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“Pretty sure I’m right,” Oliver said.
“Sounds right to me,” Katherine said from where she leaned against the tailgate of Cody’s truck, smoking a cigarette.
Cody glared at her across the truck bed, and Oliver was happy to see someone else on the receiving end of the look Cody usually shot his way.
“Are you planning on helping at all?” Cody said.
Katherine dropped the butt of her cigarette into the mud and held up both of the long, iron pokers. “I led you to your men, and I’m carrying these overstated symbols of your manhood. I think that’s plenty.”
“Jesus Christ,” Cody grumbled, and resumed his dig through the storage compartment in the truck’s bed.
“What are you looking for?” Oliver asked.
“A box of matches I used to have in here.”
“You can use my lighter,” Katherine said, holding up the bright red plastic lighter, flicking the wheel to produce a flame.
“Will it stay lit without having to hold down the lever?” Cody asked without looking up.
Katherine lifted her thumb from the lever and the flame went out. “Nope.”
“Then it’s not going to help us.” He gave a quiet exclamation of triumph and held up a box of matches. “Here they are. I knew I’d stashed them in there.” He shook the box in Oliver’s direction. “Wooden matches. The best way to light a fire.”
“Great. Now can we go?” Oliver looked up at the dark and cloudy sky. “It could start raining again any minute.”
“One last check,” Cody said. When Oliver sighed, Cody pointed a finger at him. “Hey, you’ve been through enough dangerous and hard to explain situations with us to know it’s best to be prepared.”
Oliver cocked one eyebrow. “When have you and Demetrius ever been prepared for any of those situations?”
Cody stared at him a moment, then waved his question away. “Fine. I’ll give you that one. But let’s just say we’ve learned our lessons and now we like to do a double check. So, rope?”
“Check,” Oliver said in a bored tone.
“Good. Salt?”
Oliver reached into a plastic bag from the general store and held up the two remaining containers of salt. “Check.”
“Excellent,” Cody said, then looked to Katherine. “Iron?”
She hefted a poker in each hand. “Symbols of inadequate manhood. Check.”
Oliver thought he heard Cody mutter, “Smart ass,” under his breath but wasn’t certain. Either way, he was grateful for someone else giving Cody the business because it made him smile.
“Matches.” Cody shook the box, rattling the matches inside. “Check. Duct tape.” He held up an arm and shook it, causing the roll of silver duct tape he’d slid onto his wrist to wobble. “Check. And finally, accelerant.” He lifted a gas container from the bed of the truck and shook that as well, sloshing the contents around. “Check.”
“At least the woods are wet so you shouldn’t accidentally start a forest fire,” Katherine said. Resting one iron poker on each shoulder, she turned toward the woods. “Can we go now?”
They walked in the same order as before, with Katherine leading the way, Cody following, and Oliver bringing up the rear. The rope rubbed and scratched at the side of his neck, and he wished he’d thought to put a sock or something between it and his skin. Not much to do about it now, though, so he focused on keeping Cody in sight as wet leaves slapped against his arms and face.
“We’re going to get them back.”
Cody’s whispered words brought Oliver up from a kind of trance that had overtaken him, and he looked up. “I hope so.”
“No hope about it, we’re going to do it.” Cody didn’t look around, so Oliver thought that was the end of the conversation. But then Cody said, “And there’s no fucking way Demmy loves me more than I love him. No way. So don’t you believe that bullshit about you and Dave for one second either. Understand?”
Oliver blinked back tears and nodded even though Cody couldn’t see him. He cleared his throat, found his voice, and said, “Yeah. I know.”
“I know you love my brother,” Cody said.
