Road To Babylon | Book 10 | 100 Deep

by Sisavath, Sam

  “Garbage,” Mr. Sniffer said.

  “More like vomit.”

  “Garbage vomit?”

  “That sounds about right.”

  Keo squinted down at the two men and thought, What the hell is this, a comedy routine?

  The paranoid part of him thought they were doing all of this for his benefit. But of course that didn’t make any sense.

  Why would they? Why would they even bother?

  “Well?” Mr. Sniffer said, even as he turned and looked right up at Keo. “You gonna stay up there all day, or what?”

  Keo sighed, and thought, Daebak.

  Fourteen

  Keo had seen Arrowhead from a nearby hillside, and it hadn’t looked all that impressive. Up close, and while walking through the place on foot, he formed a new appreciation for it.

  The town was nestled inside a valley, the forest that used to take up space here cleared to make room for its human inhabitants. The individual houses and community buildings were all constructed from wood, some simpler than others. They were all very recently built, too. The place smelled, looked, and felt like what it was: A brand new start for everyone that called it home.

  The nearby stream and animals in the surrounding woods took care of any potential starvation problem, which was a good thing because the place teemed with people. The town looked bigger and more spread out than Keo had thought last night. Unlike the denizens of Shaker Town, there was less obvious separation between the armed men and women and the civilian population here. People looked much more comfortable with one another. Of course, that was just on the surface. Every place Keo had ever been to had a dark underbelly. It was only a matter of time before he found Arrowhead’s.

  He was led past buildings being used as a school. Children were visible through the windows, and a class was singing a song that sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Another class was already on the playground. Fresh air flowed from the woods, and the water nearby was a constant source of soothing noise.

  Horses—a lot of them, maybe more than he’d seen back at Shaker Town—lined the streets while people moved along wooden sidewalks. It was like being inside a frontier town, but one where all the people wore contemporary wardrobe. And the guns, of course. Those definitely screamed now.

  As he was led into Arrowhead, Keo hadn’t bothered looking for an opportunity to escape his two captors. They were probably too seasoned to allow him to get the upper hand, and he didn’t feel like getting shot. Besides, by the time they started moving through the woods and back to town, four other Arrowheads had joined them. Keo didn’t ask—and didn’t think they’d tell him even if he did—but he had a good idea there were more of them chasing after Harvey and Fridge. If Harvey’s boys had indeed lost their horses between last night and this morning, they weren’t going to get very far on foot.

  Still sucks to be you, Harvey.

  It potentially sucked to be him too, but Keo thought he had a reasonably good chance of talking his way out of this. That was one of his strengths. Or he liked to think so. Lara would disagree. Then again, as much as she knew him—and she knew him better than just about anyone else—she didn’t know everything about him, or how many tight squeezes he’d gotten out of by just flapping his gums.

  Time to flap away, he thought as they reached what he thought was the center of town. There were no fences or barbed wires but there were noticeably more armed guards on the streets. There was also a giant American flag moving in the breeze from a tall pole in the very middle that Keo hadn’t seen last night in the darkness.

  Keo had attempted to make small talk with his captors as they brought him down from the woods, but neither man bothered to engage him. Because he didn’t know their names, he called one Don and the other Lon. Not that there was any real reason why one was Don and the other was Lon. They were still wearing ghillie suits and their faces were covered in camo, and truthfully, it was hard to tell them apart.

  “This the place, boys?” Keo asked as they walked through what he assumed was the town square, though in this case it was really more of a large circle.

  Neither Don nor Lon bothered to reply.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Keo said.

  Again, no response.

  After a few more minutes, his captors delivered Keo to where he was supposed to be: A two-story building with a pair of armed guards standing outside. If this was indeed the residence of Arrowhead’s leader, it wasn’t very impressive. So in that respect, it fit right in.

  “In you go,” one of his captors said. It was either Don or Lon. Besides looking identical in their getup, the two men also had similar baritone to their deep voices.

  The door opened as Keo approached it. Don or Lon had radioed ahead, so Keo wasn’t surprised someone came outside to greet him. It was a woman in her thirties, long blonde hair in a ponytail behind her. Tall, feminine without being too girly, but just girly enough without being too manly. It was an amazingly subtle balance.

  Like the others he’d seen in Arrowhead, the woman didn’t wear anything that looked remotely like a uniform. Boots and long cargo pants meant she could go from the stream to indoors to the woods without having to change. There was a thin scar on her right jawline that was on its way to fading in a few years.

  She nodded at Keo’s captors. “I’ll take him from here.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” either Lon or Don said.

  Then, also either Lon or Don, “Don’t let him near any trees. The boy knows how to climb.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” the woman said.

  Footsteps as Don and Lon headed off. Not that Keo entertained any ideas about escaping even then. Besides the woman, who was armed with a holstered Glock, there were the two guards standing nearby. They were both carrying semiautomatic rifles—ARs, from the looks of them—and had been eyeballing him the entire time as he approached their station. Although he couldn’t see them now, he was pretty sure they were still glued to his back, ready to shoot him dead if he tried anything.

  Keo chose to smile at the woman instead. “I’m Chang.”

  “Good for you,” she said, before nodding toward the door she’d just come through.

  Keo walked forward and inside. The woman followed, closing the door softly behind her.

  He waited in a large and very empty lobby for her. There were some couches and chairs and stuffed colorful birds staring back at him from some of the walls, but otherwise nothing to indicate what the place was used for. A meeting hall, perhaps? Maybe there was a big table with chairs inside one of the back rooms in the rear hallway. Stairs led up to the second floor to the right of it.

  The tall woman walked past him. As she did so, his eye went to the Glock in her hip holster. There was no flap on it, so all he’d have to do was grab it. There was absolutely no one else in the room to stop him, and she was already in front of him, her back turned…

  But he didn’t go for the gun.

  Keo had options, which wasn’t always true this morning. In the here and now, windows of opportunities were opening to him. Keo had come to Georgia on a mission and with a plan. That hadn’t involved the folks at Arrowhead, but now that he was here, he thought he could use it to his advantage. The mission itself was still in play, but he’d have to return to Shaker Town to complete it.

  So instead of trying something, he followed the woman to the stairs, then up.

  “Smart,” she said.

  “Smart what?” he said.

  “Not going for my gun.”

  “Now why would I do a silly thing like that?”

  “You seemed like the type to do something silly like that.”

  Keo grinned. “Momma always said I’m smarter than I look.”

  “She was just being nice.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Besides, it would have been a big mistake. We already know what you did for Cody. She’s alive because of you.”

  Keo couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, though he hoped
his guide didn’t notice. Too much.

  “She’s okay?” he asked.

  “Okay enough,” his guide said.

  Good enough for me, Keo thought, because good enough meant Cody, a.k.a. Suzanna, was still alive. More than that, she was vouching for him. No wonder Don or Lon hadn’t bothered to put him in cuffs earlier, and why this tall and very nice-looking lady was so nonchalant around him.

  They rounded the turn in the stairs and continued up.

  “I’m Chang,” he said.

  “You already told me,” she said.

  “Thought I’d mention it again. Can I get a name?”

  “Lindsey.”

  “Nice to meet you, Lindsey.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  “I thought we were friends now.”

  “We’ll see about that, too.”

  “What else will we see?”

  “We’ll see.”

  He chuckled. “This has been an incredibly stimulating conversation, Lindsey.”

  The second floor, like the first, was devoid of anything special. Wooden flooring and more stuffed exotic bird species adorned the walls. He could smell the newness in every part of the building as he walked through it, following on Lindsey’s footsteps as she led him toward the front, to where he’d seen the balcony outside one of the rooms.

  Lindsey knocked on the heavy oak door at the end. “He’s here, sir.”

  Keo didn’t say anything. He had an idea who sir was, but he kept his mouth shut. He’d been guessing that it was Horatio, the leader of Arrowhead, on the radio with Mick and Pick, but it was just a guess.

  As Lindsey stepped back and glanced over at him, it occurred to Keo that he still didn’t know what had happened to the two teenagers.

  “Mick and Pick,” Keo said. “How are they?”

  Lindsey shook her head, but didn’t answer. Not that she had to. That shake said everything. That, and the unsmiling look on her face.

  “I didn’t do that,” Keo said.

  “We know,” Lindsey said.

  Keo nodded, when the door opened and a young man in his twenties looked out at them, before stepping aside.

  Horatio?

  “In you go,” Lindsey said.

  Keo looked over at her. “You’re not going in there with me?”

  “I have things to do.”

  “Maybe we’ll see each other again.”

  She flashed him a wry smile that told him she was used to men coming on to her. Not that Keo was doing that.

  Not too much, anyway.

  Keo made a mental note not to tell Lara about this.

  “Maybe we will,” Lindsey said, before turning and walking away.

  The young man who had opened the door for Keo said, “Come in. Chang, right?”

  “That’s right,” Keo said as he stepped inside.

  “Chang?” a booming voice said from farther inside the room. It was the same voice that had spoken to Mick and Pick on the radio, only a lot clearer now, in real life. “That’s what you’re going with? I guess every other name was taken, huh?”

  Keo stopped and stared across the wide, spacious room, and would have laughed if he weren’t too busy trying to figure out how the hell this was even possible.

  Finally, he said, “How the hell are you even still alive?”

  Fifteen

  “Sonofabitch.”

  “That’s the greeting I get?”

  “I thought you’d be dead by now.”

  “You sound disappointed.”

  “Just surprised.”

  The old man laughed. “Hey, you’re not the only one shocked to see me still kicking it, kid. I feel the same way every morning.”

  Keo grinned and walked over to shake the man’s hand. It’d been years since he’d last seen him. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time, but it’d been a long time. Though, to look at him, the man Arrowhead called Horatio was as spry now as when Keo had last seen him back in the jungles of Louisiana.

  “Who’s Horatio?” Keo asked.

  Norris smiled. “Me.”

  “You? You’re Horatio?”

  “It’s my first name.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “You never asked.” Horatio Norris looked past Keo at the young man who had opened the door. “You can leave us now, Lewis.”

  “Are you sure, sir?” the young man asked.

  “I’ll be fine. He’s an old friend.”

  Lewis lifted his right eyebrow in surprise. “I’ll be right outside, sir.”

  Norris nodded as Lewis left, closing the door softly behind him.

  Keo gave the other man a long, hard look. Yes, it was Norris, all right. He was still bald, still black, and still old. Or older. But then again, he suspected that the ex-cop from Orlando could say the same things about him.

  Norris took a step back and did the same to Keo. “You look like shit.”

  “You should see the other guy.”

  “As bad as you?”

  “Worse.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Well I’m alive, and he’s not.”

  Norris chuckled. Then, suddenly serious, “Speaking of which, what the hell are you doing attacking Arrowhead with a bunch of Shaker Town boys?”

  “I didn’t exactly have a choice.”

  “Long story?”

  “Not too long.”

  “Then tell me about it,” Norris said, and walked toward the balcony.

  Keo followed him, filling Norris in on what had happened, starting with the bombing yesterday and leading to last night, then eventually this morning.

  They stepped outside into the cool breeze. Norris leaned against the wooden railing and looked out at the town with Keo next to him. They watched people going about their business, most of them seemingly oblivious to the recent violence. From up here, Keo could see the organized activity around the stream. Fishing, clothes washing, and bathing in what he assumed was cold water.

  “Who bombed Shaker Town?” Norris asked when Keo was finished.

  Keo looked over at him. “You.”

  Norris lifted both eyebrows in surprise. “Me?”

  “Not you, you. You guys. The town.”

  The older man shook his head. Keo couldn’t get over how little Norris had changed since the last time.

  Must be the clean living, Keo thought. I wonder what that’s like?

  “It wasn’t us,” Norris said.

  “I figured,” Keo said.

  “But they thought it was us?”

  “Either that, or…”

  “Or?”

  “They needed an excuse.”

  Norris smirked. “Of course they did. How else are they going to explain breaking the truce that Black Tide brokered? I’m surprised they only sent a few men.”

  “About twenty.”

  “That’s a few, considering how many Shaker Town has.” Norris eyeballed him. “But that still doesn’t explain what you were doing here with them?”

  “I told you, I didn’t have a choice.”

  “No, Keo. I mean, how did you end up there?”

  “That’s another long story.”

  “Is it?”

  “Not really.”

  “So let’s hear it.”

  “First things first. Did you know it was me out there?”

  “Not a clue. They just told me someone was captured and that his name was Chang. The description they gave was ‘Chinese guy.’” He shrugged. “Not exactly descriptive.”

  Keo smiled.

  “Why do they think you’re Chinese?” Norris asked.

  “Chang.”

  “Ah. Right. Chang.” Then, “You changed your name?”

  “No. It’s part of the story.”

  “So let’s hear it already.”

  “Black Tide sent me.”

  The surprise on Norris’s face was priceless. “You’re working for Black Tide now?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Sort of?”
<
br />   “Sort of.”

  “The fuck you say.”

  “Sort of.”

  “Since when?”

  “It’s another long story.”

  “What isn’t a long story with you?”

  “They needed someone to go into Shaker Town. The fact that someone bombed the place while I was there, and then I got roped by Harvey into coming here for his little hit-and-run job on you, was incidental.”

  “Who’s Harvey?”

  “The big guy leading the attack.”

  “Ah.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “I don’t know, but I have men looking for the remnants of this morning’s raiding party. They told me there are still two of them out there.”

  “Fridge and Harvey.”

  “Big guys?”

  “Fridge is actually skinny.” Keo shrugged. “I guess it’s supposed to be ironic or something.”

  “It’s something, all right.”

  Norris turned back to look out at the town, lost in thought. Keo watched him carefully and couldn’t help but feel a little bit envious that Norris had ended up here, while Keo was running around out there doing…not much of anything. Or, at least, nothing that rivaled Norris’s accomplishments in Arrowhead.

  The guy’s already past Social Security age, and he’s already done more than you have, pal. How sad is that?

  It was pretty sad.

  Finally, Norris looked back at Keo. “You still haven’t told me what you were doing in Shaker Town.”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s classified.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Keo…”

  “I’m sorry, Norris. It’s strictly need-to-know, and you don’t need to know.”

  “Tell me anyway,” Norris said, squinting at Keo. He suddenly looked very serious, which was a far cry from the last time Keo had seen the older man.

  “I can’t,” Keo said.

  “Fuck you, Keo.”

  “It’s not my call.”

  “Then whose call is it?”

  “Black Tide.”

  “And who’s running Black Tide now?”

  “Danny.”