Here and Gone(83)

‘No,’ he said. ‘Get down.’

If Audra heard, she didn’t let it show. She kept her arms churning, her feet hammering on the ground. Danny dug deep and found a shred of extra speed. He cried out at the effort, reached for the back of her shirt, grabbed the tail with his fingers. She went down on her knees, and he landed hard beside her.

‘What are you—’

‘Wait,’ he said. ‘Look.’

The car passed in front of them, the lettering clear: ELDER COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT. The driver with the big hands and bigger shoulders.

‘Whiteside,’ Audra said.

‘Yeah,’ Danny said between gulps of breath.

‘Why is he here?’

‘I don’t know,’ Danny said. ‘But it’s no coincidence.’

‘We have to go after him.’

‘Yeah, but keep to the trees. Let’s go.’

They followed the trail, keeping it to the right, even as the engine noise faded into the distance. They maintained a steady jog until they heard gunfire.

Then they ran.





52


SEAN SAT OPPOSITE the old man, his hands on the table. Tiredness dragged at his eyelids, filled his head with cotton. Louise lay on a couch covered in animal furs, sound asleep, little snorts and wheezes coming from her. Occasionally she gave hard coughs that rattled in her chest.

The walls of the cabin were lined with guns suspended from hooks. Rifles, shotguns, pistols, a couple of bows, quivers of arrows, even a crossbow. Sean couldn’t count how many. The old man had said his name was John Tandy. He had made the call using a radio hooked up to a car battery. The place had a low smell, as if the air hadn’t moved in years.

‘You doing all right, kid?’ Tandy asked. He scratched his stubbled cheek. ‘You want a smoke?’

‘No thank you, sir,’ Sean said.

‘You want a drink?’

Sean hadn’t realized until that moment how thirsty he was. The idea of some water, maybe even a soda, made him move his tongue around his teeth. ‘Yes, please,’ he said.

Tandy rose from the table, went to a box by the fireplace, and fetched two glass bottles. He brought them back to the table, popped the caps of both on the edge, then set one in front of Sean.

Beer, Sean realized.

‘Sorry it ain’t cold,’ Tandy said. ‘Ain’t got no fridge. I’d fix you something to eat, but Sheriff McCall should be here any minute. Do me a favor when he gets here, though, would you?’

‘What?’ Sean asked.

‘Don’t tell him I had a fire going. Ain’t supposed to, on account of how dry it is up here. Might burn the whole damn forest down.’

‘I won’t tell.’

Tandy winked. ‘Good boy.’

Sean looked at the bottle. Tandy fetched a tobacco pouch from his pocket, pulled a pack of papers from it, and proceeded to roll himself a cigarette.

‘Drink up,’ he said. ‘Do you good.’

Sean reached for the bottle, put it to his lips, took a small mouthful. He tried not to grimace, but he couldn’t help it.

‘What’s the matter?’ Tandy asked, lighting his cigarette. ‘They don’t got beer where you come from?’

‘Not for kids,’ Sean said.

Tandy let out a single bark of a laugh along with a billow of smoke. ‘My daddy gave me my first beer when I was five, and my first cigarette when I was six. Momma never thanked him for it, mind, but I didn’t complain.’

Sean took another swallow. This one wasn’t so bad.

‘Do you live alone?’ he asked.

‘Yep,’ Tandy said. ‘Ever since Momma died. That was, oh, twenty years ago now. She’s buried out in the yard with my daddy. Your folks still around?’

‘Yes. But they got separated. We live with our mom.’

‘You get on with your daddy okay?’

Sean shook his head. ‘He doesn’t really care about us.’

‘Sounds about right,’ Tandy said, taking another drag. ‘See, men, for the most part – except for you and me – are generally assholes. That’s why I keep myself to myself.’

Sean looked around the room once more. ‘You like guns.’

‘I guess you could say that. And I intend to keep them till the day I die. Any government man comes round here looking to take them, well, he’s going to have a fight on his hands.’

Sean took another swig of beer, not minding the taste at all now. ‘Government man?’

‘The feds,’ Tandy said. He leaned across the table, spoke in an angry whisper. ‘They’re everywhere, those bastards. Always watching me. They think I don’t know it, but I do. Any one of them shows his face, he’ll get two barrels of buckshot up his ass, let me tell you.’

Sean giggled, though he wasn’t sure why he found it funny.

‘Look down there,’ Tandy said, pointing to the floor.

Sean saw the trapdoor there, and he didn’t want to laugh anymore.

‘My daddy dug that out with his bare hands, lined it with concrete, back when they thought the bomb was going to fall any day. I still keep it supplied. Enough tinned food to last me a couple years at least. The feds come around here, they’ll get shot to hell, then I’ll hole up in there. The government man won’t get John Tandy, no way, no how.’