Road To Babylon | Book 11 | Nice Shot Read online

  On the other hand, there was a hell of a lot of men back at Shaker Town, and as far as Keo knew, they were all at his back right now. That…was not a good thing. He’d gone up against bad odds before, but a town full of killers…

  Yeah, hurrying his butt over to Norris’s Arrowhead was probably a better idea.

  Keo picked up his pace until he was full-on sprinting, with only the sounds of squirrels scrambling along tree branches, birds in flight, and other woodland creatures rustling around his vicinity to accompany his pounding heartbeat.

  It was going to be a long morning.

  Two

  “Remember Buck?”

  “What about him?”

  “Well, he’s still alive.”

  “The fuck you say.”

  “The fuck I do.”

  “How?”

  “You tell me. I thought you killed him.”

  “Who said that?”

  “Everyone.”

  “Well, I didn’t; and I never said I did.”

  That was at least how Keo imagined his conversation with Danny going when he finally caught up to the other man. Everyone had just assumed Danny had found and put Buck out of their misery post-Darby Bay that it’d just become a given. So it wasn’t really Danny’s fault. Not too much, anyway.

  Buck.

  Fucking Buck.

  How the hell had Keo not seen that piece of shit roaming around the alleys and streets and sidewalks of Shaker Town? Keo had been in that place for three months, and he’d never caught a glimpse or even stink of anyone that looked even remotely like the man that used to lead Fenton. It was Buck’s unholy alliance with a blue-eyed ghoul similarly bent on vengeance that had nearly killed everyone Keo loved.

  Buck was a Mercerian. One of Mercer’s true believers. He’d spent years plotting vengeance against everything Black Tide stood for. Keo even remembered what the man looked like: Fifties, hazel eyes, and a shock of white hair. It wasn’t Buck’s features that Keo couldn’t forget—it was what he represented. He was the reason Gaby was dead, along with a lot of other people Keo called friends.

  If Buck had just been another Shaker, then Keo could have convinced himself he just wasn’t paying attention to every face he ran across or appeared in his peripheral vision in the last three months. But he wasn’t. The way Buck had talked, he was clearly in a power position. Maybe not the power—that was reserved for The Deacon—but a power.

  So how had Keo never run across him? Not even once? Had Buck changed his appearance? (You could do a lot with a half-assed dye job.) Or maybe he’d learned from his mistakes and somehow made himself invisible, less noticeable than he’d been before.

  Buck wasn’t even the man’s real name. It was a nickname.

  “Marlon J. Jefferson,” the man had introduced himself when they’d finally met face-to-face for the first time. “But everyone just calls me Buck.”

  Everyone’s just going to call you dead when I see you again, fucker, Keo thought as he slipped between two bushes and took off into a brisk jog.

  The kids were waiting for him where he’d told them. Which was a little surprising to Keo since Claire hadn’t done a whole lot of things he’d told her to since they reunited in Shaker Town. He guessed he couldn’t really blame her. She’d gone through a lot. But then, who hadn’t? Nothing about their lives these days was a picnic.

  “How many?” Claire asked as she stood up, the AR rifle gripped tightly in front of her. She looked like a soldier, one that was ready for combat. That was something the kid standing next to her couldn’t sell.

  “Three,” Keo said.

  “Just three?”

  “Three that ran across me.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Who?”

  “The three.”

  “Dead.”

  “Oh.”

  “Dead?” Steven asked.

  “Dead,” Keo said and walked past them.

  The two young people turned and followed on his heels.

  “How much farther to Arrowhead?” Claire asked.

  “Not far now,” Keo said.

  “How far is not far?”

  “Not far.”

  “God, you suck.”

  “Keep walking. They’re on our tails.”

  “How many?” Claire asked. Then, quickly, “Don’t say a lot, or I’m going to shoot you.”

  “As few as a dozen and as many as a hundred,” Keo said. “Or more.”

  “Ugh.”

  He grinned to himself, glad she couldn’t see it.

  “You don’t know, do you?” Claire said. It wasn’t really a question.

  “Nope.”

  “But he’s out there, too. Buck.”

  “That’s an affirmative.”

  “You sound really sure about that.”

  “I talked to him before I caught up to you guys.” Keo glanced back at Steven, sticking close enough to Claire that Keo wasn’t sure who was protecting who, and from what—or whom. “You sure you don’t want to go back, kid?”

  Steven shook his head. “It’s too late for that now.”

  “No, it’s not. They don’t know you’re with us yet. You can still go back.”

  The teenager didn’t answer right away.

  “He’s right,” Claire said. She had lowered her voice noticeably, as if she were trying to whisper to the kid—and just him. “You can still go back. Pretend like none of this ever happened.”

  “I can’t do that,” Steven said.

  “Keo’s right. You still can. It’s not too late.”

  “No, I can’t, Claire.”

  Claire opened her mouth to argue, but she stopped herself. Maybe, like Keo, she knew why Steven couldn’t turn back now, and it had nothing to do with loyalty to Shaker Town, Buck, or anyone else. Not even the father that may or may not still be alive in Arrowhead.

  No. Steven was still walking with them instead of running back to the only place he’d called “home” because of Claire. The kid was in love.

  Neither Keo nor Claire made another attempt to convince the teen to leave. Keo didn’t think it would have worked anyway. Steven had made up his mind. Or his heart head. (Though maybe another part of him, lower down, might have also had a little—or a lot—to do with that decision.)

  High school love in the apocalypse. Now I’ve seen everything.

  Besides, the kid wasn’t his problem. It was Claire’s. Keo’s only objective was to reach Norris, make contact with Black Tide, and let Danny decide what to do from that point on. As far as he was concerned, his mission was done.

  Finito. Over and out. See ya later, señorita.

  “What happens after we reach Arrowhead?” Claire was asking him.

  “I call Danny and hand this off to him,” Keo said.

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s about it.”

  “The mission’s not finished yet.”

  “It is for me.”

  “We still don’t know what they’re doing in Shaker Town. What kind of weapon they have in that hotel.”

  “If that weapon even exists.”

  “It exists.”

  Keo stopped and turned around. Claire stopped quickly, surprise registering on her face. Keo hadn’t realized he’d been so empathetic with the move.

  “How do you know?” Keo asked her.

  “Know what?” Claire said.

  “That this supposed weapon even exists in the first place? Have you even seen it?”

  “No, but…”

  “But what?”

  “People have talked about it.”

  “What is it?”

  “You know what it is.”

  “Tell me.”

  “A weapon.”

  “What kind of weapon?”

  Claire pursed her lips, and he could see her eyes struggling to find an answer. Not just any answer, but one that would convince him.

  …and she came up blank.

  “Exactly,” Keo said, turning back around and continuing on. “
We go to Arrowhead and pass the baton to Black Tide. They’ll know how to handle this. Personally, I’d vote for a pair of Warthogs and gatling guns, but hey, that’s just me.”

  Probably shouldn’t have added that last part, Keo thought, remembering that Steven was still back there and that the kid might have some friends back in Shaker Town he wouldn’t necessarily like to see turned into SPAM by an A-10 gun run.

  They walked on in silence.

  For a little while, anyway.

  “You sure you know where you’re going?” Claire finally asked him.

  “Of course,” Keo said.

  “You’ve taken this path before?”

  “Mostly.”

  “Mostly?”

  “It’s close enough,” he said, but thought, Probably.

  “Now why don’t I find that very reassuring.”

  “Because you don’t have enough faith in me, kid.”

  “Should I?”

  “Of course you should.”

  “Why?”

  “I got us this far, haven’t I?”

  “You mean when you almost drowned me in the river?”

  “You survived. It’s not my fault you never learned to swim.”

  “Give me a break. Swimming is hard.”

  “So is drowning, kid.”

  Keo liked Claire, but sometimes she could be a real pain in the ass. He supposed it might have had something to do with her mentor being Gaby, who could, in her own way, also be a real pain in the ass.

  Besides, Keo knew where he was going. Or he was reasonably sure he was headed in the right direction. The right general-ish direction, anyway. He was retracing the same steps that he’d used with Harvey not very long ago. Or close enough to it. Some of the wooded area around him looked familiar, even if he couldn’t locate any of the markers he’d been looking for.

  I’m not lost.

  …much.

  He kept those doubts to himself. The last thing he needed was Claire questioning—

  The ground underneath shook slightly, and Keo froze. So did Claire and Steven behind him. The woman already had her rifle up and pointed back in the direction where they’d come. Keo did the same with his MP5SD even as he opened both ears and listened. He blocked out the flapping of bird feathers above him and the scurrying of animals on the branches.

  It didn’t take long before he heard what had caused the slight tremors under his boots.

  Clump-clump-clump.

  “Horses!” Keo whispered even as he moved out of the open and behind a tree.

  Claire and Steven went in the other direction, disappearing behind a pair of their own trees. The teenager was armed with his own AR and pistol, so Keo wasn’t worried about him being able to defend himself. What Keo was a tad concerned about was would Steven pull the trigger? He was, after all, a Shaker until just very recently. Until this very morning, in fact.

  As for Claire… Keo didn’t worry too much about the girl.

  Clump-clump-clump.

  Getting closer now…

  He looked across the clearing he’d just vacated and at Claire and Steven. He could only see the girl. She caught his gaze and nodded. Keo returned it. She gripped the rifle and turned around to say something to Steven. Keo couldn’t hear what, because she was whispering.

  He’s your problem now, Claire, Keo thought as he focused on the world of trouble coming toward them.

  Clump-clump-clump.

  Closer, now.

  Clump-clump-clump!

  …and closer still…

  Three

  “Ronnie!”

  Ronnie?

  “Ronnie!”

  The one doing the screaming was Steven. That was not what Keo had in mind when he told the kid to get behind cover with Claire. Keo had taken it on faith the girl would shut the teenager up or at least keep him from shouting someone’s name as Shaker Town’s killers rolled up on their position.

  Wait. What was that Steven had shouted?

  Ronnie?

  He’d shouted Ronnie.

  As in Verona?

  Keo found his answer when he stuck his head out from behind the tree and saw her riding toward them at full gallop. Verona. The same woman that had saved his life back in town when, supposedly, Arrowhead suicide-bombed one of the bunkhouses.

  “Verona. But everyone calls me Ronnie.”

  Everyone included Steven, who had jumped out from behind his cover (So much for that idea!) and ran out into the open, hands waving wildly in the air as if he needed to do that in order to get Ronnie’s attention.

  “Stop, Ronnie, stop!” the kid was shouting.

  Keo groaned with annoyance, even though the prospect of killing Ronnie wasn’t something he was looking forward to. Then again, he had to remind himself that he’d done plenty of things—even before the world went kaput—that he didn’t particularly want to do, but did anyway because it was usually his job. Still, a part of him was glad that Steven had ruined Keo’s perfectly good ambush.

  Ronnie was mounted on a big chestnut and appeared to be holding on for dear life. She did not look at all comfortable in the saddle. It probably didn’t help that the horse was moving at top speed. Somehow, though, she managed to pull up on the animal just before she ran over Steven, who continued waving his arms wildly in the air like one of those inflatable advertisements at car dealerships.

  Keo had his finger on the trigger, red dot sight on Ronnie’s chest. He had a second to fire. No one would know. The suppressor would hide most of the shot. Even so, they’d have to boogie as soon as she went down.

  His finger tightened.

  Goddammit, he thought, releasing pressure on the trigger as Ronnie jumped off her horse and embraced Steven. Or he jumped into her arms. One or the other. It was hard to tell. They clearly were very happy to see one another.

  Claire stepped out from behind her hiding spot and showed herself. “Hey, Ronnie.”

  Ronnie looked shocked to see her. “Claire? Dammit. I should have known you’d be out here, too.”

  “Where are the others?” Claire asked.

  Keo hadn’t revealed himself, and as far as he knew, Ronnie hadn’t spotted him yet. Claire would have been able to see him out of the corner of one eye and knew what he was doing. Or not doing, in this case. He stayed hidden while she took point, gathering intel. As long as Ronnie could only see her, the older woman wouldn’t feel too threatened. At least, not just yet.

  “What others?” Ronnie said.

  “The Shakers hunting us,” Claire said.

  Ronnie shot a quick glance over her shoulder, back into the woods. Then, returning her eyes to Claire, “They’re back there. Fanning out, looking for Chang.”

  “How many are out there?”

  “A lot.”

  “How many is a lot?”

  “A lot.”

  Then Ronnie seemed to forget Claire was there and focused on Steven, placing both hands on either side of his cheeks and holding his gaze like a mother would a son. In fact, if the skin color between the two of them wasn’t so obviously different, Keo might have thought she was the kid’s mother.

  “Are you okay?” she asked Steven.

  Steven nodded. “I’m fine.”

  “What are you doing out here? When they told me this Chang guy had taken you hostage, I almost had a heart attack.”

  “They told you that?”

  “Yes. Why? Didn’t he?”

  “No,” Steven said, shaking his head. He looked over at Claire. “I came to find her.”

  Keo thought Ronnie might have rolled her eyes slightly. “Of course you did. But of course you did.” Then, without missing a beat, “Where is he?”

  “Who?” Claire asked.

  “Chang. They say he’s dangerous.” As if for the first time, Ronnie saw the rifle in Claire’s hands. “What are you doing with that?”

  Took her long enough to notice, Keo thought as he stepped out from behind cover. Whatever info Claire was hoping to get from Ronnie, she clearly didn’t h
ave to give. “A lot” of Shakers didn’t tell them very much. Keo already knew there were a lot of them out there. Besides, now that they’d made plenty of noise, he didn’t like staying still.

  Ronnie’s eyes widened at the sight of Keo, and she reached for her sidearm. She hadn’t come armed with anything else that Keo could see.

  “Don’t do that,” Keo said. He didn’t lift the submachine gun, but he did tilt it slightly, and all it would have taken was a flick of his wrist to aim and shoot. Of course, he’d probably have to fire through Steven, who was standing in front of Ronnie, to get to the Shaker doctor. But that wasn’t Keo’s problem.

  “You,” Ronnie said, even as she had her hand on her gun’s grip but, thankfully for her, didn’t pull it out.

  “She’s with him,” Steven said.

  “What?”

  “Claire. She’s with him.”

  Ronnie may or may not have relaxed at that information. It was hard to tell with Steven blocking Keo’s full view of her. He could see her holstered sidearm just fine, though, and she still hadn’t taken the weapon out yet.

  Keep it that way and you’ll live longer, Ronnie.

  Keo watched her with one eye while the other kept the rest of the forest under surveillance. It was quiet out there, which only meant the noise they were making with their conversation stood out even more.

  “We gotta go,” Keo said. Then, focusing on Ronnie, “What are you going to tell them?”

  “Who?” Ronnie said. He wasn’t sure if she was pretending not to know the answer or not.

  “You know who.”

  She glanced over her shoulder again, before returning it to Keo. She hadn’t moved an inch away from Steven, and vice versa. Apparently Ronnie’s time with Harvey hadn’t been a complete waste of time after all. Likewise for the kid.

  “I came to find him,” Ronnie said.

  “And now you’ve found him,” Keo said.

  “I’m taking him home.”

  “All right, then.”

  “What?” Steven said. He turned around to face Ronnie. “I’m not leaving Claire.”

  Ronnie sighed. “You’re going back home. It’s dangerous out here. Your father—”

  Is probably dead or wishes he were dead, Keo thought, but of course kept it to himself.

  “—will shit his pants if he found out you’re out there with this guy,” she said, looking past Steven at Keo.