He looked at him.
“What is it?”
“You need to see this.”
Hank glanced at Samuel and sneered before walking past him.
Outside, in the bright afternoon sunshine, he was disturbed to see Colby Riker on his property but even more so when he locked eyes with the woman accompanying him.
Hank stopped on the porch, and took a step back, bringing a cupped hand up above his eyes to block the glare of the sun. Was he hallucinating? Skye?
A flood of memories hit him.
His brother telling him he was having a girl, her birth, her first birthday, watching Ryland show her how to catch her first fish, teaching her to fire a rifle, watching her grow into a young woman. Her death had destroyed the family.
Ruth came out of the cabin and joined him. “Good Lord,” she said. “How can that be?”
“Hank. Ruth,” Colby said. “This is Alicia Scott. A friend of mine from L.A.”
Ruth was the first to approach. She made her way down and got close, studying her face. “You look so much like her.” She glanced at Colby then took a step back as Hank came down to throw out his two cents.
“If you are here to ask for help. Forget it. Your mother deserves everything that is coming to her.”
“I expect she does,” he said. “I’m not proud of what she’s done or the choice she made to take Ryland’s life. And I don’t expect you to help because of Dan. That’s not why I’m here. For the longest time, I believed in the feud between us and your kin. I believed it was right. I believed it was just. That ended when Skye died. No amount of fighting can ever justify that. Regardless of what you think, I loved her. I didn’t see the last name.” He glanced at Alicia. “It was much more than that. More than the way she looked, more than what we had in common. She made me believe that it didn’t have to be this way. Us against you. You against us. We all live on this mountain. We all share in the same business. There is room for all of us. But if we don’t stand together now, there won’t be an us.”
“Of course there will.”
“The militia is only getting started. Do you honestly think they will be satisfied with running Eureka? Do you think they will stop there once they have gained the trust of the people? When their numbers have grown fifty times what they are now with volunteers, do you think they will leave you alive? If you believe that, you are a fool.”
Hank’s nose scrunched up. His eyes narrowed. Insulted.
“But I don’t believe you are a fool. You are a mirror of us. Smart. Violent. Passionate. You don’t back down, and you sure as hell won’t let someone push you out of these hills. Now we can’t do this alone but with you all — we have a fighting chance.” He paused. “So I’m not asking you to help Dan or help my mother, or even Paco. I’m asking you to help yourselves and allow us to help you all.”
He had balls of steel coming onto their property. For all the faults of the Rikers, and all the misery they had caused, Colby hadn’t walked to the beat of his parents’ drum. For that, he respected him. There was something different to him. Right or wrong. For or against. He had a point. This wasn’t a matter of Dan’s survival. If they would do it once, they could do it again. They were stronger together but after the killing of his sons and brother, he wasn’t sure the damage could ever be repaired.
“So?” Colby asked.
Chapter Twenty-Four
One public execution would appease the outraged, three would win the hearts and minds of the community. Since the recent string of deaths throughout the county, fear had been on the lips of everyone. They were terrified of becoming a number in a FEMA camp and even more so of becoming a statistic of violence or starvation. With supplies being distributed, and bellies full, a quiet confidence in the militia had formed while leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the locals because of the sheriff’s lack of answers or solution to the attacks. The people had called upon Dan for justice, but their pleas had fallen upon deaf ears. But not with him.
Oh no, where Dan had failed, Benjamin would deliver.
Where Dan offered leniency, he would lead without mercy.
For he knew that words meant little now, actions were superior.
So he would brutally demonstrate justice before everyone.
Of course, he hadn’t planned for it to work out this way. They had forced his hand, pushed him into a corner, and if he hadn’t acted fast, his men might have seen weakness. Now they saw only strength, a light at the end of the tunnel.
No more playing second fiddle to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
No more hiding in the shadows biding their time. This was their time.
And he aimed to capitalize on it in one night.
As the sun began to wane behind the mighty redwoods, Benjamin stood inside the museum of Fort Humboldt, enjoying a celebratory drink with Lieutenant Hale. Beyond the windows, he watched as a massive crowd filled out the courtyard. Fiery torches illuminated the perimeter as the community waited in anticipation. Earlier, after the events at the department, after they’d subdued every threat that opposed their takeover, he’d had volunteers go out into the streets to spread the word of the execution.
“Do you think this will work?” Elijah asked.
“Of course it will.”
“And if they don’t show?”
“Then we will go into their burrows and hunt them like foxes until every single one of them is dead.” Evans handed a small glass of port to Elijah and they stood behind the window, watching the locals.
“And what if this backfires?” Elijah asked.
He laughed. “You’ve
