“Where are they?” David asked.
“Anywhere,” Eli said.
“I warned you about them boys, bro,” Justice chuckled.
“I bet somebody knows where they are,” David said.
“What about Quinn?” Kate shouted, “Quinn!”
“No shouting!” Justice reprimanded.
Quinn hopped to the flap of the tepee. He peeked through the opening with disbelief.
“Aunt Kate!” he whooped.
Behind Quinn stood another young man, sleepy and disoriented. Both had a ball-and-chain.
“You know her?” Dom asked.
“Ruby’s gone, Aunt Kate,” Quinn gulped.
“Does Ruby have one of those?” David stared at the shackles.
“How could she go?” Kate asked.
“Where, that would be my question,” Eli said.
A half dozen young men in camouflage pants, barefoot and bare-topped with shaved heads and multiple tattoos, stumbled into the clearing. The camp’s women and children followed. When they saw Lucas and Hazel, they sang, “Hallelujah!”
“Is he dead?” Goshen tugged on David’s jeans.
“He’s sick,” the doctor warned.
“You making him sicker,” Justice said.
“He needs his mother,” Eli added.
“Where’s Ruby?” David’s eyes circled the group.
“She gone?” Hazel’s sister asked.
“With Snorri,” Eli confirmed.
“Maybe to the river,” Shem said.
“We just came from the river,” Kate said.
“He’s a pagan,” Justice commented.
“What’s that mean?” David asked.
“He worships trees and mountains. He don’t want to go back to civilization. That’s where the river goes.”
“He likes it up here,” Eli said.
“Has he got somewhere to go?” Kate asked.
“The girl’s gone?” Joab asked.
“Kidnapped,” Shem said.
“Lots of places to go,” Justice speculated.
“But is there a particular place?” David insisted. “Or did they randomly go off?”
“Nothing random about Snorri,” Eli said.
“Can someone tell me where?” David tried to control himself. “Ruby’s mother and I drove a thousand miles to find her. We followed them down the river. We don’t intend to make trouble. All we want is to take them home.”
“I wanna go,” Dom said.
“You don’t know them, son,” Justice said. “You don’t know anything about them, whether they speak truth or tell devil lies. Didn’t you learn your lesson about taking off with strangers? Now you want to go off with them?”
“Yes, sir,” Dom said decisively.
“But you never met them.”
“It’s a free country, sir.”
“Too free if you asking me,” Justice grunted.
“What’s it take to find them?” David asked.
“Time,” Eli murmured.
“We got a pagan loose in the woods,” Justice said. “You brought him over here. I let him stay because of your word. Now he’s taken off with his mulatto concubine. What happens when he decides to sabotage us?”
“I realize what I heard last night,” Eli said.
“You heard an owl.”
“I heard a girl scream.”
“Ruby scream?” Kate cried.
“Bastard could bring the law down in a minute.”
“What would he want with law?” Eli turned to Snorri’s friends, Philly and Thorn. “Right, boys?”
“To get back at us,” Justice said. “To get back at Jesus. All his gods against the One God. He got no use for Christian goodness. Anything he do to hurt us, that’s cause for pagan celebration. Right, boys?”
“What about money?” David asked.
“Money don’t buy much here,” Justice said. “Maybe a can of beans.”
Philly lit up. “How much?”
“You a guide?”
“What’s that mean?” Philly asked.
“If you know where Snorri went and can take us there, I’ll pay you.”
“How much?”
“Thousand dollars!”
“David!” Kate protested.
“Cash?” Philly asked.
“Good as cash,” David said. “Worth more on the street.”
“You plan to fight pagans?” Justice whistled through his teeth.
“I don’t plan to fight anyone.”
“You might want to reconsider,” Eli cautioned.
“Doc, you figure you want the same thing as Snorri. You want Ruby and he got Ruby. I want Lucas and you holding Lucas. But Snorri, he’s a crooked soul. Better to bargain with Christians. You give me Lucas, I’ll help you find the girl.”
Kate lifted Lucas from David’s arms. She handed him to Jenkins. Justice pinched and patted his little son. “Thank you, Missus Ryan.”
“We still need a guide.”
“What product?” Philly asked.
David rubbed the tips of his fingers with his thumb.
“No, shit,” Philly said.
“Top-grade shit.”
“Like how much?”
“Like enough,” David promised.