The Reckless Oath We Made(87)

“Oh, you think we’re gonna let you walk away and call the cops?” Ligett said.

“If I wanted to call the cops I’d have done it an hour ago, and my friend with the bow and arrows can call them right now. Except I want my sister back alive, and I don’t think the cops can help me with that. If she’s here, let me see her.”

“Well, I’ll say this: you’re a helluva a lot smarter than your sister, but I bet this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done,” Scanlon said.

“It’s really simple. You want the money? Let me see my sister.”

“I don’t—” Ligett started to say, but Scanlon cut him off.

“All right. You come on inside, but your boy stays out here.”

“It me liketh not, my lady.” When I looked at Gentry, he was scratching the back of his neck with both hands. He could draw his sword from that position, and I wasn’t sure if that made me less nervous or more nervous.

“It’s okay. I have the phone. If I need help I’ll tell Edrard and he’ll let you know.”

Gentry lowered his hands and nodded.

I went up the stairs like an old lady, because my hip was so tight I could barely get my foot up each riser. The steps creaked under me and, when I got to the top, Ligett reached out like he meant to frisk me.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I said. “You got a gun. I got a gun. Let’s play nice.”

For a minute, I thought that was going to be the deal breaker, but Scanlon shook his head at Ligett and said, “It’s okay if the lady wants to bring a gun. She’s not gonna shoot the place up.”

Inside, the cabin smelled like stale cigarettes and mildew and onions.

“Go on ahead. Door on the right.” Scanlon pointed for me to go down the hall ahead of him. When I stopped at the door he’d indicated, he said, “Go on in.”

The sun was coming down fast, and it was dim in the hallway, so that when I opened the bedroom door, all the light coming through the curtains made me squint. I stepped inside, Scanlon closed the door behind me, and there was LaReigne. She was lying on the bed with her shoes off. When she saw me, she sat up, and the book she’d been reading fell out of her hands. The cover had a shirtless man in a kilt on it.

“Oh my god! Zee!” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to get you. Let’s go.”

“What do you mean you’re here to get me? Did you bring Marcus?”

“No. I didn’t bring Marcus,” I said. “Come on, put your shoes on so we can go.”

She got up off the bed, but she was staring at me like she couldn’t believe I was there. It hit me, then. She was safe. I grabbed her and held on to her as tight as I could, and for a minute, she didn’t do anything, because she must have been in shock. Then she laughed and put her arms around me. Most of my life, I’d felt like an ugly giant next to her, but right then I felt strong. Strong enough to protect her. We held on to each other, until I remembered Gentry was outside waiting for me. I let go of her and looked around the room for her shoes. They were on the floor next to a chair covered in clothes. Just like at our house.

“Oh my god, Zee. How are you here?” she said.

“It’s a long story, and we have a long drive home, so I’ll tell you all about it.”

She sat back on the edge of the bed and I squatted down to put her shoes on her, like she was Marcus.

“But how?” she said, while I tied her shoes. “How did you even know where we were?”

“I promise, I’ll tell you everything, but we need to go.”

“It’s not like we can just walk out of here. They have guns. There are more of them than us.”

“How many are there?” I said.

“Four.”

“Okay, well, there’s five of us.”

“Who’s with you?” She was still sitting on the bed, looking at me like I was crazy. Had they drugged her? She was acting like she was drugged.

“Gentry, a friend of his, and our cousin Dirk,” I said. “I have money to pay them, so we need to get the hell out of here, okay?”

“I need to talk to Tague first. He—”

“The fuck you do.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her up to standing.

That was when we heard the first gunshot.





CHAPTER 42





Gentry



The sword upon thy back is no child’s baton,” the black knight said.

I spake not but gave him my accord. I knew well ’twas no trifle.

“They aren not noble men. The one called Ligett, he meaneth to harm thee.”

The black knight was aright, for tho Scanlon would speak of money, Ligett was full of malice. In his shoulders he held ill intent, where he paced upon the stoop before me. The two knaves whispered one to the other. Tho I heard them not, I kenned well enough what they spake of, for Ligett looked to where Sir Edrard’s arrows had fallen, and thence toward the woods, as tho to seek the place my brother held.

Scanlon entered the house and Ligett alighted from the porch and strode toward the woods. As he passed me, he said, “You stay right fucking there, pal.”

I stayed, but soon the trees would hide him from Sir Edrard’s sight, and so I raised my hand to warn him.