Dark Justice

listening.”

Chapter 13

Tess closed the magazine and tossed it onto a sleeping bag. She’d been in this tent for over an hour now, all by herself, waiting. She’d read through that issue of Outdoor magazine three times, and it hadn’t interested her the first time. She’d started talking to herself, subvocalizing animated conversations with everyone she knew. She was going stir-crazy.

Since she’d come back to the camp with Maureen and Al, she’d been treated like a potential leper, shuffled off to the side, isolated. She could understand that they wanted to be cautious, but enough was enough already. How long did they need to get their act together and decide what to do with her? How long could she stand being cooped up in this stupid tent?

Of course there was more at stake than just her personal discomfort. If she wasn’t allowed to circulate, if she couldn’t talk to the members of Green Rage and get to know them, earn their confidence, she was lost. She would never get the information she needed, never be able to crack this case.

She didn’t have forever, either; she knew that. Rudy had been constantly calling her hotel room, asking where the hell she was and what she was doing and where was his story on Bigfoot, anyway? She could blow him off for a while without serious consequences, muttering vague promises about a really big scoop she was tracking, but that wouldn’t last forever. For that matter, neither would her travel advance.

She watched the shadows as they flickered on the outside of the tent. The movement and muffled voices provided her only hint of what might be taking place outside. Some time earlier, the group had assembled and held some kind of meeting. No doubt she had been on the agenda, but she knew she wasn’t the only action item. There was another stranger in their midst, someone else whose worthiness was being judged. And Green Rage had many plans afoot; she had heard enough words like immediately and tonight to realize that some of them were imminent.

Al had asked her to wait in the tent till he returned, but that didn’t mean she had to do it. She could rebel; it’s not like he was her father or anything. Still, she was trying to gain their trust, and she thought the best way to do that was to be cooperative. Earnest. Act as if she was desperate to please them, like she wanted to be one of them more than anything else in the world.

And then a little voice inside her head said, Once you have their trust, you’ll betray it. You’ll take their secrets and smear them across the pages of the National Whisper. Or maybe even a real newspaper. You’ll get your Pulitzer, and they’ll get five to ten.

Tess pushed the voice out of her consciousness. That kind of thinking would get her nowhere. She needed to focus on the task at hand. Which at the moment was waiting.

She was preparing to plunge into Outdoor magazine for the fourth time when Al finally reappeared. He unzipped the entrance to the tent and poked his head through. “We’re ready for you,” he said.

She couldn’t help noticing that he wasn’t smiling.

Tess crawled out of the tent and followed Rick to the circle of stones in the center of the clearing. She saw only six Green Ragers present. The others must have gone elsewhere. Secret mission, she suspected.

Rick introduced Tess to those present and gave her a smidgen of information about their backgrounds. “I’ve told everyone what you told Al and me in the bar about your … background. Why you’d like to join our cause.”

“Good,” she said. She was mentally deliberating on what character she should be playing. She thought it best to seem a little timid, lacking in confidence. Perhaps even a bit in awe of them. “I appreciate that.”

“But there’s a lot more we’d like to know.” Tess remembered that the woman speaking, the one with the curly brown hair and the round wire-frame glasses, was called Maureen.

“Just ask,” Tess said, letting her lips tremble slightly. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“We are of course interested in the activities of the Cabal, and intrigued by the possibility of having an inside line on what Slade might be planning next. I’m sure you anticipated that.”

Tess decided that her character, who was after all the mistress of a paid thug, should not be too terribly bright, so she didn’t show any sign of picking up on the suggestion Maureen was making.

“We know Slade is in Magic Valley. He’s been spotted. We were not aware he had any … associates with him.”

“You don’t think he made those raids on your camp himself, did you?”

“No. But hiring paid muscle is one thing. My understanding is that the man you’re having the liaison with is somewhat higher in rank.”

“John is Slade’s right-hand man. Any time Slade wants something important done, John is the man he calls.”

“I was not aware of John.”

“Most people aren’t. Slade is the sort of man who likes to take credit for everything himself. At the same time, he doesn’t want any trails leading back to him. So whenever he needs something done that’s … less than legal, he talks to John.”

“And John talks to you?”

Tess allowed herself a slight smile. “He does have a habit of gabbing on when he’s”-she giggled-“excited. And after.”

Maureen stared at her with a near-stony visage Tess found difficult to read. Was she doubting Tess, or appalled by this nonfeminist dinosaur? Or just trying to figure how best to use her? “So,” Maureen said, “you’ve known about some of the Cabal’s activities even before they happened.”

“That’s right.”

“Such as?”

“Well, I know they raided your camp twice, even though I don’t believe you reported it to the police.”

“There’s been a lot of talk about the raids in town,” Al said abruptly. “She could’ve picked that up from anyone.”

“But she also knows about that Cabal,” Maureen said. “And Slade. And that is not common knowledge.”

“Not common, but not unknown, either,” Al insisted. “If she did some serious research, she could have found some of the articles other environmental groups have written about it.”

“Please believe me,” Tess said, plastering on her most earnest smile. “I wouldn’t even know how to do this … research. All I know is what I’ve been told by John.” She took a deep breath. “And it horrifies me. That’s why I want to join you.”

“I’m sorry,” Al said, “but we can’t afford to take the risk. She could be a cop.”

“She isn’t a cop,” Maureen said. “I’m certain of that.” She peered directly at Tess. “Are you?”

“No,” Tess said firmly. “I’m not.”

“Or worse,” Al continued, “she could be a Cabal plant. That would explain how she knows so much about them.”

“It’s possible,” Maureen said, batting her finger against her lip. “But I just don’t think so.” She glanced at Rick. “Do you?”

“No, I don’t.” Rick leaned toward Maureen and whispered a few words in her ear. Maureen nodded. “I’m more concerned about your level of commitment.”

Tess frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you may feel all dedicated to the cause now. It may seem like a cool, exciting thing to do, in a dilettante-ish way. But when the heat is on, and it doesn’t seem so fun and exciting anymore, you may wither. It’s one thing to talk the talk, but quite another to actually walk the walk. We can’t use someone who’s going to crack up and run the first time she sees something dangerous or illegal happen.”

“I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

He peered down at her. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes,” she said, without hesitation. “Absolutely.”

“All right,” Rick continued, “here’s what we’re going to do. We’ve got a little … activity planned for tonight.