Shadows (10 page)

“She panicked,” Nathan offered, but even to Lena it sounded feeble.

“So you say.” Yeager evidently heard the same thing, because he jerked his head at one of the other guards, who nodded and slid out of the front room, heading for the door. “I presume you won’t mind if we have a look at this shotgun.”

“No,” Nathan said, but Lena thought there was nothing else he could say.

“I don’t understand this.” Chris looked dazed. The imprint of his grandfather’s hand was a purple stencil on his cheek. “Why would Nathan . . .”

“It couldn’t just be Nathan. It had to be both of them, together, Jess
and
Nathan,” Lena said. “Because that case—the black one that was so important to Alex? It’s in Jess’s room, on the same shelf.” Chris’s mouth unhinged. “Alex left it behind? She’d never do that.” 

“But it’s there. I can show you.”

“I think,” Yeager said, “that this is something we’d all like to see.”

The shotgun’s stock told its story well enough. Chris’s eyes panned from the weapon the guard had retrieved from Nathan’s rooms to that black padded case and back again. The Remington’s stock was crusted with dried blood in which hair, gray and black, was easily visible, preserved like insects in amber.

Unzipping the case, Chris folded back the top, but he already knew from the weight that the two sturdy bags, filled with gray ash, were still there.
Alex would never leave them behind
. He feathered the air over the case’s contents, unwilling to touch them. These belonged to Alex, and her parents deserved respect. Handling them more than necessary was like walking over their graves.

“I don’t believe it.” Weller, who’d retrieved the case from Jess’s room, stared down, wide-eyed. “It was
them
? Jess and Nathan?”

“So it appears. Please,” Yeager said to Nathan, “tell us you have an explanation.”

“
I’ll
explain it,” Weller broke in, and rounded on the other guard. “You son of a bitch, you were in on it. Either you hit Chris and Jess both, or she did Chris and then you did
her
to make your story stick.”

“But why?” Tori asked. She and Sarah stood with their arms around one another, as if holding each other up.

“I know why,” Chris said, grimly. “I came back too early. I was supposed to meet up with Peter, but I decided to ride straight through. At the checkpoint, one of the guards mentioned he’d seen Alex on Kincaid’s horse, and so I knew something was wrong, and then . . .” His fists bunched in frustration. “I just don’t
remember.
I can see Alex on the horse, and then it’s this blank stretch until I woke up here.”

“You don’t need to remember. I’ll tell you how it went down. You ruined their plans, and then they had to improvise.” Weller threw Nathan a murderous look. “Nice touch, doing Jess. I’ll just bet you guys were sweating bullets, worrying Chris would remember what happened. What I want to know is what else you’ve done. You had to intercept the runner, Lang. He was the only one who knew where we were and what route we were going to take to get back to Rule. You must have had guys waiting and then tipped off those bounty hunters. You son of a—”

Uncoiling, Weller slammed his fist in a solid uppercut. Nathan’s head snapped back on the stalk of his neck, blood fanned in a fine mist, and then Weller drove the bony ridge of his forehead into Nathan’s face.

“Weller!” Kincaid shouted. “Weller, stop!”

No, don’t stop
. Chris was gritting his teeth so hard the muscles corded in his neck.
Alex is gone, and so is Peter, and this asshole deserves everything he gets.

Nathan’s knees buckled, but Weller was still on him, drunkwalking him back, muscling the other man across the room. The old men of the Council scattered in a startled flutter and swirl of black robes, like a murder of crows. Nathan had his hands up now, and he was tucking, protecting his face, not even trying to fight back. Cursing, Weller aimed a vicious kick at Nathan’s groin. Nathan gargled a breathless screech, and then he was folding in two, retching, still trying to dance away, butting against a small display table, going down in a crash of wood and porcelain figurines. The dogs, still sequestered in the kitchen, began to bark.

“Enough,
enough
!” Yeager shouted. Plum-colored splotches splashed the old man’s withered cheeks. “Weller, stop! We need answers first, and then you can do what you like, but stop
now.
”

“Rev, you . . . you don’t understand.” Huffing, Weller staggered to his feet. On the floor, Nathan was curled into a tight, unmoving ball. “The guys guarding the Zone, John and Randy and Dale— they got to be in on it, too. Ain’t that right, Nathan? Huh?” Weller let fly another kick to Nathan’s middle, and the other man grunted out a gurgled moan. “
Ain’t
it?”

“Kill him now, and he’s of no use to us,” Yeager said. “You’ll get your chance, I promise you.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Weller spat, then armed blood from his face. “Rev, we got to get those other men before they run, too. And I’d post a couple guys on Jess, if I was you.”

“She’s no threat,” Kincaid said. “The woman’s in a coma. Without equipment or power, it’s hard enough to keep her stable as it is. I barely have enough of the right medicine.”

“Yeah, like the little girl said, that’s real convenient,” Weller said. “How do we know you aren’t
keeping
her in a coma with all these drugs of yours?”

Kincaid’s face flooded with genuine shock. “What are you saying? I took an
oath
.”

“Yeah, only maybe not to Rule,” Weller said. To Yeager: “That girl’s right about another thing, too. Kincaid and Jess, they’re real tight. I think we got to keep an eye on her. Maybe if Kincaid’s not allowed near her, she’ll wake up.”

“Or she might not,” Kincaid said. “Rev, you keep me from doing my job, you might kill her.”

“Perhaps she deserves nothing less. Go, Weller. Do whatever you think is best,” Yeager said, and then turned to Chris as Weller ducked out. “You will also reap what you sow. You
do
understand that?”

“Yes,” Chris said. He thought his voice was steady, but he felt the sweat pearls on his upper lip. The world as he knew it was again coming to an end. He’d seen it happen, with his own eyes, right in this room. Nathan and Jess and . . . and
Kincaid
?

They killed Alex. They sent her out of Rule and into the Zone. They
murdered
her just as surely as if they’d put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

“Good,” Yeager said. “I would hate to think that any blood kin of mine, however tainted, is a fool. You have defied me; you have sided with those who would ruin me, the Council,
Rule.
You have chosen a
girl
over me, and that will not stand. Alex is done, too. If she returns, I will not give her sanctuary.”

“She wouldn’t crawl back to you. She’s survived before, without our help, and she’ll do it again.” God, he wished he believed that.

“You know her that well?”

“I know how I feel about her.” He willed his gaze not to waver.
She
would fight this old man. She would never back down, and neither would he. As soon as he saw his opportunity, he
would
go after her, because, maybe, there was still a chance. “You can’t take that away.”

“True. But I
will
take you.” Yeager’s eyes drifted to Kincaid and Lena, and then locked, once more, on him. “I will take you all.”

It was what Crusher Karl would’ve called a filthy night. When the large drays pitched a fit—dancing and kicking when the guards boosted them onto the running boards—they almost went nowhere, which would’ve suited Lena just fine. The wagon was open, and a single lantern bounced and swayed as the thickening snow drew down in a dense, billowing curtain that swirled and eddied and muffled all sound. They might as well have been in a tornado in a bell jar or snow globe. The wind snatched and plucked at her hair because they hadn’t let her get a hat, and her ears were so icy they burned. The lantern was a swinging fuzzy blur, and their guard, a mountain of a man, had been reduced to a white hump.

A sudden gust scoured her face. Lena winced, blinking as tears pooled. She wanted to wipe them away, but her fingers were numb even in gloves because of the plasticuffs. When the guard zipped them on, she tried tensing her muscles, but then he’d slapped her hard enough to sting.

“None of that funny business, girl,” the guard said, wrapping a chain around her waist that he locked to a thick metal O-ring. “Seth might be old, but Seth ain’t stupid.”

“No, Seth’s just an asshole who can’t speak in the first person,” she said, but there was no fight in it and she’d only groaned when Seth yanked the plasticuffs so tight the zip sounded like a wood saw.

Now, she straightened, gritting her teeth against the bite of plastic in skin. Her wrists were wet.
Blood
. Just one more thing. She ducked her head, smearing her burning eyes on her shoulder.

“You okay?” Chris asked. He was on her right, his head and chest and shoulders frothy with snow.

“No. I can’t feel my hands. These cuffs are too tight.”

“Yeah, me neither. Shouldn’t be much longer.”

“Do you know where he’s taking us?” She’d realized as soon as they turned out of Jess’s street that they weren’t headed into town but east.

“Torture house,” Kincaid said. When he looked down at her, a mound of snow slid from the brim of his Stetson and plopped into his lap.

“What
?”

“Well, they call it the interrogation center, but . . . oh yeah.” Kincaid swayed as the wagon dipped in and out of ruts. “Sometimes the boys get overly
enthusiastic
. Afterward, they call me and I get to patch up whoever they’re working over so they can start in again.”

“Torture?” Her voice thinned to a squeak. “You mean, they’re going to—” She whipped her head around to Chris. “You
know
about this?”

The light was bad, but she saw him hesitate. “Well, I—”

“Oh my God, you do.” Her bravado had evaporated, and she wondered again what the hell she’d been thinking. She didn’t even
like
Alex. And if Chris
knew
they were torturing people, why didn’t he do something to stop it?

“They’ll just try to scare you,” Chris was saying. “You’ll be fine, I promise.”

“That’s not a promise you can make, Chris. ’Sides, my guess is she
does
have information.” Kincaid eyed Lena. “Do you?”

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” she said. “You’re one of
them.
”

“Oh, right. I’m so glad you reminded me I’m one of the bad guys, in case these cuffs weren’t enough.”

“How can you joke around?” She was feeling sick again and badly needed to pee.

“I wasn’t aware I was.” Kincaid paused and then his tone changed. “You’re from up around Oren.”

“So what? It’s not a crime,” she said, and then thought,
Shit, I make it
sound
like it is.

“You don’t owe him any explanations, Lena,” Chris put in.

“I can talk for myself.”

“I’m just saying—”

“Whoa, whoa,” Kincaid said. “If you two can’t do better than that, you’ll be sunk in ten seconds, maybe less. Chris, you of all people ought to know that.”

“Is there a question in there?” Chris asked.

“Should there be?” When Chris said nothing, Kincaid went on: “Chris, it’s what your grandfather asked. How do you know where to look for these kids you keep finding?”

More silence. Lena could feel Chris shutting down, throwing up barriers. A torture house, and Chris
knew
about it . . .

“You got some kind of system,” Kincaid said. “Has to be it. You got this clockwork-like thing going, if I’m remembering it right. Of course, if you had a little
help
.” Kincaid’s Stetson moved fractionally, and Lena felt the burn of the old man’s eyes on her face. “Someone kind of local, maybe? Clue you in where to look, or how?”

Chris jumped in before she could reply. “Like you said, you’re here, too, Doc. You want to tell me what happened with Alex?”

“I honestly don’t know, Chris,” Kincaid said. “The last time I saw Alex, she was fine. If it was anything, I think it had something to do with that boy—”

There was a sudden bright flash. On the driver’s box, Seth jerked at the same moment that Chris threw himself against Lena in a chatter of metal chain. She thudded to the wooden bed in a tangled heap, crying out as the chain around her waist bound and dug.

“Chris?” she managed. “What—”

“Someone’s shooting.” His head craned a cautious few inches. The wagon had lurched to a halt. “Seth’s down. Thank God the horses didn’t spook. Kincaid, you all right?”

“Yeah.” Lena heard the drag of metal against wood as the old man shifted. “We’re still in Rule,” Kincaid said. “Who the hell—”

Lena’s ears pricked at the muffled clop of hooves. “Stay down,” Chris murmured. She felt him squirming onto his back. “You, too, Doc.”

There was movement by the driver’s box as a shape—man-sized, snow-shrouded—slid into the ball of lantern light. When the man turned to peer in their direction, Lena almost let out a yelp. The man had no face.

Idiot.
Her pulse raced.
He’s got on a ski mask, that’s all.

The form slipped away. She sensed him creeping alongside the wagon. There was a dip, and then the wagon jostled as the man hoisted himself up—

Chris lashed out with both feet. There was a grunt as Chris’s boot thudded against the man’s chest, and then the faceless man was swaying, one hand hooked over the lip. Chris’s boot thrashed again, the sole smashing the man’s fingers. The man howled as Chris swarmed up. His bound hands were in front now, and Chris let loose with a double-fisted, backhanded swing—

“
No
, Chris!” Someone launched himself from Kincaid’s side of the wagon. Surprised, Chris let out a yell as the man wrapped him up. They thudded in a thrashing tangle on top of Lena and Kincaid. Lena’s head banged against the wood; Kincaid was shouting,
“Hold on, hold on, hold on!”
But Chris was still fighting, and then this second man was screaming, “Stop, Chris, it’s Weller, it’s
Weller
!”