The Perfect Outsider Read Online Free
Cold Plains.
Mia had told EXIT there were other members who wanted to get out, but they had no resources and were afraid for their lives if they spoke out against Samuel. Mia had passed on the name of Hannah Mendes, a widow in her seventies with a ranch on the outskirts of Cold Plains. Hannah had been trying to set up a safe halfway house with the aid of her sister-in-law from Little Gulch over in the next valley. EXIT had contacted June and asked if she’d run the house and help Hannah with an evacuation program. They presently had five people in the safe house waiting to move into an EXIT program, and June had done the early stages of counseling with them. Lacy and her twins would have brought the number of occupants to eight.
As they edged up over the ravine lip, rain was coming down hard again and the wind soughed, swirling mist like wraiths through the trees. Dawn had done little to dissipate the gloomy eeriness of the forest. June paused and gave the stranger some water. His face had a pallor that worried her, and he was weakening.
“Where are we going?” he said, handing her water bottle back to her.
“Shelter. A safe place.” Hooking his arm over her neck again, supporting his weight with her shoulders, June led him through the trees toward a hidden crevasse that would lead into caves and a tunnel to Hidden Valley on the other side of the mountain. That’s where the safe house was.
As he began to lean more heavily on her, June prayed she wasn’t taking a cult enforcer, her worst kind of enemy, into the very heart of their safe house.
Chapter 2
A s they neared the opening of the crevasse that led to the cave tunnel, the pager on June’s hip sounded. Tension whipped through her. She leaned her shoulder against the rock face, the stranger heavy against her body as she checked the page.
Chief Fargo.
Her pulse quickened. The police chief was probably wondering why she and Eager hadn’t shown up with the rest of the SAR team at first light this morning. June would never make it down there in time now, not if she had to take this injured man back to the safe house first. Sweat prickled over her lip.
With the FBI’s noose tightening around Samuel, and with more and more of his Devotees disappearing into some rumored safe house, the entire town was on edge, looking for the traitor among them. The last thing June needed was to give Fargo, Samuel or anyone else in Cold Plains cause to suspect her.
As part of her of her cover, June rented an outbuilding on Hannah Mendes’s ranch as her “official” residence in Cold Plains while she worked two days a week as a paramedic for the urgent-care ambulance service.
Hannah covered for June on all the other nights and days she spent working at the cave house in the mountains. The ranch was likely the first place Fargo might go looking for June when she didn’t show up for the search party or answer this page. Fargo might see June’s truck still in the driveway, start asking questions. Hannah could come under scrutiny, as well.
June cursed to herself—she was going to need a damn fine explanation to satisfy Fargo.
This community with its seemingly picture-perfect facade was like a ticking time bomb. June just wished the FBI would hurry up and get something they could actually use to take Samuel down and prosecute him before the whole place blew sky-high, Waco-style.
She hooked her pager back onto her belt and tried to get her patient moving again, but his legs were buckling under him and he appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness. Worry speared through June—he might need a hospital. But it was too late even to consider trying to make it all the way back into town with him in this condition. And then there’d be questions.
The cave house was closer, safer.
“Hey, you,” she whispered, lightly slapping the side of his rugged cheek with her palm. “Can you hear me?”
He moaned. His complexion was deathly pale and blood was seeping into the
Mia had told EXIT there were other members who wanted to get out, but they had no resources and were afraid for their lives if they spoke out against Samuel. Mia had passed on the name of Hannah Mendes, a widow in her seventies with a ranch on the outskirts of Cold Plains. Hannah had been trying to set up a safe halfway house with the aid of her sister-in-law from Little Gulch over in the next valley. EXIT had contacted June and asked if she’d run the house and help Hannah with an evacuation program. They presently had five people in the safe house waiting to move into an EXIT program, and June had done the early stages of counseling with them. Lacy and her twins would have brought the number of occupants to eight.
As they edged up over the ravine lip, rain was coming down hard again and the wind soughed, swirling mist like wraiths through the trees. Dawn had done little to dissipate the gloomy eeriness of the forest. June paused and gave the stranger some water. His face had a pallor that worried her, and he was weakening.
“Where are we going?” he said, handing her water bottle back to her.
“Shelter. A safe place.” Hooking his arm over her neck again, supporting his weight with her shoulders, June led him through the trees toward a hidden crevasse that would lead into caves and a tunnel to Hidden Valley on the other side of the mountain. That’s where the safe house was.
As he began to lean more heavily on her, June prayed she wasn’t taking a cult enforcer, her worst kind of enemy, into the very heart of their safe house.
Chapter 2
A s they neared the opening of the crevasse that led to the cave tunnel, the pager on June’s hip sounded. Tension whipped through her. She leaned her shoulder against the rock face, the stranger heavy against her body as she checked the page.
Chief Fargo.
Her pulse quickened. The police chief was probably wondering why she and Eager hadn’t shown up with the rest of the SAR team at first light this morning. June would never make it down there in time now, not if she had to take this injured man back to the safe house first. Sweat prickled over her lip.
With the FBI’s noose tightening around Samuel, and with more and more of his Devotees disappearing into some rumored safe house, the entire town was on edge, looking for the traitor among them. The last thing June needed was to give Fargo, Samuel or anyone else in Cold Plains cause to suspect her.
As part of her of her cover, June rented an outbuilding on Hannah Mendes’s ranch as her “official” residence in Cold Plains while she worked two days a week as a paramedic for the urgent-care ambulance service.
Hannah covered for June on all the other nights and days she spent working at the cave house in the mountains. The ranch was likely the first place Fargo might go looking for June when she didn’t show up for the search party or answer this page. Fargo might see June’s truck still in the driveway, start asking questions. Hannah could come under scrutiny, as well.
June cursed to herself—she was going to need a damn fine explanation to satisfy Fargo.
This community with its seemingly picture-perfect facade was like a ticking time bomb. June just wished the FBI would hurry up and get something they could actually use to take Samuel down and prosecute him before the whole place blew sky-high, Waco-style.
She hooked her pager back onto her belt and tried to get her patient moving again, but his legs were buckling under him and he appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness. Worry speared through June—he might need a hospital. But it was too late even to consider trying to make it all the way back into town with him in this condition. And then there’d be questions.
The cave house was closer, safer.
“Hey, you,” she whispered, lightly slapping the side of his rugged cheek with her palm. “Can you hear me?”
He moaned. His complexion was deathly pale and blood was seeping into the
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