by Matt Rogers
Dane could have killed her for that, and faced no consequences. This commune existed outside the realm of the law, a hidden fortress of ardent worshippers, and he could bury her for seeing the cult for what it really was.
But he didn’t.
He just nodded, turned and walked away.
‘Enjoy your evening,’ he called over his shoulder.
He vanished up the trail to the farmhouse.
41
In Maeve’s office, Dane said, ‘What do you think?’
Maeve sat back in her chair, mulling it over. ‘I want your opinion before I make mine.’
‘We could use them.’
‘We already have Elias.’
‘Elias is one man. He’s done good work, but I doubt his methods would work out in the real world.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘You doubt his abilities?’
Dane thought, He’s full of shit in the same way we’re full of shit. How don’t you see it?
To voice his concerns would be sacrosanct, though, so he said, ‘No matter how talented he is, Elias can’t be in two places at once. That’s my point.’
She nodded, pensive. ‘Still no word from Wyatt?’
‘None. You know why.’
‘Do I?’
‘He killed Fitch and skipped town.’
‘You said that,’ Maeve said. ‘But no matter how many times I go over it in my head, I can’t see him doing that.’
‘You can’t?’ Dane said. ‘He was so dependent on Bodhi he would have exchanged his family for a single hit. You think Fitch was incapable of fucking things up? It was probably something as stupid as not showing up on time. Wyatt would have been getting withdrawals, and he just snapped. Killed the junkie, took his stash of Bodhi, and ran.’
Maeve said, ‘He wouldn’t do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because then his supply is finite. You said he’d exchange his family for a hit, but he’d also exchange his pride. He’d get on his knees and beg Fitch if it meant that junkie rat kept sending him vials of the stuff.’
‘Well, now they’re both AWOL,’ Dane said. ‘You tell me what to do.’
Maeve kept thinking.
Behind her, the grandfather clock ticked.
‘You’re right,’ she finally said. ‘We need extra muscle. I don’t see what they’ll do here that Elias can’t, but out there … they’ll be additional manpower. And we’re expanding, so that’s what we need.’
Dane nodded. ‘Want me to head into town tomorrow?’
She shook her head. ‘No. I’ll go tonight. There’s shit to do tomorrow.’
‘Tonight?’ Dane said. ‘How will you find them?’
Maeve smiled. ‘I already know where they are, baby.’
‘That’s news to me.’
‘I don’t tell you every scrap of information I hear.’
You should, Dane thought. That’s my job. I’m the director. You’re the preacher.
He knew Maeve was starting to shirk her role, though.
It unsettled him to his core. What happens when I become unnecessary? he thought. His every waking moment had to be spent ensuring he knew too much to be replaceable.
Husband or not.
He said, ‘What do you know about them?’
‘Between them they put eight people in the Campbell County Memorial Hospital. A few of the bikers that sling meth, and their associates. No matter how hard I press, I can’t find a reason why they did that. I think they’re angry, disillusioned, lashing out at the world the only way they know how. I think that anger can be channelled into crushing our opposition. Don’t you?’
Dane said, ‘That means they’re unpredictable. That’s never good.’
Maeve rolled her eyes. ‘No one stays here and remains unpredictable. That’s why we do what we do, isn’t it?’
Dane shrugged.
Maeve said, ‘Do you disagree?’
‘No,’ Dane said hastily. ‘It’s just … what if your methods don’t work on them?’
Her eyes burned as she sat forward and stared at him. ‘My methods always work. You know that better than anyone.’
Unfortunately, he did.
He nodded, turned on his heel, and made to leave. He could tell she wanted him out.
‘Don’t wait up,’ she said to his back. ‘I might not be back until the early morning.’
‘Do you need someone to drive you—?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ll do it myself. And besides, you and Elias have that matter to attend to, remember?’
Oh, yes, Dane thought. Of course.
He nodded his understanding, then walked out and went upstairs to the bedroom, uncertainty twisting his stomach.
42
Elias entered the bunkhouse like a ghost.
To those who saw him moving through the lowlight, his presence would invoke mortal fear. He didn’t mind that at all. Deeply introverted, he neither wanted nor cared for an abundance of friends. The Riordans were enough, and if the rest of the commune considered him a nightmarish spectre, then so be it.
There was something about it he almost enjoyed.
He moved through the narrow corridor, opened the right door, and found the right bunk.
He lowered a hand softly onto the shoulder of the sleeping form curled up on the mattress.
The disciple’s name was Hudson, and he opened his eyes in the near-darkness.
Elias whispered, ‘Come with me, son.’
Hudson was trembling before he stood up. But he complied, because he didn’t know what else to do. It was an age-old dilemma. If he panicked and ran, that’d seal his fate one way or the other. It’d make things black and white. If he behaved and begged for mercy, it offered the chance of redemption.
So he followed Elias meekly as they went outside and walked away from the handful of exterior lights that stayed on all night. The darkness closed in and the yellow light receded, but Elias didn’t take the man all the way out into the black. He hovered at the edge of the commune, out of earshot of the rest of the sleeping disciples.
Dane Riordan came out of the shadows.
In many ways, he and Elias were alike. Tall, thin, wiry with corded muscle. If they were professional fighters, their reach and length would be a sizeable advantage. Not an ounce of their weight was wasted — both were devoid of fat. But Dane wasn’t a fighter. He left that messy realm to seasoned practitioners. His advantage was his mind.
They put a hand each on Hudson’s shoulders and pushed him to his knees. Now they could see the fear on his face. Up close, he was an ugly sight to behold. Long blonde hair the colour and texture of straw, a pockmarked sallow face, and kind eyes that didn’t belong in this world. He’d taken Maeve’s words at face value and joined Mother Libertas out of the goodness of his heart.
It hadn’t taken Hudson long to see what the movement really was.
Dane said, ‘You betrayed us, Hudson.’
Hudson shook his head, those kind eyes riddled with terror. ‘No, sir. I would never.’
‘Are you sticking with that argument?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I’ll give you one opportunity to tell the truth,’ Dane said. ‘Only one.’
‘I don’t know what you’re accusing me of,’ Hudson said, but the fear in his eyes said otherwise. ‘I swear, sir.’
‘You told Brandon you were going to steal one of the cars, make your way back to civilisation. I believe the words were, “Everyone’s going to know the sick shit they get up to out here.”’
Hudson shook his head emphatically. ‘I never said that.’
Dane said, ‘Brandon, step forward please.’
The young disciple had been waiting in the darkness, just out of range of their mutual field of view. Now his silhouette materialised as he took a few steps forward. Hudson twisted on his knees, saw the new arrival, and his face fell.
He said, ‘Okay, okay, okay. I take it back. I said it. Fuck, I’m sorry.’
�
�Too late,’ Dane said. ‘You had your opportunity and you lost it. That’s on you.’
‘No,’ Hudson said, his face twisting. ‘Please.’
His shoulders rounded and he sunk deeper into himself, staring at the dry ground beneath him.
Dane said, ‘Brandon, did Hudson say those words?’
Quietly, Brandon said, ‘Yes.’
‘Thank you,’ Dane said. ‘Go back to bed.’
Brandon bowed his head and trudged back to the commune, fully aware of what he’d just done.
Dane stopped him as he passed by, lifted his chin with one hand — Maeve’s specialty — and turned Brandon’s head to face him.
Dane said, ‘Open your mouth.’
Brandon complied.
Dane came up with a vial of Bodhi in his other hand and poured its contents onto Brandon’s tongue.
He said, ‘Enjoy.’
Brandon shivered with delight and crept away, not yet feeling the effects of the drugs but warmed by marvellous anticipation. It would be the best night of his life, just as every night with Bodhi became. Each consecutive experience seemed to trump the last. It was glorious.
When Brandon was gone, lost to bliss and suppressed memories, Dane said, ‘I can’t let you go, Hudson.’
Hudson said, ‘I’ll do anything for you. I’ll become your most loyal subject. I’ll devote my entire life to this place. Please. Don’t do this, sir. I’m … I’m all messed up inside. I don’t know what I’m saying half the time.’
Dane said, ‘You’ll pretend you’re devoted, to curry my approval. And then the first chance you get you’ll run, because now you know what we’re capable of.’
‘No,’ Hudson said, but his eyes were squeezed shut as he shook his head. He couldn’t bear to look up at Dane. ‘No, no. Please, sir.’
Dane nodded to Elias.
Elias had been harnessing his ki the whole time, and now he lashed out with a strike that used the side of his hand in a chopping motion. He smashed the hand into Hudson’s throat, crushing his windpipe and carotid artery. The subject of the blow always lost consciousness immediately.
This time, though, he botched it. He hadn’t mastered his ki tonight — something had thrown him off.
Hudson stayed conscious and fell back spluttering.
It took him two minutes to die.
When it was finally over, Elias looked over at Dane. ‘Sorry.’
For the first time, he saw unrestrained disgust on Dane’s face.
Dane lifted a new vial of Bodhi to his own lips, drank half, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he’d composed himself.
He said, ‘It’s fine. This never happened. Take care of the body. I’ll see you in the morning.’
Elias had never felt so uncomfortable.
Dane Riordan was a vicious psychopath, devoid of anything resembling empathy. So what the hell had Elias just seen on the man’s face?
It made him feel guilty, which couldn’t be right, because every action undertaken in the name of Mother Libertas was divine and just. This was the perfect reality, where every choice made was the correct one, so why did Dane look like he regretted what just happened?
Dane walked away.
Elias dragged Hudson’s body out into the plains.
43
At midnight, someone knocked at the door.
Slater sat bolt upright in bed, his hand already wrapped around the hilt of the Glock 43 on the bedside table. He looked across the room and saw King’s silhouette grabbing the Mossberg shotgun off the base of his bed.
Still silent, Slater listened.
No footsteps. No rustling. A sixth sense is always flawed by nature, but he got the sense there was only one person on the other side of the door. Still, it wasn’t enough to rely on intuition, so he padded across the room and pressed his eye to the peephole for less than half a second.
The best way to get the jump on someone inside a hotel room is to press a barrel to the peephole, wait until you hear them looking through it, and pull the trigger.
He wasn’t about to be a statistic.
But all he caught was the briefest glimpse of an unarmed woman in a peach-coloured farm dress.
It rattled him more than if it had been an armed hostile.
He gestured to King, who flipped the bedside lamp on. In the timid glow, Slater mouthed, ‘It’s her. She’s unarmed.’
He watched King mask a shiver and lower the Mossberg to the other side of the bed. They were both fully dressed, anticipating an ambush by one of the many parties they’d pissed off in Gillette, so Slater opened the door right away.
In character, he said, ‘Do you know what the fucking time is? Who are you?’
Maeve was like a robot wearing human skin. She smiled through the insult, not fazed in the slightest. ‘That’s not how you should talk to a potential employer.’
‘What?’
‘I have a job offer for you,’ she said. ‘It’s incredibly lucrative. I suggest you hear me out. If not, I’ll walk away and you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been. Your call.’
She was good.
He pretended to think about it, then said, ‘What’s the offer?’
‘You expect me to deliver it to you out here?’
‘That’d be preferable,’ he said. ‘I need my beauty sleep.’
‘No you don’t, dear,’ she said. ‘You’re a specimen. Those eyes…’
She winked at him.
She was good.
He lowered his guard and stepped aside. ‘Come on in, then.’
He opened the door wide and she sauntered through, where King sat on the bed he’d already made. He looked up, his hair tousled and shaped by the pillow. ‘What is this?’
She said, ‘I have a job offer for—’
‘I have ears. You think I didn’t hear that?’
She smirked. ‘You two are a sight to behold, aren’t you? Look at you both.’
King didn’t react. It was the first time he’d laid eyes on Maeve Riordan, and he understood the appeal. She had flawless features for a woman in her late thirties, and under the dress her curves were voluptuous. It no doubt added to the mythical temptation, and would help convince her followers she was Gaia reincarnated.
You couldn’t sway people effortlessly unless you were beautiful.
Something she clearly understood, judging by how her face lit up when she looked at them.
Slater said, ‘Answers, please.’
She said, ‘This job, if it’s right for you, will make you richer than you can ever believe. Think of it as paramilitary work for a wealthy benefactor.’
‘Paramilitary?’ Slater said, eyebrows arched. ‘You run a militia, do you? You look like you run a stable.’
The tightrope he had to walk was thin. If he was too eager, Maeve would see right through it, and back at the commune Alexis and Violetta would be in dire jeopardy. But if he was too standoffish and ended up insulting this woman who thought she could bend every man, woman and child to serve her … well, she might become enraged.
She maintained her composure. ‘One of us has to get to the chase, don’t we? Otherwise we’ll be going around in circles all night, teasing each other.’ She glanced at King. ‘Actually, I might like that…’
She was doing everything right. If they were testosterone-fuelled ex-soldiers like she thought they were, they’d bite at her flirtations.
So King did.
He pushed his hair off his forehead with one hand and said, ‘Maybe we should get that out of the way first, then. What were your words? “You’ll spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been.”’
She thought she had him in the palm of her hand. She smiled. ‘Not just yet, darling.’
She turned back to Slater. ‘So?’
He said, ‘Go ahead. We’re all ears.’
She said, ‘Do you hate your country?’
Silence.
44
Slater said, ‘Interesting way to star
t.’
‘You haven’t answered the question.’
‘There’s no easy answer.’
‘Are you angry about what they made you do overseas?’
Slater hesitated. Then said, ‘Maybe. How’d you know we were overseas?’
‘You stirred up your fair share of trouble in town,’ Maeve said. ‘One of you mentioned that you served. Gossip made its way to my ears. I consider myself somewhat switched on, so I put two and two together. I see a pair of disgruntled veterans furious about the state of the world, taking it out on the small-time criminals here in Gillette. Am I far off the mark?’
‘“Disgruntled” could be construed as an insult,’ King said.
She scoffed. ‘Spare me the sob story. You want to know what I know?’
‘What’s that?’ Slater said.
She said, ‘I know what you two are truly capable of. Given the right motivation, I know what you could accomplish. And all it’ll take is stepping away from this ridiculous illusion we call civilisation.’
She left it there, allowing their imaginations to run wild in the ensuing quiet.
King said, ‘Sounds extreme. What if we’re not interested?’
She shrugged. ‘Not my problem. I’m simply here to show you a path. It’s your choice to walk down it or not. And I can see, plain as day, that you are men of extremes. So this offer is perfect for you.’
She’s good, Slater thought again.
He said, ‘What’s the path? What’s the offer?’
‘I lead a movement in Thunder Basin, away from society. It’s grown faster than I ever could have imagined, and we’re onto something. We’ve stumbled upon solutions to humanity’s problems, and we’re gaining new members faster than we can handle. That comes with a smorgasbord of security issues. The powers that be are going to have a vested interest in oppressing us, but I’m ready to tell them to stick their concerns where the sun don’t shine. To do that I need muscle. I need men that know their way around confrontation.’
‘A “movement”?’ King said.
