Dark Justice (50 page)

“Stop!” Ben shouted, but before he could say another word, the first man brought his fist around and cuffed Ben on the side of the face. His head slammed backward against the car door.

“Let go of me!” Maureen screamed. Ben saw the other man grabbing her, forcing her into the front seat. “
Help
!”

Maureen gave the scream her best, but there was no one close enough to hear. Within moments she was strapped and belted into the front seat and the door was locked behind her.

“You can’t do this,” Ben said.

“Do you want another one?” the man beside him said, raising his fist in the air.

Ben saw he was in no position to argue. Pinned down, isolated from anyone who could help—more chatter would only serve to loosen his teeth.

The doors were closed and locked. The car began to creep forward.

“You bastards,” Maureen spat out. “Haven’t you done enough already?”

“Evidently not,” said the voice behind the driver’s wheel. That was when Ben noticed for the first time who was driving.

“It’s
him
!” Maureen shrieked, white-faced. The tone of her voice made Ben’s blood run cold. “It’s the man who killed Doc!”

A thin smile curled on the driver’s lips. “That was an accident, remember?”

“What are you planning to do with us?” Ben asked.

“You’ll know soon enough,” the man grunted. “What’s your rush?”

Ben’s jaw tightened. “I’d just like to know, you—”

“Sorry. We’re not supposed to say.”

“Can’t you tell me anything?”

The man’s face twitched. “I can tell you this. You ain’t gonna like it.”

Ben spent the next forty-five minutes or so with a paper bag over his head. It seemed they didn’t want him to know where he was going. He could tell they had left town, had probably gone into the forest. But beyond that, he was clueless. All he could do was wait.

“Are you all right, Maureen?” he shouted at one point. His voice reverberated inside the paper bag.

“I’m fine. Given the circumstances.”

The man beside Ben grunted. “Worried about your little lady, chump?”

“Don’t hurt her. There’s no reason to hurt her.”

Ben felt a sharp jab in the ribs. “You ain’t in a position to argue, chump.”

They drove the rest of the distance in silence. Eventually Ben felt the car slow.

“We’re here.”

The man removed the bag over Ben’s head. He was right—they were in the forest. Deep, deep in the thick of it.

Just behind the car, Ben saw a cabin. More of an outsized shack, really—wood planks forming most of the walls, faded from rain and sunlight.

“So this is it,” he heard Maureen murmur. “The Holy Grail.”

Ben frowned. “What?”

“Their headquarters,” Maureen explained. “We knew the Cabal had a camp out in the woods somewhere. But we’ve never been able to find it.”

Surveying the scenery, Ben could imagine why. They were at the peak of what appeared to be a small mountain, utterly isolated from everything below. There was only one road leading to the cabin, and nothing else in sight.

“Come on,” the man beside Ben grunted. “Move your butt. You’re wanted inside.”

A few minutes later, Ben and Maureen were inside, both tied securely to upright chairs taken from an ancient dinner table. The chairs were old and not very sturdy. Ben suspected that, given half a chance, they could probably free themselves. Unfortunately, their captors didn’t appear likely to give them half a chance.

Ben felt cold beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face. He didn’t want to be a coward, but he was scared, and he knew it. They were alone, isolated—totally at the mercy of these men. Bad enough that he was in this situation—but Maureen was stuck here, too. He didn’t like that a bit. The looks on those men’s faces told him they were capable of anything. Anything at all.

“Now,” the driver said, “let’s talk. I’m Carl. You’re Ben, right? And the lady with the sexy legs is Maureen.”

“Go to hell,” Maureen answered.

“Why have you brought us here?” Ben asked, straining against his bonds. They weren’t tied that tightly. If he could just get rid of these jerks for a few minutes …

“Well, Ben,” Carl answered, “to tell you the truth, we didn’t want
you
. We weren’t too happy when you set out to rescue Zakin from the hangman’s noose, but from what I understand, your defense has been totally screwed, so who cares? We were after the lovely Maureen.”

Ben felt an empty aching in his chest. He’d been afraid of this.

“What do you want with me?” Maureen asked.

“Well, I thought we ought to have a little talk. After all, you’re in charge now, right?”

“Only because you loggers have killed everyone else!”

“Maureen, calm down. I think you have the wrong idea. Although maybe I shouldn’t tell you. I think you’re very sexy when you’re angry.” He smiled, a toothy smile Ben would’ve enjoyed rendering toothless. “We’re not loggers. I’ve never cut a tree in my life.”

Ben surveyed the four faces in the room. “These assholes don’t care about eco-politics, Maureen. They’re just hired thugs. They work for Slade. Where is he anyway?”

“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 façade.

“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
looked
at it? Some of those trees go back hundreds of years. We can’t let you chop them down just to make more cardboard!”

“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.”

“
No
!” Ben shouted.

“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
whoosh!
drawn in a comic-book panel.

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:

“
Fire
!”

A
LL 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 difficult. Coughing and tearing, they piled into the car.

Slade slid behind the wheel. “Here we go.” He shoved the key into the ignition and turned it.

Nothing happened.

“What’s wrong?” Maureen asked. A note of panic crept into her voice.

“I don’t know.” Slade turned the ignition again—with the same result.

“Come on!” Ben said. “We’ve got to go!”

“Talking won’t get us anywhere.” Slade pushed a button to pop the hood, then jumped out of the car. Ben followed him.

Slade stared down into the engine. In seconds he ascertained what had happened. He ran his finger through a white, granular smear, then touched it to his lips.

“Sugar,” he said bitterly.

“Sugar?” Ben said. “What do you mean?”

Slade glared at Maureen. “It’s a technique these bright young Green Ragers have for disabling automobiles. Put sugar in the crankcase. Or the gas tank. Or both. Stops the car dead.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying this car isn’t going anywhere.” He glanced at Maureen. “Good work.”

She held up her hands. “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“One of your associates, then. A very thorough one.” He slammed the hood down. “And now we’re all going to pay the price. All because of
you
!”

“Wait a minute,” Maureen said. “This would never have happened if one of your men hadn’t killed Doc.”

“That would never have happened if you and your gang of trespassers hadn’t illegally blocked the road.”

“We wouldn’t’ve had to, if your corporate masters weren’t so determined to sacrifice our forests to make a buck!”

“We don’t have time for this!” Ben shouted. “Like it or not, we’re all in this together now.”

“He’s right,” Slade said. His lips were pursed together; Ben knew he was thinking. He scanned the ring of flame encircling them, growing closer. “Let’s spread out. See if we can find an opening anywhere in the flames.”