By the time they reached a safe spot, his watch had ticked to 2:16 P.M.
He could see the two behind the guard station in the middle of the bridge easily enough. They looked alert behind the M60, as did the four soldiers walking around them. Four, instead of just the two that were there yesterday. They kept to their half of the steel structure, probably because they didn’t want to get caught in front of the machine gun. Smart.
There were no signs of Steve, which was problematic. It shouldn’t have taken Eric all that long to report in. Unless Steve sensed an ambush, then he wouldn’t show up. It wouldn’t surprise Keo if he was wary of just that, especially after what he had done to Tobias less than twenty-four hours ago.
Maybe he’d even send Jack in his place-
Or not, Keo thought as Steve himself appeared on the other end of the bridge with Jack riding on a horse next to him. The lesser Miller, perched in his saddle, made for an awfully tempting target.
Next to him, Jordan was clutching her rifle so hard he could hear the sound of her fingers tightening.
“Don’t,” he said. “I need him alive for now.”
Jordan didn’t say anything.
“Jordan…”
“I heard you the first time,” she snapped. Then, in a softer voice, “So what now?”
“I’m going to go out there and give him the ring.”
“And then?”
“Hopefully he’ll keep his word and take me to Gillian.”
“‘Hopefully’? Christ, Keo. I didn’t know you were that stupid.”
“I think he’ll keep his word.”
“What makes you think that, for God’s sake? He can’t be trusted.”
“I’m relying on what I know about men like Miller.”
“What, that they’re all assholes?”
“That, too.”
“And if he does exactly what I think he’ll do, and shoots you as soon as you hand the ring over?”
“That’s what you’re here for.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Can you hit him from this distance?” he asked.
“Are you kidding me? It’s too far. I’m not that good.”
That makes two of us.
“Then you’ll have to get closer,” he said.
“How much closer?”
“As close as you need to make the shot if I’m wrong. But you have to promise me you won’t kill him if I’m still alive.” He looked at her, catching her eyes and holding them. “Remember, we’re here to save Gillian. After I make sure she’s fine, we can all get out of here. I told you about the Trident?”
“The yacht?”
“Yeah.”
“What about it?”
“I know how to contact them. All I’ll need is a ham radio. When I get Gillian, we’ll leave Texas behind. The three of us.”
“Your friends on the boat will come get us?”
He nodded. “All I need to do is make contact.”
She clenched her teeth for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. But what about Miller?”
“If he gets in the way, I’ll kill him.”
“What if Gillian doesn’t want to leave, did you think of that? She didn’t want to leave with me last time.”
“Yes, but I have to find out for certain. I spent six months looking for her, Jordan. I can’t just half-ass it now.” He paused, still holding her gaze. “Agreed?”
“You’re risking a lot on a hunch, Keo. Miller could order them to shoot you down as soon as you show up and just take the ring from your cold, dead hand.”
“I agree, he could do that. But I’m going on faith that he won’t.”
Jordan almost laughed. “Faith in Miller?”
“Not in him, but in men like him. He thinks of himself as a commander, and every commander collects soldiers. Certain types of soldiers. If he believes that I’ve killed Tobias for him, I think he’ll want to keep me around.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Any man who accepts the kind of job I did-and can pull it off-is valuable these days, don’t you think?”
She smirked. “You ever consider that maybe you’re thinking way too highly of yourself?”
He chuckled. “That’s entirely possible, but I don’t think so.”
“You willing to bet your life on that?”
“Why not? I’ve been doing it for the last six months, looking for you guys. What’s one more day?”
She shook her head before staring intently back at him. “Just shoot him, Keo. Then we can try to save Gillian my way. Without Miller around, the town won’t be nearly as dangerous. We can do this together. You don’t have to go out there and risk everything on some stupid hunch.”
“I’m relying on human nature.”
“Whatever you want to call it, it’s not worth your life.”
She looked conflicted, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t put it into words. Keo wished he were better at reading women, but he didn’t know what was going on behind those deep brown eyes of hers at the moment.
“If everything works out, can you find someplace to survive the night alone?” he asked.
“Big if…” But she nodded. “There are plenty of places around here to lay low. Don’t worry about me.”
“I can’t help it. It used to be I was just worried about me, but these days, I find myself worrying about other people, too. Frankly, it’s annoying.”
“Welcome to the human race.”
“Eh,” he shrugged.
She smiled, and he thought it was a very nice smile despite the dirt on her cheeks and flecks of something green and brown in her hair.
“If this blows up in your face, there’s another way out of town,” she said.
“Your inside guys?”
“One of them. His name’s Dave. I’ve never actually met him before, but Tobias seems to trust him.”
“How do I make contact?”
“He works in the main cafeteria. Most of them wear name tags when they’re working, so you won’t have any trouble finding him. Oh, and he’s a black guy.”
“Okay. A black guy named Dave who works in the cafeteria.”
“The main cafeteria.”
“There’s more than one?”
“Two. One for the soldiers and one for the general population. Big town, remember?”
“So what does Dave look like?”
“Didn’t I just say I’ve never met him?” She looked annoyed, which wasn’t anything new. He had that kind of effect on women lately.
“Right. So Dave the black guy who works in the cafeteria.”
Keo turned back to the bridge.
Miller had reached the middle and was looking around with his hands on his hips. Jack, on the horse next to him, was saying something.
He looked back at her. “You don’t have to do this. It’s not too late to catch up to Tobias.”
“Are you tired of me already?” she asked with a slight smile.
“It’s not that-”
“I’m just messing with you, Keo.”
“Ah.”
She stood up. “Good luck. I hope you’re right about Miller, because otherwise you’re a dead man.”
Tell me something I don’t already know.
He watched her jog off with her rifle. When he couldn’t see her anymore, he listened to the soft crunch-crunch of her boots against the ground. Eventually, even that faded, and he was left with just his slightly elevated breathing.
Why was he breathing so hard?
Right. Steve. The soldiers.
And that M60…
He slung the MP5SD just as Steve shouted, “Keo! You out there? You said you wanted to see me, so here I am!”
He paused for a moment at the sight of a squirrel perched on the biggest tree he’d ever seen in his life. The tree had been there before Wilmont was a glimmer in its founder’s eyes, and would likely be here long after he and Steve and everyone else in T18 were gone. The squirrel was staring blankly at him.
Keo grinned back at the animal.
“Keo!” Steve shouted. “Where are you?”
He could hear the growing agitation in Steve’s voice. Apparently everyone was getting annoyed with him today.