Page 23 of The Preachers' Promise
“Because it’s not as though we’re going to be able to just stroll into the place, is it? You think no one will notice the three of us walking in and hauling Ophelia out of there? We need to be smart.”
I hate that he’s right. “Fuck.”
Cain puts out a hand. “Wait, what are we talking about, here? Are we going to kidnap her from the facility?”
I cock an eyebrow at him. “You got a better idea?”
The silence that hangs between us, pregnant and ripe, is enough of an answer.
“What do we do once we’ve got her?” Roman says. “It’s not as though we can take her back to the college. Despite Cain painting a positive picture to her father and making many promises, ones we can’t yet fulfill, he seemed dead set against the idea anyway. The dean will not want to get stuck in the middle of Ophelia’s father and us. He’ll side with Ophelia’s father every time. Dom needs time to talk with him, and if he does eventually agree to us having some security on the college premises, and taking her back, then we can return. In the meantime, we need somewhere to stay.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, picturing the fallout. What kind of shit is this going to get us in with our parents? Not that any of us will particularly care, other than it will fuck up our plans and our timeline for revenge. A bigger issue is the college. Is it going to get us kicked out? As soon as the facility staff realize she’s missing, they’ll call her father. He’ll know right away it’s us, won’t he? It’ll be worth it, of course, but it’s still something we have to consider. Our future with Ophelia in it won’t be the one we had planned before we met her.
Another thought occurs to me. Perhaps her father won’t automatically put the blame at our feet when she goes missing. After all, he’s fearful of the Prophet being the one to find her. He might assume it was him.
Cain shifts farther forward in his seat. “The one thing we have on our side is Ophelia’s mother. She was the one who gave us Ophelia’s location. If she didn’t want us to help, she wouldn’t have done that. Will she speak up for us, when the time comes?”
I hope so, but there’s no guarantee.
“It might be time that we ask for some help,” Cain continues. “The Vipers have offered their assistance, which is pretty fucking good of them, considering the way we’ve treated them in the past. I say we use it.”
I scoff at that. “What, like as in extra manpower? How is that going to help? If three of us can’t just walk in and take Ophelia, then six of us is going to get noticed.”
He shakes his head. “Not like that. I think one of the twins knows how to hack. We’ve got the name of the place Ophelia is being kept, but we need a way in. Maybe they can hack into whatever system the facility is using and get us something to help—plans of the building, or the staffing schedule, so we know how many staff are likely to be on site at the same time.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” I begrudgingly admit.
We both look to Roman for a final sign-off.
Roman lifts his chin. “Do it.”
“It’s late, but hopefully they’ll still be awake.” Cain cracks open the car door and takes out his phone. “Let me make the call, and then we’ll get on the road.”
He climbs out of the car and takes a couple of paces to walk down the dirt on the side of the road.
Headlights from an approaching vehicle appear as dots on the horizon and quickly grow bigger and brighter. They turnCain into a silhouette, and then sweep past us, the engine roaring, before fading away again.
Somewhere in the distance, a dog barks, slow and steady, as though it’s been shut out for the night and wants back in. Layered over the top is Cain’s deep voice, but he’s walked too far away for me to hear exactly what’s being said. I wonder which of the twins he’s talking to, since he can’t be on the phone with Zane. The only way Zane can communicate with someone on the phone is via text or a video call, and Cain has the phone plastered to his ear. It must be one of the twins.
Will the Vipers really help us? We haven’t exactly been good to them over the past twelve months. When Roman found Vani on the side of the road, he’d been genuinely trying to help her, but the Vipers hadn’t seen it that way.
And of course, we had used her for our own ends, too. Making her a prop in our magic to try to bring bad juju to the Vipers. No wonder they were pissed. I think Saint was legitimately freaked out. Our strange practices don’t exactly go down well with outsiders. There’s been plenty of shit between us and the Vipers, but perhaps this is the one thing that’ll unite us. They understand how it is to have a girl they love more than life itself.
Cain ends the call and walks back to the car. “They’ll do it,” he announces. “Vani will help, too, because she’s also got skills in that area. They’ll let us know as soon as they find anything, but it probably won’t be until tomorrow.”
“Isn’t it already tomorrow?” I say, checking the time.
“You know what I mean.” Cain climbs back in the passenger seat and slams the door.
Roman starts the engine again. “I’ll drive for the first hour or so, while you two get some sleep, and then we’ll switch.”
I huff out a sigh and sit back, letting my head fall against the seat. I’m not sure I’ll sleep, but I’ll try. I just keep picturingwhat Ophelia must be going through, and it’s killing me. Can she sense we’re coming to find her?
I hope she knows we’ll never give up on her.
11
OPHELIA
