Page 66 of The Cult

Terror morphs into something else, something far more vicious, and she lunges at me, scratching her nails across my cheek. “I will not go! Micah is waiting for me. I need him!”

Her attack stuns me for a few seconds, and Mario yanks her away from me. Horrified by how lost she is, I try to reach her one more time.

I get into her face and hope to God there’s some part of her that is still willing to understand me. “Rina, listen to me. You don’t know what’s really happening. It’s nothing close to light or greatness. It’s just a cult that’s scamming people out of their life savings and drugging them so they work for Micah. Are you hearing me? Micah, Nadine, all of it is nothing but a cult!”

The sirens blare their noise now as two police cars skid to a stop at the corner, drowning out nearly everything else, including my pleas for my sister to see the truth. At the first chance she gets, Rina bolts away with Mario, the two of them so desperate to believe in Micah and all of the Golden Light nonsense that they refuse to hear a word I say.

I run after my sister and my boss and grab onto her shirt, desperate to keep her from going back into that building. She tries to twist out of my hold, but I clutch the fabric like my life depends on it.

“Stop, Rina! I can’t let you go!” I scream.

The sirens end their wailing, but suddenly, a gunshot breaks the momentary silence. I turn around to see police crouched behind their vehicles with their guns drawn. Chaos explodes all around us with guns going off left and right. I push Rina to the ground as Mario hurries away into the building in front of us to protect himself.

I don’t know how long the gunfight goes on because I bury my head in my sister’s neck and pray to God a stray bullet doesn’t find us. If we can just make it out of this alive, I know I can bring her back to reality.

Thank God Nash found a good hiding spot behind that building. I’m going need to thank him for getting the police here to help us. After this night is over, I’m going to owe him nothing less than my life.

31

Nash

For a long moment,all the shooting stops. In the lull, I see Adam and follow his gaze across the street. He’s not looking for me. He’s looking for Lara.

Son of a bitch! Why didn’t she listen to me when I told her we needed to get out of here? We could have been long gone from here by now.

A flash of lightning lights up the sky, joining with the cops’ headlights to help me see where everyone is, and Adam’s bloodlust shows as clear as day in his face while he watches for his chance to take a shot at her. I know what he’s thinking. She’s right next to one of Micah’s women, and he doesn’t dare do anything that could hurt her.

That killing her sister doesn’t fall under that category shows how messed up these people are. How is it I didn’t see that for all the time I was in The Golden Light?

Regret fills my thoughts, but I shake my head to force it away. I don’t have time to feel that right now. That can wait for later. Now I have to make sure Lara doesn’t get hurt.

Beside me, Officer Jameson practically quakes with fear. The poor guy. A small town cop like him has probably never experienced anything like this in his entire time on the job. He likely spends his nights fielding calls from old ladies complaining about their neighbors’ dogs barking and boisterous kids playing outside too long after it gets dark.

“We’ve got nearly the entire force here,” he says in a voice that barely hides how scared he is. “Any chance they’ll just come peacefully now that they’ve stopped shooting?”

I shake my head, wishing I had a better answer for him than what I know is the truth of what’s about to happen next. “No. No way. This is the calm before the storm.”

From behind one of the police cars, one of Jameson’s fellow cops calls out, “This can all stop now. Just put your guns down, and nobody will get hurt.”

Looking at Jameson, I roll my eyes. “You guys don’t understand. This isn’t going to end just because you say it should. These are true believers, and Micah has told them not to come back without me and my friend.”

“Micah? Who’s Micah?”

“The leader of The Golden Light. They won’t do anything to make him unhappy with them, and if they don’t get us to come back, he’s going to be furious. None of these people can deal with that happening.”

The officer looks at me like he thinks I’m crazy. Maybe I was for a long time. I must have been to believe in Micah and everything The Golden Light represented.

But I’m not crazy anymore.

“Well, if they’re wanting you to come back, that must mean they don’t want to kill you, right?” Jameson asks with far too much hope in his voice.

I point toward where I see Adam standing with two other members of The Golden Light and say, “See him? He’s a psycho. Nothing makes him happier than to hurt people. I saw him kill a woman in cold blood a few days ago because she tried to run away from him. That’s what he wants to do with my friend. Lara is the one he’s after.”

Even as I say that, I know Adam will risk any punishment Micah can devise to gun me down too. He’ll take the box or even whipping to enjoy the thrill of paying me back for what he thinks was my betraying him. He may be after Lara to keep her mouth shut, but he’ll kill me just because he can and deal with Micah’s disappointment.

Assuming the man I’ve served for years would be unhappy with my death, and that’s not something I’d bet money on. To Micah, I’ve done worse than killing someone.

I’ve betrayed him, and for that, I have a feeling he’d gladly accept Adam killing me.

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