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“Yeah, me too.”
We sit there, talking quietly amongst ourselves for what seems like forever. As the afternoon gets closer to evening, I begin to become uneasy about the whole situation. We have no way of calling them, no way of finding out what’s going on. Waylen doesn’t know and has told us if he hears anything, he’ll keep us in the loop, but thus far he too has no idea what’s going down.
It should have been quicker than that? Surely it should have been quicker.
I get to my feet, restless, and exhale. “I need some fresh air. I’m going to take a walk to the paddock and just breathe for a minute.”
“I’ll come,” Fallon says. “I need some air, too.”
We both stand and leave the cabin. We’re only walking just in front of us, so we don’t bother to tell Waylen where we’re going. It’s safe enough and soon the sensors will go on and we’ll be locked back in that cabin until we hear the news. This is our only chance to get some fresh air and clear our heads before lockdown.
“Do you think it’s going bad?” Fallon asks, leaning against the railing as we watch the cows grazing in the paddock.
“I don’t know, maybe the information they got was wrong and they’re looking somewhere else,” I suggest.
“Wrong, and wrong.”
Freezing, I slowly turn to see Aaron standing behind us, a big grin on his face. He has a gun pointed in our direction and is the absolute last person we ever thought we’d run into out here. Heart racing, I step closer to Fallon who is stiff beside me.
“I didn’t think it would be so easy but you two just made my job a breeze, thanks for that,” Aaron tells us, waving the gun. “Scream, try to run, I’ll shoot you. Don’t think I won’t. Now, it’s time for you to walk.”
“We’re not going to say anything, Aaron,” Fallon tries, her voice no more than a dull squeak.
“Yeah, I’m not stupid. I’ve been around long enough to know exactly how this goes down. You know too much. You’ve seen too much. You’ll squeal the second you’re given the chance. Not only do I have to deal with you, but now I’ve got all the ranchers on my back that I’m going to have to handle. You’ve made this situation a god damned big mess by lookin’ into something you should have just left alone.”
“You killed someone,” I say, my voice a seething hiss.
“Someone who was messing with the wrong people. You had no business getting involved and now you’ll pay for it. Move.”
“What if we say no?” Fallon dares to throw in.
Aaron steps up to her, pushing the gun right into her temple. “I could scatter your brains across this paddock and be gone by the time those motherfuckers return. Is that what you want?”
She shakes her head, her face white as a ghost.
“Then fuckin’ walk.”
We both start walking in the direction he instructs.
“I thought it was going to be a lot harder to get to you, but you two just waltzed out of that cabin alone like you were so sure you were safe.”
“You planned this the whole time,” I say, taking small steps, trying to slow the process down.
“Of course I fucking did. I’m not stupid. I took the girl, made sure I was seen, I knew they’d come barreling in, and I knew they’d leave you behind. I was right. They’ll find her, but by the time they get back here, you two will be gone.”
“What are you going to do?”
He grunts, but doesn’t answer.
Both Fallon and I know the answer to that isn’t good.
He’s not going to just let us walk, knowing we could jeopardize everything he thinks he’s worked for, which means he’s going to find a way to deal with us and our stupid curiosity. We should have just left it alone. We should have just stayed away and trusted Rhett when he said it was an accident. If we had done that, none of this would have ever happened.
“Is Ember okay?” Fallon asks.
“Fine,” Aaron mutters. “She wasn’t the one I had a problem with.”
“Everyone knows what you did,” I try. “Getting us out of the way isn’t going to change that. You’ll be caught.”
Aaron chuckles. “One step at a time, ladies. You first. I’ll deal with the rest later.”
That doesn’t sound good.
It doesn’t sound good at all.
We really stuffed up this time.
“WHERE ARE YOU TAKING us?” Fallon asks as we trek deeper into the wilderness instead of closer to town.
The farther out we go, the worse I begin to feel because if he’s taking us out here, it means he isn’t planning on letting us come back. Whatever plan he has in his mind, it’s dangerous and it’s going to bring everyone down along with it. Whoever he works for, whatever it is he does, is bad enough that he’s willing to take out a lot of people to protect it.
