Hugh swallowed, his throat feeling parched. “Nobody is that silent.” Yet he’d never heard of this guy.
“I brought you here for some answers. So you’ve heard of the Haven but not of me.” Orion frowned and leaned forward, pressing a thumb into Hugh’s wound. “What have you learned?”
Hugh groaned as pain flew down his arm. His heart stuttered. “You’re from Kentucky, aren’t you?”
The man’s eyes hardened. “No. Boston.”
Lie. That was definitely a lie.
Hugh shook his head, trying not to pass out. Blackness crawled in from the distance, and his vision wavered. “Get your fucking thumb out of my flesh.”
Orion sat back and wiped his thumb off on Hugh’s jeans. “That was kind of grotesque. Just answer my questions so I don’t have to do it again.”
“Fuck you.”
The woman giggled. Not laughed. Not chuckled. Giggled. “He’s tough.”
Orion cut her a smile. “He’s about to lose consciousness again. Not so tough.” He leaned in. “How did you know about this particular threat? What clue did we leave?”
Admitting it was just statistics, and luck wasn’t going to get Hugh anywhere. He glanced at Yusef and then back. “Maybe your allies don’t really believe in your cause. You know?”
Orion stiffened. “What are you saying?”
“You tell him, Yusef,” Hugh called out. “Let’s just say that you’re not his only ally. In fact, you’re not even in his top ten.” Shit. This was a total bluff. What the hell did Hugh know?
Orion looked over his shoulder as Yusef glanced up from his tablet. “Yusef?”
The younger man met Orion’s gaze evenly. “He is manipulating you. I have not told anybody about you or the Haven.”
Orion looked back at Hugh.
Hugh shrugged. “I heard about the Haven from a gun runner who’s good buddies with Yusef. When there’s information that needs to be traded, this guy doesn’t have your back, Orion.” He could sense distrust. What he hoped was distrust. It might just be his desperation to live that was messing with him. “Why don’t you just shoot him?”
Orion studied Hugh, not looking too bothered by the idea. “How did you know about the plant here being a target? I didn’t tell anybody until we arrived.”
So much for sowing the seeds of distrust. Hugh rolled his eyes. “Where else would you hit?”
“Arizona,” Orion said instantly.
Hugh coughed. Was that blood in his mouth? Was he bleeding internally? No. A shoulder wound wouldn’t do that. “Yeah, I thought about Arizona, too. Better casualty rate in Pennsylvania. Easier to get to from the east coast, too.”
Orion nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
So the bastard’s headquarters was on the east coast somewhere. Or could it be back in Kentucky? There was game to eat and water to drink. Hills to hide in. Orion wouldn’t be near a major city. Not as a prepper. “You know, I’ve studied threats for years. Real ones,” Hugh murmured, his head almost lolling on his shoulders.
“Yeah?” Orion asked.
“Yeah. And not once did I think I’d have problems with homegrown prepper terrorists.” Weren’t most preppers off living in mountains and squirreling away food and medical supplies, just wanting to be left alone? “Not once.”
The woman against the wall looked at her watch. “Orion? We should probably get going. The HMX is supposed to detonate soon.”
HMX? “Where the hell did you get that shit?” Hugh tried to narrow his focus. Man, his head fucking hurt. Worse than his shoulder, actually. HMX was a plastic explosive more powerful than C-4. Damn it. He blinked and tried to send the pain somewhere else. He had to figure out how much time Ellie had. “How much HMX?”
“Enough to spread radiation far and wide,” Yusef said, still typing. He chuckled quietly.
Hugh kept his focus on Orion. One lunatic at a time. “How many explosives were set? Or do you even know?”
“He’s trying to manipulate you,” the woman said, looking kind of like a sleek cat.
