Shadows of Sherwood (30 page)

Robyn pulled the truck through the pair of concrete pillars that read City Fairgrounds. She braked hard along the blacktopped stretch of parking lot and swung around so that the tail of the truck was close—a little too close!—to the cardboard huts of T.C.

She didn't bother to cut the ignition; just threw it into Park and leaped out of the cab. Scarlet, too, vaulted free. She made for the gates, retracing the truck's path. And carrying Robyn's backpack.

“Hey,” Robyn called after her. “That's mine!”

Scarlet paused, but the sirens weren't waiting for anyone. “They could be here any second,” she complained, still backing away. “We have to go!”

“I have to get the food out of the truck,” Robyn answered. “You have to stay. Help me.”

Scarlet chewed her lip. “You saved my life,” she said. “I know I still owe you.” But the girl was already several yards away. “Tomorrow. Ten a.m. Behind the library.” She tossed the backpack at Robyn and kept on moving.

Robyn let her go. There was no time to waste on negotiation.

She slipped her backpack on her shoulders and ran to the back of the truck. Laurel had opened the cargo door as far as she could reach. After all this, they refused to go back into the woods empty-handed. Sirens wailed through the streets of Sherwood, no doubt looking for them.

 

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Vanishing Act

Robyn jumped onto the bumper and shoved the door open all the way. The truck was full to bursting with all manner of delights. Jars of jam and honey. Barrels of fruit. Piles of potatoes and bundles of veggies. Sacks of bread. Robyn had never seen so many loaves in one place in all her life. She didn't waste a second. She stood on the edge of the truck bed and called out over the cardboard city. “Who wants food! Free food for all! Come and get it!” Heads popped up all over T.C.

Laurel stood slack-jawed at Robyn's side. “Whoa,” she said, and took a breath.

“Run around and wake people up,” Robyn urged her. “We have to get all the food out. Now.” There was no question that the MPs would catch up with the truck soon enough. But Robyn was not about to let a good night's haul go to waste.

Key rode up on the green scooter. He was okay! Robyn grinned in relief. Key braked hard right next to the truck
and leaped off the bike, shouting, “What the heck are you doing?”

“Feeding people,” Robyn said, though she thought it self-evident.

“Are you trying to get us all killed?”

Robyn knelt on the bumper and dragged bread boxes forward. “Just help me, would you?”

Key leaped into the back of the truck and started pushing the loaves of bread out onto the blacktop.

“You are crazy,” he said. “What's the point of making a plan if you're not going to stick to it?”

“We were already inside,” Robyn protested. “What was I going to do, not take the truck?”

“The plan was going perfectly. You were at the truck. I could see you. I was going to open the gate. And then you decide to detour.” He was angry.

He had seen her? He had been ready? Guilt sank into Robyn's chest. “But—”
I needed those wires
, she wanted to say. Instead she blurted out, “What's the big deal? I only needed a minute.”

More quickly than Robyn could have hoped, people emerged from their boxes. A growing crowd converged on the truck. The shabbily dressed and just-woken people snapped out of their exhausted daze and snagged bags of bread by the armload. When each person had all he or she could carry, they disappeared back into the cover of the cardboard city.

Key helped her hand things down to the people. They worked efficiently together, but the silence between them
was less than friendly. “I would have been fine,” Robyn said, “if you two had just waited in place for a minute.
I
didn't set off any alarms. I was coming right back.”

“You could have been caught. And then what?”

“I broke out of jail once,” Robyn retorted. “Twice, kind of.”

“Yeah, so what are the odds they'll put you in minimum security again?” Key argued.

Robyn felt like crying. “I was doing what I had to,” she said. “You ruined it.”

“
I
ruined it?” he said. “You're the one taking crazy chances. Risking everything, for all of us.”

“Laurel didn't have to follow me,” Robyn told him. “That's how the alarm went off, isn't it?”

“Why do you think she did that? We're a team,” Key said tightly. “We're supposed to look out for each other.”

We're family,
Dad used to say.
We look out for each other.

Robyn looked at the sky, which was slightly overcast. Maybe she didn't want to be part of a team right now. She wanted to be part of a family.

But minute by minute, her parents seemed farther away. Robyn touched her chest, feeling for the moonstone pendant. She scanned the skyline for the hulking towers of Nottingham Cathedral. She could see the tops of the twin spires, as usual.

The T.C. residents grasped for the food they offered. “Thank you,” Robyn heard whispered over and over. “It's a miracle! We are blessed, indeed.” The sleepy people giggled in delight at the sight of so much food.

When the truck was empty, Key emerged, holding several bags of bread by their plastic necks. The swirl of sirens seemed nearer than ever. Key said, “They'll tear up T.C. if they find this truck here.”

“I'm on it,” Robyn said. “Make sure you hide all the food. And the bike. Meet us at Nottingham Cathedral. Southeast corner.”

Key looked puzzled, but nodded.

Laurel jumped into the truck cab with Robyn. The smaller girl wore a grin from ear to ear. “That was the best thing ever!” she exclaimed. “Did you see how much food?”

Robyn gunned the engine and tore out of the Fairgrounds. No sooner had she turned onto the main road than an MP jeep with sirens blaring fishtailed into sight behind them.

Laurel stared into the rearview mirror. She whimpered and her voice turned listless. “We're caught.”

“Not yet,” Robyn said. On the skyline in the near distance, she had her eye on Nottingham Cathedral. She steered the truck onto the street she knew led to the church and accelerated harder. “Hold on,” she told Laurel. “And get ready to leap out on my command.”

Laurel gripped the door handle. As they passed the church, Robyn braked and took the final corner. The truck screeched to a halt.

“Now!” Robyn cried. The girls jumped out of the truck. “This way,” Robyn called, and Laurel joined her. They raced to the side of the old church. Robyn pulled the loose plywood sheet and they slipped behind it, hopefully unseen.

 

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Sincerely, Robyn

Through the cracks in the plywood, Robyn and Laurel watched as a jeep with three MPs rolled into the lot. They got out and paced around the abandoned truck, looking pleased and puzzled at the same time.

“They're calling it in,” Tucker said, coming up the stairs to the choir loft with a handful of slices of individually wrapped cheese. “Reinforcements will be here soon.”

“We're safe in here, right?” Laurel sounded nervous, but she didn't waste a second slapping together a cheese sandwich.

“Safe enough,” Robyn said.

Tucker joined her at the sliver of a window. The MPs stood with arms crossed at the front of the truck.

“Someone's going to hang for this,” Tucker mused. “Mallet can't afford the appearance of a mutiny, however small.”

Robyn's heart skipped. She thought about the mom and boys she'd rescued from Sherwood Jail, serving time
for a theft they didn't commit. “I did this,” she said. “I don't want anyone else going down for my crimes. Not ever again.”

She started down out of the loft toward the loose plywood sheet.

“You're not going to turn yourself in,” Tucker said, following her. “That's insane.”

Robyn's mind clicked around the problem. “No,” she said. “I'm just going to take credit. You have any paper handy?”

Tucker reached into his back pocket. “Uh, no, but I have these.” He held out a big pad of bright-green sticky notes and a marker.

“Good enough. Thanks!” She scrawled a quick note and headed for the door.

“You're not going back out there!” Laurel exclaimed.

“I have to,” Robyn said. Laurel should understand how she felt, especially after the jailbreak. It was worth the risk to avoid another mistaken arrest.

Tucker sighed. “All right. I'll distract them,” he said. He straightened his clerical collar and edged out of the building. “Officers, what seems to be the trouble?”

He conversed with the MPs, standing alongside the truck's front bumper. After a brief exchange, Tucker pointed away from Robyn. “I saw someone running that way a minute ago,” he said. Two of the MPs tore off around the corner in pursuit. Tucker chatted up the remaining man, shifting his stance slightly so the MP faced the direction Tucker wanted him to—away from the truck.

When his back was turned, Robyn ran up and placed the note in plain sight, right inside the lip of the empty truck bed. The bright-green color ensured it wouldn't be missed.

To whom it may concern
:

This food was confiscated from its rightful owners, the people of Sherwood. Consider it confiscated back.

If you think you know me, you do not.

If you think you can catch me, you cannot.

Sincerely,

Robyn