This portion of the note was signed with the initial “M.”
Tammy shrugged. “Well, at least that explains the empty garage. Looks like we missed the Jeffersons. And it sounds like they traveled to some secret location.”
“I wonder if this satellite of theirs is a bunker or something...” Mike said.
“Yeah, it does sound like it.” John said. “Damn, I wish Mel were here. At any rate, it sounds like they transported supplies to that location, indicating that there are multiple people there.”
Tammy wondered out loud, “Just how many people were in on this?”
“Folks, we’re not going to figure that out standing around. let’s continue to look for more clues,” John suggested, and the group split back up to continue their search.
Jack went back upstairs and searched Maddie’s room.
He made a major discovery ten minutes later, when he finally built up the courage to check the drawers, which he guessed would hold her underwear. One drawer proved to contain what Jack thought was rather sensible underwear and none of the stringy, frilly things he had dreaded to find. It was in the next drawer that he made the biggest discovery of the day.
At first glance, the drawer seemed to contain nothing more than some pyjamas and sweatpants. Jack rummaged through it just to be sure and was rewarded when his hand found something solid. He reached out again and grasped the object, his eyes wide in surprise. He drew the object out from underneath the pyjamas.
“Holy shit...” Jack muttered.
Just then, John stepped up to the doorway. “Jack, I’m done with my room. Did you find anything—”
He stopped talking as he saw the object in the young man’s hand.
“That’s something.” John said.
NOVEMBER 8, 3:15 P.M.
The group had reconvened in the large living area of the house after their search was completed. Everybody had come up dry, except for Jack. Jack had found a diary. John had taken the diary into the kitchen and popped the lock within a minute.
Tammy had offered to read the diary and share her findings with the group. John quickly agreed and told the group to prepare to stay the night. It was already mid-afternoon, and he didn’t want to get caught out in the dark. He instructed BB to pull the vehicles up close to the house and reverse park them in case they needed a quick getaway.
Michelle recruited Jack and Abi to help her put together a meal. The pantry had proven a windfall of canned and jarred foods, and the meal was fast becoming a feast when she found several steaks in the still operational fridge.
Mike busied himself with the radio. Reaching the Ren appeared to be impossible, however.
“It’s like we’re in a dead zone here,” he said after fiddling with the radio for a good half hour. “I wonder if the Jeffersons pulled down their radio antenna before leaving this place...”
“Don’t worry about it, Mike,” John said. “We told Emily that we’d probably be out of range. Besides, they knew we’d probably be gone for a couple of days.”
Mike nodded but insisted on taking BB outside with him to go find the nearest radio tower. Nat picked up her rifle and joined the two men on their excursion.
They got back just before supper time.
“There is an impressive radio tower right on the far edge of this property,” Mike reported as they took their wet jackets and boots off. “Too bad it was completely destroyed.”
His expression advertised his true regret. Jack couldn’t help thinking that the older soldier possessed a kinship to everything associated with the radio and took the destruction of the tower as a kind of personal affront.
“Anyway, what did you find out from Maddie’s diary, Tammy?”
“Jack, can you go get Bill? We might as well all be here for this,” John said. The young man nodded and quickly disappeared out of the front door. He was back with the soldier within a minute.
EVERYBODY SETTLED AROUND the dining table. All except Michelle and Abi, who listened from the kitchen as they monitored the group’s supper.
Tammy sat at the head of the table, the diary in front of her.
She looked around at her audience. Jack could see the news anchor personality shine through again. Her blue eyes were mesmerizing.
“I spent the last few hours reading this. I marked out some portions that I want to read to you,” she said as she picked up the diary.
“This is Madeline Jeffersons’s diary. Maddie. As her family and friends call her.
“Maddie was a spunky, high-spirited child. Her original diary entries were from her early teens and showed an insight into the person that she would become. She questioned everything and wanted to know everything. So much so that she got the nickname ‘Meddlesome Maddie.’ This, combined with the fact that her skin color was darker than her classmates’ and cousins’, caused her great grief as a young teenager.
“I marked out a section that I want to read to you. But first I wanted to share some background information, which I picked up from her later entries. These were concerning this farm, her family and this ‘Order’ they belong to.
“Her dad, Randall, was a former army ranger. Her mom, Shirley, was a born and raised farmer. Maddie found out that there had been quite a fuss when her dad, an African American soldier, and her mom, a conservative Midwestern farm girl, fell in love. But eventually Randall got accepted by the family.
“It was Maddie’s mom’s family who had been members of Rosae Crucis for generations. I learned from this diary that anybody who married into the family was either accepted into the Order, or the family member was excommunicated and forbidden to talk about the Order ever again. Randall Jefferson was welcomed into the family and the Order. He bought into the morals and beliefs of the Order, and from what I read, became a more fervent believer in Rosae Crucis morals than even his own wife.
“Their wedding gift
