“Your men are keeping watch,” I reply. “They’re safe.”
But despite my reassurances, my stomach knots. I don’t like not knowing where she is, especially considering what we’re about to get into.
Cain pushes to his feet. “It’s still dark. Why the fuck would they go outside?”
“Rome, she was lying right next to you. How did you not notice her getting up?” My tone has a bite of accusation I can’t help. I know I’m wrong to blame him, but this is serious.
He rubs his hand over his mouth. “I took an analgesic. Fuck. I didn’t plan to. I wanted to keep a clear head, but the pain got too much, and I told myself it was better I get some sleep than stay awake for hours in pain. It was only the one. I didn’t think it would knock me out.” He narrows his gaze at me. “Anyway, you two weren’t on pain meds, and, last I checked, you didn’t have half your face and body fucked up, so what’s your excuse?”
Cain is first at the door. “Let’s stop arguing and go find her.”
I’m hot on his heels. He takes the couple of steps down to the ground first, and I follow. I hear Roman close behind. The whole time, my brain conjures reasons why the two girls would have gone out alone in the dark, and I’m beating myself up for not hearing them either. It had been a long journey, and we’d all been exhausted. Cain and I had shared the driving between us, and Roman had been in pain.
Ophelia and Daisy weren’t driving and they weren’t in pain, and it’s the community they were raised in that will be under siege within hours, so perhaps they just couldn’t sleep.
They wouldn’t have tried going to the commune, would they?
It’s a crazy idea, and one I don’t want to give much thought to. The possibility that Ophelia has returned to the Prophet willingly?
“Where the fuck is everyone?” Cain says, drawing to a halt.
Cain’s men should be standing guard, but there’s no sign of them. Shit.
Cain breaks into a run, circling the RV. “Over here!”
My heart leaps, praying he’s found her, but instead I find Cain standing over Felix, who’s lying on the ground. Felix groans and puts his hand to his head.
“What the fuck happened?” Cain asks.
Felix’s words are a little slurred. “I—I’m not sure.”
“There’s another one over here,” Roman shouts.
It’s Derrick.
Felix manages to sit up. “There was some kind of gas. I think it knocked us out.”
Gas? What the hell?
“Where the fuck is Ophelia?” I demand. “Where is Daisy?”
Derrick winces. “I have no idea.”
“The Prophet and his men must have taken her,” Cain says. “It’s the only explanation. They came here and knocked out the men, and then when Daisy and Ophelia left the RV, they snatched them.”
One by one, the three other men come crawling out of the woods. They all seem to have been hit by the same gas that knocked out Felix. How the fuck did this happen?
Mal shakes his head. “We should be grateful they didn’t kill you when you were all unconscious.”
They’re not going to be in any fit state to help us get Ophelia back. The advantage we had of having five highly trained men with us has just been reduced. Perhaps that was the Prophet’s plan?
Did he think we’d just give up? Did he think we’d agree that Ophelia isn’t worth risking our lives for and that we’d turn around and go home? Because he got that part fucking wrong.
I clench and unclench my fists, pacing across the ground. Daisy was in on this. She must have been, as there’s no other way the Prophet would have known we were here. I always thought we couldn’t trust her. Even if the Prophet or someone at thecommune saw the bikes and followed them, Daisy still had to have been in on this, as she somehow got Ophelia outside.
She must have lured Ophelia out of the RV, knowing the Prophet and his men were going to take down the team we brought and smuggle the two women back to the commune.
“We shouldn’t have trusted Daisy. She led us straight into this. Fuck.”
