But what could she do?Turk hadn’t found a scent.Jimmy was gone, and judging by the lack of belongings here, he wasn’t planning on coming back.All she could do was hope that the APB turned something up.
Her phone buzzed.Bridgette.She was the last person Faith wanted to talk to, but on the off chance she might have more information for them, she answered.“Bold.”
“Oh my God,” Bridgette gushed.“So, I talked to the soldier guy after his class again—his name’s Derek, by the way, and he’s cute enough I might let him actually take me out—and he said that this guy Jimmy went off the deep end a few months ago.He left the class, ranted about false prophets, called himself the Apostate like it was some kind of title, and I guess just up and left his apartment.Didn’t pay rent or anything.The police showed up to evict him, and he had been gone for weeks.”
Faith sighed.“Yes, we know.”
“Wait… What?How?”
Faith was not about to tell Bridgette about Jimmy’s sister, so she said, “We followed up on him after you called me.He’s our guy.”
“Hell yeah!I mean… Did you find him yet?”
“Not yet.The police just put out an APB.”
“Faith!”Bridgettetsked.“I thought I was gonna be exclusive!I could have put the word out about Jimmy.”
Faith was too exhausted to explain to Bridgette the difference between a press interview and an all-points bulletin.She just hung up.
Jessica chuckled.“Hanging up on reporters will never not be satisfying.”
Turk whined softly.The normally upbeat dog was subdued after arriving at the cabin to find Sullivan gone.It seemed to have sunken into him that finding this particular bad guy was going to be more difficult than most, maybe the most difficult since the two of them had hunted Franklin West.
You’re jumping to the worst-case scenario,Faith told herself.
“Okay,” Jessica said.“So, what are we going to do while we’re waiting for the APB to pull something up?”
“Search the cabin.Top to bottom.Dig through this mess.We need to look for any sign of wear Jimmy is, or, failing that, any sign of who he plans to target next.”
“You don’t think he’s on the lam?”Jessica asked.
“I don’t know,” Faith replied, “but I doubt it.I think he might be too far gone mentally to understand the danger he’s in.From what Bridgette told me, his mental state is precarious.He might not be thinking clearly enough to understand that his best bet is to leave the area and keep his nose clean.”
Jessica nodded slowly.“You might be right.We’ll make sure that law enforcement is still keeping an eye on the targeted chaplains.Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll show up to try to kill one of them, only this time our friends in blue will be able to get to him before he runs away.”
Faith frowned.“I really don’t want to just sit here and wait for news.”
“I know.I’m just trying to be positive.”
The three of them began searching the cabin.Turk trotted around the outside of the dwelling, looking for anything, Sullivan might have buried outside.Faith and Jessica got started digging through the mess covering the floor of the cabin.
As the minutes dragged on and more and more of the cabin turned up nothing, Faith’s anxiety grew.Sullivan could be deep in the wilderness by now, ready to disappear for decades before he was found.He could be on the road on his way to Canada or Mexico.
Or he could be looking for his next victim.
She was about to despair of finding anything here when her fingers closed around a spiral bound notebook hidden underneath a pile of rancid-smelling clothes.Her heart leaped when she pulled it out and opened it to reveal a list of names: Robert Hayes, Daniel Cruz, Sarah Brennan.
And the last name, Walter Brennan.
“Jessica!I have something!”
“Brennan.”
“Oh yeah?”
Faith handed her the notebook.Jessica read the names, and her eyes widened.“This is it.This is our list.”
“Now we know who we need to protect.”
