard against it. His body bounces over the fence, slides across the windshield, and lands in a heap on the ground.
I scream and jump into the car behind the wheel. There are no keys. Sam has them.
An instant later, a figure in a dark hood appears at the window. The door is locked, but it doesn't matter. He grabs a piece of the gate that tumbled off the front of his car and uses it to smash the window. Glass falls down on me, and I scramble to the other side of the car. There's nowhere to go. Before I can grab hold of the door handle, he releases the lock on the door, opens it, and takes me by the ankles. Dragging me out of the seat causes glass to dig into my hands and scrape along the side of my face. His hand muffles any more screams that I hope will reach teenagers in the woods or people living nearby.
I fight and kick, but the position he has me in gravely limits my mobility. Tossing me into the backseat of his car, he holds me down with his thighs and binds my wrists with tape. A gag goes into my mouth, and he hobbles my legs before slamming the door closed.
The last thing I see is him reaching into the glove compartment and coming out with a syringe. The sharp pain in my arm comes an instant before blackness.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
This comes only in flashes:
I don't know how long I'm in the back of the car. My eyes open for just a few moments, long enough to look up through the windows and see streetlights passing overhead.
The sky goes into the darkness of the middle of the night. The next time I open my eyes, it's a pale shade of gray. Then the sun stings in them. It's been many hours, and as far as I know, the car hasn't stopped. I can't move, and I realize the man who took me has tied me down to the seat.
When the car finally stops, I struggle to sit up, but can't. He comes to the door and opens it, reaching inside to release me and drag me out. Another man is standing just a few feet away. With closely cropped blonde hair and a pale blue shirt, he stares on with no expression on his face.
It's only when they've both taken hold of me and are dragging me across the parking area that I glanced back and realize we didn't arrive in the same car he stuffed me into in Virginia. At some point, he took my unconscious body out of the back seat and tied me into another car. It means the vehicle didn't stand out going down the highway, and the camera footage from the storage unit will be useless for tracing me.
I don't make it easy for them, but the men are stronger, and despite my struggling, they soon get me to the door of The Tower. Ruth is already sitting in the floral room when they bring me to her and drop me down onto the couch. She looks at me with barely a reaction.
"Gentlemen, don't you think you could do better for our guest? She is very special," she says.
The men release my feet and take the gag from my mouth.
"What the fuck is wrong with you people?" I demand the instant my mouth is free. "Let me go right now. I am a federal agent!"
It doesn't ruffle Ruth. She takes a sip of tea and settles the cup down onto a saucer.
"Would you like something? Priscilla makes the most incredible treats."
I feel like I'm looking at a hologram. She can't be real. None of this can be. Yet it is. This is what drew Everly in. These are the walls that brought her to the brink of death. I stand and start to move toward the door, but the two men take me by the shoulders and push me back. The hood has fallen away, and I meet eyes with my captor.
"Let. Me. Go," I growl.
A slight frown turns her lips down.
"I so hoped you would be happier about our invitation to welcome you into the Society."
"What?" I spit.
"Yes." Her smile returns. "I was so impressed by you during your first visit. The moment I saw you, I knew you were meant to be here, Sister Rebecca."
"No!" I shout at her. "I want nothing to do with you people! Do you have any idea the shit you’re in for? Accosting a federal agent?"
Ruth leers at me with those impassive eyes but doesn’t move a muscle. Just continues on like I haven’t said anything.
“I know this might be hard for you to understand. It can be difficult to wrap your head around the truly awesome force surrounding you. But I promise you; you are worthy. You have been chosen. Lucas spoke of you that very night. He told me he had a vision of a new light coming into his life. A brighter light than he has ever seen. Sister Rebecca. A treasure to be cherished above all others.”
“You’re disgusting,” I tell her.
Ruth rises to her feet.
“It takes time with some. The Existence holds strong to the most desirable and precious. But we will deliver you from it and purify you for the New Time. You don’t have to be afraid. We’re here to guide you.”
I stand again, and she looks to the side.
“Jeremiah. Take her. This one will need you.”
I lift my hands over my head and yank them down as hard as I can, pulling them apart at my waist. The movement causes the tape to snap, and I'm free to move. But there's nowhere to go. I get only one solid punch in before another needle sinks into my arm, and I collapse into waiting arms.
I don't know how much time has passed when I open my eyes again. I'm lying on a cold stone floor, and the only light comes from a lamp outside the doorway. The smell of death and rot invades my lungs. I can taste it. A dark silhouette forms in the doorway, and I pull myself up to face him.
"So, what's supposed to happen to me down here?" I ask.
"This is where you will start your purification."
"Is this what you did to her? Is this how you broke Everly?"
"She didn't need to be broken. She knew the gift being offered to her and happily accepted it."
"Until what? What happened that made it all change?"
"She lost her way. The Existence reached her soul, and she needed to be re-purified," he says flatly.
"Is that what you call stringing her up like a pig for slaughter? How long did it take you to find her, Ian?"
His head twitches slightly, as if the sound of the name is offensive.
"My name is Jeremiah."
"No. That's what they call you here. That's what they've brainwashed you into believing." I remember the research I was doing right before Sam arrived at my house with the pictures of the mass grave victims. "Your name is Ian Mills. You were declared missing six years ago from Vermont. How does it feel knowing your family is still looking for you?"