Chosen Prey (13 page)

Lyra freshened up by washing her face and combing her hair. For the first time in a long time she was conscious about the way she looked and the way she was dressed, and she wished she had something nice to wear that was clean. As usual she wore faded blue jeans and a loose T-shirt tucked into her jeans. It was the same sort of outfit she wore when she worked.

Lyra grimaced when she thought about the fact that she was going to have to face Nick.

Nothing like calling her host a weird, paranoid neat freak. For him to hear her say it was enough to make her want to crawl under the bed.

And then to find out the guy was drop-dead gorgeous.
Whoa
. He sure didn't look anything like she'd expected. But then, appearances weren't everything. The so-called Prophet, Neal, was good-looking.

The thought of Neal made her stomach churn like it always did, and she had to force thoughts of him from her mind. She'd take being embarrassed in front of Nick any day to being anywhere near Neal.

Lyra checked her cell phone for the time and saw that it was completely dead. She pulled out her charger, found a wall outlet, and plugged it in before setting it on a table in the corner of the room. She wanted to try calling Mrs. Yosko again, but the phone was so dead it would have to be charged at least a little before Lyra could get it to power up.

She glanced at the phone by the bed. Would Nick mind if she used it? She'd ask.

If she didn't hurry, no doubt she'd be late to dinner-Nick was probably a time freak, too. She rubbed her sweating palms on her jeans before she opened the bedroom door and headed upstairs.

When she reached the spacious great room she found it was empty, but heard male voices coming from where she'd seen the kitchen when they'd arrived. She hooked her thumbs in her jean pockets to have something to do with her hands and casually walked into the archway of the kitchen. It was huge. As she'd seen earlier, a pot rack hung from the ceiling over the island, and the perfectly shiny copper-bottomed pans reflected the track lighting. The cabinets were mahogany or cherry wood and the walls were a pleasant shade of taupe. The black granite counter-tops seemed to stretch endlessly, and all of the appliances were aluminum and of the finest quality. The guy had taste and obviously had money, too.

Dare acknowledged her with a nod and a smile but continued talking with Nick. She took a moment to observe both men as Nick arranged taco shells on a platter. They were two of the best-looking males she'd had the opportunity to study at one time. Rugged good looks, solid, muscular builds, and dark hair. Nick's brilliant blue eyes were narrowed as Dare spoke.

She forced herself to shift her thoughts away from gorgeous men to food. The aromas of beef, cheese, and onions made her stomach growl loud enough that she caught the attention of both men.

"Hungry?" Nick switched off a burner and raised an eyebrow.

"Smells good." She managed to meet his eyes. "Can I help with anything?"

"Taken care of." He reached into one of the high cabinets to the right of the stovetop and drew out three plates made of the kind of pottery Suzette created. As a matter of fact, when Lyra glanced around the kitchen she saw a lot of the same work, from the salt and pepper shakers to canisters. "Go ahead and make your own tacos," he said.

Lyra still felt embarrassed as she moved closer and took one of the plates from him.

She dropped two crispy taco shells onto her plate from a tray by the stovetop. "Did you buy your dinnerware from that little pottery shop on Main Street across from the southwestern restaurant?" Lyra took the heavy-gauge serving fork from him and began plopping seasoned shredded beef into her shells.

"Suzette's," Nick replied as he handed Dare a plate. "I custom ordered all my dinnerware from her."

After piling five taco shells on his plate, Dare took the meat fork from Lyra as she moved on to the cheese, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and salsa. "She sells some of my work in her shop," she said.

"I know." Nick took his turn at making his own tacos, piling five shells on his plate like Dare had. "I bought a few of your things when I picked up my order. The pieces I bought were the ones that led Dare to Suzette's and then to you."

Her cheeks heated. She wasn't sure if she should be thanking him, considering that it was his purchases that brought The People to her door.

"Um, thanks for buying some of my things," she went ahead and said. She moved to the table in the kitchen nook, which was set for three, with place mats and cloth napkins in pottery napkin rings that matched the dinnerware. The napkins matched the place mats.

Was this guy for real?

When they were seated around the table, each with a glass of iced tea, Lyra couldn't help asking what had been on her mind since they arrived at Nick's home. "If no one knows where you live, how did you build this place? Get well water and electricity?"

"Hired a contractor and his team." Nick gave her a direct stare, his eyes narrowed.

"Then I had to kill them."

Lyra had just taken a bite of taco and choked. She dropped the taco on her plate as she started coughing. Dare rubbed her back while she gulped some iced tea.

When she looked up, the skin around Nick's eyes was crinkled in amusement and Dare was shaking his head, his mouth curved into a grin.

"Donovan paid them really well to forget he existed," Dare said. "The electric company has the meter near the highway, and he gets his mail in town."

For the rest of the meal, Lyra kept her thoughts to herself and ate her tacos, afraid she'd say something stupid. Nick and Dare talked about a new surveillance case for a woman named Letty Johnson.

"I'm leaving to get right on it after we finish taking a look at those aerial maps," Nick said after he crunched a mouthful of taco and swallowed. "Mr. Johnson supposedly gets off work at the courthouse some nights at eight, but when I checked with a clerk, she said he always heads out right at five. Never fails."

"Should be an easy mark." Dare wiped his hands with his napkin. The two men had devoured their five tacos in the same amount of time it had taken Lyra to eat two. "Asshole gets off early, screws another woman, then gets home late and tells Mrs. Johnson he worked into the night." Dare scowled. "A woman deserves better than that kind of cheating scum."

"Yep." Nick pushed back his chair, stood, and grabbed his plate and fork. "The photos should be interesting."

"You really take pictures of people having affairs?" Lyra couldn't keep her mouth shut as she grabbed her own plate and stood. "Like on TV?"

Dare gave a low laugh and Nick raised an eyebrow as he said, "How else do you expect me to prove he's fu—" He cleared his throat. "Prove that he's cheating with another woman?"

"Oh." Would her cheeks ever stop flaming around this man? "Must be, um, interesting work."

"Most of the time surveillance is pretty boring," Dare said as they carried their plates to the sink. "Not much exciting about sitting in a car or tailing the mark. Especially when they don't follow a regular schedule. The guy Nick will tail could go straight home tonight, and he'll follow him tomorrow, possibly the next day and the next, until he catches the S.O.B.

at it."

"Dare, though," Nick said as he looked directly at her, "becomes a little too involved with his work."

"Shut up, Donovan," Dare growled. "I do my job."

Nick faced Dare head-on. "Let's just say at times you forget it's not personal."

Lyra's skin went hot. She was one of those people Nick was talking about.

Dare took a step closer to Nick, his hands clenched at his sides. Nick just shook his head and went back to cleaning the kitchen.

When Dare looked at her, Lyra turned away and kept her eyes averted. Somehow she'd forgotten she was just another person he'd felt the need to protect.

When they finished putting away the leftovers as well as cleaning up the dishes, table, and countertop so that everything was absolutely spotless, Lyra followed Nick and Dare down the flight of stairs.

Nick paused and looked from Dare to Lyra, and his hard gaze rested on her. "She stays here."

Dare rubbed his hand over his afternoon stubble. "She's okay, Donovan."

For a long moment Nick looked at her.

"She needs to see," Dare said. "It's possible she can help us."

Nick's eyes never left hers. She held her breath. He finally nodded and turned away.

She and Dare followed Nick as they went all the way to the end of the hallway and down another staircase. Their footsteps were loud against the wooden floor as they walked along a different hallway and into what must be the master bedroom. It was huge and masculine with its polished wood floor, thick wood furniture, taupe and brown bedding and furnishings.

But when they went into his large walk-in closet, hair at her nape prickled. Everything was close around her. Too close.

Lyra shook her head and took a deep breath. She could do this. Whatever it was, she could do it.

At the back of the confined space, she thought she saw Nick push something on the wall. She nearly jumped when a piece of the hardwood floor rose up a couple of inches, then slid to the side. Nick immediately climbed down a set of metal stairs. When she glanced at Dare, he gestured for her to follow Nick. Her body tingled and she felt a little light-headed. The fact that they were in a closet made her feel a bit on the claustrophobic side, but going down into a room below the closet? She closed her eyes and opened them again. She could do this.

Lyra sucked in a deep breath and positioned herself so that she could grab the metal handrails. They were cold beneath her palms. She slowly headed down the steps into the low-lit room.

When she reached the bottom, she turned and her stomach dropped. A room filled with computers and monitors. Different from Neal's, yet the same.

Huge monitors, computers, electronic maps, and a zillion other high-tech gadgets filled the place. Blue light flickered throughout the dim room, and she was so overwhelmed by it all that her head spun.

She was barely conscious of Dare coming up behind her until he kissed the top of her head. She shivered and goose bumps prickled her skin as she looked up at him. He lowered his head and gently brushed his lips over hers and smiled.

The tension in Lyra's muscles increased despite his closeness and gentleness. He rubbed both her arms, then released her to walk to where Nick was waiting. The other man had a hard, impatient look.

When she heard what they were talking about, her stomach turned to lead. Lyra's feet seemed to take her to Dare's side of their own accord. Her heart pounded and her throat grew dry.

"We can get him for underage sex," Dare was saying, "as well as polygamy. Most of all, I'm pretty sure from what Lyra talked about that they could be running drugs."

"If that's the case, then we'd have something to put them away for a while," Nick said.

"If we can just figure out a way to prove it.

"When I looked into the cult after talking with you, I gathered some info and found out the Temple of Light's satellite compound is here," Nick was saying as he and Dare pored over a large map that looked as if it had been taken from the sky. The map was against a lit background so that it could be read more easily, and the glow reflected against Nick's and Dare's faces. "We didn't get a clear shot because of the weather and the trees," Nick said.

"We'll work on it."

Dare nodded, his jaw tight.

"They're building their new compound at the base of the Huachuca Mountains." Nick used a pencil and pointed to the location. "Here's the perimeter fence, and they appear to be well guarded. All of these shapes are probably tents where the cult members live, and these dots are the cult members. From the intelligence I've gathered so far, they've set up satellite compounds all over the U.S."

The Temple of Light really was here. And the cult had spread across the country.

Sweat dampened Lyra's forehead and she felt like hot needles were pricking her skin.

All she could do was stare at the map, yet her head swam and she didn't see it. With satellite communes everywhere, she probably couldn't ever run somewhere they wouldn't find her.

"This other map is of their compound just outside of Sandy, Oregon," Nick was saying.

She shuddered at the mention of the place she now thought of as hell. Was Neal still there? Or was he here, in Arizona, now?

Lyra wrapped her arms around her belly. Images, smells, and sights filled her mind.

The nightmare of when Neal had told her about being the Chosen was like a fist slamming into her belly. Everything was vivid, like it was happening all over again. He had taken her into a room like this one and told her of her "destiny." He had touched her breasts. Had forced her to touch his penis.

Bile rose up in Lyra's throat and she clapped her hand over her mouth. In the distance she heard a male voice, and then two strong hands grabbed her upper arms.

"No!" She struggled to get away from the hands. "I won't. I won't!"

The strong hands shook her and her head fell back.

The dim room came into focus and she saw Dare's eyes fixed on her, his jaw tight. She immediately went limp, her knees giving out on her.