Wade smiled and turned to Sam. “Would you rather just talk to the sheriff? Jay can be a bit annoying sometimes.”
Sam huffed, then turned to Kayla. “I’ve got family at the ranch. I’m going back out to them, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep them safe. My grandkids are out there—two of them in diapers. They’re just little kids. You understand that?”
“I do,” she said calmly. “What do you think is the chief threat to their safety at the current time?”
“Goddamn motherfucking feds!” His voice rang through the surrounding forest.
“So why the ambush?” Kayla asked. “I agree, the feds are a serious issue. I think they’ll absolutely try to keep the kids safe—even if you don’t believe they’ll do it out of goodness, they’ll want to avoid the bad press. But the ambush? Three dead agents? You had to know that would heat things up.”
Tennant didn’t reply immediately, so Jericho added, “If this had been an act of war on your part—if you were genuinely planning to take on the federal government, for whatever deluded reasons—you’d have evacuated the kids first. You’re not stupid, Sam. So why didn’t you do that?”
Sam grimaced at him, then turned back to Kayla. “That’s not what we need to talk about. We need to talk about getting the kids off the ranch now, not a couple days ago. I had to sneak out with a herd of cattle so the fucking feds wouldn’t catch me on their damn infrared or whatever, then hike through the woods to the border, then—” He stopped as if realizing it might not be a good idea to share too many details of his daring escape. “Kids couldn’t do it, is what I’m saying. And—” He looked at the ground, then over at Wade, then spat a nasty glob that landed too close to Jericho’s boot. “My guests want the kids to stay.”
“As human shields?” Jericho demanded. Why else would hard-core militants want a bunch of kids around? “They’re using your kin like that, and you’re still calling them your guests?”
“I’m sure it’s a complicated situation,” Kayla said, throwing a quick glare in Jericho’s direction before smiling sympathetically at Tennant. “But we’re all on the same page, here. The children’s safety is the most important priority. So we need to work together to take care of that.”
“You got any bright ideas?” Tennant asked cynically.
“I don’t have as much background information as I need, Sam, and you know that. So if you have a plan, I’d like to hear it, but otherwise, you need to tell me a bit more about what the hell’s going on and who we’re dealing with.” Kayla glanced in Jericho’s direction, then added, “And maybe it’d be best if this was a smaller conversation. Jay, Wade, can you two take a walk and keep an eye on the road, make sure we’re not going to be disturbed?”
It wasn’t a dismissal, and Jericho knew it. Kay was giving him a chance to talk to Wade alone in order to get information out of him. It was a good strategy, but it sucked to have to take Sam Tennant’s smirk.
Wade probably knew what Kayla was up to, since he always knew what everybody was up to, and he cooperated, following Jericho down the rough dirt road without comment. When they were far enough away that soft voices wouldn’t be heard, but still close enough to get back to Kayla if she called out, Wade said, “He met them on the internet. You believe that shit? Like, internet dating, but without any sex, and for militia assholes.”
“And this was their first in-person meeting?”
“Nah. Sam went down and met up with some of them in Nevada, he says. Says they seemed like okay guys—big talkers, he figured, but most of these assholes are. I don’t think he had any idea they were going to take it this far.”
“And how far are they taking it? What’s the damn plan, here?”
“They honestly think they’re going to start a war.” Wade sounded amazed, maybe even impressed by the level of delusion. “They think there are militias all over the country who’ve just been waiting for an excuse like this, and they think those whack jobs are all going to come up here and join in, or else rise up in their own locations. They think this is the start of the revolution.”
Jericho squinted at him. “You get that all from Sam?”
Wade grimaced. “Well, maybe that’s something we should talk about.”
“Jesus, Wade! Tell me you’re not involved with these people!”
“Not directly,” Wade said quickly. He was watching Jericho, obviously waiting for the reaction. When Jericho gave him none, he sighed and continued. “Not philosophically, at all. I mean, the feds are a pain in the ass, but I’d rather work around them than take them on head-to-head. I’m not suicidal.”
“But . . .” Jericho prompted. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the rest.
Wade shrugged. “But they sometimes need things taken across the border, and, well, that’s my specialty. So I’ve spent time out at Sam’s place. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve heard rumblings. And then, yeah, he told me more tonight.”
“And you didn’t bother to mention any of this to me.”
“Is there some part of you being a cop and me being a robber that you don’t understand, Jay? Of course I didn’t mention that I’d been gunrunning for a seditious militia.”
“There are dead feds,” Jericho hissed. He wasn’t sure why it seemed important to keep those words quiet; everyone in the state knew about the dead feds. “This is a fucking huge case, Wade, and the FBI is all the hell over it! They’re going to be digging into every damn nook and cranny, and they’re definitely going to want to know where the damn guns came from!”
“I’m aware of that. And if I’d known these fuckers were going to be as crazy as they’ve turned out to be, I wouldn’t have gotten involved.” Wade frowned at the ground, then shrugged. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten involved. But by the time I understood how serious they were, it was too late.”
It sounded like Wade was actually admitting to a mistake, and a part of Jericho wanted to take a moment to celebrate the unheard of occurrence. But he didn’t have time for gloating. “Give me names. Give me every detail you can, tell me everything that might ever be important about this, and maybe we can cut a deal. The DEA will be pissed, but the FBI doesn’t care about you, not anymore. You haven’t gunned down any feds.”
“Well, there was that one.”
“He was crooked. It doesn’t count when they’re crooked.”
