Page 9 of Deathless
“Yes, but.” My cousin dragged a hand through his russet brown hair. “It was the smallest party. Just four older women and a baby. They all fit into one van with a few belongings.”
“A baby?”
“Yes, we thought it was unusual,” the Saint chimed in. “All the other children seemed to be going with another group, the one heading northwest.”
“You’re sure it was a baby?” My instincts were stuck on this one detail for some reason, something niggling at me to probe further. “You saw an actual child with them?”
“Well, it was one of those old car seat carrier things. With an arm handle, you know?” The Bull tried to gesture helpfully. “It had a blanket over it, and one of the women kept peeking in there, tucking it in, you know.”
“But you never actually saw its face?”
“I didn’t.” The Bull looked at the other two riders, who also shook their heads.
“Is there a reason why you wouldn’t believe it to be a baby?” The Saint narrowed his eyes, compressing the tattoos on the outside corners.
“I dunno,” I sighed. “It’s just a weird detail. Anything else? Did you see any men with any of the groups?”
LJ shook his head. “None that we saw.” My cousin’s eyes bore intensely into mine. He walked to talk away from these fighters.
“Alright. Well, good work. We’ll hold church tonight, so go ahead and rest until then.”
“Ah, the church of Aurora.” The Saint made the sign of the cross on himself. “I can’t wait to worship.”
The Bull snorted as the two fighters rode off together, then there were cheers and greetings as they came upon the second of our two safe houses, the one most of the fighters had taken up residence in. Torr affectionately called it the frat house.
Once there were three of us, LJ dismounted his motorcycle and chose to walk it alongside me and Torr. “Please tell me you have a cigarette,” my cousin grumbled.
“No, Torr’s out.” I patted his back in an apology.
“Son of a bitch.” LJ sighed.
“We’ll have Val get a whole pallet of ‘em on her next supply run.”
The three of us walked up to the first house, which was where I, my men, and my cousins stayed. Paige and the Hunter had their own room too, since they were a couple and the frat house consisted of a bunch of single guys.
Rather than go inside, I led our trio around to the back of the house, where a wooded area gave us more privacy. Later in the day, more people would come here to practice shooting, but for now, it was blissfully quiet.
“So how’d it really go?” I lowered onto a tree stump while the two guys remained standing.
LJ shrugged. “Alright, I guess. I had to herd ‘em like a couple of cats when the cult groups started splitting up, but that was the biggest friction point.”
“How do you mean?” I asked.
“They wanted us to split up as well. So each of us could follow one of the cult groups to watch them more closely, then rendezvous after a few more days. I said no way in hell. The president’s orders were clear; we stay together and watch each other’s backs.”
I beamed at him. “Knew I could count on you.” I had said no such thing but told LJ he could order those two around if he suspected something fishy and to say the orders came from me.
“Who’s idea was it to split up?” Torr asked him, arms crossed.
“The Saint said it first, but the two of them were pretty gung-ho about it. I had to argue with them about it for a good minute.”
“What was your gut feeling?” I asked. “Do you think they were trying to pull something, or were they genuine about this plan?”
LJ let out a long breath, crossed his arms, looked up at the sky and then down at the ground before meeting my eye again. “I honestly couldn’t tell you,” he admitted. “If it was someone I trusted, like Val or my brother, who’d brought that idea forward, I’d be all for it. But these gladiators, cuz. I just don’t know ‘em well enough.”
“Would you trust Santos out there?” I pressed. “Or the Hunter?”
“Yeah, but,” LJ scratched the five o’clock shadow on his cheek, “neither of them would’ve gone against an order coming from you. These guys were adamant until they realized I wasn’t gonna budge.”
