Justice didn’t like the Jew doctor but he trusted Kate. Her maternal pain touched him. It recalled his mother’s grief after their youngest brother, Vernon, was killed in prison. Justice knew any generosity he showed Kate would impress Hazel. He desperately needed Hazel back on his side.
Within a half hour, the rescue party was organized. Absalom, Quinn, and Dom would come with them up the mountain. The other cadets would stay with Shem. In case of further incidents, they had instructions. As for Troy Mason, he was to be fed and left in the tank.
Justice Jenkins delivered his blessing for their departure.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. We ask Your Help to light our way, to find Ruby Ryan healthy and whole, and to place her back in the safekeeping of her mother and Thee. Amen.
Kate shut her eyes. She laced her fingers together on her chest. She prayed.
They headed north, according to Philly, following the fire road that Snorri had followed the night before. Philly knew part of the way. On two occasions, he’d helped Snorri carry supplies.
At first Philly had qualms, especially since he would profit. Profiting at the expense of his friend was a betrayal. That’s what his conscience told him. But Philly was able to rationalize his decision. It was Snorri who betrayed EK. Snorri was a traitor to the white race. If Philly got a chance to kill him, he decided it would be okay.
The road climbed steadily into the mountains bordered on both sides by forest, outcrops of rock, talus slopes, and creeks full from recent rains.
“How far?” David asked.
He depended on calculations. No doctor took risks without knowing odds. Most of his life, he’d had an exit strategy. That’s what the drugs were. But here, he had nothing to play. He couldn’t think of one move to put himself on top. He and Kate were at the mercy of two maniacs, Justice and Eli Jenkins.
Philly wasn’t sure about distance. He’d only walked in the dark and Snorri kept them going at a brutal pace. The increase in elevation, the heat of early afternoon, everyone’s general fatigue made the going slow.
“Things will work out,” David said to Kate. He wanted to lean on her faith. “Isn’t that your creed?”
“They will work out,” she replied, “but not necessarily well.” Kate had faith but she wasn’t a fool.
“Feels like ambush territory,” Justice said, glancing into the dense thickets.
“No way he knows we coming,” Philly said.
“He might,” Eli said.
“Like who gives a fuck if he took off with a nigger girl?”
Kate spat in Philly’s face. “Nigger girl is my baby!”
“You keep her in line.” Justice pointed to David. “And I’ll take care of mine.”
Kate squatted on the ground, her head against her knees.
“How far, Philly?” David called.
Philly didn’t answer. He hated these people.
“It can’t be much farther,” Eli said. He knew the mountains. A cave near a stream, he’d seen such a place.
David sat beside Kate. He held her hand. “Let the others go on,” he said. They would catch up.
When the fire road veered south, Philly remembered the turn on a small path. Most of all, he remembered the cairn.
Snorri had dismantled the cairn but scattered along the path were a number of uniform rocks. Nearby was trampled foliage and a patch of mud with footprints.
“This is it.” Philly was certain.
They convened on how to approach Snorri. They decided Eli should reconnoiter with Absalom and come back to report.
Eli checked his shotgun. He adjusted his Stetson. Absalom, dressed in a camouflage jumpsuit and camouflage cap, carried his nine-inch steel throwing knives. “Black Widow” knives, according to the catalog. For days he’d done almost nothing but practice. He could hit fifteen consecutive bulls-eyes.
“You think he’s got a gun?” Justice asked.
“He plans to kill what he eats,” Philly said. “I guess it ain’t bare-handed.”
“He’s got his bow, “ Eli added. “That’s how he kills.”
“Whose fault is that?” Justice asked.
Eli had fallen under the spell of pagan boys, which threatened to derail two years of the brothers’ work.
“I’d like to go,” Quinn offered.
Justice handed him a whistle.
“Go,” he said. “Otherwise she’ll run away like a rabbit, chain and all. Then we stuck hunting her down. You find trouble you can’t handle, blow.”
They entered the forest. After a few seconds, they disappeared.
“Trees just swallow them up,” Justice said.
They moved stealthily, putting weight on their heels and stepping carefully along the trail where Snorri had dragged his cartons and tree stumps. As they walked, the silence expanded. An unearthly silence from the mountains and the ground. Even the birds were quiet, the wind still, the sky faded like stone-washed denim. By early evening, it would rain again.
When Eli saw signs of camp, he raised his hand. Snorri was not in sight. But Ruby was a few yards away, seated on a log, her outstretched legs free of impediments, her chin propped inside her palm, her elbows on her knees, her eyes cast down.
Eli prompted Quinn to step forward.
“Ruby,” Quinn whispered.
Ruby raised her face, her eyes red and swollen.
“You okay?” he asked, moving toward her and kneeling in the mud.
“I don’t know what I am.”
That sounded right. That sounded sane.
“It’s almost over,” Quinn said.
“Is it?”
“I promise,” he assured her. “We came to find you. Your mom and David Tanner are here. We all came.”
“They followed the river.”
Eli stepped inside the circle of firs beside the cave. “Where’s Snorri?”
Ruby’s face contorted. “In there.”
Snorri lay on a bed of pine straw, dressed in a blood-stained white robe, the silver necklace with the finely wrought pendant of Thor’s Hammer framing his neck.
“What the hell!” Eli tried to find a pulse.
Ruby shook her head.
After breakfast they walked through the woods to the sparkling creek. They splashed like children in the chilly water with the hot sun on their backs. They sat on the bank, drying themselves. Ruby closed her eyes and listened to Snorri recite poetry about Norse gods and warriors. He told her about the ancient times of the Sagas when there were no kings, only chieftains. Snorri wanted to travel to Iceland. With Ruby, he hoped. Maybe they would move there and live next to a fjord.
When he asked Ruby if she loved him, she said she didn’t know him. He told her their fate was entwined at the foot of Yggdrasil.
“That’s only a story in your head,” she said.
Snorri left her beside the creek. He thrashed his way through the woods. He yelled and cursed. Ruby plugged her ears so she wouldn’t have to listen. When she returned to the cave, he was already there, dressed in white and lying on the pine straw bier. On the front of his robe, he’d written her name R-U-B-Y and N-O-R-N in blood.
She sat beside him. She held a bowl of water to his lips. She stroked his hands.
“Speak to me,” she begged him.