Chapter 11
There’s no time to revel in my brilliant deduction because after another minute of walking, we finally get out of the rain.
It’s not a house. It’s as if we walk into the side of a steep hill.
A cave.
It’s a cave. A big one lit by torches and lanterns. And there are a lot of people gathered around, all talking and moving and carrying on.
I gaze around, my brain still muddled by my headache. I’ve got my arms around Cade’s neck. “You live here?”
He gives one of those amused huffs again. I feel it in his body. “Only when we’re working. I don’t live here all the time.”
“Oh.” This is confusing. Or maybe it’s the concussion. I decide not to try piecing it together right now. “Can you maybe put me down? I’m not exactly little, and you’re out of breath.”
He glowers down at me. “I’m not out of breath.” Before I can argue with this blatant lie, he goes on, “But yes, I’ll put you down as soon as they clear the decks.”
I have no idea what clear the decks means, so I look around until I see a lot of activity in one curved nook of the cave. People seem to be moving stuff out of the way, and a woman is spreading a blanket out on a very old couch.
When that’s done, Cade carries me over and gently lays me down on the couch.
I immediately pop up into a sitting position.
“Hey,” Cade growls. “Lay the hell down.”
“Not until I get some of these wet clothes off. You don’t have a spare shirt I can borrow, do you?”
“Course I do.” He turns to gesture at someone, and a different woman brings over a towel and a set of folded clothes.
Without thinking, I peel off my pullover and then the soaked shirt I have on beneath it.
“Jill!” Cade objects, whirling around. “Eyes off, everyone.”
I don’t know and I don’t care if anyone was actually trying to sneak a peek. I want to get out of these wet clothes more than anything. Drying myself off with the towel, I pull on the big T-shirt. It’s definitely one of Cade’s. I recognize the rip on the right sleeve.
It’s very big on me so it could probably function as a dress, but there’s also a set of gym shorts with a drawstring. I strip off my jeans and panties and put the shorts on instead, tying them tight enough to stay up over my hips.
“There,” I say, looking down at myself. “Am I dressed?”
“Good enough for now. Now would you please lie down? I got a nurse here who’s gonna check you out.”
“Okay.” I stretch out on the couch, moaning because it feels so good to be dry and off my feet. My head still pounds, but everything else is better. “If she has something for the headache, I’d love that.”
I’m shivering a little, so I’m happy when Cade drapes a heavy blanket over me. I burrow beneath it. “This is a nice, cozy cave,” I say with my eyes closed.
Because I’m not looking, I’m startled when I sense someone very close to me. But a peek under my eyelashes proves it’s just Cade. He knelt down beside my couch. “Hi,” I tell him.
“Hi.” He caresses my cheek with his knuckle. “Before the nurse comes over, can you just tell me… Did they… Before I got there, did they…”
I blink at him in confusion. “Did they what?”
“The guys that took you. Did they…”
“I tried to run away. They killed Pete.” My voice breaks at this crushing recollection.
I’d almost forgotten. With a wobbly voice, I continue, “Then one of them punched me. Right here.” I touch my aching cheekbone.
“They then tied me up and threw me in the back of the truck. They said a lot of nasty things about what they were going to do to me. But they were waiting—” I open my eyes wide.
“Oh. I see. They didn’t rape me. Is that what you were asking? ”
“It was. I…” His face twists dramatically. “I didn’t know what they’d done.”
“They were going to, but they didn’t get the chance.” Everything clouded over in the weirdness of Cade’s unexpected presence and identity, but the nightmare comes back to me in a nauseating wave. “Shit. Oh shit.” I sit up, hit by waves of hot and cold in turn. I pant raggedly.
Cade jumps up and returns with an empty pail. Just in time. I vomit painfully into it, and afterward my head hurts even worse.
Cade holds the pail and strokes my hair back as I throw up. Then he helps me lie down again, spreading the blanket over my shivering body.
He kisses my forehead and says he’s getting the nurse.
I do have a concussion, but fortunately it’s not a very serious one. After I rest, take some Advil, warm up, and process everything that’s happened, I start to feel better.
I doze off several times but never for very long. Then one time I wake up, it feels like I’ve slept longer.
My headache has reduced to a low pulse, and my mind is fully working again.
“Cade,” I say scratchily. It feels like I haven’t used my voice in years.
“I’m right here.” He must be nearby. He sounds close. “Y’okay? You need anything?”
“Water, if you have it.”
“We do.” There’s a sound of shuffling. Then one of his hands is on the back of my head, lifting it slightly. “Here it is.”
I let him hold the bottle of water to my mouth because he already started the process, but I’m pretty sure I could have held it myself. I swallow down several sips. Then wave it away.
“I want to sit up,” I say, prying open my eyes.
“Okay. Hold on and let me help you.” He’s definitely hovering. He quickly sets down the bottle and adjusts my blanket before he helps raise me to a half-sitting position, folding a pillow in half and fitting it behind me. “How’s that?”
“It’s fine. Thanks.”
“How do you feel?”
“Better. The headache is mostly gone, and my mind seems to be working at last. Can you… Can you please tell me what’s going on?”
He grows still for a moment. Then nods and kneels down on the floor beside where I’m lounging. “Where should I start?”
“How did you know? That I was captured. You were… you were waiting for us. How… how… It’s not like anyone has phones anymore.”
“No. But we’ve got some working radios. And we get news from town. They attacked you and Pete close enough to town that it was seen. Someone called it in.”
“Who called—”
“We have some sources. We keep them secret for their own safety.”
“Oh. That makes sense. But how did you know it was me?”
“Because they said it was you. Jill in the red dress from the Pub. You were seen. Everyone knows you in town.”
“Oh.” All of that seems clear and reasonable and perfectly natural. “So you knew they had me, but how did you know where they’d be heading?”
“We’ve had our eyes on those assholes for a while.
We were thinking about taking them out anyway when we had a good opportunity.
So we knew where their normal hangout was, and we knew what route they’d take to get there.
The plan was pretty rushed, but we had very little time.
If we hadn’t already been gathered up here at the cave, we wouldn’t have been able to ambush them like that. ”
“I see.” My brows are lowered as I try to think rationally. “Thank you. For… for coming to save me. For bringing your crew to help. I… I was preparing for the worst.”
“I know you were. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to get there sooner.”
“It was soon enough. For me, at least. Not for poor Pete.” My shoulders shake slightly as I remember again, but I force it back to a corner of my mind. I simply don’t have the resources to deal with that right now. “But thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I’d’ve done a hell of a lot more to keep you safe.”
I love hearing those words. Love that he’s willing to say them. But there are other questions that need answers right now. “So you’re… you’re the Silver Wolf?”
“Yes.” He’s gruff and soft. “Yes, I am.”
“For… for how long?”
“For a year. Ever since our town flooded out and we had to come farther west. We didn’t know anything about what was going on in this area when we arrived, so we found this cave to hide out in until we knew if it was safe to try to make a life in a town.”
“But how did you start…”
“We had no food. No supplies. Nothing. So I’d wait on the side of the highway and hit groups of assholes like the ones who took you.
We could get provisions that way, and the world is better off without them anyway.
Eventually I had a few others join up with us so we could hit bigger targets.
Then there were even more. Then when the militia took over this whole county, we had to start wearing masks.
Because some of us are known down in town, and if anyone is identified, we all would be in danger. ”
“I thought… I thought the Silver Wolf just stole from the militia.”
“Not only the militia. But it was hitting them that really grew the reputation. I know you might think it’s… it’s wrong… And it’s definitely dangerous. That’s why I was afraid to tell you.”
“Because you thought I would turn you in?”
“No! Never for a minute did I think that. I thought it would put you in danger, and no fucking way I’m ever gonna do that.”
I think about it for a long time. “Have you ever stolen from innocent people?”
“No. Never. I’ve always done everything I can to make sure the people we hit deserve it.”
I nod. I believe him. Even though this is nothing I could have ever predicted, it does feel like Cade.
“We don’t even keep everything anymore. We try to redistribute the extra to folks who need it.”
“Really?” I blink up at him. “Like Robin Hood?”
He chuckles. Cups one of my cheeks. “Yes. Kinda like Robin Hood.”
“Okay. That’s okay then.”
“Is it?”
“Y-yeah. I think so. I mean, I’ll think about it more when I feel better, but I can understand. Why you do it and why you didn’t tell me.” Then I think of something. “But who’s we?”
“We?”
“You said we came to this area after your town was flooded out.”
“Oh. Yeah. Me and a couple of my buddies and my folks.”
“Your folks? Your parents?”
“Yeah. You’re surprised?”
“I don’t know. I just figured they weren’t around anymore. Are they still… are they still here?”
He smiles and turns to look back at some people gathered at the other side of the cave. “Sure are. There’s my dad—the one with the Navy ball cap. And that’s my mom. She brought you the towel and clothes.”