Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Asia
“Quiet!” I hissed.
“I didn’t say anything,” Jack said.
“You keep moving around. How can I tell if something’s out there if you’re making so much noise?”
“You do realize that by telling me to be quiet, you’re making more noise than I ever did,” Jack said.
I closed my mouth to keep the words that were burning on the tip of my tongue to myself.
What sense would it make to tell him that he shouldn’t have been here in the first place? And there was no way I’d confess that I wouldn’t be this agitated if he wasn’t.
So I kept my mouth shut, reminding myself that my dentist was probably a reanimated corpse so the teeth grinding had to stop. Which was nearly impossible given my current location.
Jack was about one and a quarter inch away from me, and every time he breathed or I breathed, his shoulder brushed mine.
His hard thigh was pressed against my leg, and the heat of Jack’s body radiated off him, keeping me warm in the slight chill of the night.
Every breath, every motion, was a reminder of his presence—and a reminder of the pain of his absence.
That was exactly the reason I’d told him I could handle watch. Jack just nodded and waited until I got so pissed, I climbed the ladder and tried to pretend he hadn’t followed.
I peeked at him from the corner of my eye and glared at his stupid chiseled jaw that I wanted to kiss, then slap, then kiss again.
I didn’t do any of them.
Instead, I peered out into the darkness from my perch at the top of the world, hoping I didn’t see anything.
Maybe if I just did what he asked…I shut that thought off quickly.
Jack had some nerve, telling me I shouldn’t keep watch. Like I hadn’t been doing it for weeks at this point. Like he had the right…
Nope. Wouldn’t go down that line of thinking either.
Better to focus on how fucking annoying he was. How he never let anything go. How he insisted—insisted—that he join me for the overnight watch shift like I was incapable of handling it myself.
He just didn’t—
Snap.
I was alert, and didn’t even have to glance at Jack to know that he was, too. Two of his thick fingers pressed against my wrist, and I hated how good that made me feel.
I swallowed that feeling down. “What was that?” I asked.
He gave a quarter turn of his head, and lifted a finger to his lips.
I got his message loud and clear and heeded his warning.
I looked through the binoculars, a nice night-vision pair that Miles had found in Uncle Levi’s stash.
I searched, saw the scurrying rodents in the field, making a mental note to think about how to get rid of them. Tomorrow.
Assuming there was a tomorrow.
I froze when I spotted the white blob in the binoculars.
Too big to be a rodent.
Too coordinated to be a zombie.
“Intruder. Fields. Southwest,” I said to Jack.
I didn’t look at him, but I felt his curt nod, and then we moved.
“Stay in your spot. I need eyes on,” he said.
“No. I’m coming,” I responded.
Jack fixed his gaze on me, staying still, until I looked back at him.
I recognized that look. Knew exactly what it meant.
I wanted to argue, but knew it was futile. We didn’t have time for it anyway.
“Fine.” I relented. “But don’t kill him, Jack.”
“Why not?”
“He might be from town. Sent by Christopher to test me. Or maybe he ran away and has information we can use, so I need to talk to him.”
Jack nodded, and I hated myself for how relieved I was. All because Jack agreed with me.
But then I reminded myself of what I’d never be able to forget. Jack was a man of his word. He’d more than proven that when he left.
I settled in my perch as Jack left, feeling ineffectual, itching to join in the action, but holding my post.
I saw when another white blob made it out to the field. Saw when the blobs merged and became one, the rustle of weeds and leaves loud enough to reach my perch.
And then, finally, there was stillness.
I tried to ignore the tightness in my chest, and the way it eased when one of the figures stood.
It was Jack.
Even in night vision, I recognized him, and told myself it meant nothing that I was elated when I did. He was useful; of course I didn’t want him to die.
I left the perch, then made my way to Jack.
“Did you kill him?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Unconscious.”
I followed his gaze to the man. His body was crumpled on the hard soil, and there was no way his stark-white button down would ever get clean again.
“I’ll go get Lourdes. Take him to the shed and cuff him. See what kind of shape he’s in.”
Lourdes was in the kitchen; one look at me, and she moved towards the door.
We made it to the shed in record time, the scent of earth and rust fading to nothing as I watched the intruder. He shifted, clearly returning to consciousness. Jack stood in front of me, but I still saw the man’s face.
“Who the fuck are you?” Jack said when the man was fully awake.
I planned on asking the questions, but conceded that Jack was a better choice. And besides, this gave me an opportunity to observe, and I would take it.
“Dante,” the man said, his deep voice rising with a hint of an accent I couldn’t quite place.
“You lost?” Jack asked.
“You found that eighteen-wheeler, didn’t you?” Dante said.
“What about it?”
“Had my eye on that thing.”
“It’s no longer available.”
“I know. I watched you steal it right from under me,” Dante said. For a man who was handcuffed to a cot and crowded by strangers, he seemed remarkably at ease. “Figured a single guy out there like you, taking that much, had to have a place to lay your head.”
“You followed me back here?” Jack asked, his jaw set so hard I felt sorry for his teeth.
“Nah. You lost me. I’ve wandered around these parts for a day and a half looking for you. Was about to give up, but I guess I got lucky,” Dante said.
“I don’t know that I would say that.”
“Yeah. Cut myself up on some barbed wire,” Dante said.
Jack put his hand on the scabbard of his knife when Dante reached for his shirt.
“I’m sure you patted me down. I got nothing,” Dante said. He lifted his shirt as best he could with cuffed hands and revealed the angry-looking wound on his side. “Just a scratch, really, but it’s got some infection in it.”
I was no medical professional, but now that he mentioned it, his skin did look clammy and damp, and the wound was a throbbing red. Infection was clearly setting in.
Jack shrugged nonchalantly. “Sounds like you got a lot of problems on your hands, Dante.”
“Yeah. Maybe you can help me out. You got a doctor or something?” Dante asked.
“No,” Jack said, “but I’ll give you the chance to walk away from here and die peacefully.”
“Deal like that? Don’t know how I could turn it down,” Dante said.
“Don’t know that you have a choice,” Jack said.
Dante shrugged. “I thought maybe we could work out an arrangement.”
Jack quirked a brow, and I studied the man. “I know you,” I finally said.
The man didn’t look in my direction once, but I had no doubt he was more than aware of my presence.
“Where would you know this guy from?” Jack asked.
I ignored him and looked at Dante, trying to be sure.
“He works for Rubin Marku. Isn’t that right, Dante?”
“I do,” Dante said.
Funny how he didn’t seem too bothered by being associated with a man like that.
Then again, these weren’t ordinary times.
“You guys want to clue me in here?” Jack said.
“Rubin Marku is Albanian mob. Has—or had—a big presence in the Southeast. Before everything happened, he was a resident at the county jail right across the street from the courthouse. Still don’t know how he managed to pull that off, because his charges were federal,” I said.
“So what, you just know him because he’s infamous or something?” Jack asked.
“No. Dante here tried to extort me.”
Jack glared at him.
Dante didn’t deny it.
“‘Extort’ might be a strong word. I just suggested that it would be a great opportunity to build a client base,” Dante said.
“So extort,” Jack said.
Dante smiled and shrugged.
“So you made it here from Atlanta?” I asked.
“Yeah. The krye wanted a lay of the land. Sent a few folks out to do recon,” Dante said.
“He didn’t die in prison?” I asked.
“Well, you know the krye. Or at least you know of him. Does he strike you as the type to let the end of the world stop him?”
“No, but we mere mortals sometimes don’t have a choice. I barely made it out of the courthouse and that was with an almost empty building and free rein. There’s no way anybody made it out of the jail.”
“You’d be surprised how resourceful some people can be,” Dante said.
“Asia, why are we talking to him?” Jack asked.
“You can stay for a while until you’re feeling better,” I said to Dante, ignoring Jack.
“Appreciate it, Asia,” Dante said.
I looked at Jack and was surprised he didn’t throttle Dante right there.
He grabbed my arm and led me out of the shed.
“What the hell is that?” he asked.
“If he is who he says he is, maybe he’ll be able to help us at some point,” I said.
“You’re wasting resources on a maybe,” Jack said.
“Yeah. I am,” I said.
Jack looked furious.
Part of me wished he would tell me no, say I couldn’t do it. I was looking for a reason to tell him exactly what I thought of his pushy-ass attitude and how mistaken he was about his level of control over this farm. Over me.
But for him to give in like that—that conversation would’ve made me look insane and petty, and I was in no mood.
“I’ll see that the krye knows about this,” Dante said, seemingly satisfied that Jack wasn’t going to kill him. At least not yet. “Can I get the cuffs off?”
“No,” Jack and I said in unison.
Dante smiled, then collapsed back onto the cot.
“I can see if we have pain meds,” I said.
“Nah. I’ll be fine.” Dante waved the offer away.
“Then at least let me take a look at you.” Lourdes hadn’t made a sound, but she approached Dante now. He flashed her a charming grin, and she just huffed.
“No need to stick around, Lourdes,” Jack said. “Our friend Dante is going to be nice. Aren’t you, Dante?”
He barely moved but his amusement was evident. “On my honor.”
She harrumphed and then headed toward him as Jack and I left.
He sucked his teeth. “Still taking in strays.”
“And you still have a problem with that?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s stupid,” he said.
“Duly noted,” I said.
“Asia,” Jack said, his voice quiet.
“What?” I asked.
His gaze burned into mine. “You’d better know what you’re doing.”
I wanted to laugh, but was worried I’d start to cry if I did. Because Jack of all people should have known I had no fucking clue what I was doing.
All I could do now was hope for the best.