by David Nees
“How’s he know I’m here?” Billy whispered.
Lori Sue shook her head. “There’s no one here but me,” she called back through the door.
“Don’t lie to me. I don’t have time for it. I saw the two of you come into the building. Unless he can fly, he’s in there. Now open the door.” Chief Cook’s voice was firm and authoritative. It didn’t allow for any delay or diversion.
Lori Sue motioned for Billy to hide in the bedroom. He stepped back into the room and closed the door, leaving a crack through which to peek. He stood in the dark, feeling helpless. There was no place to run and really no place to hide. Were they coming to take him away for killing that man? He heard the door open. Floorboards creaked in the living room. Unfortunately he could only see flickering shadows through the crack in the door.
The same voice again. “Bring him out. It’s Billy I need to talk to and I don’t have all night.” There was a silence, and then whoever it was spoke again, his tone now a little softer. “Look, I’m doing a favor for a friend, and I don’t need you making this harder. Catherine Richards, the girl from the valley, is in town and wants to talk with Billy. So I got asked to find him. Now it’s late, I’m tired, and I don’t want to mess around. Get him out here.”
When Billy heard Catherine’s name and that she was in town and asking for him, he came out from the bedroom. A bright light flashed in his face, and he flinched.
“There you are,” said the man holding the tiny flashlight. When he lowered it, Billy recognized the police chief who showed up at the city gate on trading day. “You know Catherine?” Chief Cook asked. Billy nodded uncertainly. “She asked me to find you. She’d like to talk with you, tonight. It’s important to her, and I said I’d help, since she helped with the trading.”
“What’s she want to talk to me about?”
“Dammit, boy! I don’t know. Just get your stuff and let’s get going. I don’t want to take all night with this.”
Billy turned and went back into the bedroom to pull on his shirt and grab his boots. He heard Lori Sue declare, “He ain’t going anywhere without me. I’m his girlfriend and I ain’t lettin’ him go off with you to see some girl. Not without me. She tries anything, I’ll kick her ass.”
Billy stopped in his tracks, his boots in his hands. He’d never thought any girl would want to fight over him. A flush of pride went through his body.
He went back out into the living room and sat down on the sofa to pull his boots on. “We was gonna eat, when you knocked. We ain’t had anything to eat since morning,” he said to the police chief.
“I’ll get you something to eat. Let’s go.”
When they reached the sidewalk outside the apartment building, the other policeman spoke quietly with the chief and then walked briskly away. The chief led them in a different direction. No one spoke. They walked in silence. Lori Sue kept close to him, and Billy put his arm around her.
After a while, their journey took them into a section of town that Billy had never seen before. There were individual houses; most looked as though they were occupied, with no broken windows or doors hanging open. The yards were overgrown and unkempt, but everything looked distinctly neater. Occasionally a window glowed with a hint of fire or candlelight. They had been walking for perhaps a half hour when the chief led them into the driveway of a bungalow with a large oak tree in the front yard. In the back, at the end of the driveway, was the familiar shape of a Humvee. Chief Cook led them to the front door, knocked softly twice, then put his key in the lock.
The living room was lit by several of the thick tallow candles similar to the ones he’d seen in the militia building. Several people were sitting around the room. Catherine’s boyfriend Lieutenant Cameron and Sergeant Gibbs were sitting on a long sofa, along with a younger soldier Billy recognized from the trading convoy. Across from the sofa sat a thin, worried-looking woman he didn’t recognize. Catherine was sitting in a straight backed chair smiling at him.
“Hello, Billy,” Catherine said.
Chapter 27
“Hi, Catherine.” Billy tried to sound nonchalant. “What’s so important you want to see me tonight?”
Before Catherine could answer, Lori Sue stepped forward beside Billy. “I’m Lori Sue,” she said, her eyes alight with anger. “Billy here is my boyfriend. I don’t know what the hell you want, or how you can get the chief of police to run your errands, but you better not mess with him or you’ll be messing with me.” She looked to be sizing Catherine up. “I may not be as tall as you, but I fight hard and nasty, so don’t mess with me.”
Sergeant Gibbs started to grin. Lori Sue saw the grin and turned to him. “You think I’m funny? I’ve had to deal with assholes like you before. You stay out of this.”
Billy was starting to get embarrassed, although Lori Sue’s clear statement of their relationship felt good.
Gibbs held up his hands. “Miss Lori, I’m not laughing at you. But I think you’re getting off on the wrong foot.”
She just glared at him, looking ready to fight. “It’s Lori Sue,” she said.
Catherine spoke up, looking slightly embarrassed. “I asked Chief Cook to help me find Billy. I want to invite him to a wedding…my wedding.” She looked at Billy. “Lieutenant Cameron and I are getting married, maybe next week, and we’d like you to come. You’re a big part of the valley and your dad gave his life defending it. We’d be honored to have you there.”
Lori Sue turned to look at Charlie standing behind them. “Shit. Why the hell didn’t you say what this was about? You got me all worked up over nothin’.” Turning back to Catherine, she continued in a friendlier tone of voice. “I’m sorry about yelling at you, but I got to defend what’s mine, if you know what I mean.”
Catherine smiled. “I think I know about defending what’s mine. No offense taken.” She got up and extended her hand. Lori Sue grinned and took it.
“Mary, these two haven’t eaten all day,” Chief Cook said.
The older woman replied, “Oh, we can do something about that!” She got up. “Let’s go into the other room.”
She took one of the candles and led them into the dining room with a huge table. Charlie followed, bringing in the other candles. Billy and Lori Sue took chairs next to each other. Mary disappeared into the kitchen, but she returned a moment later bearing two large plates which she set in front of Billy and Lori Sue. The plates were filled with macaroni noodles in an unfamiliar sauce that held bits of meat.
“Go ahead,” Mary told them. “We’ve all already eaten.” They both began wolfing down the food as Mary went back to the kitchen and brought in another plate for her husband. The sauce was delicious, whatever it was.
“Wow, you sure do eat well,” Lori Sue said between mouthfuls.
“This is a lot better than we get at the food centers,” Billy said.
Mary smiled and nodded her head as she took the empty chair to Charlie’s right. Nobody around the table spoke as they ate. Billy barely noticed the quiet.
When Billy, Lori Sue, and Charlie had all finished eating, Catherine broke the silence. “Billy? Did you get the job you talked about?” He nodded. “So how are you doing here, in town?”
Billy shrugged. “I can’t say I like it a lot; there’s too many rules. But since I’m a hunter, I get to do a lot on my own. I can be out in the woods. It’s better than the city, which is dirty and noisy.” He looked at Lori Sue on his right. “All in all it ain’t bad, though. ‘Specially since meeting Lori Sue.”
“He saved my life,” Lori Sue said. Everyone listened intently as she went on to describe the incident and how Billy’s crack shooting had saved her. Billy felt a little embarrassed and worried. He didn’t know how that information would sit with the chief of police. He could tell nothing from Charlie’s expression.
“Sounds like you want to do the right thing when you see it,” Kevin said.
“I guess.”
“Lori Sue, what do you do?” Catherine asked.
Lo
ri Sue paused for a moment, as if searching for the right words. “I take care of the militia…keep ‘em happy.”
Catherine smiled and nodded. There was an awkward silence. Billy could tell that Catherine didn’t really understand what Lori Sue was saying. “She’s going to stop that soon,” he said quickly, before Catherine could notice the pause. “I’m gonna teach her how to make whiskey, then she won’t have to do that anymore.”
Murmurs of approval went around the room.
“Billy, what do you think of the militia?” Kevin asked.
Billy looked cautiously at Charlie Cook. “I don’t know,” he said. “They’re all right, I guess.”
To his surprise he saw Charlie smiling at him. “You can speak openly here. I’m no fan of the militia and neither is anyone else in this room.”
“Really? You’re part of them, ain’t you?”
“No, the police are separate. We don’t have any ex-gangsters or looters on the police force. So feel free to speak your mind.”
“Why you want to know what he thinks?” Lori Sue asked Kevin.
“I’m the U.S. Army. I want to get his perspective on the situation. There’s some friction between us and the militia some times.”
“Well, I don’t really like them,” Billy answered. “They ain’t like you. After I shot that guy trying to rape Lori Sue, his buddies tried to beat me up, maybe kill me. Didn’t seem like the officers gave a damn, ‘bout the shootin’ or ‘bout me nearly gettin’ murdered on the sidewalk. I got to be on the lookout for them all the time now.”
Catherine asked, “How about you, Lori Sue? Do you think things are going well?”
Lori Sue didn’t answer for a moment, and Billy looked at her. She was studying the candlelit faces around the table. “You’re asking a lot of questions…all of you,” she said. “You didn’t bring us over here to just invite Billy to the wedding. What do you want?”
“Well, I do want to invite Billy to the wedding…and you, too,” Catherine replied. “But I’m worried about the town. We have to do business with them, so my dad and I want to get more information, good or bad. No one here is going to pass anything you say on to anyone else. It’s for us and the other valley farmers, so we can better know what we’re dealing with.”
“I can tell you stories,” Lori Sue said. “You know that guy, Leo?” She looked at Charlie, who nodded, his face darkening. “Well, he’s a piece of work, or a piece of shit, really. He’s dangerous, a killer, someone you don’t want to mess with. A while ago I found out he’s keeping a woman, Donna’s her name—”
Mary gasped, her eyes suddenly widening. “Oh no,” she said. “Not him.” Charlie grimaced and turned to her, taking her left hand in both of his own.
“She ain’t there ‘cause she wants to be,” Lori Sue continued. “Leo’s got her chained up like a slave. I mean a real chain. And that ain’t all. Got her kid under his control and uses him to make her do what she wants.” She shook her head. The room was silent. “Piece of shit,” she said. Her face was hard as she looked at Catherine. “We girls got to stick together. It’s one thing to give a guy a tumble and get something in return, hell it’s fun sometimes…at least till I met Billy.” She put her hand on Billy’s arm. “But it’s bad when someone tries to make you a slave. That ain’t right.”
Billy was shocked. She had not told him anything about this. “You shouldn’t go near Leo,” he said.
“It’s all right. I’m careful, but I have to help her. She ain’t got nobody. I’m visiting her kid to check up on him, let her know how he’s doing. I even snuck my 9mm to her, ‘case things get real bad.”
“This is worse than I thought,” Charlie said. He put his arm around his wife.
The group was silent for a while.
“You ain’t gonna get me in trouble for telling you all this, are you?” Lori Sue asked.
“Absolutely not,” Charlie said. “No one will know you told us. Not unless you tell anyone else.”
“I ain’t telling them bastards anything, and neither is Billy.”
Catherine leaned forward and studied Billy and Lori Sue for a moment. “Billy, Lori Sue, we’d like to help. Help both of you and this woman, Donna, and her kid. Will you help us do that?”
There was a long silence in the room. Finally Lori Sue spoke up. “How are you gonna help?”
“What do you want us to do?” Billy asked.
“We think we can change who runs the town,” Catherine said. “There’s people in town who want to help change things. You can be part of that. In the process, we can save Donna and others like her.”
“You talking about a revolt?” Billy asked in astonishment. “Cause if you are, they got too many guns and too many men.”
Kevin spoke up. “No open revolt. Not unless we have to. But we can organize, collect resources, and be ready to change the balance of power if we get the chance.”
Billy shook his head. “I think you’re all crazy. This is…this is a whole town. I ain’t gonna tell anyone, but you’re gonna get yourselves killed.”
“That was your daddy’s first response,” Catherine said softly. “But he came and helped, and you did as well. And we won.”
Billy turned to Catherine with an angry look in his eyes. “Yeah, and he died doing it.”
Her eyes were sympathetic, but they did not waver. “I’m sorry about that, I really am,” she said. “But you didn’t die…and we won.”
“Look,” Kevin said, “if this group gets more powerful, no one will have any freedom. Lori Sue could be put in a brothel, her freedom taken away. You think they’ll listen to you? You say you’re gonna teach her how to make whiskey. What if one of the bosses, Leo or someone else, says no, he’s got people to make whiskey, he wants her in a whorehouse, servicing the men? What’re you going to do then?”
Billy could think of nothing to say. He could feel Lori Sue’s body grow tense next to him. He stared back at Kevin.
Kevin went on. “Right now you think you got the run of things, you’ve got the best of the situation even though you have to keep ducking that guy’s friends. You think you can keep doing what you like best. But don’t fool yourself. Being able to do what you want is not where this is headed. That isn’t what Stansky has in mind. He wants everyone doing what he wants…or what Leo says to do.”
“On top of that,” Catherine said, “they’re planning to attack the valley, to steal our seed.”
Billy couldn’t hide the shock he felt. Catherine’s eyes bore into him. “They don’t have seeds that breed true. They just have hybrid seed, and they don’t seem interested in waiting until we can share with them. And now it looks like their talk of wanting to cooperate was just a pack of lies,” she said. “Charlie here tells us they’re set on attacking us. And I expect that attacking us means killing all of us. If they can get non-hybrid seed of their own they think they don’t need us, so we’re better off dead.”
“That don’t make sense. Why would they do that?” Billy asked.
“Because the valley represents freedom,” Kevin answered. “An alternative future to what Stansky’s planning. You didn’t see the crowds when we went around to the food centers on trading day. They were all excited to see us. Catherine in particular.”
Catherine nodded, her eyes on Billy’s. “They’d like to get us out of their hair and they’d like to get our seed. That’s enough for them to kill me, Sarah, Mom, and Jason. These are people you know, people who have stood with you, people you fought alongside of. Are you going to let that happen?”
“I don’t know.” Billy squirmed in his chair. His mind raced. “Don’t know what I can do to help.”
“I’ll help,” Lori Sue said unexpectedly beside him. Billy turned to look at her. “I don’t know if I can do anything, but if I can help shove a stick up Leo’s ass, I’ll do it.” She turned to Billy with her eyes afire. “You should be in too,” she told him. “I know I’m not gonna let someone put me in a whorehouse like that. No way. That bastard Leo, k
eeping Donna chained up like that. That’s fucked. We girls got to stick together.”
Billy felt as if he were falling, the ground crumbling away under him. Life had been pretty good, even if he had to keep a sharp eye out for the friends of the guy he had killed. He had Lori Sue, and she had opened up a world of female delights for him. He was completely in love with her; she was good looking, exciting, and she made him feel special, like no one ever had before. They ate pretty well, and they had a place of their own. Now it all seemed ready to come apart.
He finally looked back at Catherine. “You really getting married? Or was that just to get me here?”
Catherine laughed. “Yes, we’re really getting married and I want you to be there. But now you know it wasn’t the only reason to talk to you tonight.”
Chapter 28
Uh oh, what do we have here? Captain Roper thought as he looked across his desk at the four serious faces. Seeing the girl Catherine surprised him; he’d had no hint that she was back in Hillsboro. But his real concern was Charlie Cook. Charlie knew all about his involvement with Stansky, the bribes, the cover-ups. Roper couldn’t have that coming out in front of Cameron and Gibbs. Roper kept his features expressionless. Charlie’s face was the same.
But had it already come out? Not if the Chief was still looking out for his own hide. Either way, the thing was to play this as if it hadn’t.
And then there was the surprise they had brought him.
“It’s going to happen after Mason gets you to pull the platoon out,” Lieutenant Cameron told him. “I don’t know how soon, but, based on what I know of Stansky, I don’t think he’ll wait long at all. He sees this business with the seed as an obstacle, and he sees the farmers as an obstacle. He doesn’t like obstacles. And he can get everything he wants right away if he just takes the valley and kills everyone in it.”
