ᴡᴏʀꜱʜɪᴘ ᴍᴇ (ᴇᴊ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ)

16: Welcome Home

Jack turned away from the window and directed his focus back to you. He didn't say anything for a while, as if he was carefully considering his words. "Do you think taking out the leader will be enough?" The sudden question halted you mid-bite. He had to have been thinking about this all morning.

"I... I'm not sure." You answered truthfully. The two of you didn't know much yet, and while there was a chance the two cults would be similar, there was also a chance it'd be completely different. "If it's only him leading it then maybe, but if it's another committee situation then..."

"That's what I was thinking. Who knows if we'll be able to find that out, though." Jack said, sighing as he crossed his arms. "We'll have to go in at night so no one recognizes your car. It's unlikely we'll be able to see much of how they operate."

"So we're just focusing on Father Krul then, right?"

"Exactly." Jack nodded. "I also think, before anything, we'll need to find the exits in case we get separated."

His words made you shudder. That would be the worst-case scenario, but you couldn't rule it out. There was no telling how many members there were until the two of you got there. Either way, you'd be greatly outnumbered. Especially when all this time it'd mostly been Jack doing the fighting. If it came down to it you'd do your best to help, but that might not be enough. If something happened to Jack you knew you'd stand no chance.

"That's a good idea..." You finally said. Jack sighed, sensing your apprehension. The two of you were getting a little too good at reading each other.

"Of course we'll try not to let that happen, but it's good to have a backup plan." You gave a small nod before he continued. "Besides that, you'll park us a distance away behind some trees, and then we'll enter through a window or back entrance. If that goes well, we'll try to find Father Krul. Got it?"

"Got it."

"If anything goes wrong, we go back to the car and come back another day. Tonight will mainly be about finding where and when he sleeps. If anyone spots us we'll have to run." Jack waited for a reply, but when he got none he continued, "everything will be fine as long as we stay quiet and out of sight."

You hoped he was right.

✦★✦

Night fell. The sky had turned from gray to a deep black that swallowed up every speck of white that had fallen throughout the day. The temperature had dropped even further without the warmth of the sun, ensuring that the snow would continue into tomorrow.

After planning, the rest of the day had been spent mostly watching television and trying to ignore the fear welling in your stomach. It'd gotten more intense with every hour that passed, yet you never voiced your concerns. This last target, Father Krul, was especially dangerous due to the numbers he had on his side. The man had a brand new cult to fight for him, and the confrontation with Carl left you worried that someone would be carrying.

As much as you wanted to tell Jack how scared you were, you knew it was pointless. There was nothing that could be done to soothe you. There was no way to make this less dangerous apart from not going through with it at all. But you knew that wasn't an option. After all of this, after being stalked, after being kidnapped, after driving him from place to place, you knew how dedicated Jack was to his mission. You knew he wouldn't stop until the committee was dead, and you couldn't say you blamed him.

Despite your fear, you knew they were better off dead. They deserved to die after what they did to him. It wasn't that you were afraid to see them killed, you were afraid that something would happen to Jack. It'd been a close call with just Carl and Jack one-on-one, now he had a whole cult to deal with.