When Greg got back to the campsite just after dinner, they all sat around the picnic table so he could give his report, and Asher told Mina to come out and join them so she could give her insight as well.
"When I got there, I parked just up the road from her house and began to question some of her neighbors. They aren't fans of her at all; she's still spouting conspiracy theories and other rhetoric. Her next-door neighbor asked why I was looking into her, and I gave the story Mina came up with; I was a PI looking for her son to serve him with divorce papers. We missed him by about a week and a half. He stayed there for a couple of days. They had a bit of an argument about him leaving Mina… something about that if you couldn't bear the next generation of children, then you were to be used for housework and childrearing?"
"Yeah, the woman's roles in the cult are slavery or broodmare. If you couldn't bear children, you were there to look after the house and the kids. His father married them at sixteen, and they had no other role but to have sex with him and get pregnant until twenty-five. Then they stepped aside because their eggs were no longer fresh, and they became matriarchs who looked after the new wife and the kids."
"But there was a hierarchy there. Dorothy was his first wife and arguably the only one he loved, she made the rules regarding the other woman, and he followed them. She gave him the firstborn son, Derrick. One wife popped out a child every eleven months, so because she had the most kids, she was second under Dorothy. Under her was the woman who had given him all sons, and next to her was a woman who essentially breastfed all the kids because she had such a good supply of milk; she was either pumping or had a baby latched on to her at all times… the list goes on. All the wives were recognized for something, some skill or whatever, but if you couldn't get pregnant or you had a lot of miscarriages, you were cast aside after two years so he could remarry, and you were relegated to babysitter or housecleaner."
"So he had more than twelve wives." Asher raised his eyebrows.
"You were only considered a wife if you got pregnant and carried your first baby to term." She explained. "There were thirty-eight kids. One wife gave him 9. Dorothy gave him five; the rest gave him anywhere from one to five. Everything was natural. You didn't take supplements or see doctors for check-ups; birthings were at home. Many babies and several women died, and if the kid was born with any deformity or cognitive problems, they were left at a church or a hospital."
"How was he finding these girls?" Eric asked in disbelief.
"From people like my parents who believed their daughters had to be married when they got their periods because they start to lose their eggs, and each egg lost was a potential soldier for gods army. Dorothy and I got along well because her parents were in the same church as mine, but she wasn't so lucky. She was sold to her first husband at thirteen, but he couldn't perform. So she was resold to her husband at sixteen, got pregnant immediately, and had Derrick at seventeen. Men who couldn't perform were above the sin of sex and made priests, and women who couldn't conceive were cast out."
"Why weren't you sold?" Joe asked quietly.
"My mom." Mina explained. "She was sold to my dad at eleven and had me at fifteen. She convinced my dad to wait until I was fifteen because she had almost died twice before, and both babies were stillborn. The priest for our church was a bit more progressive, and he noticed young girls had a higher rate of stillbirths and death, so he backed my mom, which helped convince dad to wait."
Asher leaned forward. "What are the authorities doing about this?"
"CPS and the Feds have stepped in quite a few times, the church is relatively small and operates in small communities, but it has connections to bigger churches with more power. I say sold because I don't have another word for it. No money changes hands directly. The bigger churches give the smaller churches loans; to repay those loans, girls are traded back and forth a lot. But other than that, kids are kept healthy and happy. What happened to me was an anomaly."
Asher nodded. "Alright Greg, continue. We got a little off track there."
Greg looked highly disconcerted, and it took him a minute to collect his thoughts. "Yeah, so Lexi and I tried to connect to her systems, but she has nothing to connect to. So I have to go back tonight and wiretap her landline cause that's all she has. No wifi, no computer, no cell phone, nothing. Her neighbor said she uses the computers at the library if she has to, but I checked with them, and their search history is scanned for possible illegal things, kiddie porn, drugs, etc., and then deleted. I have Lexi trying to rebuild it, but she says not to get your hopes up, and even if she can rebuild it, she can't guarantee she'll find Dorothy's specifically."
"Don't bother with the wiretap; they won't say anything on the phone about where they are." Mina shook her head. "Can Lexi pull up her phone records? None of them have cell phones; they all have landlines, which they believe is safer now because the government is focused on cell phones. So whatever area code comes up most recently will be where Derrick is or where he went." Asher pulled out his phone and sent a text to Lexi.
"Clever girl." He grinned at her. "So they think a tsunami will wipe out the eastern seaboard?"
"Yeah, basically everything from Vermont back to the shore. Derrick's territory is New York, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington have land connections to Canada, so the rest are spread across those states."
"Idaho has a land connection too." Les pointed out.
"Yeah, they split Idaho between the ones in Washinton and those in Montana to monitor. It wasn't big enough to put someone there full-time; there's only fifteen of them. Derrick looks after New York by himself because the land connection is small. Michigan's is also small, but they've spread apart, so there are two. But between Grand Portage, Minnesota and Lyndon, Washington is about eighteen hundred miles of unprotected land connection, and they each have about one hundred and fifty miles of border to protect and patrol."
"So if Derrick has left New York, who's protecting it?" Eric snickered. "I'm sorry, this is so fucking insane to me as a former air force pilot. All three branches of Canada's entire military personnel are equivalent to just our army. Not to mention, they don't want us and our problems."
"Oh, I know. I never took what Derrick was saying seriously, and I don't think he did either. He never patrolled the border the way his brothers and sisters do. He has them convinced he has a small militia of like-minded people guarding it." She shrugged. "Maybe he does. He would go away every three months for a week or so and come back looking pleased with himself. I didn't care enough to question; I lived for those weeks when he was gone."
Asher's phone dinged. "Area code 208, Minnesota."
"So he's either in Isabella, Littlefork, or Roseau areas."
"Do we want to drive that?" Eric was doing a search on his phone. "It's a twenty-one-hour drive if we want to stay out of Canada. We're looking at two twelve-plus hour days of driving through seven states taking bathroom breaks into account."
Asher considered all his options quickly and looked at Les. who lifted a shoulder. "Everyone needs to be on the same page here."
"You're right." Asher nodded. "Mina, do you mind if I share some personal things with everyone?"
"Nope." She shrugged and leaned over, grabbing some chips from the bag on the table.
Asher quickly explained the situation and why he didn't want to turn her over to Draco and his plan. "So we need to drag this out a bit while still making it look like Mina's cooperation is essential to the success."
Everyone was quiet as they digested what he told them. "What do you think he's doing Mina?" Greg finally asked.
"I think he's telling them he's doing inspections. He probably spent a few days with both siblings in Michigan, insisting on seeing the patrols they're doing, and is making his way across the country. He probably flew into Detroit, then had his brother drive to meet his sister at their "border". If I were to bet, he's in Isabella and will leave for Littlefork in the next few days."
"By driving we'll stay two days behind him." Greg nodded slowly. "So we drive."
"We're all in agreement here?" Asher looked around and everyone nodded. Mina slumped as all the stress and tenseness she had been holding on to left her body.
"Thank you." She whispered.
"Don't mention it." Les waved his hand. "We can't in good consciousness turn you over to them, knowing what the plan is for you." Everyone made noises of agreement.
"I'd give you all hugs but…"
"No. you won't." Asher said firmly.
"Exactly." she grinned as everyone chuckled.