A compound in the middle of nowhere.
Very little information about it.
Word of mouth bringing in clients.
Endless potential for things to go wrong.
Honor had known before she’d arrived that there was something more to Sunrise Spiritual Sanctuary than what was listed on their webpage. Instead of doing more research, maybe visiting the area and asking some questions, she’d contacted The Sanctuary and pushed ahead in her effort to find Mary Alice. She’d brushed aside her gut instincts. She’d brushed aside Wren’s concerns. She’d even brushed aside Dotty’s disappointment that they would miss their weekends together.
“Sometimes, my stubborn determination is a detriment to my well-being,” she muttered.
“We can talk about that during the debriefing,” Radley responded, and she thought she heard amusement in his voice. “Let’s get to the truck and get out of here.”
“Good idea,” she agreed quickly.
She stepped forward. He pulled her back.
“Hold on.”
“Why?”
“Listen.”
The way he said it made her hair stand on end.
“What am I listening for?” she whispered.
“The silence.”
Now that he mentioned it, things had gone quiet. No branches breaking. No muffled voices. No crickets chirping or animals rustling. No sign that they weren’t the only two living beings in the vicinity.
Absalom’s men had changed tactics. She didn’t need to be a specialized field agent to realize that.
“They’re probably heading to the parking lot,” she whispered, her head bent close to his, the words barely carrying through the darkness.
“That’s what I’m thinking. I know part of the compound is fenced. I was able to do some reconnaissance before I checked in, but I don’t know how far the fence line stretches. Do you?”
“No. But, I know it stretches at least two miles. I walked that far several times, trying to find its end. All I found was more fence.”
“They’ve lost our trail, but they know we’re going to try to escape the compound. They’ll be expecting us to make a run for the gate or the parking lot. We’ll take another route.” He started walking, tugging her with him.
“You know the fence is seven feet, right?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I can barely climb a five-foot one.”
“You can do anything you put your mind to,” he replied.
“The idea of mind over matter? It’s vastly overrated.”
“How about we have that debate after we get out of here?”
“Is that your way of telling me to be quiet?”
“It’s my way of telling you that you need to conserve energy. We have a seven-foot fence to climb.”
No way was she going to be able to do that.
Not with her hands burned and blistered, her body weak, a backpack filled with clothes on her back.
But pointing that out wasn’t going to do any good, so she kept her mouth shut and let him lead her back into the woods.
* * *
It took money to build a seven-foot fence. It took a lot of it to build one that stretched as far as The Sanctuary’s seemed to. Radley eyed the smooth wooden planks. Climbing them would be easy enough. He was six-foot-three and had climbed taller structures during military training. Even with help, though, Honor might struggle. She was a foot shorter than he was, weakened from illness and fever, hands blistered and raw. The surface of the fence was smooth. Free of hand or footholds.
An odd design. No crossbeams on the inside, so they had to be exterior. Not a good idea if the goal was to keep outsiders from climbing in.
But maybe the goal was to keep insiders from climbing out.
For Honor’s sake, he’d have followed the length of the fence, looking for another exit or an end to the fencing, but they didn’t have time. If Absalom’s men had brains in their heads, they’d be guarding the gate and patrolling the fence line. Better to have her hands hurt a little more than to have her shot.
“We’ll climb over here,” he said, leading her from the thick woods and onto a three-foot-wide cleared swath of grass. None of the trees were close enough to the fence to be used as ladders or as leverage. He had to believe that was planned.
He wanted to know what was going on in The Sanctuary, what dark secrets Absalom was hiding. First, though, he wanted to get Honor to safety.
“The fence is taller than I remembered,” she murmured.
“Not so tall we can’t get over it,” he responded, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, his nerves alive with warning.
They were standing between the fence and the trees, exposed to anyone who might be looking for them, and he knew plenty of people were.
“Currently, anything would be too tall.” Her teeth were chattering as if her fever were returning. “As a matter of fact, I’d say that fence is an impossible task.”
“Nothing is impossible, Honor,” he replied, reaching into his duffel and pulling out the handgun she’d told him was there.
“Diving to the deepest part of the ocean is,” she responded, her voice barely a whisper in the darkness. “Digging a hole from North America to the other side of the globe is. Skating on thin ice, walking in wet grass while wearing stiletto heels.”
“I get your point, but I’m not asking you to do any of those things.” He didn’t have a holster, so he checked the gun’s safety and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans.
“Radley, we both know I’m slowing you down. You can get over that fence and get to help before I manage to take three steps.”
“I never thought of you as the kind of person who’d exaggerate,” he said.
“What kind of person did you think I was?”
“The kind of person who enjoys being accurate, logical and factual.”
“I am.”
“Good, then you know that’s it’s not going to take long for either of us to get over the fence.” He eased the backpack from her shoulders and shrugged into it. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“Radley, I want you to go ahead. We both have a better chance of survival if you do.”
“I’d
