The Travelling Man (28 page)

In his mind, Grange’s images showed him where to go and he followed the instructions, eager to show his worth and earn Grange’s favor. He ducked in through a rear door that hung open, torn from one hinge. He guessed that there was little of value inside the library, or at least little value given their current situation.

The inside was cool and dark and he moved as quietly as he could manage. His bulky torso, combined with his short stumpy legs, made covertness difficult but not impossible, with concentration and effort.

He heard a sound from off down the hallway and pressed himself against the wall, stepping deep into the shadows. Footsteps alerted him to another’s presence and allowed him to pinpoint a location. Once the footsteps fell silent again, he moved forward cautiously towards where the noise had come from.

The long lines of high shelves were mainly lying face down, spilling their contents out across the linoleum flooring. Books were spewed out with careless abandon but in some places he could see that someone had been carefully rearranging the mess. A handful of shelves had been hoisted up again and their contents stacked neatly once more.

Through the shadowy interior he could just make out a shape working away feverishly with its back to him, and his lips curled up in a cruel smile at the shape and curve of a female form.

CHAPTER 18

not such divine intervention

Cassie watched over Kravis as Amy Fischer, the vet, worked on him. She had sent Sera Gamble to the library to try and find some more medical books. Now that there was no internet to call upon with its instant knowledge base, they had to resort back to actual books.

There had been so much blood and her hands still felt sticky and soiled, no matter how many times she washed them. She knew that Kravis had taken those bullets for her and Ellie and the guilt stuck hard in her throat.

Once they’d gotten his shirt off, she’d first been relieved beyond measure to find the bulletproof vest. Upon closer inspection, she could see an ugly large bruise that was already turning a dark purple on his back. The wound on his side seemed to be a superficial one once Amy had cleaned the blood away. There was a large entry hole but also an exit wound meaning that the bullet had passed through his little love handle. The real cause for concern was that his breathing was harsh and labored and Amy voiced Cassie’s own fear that there was some internal damage from the bullet’s impact. Kravis was still unconscious and Cassie watched over him protectively until Cary Borage came over to her.

“Have you seen the deputy?” Cary asked nervously.

“Kevin? Shit, no,” Cassie answered, suddenly realizing that the big man wasn’t within sight.

Cary looked far older than his already advanced age and Cassie looked around at the rest of the group. Men and woman mainly sat slumped on the temporary chairs that had been set up around the hall. Their facial expressions were a mixture of blank stares, fear, and anger. They had all taken a battering and things were only going to get worse. Several of the men and a couple of women were holding weapons with clenched fists and she could see the thirst for vengeance in their eyes. They were ready to storm the church and part of her wanted desperately to join them, to lash out with furious anger at a common enemy. But part of her cool rational mind also felt that there was something wrong, like she was being pushed around a board by someone else’s hand.

She shook the concern from her mind and focused on the immediate problem. She looked over at Ellie who was sitting on a chair facing Kravis on the table. Her little face was filled with concern for the man and she reached out and took his large hand in hers just hanging on to two of his fingers.

“Where did you see him last?” she asked Cary.

“Bobby said that he ducked out the rear door when you guys were pinned down outside.”

Cassie suddenly realised that it had been Kevin who had provided the opportunity for her to save Kravis, but if he hadn’t come back again… She shook that scary thought away and ran to the rear door.

Several men moved towards her in order to help but she quickly held up a firm hand to still them. She didn’t want amateurs with itchy trigger fingers when her priority was to find Kevin.

She headed straight for the spot where she had identified that the shooting had been coming from by the muzzle flashes. She could smell the unmistakable coppery aroma of blood as she reached the brush and soon found the two bodies lying still on the floor. She fought her instincts to run to her deputy and checked on the other man first, kicking the handgun away from his reach while keeping her own revolver aimed at him. As she leaned in close she could clearly see that he had been shot multiple times with the worst of the wounds blowing the back of his head out. Once she was assured that he was dead, she moved to Kevin.

The deputy was lying on his back but she could see that his broad chest was rising and falling softly. She knelt and gently inspected his wound, finding that he had been shot in the shoulder. He stirred and opened his eyes. His gaze was a little foggy, but he smiled when he saw her.

“You get to Kravis okay?” he asked, and she felt relieved by his calm tone.

“He’s fine, in no small part to you,” she answered.

“Ellie? Jeanne?”

“They’re fine too. Can you stand?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he replied a little groggily. “Shit, there’s another guy out here. I knocked him out but he might be coming to about now,” he said remembering.

Cassie got him to a sitting position with his back against a tree trunk and left him there. “This way?” she pointed.

“Yeah, about 50 yards or so into the brush,” he nodded to indicate the direction.

Cassie slipped away with her gun raised, unwilling to take any chances. She stepped lightly and surely but soon found the man in question lying face down. He was a big guy but Kevin had clearly done a number on him. He was still breathing but he wasn’t moving.

She went back to Kevin and helped him to stand. He leaned on her shoulder and limped back to the Town Hall. They hadn’t reached the front steps before the doors flew open and Jeanne flew out to help, swiftly followed by several larger and suited men.

Cassie left Kevin to be helped into the building while commandeering a couple of the larger armed guys to accompany her back to the unconscious man in the brush. She slapped a pair of cuffs on the guy and they carried the plaid-shirted heavyset man back to the Town Hall, using the rear entrance. There was a small kitchen area back there and Cassie ordered the man to be placed on a sturdy chair. She used a second pair of cuffs around his ankles, securing him to the chair legs.

“Say, that’s Darrin Broker. What are we gonna do with him?” Jimmy Galloon asked with wide eyes.

“I say we string him up!” Joey Duncan spat. The big man had been a fry cook at the diner but his usual pleasant demeanor was missing as his face was hard and angry.

“Settle down, fellas,” Cassie ordered. “No one’s starting a lynch mob on my watch.”

“Bullshit, Sheriff,” Michael Chase said, his voice rising high with nervous excitement.

Cassie had busted Chase several times in town, mainly for petty thievery. He was a rat-like man with an anxious twitch and a penchant for cheering on bad deeds from the sidelines.

“He tried to kill us and I say we return the favor,” Chase squeaked eagerly.

Cassie stepped in front of the slumped man cuffed to the chair as Chase and Duncan moved in menacingly. “You want to help me here,
Councilor?” she said, looking at Jimmy, but the lawyer looked down at his shoes. “I’m still the law around here, fellas,” she said in a low rumble that made Duncan stop and Chase turn a little paler.

“You really gonna stand up for this piece of shit?” Duncan demanded. “After he tried to shoot you and your little girl? What the hell kind of a woman are you?”

“One with a badge and a gun,” Cassie replied coldly.  

The handcuffed man’s eyes fluttered open and Cassie cursed the timing. She wanted to question him alone and away from those in her group whose temperatures were running hot. They wanted to take their piece of retribution and this helpless guy would do just fine in their eyes.

The man started to look around the group when he noticed that he couldn’t move. He opened his mouth to start yelling and Cassie stepped forward and smashed him hard in the face without mercy. The man slumped back into the deep dark veil beyond consciousness and Cassie breathed a silent sigh of relief as the blood lust in the room was momentarily sated.

----------

Sera Gamble rooted through the library books for ones of a medical nature. She had been coming to the library for the past few days, finding comfort in the peaceful nature of her surroundings. She had been trying to restore the shelves to a sense of order while processing the events of Granton’s ruin at the same time. Within the pages of the books were stories written centuries ago, tales that had lasted for hundreds of years despite the ravages of time and war. Those books had maintained their life and so, she hoped, would she.

She was sorting though what had been the reference section when she thought that she heard a noise. For the first couple of days alone here she had often felt spooked by noises, but she had soon started to relish the large building’s emptiness and long shadows.

All of a sudden, she felt like she wasn’t alone. The skin on the back of her neck rose in spider egg lumps. For a moment she surprised herself by hoping that it was Will. They had worked at the paper together for some time now and she had greatly enjoyed their sparring, but now she was starting to long for more of his attention.

“Will? Is that you?” she called out coyly.

“Not exactly,” a man’s voice came out of the darkness.

She didn’t recognise the voice but she soon recognised the man as his misshapen form stepped out into the gloomy light. “
Mr. Lesnar? What are you doing here?”

“Pretty much anything I damn well like,” he grinned without
humor and suddenly she felt very nervous and very alone.

She backed away from the mine owner with only a copy of The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics for protection as he waddled towards her with cold black hunger in his eyes.

----------

Will Daniels headed for the library to bring Sera back. The Sheriff had sent him after her because the Kravis guy’s injuries had turned out to not be as bad as everyone had feared during the panic.

Will considered himself an educated man and a liberal. He had no bloodlust or vengeance in his heart, even after the attack on the Town Hall. All he wanted were answers as to why and a plan to make sure that it didn’t happen again. He knew that some of the other guys were itching to storm the church with guns blazing and minds parked firmly in neutral, but he was not of that opinion. He thought that the best idea would be for someone to lead a peaceful expedition up to meet with Father Luther and his people and try to sit down and talk.

The gunfire, and the ease with which such a small amount of pressure exerted on a trigger could change the world in far more real ways than his pen ever could, had scared him. The old saying about the pen being mightier than the sword may well sound great in theory, but in reality he found it hard to believe.

He headed quickly for the library, eager to find Sera and bring her back to safety. He was more than a little annoyed that the Sheriff had sent Sera out on her own under the circumstances and he quickened his pace to a run.

He reached the building quickly and stepped inside the dark. He knew that Sera had been spending a lot of time here and he could see the appeal of the quiet order.

“SERA!!” he called out, and his voice echoed along the empty corridors momentarily startling him but there was no answer.

He headed into the main hall. “SERA? YOU IN HERE?” he boomed, but again to no avail.

He moved quickly through the rows of fallen shelves and books, stepping carefully to avoid falling. He pulled a small but powerful flashlight from his belt and switched it on. The beam shone out in a narrow plume as dust particles twirled and danced in the light. He shone the flashlight around in a sweeping arc, searching for Sera and trying to ignore the clawing fear in his gut that was telling him something was wrong.

The beam of light suddenly struck a foot poking out from behind a row. He stood rooted to the spot, staring at Sera’s shoe, unable to walk forward or tear his eyes away. He stood that way for several minutes before he finally managed to slowly move forward.

He kept the light beam on the shoe, before moving it gradually upwards. Sera’s sensible trousers had been pulled down roughly over her knees and her panties had been torn off and flung aside. Her top had been ripped open, exposing her pale white flesh and Will could see that there were multiple shallow wounds across her breasts with some that looked like bite marks. A series of tears fell from his crushed expression as it crumpled with sorrow at her battered face. Her features were twisted and swollen, battered almost beyond recognition, but her eyes were staring upwards frozen in terror for ever more. There was a crucifix carved deeply into the flesh of her stomach and someone had written the word “Fallen” on her forehead with her own blood.

Will finally reached her and fell to his knees. He took her small hand in his and pressed it to his cheek as a vault door slammed shut deep inside him, trapping his rational liberal feelings inside.

----------

Kravis sat at the back of the hall, wincing every time that he tried to shift in his chair. His ribs had been strapped up to hold the broken one in place. With the stiff bandage in place, and in a seated position, his breathing had settled back to normal and as long as he didn’t move, he was fine.

He couldn’t help but feel that the attack on the building had been one designed to scare and incite them, and looking around at the angry men and women clutching guns he couldn’t help but feel that it had worked.

Everyone was gathered, except the two reporters from the town paper and Cassie stood at the front of the hall with her patched up deputy by her side. The big guy had seen better days but it would appear that it was going to take a lot more than this to keep him down.

Kravis knew that there was a member of the church tied up in the kitchen and he had heard more than enough rumblings about lynch mobs to make him nervous. The whole thing stank of the man now calling himself Gilbert Grange, but Kravis knew that none of his new friends and neighbors were in any mood to listen to his story.

“Folks, please,” Cassie said, holding out her arms to appeal for quiet. It took a few moments but Kravis could see that she still carried enough weight.