There it was. He didn’t have to convince Steve of a lie, he only had to convince the man of something he already believed.
“…the ones that don’t know any better…”
“Found her about a mile from here,” Steve was saying. “She had a nice hiding spot, too, but I figured she had to be nearby after what happened with Eric in the woods.”
Eric was the teenager from earlier, the one Keo had spared in order to give his message to Steve. He should have known the little bastard would mention that Keo wasn’t alone, that Jordan was with him. It had never occurred to him that Steve would have someone out there looking for her after he left the bridge. Steve hadn’t said a word about her, and Keo had assumed…
You ass.
“She wouldn’t tell me her name,” Steve said. He gestured with the knife, flicking (Jordan’s) blood back and forth across the floor. “Wouldn’t say much, really. But who else would be running around out there except your friend?”
“She’s not my friend,” Keo said.
Jordan blinked her one good eye, looking past Steve and at him. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw disappointment on her bloodied face.
“No?” Steve said. “She was with you earlier.”
“Doesn’t mean she’s my friend.”
“Then who is she?”
“Just someone who decided to come along to T18. She’s tired of living hand to mouth out there with Tobias. After I killed him, she asked to come back, too, wanted to rejoin the town.”
“Is that right?” Steve looked back at Jordan. “So why didn’t she come in from the cold the same time as you?”
“I promised her I’d talk to you about it first. Make sure you didn’t hold a grudge against any of Tobias’s people. She’s not the only one, you know. There are others.”
“How many more?”
“A handful.”
Steve smirked. “Can’t say I’m surprised.” Then he narrowed his eyes at Keo. “Not that I believe what you’re saying.”
“Why would I lie?”
“I don’t know. Why would you agree to kill a man you barely know? Why would you come back here after I used you as bait? I don’t know why you do most of the things you do, Keo.”
“There you go overthinking it again,” Keo said, injecting just enough amusement into his voice to make it convincing. “I already told you, I’m not that complicated.”
He looked past Steve and at Jordan. Her good eye was closed, and she was bleeding and hurt (badly, badly hurt), but he hoped there was nothing wrong with her hearing. If she had been listening, maybe she would understand what he was doing. Or trying to do, anyway.
“He’s not wrong,” Jack was saying. “You saw that girl he was doing all of this for. Preggers or not, I’d probably kill a few guys just to get some of that.”
Steve grinned. “She’s not bad.”
“She was hotter before,” Keo sighed. “But she’s not going to be pregnant forever. Know what I mean?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jack said. “My girls are glowing.”
“It’s probably because of all the potatoes you’re feeding them,” Steve said.
Jack shrugged. “Maybe.”
Steve nodded at Keo, as if to say, “Okay, maybe I believe you,” before turning back to Jordan. He cupped her bloodied chin and lifted her head until she could look him in the eyes.
“Look at me,” Steve said. “Hey.”
She opened her eye slowly.
“Is he right?” Steve asked her. “You were waiting for a signal to come in?”
Jordan didn’t react.
Come on, Jordan, play along…
Finally, her head moved. It was nodding, or trying to.
“Why didn’t you say that when they caught you?” Steve asked.
She struggled to answer, small incomprehensible sounds escaping her bloodied lips.
“I can’t hear you,” Steve said. “Louder.”
“No…chance…” she managed to say.
Steve let go of her chin, then pulled a small rag out from his back pocket and cleaned his hands. He did the same to the knife before sliding it back into its sheath.
“The boys did that to her face,” Steve said to Keo. “I guess they got a little carried away. Tobias’s people may have suffered heavy losses yesterday, but they’ve been hounding us for months. I’ve lost more than my share, too.”
“What about the knife?” Keo asked.
“That was me,” Steve said with a dismissive shrug. “She wasn’t being very cooperative.” Then, “Where are the others? The rest of Tobias’s people?”
“Somewhere out there. You found where they were last night? The YMCA near the highway?”
“Scouts did,” Jack said.
“They were there when I left. I guess your guys must have spooked them. I was supposed to tell her-” he nodded at Jordan “-that everything was arranged, then she would relay the message back to the others and they’d all come in at the same time.”
“The lambs are coming home,” Jack smiled. “I told you they’d come running back when we finally got rid of Tobias.”
“Easier said than done,” Steve said. “Until today, anyway.” He nodded at Jack. “Get her to Bannerman. Make sure no one sees her like this.”
“I hate going there. Bannerman gives me the creeps.”
“Suck it up,” Steve said. Then to Keo, “Come on,” before starting off.
Keo looked back at Jordan and caught her staring at him with her good eye. He gave her a barely visible nod and she blinked back once.
He turned around as Jack ordered the soldiers to bring Jordan down, and he heard her grunting with relief as she was lowered to the hard concrete floor.
Outside, the clouds above T18 had grown in size and gotten much grayer. Though they had over an hour before sundown, it was already dark enough that the LED floodlights had begun switching on along the docks.
“What’s going to happen to her?” Keo asked.
“Bannerman will take care of her,” Steve said. “She should be fine in a couple of days.”
“Those knife cuts won’t be fine in a couple of days.”
“Everything heals eventually, Keo. She’s lucky I believed you, otherwise I would have really gone to work.”
“You mean you weren’t ‘really’ working back there?”
“That was a warm-up. You don’t wanna see me really working.” He stared at Keo when he added, “Trust me on that.”
“Sure. Whatever you say, Steve.”
“Good.” He climbed into the golf cart. “The first step to a healthy partnership is to recognize your position in the hierarchy. In T18, what I say goes. Got it?”
“Gotten.”
“That’s a good soldier.” He grinned. “Now, let’s go have dinner. I’m famished.”
*
Steve lived in T18A3, two subdivisions over from the one where Gillian (and Fuck-You-Jay) lived. The housing areas were separated by the same six-foot wooden fencing he had seen in the back of Gillian’s house. Nothing that would keep anyone out, but just enough to separate the different areas into their own little corners.
With the gathering clouds growing darker above him, it felt as if they were driving through nightfall. Keo had to temper his growing anxiety about still being outside, especially without his guns.
“Relax,” Steve said behind the steering wheel. “They don’t come into town. There’s an invisible line that they don’t cross. When I decide I can fully trust you, I might tell you how it all works. Until then, you’ll just have to be satisfied with Rule #1.”
“Which is?”
“Everything within the town is safe. Everything beyond it? Go at your own risk.”
“Good to know…”
Lights hanging from repurposed power poles along the road had begun slowly turning on as they traveled from the marina back to the subdivisions. The lights had come on by themselves, and he guessed they were similar to the solar-powered lamps he’d seen on Song Island, only smaller and less efficient. They weren’t quite bright enough to push back the darkness completely, but there were enough of them to navigate by.