“It’s him!” Maureen shrieked, white-faced. The tone of her voice made Ben’s blood run cold. “It’s the man who killed Doc!”
A thin smile curled on the driver’s lips. “That was an accident, remember?”
“What are you planning to do with us?” Ben asked.
“You’ll know soon enough,” the man grunted. “What’s your rush?”
Ben’s jaw tightened. “I’d just like to know, you-”
“Sorry. We’re not supposed to say.”
“Can’t you tell me anything?”
The man’s face twitched. “I can tell you this. You ain’t gonna like it.”
Ben spent the next forty-five minutes or so with a paper bag over his head. It seemed they didn’t want him to know where he was going. He could tell they had left town, had probably gone into the forest. But beyond that, he was clueless. All he could do was wait.
“Are you all right, Maureen?” he shouted at one point. His voice reverberated inside the paper bag.
“I’m fine. Given the circumstances.”
The man beside Ben grunted. “Worried about your little lady, chump?”
“Don’t hurt her. There’s no reason to hurt her.”
Ben felt a sharp jab in the ribs. “You ain’t in a position to argue, chump.”
They drove the rest of the distance in silence. Eventually Ben felt the car slow.
“We’re here.”
The man removed the bag over Ben’s head. He was right-they were in the forest. Deep, deep in the thick of it.
Just behind the car, Ben saw a cabin. More of an outsized shack, really-wood planks forming most of the walls, faded from rain and sunlight.
“So this is it,” he heard Maureen murmur. “The Holy Grail.”
Ben frowned. “What?”
“Their headquarters,” Maureen explained. “We knew the Cabal had a camp out in the woods somewhere. But we’ve never been able to find it.”
Surveying the scenery, Ben could imagine why. They were at the peak of what appeared to be a small mountain, utterly isolated from everything below. There was only one road leading to the cabin, and nothing else in sight.
“Come on,” the man beside Ben grunted. “Move your butt. You’re wanted inside.”
A few minutes later, Ben and Maureen were inside, both tied securely to upright chairs taken from an ancient dinner table. The chairs were old and not very sturdy. Ben suspected that, given half a chance, they could probably free themselves. Unfortunately, their captors didn’t appear likely to give them half a chance.
Ben felt cold beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face. He didn’t want to be a coward, but he was scared, and he knew it. They were alone, isolated-totally at the mercy of these men. Bad enough that he was in this situation-but Maureen was stuck here, too. He didn’t like that a bit. The looks on those men’s faces told him they were capable of anything. Anything at all.
“Now,” the driver said, “let’s talk. I’m Carl. You’re Ben, right? And the lady with the sexy legs is Maureen.”
“Go to hell,” Maureen answered.
“Why have you brought us here?” Ben asked, straining against his bonds. They weren’t tied that tightly. If he could just get rid of these jerks for a few minutes …
“Well, Ben,” Carl answered, “to tell you the truth, we didn’t want you. We weren’t too happy when you set out to rescue Zakin from the hangman’s noose, but from what I understand, your defense has been totally screwed, so who cares? We were after the lovely Maureen.”
Ben felt an empty aching in his chest. He’d been afraid of this.
“What do you want with me?” Maureen asked.
“Well, I thought we ought to have a little talk. After all, you’re in charge now, right?”
“Only because you loggers have killed everyone else!”
“Maureen, calm down. I think you have the wrong idea. Although maybe I shouldn’t tell you. I think you’re very sexy when you’re angry.” He smiled, a toothy smile Ben would’ve enjoyed rendering toothless. “We’re not loggers. I’ve never cut a tree in my life.”
Ben surveyed the four faces in the room. “These assholes don’t care about eco-politics, Maureen. They’re just hired thugs. They work for Slade. Where is he anyway?”
“Look, punk, I’m here to ask the questions, not you.”
“Right.” Ben forced himself to be brave, even though he was feeling anything but. “I bet he’s here somewhere. Safely tucked away, but keeping a watchful eye on things.” Ben looked around the cabin. “Hiding in a back room somewhere?”
“Listen to me!” In an instant, Carl was on his feet and brought the flat of his hand around to club Ben on the side of the face.
Ben winced. That smarted. The sharp sudden pain almost brought tears to his eyes, which he knew would not help him keep up his defiant facade.
“Now here’s the story,” Carl barked. “We’ve had it with your goddamn Green Rage. We’ve tolerated it as long as we’re gonna. We’ve hit you again and again and again. But like stupid lemmings, you just keep coming. We’re tired of it. We want you out!”
Maureen looked at him levelly. “We’re not going.”
Carl clenched his fist together. “Don’t make this hard on yourself, lady.”
“What are you going to do? Hurt me? Kill me?” Maureen leaned forward, pressing against the restraint of the ropes. “Are you going to kill all of us? Are you going to exterminate every person on earth who doesn’t want to see the forests leveled?”
“Take it somewhere else, lady!” Ben could see Carl’s anger was rising. “We just want you out of Magic Valley.”
“Have you looked at this forest?” Maureen shouted back. “Have you looked at it? Some of those trees go back hundreds of years. We can’t let you chop them down just to make more cardboard!”
“You can, lady. And you will.” He drew his arm back, fist clenched.
“If you hit her,” Ben said, cutting in, “you’d better be willing to kill me.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Because you won’t get away with it. So long as I’m alive, I’ll make sure charges are brought against you.” He paused. “I will hunt you down like a dog.”
Carl smiled thinly. “You just don’t get it, do you, Kincaid? There’s a reason the Cabal exists. It’s so we can do things the loggers can’t do themselves. Because no one knows who we are. I could beat both of you to a pulp or worse, and never do a day in jail. Because, see, I don’t exist. As soon as this is over, I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again.”
“There’s always a way,” Ben said.
“Not with us,” Carl replied. “Others have tried. Others a lot better than you. No one’s succeeded. And they never will.” He turned back toward Maureen. “So let me ask you again. Are you going to cooperate? Agree to pull your team out of the forest? Or do I have to get rough?”
“You can do whatever you want, you bastard. I’ll never agree.”
“You say that now,” Carl replied. “But you might change your mind later.” He stepped closer to her, then straddled her tied legs and sat in her lap. He pressed his face to hers. “You might change your mind when you see the knife, see how sharp it is, how deep it cuts. You might change your mind when you feel your clothes being ripped off your body. You might change your mind when you’re being hurt, abused, violated-”
“Shut up, you son of a bitch!” Ben shouted.
Carl didn’t even blink. “You will change your mind, Maureen. The only question is whether you’ll do it before I have my fun-or after.”
“You’re a disgusting pig,” Maureen said, right in his face.
Carl drew in his breath, then slowly released it. “I’m sorry to hear you say that, Maureen. I really am. But I have a job to do.” He reached into his pocket and removed a large switchblade. He pressed the trigger button and the blade popped out. “Where do you want it first?”
“Go to hell!” Maureen screamed, crying.
“All right then,” Carl said, jaw clenched, “let’s start with your face.”
“No!” Ben shouted.
“Oh yes,” Carl said, raising the knife. “We’ll start with-”
His voice was cut off by a sudden booming noise. It was a huge, fluid noise; it made Ben imagine the word whoosh! drawn in a comic-book panel.