by Kate Morris
“I know you live at Fort Knox,” she continues without getting an answer. “General McClane runs the compound, but for some reason, you aligned yourself with a man named Parker.”
Her eyes jump to Paige’s, and this time the spark of recognition is unmistakable.
“How did you meet?”
No answer. She even gives Paige a half roll of her hazel eyes as if she is annoying her.
“What about your sister? Isabella was her name?”
“Why are you talking about her? You shut your mouth!” the girl says with unconcealed anger.
Paige finds her response strange. “Why? We know about her, too.”
“Who the hell are you?” Sofia demands.
“I told you. My name is Paige. This is Reagan McClane, our town’s doctor…”
That’s all it takes. Sofia flies across the table before Cory can even react. She knocks into Reagan, who jumps up and backs away before the woman can get her fingers around her throat. The sheriff runs in to help Cory, and they manage to handcuff her to the table. The sheriff even zip ties her ankles together. She is huffing and puffing and snorting anger at them.
“What the hell was that all about?” Reagan shouts angrily and ventures toward the table again. “Fuck you, bitch. You’ve caused a lot of innocent people to get killed. You’ve got blood on your hands. As far as I’m concerned, Cory, waterboard the bitch.”
She leaves, slamming the door behind her. Paige thinks maybe Reagan is doing a good-cop, bad-cop routine. At least, she hopes she is.
“Hey,” Paige says softly, gaining the woman’s attention again. “Why’d you do that? Do you know Reagan?”
“I know the McClanes. I know all about you pieces of shit!” she says, spittle hitting the table.
“I don’t understand,” Paige admits, trying to keep their rapport going. “Explain it to me. Why do you hate us?”
“You…” she says, shaking her head with disgust.
“Answer the question, or I get a bucket of water and some supplies,” Cory warns, which causes Sofia to startle. She must’ve forgotten he was back there.
“Why?” Paige repeats.
“You got my youngest sister killed,” she snarls.
“Isabella?”
She shakes her head, “No, Zinnia.”
This time Paige shakes her head and regards Cory, who mimics her. “I’m sorry, but we don’t know who she is.”
“Was,” she corrects, spitting venom this time. “You assholes got her killed.”
“Got her killed? How?”
“She was a slave at a camp near Nashville, down by the river,” Sofia explains. “Isabella and I were going to try and get her freed. We paid some men to help us. They just stole our money- canned goods and a gun- and took Isabella. I didn’t get her back until it was all over. I had no way to free her. She was sold to the camp just like my other sister, only she lived through it and escaped.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“As if you care. None of you do. You got Zinnia killed that night. We were told she was shot in a cross-fire situation, but it’s your people’s fault it happened.”
“We were only trying to help free those women,” Paige explains, feeling sorry for her.
“We never meant to get anyone killed if we did,” Cory says, stepping out of the shadows. “I’m sorry if your sister caught a bullet that night. As far as we know, none of us shot any innocent women. If you were told otherwise, it could be a lie.”
“Sure. As if you’d want to admit to it,” she says.
“I wouldn’t lie to cover it up, either,” he corrects. “I’m not that kind of person. None of the McClane family is, either.
“I’m very sorry about Zinnia,” Paige says again. “It had to be one of those men who shot her. He probably didn’t do it on purpose, either. It wasn’t exactly like they were trained soldiers with combat experience. That’s the difference between the McClane men and others. They do have military experience.”
“Yeah, we know,” she derides as if this angers her.
“How did you and Isabella meet Parker?”
“When the camp was broken up, the fighting over, we found our sister dead; we buried her and left the area. We hooked up with a group up north and were living there when Parker came to us.”
“And he convinced you to live at Fort Knox? Everyone from your camp?” Paige asks and gets a nod. “Yeah, I can understand why. I’ve been out there, too. I was out there for three years with a toddler and two friends. It was pure hell.”
“Yeah,” Sofia says quietly.
“Why double-cross the general, though? What did he do to you?”
“As soon as I found out he was a McClane, I was happy to help Parker,” she admits and almost smiles.
She has forgotten all about not wanting to reveal anything. It’s as if she wants to tell them, to brag to them how much she was working against the McClane family. Her hatred for them is palpable in the small interrogation room.
“And you were feeding him information?”
She nods. “I don’t care what you think, either. He’s the President, or will be as soon as McClane kicks it.”
“No, he’s not, and he won’t be, either,” Paige explains. “He’s been lying to you, lying to a lot of people. He was the one responsible for getting a lot of innocent people on the roads killed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The highwaymen,” she states.
The woman shakes her head in confusion, which is believable. “I don’t know what you mean. Who are the highwaymen? Or what are they? I don’t understand.”
Paige was hoping she would not have knowledge of those terrible deeds. If she did, Sofia would be just as big of a monster as Parker. She glances over her shoulder, and Cory nods. She goes on to explain the highwaymen, the senator, his relationship with Parker, their plans of forming a vast army, and how they killed innocent people on the roads to make that happen. Then she tells her that it’s all over, that the highwaymen have been wiped out. When she’s done, Paige gives her a few minutes to digest all of it. She is visibly shaken by the horrors she’s just heard.
Sofia swallows hard and shakes her head, “No, he wouldn’t do any of that. Maybe those highwaymen guys would, but not Parker. He’s not like that. He wouldn’t be a part of that. They were our friends. I thought they were our friends. Good and loyal, not murderers. No, they weren’t murderers.”
“He’s a lot worse than you know, Sofia,” Paige says.
“And he’s using you to get what he wants,” Cory points out as Reagan enters the room again, this time with a tray transporting a small teapot and steaming mugs for the three of them. Paige was right. She wasn’t really as mad as she let on
Reagan pushes a mug in front of the woman and says, “Drink. We’re far from over.”
Sofia eyes the cup carefully.
“It’s not drugged or anything,” Reagan states. “I wouldn’t waste the drugs. Compounding herbs is a pain in the ass. And, frankly, I don’t think you’re worth the time.”
Okay, maybe she is slightly mad. Paige sips her hot tea and places the cup down on the metal table.
Reagan says without missing a beat, “You know Parker killed your sister Isabella, right?”
Paige shoots her a glance, but Reagan ignores it. That was insensitive, but she hopes her friend has a plan.
“No, no, he said you McClanes did it,” she denies.
Reagan sighs, “I thought as much. Her body was found on our property, or close to it. She was murdered all right but not by one of us. Then he took a shot at one of our neighbors on the way out.”
She keeps shaking her head as tears slip down her cheeks.
“He’s in love with Paige here,” Reagan boldly presumes. “We’ve all caught him staring at her. He corners her, stalks her when he’s at our farm.”
“What do you mean? When?” Sofia asks with panic in her voice.
“At our farm,” Reagan says and then sl
owly nods. “Ohhh, I see. You didn’t know he comes there.”
Sofia won’t answer. She doesn’t need to.
“He comes there all the time,” Reagan explains. “That’s why I know he’s got it bad for Paige. He’s one creepy fuck.”
“Why would he come to your farm? He hates you people.”
“Well, I would presume he’s keeping up a façade for my father. Plus, he was able to gather intel on when we were making our moves on the highwaymen. Didn’t matter. My grandfather figured it out and took away his communication capabilities while he was staying with us.”
Sofia’s mind must be spinning. Paige can tell that she didn’t know any of this. It would feel horrible to be in the dark, used by the man she loved and then scammed by him, as well.
“We’re pretty sure he also killed quite a few of the men on his team, Shorty for one…” Reagan continues but is cut off.
“No, no way,” she says, wagging her index finger. “He said that was someone named Derek McClane that killed Shorty.”
“Derek is my brother-in-law, and his last name isn’t McClane. And, by the way, he’s crippled for life because of Parker’s asshole highwaymen. Let that shit sink in for a minute. You think your life has sucked since Parker came into it? Think about us. Think about all the innocent people he’s had killed so that he can ascend to the throne.”
Tears stream down her cheeks again, this time Paige suspects it is self-pity and despair setting in.
“Issy told me she didn’t trust him anymore,” she confesses softly about her sister. “I told her she was wrong about him. He must’ve taken her away to get rid of her so I wouldn’t…”
She cannot finish. Her world is crumbling before their eyes.
“So what did he promise you?” Reagan asks.
“What do you mean?”
Reagan raises her eyebrows and says, “He’s promised a lot of people a lot of things. Positions within his new government. Titles. Money. Women. Power.”
“What? No, none of that.”
“You want us to believe that you didn’t expect anything out of this when it was over?”
“No, I didn’t. I just wanted…” she starts but can’t finish. She sniffs hard and shakes her head before continuing. “I wanted revenge for the murders of my sisters. He confirmed the story of my Zinnia. He said he was with the group trying to free the women, and your McClane men came in and were raping and killing women who wouldn’t comply.”
“What the actual fuck?” Cory asks and steps forward as if he’d like to punch something. He steps back again and rubs his hand over his face.
“No,” Reagan tells her. “That’s all bullshit. Parker and my father hadn’t even arrived from Colorado by then.”
“Colorado?”
Reagan sighs hard and explains further. Apparently, Parker’s level of deceit ran deeper than even they knew.
“Oh, my God,” Sofia cries out and then starts bawling in earnest when Reagan is done.
“We need your help,” Reagan says. “We know he has other camps…”
“What other camps?”
“Like the highwaymen. He’s started up again or had other people waiting in the wings until we’ve fought the President and all killed each other.”
“Parker is the President,” she corrects. “It’s already been settled.”
“No, the real President is in Colorado, or on his way here,” Paige says.
This causes her to start crying again. “He told me the President and Vice President were both killed in the first days of the fall, and that General McClane took over. He said how much better he could run the country once the general died someday. The general runs the place like a dictator. He’s a horrible man. He said the general already appointed that position to him.”
“Yes, well, I think we’ve already established that he’s a professional, fucking liar,” Reagan says with her own budding anger. “And my father isn’t running the place like that. He has given that asshole Parker too much authority, and he’s the one running it like a socialist country.”
Her eyes widen with surprise. There is so much she didn’t know.
“Where is he, Sofia?” Paige pleads. “Help us put an end to it.”
“I…I can’t,” she says weakly.
“If you don’t help us, he’ll kill a lot more people.”
She hangs her head in contemplation, “He…he leaves a lot. He said it’s to get things ready. He’s always trying to find new people to live with us on the Army base.”
“He’s not doing that at all, Sofia,” Paige says. “He’s visiting his other camps. For all we know, he has other camps, as well.”
She nods shakily and says, “There’s a place.”
“Go on.”
“The only place I can think he could be is our secret meeting location.”
“Where is that?”
She hesitates as if her feelings of loyalty and what seems like love are still holding her back from telling them and doing the right thing.
“Where is my sister’s body?” she asks instead.
“We buried her on our farm next to our relatives,” Reagan tells her. “We didn’t want her not to have a proper burial. My grandfather said some words for her and read Scripture. Those of us who could attend were there.”
She sniffs hard and nods and resumes looking at her hands. “Can I see it, the grave?”
“Yes, first tell us where Parker is,” Reagan says.
Knowing she isn’t holding any of the bargaining chips, Sofia says, “I’ll have to take you there. It’s not somewhere you’ll know.”
Paige looks up at Cory to find him eyeing the woman with suspicion.
She asks her, “Are there armed guards? Patrol routes being walked wherever this is?”
Sofia shakes her head and explains, “No, it was just somewhere I went. Nobody else. I’d meet with him, and he’d go over our plans together.”
“What kind of plans?” Cory asks.
“I took meds from the hospital and other things. If I overheard the general talking to his family, I reported it. Most of the time I didn’t know what anyone was talking about…”
“Yeah,” Reagan blares angrily. “You were giving him information he used against us!”
Her shoulders shake, and she begins crying. “I’m sorry.”
“You screw us over and lead us into a trap, and I’ll shoot you myself,” Reagan threatens, which causes the woman to cower.
“I won’t,” she assures them and stares off into the corner with tears streaming down her cheeks. “What…what’s going to happen to me now?”
“You’ll stand trial here in our town, same as Parker, same as the survivors from the highwaymen,” Reagan tells her.
She chews at her lower lip, which is terribly chapped, and offers a nod. “I understand.”
“Helping us find him will help your case,” Reagan offers, to which she nods again.
Reagan indicates over her shoulder, and they join her outside the room.
“When should we go?” Reagan asks.
“We’ll go after dark, not you, me,” Cory tells them.
“You can’t go by yourself,” Reagan points out.
“I’m gonna meet up with Simon and Sam,” he explains. “Paige can come, too. The girls can keep an eye on the woman when we get out.”
“We need to run this by Derek,” she says.
“I will,” Cory returns. “Let’s go use the sheriff’s radio.”
Paige feels a heightening sense of anxiety and stress as she considers the night she is about to be a part of. Parker is a dangerous man. They have underestimated him every step of the way because he’d fooled them all into thinking they were on the same team. He is the devil incarnate. He is capable of anything, things she can’t even comprehend. She doesn’t want to see her brother or Cory hurt. Her heart would never heal if she lost either of them, and she tries not to read too much into the feeling of premonitory foreboding she has come over her as she watches
out the window of the sheriff’s office as the sun sets and the darkness ascends and encompasses her world.
Chapter Twenty-two
Simon
He still can’t believe he almost lost complete and total control with Sam earlier. That was not what he had planned. He simply wanted to check her ankle, make her lunch, and do a perimeter search around the cabin to inspect their traps and alarms and wait out the rain. Then he’d touched her. It seems as if that’s all it takes where Samantha is concerned. One touch and he loses his mind.
After the rain finally stopped around five, they set out on the ATV with her sitting between his thighs driving it while he rode behind her keeping watch for dangers. Having Sam pressed into the front of him between his legs was a very uncomfortable ride, to say the least.
“I don’t see anything that would make me think this camp is a threat,” Sam says, breaking into his daydreaming over her body.
“No, I don’t, either,” he concurs. “I don’t think this is a group that Parker’s running unless it’s that much different from the others. Cory said the camp he and John found was mostly comprised of tents and a few sheds or something.”
“So was the one in the woods last night,” she says.
“Right, but this isn’t the same. These are mostly small cabins,” he adds. “I’m gonna need to get closer.”
“Really? Do you really think that’s a good idea after last night?”
He sighs, “Nobody will find you here. I’m just going to take a quick look a tad closer.”
“I’m going with you,” she asserts.
“What if someone finds the four-wheeler?”
“I’ll take the keys,” she says stiffly as if she is at her wit’s end with him, which is likely true.
Simon weighs his options and realizes it doesn’t matter what he thinks. She’s going to follow him whether he wants her to or not.
“Alright,” he gives in, which must surprise her.
“Really?” Sam asks with wide blue eyes.
Simon touches the tip of her nose and says, “Of course. Do you think I could resist giving you your way?”
