Page 8 of Keeping Lilith
Julian studied his supervisor. This was the first time Mac had suggested Julian pass on the task to someone else. It was one he usually did. “Why?”
“Because you look like shit. I don’t know what went down here, but I saw you follow one of the women, something you don’t do. Do you know her? Is she a friend or family member?”
He wasn’t surprised Mac had seen him follow Lilith as she ran back to her hut. He had done nothing to hide the fact. “Something like that. She was part of Freedom and Love.”
Mac whistled low. “And she got caught up in another one. That’s either dumb luck, or a deliberate action to return to something familiar, like how some former prisoners will keep committing crimes because they feel more comfortable in jail than out in the real world where they have to fend for themselves. Where they have to cook meals, not just head to an area and get food.”
Julian didn’t like what Mac was insinuating, but he couldn’t dismiss it either. As bad as cults were, when they were all aperson knew, having those rules and routines snatched away made for a difficult adjustment.
Is that what Lilith had been feeling when he’d dismantled the only home she’d ever known? She’d been with Freedom and Love since she was a toddler. Surviving in such a different world must have been hard.
“It’s a serious matter to consider. Perhaps we should look at programs that provide support to those who have spent their lives in cults. Give them the necessary tools to live in society again.”
Mac clapped him on the shoulder. “Son, I agree with you, but resources are stretched thin for the normal, everyday person. We can give them a list of places to reach out to, but we can’t force them to do it. It doesn’t make us any better than the people who controlled their lives previously.”
Julian blew out a breath. “True.”
“I recommend you head home and get some sleep, but I have a feeling that you’re likely to ignore that. So, all I’m going to say is think carefully about what you’re going to do next.”
With another slap on the shoulder, Mac wandered off, leaving Julian to stare at his retreating back. Through Julian’s time with the FBI, Mac had given him guidance, and when he’d needed it, fatherly advice. Mac had been the person he’d been put in contact with when he’d approached the FBI about trying to bring down Freedom and Love. He’d been Julian’s mentor throughout the whole thing, and when Julian had finally made some peace with his life and was ready to move on, Mac had encouraged him to join the taskforce he was setting in up in LA. Julian had, and he was grateful for the lifeline Mac had given him.
While his mentor may think he didn’t listen to his advice, Julian did. It was just with this case, he needed to make sureLilith was okay. He wouldn’t let her fall through the cracks and end up caught in another cult again.
Gathering up the box, he made his way over to the vehicle he’d arrived in and dumped it in the back. Time to find where they’d taken all the women. They had a number of locations they used for occasions like this, and the one they had planned to utilize probably wouldn’t be big enough to cater to all the women and children they’d collected.
He caught the eye of an agent who was walking past. “Hey, Banner, where have the women and children been taken?”
“The Bakersfield facility.”
“Great, thanks.”
The agent gave him a chin lift before continuing to walk.
“You good, Julian?”
Julian turned to find Fox, Deal, Hound, and Jag walking toward him. “Yep, just getting ready to give back those women their identities.”
“Fuckers. I don’t get why any man thinks it’s okay to treat women like this. As if they’re nothing better than yesterday’s news. Assholes all need to be hung by their balls,” Dalton “Jag” Jaeger ground out.
Julian tried not to take offense because he’d been one of those assholes that Jag had talked about. It didn’t matter that he’d turned his life around and had changed the way he thought about a lot of things. For a long time, he’d believed he was a class above the women surrounding him. “Couldn’t agree with you more, and I’m not making excuses, but even the men in the cult are as brainwashed as the women. They’re usually ones who have low self-esteem and can be easily manipulated with a few choice words and praise. Or they’re men who have grown up in the cult and know nothing better.”
“Was it like that for you?” Fox asked.
The guys who worked for Alliez knew his background. Knew what he’d done and how he’d gotten into the position he was now in with the FBI. “In a way. I was still a kid when my dad fell for what Ralph Williamson was sprouting. Even Mom was enamored by it all. It didn’t help that Ralph gave Dad a position in the leadership group. It was easy for me to be swayed to the way of Freedom and Love. I loved my dad. Admired him, so yeah, I believed everything he said, even though initially I thought it was weird. After a while, I forgot why I thought it was wrong and just went with it.”
“What changed your mind?” Deal crossed his arms. Julian had always got the impression that Deal hadn’t liked him much, and his defensive pose would suggest that.
“It’s hard to pinpoint one exact moment where my mind changed. It was a build-up of a lot of things and situations. Freedom and Love were known to the FBI. When I made contact, they were more than happy to help dissolve the group.”
He was saved from having to say more by the buzzing of his phone. He pulled it out to find a text message from Irish.
Lilith’s at our place for the night.
Julian read the message twice, making sure he hadn’t misread it the first time. “Why is she there?” he muttered.
“Problem?” Deal asked.
“No, not at all. Thanks for today. You make these operations so much smoother.” Julian wasn’t saying it to blow smoke up their asses. He meant it.