“Well, there’s still a hell of a lot more to do.” One of the men who had dumped Al snarled at Rick. “I guess you must be one of those Green Rage boys, right?”
Rick didn’t answer.
“Well, I’m feeling a bit of rage right now myself,” the man said. The two men with shotguns stepped forward, guns trained on Rick, while the first man primed his fist for action.
Tess turned away. She couldn’t bear to watch. The sickening sound of it alone was almost more than she could bear. She tried to block it out, but no matter what she did, no matter what she tried, she heard each and every blow, each and every shrill cry of pain, and in time, each and every plea for mercy.
Chapter 23
“What the hell did you think you were doing?”
Ben paced furiously outside the cell. He knew he was not doing a good job of controlling his emotions-wasn’t really doing a good job of controlling anything. But sometimes it felt good just to let it rip.
“Do you understand that we’re trying a murder case here? That it starts next week? That the death penalty is still very much a possibility?”
Inside the cell, Tess and Rick squirmed. Tess had managed to survive their capture by the loggers with only minor bruises and abrasions; apparently hitting a woman was still contrary to most loggers’ code of ethics. But Rick had not been so fortunate; the pounding he’d taken had split open a cut above his right eye and dislocated his jaw. He’d been released from the hospital only shortly before Ben arrived. He had a bandage tied under his jaw and around his head, knotted at the top. He looked like a little boy with a toothache.
Even Rick’s punishment, however, didn’t compare with what Al had suffered. Al was still unconscious, still in the hospital. And likely to be there for a good while yet.
“You can’t imagine what we’ve been through,” Tess said. “Couldn’t we have just a smidgen of sympathy?”
“No!” Ben fired back. “What you did was absolutely, positively stupid. In more ways than one.”
“It shouldn’t have been,” Rick said, groaning. “It only became stupid when we got caught.”
“Wrong. It was stupid the second you tried it. Because at that instant you put Zak’s trial in jeopardy.” He whirled around, swinging from one side of the cell to the other. “Who do you think is going to hear Zak’s case, anyway? Does the phrase ‘jury of his peers’ ring any bells?”
Tess frowned.
“And what do you think those jurors are doing right now? Well let me tell you. They’re reading news reports about the so-called eco-terrorists who were out playing high school pranks in the forest and got caught red-handed. Do you think that makes you look good? Do you think that makes Zak, the leader of the pranksters, look good? Do you think it’s going to help me garner sympathy for him with the jury?”
“As you’ll recall, we considered halting our activities pending the trial,” Tess said. “We decided against it.”
“Well, think again!” Ben spun around, furious. As if his job wasn’t impossible enough already, he had to deal with these zealots running around whipping up community anxiety and antipathy.
Ben heard the clang of the metal door, then the clatter of footsteps coming down the corridor. Sheriff Allen was approaching; Maureen was close at his heels. She ran ahead, pressed herself against the cell door, and stretched her arms through the bars. “Oh, God! Rick! Tess! How are you?”
“I’ve been better,” Rick mumbled, walking toward her. “But they say I’m going to live.”
“Good. In that case-” She reared back her arm and slapped him sharply across the side of his face.
“Oww!” Rick screamed. He moved away, clutching his sore jaw.
“That’s for being such an imbecile,” Maureen said, teeth clenched. “And for putting the entire mission in jeopardy.”
“It wasn’t my idea!” Rick said, a pained expression on his face.
“I don’t care. If you didn’t start it, you should’ve stopped it.” She paused, drawing in her breath. “I can forgive Tess. She’s new-she could easily be led. Or misled. But you have no excuse, Rick. You’re our acting leader. You’re supposed to be responsible!”
“Al was the one-”
“You know Al well enough to know that he’s always hotheaded. Always acts before thinking. That’s why I never send him out unless you’re with him. You’re supposed to be the voice of wisdom.” She pressed as far as possible through the bars. “Not an asshole!”
Sheriff Allen partly covered his face. “Should I step outside?”
Ben shook his head. “Don’t. We may need you for riot control.” Somehow, listening to Maureen’s fury had helped calm his own. Ben eased Maureen away from the bars. “Look, I think we’re all in agreement that this particular action was misguided-”
Maureen wrestled free of his hands. “You can say that again. In the future, all Green Rage activities will be discussed, analyzed, and voted upon by all members before they are executed. Understood?”
Rick looked at the floor sheepishly. “Understood.”
Maureen threw up her hands. “I just can’t get over how stupid this was. This must be the stupidest thing any Green Rager ever thought about doing!”
Sheriff Allen cocked an eyebrow. “Stupider than dressing up in a big hairy monster suit with a bright red nose?”
“There’s something we’re forgetting here,” Tess said quietly, finding her voice now that the anger in the room was subsiding. “Something more important than any of this.”
All heads turned in her direction.
She spoke but a single syllable. “Al.”
All at once, their expressions turned somber. She was right. In the midst of the shouting and haranguing, they had almost completely forgotten. Al, who was still in the hospital connected to an IV.
Better than any of them, he’d known the cost of taking on the Magic Valley logging community. And he’d paid the price.
After a long silence, Ben segued from his role as annoying moral conscience into his role as attorney-at-law “Sheriff Allen, when do you think I’ll be able to get these two released? I’m sure we can make bail.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Allen unclipped the cell keys from his belt. “That’s what I came to tell you. You’re free to go.”
Tess’s eyes widened. “What? But the loggers who brought us in-the charges-”
“There aren’t going to be any,” the sheriff explained. “I gather the word came down from the central office. The logging company is dropping all charges.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Actually, it makes perfect sense,” Ben said. “Think about it. If they press the destruction of property charge, we’re likely to raise the minor issue of assault and battery. They’re better off letting it go and hoping we’ll do the same. After all, Al is hurt pretty bad. The loggers are claiming they acted in self-defense, but if it ever came to trial …”
“Wow,” Rick murmured. “The suits must be pissed at those loggers who trounced us.”
“I doubt it,” Ben said. “All in all, I suspect they’d rather have it known that some Green Ragers got their butts kicked than have the Pyrrhic thrill of lodging minor felony charges that might not even bring jail time. It will get across the message those suits most want heard: eco-terrorism is a dangerous business. And it will probably boost logger morale.”
Rick became sullen and silent.
“Anyway,” Ben continued, “if they’re free to go …”
Sheriff Allen took the hint. He unlocked the cell door and escorted the prisoners out. “By the way,” Allen said to Ben as they marched down the corridor, “I was thinking about dropping by your office later.”
“Oh?”
“Do you …” He cleared his throat. “Do you by any chance know if that legal assistant of yours has dinner plans?”
“I’m her boss, not her social secretary.”