If Garrett had been awoken by Saint Peter himself, telling him he had moved on to the forever hereafter, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise. There were colorful lights, ethereal music, and he was even enveloped in an electric blue haze. But the dried blood on the floor from a boot to the back of the head was a pretty big clue that he’d not ascended to the Pearly Gates.
His second hint was the grungy hipsters surrounding him. If there was such a thing as cowboy Hell, it probably looked a whole lot like this.
Garrett was close to panicked at the thought of such a damnation when he sat up, looked around, and realized he’d been dragged into the Greyhound. There were no seats and the windows had been covered, leaving an empty rectangular shaft lit up by the purplish-pink glow of black lights. Low murmurs filled the air, along with the pungent stench of marijuana.
Groaning as he stood, Garrett looked around to find a dozen or so members of Cosmic Order’s hit squad blocking a narrow path toward the front of the bus. Seemingly on their own accord, they parted like the Red Sea to reveal Kai Stoddard standing defiantly within the scrum.
Instinctively, Garrett reached for his pistol, but found the holster to be empty. “Oh, yeah,” he grumbled to himself as the fuzzy images of the fight suddenly came rushing back.
Kai lifted Garrett’s Nighthawk into the phosphorescent light. “Looking for this?”
Garrett was tempted to rush him but thought better, given the odds. “That’s where I left it.”
Kai took a couple of steps forward and the others moved farther to the sides of the bus. He stopped a good six feet away. “And that’s where it’ll stay for now.”
Garrett smiled. “I’ve been met with some poor invitations in my time, but this one beats all.”
“You weren’t invited here.”
Garrett held his grin to show that he wasn’t rattled. “Guess we have that in common.”
“You came into our camp,” Kai chided. “Not the other way around. And you need to get it through your head that none of us were responsible for what happened on your land.”
“Heard you before, Kai. Problem is that I don’t believe you.”
“Don’t care what you believe,” Kai bristled. “Fact of the matter is that you’re wrong.”
“Fact of the matter,” Garrett countered, “is that you’re holding me against my will at gunpoint. Doesn’t exactly make you look innocent, now does it?”
In Kai’s eyes flashed a hint of recognition that he was in the wrong. He looked to the others around him. “Okay, everyone out. I want to talk to him alone.”
One by one, each member turned and drifted to the front of the bus. They dipped through a burgundy partition near the driver’s seat and filed their way through the opening. As the last one exited, their leader turned back and marched forward, the pistol gripped tight in his hand.
Kai stopped a few feet away. “I want to know something, Garrett. And I want the truth.”
Garrett took a quick glance at the pistol and thought about whether or not honesty was the best policy in a situation like this. “I’m listening.”
Kai looked away for a moment and swallowed hard. “I want to know if you really believe that I just left you all up on that mountain to die?”
Garrett let out a long sigh, taking a little time to come up with his answer. But it wasn’t because he was making up a lie. It was because he wasn’t. There were times when the simple truth was a lot harder to stomach. And this was one of those occasions.
“No, Kai, I don’t believe that. Don’t believe that’s true at all.”
Kai turned back. “Then why’d you say it?”
It was a great question, one for which Garrett still didn’t have a ready answer. “Kai, I said that because I knew it would hurt. And I wanted you to feel some pain.”
Kai did look hurt. “I don’t understand. Why?”
“Because you hit a nerve. By pure accident, you reached way back into my past and brought up some bad memories. Maybe even regrets.”
Kai looked at him curiously. “Seems like the world is your oyster. Got everything figured out. What could you possibly have to regret?”
If the guy only knew? Garrett was just now getting out from under a mountain of debt, dating a girl who was way out of his league, and fathering a teenager who was still dealing with the crippling loss of his family. The only thing that he had figured out was that he didn’t know anything about anything. And the more he learned, the less he seemed to know.
Had he sold his soul by joining forces with Vicky Kaiser? Probably. But his attitude had been that it was better to live to fight another day. But he had only traded one problem for another. Now he was teamed up with people he’d once despised, men like Sheriff Crowley.
Garrett shook off Kai’s assertion. “Man, we took different paths after the Army. But that’s about where it ends. I’ve made more mistakes in my life than I care to admit. And as far as regrets go, that’s a long conversation. Trust me. I’ve had my own dance with the devil. Still dancing with him, if truth be told.”
Kai nodded, seeming to get some relief from the answer. “What about the other thing you said? About how you consider anyone you shed blood with to be a friend.”
“Think you know that I don’t mess around when it comes to loyalty. No matter where we stand on issues out here, you’ll always be a brother.”
There was a pregnant pause from Kai. “I consider you a friend too. How could I not?”
“Look, your outlook and mine might be different on all this stuff. But given our history, I thought we could knock down some walls, and come to a truce before more people get hurt.”
“I know what you think, Garrett, but I promise I had nothing to do with those explosions.”
“Maybe not you personally, but I aim to hunt down whoever is responsible.”
“How do you know it was sabotage? Accidents happen. Could be as simple as that.”
“Could be, but it’s not. Not twice in a row.” Garrett let a few seconds pass. “Remember back in the Panjshir Valley? Second time we got ambushed. What did we say?”
Kai cleared his throat. “We said there was no such thing as a coincidence.”
“And it turned out we had a turncoat in our Afghan attachments. Reporting our every move.”
Kai held up a finger. “But that’s different. That was a war zone.”
“Well, given all the explosions, it’s sure starting to feel like one.” Kai started to argue but Garrett cut him off. “This land is everything to me. And I won’t let it be destroyed.”
Kai let out a huff. “I want to help protect the land. And the people. Your ranch is a special place. Beautiful. Rugged. Wild. Not hard to see why you talked about it nonstop. All we’re trying to do is stop the destruction of places like these.”
Garrett couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m guessing that if we sat down and hashed it all out, you and I would probably see eye to eye on more than either of us would like to admit. But where we come to loggerheads is on how to do it.”
No doubt their dispute probably all came down to the classic environmentalism versus conservation debate. Environmentalists wanted to set aside land so it could be protected from human abuse, while conservationists wanted to take care of the land so that it could be used by others in the future. There was probably some wiggle room on both sides, but they weren’t going to settle that age-old argument in the next few minutes.
A slow smile rose on Kai’s face. “You’re right. I’m sure we could maybe find some common ground. But all that aside, I’m here to tell you that nobody in the group would resort to something like this. We advocate nonviolence.”
It was Garrett’s turn to smile. “Could’ve fooled me given the boot I took to the head.”
“Mostly nonviolence.” Kai raised the pistol, thrust the barrel into his left palm, and curled his fingers around it. Flipping the gun around, he handed it back. “Things just got a little nuts.”
Garrett took the handoff and ran his index finger along the head wound. “Yeah, I’ll say. I’m still seeing stars.”
Kai nodded to the Nighthawk. “Just keep that thing hidden. With my military service, it was hard enough convincing these people I wasn’t a narc when I joined the group.”
Garrett tried hard not to laugh, given the fact that he actually was one. “Don’t worry.” He lifted up the back of his shirt and returned the pistol to its holster. “Secret’s safe with me.”
No sooner had he secured the pistol than he heard the roar of an engine outside the bus, followed by shouting. And it was at that moment he remembered his dad and Grace were supposed to be keeping watch. Seconds later, Butch came through the door, his stainless-steel Colt Python revolver leading the way.
Knowing that his dad was more than willing and able to do his part in thinning the hippie herd, Garrett yelled out, “Hold on, Daddy! Hold on! Everything’s fine. We’re just talking.”
“Could’ve given us warning.” Butch was clearly incensed. “You were standing there one moment and gone the next. We didn’t know what the hell happened!”
“I know.” Garrett looked to Kai, who was clearly unnerved by some old man he didn’t know waving around a massive .357 Magnum. “Just lost track of time. That’s all.”
Butch didn’t look like he was buying it. “Speaking of time. We’re running short on it. Grace mowed over a couple of tents driving through and stirred up a coven of witches, I think.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Come out screaming at us like we’d done spilt their brew.”
Garrett didn’t know what the old man was talking about. Didn’t want to know. The bottom line was that it was time to get going before things somehow got worse.
“Be right there.” Garrett turned to Kai. “I’m going out to the pipeline tonight to have a look. If I see anything out there that confirms anything, one way or the other, I’ll let you know.”
Before Kai could answer, he was interrupted by a blaring car horn. Garrett was about to inquire about the ruckus when Butch filled them in.
“And that would be Grace.”
The old man spun around, Colt pistol in the vanguard, and made his way back up to the front of the bus. He dipped through the burgundy partition, presumably to check on his daughter, who had again laid on the horn again.
Kai furrowed his brow. “Mind if I go out to the ranch with you?”
“To the pipeline?” Garrett asked. “Why?”
“Because I’ve been thinking about something you said.” Kai looked as if he was contemplating hard. “About Panjshir Valley. The ambushes. And the Taliban informant.”
Garrett perked up. “Okay, you’ve got my attention.”
Kai lowered his voice, looking a bit nervous. “There’s another organization we’re connected to. Group that provides our funding. Maybe there are some coincidences I can’t explain.”
Before Garrett could dig in, another blast came from his truck horn, which was followed by the unmistakable thundering crack of a .357. He turned and sprinted to the front of the bus, struggled to find a gap in the curtain divide, just praying like hell that Butch wasn’t battling it out with hippies, carnies, or whoever the hell he thought was a witch.