White Heat by Brenda Novak Page B

their former friends and family?” If so, it might be possible to gain more information from those on theoutside. That was his hope in asking, but Thelma’s answer didn’t surprise him.
    â€œThey’re not allowed to see them again, unless Ethan sends them on the Errand of God.”
    â€œI take it the Errand of God isn’t just getting supplies.”
    â€œNo, the Spiritual Guides get all the supplies. Right after a convert is baptized, he’s sent to warn his family that they’re risking God’s wrath by rejecting the truth. That’s the Errand of God.”
    Sounded more like Ethan’s errand. The more people he converted, the more it would increase his power and enrich his coffers. “Otherwise, they sacrifice all association with their friends and family?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œAnd you think that’s okay?”
    â€œNot exactly okay, but I can understand why they do it. Ethan says Covenanters are in the world but not of the world. They offer spiritual peace and prosperity, and you can’t do that if you’re always looking at the person you used to be before being born again.”
    So, like any good cult leader, Ethan made the most of isolation and alienation. Very convenient. “I see.”
    A noise by the entrance distracted Thelma. A woman and two middle-grade boys had come in. “I’d better get to work,” she said. “It was great chatting with you. We’re happy to have new folks in town.”
    â€œI’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot more of us,” Rachel said. “Breakfast was delicious.”
    â€œI’m glad.” Taking their empty plates, she paused by the door on her way to the kitchen. “I’ll be right with you folks,” Nate heard her say. Abby followed hergrandmother but returned a moment later with a sheet of paper she’d taken from a stack at the register. She thrust it at him, then stood resolutely beside the table as if she could communicate her thoughts simply by glaring at them.
    Nate glanced at the sheet. It was a Missing flyer for the girl Thelma had been telling them about—Courtney Sinclair.
    â€œDo you know where Courtney might be?” Rachel asked.
    Shaking her head, the child made several darting hand signals.
    â€œI’m sorry…I don’t sign.”
    She made the same signals again, more slowly this time, then hurried off.
    The flyer had a picture of a girl that reminded Nate of the character Lily on The Munsters. “What do you suppose that was all about?”
    Rachel shrugged, so he took the flyer and tossed twenty dollars on the table to cover the bill plus a tip.
    Thelma was busy seating her new patrons as they started across the restaurant, but a grizzled Indian with bowed legs and a black cowboy hat stood in the kitchen doorway, watching.
    Rachel must have assumed he was Chaske, because she paused the moment she spotted him and mimicked the child’s motions. “What does this mean?”
    â€œBad people,” he answered, and turned away.

8
    B artholomew took one look at Ethan and quickly clasped his arm, then turned him around. His hair was mussed, his pupils dilated, and he smelled as though he’d walked out of a massage parlor. Ethan was doing too many drugs. Normally, Bartholomew didn’t mind. He believed in freedom of choice and expression as much as Ethan did and wasn’t opposed to running the compound when Ethan was indisposed. But Ethan needed to be coherent in times of trouble, and that meant now.
    â€œYou’re not well, Holy One,” he said when Ethan tried to yank his arm away.
    â€œDidn’t you hear? Courtney’s mother is at the gate.”
    â€œI know.” Bartholomew encouraged him to return to the Enlightenment Hall, but Ethan tried to shake him off again.
    â€œI need to tell that bitch to get lost!”
    â€œI doubt she’d react favorably to that. But don’t worry. I’ll