“Which is why you’re being targeted, and why you’re the best teacher they could be messing with, for our sake. Inform Principal Essis and let her call in SVPD. If you have any problems, you can go directly to Colt.” Claudia referred to the formidable SVPD chief of police, Colt Todd.
Mitch heard her sigh over the clear line and understood in that moment that she was as frustrated as he. They should have caught the cult members by now, but they were hardened criminals and had been slippery, outsmarting the laws that had put them behind bars over twenty years ago.
“And, Mitch?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Stay the hell out of SVPD’s way. They’re going to be sending in an undercover officer, according to Colt. Work with whomever it is. But watch your six in case whoever wrote those words turns out to be crazy enough to follow through on his threats.”
“I pray for the opportunity to face him.”
Claudia chuckled. “I’m sure you do, but you know our ground rules.” She hung up.
Rules. Yeah, he knew them. All too well.
Mitch called Principal Essis and waited for her to come, his fingers itching to take a sample of the blood on the whiteboard. Claudia was right. He had to always give the appearance of being only a chemistry teacher. His vocation was teaching and he didn’t want to risk losing the best job he’d ever had, besides serving as a Marine. Working under contract to the Trail Hikers during school breaks used the skill set he’d gained in Marine Recon and, while he enjoyed it, teaching was his first love.
Watching students’ eyes light up when they got the meaning of a chemistry equation or solved a lab problem on their own was what he relished.
Which made him want to employ his other abilities in the most effective manner: to catch whoever wanted Silver Valley High School to stop supporting its teen LGBT club.
* * *
“I’m ready for whatever you need me to do. I haven’t done any long-term undercover before, nothing more than a few weeks. But I know I can do this.” Nika sat in a government-issue office chair at the Silver Valley Police Department and watched the team leader for the Rainbow Hater case at Silver Valley High School, Detective Bryce Campbell. “I have to ask, though, why me? Why not one of our younger officers?”
Bryce blew out a long breath. “There’s more to it, Nika. We think the hate crimes against the Rainbows club and teacher Mitch Everlock are somehow connected to the True Believers.”
“I saw the morning report. Leonard Wise is out and free to live here if he wants to.” Wise had been the leader of the True Believers in Upstate New York two decades ago. His prison term was up, and several of his former cult members had been released from prison, too.
“Zora feels horrible about all of this.” Bryce looked as miserable as Nika knew his fiancée was feeling.
“It has nothing to do with her. Wise is sick and would have set up somewhere again. He found her first, so he settled on Silver Valley.”
“Yeah, but...you know.”
Bryce didn’t have to elaborate. Nika did know—when Bryce’s fiancée had been only twelve she’d been a potential victim of the cult. She’d reported the cult, and Wise in particular, saving herself and many other girls. Zora had been moved to Silver Valley and started a new life with her adoptive family. But last year Wise had tracked her down and sent Zora’s mother to Silver Valley to go after the daughter she’d betrayed. Bryce, Zora and SVPD had worked together last Christmas to stop a serial killer who’d targeted Silver Valley’s female ministers. Nika wasn’t privy to all of the details but Zora had somehow worked in disguise to catch the Female Preacher Killer. She’d drawn her biological mother out and was instrumental in having her committed to a mental hospital, where she should have been when Zora was a young girl—before the True Believers Cult had held Zora and her mother hostage.
“How is Zora? This Christmas is going to be a lot different for you two.”
Bryce grunted. “We’re doing the minimum for Christmas as it’s the last week before our wedding. You have a date yet?” He shot her a collegial grin.
She grimaced. “No. Every time you ask, my answer will still be the same, Bryce.”
“Right. Well, you’ve got a few weeks to find a date. So, back to the Silver Valley High case. We’ve got someone who’s got a hard-on for the LGBT club and Mitch Everlock in particular. You go in there without your usual makeup, your hair plain, the right clothes, you’ll pass for a high schooler. Have you seen some of those girls? They’re like cover models. They all look twenty-five, whether they’re freshmen or seniors.”
“I doubt they all look that mature, but go on.”
“There’s a student whose mother is really into the meetings that the cult is holding, over in the trailer park.” The trailer park on the edge of Silver Valley had been purchased by Leonard Wise last year and occupied by his fellow former True Believers founders. “This mother is the only one we have a concrete connection to.”
“What’s the student’s name?”
“Rachel Boyle. You need to get in there and see what you can find out. I’m not saying become her best friend, because from what Mit—Mr. Everlock—has told us, she’s pretty withdrawn. At least, over the past semester she’s withdrawn.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s the Rainbow Hater, Bryce.” She didn’t call him on the fact that he’d referred to Everlock by his first name. It was obvious he and the science teacher must know one another outside of the case. “We don’t even know for sure if the Rainbow Hater is attached to the cult.”
“No, we don’t. But it’s the best lead we’ve got right now, Nika.”
* * *
Three days after having his life threatened by the latest bloody message, Mitch took a long look at his first-period class. He made sure he made eye contact with each of the twenty students. He hoped they each knew that he was here for them, whether it was about chemistry or personal matters. Especially if they were being coerced by the True Believers Cult members to commit a crime.
“Who can give me the resulting compound, given the variables we introduced into our lab experiment?” Mitch switched on the SMART Board, scrubbed clean of the tape goo from the hate message. As the digital whiteboard booted up he took another chance to peruse his smartest group of students. Period one, Monday through Friday: high school seniors, all but one or two destined for the top universities in the state. Many would go out of state, maybe one or two to an Ivy League. Acceptances hadn’t been sent out yet, but he’d seen enough seniors to have a good feel for where each would end up. He felt so damned privileged to be teaching the best of the best.
The thought of any of them being involved in the hate crimes left the taste of bile in his mouth.
“Anyone? What did you do this weekend that’s making you so tired on this fine Monday morning, folks?”
A raised hand. Amy Donovan, the class favorite. Not a teacher’s pet, but the class’s go-to girl on how to keep the labs safe and accurate. She was also the senior class president and a cheerleader. Silver Valley High’s all-American
