by David Nees
“Maybe I can start lobbying for better treatment for everyone,” he said. “I could promote the idea that we don’t need martial law anymore since things have calmed down.”
“Good luck with that,” one of the men said.
“You know Stansky runs things. I’m not sure that Mason can even control him,” the voice that had spoken to him longest said.
“Well, we are the civic authority in town,” Charlie began.
“You don’t have any power. You buck Stansky and you’ll be out of a job and out digging latrines…or worse. I’m guessing you don’t want to do that. So you go along. Nice words, but I don’t see you doing anything.”
Charlie sucked in his breath. The town was heading towards becoming a criminal-run enterprise. If Joe continued, he’d just kill the opposition. Joe had the guns, the militia, and the resources that Hillsboro survived on. Soon Charlie wouldn’t be needed, or Frank. How long were they going to last? If Roper left with his troops, it might be all over for the two of them. He had to take a chance—do something.
“I’ve got a small group of police that are loyal to me. They still believe in the duty and honor of police work, in keeping our town safe. I’m not without support.”
“They know you’re cozy with Stansky?”
Charlie ignored the question. “I just want you to know that I’ve got some backup. I’ll start by trying to change the direction of where we’re going. I hear you. It may not work, but I’m willing to try.”
“But not so hard as to get yourself in trouble. Am I right?” one of the men said.
“I’ll try, but…” Charlie stopped for a moment as he made a decision; one that meant danger, to him and to Mary. When he continued, his voice was soft but firm. “It won’t do your cause any good for me to be kicked out of the inner circle.
“I’ll help you. I’ll help you stop Stansky, somehow. But I can help better from the inside than the outside.”
The words hung in the air. The room was absolutely silent.
Mary’s sleep-puffy face was ashen as she stared up at him. “Charlie. This is terrible. You’re telling me that Jim was killed and Donna has been taken by that guy Leo? What for?”
Charlie sat on the edge of the bed by her side, fidgeting with his hands, trying to find ways to skirt the more sordid details of what he thought was taking place. Otherwise he told her everything, right up to where he had been led back to the mill and told to count to sixty before taking off his blindfold. They talked until sunrise. Mary was scared. So was Charlie. But they both felt they should not stand idly by while the city was being transformed into something they didn’t recognize; a place in which they didn’t want to live.
Chapter 22
“I send the three of you out there to locate the seeds and you come back with nothing. All you can tell me is the seeds ain’t in Jason’s barn. You didn’t check the other farms?”
Leo sat quietly in a corner, away from Frank and Charlie where they sat in front of Joe’s desk. Joe’s reaction wasn’t a surprise to Leo. He figured he would leave the talking to Frank, who usually filled in the silences almost by instinct.
This conversation was going to be bumpy, but Leo found himself in an almost buoyant mood. The return to his suite the night before had been very nice indeed. Donna was under his control. She satisfied his sexual demands and seemed to be starting to enjoy the experiences. Or she was smart enough to pretend, which Leo found an equally pleasing possibility. He didn’t care which one was the truth. He let her see her son once in a while as a reward, and he had taken to allowing her more freedom of late, although when he was away for any length of time he stocked the apartment with food and shackled her ankle to a long steel chain that let her move around most of the suite.
He had felt her shiver when he had unclasped the shackle last night. Yes, things were going well.
“We drove all the way up the valley road before we left,” Frank said. “Saw the other farms but didn’t stop. We didn’t want to tip our hand…you know, get too aggressive. We were specifically told not to wander around.”
“Told ‘not to wander around’?” Disdain dripped from Joe’s voice. “Who the hell do you take orders from?”
“The whole valley is like an armed camp as well as a collection of farms,” Charlie said mildly.
“So? What the hell does that have to do with looking around?” Joe got up from the desk.
“I was hoping they’d give us a tour,” Frank said with a note of regret. “It didn’t work out, but it might have. I think I had them with me on the farm labor thing, and I let them beat me up on the tax, but…” He grimaced and spread his hands in the air. “The minute I brought up the seed they closed down. No tour. They were quite clear. Theirs was probably the only farmhouse we could have driven up to without getting shot at. It’s no wonder Jason gave us directions.”
Joe had only been getting angrier and angrier as Frank talked, and now he was pacing and chewing hard on his cigar. Frank stopped talking when Joe leaned over his desk, his eyes blazing, putting his face close to Frank. Beside him, Charlie’s face had turned white.
“Leo,” Joe said in a low, dangerous voice.
Leo straightened up in his chair. “Yeah, boss?”
“Did Frank here screw this up?”
Leo looked at Frank. Frank’s eyes met his, almost pleading for his support.
“No, Frank did okay, Joe,” Leo said calmly. “He’s a smooth talker. Was even better than usual.” Actually, he thought that Frank had stumbled when the topic of seeds had come up. Frank hadn’t been very persuasive with his story. “The thing was,” he said, “we couldn’t blow the bigger job. They were nervous, cautious. Frank made his play, but they didn’t bite. There was no way to do more snooping without making them more suspicious.”
Leo didn’t see any sense in sacrificing Frank. Getting at the seeds had been a long shot from the beginning. And Leo had other ideas about that.
“It was that girl Catherine,” Frank said, a little shakily. “She was the one who jumped all over me when I first brought up the seed swap at the meet. I thought Jason wouldn’t have as big a problem with it, but I think she’s influenced him. Now he’s a brick wall too.”
Leo nodded. “She’s no shrinking violet.”
“So this girl, the one who outsmarted Goodman on the taxes, she’s telling you what you can and can’t do?” Joe ran his hands through his hair. He shook his head in disgust. “It’s time to put an end to this crap.”
“Whaddaya got in mind?” Leo asked.
Joe didn’t answer right away. He walked over to the window behind his desk and looked out on the city, taking a deep breath. “I worked hard to set this town up,” he said, his back to them. “It’s my town. I wasn’t going to let it get ransacked by mobs or torn apart by anarchy. I’ve made it safe to live here. We have food, we have resources, and we have a militia for defense.” He turned back to his desk and brought his fist down on it with a crash. “I did this. Not you, not the engineers, not this guy Jason. And not that kid. If they get in my way, I’ll crush them. I want the fertile seed and I don’t want to have to deal with that independent son of a bitch and his kids to get it.”
Everyone was silent. Joe crossed the room restlessly, scowling.
“We could raid the valley when they’re harvesting,” Leo suggested. “Forget finding the hidden seeds. Like the man said, it’s just grain. The grain would be there for the taking, before they grind it up.”
Frank shook his head quickly. “We do that, they won’t trade with us. So you grab a little grain. We lose the whole shipment of flour, and any other food from them, and the seeds won’t help until next year.” Frank struggled to meet Joe’s eyes. “Remember how tight things were last winter? We’ll have another one like that.”
Joe glared at him, still angry.
“We’d get pushback from the town,” Charlie said. The chief sounded cautious.
“You two are like a goddamn broken record,” Joe said in dis
gust. “Be nice, don’t upset things. I’m damned tired of being nice.” He paced back and forth.
“We need to play this out for a bit longer,” Frank said. He put up a hand as Joe turned toward him. “Hear me out,” he said. “If you attack the valley, you’ll have to kill some of them. The army won’t like it. Hell, Lieutenant Cameron and that girl are tight. Let’s get the army out of here first. Let me work on Roper. Once they’re gone you’ll have more freedom to act…to do what you want.”
Joe stopped in the middle of the room. He nodded after a moment. “All right. You talk with Roper, but don’t take too long.”
Charlie spoke to Frank as they left Joe’s building. “Are you willing to let Joe attack these people once Roper leaves? You know that’s what’ll happen.”
“It looks like this group doesn’t want to cooperate with us. Seems to me they want to hoard the seed and use it as leverage against us. You heard them.”
“So that’s a reason to attack them? Kill them?”
“They’re bringing it on themselves.” Frank was walking quickly, angrily. Charlie had to hurry to keep up. “Why should we care about them?”
“If that happens, where do we go from there? Frank, remember that engineer Joe told us he interrogated? I think Joe killed him. I can tell you his wife’s been taken. Don’t you see what’s happening?”
“How do you know she’s been taken? The whole family could have left town. Maybe they’re afraid of getting caught trying to start an insurrection.”
Charlie paused. Talking to Frank suddenly felt dangerous. Telling him about Danny and about Donna being Leo’s personal prisoner now seemed like the wrong thing to do. There it was between them for the first time—a lump of distrust. He only said, “People don’t padlock their door from the outside if they’re leaving. And they don’t ransack their own apartment. Bad things are going on, Frank.”
Frank came to a sudden stop and grabbed Charlie by the arm. “What the hell have you been doing? Are you snooping around in Joe’s business? You better be careful.”
“It’s the town’s business. And it should be your business…and mine. We were once elected to run and protect the town.”
“Joe wouldn’t like it if he thought you were going against him,” Frank said. His tone had grown threatening.
“So you’re going to knuckle under to whatever Joe and Leo come up with? Leo’s a gangster, you know that. And Joe came out of that same background. He’s Leo ten times bigger.”
Frank didn’t look away. After a moment, he said levelly, “I’m playing this out for my benefit…and for the town’s. If I can keep Joe acting more like a proper citizen and less like a gangster, it’ll be better for all of us. Look at what we’ve accomplished so far.”
“It’s the cost that bothers me. I’m seeing it more clearly now…the lack of concern for life, the willingness to eliminate people to get what you want. Frank, do you want to be a part of that?”
Frank just shook his head. “You’re not hearing me. We’re protecting the town and working to civilize Joe.”
Charlie remembered the way Joe had looked at Frank upstairs. He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s going so well.” He turned and started walking.
Frank caught up with him and grabbed his arm. Charlie didn’t look at him. Frank’s voice almost sounded pleading for a moment. “Just don’t get on the wrong side of Joe. We’ve known each other for years, but I can’t help you if you cross Joe.”
Charlie didn’t answer. They walked together in silence.
Chapter 23
Billy hadn’t known what to do about the man he had shot. Would the man’s friends come looking for him? Billy wasn’t part of the militia, but he slept in the same building and knew some of the men. Lori Sue told him to never go back to the site of the shooting. She said it was best to keep their distance since no one could connect the body to them.
Two days later, as he was leaving his tiny room, a militiaman with a huge mop of red hair approached him with a sly grin. “You the guy who shot Harry?”
Billy just stared at him.
“Don’t worry. I never liked the guy. He was a piece of trash.”
Billy said nothing.
“Don’t be shy, people are talking about it. That was a hell of a shot. No wonder they made you a hunter.”
“I ain’t gonna get in trouble, am I?”
The man laughed. “Nah, nobody cares. Harry was a thief and a bully. Didn’t have many friends.” He clapped Billy on the back and walked off down the hall. “Hell of a shot,” he called back.
Based on that exchange, Billy started to relax about the shooting. If no one liked the man, maybe no one cared and no one would come after him.
That speculation soon proved to be wrong.
Some days after that exchange, Billy walked out the door of his building and found a large bald man waiting for him. Billy didn’t have time to react before the man was pressed up close, glaring at him with a menacing look. He was a good head taller than Billy and looked to have the power to break him in half. He was wearing a shirt that indicated he was part of the militia.
“You’re the guy that shot Harry.”
The man’s breath was foul, but Billy didn’t dare turn his head away. The man pressed Billy back into the alcove, against the closed door, not giving him room to maneuver. Billy had his rifle slung over his shoulder, but he couldn’t reach around for it. He broke into a sweat.
“He was going to cut that girl’s throat,” he said.
“He was a friend of mine and she probably deserved it. You made a big mistake. Now you gonna pay.” Some men began to gather behind him.
As the man grabbed Billy’s shirt and pulled him closer, Billy’s hand fished for his hunting knife on his belt. He was shaking, but he managed to pull the knife free. As the man drew back a huge fist, Billy pressed the blade against the man’s groin, sharp end up. The man stopped instantly. He lowered his fist, but he held onto Billy’s shirt.
Billy’s voice shook, but he got out the words. “I got a blade up against your nuts. I can gut you like a pig. Don’t move or you’ll be trying to hold your guts in.”
A trace of fear began to show in the man’s eyes. He didn’t move.
“Smash his face in,” someone shouted. “Whatcha waitin’ for?” another yelled.
“Let go of my shirt and back up slowly,” Billy said. He grabbed the man’s shirt with his free hand and maneuvered him to the left. There were five others behind the man, also militia and they didn’t look friendly. Billy backed the man into the other side of the alcove where he had him against a wall but could still see the others. He didn’t want anyone jumping him from behind.
“What you going to do now?” the big man hissed. You gonna get stomped by the rest. You got no way out.”
“I still got you. I can still gut you, or castrate you. You feel that blade? It’s real sharp. Just a quick shove in and rip the knife up and you’re done.” Billy’s mind was working hard. He wasn’t sure what to do next. The crowd had seen his blade. They started to inch forward.
“You better get back. If I’m gonna get beat, I’m gonna cut this asshole open. Get back,” he shouted. He looked upward into his captive’s face. “You tell ‘em. If you don’t wanna get gutted.”
The man’s face was now full of fear. He looked over at the crowd. “Y’all get back!” he bawled at the half-circle of men to his left. “Get out of here!”
“He killed Harry! We’re going to smash him!”
“Get the hell out of here!” the big man hollered.
They weren’t going. They looked like they were getting ready to rush him. Billy sensed more people were gathering. He felt desperate. He couldn’t see how he was going to get out of this situation.
“What the hell’s going on?” a hard voice suddenly shouted.
“That kid’s gonna stick Bud,” someone shouted back.
A stocky man pushed through the half-circle. He wore a red armband. Billy didn’t understand t
he militia hierarchy yet, but he knew a red armband meant a pretty high rank. The officer’s eyes were pale blue, and very cold as they met Billy’s gaze. The officer drew his revolver. It had a long barrel with a large bore. “Put that knife away,” he commanded.
“Don’t let him at me. He was gonna beat me,” Billy responded. “I didn’t do nothin’ to him.” He stepped back carefully and sheathed the knife.
“I think I’ve seen you before.” The officer stared intently at Billy. Then he turned to the huge man who was now not acting very aggressive. “What’s the story here, Timmson?”
“This is the guy that killed Harry,” Bud said. His anger now began to return.
“He was trying to rape a girl,” Billy said.
There were angry exclamations from the crowd. “Corey Becker, and that guy Joey, and Matt Crandall, they were there. He might have shot them as well, but they got away.” Another shouted, “It was that Lori Sue. Corey said they were just foolin’ around with her.”
“He was gonna cut her throat,” Billy said.
“Quiet!” the officer shouted. He looked Billy over. His expression was no longer as icy as it had been. “How do I know you, son?”
“I bunk on the third floor,” Billy said. “I’m not in the militia, but—”
“He’s a hunter for the town,” someone volunteered.
“I’m supposed to help with the whiskey too,” Billy said. “My pa taught me how to make moonshine.”
“Good Christ.” The officer smiled thinly. He turned to the others. “I guess you all don’t like eating. Don’t like drinking either. Nobody touches this man. You hear me?” He locked eyes with Timmson and spoke slowly and clearly. “You stay away from him as well. I find you went after him, it’ll be your ass.” He paused. “I’ll come for you and it will hurt. You got it?” Bud nodded.
There were shouts of anger. “But he shot Harry! You gonna let him get away with it?”
“Good riddance. If I’d have been there I might have shot him as well,” the officer said coldly. “Hear me clear. You shouldn’t be going around attacking women, even if they’re prostitutes. Pay ‘em or leave ‘em alone. Now beat it. You’re all done here.”
