Page 72 of Old Secrets

I cast a long look at Jake, and he considered the gathering, sighed, and came to my side, taking care to dodge the people kneeling on the floor. “Are you all right?”

“I’m really not,” I confessed. “I’ll get over it.”

He took hold of my hand and squeezed.

“Maurice?” I asked.

“What do you need?”

“I suspect there are a lot of people here who don’t speak English, and we’re going to be getting a lot of information. Can you handle the ones who speak this language while I talk to those who speak English? And can you do something about the information we gather?”

“I can.”

Drawing a deep breath, I held it until I struggled, then I let it loose in a slow, cleansing exhale. “What is your name?”

“Please, call me Rosalie. That is the name I use when I am in the United States.”

“All right, Rosalie. Tell those who can’t speak English that they need to tell Maurice the truth. Once you do that, I need to know everything about those who ordered innocents to be murdered for their ambitions. I want to know everything about them, but most of all, where I might find them.”

“I can’t tell you their location. I’m not high enough ranked for that. Some might be. We’re told to not talk about that. There might be a sacrifice if we talk among ourselves like that.” Rosalie said something in her language, and she climbed to her feet and bowed three times to Maurice. Most in the room headed in his direction, leaving me with Rosalie and a group of older men and three women.

“You are the operatives who work in the United States?” I guessed.

With twenty-five of them, if appropriately armed, they could accomplish most murders with frightening ease, especially when the targets were defenseless families with knowledge rather than ways of protecting themselves.

“Yes, Dawa,” Rosalie replied, and she clasped her hands in front of her. “Our job was to handle any sacrifices of outsiders who refused to do the bidding of those in power.”

Aware I needed to work within the constraints of her religious beliefs, I said, “The sinners.”

“Yes.”

“Do you call them sinners because you are stripping them of the power of their names?”

The woman’s expression brightened. “Yes, that is exactly it. If we speak their names, they gain power. We call them as they are, sinners.”

“I’ve been calling them Greenwich, in the promise they would see justice for what they did to that baby girl and her family.”

“Yes, their defiance angered the sinners. That was the last piece they truly needed to complete one of their plans. That setback cost them years. They did not anticipate the father’s dedication to his country. The sinners did not anticipate the mother’s dedication to her country. Both parents would have accepted the loss of that baby. The sinners still do not understand. Had one of those Americans cracked, everything would have changed. But they did not.”

“Do you know what the plan would have been?”

“If the sinners had received copies of the code, they would have been able to utilize the nuclear weapon codes. They would have begun with the systematic destruction of government buildings in key countries, yours included.”

Jake’s grip on my hand tightened.

How close had Greenwich come to destroying everything I held dear? Had disaster been averted by minutes? Seconds? Would Annabelle’s death have broken the man who held the power Greenwich had wanted?

The possibilities staggered me. Rather than falter, I stared into the woman’s eyes and said, “They meant to start a nuclear war? Or winter?” Those were the two possibilities I could think of for wanting to start nuking the governments of numerous countries.

“They wished for the winter to come, long and deep to eradicate the unwanted elements of humanity. We would have retreated to Refuge, and we would have lived within the heart of the mountain, keeping guard over the foxes while they slumbered to the next age. Then we would have seen to their rise. Now that you have been born, the sinners want more gods and goddesses backing them. The sinners believe those who gave you life have been broken. The Earth whispers otherwise, and we believe.” Rosalie’s gaze fell on Jake. “May I ask who he is?”

“He’s my husband.”

Faster than I could blink, the whole lot of them threw themselves to the ground and bowed before Jake three times before flattening themselves as far down as they could.

Much like a ripple in the pond, the other fanatics joined in, and I doubted they had a clue in hell why they were bowing to him.

Jake lifted a hand and pressed his fingertips to his temple. “Let me guess. I’m now a god.”