Regan Wolfrom - After The Fires Went Out - Coyote

Lisa took charge of Justin Porter, having us carry him up to her bedroom so she could treat him.

I told the Marchands to hold a line at the gate.

I wanted to find out who gave Justin access to my armour. But that would have to wait.

While Lisa and Fiona looked into making sure that Justin didn’t die, I went back downstairs, to put on my riot suit, vest and helmet and tell Graham just what to expect.

“I don’t plan on hurting anyone,” I said. “They’ve got a fence along the river but they don’t keep an eye on it. Hopefully I can find Sara.”

“There’s no way you’ll get her out without shooting people,” Graham said. “Assuming they don’t just take you out first. It’s not that hard to aim for your exposed parts.”

“Are you volunteering to come with me?”

He looked surprised. “No…sorry, Baptiste…I think this is a bad idea.”

“So you’ll just opt out, eh?”

“It’s a stupid idea,” Kayla said.

I hadn’t even noticed her standing by the door. I wasn’t paying enough attention to what was happening around me; that was a bad sign.

“You have a better idea?” I asked her, trying to not sound too harsh.

“We go and talk to them,” she said. “You know…sissy stuff.”

“That won’t work.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’re right, I don’t know.” But that didn’t mean I could stand the idea of going to New Post and dropping to my knees.

“Think of it this way. They know you’re coming either way. So you can sneak around just like they’d expect, or you can walk up to the gate and talk to them. And when that doesn’t work, you can always go berserker on them afterwards.”

I sighed. “At this point, Kayla, I think if I showed up at the gate they’d just shoot me.”

“I know I would,” she said. “I mean, if I were them. But they won’t shoot me.”

“No…not a fucking chance,” I said. “You’re not going.”

“I’ll go,” Graham said.

“They won’t trust either of you,” Kayla said.

“You’re right,” I said. “Normally it would make sense to send Lisa, but since she’s already shot at them once today…but I don’t think I can allow this, Kayla.”

“Do you think they’ve hurt Sara?” she asked.

“No.” I just couldn’t see it. They didn’t want Sara dead.

“They won’t hurt me, either.”

“But what if they try to take you into custody?” Graham asked.

“For what?” Kayla asked.

“Conspiracy, maybe…”

“They’re not going to touch me. No one wants a war.”

Graham shook his head. “They threw Justin Porter out of a moving truck.”

“They dumped him because they knew we were coming…they knew Lisa would catch up and that people would get hurt…their people as well as ours.”

“They could have stopped their truck.”

“They could have shot Justin first.”

“This has gotten so messed up,” Graham said.

“It has,” I said.

“Then let me try to fix it,” Kayla said. “You have to let me try.”

I drove the cart while Kayla sat beside me; she was in the spotter’s seat, but she seemed too nervous to look at anything aside from her feet.

I’d made sure everyone back at McCartney Lake was on high alert; New Post would be expecting a visit from me, so there was always the chance that they’d see it as an opportunity to hit us from the rear. They’d been up the deer trails before; what was stopping them from doing it again?

I’d never thought I’d have to consider the possibility that our neighbours might launch a sneak attack. But things were changing so quickly that I knew I couldn’t make too many assumptions.

Was I making a mistake? Would they actually shoot Kayla even though she’s almost the farthest thing possible from a threat?

I stopped the cart just out of range of the gate at New Post. I was in full gear, while Kayla only had a vest under her robin’s egg blue jacket, and her pink toque instead of a helmet.

“You should take off the toque,” I said.

She pulled it off, and her blond hair tumbled out. “It’s windy,” she said.

“I know…but this way they’ll know you’re not Lisa, and they should be pretty damned sure you’re not me.”

“I know this was my idea, but I have to admit…I’m pretty fucking terrified.”

“You’ll do fine. Just remember that you’re too pretty to shoot.”

“Graham always says the same thing about you.”

She climbed down from the cart and made her way towards the guards at the gate. There were four of them now instead of two; I took out my binoculars to see all but one take cover behind a parked green pickup.

“Hold your arms out, Kayla,” I said. “Let them see that you’re unarmed.”

She spread out her hands as she walked. She was moving a little quickly, but I worried that telling her to slow down would just add to her anxiety.

I kept my shotgun low; I knew that I’d have no hope of saving her if they decided to shoot. I’d be sure to kill every last one of them for it, but that wouldn’t do much for Kayla after the fact.

I’d wanted to give her a handheld, set to broadcast every noise, but she’d made it clear that the last thing she needed was a strange bulge coming from the side of her coat.

The guard who hadn’t taken cover behind the truck started toward her, his rifle pointed down at the ground. I could see through the binoculars that it was Sky; I felt like that was a good thing.

Kayla started talking, though I couldn’t hear what she was saying. Sky responded, but he did not smile. Kayla kept going, gesturing with her hands as she started to argue with him. Sky seemed calm enough, and after a couple of minutes he shook his head, and then he turned to return to the other men at the gate.

Kayla looked back at me; I could see that she was upset.

I wanted to head towards her, but I stayed where I was.

Slowly she started back toward the cart.

I watched as Sky went back through the gate and made a call on his handheld. The other guards came out from their hiding place behind the truck, but they still kept their eyes on me and the cart.

I waited for Kayla to reach me, wanting to hope for the best but knowing full well that the news wasn’t good.

“Is she okay?” I asked as Kayla came close.

“Apparently,” she said. “But they won’t let her go.”

“What do you mean? They’re just going to keep her?”

“They say they don’t trust us…they think we’re planning to attack.”

“That’s exactly what they’re forcing us to do. Did you tell them that this is unacceptable?”

“I did.”

“Did you tell them they have no right to keep her?”

“I did.”

“Goddammit…what the fuck are we supposed to do now?” I knew that I was crying; I hoped that she couldn’t tell.

She climbed onto the cart and wrapped her arms around me. “Don’t worry, Baptiste…we’ll figure this out.”

She reached out and wrapped her arm around my neck.

“Don’t cry,” she said.

“Don’t watch.”

She started to laugh. “Sorry…I know I shouldn’t be laughing. We’ll get her back.”

“I know we will,” I said, not that I really knew anything. “I just worry about how she’s doing.”

“They won’t hurt her.”

I just nodded and hugged her back.

I confronted Matt about the armour. He’d just come back from flirting with Fiona, and he had that stupid grin on his face.