To my left, Felix is all that stands between Richard and Byron, both of whom seem a split second away from tearing into one another. And not only those two. Hands hover over weapons behind each of them, each side eying the other with mistrust. The situation needs to be defused before something happens.
“Enough!” I have to yell at the top of my voice, but thankfully, it has the effect I had hoped. The room quiets, their attention drawn to me. I take advantage of it. “We have to keep it together.” I turn to Byron and his men. “These are good people. We’ve spent the past few days together, getting to know them and the settlement they’re part of. We were discussing a possible alliance when we were attacked. Some of their people were taken. Others were killed. That’s why they’re here. Neither of us can get our people back unless we work together.”
“Get them back?” Richard scoffs. “Wake up, girl. There is no getting them back. If we try, we’ll either end up dead or captured ourselves.”
Emily steps forward, wiping at her eyes which have turned fierce at his words. “So what are you saying, that we should leave them there?” she challenges. “We’ve broken in and retrieved our people before.”
“Yes, we have,” Richard says, cutting her off. “And the Animals won’t have forgotten. We won’t be facing the same lax security we did last time. They’ll have tightened things up tenfold, you can count on it. And their prisoners? They won’t be in the same location. They’ll have them locked up somewhere more secure. No amount of stealth will matter if we don’t know where they are. We’d need an army to even stand a chance.”
I can see the effect his words are having on the family. I can see it in their somber faces and gloomy eyes. What’s worse, I know there is truth in what he says. The Animals are not the type of people to make the same mistake twice. Whatever means they used to rescue Trent and Julia will not work a second time around. But I refuse to believe there is no hope for them.
“We wouldn’t need an army if we had a contact on the inside,” I say. That gets their attention.
“What do you mean?” Uncle Will asks from beside Richard. “What contact?”
I turn to Felix. I hate putting him on the spot so abruptly, but the family needs to know the truth. Felix knows this too, nodding once before settling his eyes on his aunt.
“My Uncle Frank,” he says. Surprised murmurs immediately follow, the family completely taken aback at the revelation.
“The uncle you went to find?” Uncle Will asks incredulously.
“Yes,” Felix answers, never looking away from his aunt. “He was part of the raiding party that took Leon and Morgan.”
The surprise quickly turns resentful, angry. Many look to Felix as if in betrayal, as if he approved his uncle’s actions. I doubt he hears any of it. His whole focus remains on his aunt, holding her hand as they speak in rapid Spanish. I don’t understand a word she says, but her tears tell me how painful this is for her to hear. The last thing she needs is to be heckled right now.
“Inside man?” Richard asks. “How the hell can we trust this man if he was the one who captured them in the first place?”
“You weren’t there,” I say. “It was chaos, everything happening so fast. One second I’m running into an upstairs bedroom, Leon and Morgan behind me, and the next they’re taken to the ground just outside the door. We couldn’t even react before Frank had Morgan in a chokehold. But as soon as he saw Felix, his whole demeanor changed. Still, we were surrounded by Animals, and they were moving our way fast. Frank let us go, shouted at Felix to run. We made it out because of him. I think that garners some trust, don’t you?”
“For sparing his nephew?” Uncle Will asks. “Hardly. He still took Morgan and Leon didn’t he? Why not let them go too?”
“Because the other men had already seen him,” Emily says. “Or do you think they wouldn’t have found it suspicious if he just let them go?”
“In any case, we can’t be sure of his reasons,” Richard says. “And I think it would be foolish to assume we can trust him based on that alone.”
“I think it would be just as foolish to write him off for the same reason,” I counter, unable to keep the heat out of my voice.
“She’s right,” Felix says, ceasing his exchange with his aunt. He steps forward, holding his ground against the skeptical faces aimed his way. “I don’t know why my uncle was with the Animals. I don’t know why he let us go. There are a dozen questions I don’t have an answer to. But I do know that my uncle has a reason for everything he does. If he’s with them, there’s a reason, a reason other than just trying to survive. He would never have abandoned my aunt and cousin otherwise.”
That gives people pause, reminding them of what Frank left behind by failing to return. Everyone here knows the value of family. Because of that, they can imagine the circumstances it must have taken to keep Frank away from his wife and son. Still, the skepticism lingers.
“I understand you want to believe the best of your uncle, Felix,” Richard says. To my surprise, his words spoken with care, free from his usual edge. “And I’m inclined to believe you. To abandon your children...” His eyes sweep briefly over his two daughters. “It can’t have been without reason. But let’s say we can trust him, that he can help us. He’s still only one man. One man among hundreds. How many lives will we have to risk so that we might free two?”
He looks now toward Emily, and then to me. “Believe me, I want them back,” he continues. “Morgan and I have had our disagreements, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect him. He’s a good man. But is his life worth more than any of our own? You know him as well as anyone: would he even want us to take such a risk?”
A pang goes through me at the question. No, of course he wouldn’t. This is the man who gave himself up in Salida so his friends could escape and get his sister the medicine needed to save her life. The man who faced a firing squad outside Rockridge on the smallest of hopes that doing so might save the rest of us. I remember the fierce look in his eyes this morning, begging me to run, to leave him and save myself. The lives of those he loves have always mattered more to him than his own. If he were here now, he would side with Richard, would tell us to leave him. But he’s not here. I am. And I won’t give up on him so easily.
“No, Richard,” I say. “He would never want any of us to risk ourselves on his behalf. He would want to keep us safe, protected. I know because since the collapse, that’s all he’s ever tried to do. But I also know what he would do if the tables were turned—if he stood here now and it was one of us who were taken.” I pause, taking a moment to look about the room. I watch them visualize such a scenario, imagining the things Morgan might say. It’s easy enough to imagine.
“He would never abandon someone he loved, not if there was even the smallest hope of saving them. Do we not owe it to him to at least try?”
Slowly, I feel something stir in the air around me. A buzz. A spark. Hope. It’s not just me either.
“I will help,” Vince says. He looks to his fiance, eyes pleading for her to understand. “He would do the same for me.”
“Me too,” Trent says, stepping up. “He got me out of there once. I owe it to him to try and do the same.”
More voices chime in, pledging to help if they can. Richard listens to each person speak, his face unreadable as he does so. It’s only after the voices go quiet, and everyone has had their chance to speak, that he weighs in.
“Very well,” he says. “So long as there’s a chance that we can retrieve him, I will help.”
The relief that floods through me is overwhelming. This is only the first step, of course. We will still need help from Byron’s people, from Frank himself, neither of which are guaranteed. But for now, I will allow myself to hope.
I open my mouth to speak, ready to iron out the plan moving forward, but the words never leave me. The shrill blast of a whistle from our lookout stops them in their tracks. From the top of the back stairwell, our lookout yells down, his message turning my
blood to ice.
“Trucks. Incoming.”
Chapter 26: (Morgan)
In darkness I wait, feet bound, hands tied and looped through a metal ring bolted to the wall above my head. Makes my arms ache something vicious, the spasms increasing as time goes on. Worse is the throbbing at the base of my skull; the slow torture of thirst as your mouth and throat grow dry. It feels like an age since Frank delivered me here, my spirits bolstered by the conversation we had. I try my best to hold onto that feeling, telling myself I can trust him, that the man I knew still lives beneath the Animal. But the longer I wait, the more I question. The more I doubt. It’s as if the shadows of the room seep into my mind, making my thoughts as dark and bleak as this wall of black before me.
He told me of the layout of the hotel. The security measures they have in place. All of it taken on his word alone, impossible to verify. And in turn, I told him everything about the farm. His farm. Our resources and fortifications; the guns and ammunition we’ve amassed, he knows of it all. More importantly, he knows of the people we left behind. In short, I’ve told him everything he needs to know to take the place.
He wouldn’t, a voice inside me says. Not with his wife and son on the farm. He would never risk it.
I nod, agreeing with the voice, convincing myself of what I need to believe. But before it can take root, a second voice sounds in the back of my mind.
Wouldn’t he? The voice challenges. If he thought he could keep them safe from it. He’s already proven the things he’s capable of.
The debate rages back and forth between the two voices, and I don’t know which one to listen to. What’s more, trying to understand Frank’s intent is only part of my concerns. Relieved as I am that Lauren and the others escaped from the house, worry fills me as I think of them. Are they safe? Do the Animals still hunt them? If so, is it only a matter of time before they join us? Just as terrifying are the thoughts of what they might be planning. I know my friends. With Leon and I captured, they will feel worry. Fear. Those feelings will eat away at them, making them restless, making them want to act. It’s what frightens me most of all: the thought of them being killed or captured in some desperate bid to free me. I don’t know how I could live with myself should it come to that.
Beside me, Leon wakes in a dry, hacking fit that leaves him breathless. It’s a minute before his breathing returns to normal.
“No sign of our friend?” he asks.
Friend. He makes a mockery of the word, his mistrust for Frank running deep. I filled him in on everything after we were separated from Lylette and the others. His reaction was not a pleasant one:
You told him of the farm?
How can you trust him? He’s one of them!
What’s to stop him from getting Christina and Rob, and then sending in the hounds to wipe us out?
I had no answers then, just as I have no answers now. The truth is, nothing is stopping him from carrying out such an assault. And as the hours pass, I half expect Frank to return with the remnants of my family—those who managed to survive his attack, anyway.
“No,” I say, choosing to bury those thoughts, adding to the teeming mass constantly threatening to break the surface. “Nobody’s come.”
He lets out a frustrated breath but says no more. The silence returns, nothing for us to discuss that hasn’t been beaten to death already. In any case, there’s no sense in planning given the state we’re in. Even if we weren’t bound hand and foot, there are still locked doors, a maze of hallways, soldiers manning the exits and snipers overlooking the perimeter. And those are just the challenges we know of. Surely there are more. So whether we can trust Frank or not makes no difference. He’s the only hope we have of escaping. That’s all we need to know.
Time trickles slowly forward, impossible to gauge without a point of reference. Sleep claims me, my mind no longer able to resist my body’s demands. In and out of nightmares I drift, each so vivid I can hardly distinguish between the dream world and my reality. I see my mother and father in chains, their warm eyes turned cold, angry, asking me how I could betray their whereabouts. I see the farm, once our great chance at a new life, now no more than a graveyard. I walk through its haunted grounds, the smell of blood and death potent as ever, the broken bodies of my family as real as my own skin.
I watch Lauren appear at the room’s entrance, gun drawn, relief warming her face at the sight of me. She’s come to free me. Then the shadows behind her shift, materializing into Frank’s towering form. I yell, I scream, I rage against my restraints in a futile attempt to warn her. But she doesn’t turn, doesn’t make a single motion to defend herself. The smile never leaves her face, her eyes never leave mine, that spark of life I fell in love with burning in her stare. And then it’s gone, snuffed out with the crack of exploding thunder.
When I wake, it’s in a blind panic, my heart beating so hard and fast it hurts. I don’t sleep again after that.
The tread of approaching footsteps sound outside the room, drawing our attention. They grow closer, a strip of light now visible beneath the doorway. The footsteps halt, followed by the jingle of keys and scraping of a lock. The door opens, the light spilling into the room blinding to my cave eyes. I squint against it, unable to make out more than the outlines of several people moving forward.
“Uncuff them, quickly!”
Frank’s voice is immediately recognizable, as is the urgency of his words.
I blink and the face of a middle-aged woman comes into focus, sparing me only a brief glance before setting to work on my restraints. Once free, I make my way shakily to my feet, groaning against the stiffness that has settled in my joints. She sets to work on Leon, his expression shrewd and suspicious over our sudden turn of events.
“What’s happened?” I ask. Certainly, something has. Frank wouldn’t come here like this if he could avoid it.
“They know of the farm,” he says. “We move on it within the hour.”
My stomach drops, my blood freezing in my veins. Around me, everything falls away. The people, the voices, the light shining in my eyes, it all disappears. Through the nightmarish graveyard I walk once more, the ground littered with fallen loved ones. I see their sightless stares, fear still etched onto their faces, and I know it is my fault. I should never have left them. I should never have let us come to this hellhole of a town in the first place. If we hadn’t, none of this would have happened.
An angry roar sounds beside me, bringing me back to this cold reality. Leon lunges forward, uncaring of the weapons Frank and his soldiers carry. Rationality left him the moment Frank spoke. Frank, it appears, does not need weapons to handle himself, blocking Leon’s attack and locking him in the same chokehold he held me in this morning.
“Quiet, you fool!” he seethes. “Do you think I would have uncuffed you if I meant to go through with that plan?” He releases Leon who doubles over and coughs but makes no other attempt to attack. Frank continues. “I know what you must think, but I didn’t speak a word about what we discussed, Morgan. Your uncle, Mitch; he’s the one who sold you out.”
“How do we know he won’t want revenge? We’ll be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.”
Richards warning echoes back to me. This is the fear he spoke of, this retaliation Mitch has taken against us.
“That bastard.” Leon’s words are strained, equal parts hate and anger. “That dirty, piece of shit! We never should have let him go.”
No, we shouldn’t have. We should have let Richard deal with the situation when we had the chance. Now it’s too late. Yet even as the news sinks in, something about it all seems off.
“But why attack us?” I ask. Mitch left us weeks ago, before the rescue of Felix’s aunt and the influx of food and supplies from the Sawyer’s ranch. We were only hanging on by threads at that point. Factor in the snow and the defenses we’ve raised, and it makes less and less sense for them to risk the manpower and resources needed to attack us. I mention this to Frank.
“It’s not the farm they want,” Frank says, his eyes falling heavily on me. “It’s you.”
He fills me on the meeting he had after our conversation this morning. I shouldn’t be surprised. After that night with Lauren, I should have understood what he was capable of. But turning us over to the Animas Animals? Not just Lauren and me, but the entire family? His sisters. My Aunt Virginia who practically raised him after my grandmother passed. My Aunt Claire who paid his way through multiple rehabs. My mother who never left his side no matter how hard he relapsed. I would never have thought his hatred for me ran so deep that he would condemn them.
“So be it,” I say.
“So be it?” Frank asks.
“You said it yourself, it’s me they want,” I remind him. “Well, they can have me.”
Mitch would sacrifice my family in order to get to me. I would sacrifice myself in order to protect my family. They won’t suffer because of me. Not if I can help it.
“I’ll turn myself in, now, before it’s too late,” I continue. “There will be no need for them to attack because they’ll have already gotten what they want.”
Leon lets loose a breath of frustration. “There it is, right on cue,” he says bitterly. “What is it with you? Why are you always so quick to play the martyr?”
“Play the martyr?” I ask, taken aback. “Is that really what you think I’m doing?”
“It’s what you always do,” he says. “Salida. Clovis. Now, this. See a pattern? You’re always throwing yourself into the fire without considering the alternatives.”
I open my mouth to reply, the anger that’s been building inside flaring bright and hot. But before I can speak, Frank cuts me off with an irritated hiss.
“Enough!” he says. “We don’t have time for this.” He turns to me. “I respect what you’re willing to do for your family, Morgan. But turning yourself in won’t stop anything. You weren’t the only one who broke in that night. They’ll raid the farm to find the others. They’ll never let it rest. Not after what you did.”
A Cruel and Violent Storm Page 30
