“It makes sense,” I answer. “I’ll stay with Rome and the women. Felix?” I turn to him. “Can we borrow two men to check out the compound with Mal?”
“Derrick and Smith, go with Mal.” Felix points to two men.
“Okay.” Mal claps his hands. “Do we take the truck?”
“No need.” Felix drops a shit eating grin on us and whips off the green tarpaulin covering the back of the RV.
Holy shit. “They’re handy,” I say with a grin of my own.
There are three motorbikes strapped to the back of the RV. They’re dirtbikes, but they look like they’re fast, too.
“Nice.” I walk up to them. “What’s their top speed?”
“Ninety or so,” Felix says. “We could have gone with faster road versions, but the whole point of carrying these is exactly for situations like this. Using these, you don’t have to approach via the road, which I’m sure has sentry points all over, but you can go through the woods and over fields and approach the boundary that way.”
“What should we look for?” I turn to Ophelia and Daisy.
“There’s a fenceline,” Daisy says, “with fields and barns, and beyond that a few streets and houses. The church is in the center of the commune and is the tallest building by far.”
“Cameras?” I ask.
“Not that I know of,” Ophelia replies. “They don’t like much modern technology, but whether they have them in secret, I wouldn’t know. You have to understand that they’re an isolated community. The commune doesn’t even have a name. There are no major roads leading to the area, as you’ve seen, so they’re not too worried about people finding them.”
I glance over to Felix. “That’s got to be a good thing, right?”
A muscle twitches beneath Felix’s eye. “Unless they already know we’re coming.”
I can’t help my gaze flicking to Daisy. She’s the only way the Prophet would have a heads up about our arrival. I’m tempted to ask her directly, but it’s not like she’s going to tell the truth, and it’ll only cause friction between us and Ophelia when Ophelia tries to defend her, which she will inevitably do.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a better idea when we scout the place.” I refocus my attention on Daisy. “So, what’s the best route to take?” I’m aware I’m trusting her not to direct us wrong.
She twists her hands nervously in front of her body. “If you go through the woods, you’ll come up the side of the land where we grow crops, and with the sun almost being set, there isn’t likely to be anyone out that way. If anyone does see you on dirtbikes, they’ll probably assume you’re kids who have gone too far in the wrong direction.”
“Take two bikes, two men on one, one on the other, and you’ll look even less suspicious,” Felix says. “You’ll look like kids riding around the woods, as Daisy says.” He looks right at her and winks. “Good thinking, kid.”
She beams, and I wonder if we just need to be more accepting and friendly toward her.
“Do you have spare helmets?” Mal asks.
Felix nods, and as he goes to kit them out, I turn my attention to Ophelia. I want to hold her. Inhale her scent and feel the soft touch of her lips against mine, but I can’t do any of those things.
Instead, I satiate myself by looking at her and drinking in her beauty.
It’s not lost on me that the first night I met her, we ended up chasing her through the woods, and now here we are, in the woods once more, but hopefully this time, we are going to be helping her, not traumatizing her.
I can’t wait until we have dealt with the Prophet and our Pet is finally free.
CHAPTER 16
Ophelia
Cainand some of his father’s men set up tents, and I ask if I can use the small kitchen in the RV to sort some food out for everyone. Felix says yes and shows me around the tiny space.
I have Daisy with me, as right now, she’s being so fidgety I don’t trust leaving her alone. I’m scared she’ll do or say something to one of the guys that will ignite World War Three. I knew we needed to be more careful about the altar room but didn’t push it because everything has been so non-stop busy since we returned to the college. I should have trusted my instincts.
Damn it. I’m still filled with a desperate urge to get her to understand the Preachers’ side of things. I want to try to explain, but there’s a soldier still in the RV, and, although he’s deeply focused on his phone, playing some game he can still most likely hear our conversation.
I lean in close to Daisy, and say softly, “What you saw back in the water tower wasn’t anything bad. We can talk about it later if you wish, and I’ll answer any questions you might have.”
