Page 34 of Shadow of Death
That he believed them was even worse.
“Well, give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, right? Caesar considers murder to be a sin—obey tax laws and others—and I’m afraid you’re under arrest for attempted murder.”
“No, no, no, I have to stay with Peggy, she’s wounded—”
“Yeah, yeah, and without sin,” Hunter murmured. “They will get her to a hospital.”
He heard movement in the brush and turned; it was Crandon. Hunter was impressed to see he and one of his men had a canvas sheet between them and were quick to assess the situation. They pushed the husband aside to carefully transfer the woman to their pallet.
Crandon looked at the man who had shot her. “Dead?”
Hunter nodded.
“We have two more teams on the way and another ambulance down the cliff,” Crandon told him. “They’ll collect this guy,” he said, nodding toward the dead man.
“I have to go with Peggy!” the man said.
“Sorry, you have to go straight to jail,” Crandon told him and shrugged. He paused and looked at the boy. “We’ll call children’s services—” he began.
“I’ll take care of that,” Hunter said. “I’ll get him down and to headquarters. If you can deal with the rest?”
Crandon nodded grimly. “We’ve collected another small group. Info on all forthcoming.”
Even as he spoke, another set of the SWAT group arrived at their point by the spruces.
“No!” the man shrieked as the woman was taken by a pair of the men.
“Hey, you can watch her down the trail!” Crandon said, as he slid cuffs on the man and pushed him forward.
“My mom!” the boy whispered.
Hunter stooped down before him. “I believe your mom is going to be fine. Honestly, I don’t lie. I saw where she was hit, and I don’t believe any vital organs were struck. You understand what I’m saying, right? They will take your mom to the hospital.”
The boy nodded. “Am I going to jail, too?” he asked. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t... They just said we were going to go and see a woman cleaned of her sins. And then... I heard people talking before Mateus started to speak and they said... Oh, God, he was going to cut her heart out! We were going to drink blood and... Oh, God, oh... Are we all sinners? Could something so horrible save someone’s soul?”
He set his hands gently on the boy’s arms. “Son, I don’t believe doing something so cruel would ever be anything God would think of as good in any religion.”
“But—but—my dad isn’t a bad man!” the boy said.
“We can be talked into doing bad things sometimes, even when we aren’t bad men,” Hunter said. “I’m Hunter. What’s your name?”
“Brian. Brian Johnston,” the boy told him. He lowered his head and great tears rolled down his cheeks. Hunter stood and drew the boy to him.
“Brian Johnston, your heart is in the right place—and I’m going to see to it that you’re all right, okay? Come on. Let’s get down the trail. And when it’s possible, I will make sure you know your mom is okay, and maybe even see her,” Hunter said.
“Um, okay. Um...thank you.”
“Sure.”
Hunter led the way, heading down the trail. He found himself checking frequently on the boy. Brian. The kid reminded him...
Of himself.
His parents had been fooled into a cult. But there had been a difference. They had known murder was wrong—no matter what anyone had to say. And when the body of a woman who had been questioning their leader was discovered, his folks had known it was time to find help and get the hell out.
He called in when he reached the bottom of the cliffs with Brian, nodding to the numerous officers who were now escorting handcuffed members of Mateus’s “flock” to police cars.
Crandon was down there, speaking to his men, ready to drive out himself.
