Regan Wolfrom - After The Fires Went Out - Coyote

“I know you gave a key to Justin,” I said.

“For the gate?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You let him into the chest and he took my armour to use on New Post. I know it was you.”

“Maybe it was Lisa.”

“Don’t even bother trying, Matt. This is your fault, you stupid piece of shit. Your fault that Sara’s gone…your fault that we might end up going to war with those people.”

“I didn’t give him my key.”

“It was never your key to give.”

“I didn’t give him anything.”

“You gave him your key. Don’t lie to me.”

“I don’t have to stand around here and be accused of something I didn’t do.”

I shoved him against the wall of the living room, almost knocking down that date sign from the bank. Today is…the day I finally put two bullets in Matt’s tiny little brain.

I wished I could.

“You like Fiona,” I said. “I know you do.”

“Yes…I think she’s great.”

“Well you may have just killed her, Matt. Doing whatever you want without thinking or asking anyone else if it even makes sense…you may have just killed the girl you were hoping to see naked. It’s your fault, Matt. It’s all you, buddy. All you.”

“You can think whatever you want about me…I don’t care. I’m doing my best to protect the people I care about.”

“By starting a war?”

“By standing up for us. They’re just waiting for a chance to get us, Baptiste. I know that. Justin knows that. You’re the only one who doesn’t.”

“All I know, Matt, is that I don’t want to see you again tonight. So find a place to be that isn’t here.”

“Whatever,” he said. He shook his head and walked out to the porch.

I’m sure he was hoping he’d get to stay with Fiona.

I knew he’d end up at the Porters.

I hope he decides to stay there for a while.

Today is Thursday, January 10th.

It’s been three days of nothing.

We’ve sent five messages to New Post. Those messages have gone ignored.

Kayla wants to head back to the gate and talk to them.

I know that won’t work.

Assuming Gerald Archibald didn’t bleed to death, I’m sure he’s convinced himself that Sara Vachon is his best leverage to keep me from taking him out.

There haven’t been any attempts to steal our supplies…not yet. But I know they’ll be back. And when we catch them, they’ll try to wave Sara’s life in my face.

They’ll keep her for as long as I live. Maybe longer.

They won’t give her back.

The only thing we can do is take her back.

One of the side effects of living in such a small world is that it’s pretty hard to sneak around. This is why we don’t have things like surprise birthday parties, and why everyone seems to know exactly who’s sleeping with who; I learned that last one the hard way.

When I decided to start up an old fashioned conspiracy, I quickly realized that finding a place to meet might suck up most of my energy.

I could have gotten Lisa to distract Graham, but I wanted her opinion. So I had to get creative and ask Rihanna for help. She had no problem giving us a hand, and she came up with a way to keep Graham busy for a few hours; it’s not a big secret that Graham can’t say no when you ask him for a favour.

So Graham was over at the Porters, giving Rihanna some advice on setting up a miniature greenhouse, and we all met up in the barn to talk, all of us meaning anyone who wasn’t Fiona or Gwyneth.

Justin Porter was there as well, his left ankle sprained and his face swollen, and Alain Tremblay came too, showing an aggressive side that reminded me more of his brother.

We didn’t invite the Marchands; we still didn’t know them well enough.

But I did let Matt be there. I needed help, and I could go back to hating him tomorrow.

“If we do this,” I said, “there’s really no way to smooth things over again. We’ll basically be at war with New Post and possibly the Walkers. And Ryan Stems.”

“Big loss,” Justin said.

“This will go better if you don’t talk,” Lisa said.

That seemed to shut him up.

“The way I see things,” I said, “there are two ways to do this. We can go in with just three or four of us, and keep some people back at home keeping watch with Graham and the Marchands. Or we can take a chance and go all in.”

“If we all go,” Lisa said, “will we all go in together?”

“I was thinking we’d have two groups. Three coming in from the front, while the other three sneak in off the river. They’ll bring their people out to the gate, thinning things out for my team.”

“Your team,” Alain said. “And who leads the other?”

“Justin leads the other,” I said.

“With a sprained ankle?”

“Me as a gimp is vastly superior to you at your best,” Justin said. “So we just want to tie them down at the gate?”

“You got it. Make a lot of noise then back off a little. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re a decoy; don’t try to take them out. But when you start backing off, don’t let them think it’s a rout…just keep it orderly so they think twice about chasing after you.”

“And what if they do chase after us?”

“You’ll have the pickup truck we got from New Post,” I said. “That’s assuming the thing is roadworthy after Lisa put those nice holes in it. Take the truck and turn onto Birchill Road. Do not lead them back to McCartney Lake.”

“And you’re putting me in here somewhere?” Kayla asked.

“Have you ever even fired a gun?” Justin asked.

“I have.”

I’m not sure I believed her based on what I’d seen. “You’re extra padding,” I said. “You, Justin and Matt make three. I’m really only expecting Justin to do the actual shooting. I’m not even sure we have enough guns.”

“I can shoot,” Matt said.

“I know…but Justin might actually hit the things he aims for.”

“So I’m going with you and Lisa?” Alain asked.

“Are you okay with that?” I asked.

“Absolutely.”

“Do we have any idea where Sara’s being held?” Lisa asked.

“We don’t know anything,” I said. “But I’d guess she’s at the band office.”

“Or she could be in any other building on the reserve,” Justin said.

“It’s possible.”

“So if she’s not at the band office, we’re going to wander from house to house looking for her?”

“If she’s not at the band office, we’ll take a hostage of our own. Maybe we’ll be lucky and grab the chief.”

“I like that,” Matt said.

“I want to be clear,” I said. “We don’t want to kill anyone if we don’t have to.”

“And what if we have to?” Justin asked.

“This isn’t for revenge…just remember that.” Part of me knew I was lying.

“So we’re really going to do this?” Kayla asked.

“We head out tonight at 6pm. I want everyone to meet back here at 5:15.”

“What about Graham?” Justin asked.

“He’ll need to stay here either way. I don’t think he’ll try to stop us.”

I didn’t want to consider how to deal with Graham if he did.

Fiona asked me to come over for lunch. I didn’t really feel like it, since I had shit to do, and Gwyneth would probably be there to hate on me, but I was happy that Fiona was talking to me at all after everything that has happened.