Page 133 of Axton

“What’s that?” She asked.

“He spoke of only one of God’s soldiers, he didn’t recognize his own daughter was already one.”

Her eyes lit up and she pecked my lips again. “Let’s go teach some women how to start truly living their lives.”

We spent the day helping the women fill out their paperwork and explaining the process. They had the option of walking away, and we did have a few who expressed their desire to find their family that had been shunned. Belle sat with them and involved them with an internet search and most found phone numbers or social media accounts for their loved ones. That made me wonder if Belle ever wanted to reach out to her own siblings that were shunned.

Not all the women were as timid and scared. Some downright gave us the cold shoulder. Not all the men were arrested, which didn’t sit well with me. They were the older ones and the ones who hadn’t taken a child bride in years. There were also a few who never took one at all, or at least it couldn’t be proven. The feds just didn’t have the evidence they needed to arrest them. For most, the cults interest in genealogy is what gave them away. It was their own online database that recorded birth and marriage dates.

My personal cell rang, and I saw it was Sheriff Broughton. The last I heard my extended family was out on bond. It sounded like they may have had a friend in the right place because someone got a bail bondsman involved for them.

I walked away from the table where I was working with a few young women. “This is Axton.”

He sighed right away. “We went to evict your family last night and of course it had to go south.”

“Oh shit, I figured it wouldn’t go over well.”

“Saying it didn’t go over well is an understatement. They decided to use force, and I don’t know who the hell supplied them with guns, but they had several AR 15’s. Mike, they shot at mydeputies, and the deputies had to fire back. Then we noticed smoke. The SWAT team was close because I had them on standby, but I couldn’t even get the firetruck in there because they wouldn’t stop shooting round after round at us. I hate to break the news, but none of your family survived.”

I felt shock. “What about the children?” I should have expected it, but it was still shocking to hear.

“Thankfully, they were still in state custody.”

I looked up at the sky then shut my eyes. “Thank God.”

“I am going to do some digging, but I need to know who guaranteed their bond and supplied those guns. They had to have someone instigating what happened last night.”

“Yeah, let me know what you find out.” I was also curious.

“There’s another matter, your dad is their next of kin. I’ve decided I’m going up to the prison today to talk to him. He may forfeit the responsibility of taking care of arrangements then it would fall on you and Kayla.” He explained.

“Just cremate their remains, I don’t give a shit what you do with them.” I could see Belle walking toward me as I spoke to him.

“I’ll keep you updated with everything. Of course, they’re going to do autopsies, but after that the medical examiner will either call you and Kayla or Big Mike to make arrangements for all of them.”

I groaned. “Fine, I understand.”

Belle wrapped her arms around me, and I kissed the top of her head.

“Good, I’ll be in touch after I speak with Big Mike.”

We ended the call and Belle looked up at me. “What’s wrong?”

I told her what happened, and she seemed concerned.

“I’m sorry about your family.” She said.

I really wasn’t, just more upset that Broughton had to deal with it and his deputies lives were put at risk. “I need to call Creed, and I’ll be over to see you soon.” I pecked her lips.

I called Creed and let him know what happened. I wanted Creed’s Lake to look into the firearms and the bail bondsman. Everything about that made me feel uneasy. If the Cartel was satisfied, who was fucking with Creed’s Lake?