William Bernhardt - Dark Justice

“John is Slade’s right-hand man. Any time Slade wants something important done, John is the man he calls.”

“I was not aware of John.”

“Most people aren’t. Slade is the sort of man who likes to take credit for everything himself. At the same time, he doesn’t want any trails leading back to him. So whenever he needs something done that’s … less than legal, he talks to John.”

“And John talks to you?”

Tess allowed herself a slight smile. “He does have a habit of gabbing on when he’s”-she giggled-“excited. And after.”

Maureen stared at her with a near-stony visage Tess found difficult to read. Was she doubting Tess, or appalled by this nonfeminist dinosaur? Or just trying to figure how best to use her? “So,” Maureen said, “you’ve known about some of the Cabal’s activities even before they happened.”

“That’s right.”

“Such as?”

“Well, I know they raided your camp twice, even though I don’t believe you reported it to the police.”

“There’s been a lot of talk about the raids in town,” Al said abruptly. “She could’ve picked that up from anyone.”

“But she also knows about that Cabal,” Maureen said. “And Slade. And that is not common knowledge.”

“Not common, but not unknown, either,” Al insisted. “If she did some serious research, she could have found some of the articles other environmental groups have written about it.”

“Please believe me,” Tess said, plastering on her most earnest smile. “I wouldn’t even know how to do this … research. All I know is what I’ve been told by John.” She took a deep breath. “And it horrifies me. That’s why I want to join you.”

“I’m sorry,” Al said, “but we can’t afford to take the risk. She could be a cop.”

“She isn’t a cop,” Maureen said. “I’m certain of that.” She peered directly at Tess. “Are you?”

“No,” Tess said firmly. “I’m not.”

“Or worse,” Al continued, “she could be a Cabal plant. That would explain how she knows so much about them.”

“It’s possible,” Maureen said, batting her finger against her lip. “But I just don’t think so.” She glanced at Rick. “Do you?”

“No, I don’t.” Rick leaned toward Maureen and whispered a few words in her ear. Maureen nodded. “I’m more concerned about your level of commitment.”

Tess frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you may feel all dedicated to the cause now. It may seem like a cool, exciting thing to do, in a dilettante-ish way. But when the heat is on, and it doesn’t seem so fun and exciting anymore, you may wither. It’s one thing to talk the talk, but quite another to actually walk the walk. We can’t use someone who’s going to crack up and run the first time she sees something dangerous or illegal happen.”

“I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

He peered down at her. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes,” she said, without hesitation. “Absolutely.”

“All right,” Rick continued, “here’s what we’re going to do. We’ve got a little … activity planned for tonight. We considered postponing it, but the group consensus is to proceed.”

“And?”

“And you’ll come with us. If you follow through on this and still want to be part of Green Rage, then I think you’ll be in for the long haul. More to the point, if you’ve participated in an illegal act, then you have as much to lose as the rest of us-if someone talks to the cops or the Freddies.”

“I understand. Security in shared risk.”

“That’s exactly right. Will you do it?”

Tess never let her eyes break from his. “I will.”

Al rose abruptly and threw his hat onto the ground. “Not again! This is insane!”

“I’ve made my decision,” Rick said.

Al muttered a few words Tess didn’t understand, then stomped off into the forest.

“First, I’ll fill you in,” Rick said. “Then I’ll take you back into town so you can get whatever gear you’ll need to spend the night in the forest. If you have to make some excuses to John, you can do it. At any rate, you need to meet me at Bunyan’s by nine. I’ll pick you up and bring you back out here.”

“Got it,” Tess said, trying to suppress her excitement. “Can you tell me the plan?”

It looked like she’d succeeded. He was going to take her into his confidence.

“Yeah,” Rick said, leaning close to her and lowering his voice. “You’ll need to know. Here’s what we’re going to do.”

They placed tess in the middle of the chain of four, with Maureen and Rick in front of her and Al behind her. She preferred to think it was so they could make sure she didn’t get lost. But she suspected that at least part of it was that they still simply didn’t trust her.

It was the dead of night, well after three A.M. She was reminded how forbidding the forest could be at this time of night. Every other step she tripped over something she couldn’t see and felt something brush against her she couldn’t identify. A voice deep inside her told her to run, to flee, to get the hell out of Dodge. But she had to fight her panic down, to suppress those natural instincts.

This was a test. They were trying to determine whether she had what it took to be part of their group. She couldn’t fail the test, not if she hoped to become a member and get the inside scoop she needed to crack the murder. She had to persevere.

“We wait here,” Rick whispered. They hunkered down in a grove of trees on the crest of a small hill. Maureen and Al both sat, propping themselves against large tree trunks. They at least seemed to know what they were doing.

“Where are we?” Tess asked timidly.

“Near Northwest 14,” Rick said. He pointed toward a large section of tall trees on the opposite side of the clearing-NW14, on the surveyors’ maps.

“I thought we were going to spike the trees,” Tess said. “It’s already after three.”

“We wait,” Rick said firmly, and he rested himself on a large rock beside Maureen.

Tess didn’t understand, but she saw no point in arguing. She found a soft spot in a pile of leaves, sat down, and waited.

It was more than half an hour later when Rick rose to his feet, brushing the dirt off the back of his jeans. “I think that’s long enough.”

Tess was startled by the sound of his voice. There had been no conversation during the waiting period-for security reasons, she assumed. And given the lateness of the hour and the length of time she’d been hiking, she had all but fallen asleep.

Tess pushed herself up, wiping her eyes. “Mind telling me what’s going on? You told me we were going to spike trees. Said we would start around three. Wasn’t that the plan?”

“That’s what we told you,” Rick said. “But that wasn’t the plan.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Maureen said gently. “But we had to be sure we could trust you.”

“So you lied to me?”

“We gave you false information about our plans,” Al explained. “Then we took you back to town and made sure you had a chance to report, if that was your intent.”

“You thought I was working for the cops?”

“Or worse, the Cabal.” Maureen laid her hand gently on Tess’s shoulder. “You have to understand-we know the Cabal has tried to infiltrate our group. And we feel certain they’ll try again. We had to be cautious.”

“So you fed me false information.”

Rick nodded. “And then we came out here, near the place where we told you we would spike, and waited. There’s really only one practical way into Northwest 14, and I could watch it perfectly from here. If there had been any cops or loggers or Cabal thugs coming to catch us in the act, I would’ve seen them.”