Page 79 of Stolen Faith

Rowan nodded. “According to this, there’s an exit, looks like it’s a side door, on this level. End of this hallway and turn left. I’ll check it.”

Everyone agreed to remain in the stairwell once more as Rowan returned to the hall. He was less careful this time as he walked down the hallway, now sure that the rooms were all empty.

When he reached the end of the hall, he slowly peered around the corner, cursing under his breath. The exit door was approximately forty feet away, but he didn’t bother to approach it. Even from here, he could see two men standing sentry outside the full-length windows on either side of the door. A third man walked by, said a few words, and moved on, clearly pacing the perimeter.

There was no way to approach the door without being seen should the men look inside the building. And even if they got to the door, what then? Fighting their way out was a bad bet.

This exit was as useless as the one in the garage.

Rowan returned to the others.

“No good. At least three guards with weapons. No way to approach without being seen.”

“Damn,” Devon muttered. “Looks like we need to go up to the next level.”

Rowan agreed, though he feared the main floor wasn’t going to be empty like this one. “This floor is fairly secure,” he said. “You should remain in one of the classrooms while I—”

“Your orders haven’t changed, Rowan,” Juliette said. “Now that we’re out of the cells, I want us to stick together.”

“This is dangerous.” He felt as if he needed to warn her again. “It would be much simpler for me to sneak around alone.”

Juliette sighed, and Rowan noticed the dark circles under her eyes. In addition to the beating she’d taken, it looked as if she hadn’t slept much since being kidnapped.

“Okay,” she finally relented. “We’ll stay here.”

Brennon stepped next to Rowan. “No. I’m going with him.”

“Brennon—” Rowan started.

He cut him off. “I know you won’t admit it, but you’re hurt. I will do exactly what you say, when you say it. You say run, I run. Fight, and I’ll fight. Please.”

Rowan didn’t look convinced, but Juliette took the decision out of his hands. “Brennon, you go with Rowan. The rest of us will hide out in the first classroom.”

Rowan turned to leave, but Juliette reached out, placing her hand on his forearm. “Be careful.”

Rowan nodded, then he and Brennon quietly climbed the stairs to the main floor. This door, like the one below, didn’t have a window.

“Shit,” Rowan breathed.

Brennon gave him a what-can-you-do shrug, then stepped against the wall, out of view as Rowan slowly cracked the door open.

The stairwell opened directly into a huge foyer.

It was late on a weeknight, so maybe the interior spaces would be deserted.

Rowan paused, but their luck ran out.

He couldn’t see anyone, but he could hear someone.

There were muffled voices coming from the open door of a room across the foyer. The sounds were faint enough and far enough away that he felt safe to take a better look.

Opening the door farther, he let himself take in the entire space. To his left was a wall of glass that probably let in an impressive amount of light during the daytime. In the center of that expanse of glass were huge double doors that no doubt saw hundreds of worshippers pass through every Sunday. To his right, even larger, more impressive doors led to the sanctuary. Carpeted stairs hugged the side walls of the foyer, leading up to a landing. According to the map, there was a balcony in the sanctuary. Several sets of doors on the floor above gave access to the upper floors of the multilevel worship space.

On the wall beside the sanctuary doors were two enormous pictures. One was a very white-looking Jesus, the other, next to it, was of a serious-looking man with what appeared to be some sort of backlighting that gave him a halo. Somebody had a definite God complex.

The plaque underneath said, “Reverend Jonah Morgan.”

Rowan recognized the name. He glanced toward the front doors again and for a moment, he let himself live in a fantasy. He couldn’t see anyone standing guard through the windows. Maybe they were only guarding the side exits. Maybe he and Brennon could go back, get the others, and sneak out the front door.