“I’m sure,” Keo nodded.
Hart glanced at Erin, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. Her hands were zip tied at the wrists, but her legs were free. She ignored Hart and concentrated on Keo, and he saw the curiosity in her eyes. She didn’t know what was happening, but she wasn’t afraid, either.
“James will be outside,” Hart said before closing the door behind Keo.
Keo leaned against the wall next to the door and didn’t say anything. Erin watched him back intently, maybe trying to read his face for clues.
Finally, he said, “They told me you and Riley were part of Mercer’s original Four Horsemen.”
“They said that, huh?”
“You and Riley and some guys named Benford and Rhett. At the beginning, they said, there were just the four of you, and you built this army and helped Mercer collect everything he would need to launch this war of his.”
“People here talk too much.”
“James, the kid standing guard outside, said Mercer’s plans didn’t feel real until the day the teams started leaving the island. Then he couldn’t ignore it anymore. The people in the towns, the pregnant women…”
Erin kept quiet.
“Riley told Hart he considered trying to convince Rhett, but he didn’t because he couldn’t be one-hundred percent sure.”
“Apparently, Riley’s one-hundred percent sure isn’t so sure after all,” Erin said.
“You heard about the shooting, huh?”
“Like I said, the people on this rig talk too much.”
“But Riley was pretty sure he could convince you, but before he got the chance, you had already left for Texas.”
“Is that what he said?”
“That’s what he told Hart. Was he right?”
“Riley hasn’t been right about a lot of things.”
“I don’t think he was entirely wrong.”
“No?”
“You know why I think that?”
“Do share.”
“Because you didn’t let Troy kill me,” Keo said. “I think you’re done with it.”
“With what?”
“Everything happening in Texas right now. You saw what’s happening out there up close, and you’re done with it. Men, women, and children being slaughtered just so Mercer could send a message to the collaborators. Maybe, once upon a time, you thought you could do it, go along with his plan. After all, he saved your life. Saved all of your lives, or so everyone keeps telling me. But when you saw the bodies, smelled the charred flesh… The battlefield is never the same in person. It changes you.”
She didn’t say anything for the longest time, and Keo didn’t push her. He watched her instead, observing the way her shoulders tightened, the way she sat straighter as he talked, and could almost time to the exact second when her eyes drifted; he knew she was reliving what she had seen out there. Keo could always tell when the man next to him had lost his nerve; it usually happened long after the bullets stopped flying and they were beyond the battlefield.
He saw the doubt in Erin’s eyes now. It was clear as day. Maybe it had always been there, but it had never clicked for him because he didn’t know to look for it.
Better late than never.
“It’s done,” she said, meeting his eyes again — except this time the hardness was gone. “I was a part of it. Maybe not the ones dropping the bombs or commanding the tanks, but I did my part. I can’t take any of it back. I can’t make it unhappen.”
“What did you do, exactly?”
“I was in charge of Support in one of the FOBs. After we abandoned it, I moved over to coordinating the kill teams outside of Lochlyn.”
“You were heading back to Black Tide Island even before I showed up.”
“The first phase of the operation is ending. By tomorrow morning there’ll be a lot more people moving through here on their way back to The Ranch.”
“You told Hart this?”
“I don’t have to. He already knows.” Then she narrowed her eyes at him. “So what am I doing here, Keo? What’s your deal?”
“My deal is that I’m going to Black Tide Island to kill Mercer.”
“Oh, is that all?” She half-rolled her eyes at him and sat back in the chair. “Hell, if that’s all you wanted, you should have just let me take you to him.”
“That was the plan. I had nothing to do with what happened on the Ocean Star this afternoon.”
“No? You knew that woman in the brig…”
“That had nothing to do with this afternoon. I didn’t know she was going to be here. I would have been happy with letting you take me to Mercer. It would have saved me a lot of trouble.”
She seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding. “I believe you.”
“You should. It’s the truth.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t instantly believe everything that comes out of your mouth.”
“That’s understandable. But now that I have the upper hand, we can both agree I don’t have any reasons to lie to you.”
“Don’t you?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want from me? All of this”—she looked around the room—“even Hart’s little interrogation, was clearly designed for you and I to have this conversation. You took me out of the brig on purpose so the others wouldn’t hear. So what do you want from me, Keo? I’m tired, it’s been a long day, so please get to the fucking point already.”
He smiled and nodded. “I want you to finish what you started: Take me to Black Tide Island.”
“You don’t need me for that. Hart could tell you where it is.”
“I’ve been told that getting there is the easy part. I might even be able to land in one piece by myself. But all of this would go so much easier — increase my chances of success — if I had someone to help me with the locals. Basically, a guide that everyone knows and respects. One of Mercer’s trusted lieutenants, say. You know someone like that?”
She smirked. “I guess you’re not as dumb as you look.”
“I keep telling people that.” Then, “Are you in?”
“You want me to help you kill Mercer. Is that the ‘in’ you’re talking about?”
“That’s exactly it.”
“Why?”
“Because he needs killing.”
“No, not that. Why would I help you?”
“Because you want to stop what’s happening out there and what will keep happening if he keeps his war going. More towns filled with more people whose only crime is that they can’t fight like us. And because you know that Mercer’s phase two is going to be much, much worse.” He paused to let his words sink in before continuing. “Tell me, Erin, how much sleep have you gotten since all of this started?”
She didn’t answer him, but she didn’t have to. He’d had no trouble seeing the bags under her eyes when he first met her, and now, with the bright ceiling lights in the room, they were even more noticeable. If she had gotten more than a few hours sleep a day all this week, he would be very surprised.
“Enough to get by,” she said.
“Bullshit.”
“You don’t know anything about me, Keo.”
“I know what people have told me about you, and I know that keeping me alive after Lochlyn was a stupid decision, but you reasoned your way into it because you didn’t want more blood on your hands. I told a shitty lie and you went along with it, not because you believed me, but because you just didn’t want one more death on your ledger.”
“Fuck you,” she said.
“Maybe later,” Keo said. “Right now, you need to take me to Black Tide and get me on that island in one piece so I can do what you and Riley should have done but were too much of fucking cowards to do.”
She clenched her teeth and stared defiantly back at him. If her hands weren’t bound and she had a gun, he wasn’t sure if he would still be alive right now.