Assassin's Promise, The Red Team Series, Book 5 (20 page)

Greer nodded at him, but neither man offered to shake. “This is my wife, Dr. Chase. We spoke earlier, but I didn’t get your name.”

“I didn’t give it. You’re going to publish what you see on your visit here, aren’t you?” he asked Remi.

“Yes.”

“When you do, you’ll keep my name and profession out of it?”

“Yes. I’ll keep your identity confidential. I won’t publish anything that could identify you.”

He shook his head. “Not good enough. This was a bad idea. I got nothing to say to you.”

“No one’s real name will be in anything I publish about this community. I promise to protect your identity, which means I won’t use your name, and I won’t describe you in ways that reveal who you are. I would like to be able to quote what you say, but I won’t identify you with the quote. I’ll know who you are, but I’m the only one.”

He watched her for a minute. “Do I have your word?”

“You do. Protecting people’s identity is something we take very seriously. Sociologists have gone to jail in order to protect the identity of the people they research.”

With that assurance, he didn’t waste any time getting to what he’d come to say. “Before we begin, you need to know what I am.” He began unbuttoning his shirt.
 

Remi sent Greer a sideways glance. Greer didn’t take his eyes from the woodcutter. A pattern of tattoos darkened his chest. Greer shined his phone light on it. Remi gasped when he fully opened his shirt, exposing the swastika and a pair of eagle wings flanking it. Below it, in five columns, were wide dashes…eighteen of them.
 

“You’re WKB,” she whispered.

“Was. I’m a yeoman in the Friendship Community. Wood’s the only thing I ax now.”

“How did you get from there to here?” Greer asked.

“The WKB retired me.” He looked at Remi again. “I’m a confidential informant, right?”

“Right.”

“I served the WKB for thirty years. I’m one of the few who lived to retirement. Holbrook gave me my cabin, job, and assigned a wife to me.” He looked at Greer. “The girl you’ve been asking about. Sally. She was supposed to be my wife, once her tithe was finished.”

“Fuck. Me,”
Max snarled in Greer’s ear.
“We should have gotten you in there sooner, Greer.”

“What are these tithes? Payments made to the community?”

He nodded. “Payments in the form of a service. All the kids do a tithe before they can take their place as adults in the community—except artisans or craftsmen. They’re forgiven their tithes. Many who leave to do their service never return. Most, even.”
 

“So you think Sally just took off?”

“No.” His lips thinned. His jaw bunched. “Normally, an unhitched couple never gets time alone in this fucking nunnery, but I met Sally one day when I was cutting wood. She was alone and crying. The Friends consider their tithes sacred. Their details are never shared. Holbrook—now Pete—and the tithee are the only ones who discuss whatever task has been assigned, but we talked about hers.”

“I thought the mayor assigned the tithe,” Remi said.

“The mayor assigns the tithe that Pete orders. Anyway, Sally said she’d been ordered to kill someone. I told her that was no big deal. Wasn’t any worse than slaughtering a pig. I even had her cut the throats of two of ’em so she’d get the experience first hand before carrying out her tithe.”

Remi wrapped her arms around her stomach.
 

“She was sent to kill my friend,” Greer told him.

“Oh, no. Really?”
 

Greer wondered if the woodcutter’s concern could sound any more fake. “She failed. Did you drug her?”

He held up his hand. “I’m clean, man. Maybe it was that doctor she’s been sneaking off with.”

“Why did they give her that assignment?”

The woodcutter slowly smiled, showing a grin ravaged by crack and poor nutrition. “Why do you think? The Friends don’t like so much attention. You and your buds just don’t get the message, do you?”

“Greer, get outta there,”
Max’s voice said via his comm unit.
“You got enough info from him.”

“Where’s Sally now?” Greer asked.

“How should I know?”

“Someone from the community retrieved her from the clinic.”

“Ask Dr. Robinson. He’s been making plans for clearing out of here—with her.”

“Do you think the WKB has her?” Remi asked. “Maybe you could go to them—”

“I can’t,” the woodcutter said. “I can’t leave.”

“Why?” Greer asked.

“G—the guys got ambushed and are rerouting. They’re on their way but still fifteen minutes out,”
Max said.

The woodcutter pointed to the columns of dashes on his torso. “See these? They’re my kills. I’m a liability to the WKB. I get to live only if I never leave the community. The terms of my retirement were quite clear.” A sound in the woods made him jump. A nocturnal critter—whether it was a small one moving carelessly or a large one moving softly, was too hard to tell.

“I gotta go. I said what I came to say. If I was you, I’d forget all about the girl. Leave the Friends. Leave Wyoming.” The woodcutter pointed at Greer. “You and all your friends.” He slipped away, melting into the woods, moving more quietly than the animal they’d just heard.

The air in the hollow where they stood had only cooled since they arrived. Greer faced Remi. “That was chilling,” Remi said. “And not very helpful. Do you think Dr. Robinson had more to do with Sally’s disappearance than he let on? Maybe he’s got her somewhere safe, and he’s just biding time before he joins her.”

“Maybe.” Greer nodded. “That could explain her absence, but what about all the others that have gone missing? There are very few older teens here. No one seems worried about their missing children. I hate that.” He turned back toward Remi’s vehicle.
 

“Greer, get moving now! The woodcutter isn’t heading back into the community. He’s moving parallel to you,”
Max cautioned.
“I don’t like it.”

“Roger that.” He took Remi’s elbow and hurried her toward her car.

“What’s happening?” she asked, jogging to keep up with him.

“The woodcutter isn’t as benign as he’d have us think.”

“I never thought he was.”

“We have to get out of here.”

“But our stuff. My notes…”

“I’ll come back for them. After you’re safe.” When they were almost to her car, Greer checked the woods, watching for the woodcutter. “Max, where is he?”

“Following along with you twenty yards to your right.”

Remi unlocked her vehicle. “Turn the engine on. If I don’t make it through what’s coming, get down the mountain right back to Blade’s house. Got it?” He wanted to send her home right away, but couldn’t because whatever had waylaid the others could still be out there waiting.

“Greer, I’m scared.”

“Some of the guys are already en route.” He opened her door and hit the lock button as she got in. “Start it up and hunker down.”

“Behind you, Greer!”
Max warned at the same time Greer heard the heavy weight of a man charging toward him.
 

Greer had enough time to duck the fast swing of his hand ax. It lodged in the door panel. Remi screamed, the sound muted behind the closed window of her car. Greer’s senses narrowed to only the sounds that served in the fight—the woodcutter’s breathing, his grunts as he retrieved the ax and raised it again, the silence of the road on either side of the small parking area where they’d left their vehicle.

Greer kept his body between the woodcutter and Remi’s car. The guy was about the same height as Greer, but bulkier. The skin of his face was pulled back from his teeth and eyes, presenting a formidable mask of horror. Such a face was the last thing the eighteen lives carved into his chest had seen.
 

Greer considered shooting the woodcutter, but discarded that option as fast as he thought it. The guy was more useful alive than dead. And so he danced with him, dodging to the left, to the right, moving closer so that the woodcutter had to step back in order to get a good swing in.
 

Greer let him tire himself, then he caught the woodcutter’s hand, stopping it on a downward swing. He punched the guy’s face, stunning him long enough to twist the ax from his grip. The woodcutter drew his knife from the sheath at his waist and jabbed at Greer, who blocked the thrusts with the flat side of the ax.
 

When that bored Greer, he shoved the flat head of the ax into the guy’s solar plexus, knocking the wind from him. His arms went wide and he teetered on the edge of his heels, then dropped backward like a felled tree.
 

Dully, Greer became aware of Remi still screaming in her vehicle. The lights from Remi’s car and the other that now faced him illuminated the WKB’s hitman. Greer left him to the guys who were rushing from their SUV. He had to get to Remi.

He tried to open her door, but the ax had messed it up too much. He hurried around to the passenger side. She was already scrambling over to him, then panicked when she couldn’t open the door. Greer set his hand on the window, against hers.

“Unlock it, Remi.”

She fumbled with the button. As soon as the lock released he yanked the door open and grabbed her up against him. She was holding him so tight, he thought she might crawl inside of him.
 

“I’m sorry about that. So sorry.” He rubbed her back.
 

“He could have killed you!” she said, looking up at him, unaware that her nails were digging into his side.

“Naw. He just looked scary.”

“He had an ax, Greer. He chopped up my car.”

“Yeah.” Greer winced. “Sorry about that. We’ll get it fixed.” Angel had secured the woodcutter. Kit was calling it in to Lobo.
 

“Let me take you home,” Greer said.

“My notes. Our things.”

“I’ll go get them. Wait here.” He looked over toward the guys. “Val.”

“Yeah, man?”

“Stay with Remi. I’m going to go get our stuff.”

“You got it.” Val went to the back of the SUV and grabbed a blanket, which he put around Remi’s shoulders.
 

“I’m not cold,” Remi said.

“You’re shaking. I don’t want you to get shocky.”

“Thank you.” She looked into the woods toward the village. “I’m fine here. I think you should go with him. What if there are others like the woodcutter?”

Val met her gaze, then nodded. “Angel—”
 

“On it.” He jogged after Greer.

Chapter Nineteen

Remi stared at the timber facade of Blade’s house. She got out and waited for Greer to climb out her side. She didn’t move. She couldn’t. He stood quietly next to her. Perhaps, being here in the lap of this luxurious home, there was no need to rush anymore.

“I knew the woodcutter.” She looked at Greer. “I saw him on my other visits. If you hadn’t come this time…”

“But I did. Don’t think about what might have been. It wasn’t. It couldn’t have been. It happened as it was intended.”

“He’s from the WKB.”

“Yeah. And they’d given Sally to him.”

“Do you think the doctor has her hidden someplace?”

“No. He looked too panicked about her.” He lifted a big hand to her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze. “Let’s go in.”

“Are we staying here?”

“Yeah. I think it’s for the best. I’ll bring your other things over from Mandy’s tomorrow.” He grabbed their packs and led her to the house.

Lights were on but dimmed in the entranceway and living room. Greer led her upstairs and across the bridge. One door was open, its light spilling out into the hall.
 

“Kathy got this room ready for you.” He looked farther down the hall. “My room’s the middle one at the end of the hall.” He left his bag in the hall and took her things inside. “There’s a list of numbers on the nightstand. Call any of us if you need anything.”
 

He set her stuff on the bed. He reached for her arm. His hand slipped down to hold hers. She blinked as a wave of exhaustion and fear wracked her spirit. “I don’t know what end is up anymore.”

His mouth tightened. “I know. You’re safe here. And I’ll help you figure it out.” His brown eyes studied her as he fought for the right words.

“Are you guys feuding with the WKB?”

“No. This fight is bigger than that. It has no beginning and no end. Good and evil never triumph, Remi. They only keep each other in balance.” His hand left hers. “The dark side is very dark. Most people never have to see what we see. The world we live in is nothing like your civilian world. You have the world you have because we do the work we do.” His expression held no emotion. Not anger or remorse. Not belligerence or sorrow.
 

She knew about dark and hidden worlds. Thanks to her mother, she’d survived hell itself.

* * *

A knock sounded on Remi’s bedroom door the next morning. “Dr. Chase? You there?” a woman’s voice came muffled through the door. “I have your things.”

Remi opened the door. A brunette with short hair was standing in the hallway…Eden, wasn’t it? Remi opened her door. A huge tan dog sat on the floor next to Ty’s wife.

“Hi. Greer asked me to give these to you,” she said, handing Remi her suitcase with her things from Mandy’s house. Eden and her pup came into her room. “Greer and the guys were having a meeting and will be late to breakfast. You’ll get used to that, if you stay around here long. The hours they keep are irregular at best. If you want, I can go down to the dining room with you. I know what it’s like being new to the group and thought maybe you could use a friend.”

“I could use a friend.” She met Eden’s eyes. “You’re new here?”

“Sort of new. I’ve been here most of the summer.”

“How long have the guys been here?”
 

Eden gave that some thought. “A couple of months? Three, maybe? I think Mandy said Rocco came out in May. I got here in June. Why?”

Remi shrugged. “Just trying to understand more about the group. Can I ask you something?”

Eden nodded. “Sure. Anything.”

“Can you leave, if you wanted to?” She wondered how deep the cult of Greer’s team ran. If the non-fighters could come and go at will, perhaps this group wasn’t as much of a cult as she feared.