“No need,” Caden says. “We just stopped by to say hello to Ralph, but since he’s not here, we’ll be moving on.”
“It’s almost dark, friend. Not another town for miles.”
“We don’t need a roof to sleep under.”
“Excuse me, Captain, but we certainly do!” Otto nudges his horse forward. “Sorry for the misunderstanding, Mayor. Yes, we would bedelightedto spend the night.”
I could strangle the fool. Caden turns to look at me, warning me with his eyes that we need to get out of here. The other Defenders glance around, all on high alert. Unlike Otto, they have enough sense to understand that Caden’s refusal to stay means something.
“Wonderful!” The mayor claps his hands. “You can leave your horses with us.”
“No,” Caden says firmly as Otto begins to dismount. “We’ll be leaving.”
“Captain, I’m afraid I have to insist.”
“I’m aiming a gun at your head, Mayor. Is this where you die?”
The mayor looks down. I can’t see the gun Caden’s holding, but I imagine it’s resting on his thigh. I hold my breath, gripping my reins tighter and hoping we can ride out of here before things escalate.
The mayor’s smugness quickly fades. He raises his hands. “No need for that. We’ve been nothing but hospitable.”
“Then tell the armed Raiders you have hiding between the civilians to drop their weapons. I can blow your head off faster than they can shoot.”
“My people aim their weapons because these are dangerous times, my friend.”
I see them now, moving among the crowd. There are at least ten of them, with more on the nearby roofs. We’re surrounded, and they would likely rather fight than let us leave knowing they’re here. Even if the mayor tells his men to drop their weapons, I’m not sure they’ll obey. Or maybe they will, but only until we’re out of the gate, and then we’ll be sitting ducks for at least a couple of minutes.
“You’re right,” I say, my voice tight. “We’ve been riding all day, and it’s getting cold. We’d appreciate a place to stay for the night.”
“Finn,” Caden growls, but he doesn’t dare to look at me and risk breaking eye contact with the mayor. I don’t think he saw just how many weapons are aimed at us, not to mention the gate is now closed behind us.
“You heard the kid,” the mayor says with an ugly smile. “Best listen to him so we can keep this friendly.”
The Raiders take a few steps forward, closing in on us. Caden gives the word, and we all slide down from our horses. Otto seems like he might faint, but at least he keeps his big mouth shut this time. The mayor tells us to carefully place our weapons on the ground, and I do so with my knife and gun, my heart drumming in my ears.
“If we don’t reach out to Unity, they’ll know that something’s off,” Caden says. “You think you can survive that?”
“Of course not, but we’ll be out of here by then. This was supposed to be a stop on our way to Denver to see the champion at the arena. We ended up staying for a couple of weeks, and if you had come here in a couple of days, you would have missed us. Shitty timing on your part. Now, off to jail you go! We’re gonna have ourselves a fun night of interrogation.”
The police station is farther down the main street. With armed Raiders on both sides, we march in a column as people watch silently from the side of the road. I think of what they must have been through since this gang took over their town, and about all the missing people that are likely dead. My stomach churns thinking of Timothy in that bag, still hanging on the side of my horse. They will surely go through our things. When they find him, will they shoot him on sight? I taste bileand force myself to focus. If they’re going to interrogate us, it means they won’t kill us straight away.
I glance from side to side, but I can’t spot an escape route. The mayor walks next to us, whistling a cheerful tune. Two bodies lie face down by the entrance of the police station, flies circling the bloody corpses. The stench is sickening. The station’s door lies broken on the ground. The Raiders must have forced their way through when they took over.
“You’re making a mistake,” Otto says. “Finn and I are important enough to make the assembly very angry about our absence. You donotwant to deal with the ramifications.”
I would have slapped him if I could.
The mayor grabs my shirt and pulls me closer, his face filling my vision. “Are you important, boy?”
I keep my mouth shut, which grants me a slap in the face. “I asked you a question.”
“Do I look important?”
The mayor snorts. “No, which means you might just be. See everyone? We’re already making progress with our fun interrogation, and we haven’t even started yet!”
“No information will serve you as a corpse,” Otto hisses.
The mayor chuckles. “Oh, I’m gonna have fun with you, that’s for damn sure. They used to call me the nutcracker back in the day, and it wasn't because I liked eating nuts. I don’t need to get much out of you, just enough to share with Hector and get on his good side.”
