Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            He pulled up the call log, then took out his own cell phone to take a photo of the numbers. He hadn’t used his cell since he’d left Eden, but the sat phone didn’t have a camera. He was about to slide his phone back into his pocket when he saw the missed calls.

            Ten missed calls, all in the last two hours. What the actual fuck?

            The only person alive who had this number was Pastor, and he had no way of accessing a signal. Not in the caves. If he’d climbed high enough on the mountain, he might have, but the old man wasn’t as spry as he used to be.

            Something had to be wrong. Dammit.

            Heart hammering, he put his cell phone away. If Pastor had access to a signal, he might have access to the Internet. If that happened, and he saw a story about Mercy Callahan?

            “Fucking hell,” he hissed quietly.

            Frowning, he stared at the tools he’d left at the kitchen door. He needed to fix the damn lock, but he also needed to find out what was wrong in Eden.

            He took a breath, forcing himself to think logically. Kowalski didn’t want any suspicion on this job, and he was the biggest threat.

            Decision made. He quickly added wood putty to the door frame he’d splintered when he’d forced the lock. It needed to set for an hour before sanding, so he left the door slightly askew and slipped back into his own house.

            His hands were trembling as he hit the notification for the first voice mail, then blinked in surprise when it wasn’t Pastor’s voice.

            It was Sister Coleen, the healer. She was the only person outside of the Founding Elders who knew about their ability to stay connected with the outside world. She was the primary user of the desktop computer, researching ways to treat the people of Eden.

            Of course, sometimes there was no treatment. Cancer, for example. The community prayed over the patient, but in all cases, they died. The Internet was useful for setting broken bones and treating mild coughs and colds. At least they hadn’t had to deal with the flu. Being isolated from the outside world did have its benefits.

            “DJ?” Coleen sounded breathless and scared. “Please call me. I’ve got Pastor’s phone because he’s hurt. I need you to call me right away and come back now.”

            Well, shit. What could have happened to him?

            He didn’t have to wait long to find out, because his phone buzzed in his hand before he could listen to the next voice mail. “Yeah,” he answered tersely.

            “Oh, thank God,” Coleen said on a relieved exhale. “You finally picked up. I was afraid this thing didn’t work.”

            “What’s happened?”

            “Pastor fell. He was above the cave entrance and it was raining. He must’ve slipped. He fell down some rocks. He’s in a lot of pain.”

            “What’s wrong with him? Exactly?”

            “Broken ribs, a broken arm, a badly broken leg, and probably a torn-up knee. And a concussion. He hit his head when he fell. He’s been in and out of consciousness all day. I found his phone in his pocket and hid it away so the others wouldn’t see. One of the times he came to, he told me to climb the mountain until I got a signal, so I did. I’ve been here for two hours, waiting for you to answer.”

            The last sentence was said in a slightly accusatory way, but DJ let it go. Coleen was only in her fifties, but she had a bad knee and the climb couldn’t have been easy for her.

            “What do you want me to do about it?” he asked cautiously.

            She hesitated. “He needs a hospital with real doctors.”

            “The community won’t like that. They’ll ask why he gets special treatment.”

            “He’s Pastor,” Coleen said, as if that explained everything. In a way it did. Pastor was like a god in the community’s eyes. “I’ve had a few of the men privately ask me if we can take him to the city. They’re worried that the government will find him and force him to reveal our location, but they realize he needs appropriate care.”

            “Who asked you this?” DJ pressed.

            “Joshua and Isaac were the most insistent. They’re worried that the community will implode without Pastor.”