The Church (The Cloister Trilogy 3)

Though I try not to think about it, I have one card left to play. One checkmate that will cost me dearly.

His brow furrows. “If you agree with what I’m saying here, then what are we even talking about?”

“Just tell her, okay? Tell her I’m coming for her. Can you do that for me?”

“I’ll try.” He sits up. “Till tomorrow, Maiden.” He rises and strides to the door, opening it roughly. “Work on your cock-handling skills for next time. And I hope your gag reflex is non-existent.” He slams the door.

I curl into a ball and stare at the wall, my mind clicking with plans and strategy. Adam is safe for the time being. Mom is not. These are the parameters I have to work within. I can do it. I can save them both.

Even if the cost is higher than I can admit, even to myself.

Chapter 14

Adam

“Holy shit, where’d you get this?”

I keep my eyes closed. Lying on Jez’s couch, I’ve heard plenty of interesting conversations over the past three days. This one is the most interesting of all.

“You know how Noah has crews clearing all those acres for farming?”

“Yeah,” Jez replies.

“They’re stockpiling dynamite to take care of the stony areas that they can’t dig out with regular equipment. Going to break the rock into smaller pieces they can get with their bulldozers.”

“Are you shitting me?” Jez cackles. “We won’t need the gasoline at all if we’ve got more of this.”

“This is just a sample. There’s more. A ton more in a storage shed on that side of the compound.”

“How much can you nick?”

“Enough.”

“When?”

“It’ll take me a few days. I’m only supposed to be out there to take lunches and refreshments to the workers, and that’s once a day. If I’m lucky, they don’t pay me any attention, and I can sneak by the shed on my way back. I can hide what I take under the seat of my golf cart, then stash it somewhere safer. But if anyone’s looking, I’ll have to skip it and try again the next day.”

I open my eyes and watch the back and forth between Jez and Chastity. They don’t pay me any attention, either believing I’m asleep or knowing I’m awake and not caring.

Jez holds a stick of dynamite that looks just like what you’d see in the movies—a narrow tube in a khaki wrapper with warnings all over it and a black fuse hanging out one end.

“We’ll need to bring the sanctuary down. This Sunday, got it? Can you get that many sticks?”

“How many of these will that take?” Chastity retrieves the stick, holding it gingerly as she whispers to Jez.

Mass murder. That’s what’s being planned right in front of me. My father has driven these women to this, pushed them over the brink and into the dark abyss below. I’ve done things that will haunt me until the day I die, but all of it pales in comparison to what Jez and Chastity are planning in urgent whispers. But that’s what my father does. Poisons everything and everyone he touches. This is his evil—their entire plan is just another rung on his ladder of hatred, murder, and power.

“So, I’m thinking twenty. We place them around those wide, round columns in the atrium area and around to the sides and back.” Chastity glances at me and frowns.

“Nice to see you again. So you’re in on the mass murder plan, too?” I stretch, my phantom toes stinging.

Chastity turns to me, her eyes shrewd. “It was my idea, so I’d say so.”

“I see.”

She glares. “No, you don’t.”

“Let me rephrase. I see that you and Jez here have lost your fucking minds and intend to slaughter thousands of people. Judge, jury, and executioner. A death sentence all because they were desperate enough to fall for the Prophet’s lies. And not just them.” I sit up and wince as blood rushes to my foot. “Their children, too. You’ll kill them all.”

Chastity steps toward me, her shoulders back, her eyes alight. “You think we came to this decision lightly?”

“I don’t care how much hand-wringing it took, what you’re talking about is the worst sort of evil.”

“No. Your father. He’s the worst sort of evil.”

“So kill him. Just him.” I hold up my bandaged hands. “I hope you can see that I’d be happy to help with that plan. He needs to go, and I’m more than willing to help out. But that doesn’t mean you have to kill all the—”

“I do.” Chastity shakes her head. “I have to destroy Heavenly. Cutting off the head of the snake isn’t enough. Another head will pop right up.” She jerks her chin at me. “You, your brother, one of the Protectors, some asshole in the crowd who thinks he’s touched by God. And then it will never stop.”

“So kill the Protectors. That’s been my plan.”