“Look, punk, I’m here to ask the questions, not you.”
“Right.” Ben forced himself to be brave, even though he was feeling anything but. “I bet he’s here somewhere. Safely tucked away, but keeping a watchful eye on things.” Ben looked around the cabin. “Hiding in a back room somewhere?”
“Listen to me!” In an instant, Carl was on his feet and brought the flat of his hand around to club Ben on the side of the face.
Ben winced. That smarted. The sharp sudden pain almost brought tears to his eyes, which he knew would not help him keep up his defiant facade.
“Now here’s the story,” Carl barked. “We’ve had it with your goddamn Green Rage. We’ve tolerated it as long as we’re gonna. We’ve hit you again and again and again. But like stupid lemmings, you just keep coming. We’re tired of it. We want you out!”
Maureen looked at him levelly. “We’re not going.”
Carl clenched his fist together. “Don’t make this hard on yourself, lady.”
“What are you going to do? Hurt me? Kill me?” Maureen leaned forward, pressing against the restraint of the ropes. “Are you going to kill all of us? Are you going to exterminate every person on earth who doesn’t want to see the forests leveled?”
“Take it somewhere else, lady!” Ben could see Carl’s anger was rising. “We just want you out of Magic Valley.”
“Have you looked at this forest?” Maureen shouted back. “Have you
“You can, lady. And you will.” He drew his arm back, fist clenched.
“If you hit her,” Ben said, cutting in, “you’d better be willing to kill me.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Because you won’t get away with it. So long as I’m alive, I’ll make sure charges are brought against you.” He paused. “I will hunt you down like a dog.”
Carl smiled thinly. “You just don’t get it, do you, Kincaid? There’s a reason the Cabal exists. It’s so we can do things the loggers can’t do themselves. Because no one knows who we are. I could beat both of you to a pulp or worse, and never do a day in jail. Because, see, I don’t exist. As soon as this is over, I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again.”
“There’s always a way,” Ben said.
“Not with us,” Carl replied. “Others have tried. Others a lot better than you. No one’s succeeded. And they never will.” He turned back toward Maureen. “So let me ask you again. Are you going to cooperate? Agree to pull your team out of the forest? Or do I have to get rough?”
“You can do whatever you want, you bastard. I’ll never agree.”
“You say that now,” Carl replied. “But you might change your mind later.” He stepped closer to her, then straddled her tied legs and sat in her lap. He pressed his face to hers. “You might change your mind when you see the knife, see how sharp it is, how deep it cuts. You might change your mind when you feel your clothes being ripped off your body. You might change your mind when you’re being hurt, abused, violated-”
“Shut up, you son of a bitch!” Ben shouted.
Carl didn’t even blink. “You will change your mind, Maureen. The only question is whether you’ll do it before I have my fun-or after.”
“You’re a disgusting pig,” Maureen said, right in his face.
Carl drew in his breath, then slowly released it. “I’m sorry to hear you say that, Maureen. I really am. But I have a job to do.” He reached into his pocket and removed a large switchblade. He pressed the trigger button and the blade popped out. “Where do you want it first?”
“Go to hell!” Maureen screamed, crying.
“All right then,” Carl said, jaw clenched, “let’s start with your face.”
“
“Oh yes,” Carl said, raising the knife. “We’ll start with-”
His voice was cut off by a sudden booming noise. It was a huge, fluid noise; it made Ben imagine the word
And an instant later, they began to feel the heat.
“See what’s going on out there!” Carl shouted to one of his accomplices.
The man who had sat beside Ben in the car ran to one of the front windows and pulled away the tattered curtains. He turned back, his eyes wide with horror, a horror he was able to describe in a single word:
“
Chapter 67
All four men rushed out the front door.
“Don’t leave us!” Ben shouted, but no one stopped.
“I can feel the fire from here,” Maureen said, twisting her neck around, trying to see.
Ben didn’t waste any time. As soon as they left, he started trying to get free. He pushed up with his feet, launching himself into the air. The chair clattered back down to the floor. He could feel the bonds loosening, but not enough to give him any slack. The chair didn’t break.
He did it again, this time pushing even higher. He heard the chair creak a bit on impact, thought he felt a split-but that was all. He was still tied tightly to the chair.
Before Ben could make another attempt, a familiar, if dreadful figure appeared in the rear doorway.
“Slade!” Ben said, teeth clenched. “I know you were behind this. What’s going on?”
“There’s a ring of fire,” Slade answered. He reached down and began untying their bonds. “All around us.”
“You’re letting us go?”
“I know you don’t have a very high opinion of me,” Slade said. “Maybe you shouldn’t. But I’m not going to let you two burn alive.” A few moments later, Ben and Maureen were free.
“Come on!” Slade shouted, pointing toward the door. The group raced outside. Almost instantly, Ben felt assaulted by the tremendous heat. Even though the fire was still a good fifty feet away, it felt as if he had stepped into the middle of it.
“But it hasn’t been hot enough for a brush fire,” Maureen said.
“This fire didn’t just happen,” Slade growled. “It was set.” He waved a bread box-size metal can under her nose. Ben recognized the distinctive smell before he even saw it.
It was a gasoline can. And it was empty.
Maureen stared at the can. “Al,” she murmured.
“What?” Slade said. “What are you talking about?”
Maureen wouldn’t answer him, but Ben knew exactly what she was thinking. Al was over the brink, out of control, crazy with rage. Al had been staying out late at night in the forest. He had said he’d discovered something-something secret.
And he’d sworn to pay them back for what they did to Doc.
It was clear now what he’d uncovered. He’d found this secret hideaway. He’d probably waited from a distance till he saw people come back to it. And then he crept out of hiding and set the fire. Not realizing that his own colleague, Maureen, was inside. Not to mention Ben.
“If he wanted to kill us, why wouldn’t he set the cabin on fire?” Slade asked.
“He doesn’t just want to kill you. He wants you to suffer, like Doc did. He wants you to see it coming.”
Slade ran a few feet around the shack, searching. “Looks like my associates got through the fire,” Slade said. “But it’s too late now. If we jump into the middle of that we’ll be burned alive.” He turned, scanning the horizon. “We might be able to get through in the car.”
All together, the three of them started running toward the vehicle. Thick smoke clouds made breathing
