Page 15 (1/2)

Author: Robyn Carr

"So you found out? And left?"

"No, Eric There oet the lay of the land, co the captives I didn’t seeer And if I had to run, I knew a couple of exit routes"

"He prevented the, convincing the woally remove their children His children He threatened them, told them if they took his children frouys, the ones who helped with the heavy chores around the farroasn’t revealed to his feotten the word on that until I found it I think only a couple of them were aware of it I had to sneak around after dark and peek in open doors and slats in the walls of the barn--it wasn’t easy to find It was across the river where none of the women went, where Jacob’s house was and the men lived Till then, we had only heard about his collection of women and children and his determination to keep them inside the fence"

"What about him? Jacob? What did he expect froht he was healinga victim of sexual abuse so he would probably understand why I wasn’t willing to be involved with a man And it worked, thank God But I had to endure a lot of preaching and his attempts at seduction Whew Those were hours that passed like days I cried a lot, acted vulnerable and grateful, begged, bought time Some of the other women helped shield me, helped me avoid him"

"What if it hadn’t worked?" he asked "You could have been in serious danger"

"We planned it for a year The FBI had watched for longer than that, interviewing people ere closely acquainted with hiet a man inside, but that didn’t work We just didn’t have a model for the kind of man he wanted to ith But we understood the woeted"

"It was risky," he said "Very risky"

"There’s always risk Thus the training and planning"

"He could have assaulted you Raped you"

"He was a o in there without profiling him--we knew him pretty well We interviewed a couple of women who left his commune The women inside talked to each other--they were like a bunch of sister wives He hadn’t raped anyone as far as anyone knew But, I knew that going in without a wire or weapon could be dangerous, especially if he foundto let him rape me"

"But he could have"

"If he’d had help," she said with a shrug "Eric, if the whole thing had turned, if he’d used his big armed men to hold me down he could have, but we kneorked alone with the woht they all loved and adored him And he was just one ave a twist of the ed

"But why, Laine? Why do you do that stuff? I have to understand"

"Because it needs to be done! And I’otten people out, there would still be eight to ten woht to keep his property and his farround and run, leaving the women and children inside!"

"And why didn’t you leave when you found out what you needed to find out?"

"Because I was in!" She took a breath "Getting inside wasn’t easy"

"Are you undercover now? Here?"

She gritted her teeth "I’m on leave Why are you so upset?"

"I don’t know I don’t know," he said, shaking his head "I knew you worked for the FBI I didn’t think you were thatthat Thinking of you doing souess it just" He put a hand on her shoulder and ran it down her arainst me You’re soft and pliant and I feel protective and it’s hard for ine"

"Eric, I’m soft in your arms because I want to be Not because I’et a grip I’ a picture of you inon some terrorist Alone"

"Yeah? Well, the DEA was a little pissy, too"

"Huh?"

She gave a shrug and a little snort "We’re all a little possessive with cases Once I found the pot, we could’ve called in DEA but it was our case and orked it to the end DEA wasn’t happy about that Federal agencies are territorial Everyone wants jurisdiction In the end a DEA interdiction unit picked up two of our four escaped guys, so they got a piece of it"

"I’ to need a dictionary"

"Interdiction unit They interrupt the trafficking of drugs, humans, weapons, cash--all fuel for more crimes"

"Can you show me?"

"Show you what?"

"How you were trained to defend yourself? Just for hts in o back to that life and I-- Just showto happen to me Not here, for God’s sake I’m on leave"

"You won’t be on leave forever I don’t knohat I thought you did in the FBI but it wasn’t going undercover against terrorists"

"If it’s too , you can opt out I told you, I’e"

He shook his head "Too late for that," he said "I’?"