“I bet you do,” a tough female voice said.
“Get some cuffs on him,” one of the soldiers said.
“I’ve got it.” Luther stepped forward, a pair of handcuffs in his hand.
“Make sure you frisk him, first.”
Rough hands grabbed and slapped at him. His Gerber and Glock were confiscated, along with the magazines tucked into his chest rig. They left his jacket intact.
Luther jerked Liam’s arms behind him. Hard metal cuffs clamped his wrists, pinching his flesh.
“You sure it’s him?” a raspy voice said. “Confirm positive I.D. before I call it in.”
Luther circled around to face him. He stared down at Liam, his face impassive. Shadows flickered across his inscrutable expression, shielding his eyes.
His lips curled in a sneer of disdain. “Yeah, it’s him.”
The butt of a carbine swung toward Liam’s face.
His training took over. He leaned backward and shifted so he wouldn’t take the blow straight on.
Then everything faded to black.
54
Quinn
Day One Hundred and Fifteen
Quinn stared at Reynoso. “What did you just say?”
Reynoso gazed at the council members, his expression grave. “We’re about to be attacked.”
He’d called the council members to the town hall for an emergency meeting. Quinn wasn’t on the council, but Hannah had insisted she come after they’d dropped Milo and Charlotte off at the Brooks’ home.
Besides the council members at the table, a few dozen townspeople sat in the metal folding chairs, tired but alert. Quinn stood near the long rectangular table, far too antsy and amped up to sit still.
The old courthouse was lit with candles and lanterns. The high ceilings arced above them, invisible in the darkness.
Reynoso cleared his throat. “Liam called me. According to his informant, General Sinclair plans to attack Fall Creek at dawn.”
Bishop glanced at his watch. “That’s about five hours.”
Gasps sounded around the room. Stricken faces stared at him, mouths agape.
Quinn’s ribs constricted like a giant hand was squeezing tighter and tighter. The vaulted ceiling was too low, too close, pressing down on her. It was hard to breathe.
Darryl Wiggins blanched. “We’ll be overrun! They’re soldiers! They’ll slaughter us.”
“We’ve prepared for this,” Bishop said in his booming baritone, his voice even but clipped, as if struggling to maintain his temper. “We knew it was coming. Now that the hour is upon us, it’s time to act.”
Wide-eyed, Hannah glanced around the room. “Where is Liam?”
“I thought he was with you,” Dave said.
She shook her head.
All eyes turned to Reynoso.
“He said he had something important to do and signed off before I could ask questions. He hasn’t answered since. I’m sorry, but I don’t know.”
The group let that sink in. They stared at each other, anxious and baffled.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Principal King said. “Where would he go? What would he do? We need him here.”
Quinn cleared her throat. “He went after the General.”
Hannah whipped toward her. “What?”
Louder, she repeated it. “He’s going to kill the General.”
“No,” Hannah said, stricken. “No, no, no.”
Bishop looked sick. “Don’t tell me he left by himself.”
Quinn gave a tight nod. “I came out for a drink of water while he was getting ready. I couldn’t stop him. He said he didn’t want anyone else to die.”
“Doesn’t mean he gets to either,” Reynoso muttered.
“He said that if he cut off the head of the snake, the National Guard would think twice before attacking. That we’d have a chance.”
“We have to go after him,” Bishop said. “He goes in there alone, it’s suicide—”
Quinn swallowed. “He left an hour ago. You’re too late.”
Bishop’s face turned ashen. He shook his head, aghast.
They were all thinking the same thing. Liam was a lone man entering the lion’s den. He had little chance of returning.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Principal King asked.
Quinn touched the thick, itchy scab on her lip. She wasn’t ashamed of it. It was a battle scar. A sign to everyone that she’d survived that fight and would survive the next one, too.
She straightened her shoulders and met Hannah’s gaze. “He asked me not to. He said you would try to stop him, that even though it was the right move, you wouldn’t want him to do it.”