What Comes After (Book 1): A Shepherd Cometh (16 page)

He tilted his head to the side. “Let's say you found me like this.”

Janessa scowled, marring her pretty face. Giving a light tug on her weapon, she made a pointed observation. “Guess I wait for you to either let go of my rifle or tell me what you want.”

Almost immediately, Tom released his grip. This so surprised the young woman that she nearly toppled over from the pressure she had been applying against the Shepherd's hold. She stared at him almost stupidly, open-mouthed with disbelief.

In the same quiet, casual voice, the young man addressed her reaction. “If I'd wanted you dead, I would have shot you already, or come at you with my knife. If you mean me no harm, I mean you no harm.”

Janessa blinked at him. “So, are you coming with me or not?”

The Shepherd stared back her. “Maybe. Are you headed to the farm over yonder? 'Cause that's where I'm headed.”

The young woman nodded mutely.

“Then it looks like we'll be traveling partners for a spell.” Tom offered this with a smile, then turned and picked up his own rifle and pack. When the rucksack was upon his back and the rifle slung over his shoulder, the young man turned back to Janessa. He found her regarding him with the same awestruck expression she'd had when he relinquished control of her weapon.

“What are you going to do?” She couldn't help but grin sheepishly as she asked the question.

Tom offered a wry smile in return. “You know, I hadn't thought about it. Depends on what I find when I get there, I guess.” The smile remained on his lips but slowly left his eyes. “What will I find when I get there, Janessa?”

Seeing that look, the young woman thought to bring her rifle back to bear on the Shepherd, but stopped just as she began to move. She hadn't seen his right hand drift back to his belt, but now saw his fingers tapping the black grip of the revolver holstered there. She froze in place and looked back at him with narrowed eyes.

Tom shook his head. “The time for that has passed,” he said. “I have business on that farm and mean to see it done. I'd welcome your assistance if you'll offer it. Otherwise... I recommend you toss that .30-06 aside and clear on out before things get ugly.”

Janessa ground her teeth. “Ain't givin' up my rifle, even if I ain't stoppin' you. That'd be suicide.”

“Then you've got two options,” the Shepherd offered, outlining her possible courses of action. “You can help me do the right thing.” Here he paused, expecting her to interject. He was not disappointed.

The young woman snorted. “'Right thing'? What is that, exactly?”

“Get Angie and Ben out of the barn and away to somewhere safe. Well, safer than here, at any rate. Greg, too, if we have time. You'd be free to go your own course, after that.”

Janessa shook her head. “Nah,” she said. “Think I'll take option two: stand aside and watch you get your dumb ass killed all on your own.”

Tom sighed. “I applaud your loyalty, but that isn't the other option as I see it.” He saw the wheels turning in her head, watched realization dawn in terrible light on her beautiful features. In the same quiet voice he had used with Erik, he confirmed her fears. “Now, are you goin' with me or are you goin' in the ground?”

Her voice just above a whisper, she said, “I thought you didn't mean me any harm?”

The Shepherd nodded, sadness on his face. “That was before you tried to ready your weapon on me a second time. I can't leave you behind me with a loaded gun after you said you'd rather watch me die.” She looked ready to say something else, but he cut her off. “Discussion time's over. What's it gonna be?”

She stared at him mutely, caught somewhere between hate and horror.

“Empty it.” Tom watched her hands go through the motions, practiced to perform the action without conscious thought, much the same as he was. When she had removed the last round, he issued another command in the same mono-tone. “Give me the bolt.” Janessa appeared confused as she slid the weighted metal rod from it's bore at the top of the rifle and handed it to the young man.

The bolt immediately disappeared into the Shepherd's coat pocket. When it was snug in that fabric prison, Tom pulled his own rifle from his shoulder. Ejecting the magazine, he transferred it to his other hand while he worked the bolt to release the chambered round. Having done so, he pressed the loose cartridge into the top of the stack and put the clip in his other outside coat pocket. Closing the chamber, he handed the replica M14 to Janessa.

“What... what's going on here?” Janessa's voice carried with it a note of puzzlement as she looked from the Shepherd's rifle, then to Shepherd himself.

“It isn't obvious? You caught me and you're bringing me in. Let's go.”

“Where are we going?” Janessa still sounded as though in a mental fog, but seemed willing to follow the Shepherd.

“The barn, by way of that shed.” Tom pointed to a small outbuilding between them and the larger structure. Sparing her a brief glance, he saw her clarity returning by the second. Father Jacob had mentioned intimidation had some advantages, but they were nearly all short term and at the expense of longer term gain. Confusion and temporary obedience were two of them, but neither tended to last long. Persuasion through reason was a better way.
She's strong
, Tom thought.
I'll need to put the question to her soon.

They waited long enough for the guard on the barn roof to turn northward again, then they set off. Moving at a brisk walk, the Shepherd indicated the small shed and went directly to it. Since he chose where they were going, Janessa naturally fell into step behind him. This well-suited their deception, as anyone who saw them would notice her carrying two rifles and perhaps assume she was taking him somewhere at gunpoint.

Just before the watcher on the roof completed his turn in their direction, Tom and Janessa stepped behind the small shed and out of his sight. The Shepherd knew some few minutes would pass before the guard turned away again, so he thought this a prudent time to test Janessa's resolve. He needed to know where she stood on certain matters. In this way, he would know what action would be appropriate where she was concerned.

“Not worried 'bout someone seein' us back here?” She kept her voice low, but did not whisper.

Tom shook his head. “Not really, since everyone's busy. If they do spot us, they should recognize you and let you about your business, right?”

“And if they don't? What if they come over here to see if I need help or ask what I'm plannin' on doin' with you? What then?” Jannesa was recovering her nerve.

The Shepherd fixed her with a look. “Then I hope they're not friends of yours.”

She was only partly successful in suppressing her shudder. “What if there's more than one?”

“Are you asking if there's some number that will prevent me from completing my task, or do you want to know the specific plan for any given number of possible hostiles?” He wondered if the mechanical methodology of his clinical reply chilled her as much as it had him the first time he had acted in such a manner. “Angie and Ben are not staying here, simple as that. I'd rather get them out and walk away peacefully, if that's possible. I don't think it's going to pan out that way, though. If I need to shoot up the place in order to get to them and leave a trail of bodies in my wake on the way out, then so be it. One way or another, they are leaving with me and that's all there is to it.”

Janessa's breath caught in her throat and it was moment before she could speak. When she did, her voice was as shaken. “Nuts to this. You want to get that woman and her kid, fine. But I'm not helping you kill who knows how many of my people in the process.” Having spoken, she placed Tom's rifle against the wall of the shed and made to leave.

“You think walking away now keeps your hands clean?” She took another step, not looking back at him. “How many of your meals had meat in them?” She faltered at the corner of the shed.

Tom glanced at the watcher, figured the man was another two minutes from turning to again survey the north side. “You going to tell me you didn't know? Maybe that it was different, because you were doing it to survive?”

He saw her fist clenched. When Janessa turned to face him again, he could see the anger and frustration on her face, mixing with her fear. “How is what you're planning any better? You're talking about going in there and killing everyone in sight to free some people you say you just met. How is that the right thing to do?”

Tom shook his head. “You're not hearing me. I told you what I was prepared to do, not that I wanted it to happen that way. Quite the opposite, in fact. How I see it, the right thing to do is get Angie and Ben away from this place and these people. That woman and her boy clearly do not belong here. As far as what, or should I say who, else I find in the barn, that'll be a matter to take up with the Old Man and whomever else is in the house. Just as you didn't seek permission to grind up and eat a person at breakfast this morning, I'm not asking your permission to do what I need to do. If you can reconcile that, we'll be on the move presently. If not, best be on your way.”

The Shepherd's tone brooked no argument, but Janessa was wrestling with the enormity of what he had said. Still frustrated and searching for a way out, she said, “You don't need me to do any of that. The barn's not locked, so you don't need help getting in. You'll find them easy enough once you're inside. Unless there's something you're not telling me, you can be in and out before anyone else knows something is up. Why bring me out even this far?”

“You forgot something.” Tom knew the time for them to go was fast approaching. He had one card left to play, and he hoped it worked.

“What's that?”

“Toby's in the barn. I was serious when I said I'd rather not hurt anyone if I could avoid it. Figure that's more likely to happen if you're with me.”

Janessa's shoulders slumped in defeat. She closed her eyes and sighed, resigned to her fate. “They won't let you go or forgive what you've done. They'll try to stop you. If they can't stop you, they'll track you down. Kill you, probably.”

The guard on the roof turned to resume the northerly portion of his watch. “That's alright. God forgives. Man accepts. Now, accept that this is going to happen and let's be done with it.”

Tom watched Janessa pick up his rifle, then the two of them moved around the corner of the shed. Brisk strides quickly covered the ground between the outbuilding and the barn. Standing before the large doors of the barn, Tom grabbed the metal handle with both hands and heaved the panel aside, feeling it drift shakily, almost lazily, along the runner at the top of the frame. When he had pulled it open enough for a person to enter, the Shepherd looked at Janessa. She bit her lower lip, hesitating just a moment before finding her resolve. Before the young man could say anything, she moved around him and slipped through the opening, into the darkened space beyond. Tom followed her after a quick check of the surroundings.

The barn appeared in need of some repair from the outside; siding stained with age and water mark, warped windows, missing shingles on the roof. The doors, both loft and personnel, were obviously a poor fit in their respective frames. In general, the structure was ill at ease and had seen better days, even when care and maintenance were regular visitors, not occasional guests.

The inside told a different story. While the floorboards of the barn were placed there untold decades earlier and the beams were similarly aged, the stalls lining the east and west walls had been modified. They were now short cells of wood of relatively recent construction. Built in rows, each unit was completely closed off from the ones adjacent, sharing only walls between them.

The open door vented some of the stink in the place, but not all of it. Dawn was creeping into the building through windows open along the length of the wall opposite the door, providing enough light to gauge the general contents of the ground floor. To the left of the door was farming equipment; scythes, hoes, shovels, rakes, coiled rope and more. Some hung from hooks on the wall and the rest lay piled neatly on the floor or lay against the wall. To the right, several makeshift tables held cups, plates, bowls and the other trappings of meal-time. It was at one of these tables, quartering carrots and cucumbers, that they saw Toby.

Tom saw mixed relief and confusion on the young man's face. Toby looked from Janessa to Tom and back again, his hands ceasing their movement as his brain struggled to make sense of this new arrival. Equal parts apprehension and elation, Toby smiled at the young woman. “You got him.”

He paled when he saw her expression turn sour. “Nope. He got me,” was her reply.

When he put the knife down on the table, Janessa called to him softly. “Don't.”

“'Don't' what?” Toby asked, looking from her to the Shepherd, who was pulling the door closed.

She sighed. “Don't go for your gun, don't argue... just, don't. Okay?” Janessa watched the younger man, saw the set of his jaw and the tension in his shoulders. “Please?”

The door rumbled closed with a soft thud and Tom approached Toby, hands empty and palms forward. “No one needs to get hurt.”

“Like hell they don't,” Toby said through clenched teeth. “I don't know what you said or did to her, but I swear to God-”

Tom cut him off while continuing to advance. “I'll save you the oath you're about to take. I haven't done a thing to Janessa except tell her what I'm going to do, which I'll repeat for you now.” The Shepherd saw Toby glance at the rifle on the tabletop, not even a yard from the pile of cut vegetables at the young mans hands.

“Not worth it,” Tom said matter-of-factly, still moving. “Even if you get hands on it before I reach you, you'll only get one chance. This close, it'll have to be a snapshot, so there's a real chance you miss.”

“Someone'll hear it, come runnin'.” Slowly but smoothly, Toby began sliding his right hand toward his weapon while leaving his left near the knife.

“Won't make you any less dead. I suspect Janessa over there will react strongly in light of your demise, and I'll probably need to put her down, too.” Here, just a step away, Tom paused. He waited for the other man's concentration to break before taking the last step.