“What if I don’t make it back before nightfall?”
“Then I guess you better find a nice and safe place to hide until morning.”
CHAPTER 8
“You’re really good at that,” Keo said. “You raised on a farm or something?”
Jack chuckled from his horse’s saddle. “Conroe, Texas. We had more fish than horses out there. I guess I’ve had a lot of practice.”
“You boys been here long?”
“Long enough to be one of the original guys that had to clean up the houses for all the new arrivals. Let me tell you, that’s grunt work I’d rather not do again.”
“Who gets the houses?”
“The worthy ones.”
“Like you?”
“Like I said: The worthy ones. That can be you too, if you play your cards right.”
“You mean if I can find Tobias, kill him, manage to get away, and return to the town still breathing.”
“I thought all of that was implied.”
“Hard to tell with you, Jack, on account of your propensity for lying.”
“A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.”
I’ll keep that in mind for next time, dickhead.
“You can do this,” Jack was saying. He sounded almost encouraging, for a dickhead. “Steve says he’s pretty sure you used to do something like this back in the day.”
“What did Steve use to do…back in the day?”
“He was a cop. A detective. A pretty good one, too. Smart. Why do you think he’s running the show around here?”
“I thought it was because of his charming personality.”
“It ain’t that charming.”
For a guy with one bad leg, Jack was easygoing, being a dickhead notwithstanding. Then again, he was riding on a horse while Keo had to walk next to him up the length of the bridge that connected T18 and the rest of what used to be the city of Wilmont. It was midday and would have been peaceful if not for the loud, echoing clop-clop-clop of horseshoes against the steel floor.
A pair of soldiers with binoculars keeping a constant watch on both sides of the river barely paid them any attention as they walked past. There were four soldiers on the bridge, including two manning a guard station on the right lane, leaving just the left open for back and forth travel. The setup was really just two large desks stacked with sandbags underneath a camo canopy that provided plenty of shade. What Keo really paid attention to was the M60 machine gun perched between the two men.
Four men on a bridge were not nearly enough to keep T18 from invasion, but that probably wasn’t the point. The men were just a buffer, with more soldiers manning a swinging metal gate behind them. The figures he had seen earlier moving around the ringed walkway of the water tower were still there, further down the river. Now that was a hell of a perch, and likely one he’d have to evade or take out first if he ever expected to escape the town.
“Have they ever tried to attack the bridge?” Keo asked.
“They’re too smart for that,” Jack said. “Why do you think they’ve been giving us so much trouble? If they were stupid, Steve would have snuffed them out a long time ago.”
Keo looked up at Jack. The younger Miller was eyeing the other side of the bridge as if he expected the mysterious Tobias to be lying in wait for him. The full extent of Jack’s “briefing” had involved pointing out the last spot they had skirmished with Tobias’s group and what the man looked like. Tall, blond, blue eyes, and formidable. He might as well be describing Captain America.
“You respect him,” Keo said. “Tobias.”
“You have to respect the enemy in order to effectively fight him.”
“One of Steve’s sayings?”
Jack grinned but didn’t deny or confirm.
They stopped next to the guard station in the middle of the bridge. The steel structure extended about fifty meters from side to side and about fifteen meters above the water. Keo couldn’t see much of anything on the other end except a two-lane country road flanked by walls of trees. The city’s main commercial district was supposed to be beyond that. As with the right side, the left half of what used to be Wilmont was surrounded by thick woods.
And somewhere out there was Tobias.
“This is where you get off,” Jack said. He picked up the duffel bag lying across his saddle and handed it down to Keo. “Do us both a favor and don’t open it until you’re on the other side. You know, in case the boys here get itchy fingers. It’s been a while since they’ve shot anything, so you don’t wanna tempt them.”
“Heaven forbid,” Keo said, and slung the bag over his shoulder. It was heavy, which was a good sign.
He glanced at his watch: 12:15 P.M. Just over six hours until nightfall.
“You sure you don’t want something with more firepower for the job?” Jack asked. “Not too late. I can ask one of these boys to let you borrow their M4.”
“It’s not the size of the gun, Jack; it’s the finger behind the trigger.”
“Is that what you tell the ladies?”
“I do just fine with the ladies.”
“I bet. I’ve met Gillian, by the way. I can see why you’d be willing to take this job just to get back to her. She’s something.”
“Yes, she is.”
“You’ve tapped that before, right?”
Keo didn’t answer.
“Of course you have,” Jack smiled. “Why else would you be running around out here doing Steve’s bidding. Must have been some-”
“Watch yourself.”
Jack chuckled. “Fair enough.” Then, “Well, good luck, sport, because you’re going to need it. Tobias is a hard man to find and a harder man to kill. But after seeing what you did back at Santa Marie, I’m sure you’re more than up for the job.”
“Tell me something,” Keo said, looking up at Jack.
“What’s on your mind?”
“You always knew your brother was going to come looking for you, didn’t you? That’s why you never tried to escape yesterday.”
“We’re brothers. That’s what we do; look out for one another.” He picked up the reins and was about to turn the horse around when he paused, adding, “Oh, one piece of advice. When you get Tobias in your crosshairs, don’t hesitate. You’re probably only going to get one shot at him.”
Jack galloped off, the clop-clop-clop of horseshoes against the steel bridge like gunshots.
Keo started walking. He didn’t bother looking back because he could feel the men behind the sandbags manning the M60 watching him closely. The thought of being on the wrong side of that monster when it unleashed its full fury made him shiver slightly.
*
About three kilometers from the bridge, Keo came upon the first sign of civilization-a shopping center with sun-baked concrete floors and gray buildings that had been stripped of most of their signs. A slight wind moved through broken storefront windows without resistance, and overgrown grass swayed against the edges of the expansive and mostly spacious parking lot.
The sight of the abandoned stores and the few dirt-covered cars around him was like stepping through a portal in time, a reminder that he was living through the end of civilization as he knew it. He couldn’t even summon the curiosity to search the buildings for hints to Tobias’s whereabouts. It was all incredibly depressing, and Keo quickened his steps to get through the lot as fast as possible. Besides, there was little chance Tobias would leave clues this close to T18.
All things considered, this was one of his better days. He’d found Gillian, and that alone made up for everything else. It felt as if someone had lifted a 500-pound safe off his chest. He was optimistic for the first time in a long time, and it made leaving Carrie behind on the Trident easier to stomach.
He was almost giddy as he flattened his finger against the trigger guard of the MP5SD hanging from a sling in front of him. Having the submachine gun back was another major plus, and Jack had been even nice enough to return his pack intact, including the spare magazines and his gun belt with the silver bullet-loaded Glock. From the way the younger Miller had simply handed the bag full of weapons over, Keo guessed his captors hadn’t bothered to pay very close attention to his supplies. Either that, or finding guys loaded with silver rounds wasn’t anything new to them, which Keo doubted.