looked at him, but he was also quick to smile and carried gentleness within him that was belied by his capability for extreme violence which smouldered beneath his surface like a lit fuse. Like me, he was an Arrowsake alumnus, a graduate of that school of hard knocks, but following his demobilisation he’d managed to integrate himself back into society without carrying the same baggage that weighed me down.
I was damaged. I’m well aware of that fact. On leaving the military, I also had tried to settle back into the mundane life of a civilian, but the impulse to atone for what I perceived as a black mark on my soul ensured that I’d never know peace. Diane left me, though we loved each other, because she didn’t want to see her husband die. Diane knew I wouldn’t — couldn’t — change, and I was the first to admit that she was right. Often I’d reasoned that morality made me a good person, but my knack for embroiling myself in trouble argued against that. The saving grace was that I was helping decent people, and by that virtue it made me decent, too. That was my lot in life. My creed was simple: I didn’t like bullies and I’d go down kicking and screaming before I’d let them have their way. The only problem with my creed was that those loyal to me were dragged into my personal quest, and there was no one more loyal to me than Rink.
Rink would probably love to shake some sense into me, but at the same time whenever I stepped into the fray I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know that my friend was standing right there. That was a given.
I’d just done showering, shaving and pulling on fresh clothing when the big man proved the point. He grabbed me in a spine-cracking bear hug, told me how happy he was to see me, then set me down. His face was like a thunderhead growing on the horizon.
‘Hunter, most guys take off to Vegas, play the slot machines, maybe hook up with a gal for some no-strings fun, but not you. They come back with empty pockets and a shit-eating grin on their faces. When you told me you were taking a couple days out, I thought, great, go an’ do some fishing or hiking or whatever. ’Specially when you headed off to the ass-end of the Alleghenies, I thought, surely he can’t get himself in trouble up there…’
Rink gave me the eyeball.
‘What do you want me to say?’
‘For a start, you can tell me why you didn’t even mention why you were coming up here. I shoulda known when you asked me for a copy of Brook’s file, but I thought you were just planning to make peace with her old man. If I’d’ve known you were gonna get in this kinda shit, I’d’ve come along with you from the start.’
‘I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure if I’d even make it here. I almost turned back, Rink, more than once.’
‘Goddamnit, Joe! I know you, there was nothing gonna hold you back.’
I touched my thigh unconsciously, but the gesture wasn’t lost on Rink.
‘Hunter, you’ve nothing left to prove. ‘Specially not to yourself. You can spout all that bullshit you want about feelin’ whole again, but you’re not feared of the wound in your leg, it’s the hole in your heart you’re trying to fill. The things you’ve done to atone! Shit, man, you’ve done more good than anyone I ever knew.’
‘I’ve also done more bad than anyone.’
‘Bullshit!’
‘Rink, you weren’t there.’
‘You’re talking about that goddamn cult thing, ain’t ya? You didn’t kill those children; it was their own parents that stood them in the way of the bullets to cover their own cowardly asses. If anyone’s to blame it was those clap-happy sonsabitches.’
‘I still pulled the trigger, Rink.’
‘You weren’t to know the children were there. You were given bad intelligence, but you were working in good faith. You shouldn’t hold yourself responsible for other people’s mistakes.’ Rink went stock-still. ‘Oh, wait. I get it now. That’s why you’re here…’
I nodded solemnly. ‘Don Griffiths was the one who supplied the intelligence. It’s why I almost turned back, Rink. I set off thinking that I could help him. By the time I’d made it halfway here I’d changed my mind. All I wanted to do was put a bullet in his heart.’
Rink sat down on the motel bed, the springs creaking ominously under him. ‘So why didn’t you?’
‘As soon as I saw him, I knew I couldn’t. Took me a little longer to realise he was no more responsible than I was, but I got there. I was still going to walk away at first, but something happened to change my mind.’
I told Rink about the men at the Seven-Eleven and how I’d killed them with impunity. It took until then, but the truth struck me as hard as if Rink had karate-kicked the side of my head. Killing the two men had been an excuse, my way of burying my hatred of Don Griffiths. By doling out violent frustration on the two men, I’d exorcised the ghosts of those children who’d died.
‘You’re sure that the two men were with Gant and his crew?’ Rink asked after I finished.
‘I’m sure. In fact, Agent Vincent confirmed it. He asked me if I’d come across them in Bedford Well, called them Rooster and Cabe, described them to a tee.’
‘And you told him?’
‘Rules of the game were that I came clean,’ I said. ‘I think Vince already had a good idea that their disappearance was down to me. I didn’t want a lie to come back and trip me up later. A team was being dispatched to recover them this morning.’
‘They’re cleaning up behind them as they go,’ Rink observed.
‘As far as anyone around here knows, nothing has happened.’
‘You told me on the phone that Don’s son-in-law was killed, that his house was burned to the ground. They cover that as well?’
‘The way they’re spinning the story it was just another tragic but unrelated accident to hit the Reynoldses. What’s the chance of both the husband and wife being burned to death in such a short space of time? Far as I know, the locals are buying it, though.’
‘How’d they cover Don Griffiths gettin’ himself shot?’
‘That hasn’t been mentioned, yet. A story has been put around that Don has taken Millie and his grandkids away for a while, to protect them from the terrible tragedy.’
‘They’ll have to show sooner or later. You said Don was shot in the legs, how’s he gonna explain when he turns up on sticks?’
I didn’t know, and didn’t really care. Hopefully the Carswell Hicks problem would no longer be an issue by then.
‘I’m surprised the feebies even brought him here, so close to his home town,’ Rink said.
‘Nearest trauma hospital they could find, I suppose. Don was near death when they medi-vacced him out.’
‘So where are Millie and the little ones?’
‘Don’t know,’ I admitted. I’d thought about asking, but it was better that I didn’t know. If I was captured alive, Hicks’ crew might think they could force their location out of me, and it didn’t matter how well trained, sooner or later any man will break.
Rink didn’t press the issue, he understood.
‘So tell me about Special Agent Vincent.’
I had already told Rink about the agent, how he was an undercover operative working to infiltrate Carswell Hicks’ organisation. But now I told my buddy about how Vince had been teamed up with Sonya Madden, and how he’d tried to warn Millie about the impending attack on her brother-in-law’s home, but been scuppered by the intervention of a cat. I also related how Vince had pushed Sonya to her death, and attempted to usurp power from Samuel Gant in order to delay the assault on the logging camp until his FBI friends arrived, but how that plan had also gone to pot. Finally I admitted that Vince had got the drop on me with that damn garrotte, but had spared my life when it became apparent that I was a worthy stooge.
I waited for Rink to absorb it all. He wasn’t long in offering his summation. ‘So he’s a sneaky little weasel?’
‘That about sums him up,’ I agreed. ‘But I have to admit, there’s something about the kid that I like.’
‘I’d step carefully, Hunter. He sounds like the type who’d crap on you from a great height first chance he got.’
‘Like we haven’t worked under bosses like that before?’
‘Speaking of bosses,’ Rink said. ‘Walter’s got his fingers in this pie, too?’
‘I don’t know how that came about, but you know Walter. I can’t really complain, Rink. Without Walt’s
