Deep Redemption

Viking appeared at my side. He crouched down to meet Rider’s eyes, flicking his knife back and forth in his hands. “So you got a type, rape-rat? You like the itty-bitty blondes, or do the pre-pubescent brunettes do it for ya? Below age ten or just over?”

Rider shook with fury. “None, you dick! I don’t fuck kids. I would never do that!”

Viking drew back his head. “Really, ‘cause that’s all you guys do over there in that commune, right? Rape kids day and night, all in the name of ‘God’?”

Rider closed his eyes briefly. “I didn’t do anything like that. I’m telling you the truth. I never did none of that shit. I stayed locked away, failing every day at being the leader . . . I didn’t know . . . ”

“Mmm . . . You better not be lyin’ to me, fucktard. ‘Cause if there’s one thing none of us Hangmen will tolerate, it’s kiddie-fiddlers.” He pointed the tip of his knife at Rider’s forehead, pressing it forward until a drop of blood spilled from the skin. “So if we find out you’ve been lyin’—if I find out you’re lyin’—I’m gonna get real inventive with your dick and this here knife.” He smiled. “I’ve been gettin’ some real interestin’ tips from my fellow psycho, Flame. And shit, that guy hates pedos even more than me.”

“They came for me,” Rider said urgently. “After I destroyed the room where they were holding the Lord’s Sharing, I banned it, expelled the practice . . . so they came for me. My own twin turned on me and took my place as prophet. He and his guards locked me in a motherfucking cell, away from anyone who could help. And for the past several weeks they’ve beaten me every day, making me pay for getting rid of that messed-up practice. My own twin turned on me because he’d rather fuck kids.”

We all stared at him. And I had zero fucking clue as to whether he was lying. Because that’s what Rider did. He fucking lied. Lied all the bastard time.

“I believed that shit my whole life, was made to. But I recently found out how and why the commune was created . . . and none of it was for religion. So you might say I’m a sinner now too.” I glared, waiting for him to keep the hell going.

“Judah has been running the commune, pretending to be me. The people didn’t notice it was a switch. And now he’s gearing up for war. He’s got the people fired up, telling them end of the world is coming, that God revealed it was Armageddon.” He inhaled. “They are coming here for you. Judah’s planning an attack on the Hangmen, this compound, soon. And they’re coming with one goal: to kill. All of you . . . and all the women too.”

My jaw ached from how hard I was clenching my teeth. Tank asked Rider, “Your brother, is he still using the Klan for guns?”

Rider frowned at the turn in questioning, but nodded his head. Tank turned to Tanner. “The guns. That fuckin’ shipment of guns.”

Tanner ran his hand over his head. “Shit! I just knew it was somethin’. I had a fuckin’ feelin’.”

“You still got contact with whoever helps you get info on the inside?” Ky asked Tanner, finally pushing his anger aside and getting down to business.

Tanner paused, then said, “Yeah. I think so. It’s gettin’ harder to get help, but yeah.”

“Can you get them to check all this shit is true? Or if the fake prophet here is just spittin’ shit?”

Tanner nodded. Just as he turned to leave the barn, Rider said, “The Klan have someone in the commune, in the inner circle. He’s watching my twin to make sure he’s not fucking up their arms deal and . . . other business they do.” My eyebrows rose. I had no idea what other business the Klan did, but if all this was true, we’d be finding the fuck out.

Tanner spun around and glared at Rider. “Who? What’s his name?”

Rider shrugged. “All I know is that he’s all tatted up like you, swastikas and shit. No hair . . . and he’s getting everyone in the commune to call him Meister.”

I frowned at that fucking useless tidbit of information. But when I looked at Tanner, his face had drained of blood. “Christ,” he said and met my eyes. “That’s not good, Prez. That’s not good at all. Meister’s a fuckin’ grade-A cunt. And he’s fuckin’ tapped in the head. Like, never-comin’-back-from-that-crazy-shit tapped.”

“If he’s stocked the cult freaks with guns, there’ll no doubt be automatics, semi-automatics, sub-machine guns, and all that fun stuff,” Tank said to Tanner’s nodding head.

My throat started closing up. This was all sounding fucking real. The Klan, Rider’s twin… the fucking end of days.

Same kinda crazy that we usually deal with.

“You met this Jägermeister prick?” Viking asked Rider as Tanner ducked out of the barn to go and check this dick was telling the truth.

“No.” Rider’s eyes left Viking and found Ky. “Phebe told me.”

Ky’s eyebrows pulled down at the mention of that name. He opened his mouth to speak, but AK stepped forward first and asked, “Lilah’s sister?”

“Yeah,” Rider replied. “She helped me escape, getting us information from Judah’s inner circle. She’s fucking drowning in that commune. And Judah has given her up as his consort and gifted her to this Meister . . . and the bastard is killing her day by day, I could see it. Beating her, raping her and God knows what else. She ain’t the same person she was. She’s fading.”

AK’s expression turned ice cold, his arms crossing over his chest.

“And Bella?” I signed. “How the fuck did you get your hands on her if you were locked up, never seeing no one? How the hell did you just so happen to stumble across my bitch’s dead sister?”

Rider slumped at the mention of Bella, losing all his fucking newfound balls. “She was brought into the cell next to mine. Her commune was the last to arrive in New Zion. Judah had no idea another Cursed Sister lived among us. I had no fucking idea either. When I spoke to her through the wall separating our cells, she said her name was Harmony. The people caring for her changed her appearance—dyed her hair blonde, gave her dark-brown contacts, gave her a new name.”

Rider ran his hand down his face. “There’s a group of people in New Zion who want to bring the commune down, ruin the place once and for all. Their lives have been ruined by my uncle, too many people’s have. These people were the ones caring for Harm—Bella.” The fucker looked me right in the eyes. “I fell for her when she looked completely different to how she looks now. I had no idea she was Mae’s sister. She was—she still is—Harmony to me. I didn’t want her because she was Mae’s sister. I wanted her because I fucking fell for her. This hasn’t got shit to do with Mae. I don’t think of Mae anymore. And that’s the fucking truth.”