“We’ve only got one. You know that.”
“Affirmative. I’m simply relaying his request. He said he was injured.”
“Did he say what happened? Why he needed three?”
“Yes,” the dispatcher said. “He said,
“Oh, man. What’s the location of the ranch?”
“We’re trying to determine that now. The line went dead. We’ve been calling him back, but no one answers. Ruth here knows the area, and she says she thinks it’s in the Bear Lodge Mountains by Devils Tower. She says she heard some guy from back east named Leo bought it a few weeks ago.”
Joe started the motor and opened his window, yelled to Nate and Sheridan,
22
BLOOD EVERYWHERE. HERS.
Robert, shirtless, driving erratically. Screaming. Stenko in the front seat, yelling back at Robert.
They were driving too fast down a bad, bumpy road. Pine trees shot by on both sides of the road, the sun strobing through them, reminding her of a bright bulb behind a rotating fan. Every time Robert hit a bump, the pain in her leg sent bolts of electricity piercing through her.
But she didn’t cry. Yet. Not until they got out of this. Not until
Stenko yelling, “Watch where you’re going, Robert! Watch the damned road or you’ll kill us all.”
Robert, panicked: “I’m watching the road! Stay out of my face. You’re the one who got us into this, not me.”
“You’re looking more at the mirror than the road. Look at the goddamn road!”
“I’m looking for the Talich Brothers. I’m sure they’re behind us. You know what they’ll do if they catch us . . .”
Stenko: “If you drive off the road and kill us all, they don’t need to do anything, do they? Their job will be done. Now calm down, son. Calm down. Calm down.”
Robert screaming: “Don’t call me son. And HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN?”
Stenko: “This is where you need to calm down. This is the kind of situation where you can’t panic. It reminds me of that time we were at the place in Wisconsin and you saw the snake. Remember that? You screamed and cried like a girl until Carmen got a shovel and killed it. It was just a garden snake, not poisonous. But your reaction scared me and this scares me now. Calm down. Think. This is where you need to sit back and try to outthink them.”
“Easy for you to say, Dad. You’re a gangster.”
“Ah, that again,” Stenko sighed.
“I was wondering how long it would be before you brought up that damned snake.”
She couldn’t believe how much she’d bled, how much blood there had been inside her. How for a few frantic minutes all her blood was so eager to spill out of that hole in her leg.
IT HAD HAPPENED SO QUICKLY in a sudden eruption back on the ranch she didn’t see coming. She doubted anyone had.
After Stenko, the Talich Brothers, and the man they called Leo went into the house, she found herself alone on the front lawn. She had no idea how long they’d be inside and she really didn’t want to go in there, but Robert didn’t answer her calls for him. She wished she’d brought the cell phone so she could contact Sheridan and tell her to come get her now, please come get her now . . .
Inside the house she heard deep voices and sharp skin-to-skin slaps. She hoped Stenko was okay and wasn’t the target of any of the violence, but at the same time she felt sick thinking that he was likely administering the blows. She knew he was capable of anything, but she tried to block that out, tried to pretend he’d left that part of him behind. Because how could a man who was so kind to her be like that?
She yelled for Robert. Either he couldn’t hear her or he refused to answer.
The morning was cool, sunny, still. A beautiful high-mountain day that smelled of pine, grass, and clover. But from inside the house came the sounds of blows and shouts. And a maniacal laugh that gave her chills because she recognized the voice as belonging to Nathanial. The crazy one.
She tried to sit on a lawn chair and wait, but she couldn’t. She was nervous and scared and she didn’t like being alone, separated from Stenko. And who knew where Robert was? Robert and the TracFone, which she hadn’t yet had the chance to use. As she stared at the sky, it dawned on her the blue was marred by the lines across it—lines from power poles that went into the house.
She jumped to her feet. She’d go inside, find a phone, and call Sheridan, beg her to come get her.
So she opened the front screen door and stepped inside, letting the door close behind her on a spring.
She was repulsed by what she saw. The man named Leo sat behind a table, his back pressed against the wall, his hands on the tabletop. He was next to a large window that overlooked the back pasture. In the distance, Devils Tower shimmered in the cold morning sun. One of Leo’s eyes was swelled shut and his lip was bleeding. Stenko sat across from him with his back to her. Nathanial stood next to Stenko, leaning across the table toward Leo. Chase was off to the side in the room, leaning back against a bookcase. Chase acknowledged her when she came in but turned back to Leo. Corey stood on the other side of Stenko facing Leo, his hands on his hips.
