Rage Within (28 page)

Mason started to shake his head but paused. She was right. He needed at least a few hours. Putting the coffee cup down on the floor, he allowed the woman to help him lift Casey up and off his numbed arm. Together they carried the little girl over to the empty bed the woman had prepared.

Casey turned onto her side, still asleep, thumb still in her mouth.

“She’s a lucky girl to have you,” the woman said. “Rumors or not, I don’t care what others say. You’re a good boy. Being here tonight proves it.”

“Thanks,” Mason said. “Tell her I’ll be back in a few hours. If she wakes up scared, come get me. I don’t mind.”

The woman smiled and gently nudged him in the direction of the door.

The morning air was sharp on his face. Breathing in, he watched his breath exhale in a puff of white mist. A few others were up, mostly women with children; they studied him carefully as he crossed the grounds toward his tent.

By the time he reached his destination, his feet dragged so badly that he stumbled trying to get through the tent flap.

Daniel was still asleep. Mason pulled one of the blankets off him and tried to cover himself as best as possible.

“Good night?” Daniel’s voice was quiet and muffled against the pillow.

“Yeah, thrilling,” Mason said.

“Get some sleep,” Daniel mumbled. He said a few more words, but Mason didn’t hear him. He was already too far gone.

Sleep took him hard.

*   *   *

He woke up to the Baggers standing over him, grabbing him by the arms and yanking him off the floor. Confused and half asleep, he didn’t even try to fight as they dragged him across the grounds and into the casino.

He saw Daniel just before the casino doors closed. Standing alone, watching everything. The look of fear was strong on his face.

Mason wondered why Daniel was afraid. It wasn’t him they were taking back into the casino. If anything, Daniel should be relieved.

They returned Mason to the same room and cuffed his hands behind his back once more. Mason didn’t even bother
trying to escape the handcuffs this time. He sat down in the chair and waited for Mr. Leon.

Ten minutes passed. Finally the door opened and the head Bagger came in. He wasn’t alone this time. He had another Bagger with him. This one wore a doctor’s white lab coat and she was carrying a black bag. Mason was about to get a house call.

“Good morning, Mason,” Mr. Leon said, his voice overly cheerful. “Can I presume that you slept well?”

Mason had to keep himself from cringing. There was something in that voice that reminded him of fingers being raked down a blackboard.

“No?” Mr. Leon went over to the desk and sat down on the edge. “I heard you caused quite a commotion last night. Got one of your buddies killed. Of course, rumor has it you beat the crap out of him first. Now is that any way to treat a friend?”

“That’s how you knew about Chickadee,” Mason said. “At least some of it. Paul told you, didn’t he?”

Mr. Leon flashed a perfect, white-toothed smile. “I’d rather say a little bird told me, but that would be clichéd, now wouldn’t it?”

Mason shrugged.

“You don’t get it?” Leon leaned in until he was inches away from Mason’s face. “Little bird? Chickadee? The thought alone is so cute. It brings joy and laughter to my soul.”

“Things like you have no soul.”

Mr. Leon laughed. “I do like the way you bring personality to a room, Mr. Dowell,” he said. “But no, your friend Paul didn’t give away your secret. I’m not about to tell you who or what did, either. I do need to maintain my air of mystique. Remember, I can read your mind. How else am I to keep you
cowering at my feet?” He turned and nodded to the doctor Bagger, who came over and placed her medical bag on the desk, pressing the latches simultaneously.

“Of course,” Leon said. “She’s going to help too. She’s here to make you sing. Just like a little bird.”

Now it was Mason’s turn to grin. “Never gonna happen.”

Mr. Leon wasn’t fazed in the slightest. “Never say never, Mr. Dowell. And I can guarantee you won’t be so cheerful once you hear my news.”

The room grew silent while Mr. Leon waited for Mason to take the bait. But Mason wasn’t playing the game. Beside the head Bagger, the doctor began to unpack her bag. She started by pulling out a long scalpel and holding it admiringly up to the light. Next came a handheld device. Long and thin with an electrical box on one end, metal tips on the other. Mason recognized it immediately from spending summers at his grandparents’ farm in Southern Saskatchewan.

A cattle prod.

Mason’s body betrayed him, going completely against his mind. He straightened up in his chair and pressed back against the metal, his feet firmly on the ground. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the instrument.

Mr. Leon smiled even wider. “You know what that is? I’m not surprised. You are a country boy. Raised in the big ol’ farming community? How many cows have you tipped?”

Mason ignored him, angry at his own inability to keep his eyes off the doctor.

The doctor Bagger came around the table, holding the cattle prod. She placed the metal tip against the desk and pressed the button. A buzzing noise filled the room and sparks shot out of the end of the prod. Mr. Leon backed away from Mason’s face, allowing the woman to close in.

“This may hurt,” Mr. Leon said. “Of course, all you have to do is talk to me. Quite simple, really. Tell me what I want to hear.”

The cattle prod sparked again, the electrical hum filling the room.

“Fine,” Mason said. “What do you want to know?”

“There was an incident last night,” Leon started. “We had a bit of an encounter with a few of your friends. That girl of yours, so feisty. I can see why Daniel and you are both fighting for her attention. There are so many things I’d like to do to her.”

Mason’s hands clenched behind his back, pulling against the cuffs.

“But I digress,” Leon said. “Where was I? Oh yes, the incident. She’s still alive. But the other, not so good.”

“Who?” Mason asked.

Mr. Leon smiled.

“Who?” Mason started to raise himself out of the chair but was pushed back down. “Who’d you kill?”

“That I’m not gonna say,” Leon said, pressing firmly down on Mason’s shoulder. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Aries was alive. Leon had said so and the thought filled Mason with relief. But who was dead? Michael? Joy? Nathan? Momentarily, it occurred to Mason that the Bagger might be lying to him, trying to provoke him into losing control.

But there was no faking the snarkiness in the older man’s face. He was happy. Overjoyed. That kind of delight couldn’t be fabricated.

Something snapped in the back of his brain. Some sort of poison dripped through the cracks, filling his mind with all sorts of dark thoughts.

“I’m going to kill you,” Mason said.

Mr. Leon laughed. “Patience, boy. Patience. We’ve only just begun.” He turned and nodded at the doctor Bagger, who moved forward, the cattle prod raised in her hand. “We’ve got all day for name-calling. Now tell me more about where I can find Aries.”

The electronic device pressed down.

*   *   *

They brought him back, tossed him inelegantly on the floor of the tent the way they had with Daniel. His head bounced off the thin vinyl covering, cracking hard on the cement beneath. He didn’t even have the strength to protect his face, so he lay there with his cheek pressed on the hard ground. The blood on the back of his shirt had cooled, and he could feel it dripping down his skin.

Daniel was beside him in an instant, grabbing his shoulders and turning him over. He winced; the worst of the burns covered his back, and the skin stuck to his clothing.

“You okay?”

He nodded, or at least tried to nod.

“What did they tell you?”

There was panic in Daniel’s voice. He could hear it loud and clear, and he knew if he opened his eyes, he’d see the same intense look of fear on Daniel’s face. But he didn’t want to look. He wanted to sleep. If he was lucky, he could disappear into a dreamless state of unconsciousness and not have to deal with the burns and bruises that covered his entire body.

But Daniel wouldn’t let up. “What did they tell you?” He shook Mason lightly, not enough to hurt, but enough to make him open his eyes uncomfortably.

“Aren’t you more concerned about what I might have told them?”

“Fine. What did you tell them?”

A slight moan escaped his lips. His back was on fire. “Nothing.”

“Then what did they tell you?”

“They told me they shot Kennedy.”

Daniel let out a choked spurt of laughter. “You’re a real comedian, Tourist Boy.”

“Try my hardest.”

Daniel tossed him a pillow and he winced as he slid it underneath his neck. But there was no getting comfortable and he was pretty certain that he wouldn’t be getting any sleep in his condition, not unless he managed to give himself a good shot to the head.

“They asked me a lot of questions about Aries,” Mason said as he stared at Daniel intently. “How do they know so much about her?”

“No idea,” Daniel said.

He’s lying.

“You know something.” Mason thought back about his conversation with Leon. “In fact, they said you did.”

“I know better than to open my mouth,” Daniel said. “If you told them where she is . . .”

“I didn’t say a word either,” Mason said. “Why do you think I look this way? Do you think I asked for this? They stuck me with a cattle prod. Do you have any idea how much that hurts?”

“Yes.”

They watched each other for a while, the sounds of the camp drifting through the thin walls of the tent.

“I know what to do now,” Mason finally said.

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to kill them,” he said. “Whatever it takes. No matter how much it costs me.”

Daniel leaned in. “Be careful what you say there, Tourist Boy.”

Mason closed his eyes. “Do you really think I care if they’re listening? Let them hear me. I’m not afraid.”

“That’s not what I mean. Some things you can’t take back. Some things take you farther into the darkness.”

Mason paused. “Maybe I want darkness.”

Daniel rubbed his eyes for a long time. “You have no idea what you’re saying. That’s fine and dandy with some things, but listen to me when I say this, Dowell. You think it’s okay to go off and fight a few Baggers and declare yourself some kind of hero for mankind. That’s fine. You’ve got a purpose. A great and sacred cause. But now that they’ve gone and taken away your toys and given you a spanking, you think you’re going to get revenge? Kill Baggers before they kill you. Fine. Get revenge because they pissed you off? That’ll change you. Open yourself up to the darkness? There’s no coming back.”

“Are you suggesting I’ll turn into a Bagger?” Mason sat up, leaning on his elbow. “Because the last time I checked, there were no black veins in my eyes. You said yourself, no one can just turn into one. I either am a Bagger, or I’m not.”

“And you think I’m right?” Daniel’s voice raised an octave. “Since when did you proclaim me the king of all wisdom? I don’t know how this stuff works any more than you.”

Mason smiled. “You’re such a hypocrite, you know that? What about back in the department store when we killed those Baggers? Aren’t you the one who told me I had ‘potential’? You said some crazy crap about me feeling the darkness. You put the knife in my hand and told me to embrace it. Now because I agree with you, you’re making a big deal about it? Telling me to go toward the light?”

Daniel shrugged. “Maybe I was wrong.”

“You weren’t.”

“Everything we do takes us one step closer to where we want or don’t want to go,” Daniel said. “The journey is up to you. Listen to me when I say this: Don’t go where you’re going. You have a choice. The Baggers don’t.”

“Now you’re feeling sorry for those monsters?”

“Maybe.” Daniel stood up and walked over to the front of the tent. A shadow had formed on the other side. He unzipped the door and one of the day care ladies looked surprised to see him.

“Um,” she said. She looked straight at Mason. “The little girl from last night. She’s awake now and she wants you. She’s refusing to talk to anyone. Can you come?”

No, he didn’t want to go. He wanted to lie down and try and forget everything, even if just for a few minutes. Why couldn’t everyone just leave him alone for a bit? Instead he nodded and pulled himself up without screaming out in pain. Pushing past Daniel, he gave him a sharp shove in the side as he climbed out of the tent.

He saw Daniel open his mouth to speak again, but Mason moved on quickly before the guy managed to get any more words out.

*   *   *

The little girl, Casey, ran straight into his arms the second he stepped into the day care area, hugging him tightly, forcing the pain in his back to flare and send waves of nausea across his stomach. Clenching his teeth, he held her back, wondering how much pain a person could take before falling apart.

The day care worker must have seen the blood on his shirt and rushed over, trying to pry Casey’s fingers off him. It only made her hold on tighter, but Mason eventually managed to
coax her into sitting down beside him on the makeshift bed.

“Here,” he said, taking the bowl of porridge the day care lady handed him. “You need to eat some of this.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“I don’t blame you,” he said. “But you need to eat to stay strong. We can’t have you weak. You might fade away to nothing.”

She giggled. But she opened her mouth when he put some of the porridge on the spoon. At least they had utensils in the day care. It made his job easier.

Job? Was this what he had now? Was this little girl going to continue refusing to allow anyone else to take care of her? He didn’t mind helping her out now and then. But a full-time job? No, he didn’t need that. Especially not anymore. He had other plans now. Leon had made sure of that. He had Baggers to kill. Someone else was going to have to take care of her.

“Now listen to me,” he said when she’d finished all the porridge. “These are good people here and they’re going to help. I’m going to visit lots, but you’ve got to make friends with them too.”