Beyond Power

by Connie Mann

  Even though he’d just told himself the same thing, being chastised by his sister rankled. Before he could insist that he simply planned to be her friend, Delilah rejoined them, and the door swung open as the afternoon tour trooped in.

  There were two families, each with a couple of younger children, but it was the tall, bearded dad Josh was interested in. Phone records confirmed that the last communication Robert Black had sent before he died was a text to this man, Oren Hughes, that said, “Meet me at the Outpost, Tuesday, 1 p.m.”

  His phone chimed with an incoming email from Byte to the squad. He’d found a flyer in Black’s email about a meeting of “those interested in keeping themselves and their families safe from government oppression.”

  That sounded like someone was organizing a group, possibly a militia. This trip would be the perfect opportunity to get more information.

  * * *

  His heart hadn’t stopped racing since the moment he saw the headline in today’s paper. He rubbed a hand over his chest as he hurried in from the parking lot. His blood pressure was through the roof, and based on the odd looks people sent his way as he rushed by, he figured his face was flushed and he didn’t look so good. Several colleagues tried to engage him in conversation, but he brushed pass them as though he hadn’t heard. He had to get to the safety of his office.

  He opened the door, and his secretary stood up from her desk, a sheaf of messages in her hand. “Sir, these are for you.”

  He held up his hand. “Not right now. I’ll get them in a little bit. Thank you.” He forced himself to close the door calmly behind him, though he wanted nothing more than to slam it shut. But that would arouse suspicions he couldn’t afford.

  He collapsed into the leather chair behind his desk and buried his face in his hands. He pulled the newspaper out of his briefcase and set it down on the desk blotter. How on earth had it come to this? His plan had seemed foolproof. If that bear had done its job, there should’ve been no way anyone could have figured out the guy died any other way.

  “What were you doing out there anyway?” he muttered, looking at the photo. He shook his head. He was losing it. The guy had been dressed in camo and carrying a rifle. Obviously, he’d been out hunting. Or maybe he hadn’t been. Maybe that was all for show, and he’d really been there spying on the operation. With the man dead, there was no way to tell. But when their eyes had locked, he’d panicked, especially when the man said his name. If he’d taken the time to think about it, he would’ve tied him up and questioned him first, figured out how much he knew.

  He leaped up from the chair and started pacing his office. None of that mattered now. The man was dead, and FWC was calling it murder. Could they trace it back to him? He didn’t think so. He’d been so careful. Then again, he hadn’t expected them to figure out it hadn’t been a bear attack either.

  His hands shook, and he curled them into fists and then released them again and again, hoping it would help him calm down.

  What should he do? Mind racing, he considered and discarded various options. But in the end, he decided to wait and watch. He’d go on as usual, try not to draw any undue attention to himself, and deny everything if it came down to it.

  He picked up his phone. Just in case, he’d make sure he had an airtight alibi. And cover all his bases.

  If he went down, there was no way he was going alone.

  He sat, drummed his fingers on his desk as he thought. Actually, there was a way to make sure he didn’t go down at all.

  He just had to tie up a few loose ends.

  * * *

  Oren Hughes hung back as their group paddled the river. Josh didn’t blame him, given the enthusiasm and volume at which his family attacked the trip. He figured this was the perfect opportunity to deliver bad news and ask some important questions, since Hughes couldn’t walk away.

  Ahead of them, Charlee and Delilah were laughing and talking like old friends while the other two families paddled in front of them. As he watched, he realized that here, finally, was the real Delilah, the woman he’d been getting to know at the café. So different from the guarded woman she became whenever he was in uniform. Though given what he was learning about her family, he couldn’t really blame her. Still, the transformation was amazing, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  “Do you live around here?” Hughes asked from beside him.

  Josh glanced at the man and jerked his thoughts back to his assignment. “This is home. Except for college and a few years as a pilot, I’ve never lived anywhere else. How about you?”

  The man shrugged. “Lived here all my life.” He hitched his chin toward his family. “I usually kayak alone, but I was supposed to meet an old friend of mine today.” He shrugged. “He didn’t show.”

  “His name’s Robert Black, right?”

  Hughes’s head snapped around. “How do you know that?”

  Josh raised the hem of his T-shirt so Hughes could see his badge. “I’m FWC, and I’m very sorry to tell you that your friend is dead.”

  “What? When?” There was a long moment of stunned silence as Hughes processed the news. Then he said, “Wait a minute. The hunter that was, uh, killed. Was that Robert?”

  “Sadly, yes, it was. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  Horror crossed the other man’s face, and he was silent for several moments. “The paper said he was murdered. Why would somebody do that?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. How long did you know Robert?”

  “Seems like most of my life. We grew up together.”

  “Do you know why Robert wanted to meet with you?”

  Hughes shook his head, then smiled sadly. “I have no idea, but if I know Robert, it had something to do with money. He always had a scheme going to make a buck. Some panned out, some didn’t, but he was always working an angle.”

  Josh kept his eyes steady on Hughes’s face. “Do you have any ties to a local militia group, Mr. Hughes?”

  The other man stiffened, and his eyes narrowed. “Why? What does that have to do with Robert’s death?”

  “Maybe nothing, but he had a flyer in his inbox about a meeting, something that sounds like a militia organizing maybe. Do you know anything about that?”

  Hughes looked around, muttered under his breath. “This has gotten out of hand.”

  “What’s gotten out of hand?”

  “Some of these young guys, they get themselves all stirred up, don’t think before they act.”

  “You mean young militia guys? Which guys?”

  Hughes’s jaw snapped shut. “Sorry, Officer. I couldn’t say. That’s just an opinion.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe Robert’s dead. He was a good guy.”

  “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.” Josh pulled a card out of his pocket, handed it over. “If you think of anything, any detail that might help us figure out who killed your friend, I’d sure appreciate a call.”

  Hughes tucked the card into a waterproof bag, and Josh looked up just as one of the boys flicked his paddle over the water and soaked Delilah. She sputtered and said, “Oh, it’s like that, is it?” and sent a wall of water flying back at the boy.

  A water fight erupted, and Josh paddled over and joined in. He came up behind Delilah and used his paddle to soak her. She deftly spun her kayak around and faced him, laughing and swiping water out of her eyes as she prepared for battle. “You’ll pay for that, Hollywood!”

  Her wet tank top clung to her skin, and he was too busy enjoying the view to see her launch an equally large splash over him. He sputtered and realized he was laughing and enjoying himself as he hadn’t in a very long time. “This means war, Xena!”

  They shot water back and forth, grinning like fools, until one of the boys nailed her with another wall of water from behind, laughing in triumph. “Oh, you’ve got it coming now,” she growled. She tried
to spin her kayak and splash the boy at the same time, only she stuck her paddle in too far and tipped her kayak over.

  Josh was beside her in two strokes, just in case. She popped up and was treading water, laughing as she swiped her hair out of her eyes.

  Charlee and the boy’s mother paddled over. “Are you okay, Delilah? Oh, goodness, I’m so sorry.” She turned on the boy. “What were you thinking?”

  While the boy stammered an apology, Delilah waved it away. “It’s fine. We were just playing.”

  Josh maneuvered next to Delilah’s kayak and flipped it over. “You okay?” When she nodded, he said, “I’ll steady it while you climb back in.”

  “Thanks.” She flashed him a quick grin and then pushed herself up and into the kayak in one smooth move.

  He saw the cocky grin she sent over her shoulder and smiled back. “You’ve obviously done this before.”

  “Yes, but I hadn’t been kayaking in years until I came back here.” Something sad flickered in her eyes before it disappeared. “Thanks for the help.” She caught up to the boys and continued the water fight.

  He watched her, the way her clothes molded to her wet skin and her carefree abandon as she played, and an odd stirring of hope passed through him. Maybe it was time to lay Elaine’s ghost to rest and think about the future.

  A bang echoed across the water, and Delilah ducked as though from gunfire. A large tree limb fell on shore across from them, but that didn’t ease the tension in her shoulders. From that moment on, her playful demeanor disappeared. Though she talked with Charlee and occasionally teased the children, she kept her eyes along the bank, watchful, as though she were looking for someone.

  Chapter 10

  When Delilah left the Outpost, she was tired, hot, and a little sunburned. And except for her overreaction to the falling limb at the end, she also felt alive in a way she hadn’t in years. Spending time with the Tanner family opened doors to places in her heart she had firmly locked a long time ago. With them, she could break out of the tidy box in which she existed, free to laugh and play without guarding every word and gesture. They made her feel welcome and wanted and like she was a person worth being around. The muscles in her arms ached from overuse, but it felt good.

  The Tanners were apparently huggers, because first Charlee and then Josh wrapped her in exuberant embraces before she left. Josh’s hug was tighter and lasted significantly longer than Charlee’s and came with a chaste kiss on her cheek, followed by a killer grin and sexy wink. She winked right back and enjoyed the flash of surprise in his eyes and then shivered when it turned to a smoldering look that promised…more.

  She and Charlee were becoming friends, which was very different from spending time with fellow students or other teaching assistants, which were more circumstantial acquaintances. Delilah hadn’t had a close friend since Andy left for Peru, so the possibilities today opened up made her smile.

  On the downside, she still didn’t know who Mary was supposed to marry, despite her careful questions. Charlee had never met her mother or sister, though she’d seen her father and brother at the Corner Café a time or two over the years. Which didn’t help.

  She hadn’t been able to head home until she’d checked her family’s campsite again, even though she’d known it was a long shot. They weren’t there, though a foolish part of her had hoped. She consoled herself by thinking through additional places to check as she drove. When she approached a sharp turn with lots of sand, she eased her foot off the accelerator and tapped the brakes. She knew if you didn’t do it right, you got bogged down and sank, truck or no truck.

  Her foot went straight to the floor. “Doggone it. Now is not the time for the brakes to quit.” She pumped the pedal, hoping that would help, but nothing happened. No pressure.

  Because of that, she went into the turn much too fast and had to use the handbrake to slow the truck. It helped a little but not enough to combat the sand. The truck stopped, and she gave it a little gas, but as she expected, the tires spun and she sank deeper.

  After a few more tries, she accepted defeat and turned the ignition off. It wasn’t going anywhere tonight, so she’d better get moving. She took a minute to coat herself with mosquito repellent, grabbed her Maglite, and tried to figure out where her camper was in relation to her current location.

  She looked up through the trees, saw the thick clouds, and laughed out loud. “Of course. It would be too much to ask that there be moonlight tonight, right?”

  A rustling off in the bushes made her jump, and she shook her head at her own foolishness when a raccoon lumbered into view. Time to pull out all the lessons her father had taught her growing up. The irony did not escape her. The fact that those skills could help her now upped her confidence. She wasn’t a helpless, scared sixteen-year-old anymore.

  Lesson one was to make a plan before rushing into action. She pulled out her phone, hoping to use the GPS, not really surprised at the little “no signal” bar at the top of the screen. “Alrighty then, moving on to plan B.” She scanned the area and decided to head toward the main road, where she should be able to get a signal. Once there, she could pull up a map or call somebody for a ride. Josh’s face immediately popped into her head, but she decided he’d be her last resort. Hadn’t she just told herself to keep her distance?

  If she triangulated her location in her head, the main road would put her closer to her camper, so she headed in that direction. At least she thought she did.

  When she came upon the same huge, lightning-damaged, downed tree for the third time, she admitted defeat. Somehow, she’d managed to wander around in circles. It was humiliating. She sank down on the log and pulled out her phone, still no signal. She tapped Josh’s name in the message app, and her finger hovered over the phone. What would she tell him? She figured “near the downed tree” wouldn’t be terribly helpful.

  Her brain went around in circles, unsure, until she finally put the phone back in her pocket.

  From the time they were little, her father had instilled in his children that if they ever got lost, to stay put. Wait for someone to come find them. But that was then, and this was now.

  She stood and kept moving.

  * * *

  Today had been illuminating in more ways than one. Josh tapped a finger on the steering wheel of his official FWC F-150 as he left the main road and turned onto one of the many dirt roads that crisscrossed the forest. After Delilah left the café this morning, he’d called Hunter, told him what she’d said, and filled him in on the note and shotgun shell. He’d been prepared to argue long and loud for keeping his word to Delilah, but Hunter had simply said, “We’ll consider her an informant. You keep her safe and try to figure out what the deal is with her sister while we follow up on the guns and cash and see how that figures—or not—into Black’s murder.”

  Something Oren had said earlier about Black and money nagged at him. But it was his evasion on the question of militias in the area that had brought Josh here. He figured John Henry Atwood had the answers he needed, but whether he’d be willing to share them with a government man like him was another story. He and Hunter had decided Josh would follow up on the militia angle, see how or if it fit.

  When he arrived at the Atwood family’s campsite, he wasn’t surprised that they had cleared out and moved on. John Henry was one of the more rigid survivalist types who lived out here, convinced the government was just waiting to pounce and get into his business. Guys like him never stayed in one place for long and dragged their families from pillar to post on a regular basis.

  He shone his Maglite around the campsite in case they had left any clues behind, but except the fire ring, there was no evidence anyone had been there. He climbed into the truck and headed back a different way, thinking he’d swing by Delilah’s camper, just to make sure she got home safely.

  He hadn’t gone far when he ran across what looked like Delilah’s truc
k, stuck in the sand. He hopped out and ran over, concerned she was hurt, but the vehicle was empty. He shone his light around the area, but there was no sign of her. “Delilah? Are you here?”

  He studied the ground, trying to figure out which direction she had gone. He only found one footprint but decided it was better than nothing and headed in that general direction, calling her name as he went. What had she been doing out here?

  Probably the same thing you are. Trying to find her parents. And her sister.

  What would it have been like to grow up with John Henry? The things she hadn’t said, combined with her worry for Mary, painted an ominous picture. He hoped she’d trust him enough to tell him the whole story soon. He really did want to help.

  “Delilah? Where are you?” He kept calling her name as he walked, scanning the area with his flashlight.

  He thought he heard a sound and hurried in that direction.

  * * *

  Even late at night, humidity hung like spiderwebs in the forest, sticking to your skin and weighing you down as you walked. The essential oil Delilah had gotten from Charlee had long since soaked into her skin, and she walked along waving a hand in front of her face, trying to keep the pesky bugs from gnawing on every bit of exposed skin. Dang, I hate the forest at night. Something rustled in the underbrush to her right, and she stopped, held herself motionless as she’d been taught, and waited until she could identify what she was hearing. She debated turning on her flashlight but didn’t want to scare whatever it was. Based on the sound, it was either an opossum, raccoon, or some other small mammal. If it had been something larger, it would have made more noise.

  Images of the bear flashed through her mind, and she kept going. She sensed movement behind her and spun around. As she did, she caught her left ankle in a small hole and fell down with a startled cry. She glanced up just in time to see a white-tailed deer bounding away.