Echoes of Danger

Tony frowned, squinted, scratched his head. “Rock band?”

“No.” Dana smiled in spite of herself. “My threatening neighbor is Caryn Roark. She’s the leader of some weird church group—a cult, maybe—and she’s been my neighbor for three years now. They have a big compound over there, behind closed gates and tall stone fences, but I’ve never bothered them and up until this week, they’ve never bothered me, other than constantly making me offers to buy my land.” Shaking her head, she added, “I did sort of threaten her the other day, since I’m sure someone from her compound shot my bull. They claim I have something they need, but I don’t have a clue what that might be. And if that’s true, why would they go to all that trouble—destroying my house—when they could just as easily have confronted me and asked for whatever they think I have.”

“Let’s do a little search,” Tony said, his fingers already doing the walking across his keyed-up keyboard. “See what we can find. If this church lady is as high and mighty as you make her out to be, there should be plenty of information about her online. Especially if she tries to win over recruits to her way of thinking.”

Knowing that would be the only way Tony would be impressed or willing to help, Dana shrugged. “I would like to know more about her. I just don’t trust the woman. But I can’t understand what she wants from me, other than my land. I guess she decided since I was so angry, she’d run me off, even if it meant nearly killing Stevie and me.”

Tony grinned, then rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Well, if this Caryn is on the Net, I’ll find out everything we can. I’ve got sources in places where no source would dare show up.”

“What if they find us first?” Dana asked. “I think they know I’m here.”

“What can they do, but send a few hits on the e-mail?”

“They might send more than messages,” Dana replied in a whisper. “They might come after us.” Her eyes centered on her brother. “They might come after Stevie.”

The day progressed without any more excitement. Much to Tony’s dismay, Stevie ran around in his Ruby Runners, practicing sprinting. Her friend and her brother had always irritated each other.

“Hey, watch the cords, kid. One trip and you’ll unhinge part of my system. My clients wouldn’t like it if I lost part of their records.”

Dana realized they’d already overstayed their welcome. Tony bit his nails and worked—drinking massive amount of black coffee as he tapped into Dana’s sparse bank account and informed her that she had about ninety-eight bucks in her checking account and about five hundred dollars in her savings. Not much.

“If someone’s tracing you, they’ll know the minute you withdraw any money,” he explained. “Better just let me loan you some cash. What are you going to do, anyway?”

Dana didn’t know. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. I only know that I’ve got to prove they’re coming after me. If she wants my land, the bank will practically hand it to her now. I borrowed money against the house to buy the two bulls, but now I can’t make the loan payments. Tony, I’m afraid not just for Stephen, but for everyone in Prairie Heart. That woman could take over the whole town.”

Tony scratched a hand through his wiry head. “Relax, doll face. I’ve got my markers out there. We’ll see what we come up with.”

That gave Dana another idea, something that she’d kept in the back of her thoughts. Now instinct told her to pursue it. “Can you pull up information on someone else for me?”

“Give me a name.”

“Bren.” She pulled the card out of her pocket. “He told me not to give anybody this number, but I have to know who he is. He helped us out after the tornado hit.” Quickly she explained meeting the mysterious man and how he’d been so kind to Stephen and her. “He said he had to go to Wichita on business.” She looked down at the card in her hand. “Brendan Donovan. Wichita Industries. That and a phone number are all I have.”

Tony snorted a laugh. “Good one, Dana. Yeah, right.”

“No, I’m serious,” she said, wondering why he thought this was so funny.

“The Brendan Donovan?” Tony asked, his face turning a blotchy red. “Are you sure?”

“That’s the man’s name,” she replied.

“Okay, if you say so,” Tony said, scratching his head. “But I can’t imagine why the wealthy, worldly Mr. Brendan Donovan, better known as the ‘Geek from Ireland,’ would be out on a county line road in rural Kansas. Maybe it was someone pretending to be him.”

Dana studied her friend, suspicious of that bright knowing light in Tony’s eyes. To her way of thinking, Brendan Donovan was anything but a geek. The man oozed handsome. “What do you know about him?”

“Enough,” Tony replied, already focusing on the task at hand. “Let me pull up a few things and then I’ll explain.”

A few hours later, Tony emerged from his corner with printouts an inch thick. “Very interesting. When you make someone mad, you go for the big guns, huh?”

Dana dropped the magazine she’d been leafing through. “What’d you find?”

Tony settled down in the plaid chair and adjusted his bifocals. “Universal Unity Church—founded by Caryn Roark. Started in Europe, specifically Ireland, has ties with extremists groups, cultlike following, over a thousand sworn members worldwide, very secretive, very powerful. Members have to swear loyalty to the church and give up all worldly goods. Had some run-in with parents who claim she’s brainwashing their teenagers. Moved to rural Kansas about three years ago to start a new arm of church. Still has headquarters in Ireland, but has a growing following in United States. Claims to have channeling powers, uses the occult and spirituality to convey her messages to believers.” He stopped, tipping his head so he could see Dana over his bifocals. “And here’s the part I especially like—owns stock in various companies, including technology and activewear.”

Dana sat listening, surprise and disbelief growing with each word. Now she let out a shocked breath. “I knew she was powerful, but I had no idea. You’re telling me I’m in a lot of trouble, right?”

Tony bobbed his head. “Yes, I guess that’s what I’m telling you, doll face. Should have kept better tabs on your neighbor, I reckon. And probably shouldn’t have picked a fight with her over a dead bull.”

Dana dropped her head into her hands. “They moved into the Selzer place a few years back, not long after my parents were killed. They didn’t bother me and I tried to stay clear of them, until she tried to buy my land. Ever since I turned her down, she’s been rather cool toward me, but no one from over there has ever harassed me before.”

“But they may have shot your bull?”

“Yes,” Dana said, groaning. “I told you, I went there the other day, after Otto was shot. I told her I thought someone from her complex had done it.”

“And you threatened her.”

Dana thought back over the conversation. “Yes, I guess I did get a tad mad. But she was so smug, so high and mighty! Okay, I did suggest it might be someone from her group. She didn’t take too kindly to that, either.”

Tony gave her a worried look. “Dana, this doesn’t sound too pretty. No wonder Sheriff Radford didn’t get all bothered about the looting and fire.”

“No, because she’s probably paying for his extra little luxuries,” Dana said on a hiss. “He kept trying to protect her, assured me she’d have nothing to do with something like this. I can’t believe this. Why would she get so angry just because I suggested this might be someone from her complex? And why do they think I’m hiding something they need?”

Tony’s white teeth played across his bottom lip. “Maybe because she knew you were correct in that suggestion, and it made her look bad? Maybe because she was afraid you had figured some things out? Maybe they’re saying they know you have proof and they want that proof?”

“What things, what proof?” Dana shouted, getting up to pace around the room. “I was trying to mind my own business. I never once messed with those people until they messed with me.”

“Maybe this Roark woman has something to hide, besides murdering animals and setting fires, and she thinks you know more than you really do.”

Dana’s head shot up. “That has to be it. Here I was thinking it’s just about the land, but they came in and tore up my house, so they were obviously looking for something.”

“What could you possibly have that they’d want, though?” Tony wondered. “If this woman is as powerful as this report claims, then she doesn’t need anything else.”

Dana shook out her wavy mane. “Technology and active-wear? Pretty strange for someone who forces her followers to live in virtual poverty.”

“Or virtual reality,” Tony added. “If she’s into technology, there’s no telling what she’s got going on. She might be conning them with this spirituality gig. I’ll bet she uses technology to conjure up all sorts of dire things.”

Dana shivered. “You mean she uses scare tactics?”

He nodded. “Yes, mind control, hypnosis, brainwashing. Dana, you’ve got yourself into some pretty heavy stuff here.”

Dana shot him a wry look. “I went to see her because I was concerned. I must have opened up a whole new can of worms by threatening her, but I never meant for it to go this far.”

“Smart move. Are you sure someone from this church could have had Otto done in?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not completely sure, but that was the only explanation. I’m sitting right in the middle of their complex, so they’d have to cross my land to get back and forth on the property. I just figured one of her wards decided to have target practice on old Otto. We both know there’s nothing for miles and miles around. It can get pretty boring out there, especially for those kids from the big city.”

Tony squinted at her. “You said your property is surrounded by church property?”

“Yes,” Dana replied, nodding. “Everybody else either lost out or had to sell out. The church has bought up just about every bit of land there is to have out there.”