Max Quick: The Bane of the Bondsman (Max Quick Series Book 3)

by Mark Jeffrey

  Logan rose and went to the covered wagon, and informed Loric and his daughters that someone was coming, and they were stay put and quiet and to let him do all the talking. Then he went back to his fire and waited.

  An SUV pulled up and immediately two bright spotlights came on, illuminating the campground with the wicked glare of near-daylight halogen. Two men got out — policemen in uniform. The swung flashlights on the camper and then on the stagecoach.

  “Good evening, gentlemen,” Logan said, standing now and letting his blanket fall from his shoulders. Max deduced he wanted to show the officers he was not concealing any weapons.

  “Hello,” the nearest officer, a heavyset man whose pudge made his uniform bulge at the belt. “What’s your name?”

  “Logan White-Cloud,” the Indian replied. “Is there anything wrong, officers?”

  “This is an illegal settlement,” the officer said. Max could see that he wore a shoulder patch with the ever-present mien of the Bondsman as a stylized stitched logo or insignia. “I don’t suppose you’re registered with the housing authority, right?”

  “Housing authority?” Logan said, seemingly perplexed. “Why … no.”

  “This is the Bondsman’s land. You’re trespassing illegally.”

  “It is? Oh. I am sorry sir, I did not realize. I will gladly move. Might I ask —”

  “No! You don’t understand. There’s nowhere you could move this … nonsense you call a home to.”

  “The land is the land,” Logan said musically. “I am content anywhere. My home is humble and my needs few. Anywhere will do.”

  “You can’t camp,” the policemen said. “The Bondsman doesn’t allow vagrants. You have to live in a registered domicile, like in a city or town. This vehicle you use for a home is illegal. I don’t even know where you got it from — nobody makes vehicles like this.”

  “It’s a holdover from another time,” Logan replied simply and whistled.

  “Hey,” the officer said. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

  “Oh. I am blind,” Logan said.

  “How’d you know we were officers then?” the other officer said, speaking for the first time.

  Logan shrugged. “Who else would come out here?” And with that, Logan lifted his wrap-around sunglasses, exposing his skinned-over eye-sockets. The officers cringed in disgust.

  “Okay. I’m going to have to bring you in. Turn around so I can cuff you.”

  Silently, Logan obeyed.

  Max watched, itching to do something. Logan must have sensed this, for when the officer spun him around such that he was facing the trailer, Logan shook his head, No.

  “Yo!” the other officer called out. “There’s some people in this stagecoach thing!”

  Max pressed his face against the glass so he could see. The other officer was shining at flashlight inside the buggy. Three wide-eyes stared back at him, full of fear, cowering in the back away from this mysterious light.

  “Hey! You didn’t say anything about anyone else being here!” the officer yelled at Logan.

  Logan shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”

  The officer smacked Logan in the head. “Don’t you get smart with me, Injun!” And with that, he snapped the cuffs on.

  Loric and his daughters were paraded out in their nightgowns, crying, shivering and scared. The second officer cuffed them as well and sat them on the logs surrounding the dying fire.

  “Who else is here, Injun? Talk!”

  “No one,” Logan said.

  “Oh yeah? William. Search the — whatever that is.” He pointed at the mobile home.

  Officer William strolled up to the front door and turned the latch.

  Max girded himself, prepared to ignite his power. Stars streaked down his wrists, aching to be free …

  “I am,” came a new voice.

  Max quickly squelched his power, clamped down it, biting on one cheek to steady him with a focus of pain. He had some so close to losing control of it —! When he’d finished this internal discipline, Max pressed his face against the glass in the other direction. A handsome blonde man with an easy manner and a cleft chin walked into the frame. Max squinted: this guy looked like a movie star or something. What was he doing here? And where had he been hiding?

  “And who are you?” one of the policemen said, drawing a weapon.

  “Relax, officers. I’m with you. The name’s Camden Lockhart. I’m with the Bondsman’s security force. Have my ID right here.” Camden flipped open a wallet with a badge and ID. Officer William checked it out by flashlight.

  “Look legit,” William said, pointing his gun at Camden. “We’ll have to call it in though.”

  “Suit yourself,” Camden said.

  William went back to the car and did so. When he was done, the gun was holstered again. “He’s for real,” William called out.

  “Thank you,” Camden said. “Now this man and these people here are under my protection. We have business together. Please let them go and surrender them to my authority.”

  William and the other cop exchanged worried glances. “Uh, Officer Lockhart. We —”

  “Agent Lockhart,” Camden corrected.

  “Agent Lockhart. We have to take him in and destroy his illegal settlement. Under code —”

  “No you don’t,” Camden countered. “Not anymore. He’s working for us on something. Classified.”

  The officers didn’t seem convinced. “We’ll have to call that in.”

  “No,” Camden said forcefully. “No. It’s bad enough you two know about this. Look. In your reports, you just say it was me who issued this order. It’s my responsibility now.” When they still didn’t comply, Camden said, “You don’t want me to report you two to Fell Simon. Really, you don’t. He doesn’t like security leaks, and he tends to have interesting ways of eliminating them. I’m letting you walk away, which is not the way he would see it handled.”

  The mention of Fell Simon got to them. Immediately, they uncuffed their prisoners. Wordlessly, they got back into their SUV and drove off. “Thank you, gentleman!” Camden said with large friendly grin.

  As soon as they were out of earshot, Camden said, “Logan! By the stars above, it’s you! It really is you!” Now, he was speaking with a Western twang, a completely different mannerism than he had just moments earlier.

  Who was this guy? Max thought.

  “Yes,” Logan said with a great big grin. “Yes, my old friend. It is good that we should meet again in a different life — and that you should be restored at last to your true self.”

  “Why … hell yes!” Camden said with a whoop that startled the Mormons. “Oh I am sorry ladies — and gentleman! I am just so plumb full of happy, I forgot to govern my teeth and gums! And I don’t believe I will start now. Pleased to meet you! Pleased as punch indeed. My name is Cody Chance!” He shook their hands vigorously — so hard in fact that Max thought he might dislocate the startled sisters’ arms.

  Cody Chance?

  It took a moment for the name to register. Max knew it was familiar, but his first instinct was to assume it was someone from his own past — an ever-widening kaleidoscope of names and faces that swirled always in his mind.

  Then it hit him.

  This was Casey’s boyfriend. The one from Arturo Gyp.

  He was real as well — as real as Logan White-Cloud and Casey’s guns.

  Despite himself, Max felt jealous. So. This was him. This was the guy who got her.

  But he knew these feelings were ridiculous. He had no right to them. They’d broken up. It was mutual: they didn’t work as a couple. He stuffed his feelings down in sudden anger. This was a good guy, he was on their side. And he was good friends with the man who had just patched him up and saved his life. He didn’t deserve any resentment from Max.

  Resolving this as best as he could for the moment, Max got up and exited the RV.

  Cody turned his gaze immediately upon him — with something like awe and surprise at once. “I see you ha
ve company, Logan. So. This is the famous Max Quick, enemy of the Bondsman. And friend of Casey Cyranus and Sasha Fwa. Howdee do, indeed.” Cody extended a hand.

  Max took it and shook. “Hi,” Max said. “Yeah, I’ve heard all about you also. Pleased to meet you.”

  “So,” Logan said to Cody. “How long have you been here?”

  Cody just laughed. “Two days. And you knew that already, you old bat. I’ve just been … well … taking my time. Watching you all from that bluff up there. When I first came out here, I wasn’t even sure why I came.”

  “Yes,” Logan said. “You started to wake up about a week ago, is that not so?”

  Cody nodded, holding up his bandaged hand. “Casey shot me. Can you believe that? And then she kissed me!”

  “That sounds like Casey,” Logan said and they both laughed. Even Max did, forgetting himself for a moment. He had to admit: he liked this Cody.

  And then Max realized what he’s just said. “Wait! You’ve seen Casey? Where?”

  “In City 29.”

  “Who was she with? When was this?”

  “Let’s see. An old fella. Some English kid. Sasha! Oh yes, Sasha was with her — nearly forgot! But this was weeks ago.”

  “So. This was before the Bondsman Rally,” Max said, his hopes falling.

  “Oh yes, about three week ago, like I said. They’d just robbed a bank though, so they’re on the lam now most like.”

  “Robbed a —!”

  “Yes.”

  “No,” Max said. “They’re not on the lam. I’ve since her since then. Only ten days ago. We were both at the Bondsman rally.”

  Now it was Cody’s turn to worry. “What happened? Is she alright?”

  “I don’t know,” Max said. “We lost track of each other. Well, after she shot me that is. You’re not the only one she’s been putting bullets into lately.”

  “Tell us the rest of your tale,” Logan offered. “My Strong Eye sees that Casey is fine for the time being.”

  Cody’s relief was palpable, and he brightened immediately and fell back into his own story: “Well, anyways … following that smoochy smooch … well, I suddenly had two memories, knocking around up here. Like I’d led two lives. Man! You don’t know how weird and confusing that was!”

  “Oh brother. You don’t know the half of it,” Max muttered.

  “Anyways, I start remembering Arturo Gyp most of all. It came in like, these flashes and jabs and stuff. And then all at once. I couldn’t deal with it. My wife was already on the way out the door … but this just caked the cake!”

  “Your … wife?” Logan said, surprised.

  “Well. Yeah. As Camden I sort of had a wife here. But … it was always wrong. We both knew it, we were already on the outs. But Cody Chance never had a wife. And that’s who I really was. And Cody Chance … well Cody loved Casey. Always had. Always will. That Camden life was nuthin’. Not even a comparison.”

  “I knew you had awakened,” Logan said. “That’s why I called out to you, over the distance. But I did not know if you would hear me.”

  “I did,” Cody said. “I did indeed, loud and clear. And I got that map you put in my head and got on my motorcycle and came all the way out here. Half thought I was going insane. But soon as I saw you, knew it was real, you was real.”

  CODY RELAYED all that he knew about the doings and whereabouts of Casey, Sasha, Enki and Ian in City 29. When he told the story of the bank robbery, he mentioned Johnny Siren’s name — and Max cringed visibly. “You know him?” Cody asked.

  “Yeah,” Max replied with a sigh. “Long story. No time for it now. I know another version of him, mostly.”

  “He’s one snaky critter,” Cody said. “Clever as all get out though. Still can’t believe Casey shot me in the hand though.”

  Logan took his hand and examined it. “It’s not too bad,” Logan declared. “I can fix that pretty quickly.”

  “You’re not going to blow smoke in my face, are you?” Cody asked.

  “I might. But that would be just for my amusement and have nothing to do with healing your hand.”

  Logan and Cody both laughed uproariously at that.

  Then Max told the story of the Bondsman rally, and how Logan had rescued him. “I’m not sure what happened after I got shot. I was delirious. But Enki was with them. I think Enki would have been able to do a lot to help them out.” Secretly he wasn’t so sure — but he didn’t see any point in worrying Cody. “But I think … before I lost consciousness, I think I saw Sasha and Enki captured by the Bondsman.”

  Then Max backtracked and told them an abbreviated version of what had happened to him and Ian back in 1912. Then, he told of their arrival at the Shell Hotel, and then Snake Island and Raffle’s Pass. Whenever he first mentioned Madame Europa Romani, Logan White-Cloud looked visibly startled — but he said nothing. And when he told of his encounter with her ghost, Logan hung his head and did not raise it for a long time.

  “So what will you do now?” Cody asked Max when he finished. “Now that you’re on the mend and all and fit for travel once again?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Max said. “I think … I think I need to go back to Snake Island. Back to the Resistance. I think we need more help, more allies, more information. And I might have made a mistake turning them down in the first place.” The shade of Madame Europa Romani had told him that he needed to fight the Bondsman directly. But he still didn’t know how to do both that and avoid repeating the essential mistake of the Machine. “We need to rescue Enki and Sasha,” Max said. “And we’re going to need help if we’re to stand any chance of getting them back. And by that I mean intelligence: where would the Bondsman keep prisoners? And I also mean muscle — the kind of muscle only the Resistance has. Sky Chambers. Maybe even those Battle Throne things.”

  “We will go with you,” Logan White-Cloud announced. “It is in my heart that we will be needed.”

  “That’s all fine by me. But what about them?” Cody asked, pointing to Loric’s family.

  Logan shrugged. “I believe Mr. Loric is the new owner of everything I once owned. Except for the White Cloud — my car, my Cadillac. We’ll still be needing that.”

  Fifteen: Battle Thrones

  LOGAN WHITE-CLOUD, Max Quick and Cody Chance drove back to Iron Valley in the white Cadillac.

  The journey took four days of intense, near-continuous driving. The trio traded off duty at the steering wheel. At night, they pulled off into the brush and camped, sleeping in blankets Logan had brought, and eating salted meat he had prepared before leaving his RV behind.

  They used heavily-trafficked main roads to gain time. As a result, on several occasions, they ran into the Bondsman’s random stop-and-search checkpoints. But Cody was able to get them past using his Camden identity without too much trouble: nobody wanted to annoy someone who worked for Fell Simon.

  As they travelled, Logan sang the old song that Maurice had once spoken of that prophesied the coming of the Bondsman:

  Here is a rhyme

  Of future's time

  When The Bondsman rules the world

  He will arise without warning

  And appear one cold morning

  To every eye in the land

  A World Emperor decreed

  He will make the earth bleed

  Against him, no one can stand

  A golden mask with a frown

  'Neath a dark iron crown

  And gloves of red satin and jewels

  No one knows who's inside

  In future's time, here described

  When The Bondsman rules the world

  WHEN THEY arrived at last in Iron Valley, Logan deemed it unwise to enter the town itself: too many people would now recognize Max from his previous show of defiance to Fell Simon. And the town had lost too much as a result; they hated Max for what he had done.

  Thus avoiding Iron Valley, Logan pulled the white Cadillac onto a dirt path that led into the forest south of Camp Griswold
. “This is the Old Stagecoach Road,” Logan explained. “This was how you used to get to Iron Valley back in the 1800’s.”

  The whine and click of insects rang out in the air almost immediately as they entered the woods. So did the clean sharp smell of sap and tree and leaf. Soon, they were encapsulated in a lush canopy of verdant fern and tangy pine and broad oak leaves.

  “How do you know that?” Max asked.

  “Because I’ve been here before,” Logan explained. “I’ve visited the Resistance.” Max gaped, but before he could inquire further, the old Indian said, “Oh, they didn’t know I was here. I wondered who they were and whether the Bondsman was actually behind it.”

  “But how did you find them?” Max asked. “I mean, even the Bondsman hasn’t found them, but somehow you did?”

  Logan chuckled softly. “The Bondsman doesn’t keep an eye on Marvin Sparkle like I do. He led me right to the front door on Snake Island. I’ve even been inside the base and no one had any idea I was there. But that’s caused me trouble more than once. The last time was in there I had to sneak aboard a Sky Chamber to escape.” The Cadillac jumped suddenly as it went over a rock or branch. “Hmm,” Logan said. “Not sure how much longer we can keep on this road. We’ll have to walk soon.”

  “So,” Max asked, feeling a worm of doubt now. “What do you think? I mean about the Resistance. Do you think there’s any chance that the Bondsman might secretly be backing it, like you suspected? Or is the Resistance legit?”

  “Oh, it’s very ‘legit’, as you say,” Logan replied. “These people are honestly trying to fight the Bondsman militarily. And their hearts are into it.”

  “And what about you?” Max asked. “Do you think they have shot? Are they doing the right thing?”

  Logan shrugged. “How should I know? You’re the one who wanted to come back here.”

  Scowling, Max wondered what Europa Romani would say.

  THE THREESOME were forced to ditch the white Cadillac as Logan had predicted. Grabbing three knapsacks filled with supplies, they started into the forest on foot.