Cut Off (Book 3): Cut Loose Page 4

  Katie and Camden moved to the front windows and peered out. Two men rode up on horseback. They pulled to a stop, kicking up a thick cloud of dust in the process. They climbed off their horses and stood half a dozen yards from the front door. They spoke but the words were indistinct. They turned and headed away, but not all the figures. Tanya opened the door and leaned inside.

  “Camden? Katie?” she said. “Bill wants you.”

  The siblings exchanged a look before heading outside.

  “Be careful,” Nancy said.

  Tanya headed toward the watchtower as Katie and Camden rounded the corner and followed Bill, Aaron, and their two guests to the vegetable patch.

  “What do you think they want with us?” Camden hissed under his breath.

  Butterflies battered at Katie’s stomach. “I’ve got no idea.”

  The two unknown men couldn’t have been more different. The older man was in his fifties with a bushy white beard and moustache and a vaguely dangerous look about him. He moved well considering his portly size, a man born big and never let it get in his way.

  The younger man was tall, with broad shoulders and a friendly demeanour. They wore matching uniforms but the older man had two more chevrons on his shoulder.

  “And who might you be, little lady?” the older man said.

  “Katie. And I’m not little.”

  The man blinked. “I apologise. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s hard to know what’s okay to say these days, isn’t it? Our circumstances might have changed but our societal normalities stay the same. And you, young man?”

  “Camden.”

  “They’re my grandkids,” Bill said.

  The older man looked between them and Bill. “Now that I look, I do see a certain similarity. Around the eyes, if I’m not much mistaken. How do you do? I’m Inspector Frank Taylor and this is my assistant, Sergeant Davis.”

  Katie and Camden watched them carefully.

  The inspector looked at their self-sufficient farming area and whistled. “I must say, you’ve got some nice bushes and plants out here. You’ll want to keep a close eye on them in the days and weeks to come. They’ll be worth their weight in gold.”

  Bill opened the front door of the old toolshed and let them inside. It took a moment for Katie’s eyes to adjust to the toolshed’s dusty confines. Sunlight glinted off the sharpened tools stowed on the room’s walls.

  Inspector Taylor whistled again. “I need you boys to come organise my tool shed back home. I haven’t got half the tools you have and yet I still manage to make double the mess.”

  Aaron never once took his eyes from the two men and kept a safe distance so he could eyeball them both at the same time. They didn’t have guns – or at least, didn’t appear to – and instead carried their usual truncheons and handcuffs.

  The door squeaked open and everyone inside stiffened.

  Hannah poked her head inside. “Would you like something to eat?” she said.

  “We’d love a cup of tea,” Bill said.

  “She’s not a goffer,” Camden spat. “Don’t worry about the tea, Hannah. We can make it ourselves.”

  “I don’t mind making it.” Hannah shifted her attention to the inspector, who nodded.

  “Milk, two sugars, please,” he said.

  Then Hannah turned her eyes to the young sergeant and all became clear to Katie. The girl tried too hard to keep her eyes off the hunky young man, and in so doing, gave her game plan away. “Sergeant?”

  “Gregory. Please call me Gregory. And I’d love one.”

  “Milk?”

  “Yes. No sugar.”

  He might not have asked for sugar but Hannah looked very much like she wanted to give him some. She nodded and backed out, only vaguely aware of the others present.

  “None for me, thanks,” Camden said, chasing her with his smile.

  Hannah nodded as an afterthought and left.

  Inspector Taylor piped up. “She’s a pretty one.”

  “The prettiest,” Camden said.

  “Seems mighty shy though,” Inspector Taylor said.

  How wrong you are. But Katie wasn’t about to discuss her personal history with a stranger.

  “What did you want to speak with us about?” Bill said.

  “I understand you had a little trouble this morning with the Thornhill and Wedge families?”

  “What of it?”

  “You decided to keep the young couple here with you? Why?”

  Katie took that question. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

  Inspector Taylor turned to her. “You might be right about that. But it’s not the safest thing to do. They’ve been warring at each other for a hundred years and fifty years. Nothing is going to change that now.”

  Katie didn’t like the way he dismissed their decision so lightly. He hadn’t been there and didn’t know the situation.

  “Tell me, Inspector,” Katie said. “What do you think the smart decision would be?”

  “Let the kids go back to their families,” he said. “Then the town could get back to the way it was.”

  “Have you tried to appease both families like that before?”

  Inspector Taylor nodded.

  “And how did that work out?” Katie said.

  The older man shuffled his feet and suddenly found the tools on the walls very interesting. “It worked… for a time. That’s the best you can hope for with these families. There’s no overcoming it, only learning to live with it. They’re never going to change.”

  “So, you’re saying it’s best to do the same thing over and over again even though it doesn’t work?” Katie said. “I seem to remember a guy called Einstein had something to say about that.”

  Sergeant Davis smiled and turned his head to the side to avoid his superior seeing it.

  “I understand it might look like that from the outside.” Inspector Taylor wasn’t taking her seriously. Unfortunately for him, Katie was only just getting started.

  “It doesn’t look like that, it is like that,” Katie said. “From outside and inside. It’s stupid and unfair to let these families do what they want and force the rest of the town to lump it.”

  She was beginning to get under the inspector’s skin. “It’s the police’s job to keep the peace, not solve problems.”

  “Then you’re only ever dealing with the superficial. If we let the kids return to their families, how long would it be before they tried to escape again? Assuming the families don’t tie them up like animals? I assume you’re okay with that? And maybe this time one of the families catches both kids first. And maybe they decide to punish the kid from the other family. They might not kill them, though that isn’t out of the question by the level of animosity there is between them. Or maybe they’re content with only cutting up their faces or giving them a debilitating injury–”

  Inspector Taylor raised his hand. “All right, all right. You made your point. But the kids might decide it’s not worth trying again.”

  “Then the kids will be heartbroken. One might make an attempt on their life. How long before one of the families takes retribution against the other? And how long before we’re forced to do business with one of the families while the other takes it as a slight against them and come seeking retribution in any case?”

  Inspector Taylor was silent.

  Katie steadied her hands. “It’s better we deal with this here and now and let them know we don’t take sides. Then, if this whole thing can be worked out, they’ll know we look after our interests and don’t give a crap about their stupid feud.”

  Inspector Taylor was slow to smile, but when he did, it stretched from ear to ear. “She’s a smart one,” he said.

  “What did you expect from my grandchildren?” Bill said.

  Was he making fun of her? “It’s not smart, it’s common sense.”

  “Then a lot of people don’t have the level of common sense that you do,” Inspector Taylor said. “All right. Keep the kids. But I want a
ssurances nothing happens to them while they’re here.”

  “We won’t do anything to them,” Camden said. “We can’t promise their families won’t take action into their own hands.”

  “Fair enough. I’ll go speak with them today, make sure they understand the message loud and clear. What do you intend on doing with them anyway?”

  “We haven’t discussed it yet,” Bill said.

  Katie was surprised her grandfather wanted to include her and her brother in any of the discussions. Maybe because it’d ultimately been her decision to act and now he expected her to deal with the fallout.

  “Is the family feud the only thing you need to talk to us about, Inspector?” Bill said. “Because if it is, we’ve got about a thousand different things to be getting on with.”

  The inspector let out a puff of air and slumped into a deckchair that groaned beneath his weight. Up until now, he painted a serene picture of calm. Now Katie saw the true stress and strain he was under. “Unfortunately not. The feud is just about the least of our problems right now, if you can believe it.”

  “Go on,” Bill said. “Lay it on us.”

  The door cracked open. Gregory a.k.a. Sergeant Davis was quick to lend a hand. He held the door open and took the tea from Hannah, who smiled prettily and shied back when his face came within inches of her.

  “Let me help you with that,” he said. He held the tray in a single large hand.

  Her eyes fixed firmly on his and she nibbled on her bottom lip. She took the teas off the tray and handed them out. Camden’s came last.

  Camden belatedly smiled at Hannah and held the door open for her as she stepped outside. “Thanks for the tea–” but she was already gone.

  “We’ve got a big prison on the outskirts of Pikehall,” Inspector Taylor said, “no more than five miles out. The emergency supply was running fine… until two days ago. Then the inmates broke out, killing six guards in the process, and started spreading across the area. Most will be looking to get as far from the prison as possible, so it’ll be safe around here soon enough. It’ll be a rough a few days while they do.”

  “How bad are the criminals we’re talking about?” Camden said.

  “Murderers. Rapists. Arsonists”

  Aaron snorted. “All the fun stuff. Why don’t you burn the town down? It’ll be faster.”

  “The worst of the criminal element is still locked up, in the maximum security section. It’s only a matter of time before the power fails completely and they escape too.”

  “Surely the prison has a backup generator?” Katie said.

  “Of course. It had its own switch at the power station too. It was one of the last buildings meant to lose power.”

  Aaron sniffed. “I like that. We don’t break any laws and yet we’re stuck here without power while they’re on the inside, breaking God knows how many laws and sit pretty watching TV and enjoying hot showers.”

  “They don’t have hot showers or TV,” Katie said. “Electronics don’t work, remember?”

  Aaron shook his head. “Then how come they still have power?”

  “Either the backup generators were protected during the EMP pulse or the system installed wasn’t sophisticated enough to be affected by it. The point is, there’s no power anymore.” Katie grumbled under her breath. “Why are we the lucky ones?”

  Inspector Taylor reached into his hat, withdrew a handkerchief, and dabbed at his brow. “We’re looking for volunteers to help hold the prison.”

  “We’ve got a lot going on. I’m not sure we can help much.”

  “Any help you give would be much appreciated. Even a man or two now and then to man the watchtowers. A few to patrol the town after dark, to catch any criminals you meet, then inform us so we can track them down and process them.”

  “Process them?” Camden said. “What are you going to do after that? You said yourself, the prison doesn’t have power.”

  “So we’re going a little old school,” Inspector Taylor said. “More barbed fences, more men keeping watch. Keep it simple. And I notice you’ve got guns.”

  “We need them,” Bill said. “Especially with prisoners running riot.”

  “I can’t disagree with that. But I want the town gun-free. The way it’s always been.”

  Bill shook his head. “Not until you get a handle on things. We’re not giving them up.”

  Inspector Taylor’s tongue flicked out like a snake and wet his lips. “How about lending us a few in the meantime?”

  Aaron appraised the inspector. “Do your boys even know how to handle them? A gun in the wrong hands is more dangerous than a man without.”

  “Some do. We’re recruiting former military personnel to help us. They’re who we’ll give them to.”

  Katie was loath to let the guns out of her sight but Bill looked on the verge of letting it happen. She jumped in.

  “We’ll give you some,” she said. “Show us you won’t lose or misplace them, or your men won’t sell them to the highest bidder, and we’ll let you have more. But we want something in exchange.”

  Inspector Taylor looked Katie over. He squinted. “We don’t have a lot of food or supplies.”

  “How many men do you have?”

  “In total? Twenty-three.”

  “We want all your available men, on our side, in case the time comes,” Katie said. “You’ll pull every man and woman from whatever duty they’re on and come to our aid.”

  Inspector Taylor looked at her with his small, piggy eyes. “Sounds like you’ve got something big planned.”

  “I haven’t got anything planned but that doesn’t mean others aren’t out there planning something for us right now.”

  Inspector Taylor licked his lips again. He leaned over to peer at Bill. “She’s your negotiator now?”

  “Why not?” Bill said. “She’s doing a better job of it than I ever could.”

  Inspector Taylor’s eyes slid back to Katie. “Fair enough. But I want all the ammo we need.”

  “Nope. We’ll give you all the ammo we think you need. We’ve got soldiers on our side. They’ll decide how many rounds you get.” And it means we control how much firepower you have.

  Katie learned the hard way not to trust anyone, especially the people who looked most worthy of it.

  Inspector Taylor nodded and extended his hand to Bill, who didn’t reach for it. He nodded to Katie. The inspector shook her hand.

  “Let’s get out of here, Sergeant,” Inspector Taylor said. “I’m likely to lose my shirt if we stay here any longer.”

  9

  Vincent could be a rambunctious fellow when he had half a mind to be. It wasn’t in his nature to do things halfheartedly. He tossed his head when he got bored and went to graze at the verge when he caught sight of some thick green luscious grass that looked particularly tasty. He required a firm hand and Katie was there every time she needed to be.

  Katie knew Vincent’s little peccadilloes better than she knew her own and always knew what he was about to do before he did it. He was a creature of habit and you could only ride him when you knew them all.

  “How will we know they’re escaped prisoners?” Katie said to her grandfather.

  “Because they’ll be wearing numbers on their chests and orange jumpsuits.”

  Katie rolled her eyes. “I’m sure the first thing they’ll do the moment they’re free is to make sure they keep wearing the same boilersuits.”

  Bill rode Harriet, a beautiful brown nag with a natural streak of black in her mane. She always had the appearance of a punk rocker to Katie, so it was funny seeing a conservative old man like her grandfather riding her.

  Once you got free of the forest that surrounded their property, the land rolled in infinitely long undulating waves as if giant green ripples had frozen the moment the sun touched them.

  It was hard not to be awed by the beauty of the English countryside at times. Every country had its beautiful spots and in England, it had to be its effortless rolling green
hills and ancient churches and castles picked out by the dying sunlight on the horizon.

  Bill clucked his tongue and took them down a narrow crevasse. A small stream trickled over the smooth stones.

  “How do you think we’re going to deal with the illicit lovers?” Katie said.

  “I don’t rightly know,” Bill said. “But they say time is the greatest healer.”

  “You think they’ll stay with us forever?”

  “I didn’t say that. I said time is a great healer.”

  “It hasn’t healed the rift between the families yet. Do you honestly expect it will now?”

  “No, I suppose not.”

  “Then how will we solve the issue–”

  “You know your problem?” Bill said.

  “Too much common sense?”

  Bill rolled his eyes. “Humility clearly isn’t the issue. It’s your noise. The voice in the back of your mind that keeps on talking, keeps going on, looking for solutions that might not be there.”

  “There’s always a solution.”

  “Yes. But that doesn’t mean we have to rely on the piddly pre-frontal cortex of our brains to find it.”

  Katie blinked in surprise. She never expected him to know much about biology, other than how to dress wounds.

  They crossed over the slow-flowing stream and walked alongside it.

  “Think it’s clean?” Katie said.

  The horses bent down to drink from it.

  “The horses do.” Bill hopped off Harriet and scaled up the hill with the sharpest incline. “And that’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you. The human brain is capable of incredible insights but the best ones come when you learn to quiet your mind and let your instincts take over. Planning is good, but instincts are best when you’re in the moment. You ought to learn to trust them.”

  They crested the hill and peered over the side at the valley below. Down there, huddled around a small fire, sat three figures. The fire gave off little smoke and Katie would never have spotted them otherwise. She looked over at her grandfather, the question written clearly on her face: How did you know they were there?

  Bill looked back at her and smiled. “Instinct. Nothing more, nothing less.”