“You could have just sent a text, Jess,” he said quietly. “You didn’t have to break into my place.”
Reel looked away, started to sight through her scope but then slowly lowered it. “It is complicated, Robie. And I’m not prepared to talk about it right now.”
He looked out onto the road. “Well, that’s good, because here they come. An hour earlier than Holly said.”
It wasn’t a Harley coming their way.
It was a van with no side windows.
“How many people you think they can stuff in there?” asked Reel.
“About a dozen. From how far down the chassis is riding on the rear wheels, I’d say it’s pretty full of something.”
“You know, I was really hoping it would just be her.”
“Shows how much hope is worth,” replied Robie drily.
She slid her rifle out of its pack a
nd attached the scope on its rail.
Robie watched her load the Remington. “Why did you switch from Lapua rounds to Win Mags?”
“Just wanted something new, I guess.”
When she caught the rigid look on his face at this comment, she added, in a more contrite tone, “Someone I respect recommended them. That’s the only reason.”
“Yeah,” said Robie tersely before looking back at the van. “How do you want to do this?”
“On the off chance it’s just her and the weight in the van is due to something innocuous, let’s not open fire until it’s confirmed that she tried to double-cross us.”
Robie examined one of his M11s and then burnished the blade of his knife with his coat sleeve. “Works for me.”
She said, “If we keep this up, we’re not going to be too popular here.”
“We were never popular here.”
The van pulled up to the cabin and the doors opened.
“You ready to fight?” said Reel.
“It’s what I do,” answered Robie.
Chapter
25
“THAT’S DOCTOR KING,” said Reel.
“And his apostles,” added Robie.
It was indeed Doctor King climbing out of the van’s passenger seat. Five young men clambered out of the back, and one emerged from the driver’s side.
“And there’s Holly,” said Robie.
She was dressed far more modestly than the night before, in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with hiking boots. Her hair was tied up in a bun at the back.
“I don’t see that they’re armed,” Reel observed.
Robie took out his phone and punched in the number.
They watched as Holly reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone.
“Yes?”
“Why all the friends?” asked Robie.
Holly started to look all around as King watched her closely.
“Where are you?” she demanded.
“In a place where I obviously can see you and you can’t see me. Why did you bring all those people, Holly?”
“Because I don’t really know you, that’s why.”
“Okay. But why King and his apostles?”
“Because they found me last night and helped me. I was with them when you called. Doctor offered to come with me, just in case I needed any help.”
“Well, you don’t need any help, so you can ask them to leave. We’ll drive you where you need to go.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“I could have easily hurt or killed you last night, right? But I saved your life and then I let you go. Didn’t I, Holly? And we saved your boyfriend’s life, too. But for us, Luke’s dead.”
“That’s true, I guess,” she conceded.
“All we want is information. In exchange for that you get your stuff. But we’re not doing it with all these people here. So either ask them to leave or we’re out of here. And we’re going to take your stuff with us.”
“You promise you won’t do anything to me?”
“We’re Feds, Holly. We won’t do anything to you for lots of reasons, including the hassle of paperwork. I wouldn’t be doing any of this except for the note you left in my jacket.”
She pondered this for a moment. “Okay,” she said. “Give me a minute.”
She kept the line open and walked over to King. They could see her talking with him and then he said something back. She shook her head. He nodded, looked around the surrounding area, and called to his men. They climbed back into the van and slowly drove away.
Reel watched them leave through her scope. When they were far enough away she nodded to Robie.
They made their way down to lower ground and then took the path to the cabin. Holly was waiting near the front door and turned quickly to stare at them when they rounded a bend and came into view.
“Who’s she?” asked Holly, pointing to Reel as they drew nearer.
“She’s the one who saved your boyfriend’s life last night by taking out his fellow skinheads.”
She dismissively waved this comment off. “Luke’s not like that. He just joined those assholes to have something to do. He was bored.”
“He has a swastika tatted on his head.”
“It’s not a real tattoo. He did it with some temporary ink so he could take it off when he wanted to. He has it just to fit in. They have rules and crap. He’s going to take it off when we leave here.”
They stopped a few feet from her. “Okay,” said Robie. “About Roger Walton? We know that he came by to visit you at the rehab facility. Why was that?”
Holly said, “Where’s my suitcase?”
In answer Reel went inside the cabin and came out a few moments later carrying it. She handed Holly her passport.
“Signed, sealed, and delivered,” said Robie. “Now it’s your turn.”
Holly sat down on the porch of the cabin and glanced at Walton’s rental, which was still parked in front. She let out a long breath and looked nervously at each of them.
“I don’t want to get into trouble over this. I’m on parole.”
“Which means you probably can’t leave the area,” said Robie.
“I thought of that. I checked in with my parole officer and talked to him about my plans. They’re allowing me to transfer to another location where I’ll be checking in regularly with a new parole officer. I just can’t stay here anymore.”
“Your sister has been telling you that for some time, hasn’t she?” pointed out Reel. “She came out here because of you. She’s worried about you. She went looking for you last night but couldn’t find you.”
“My sister has been trying to run my life since we were little” was Holly’s surprising reply, her features hardening. “Did she tell you I was the brainy one? The golden girl?”
“She did. Are you saying you’re not?” asked Robie.
“Oh, I’m smart. I’ve got a head for math and science. I proved that. I graduated from MIT. I got offers from NASA and others.”
“But you turned them all down and came out here, why?” asked Reel.
“Because I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to live my