Road To Babylon | Book 10 | 100 Deep

by Sisavath, Sam

  “Who?”

  Keo smiled. He forgot that not everyone knew Danny’s first name.

  “Hartford,” he said.

  Norris nodded. “You’re working for him?” Then, before Keo could answer, “Sort of, right?”

  Keo chuckled. “It’s complicated.”

  “Of course it is,” Norris said, and Keo thought he just barely managed to keep his eyes from rolling.

  Norris led Keo outside the two-story—Norris’s residence, as it turned out—and across the circle to a squat building that acted as the town’s communications center about 200 meters away. Keo knew that without Norris having to tell him, because he could see the big radio tower next to it.

  Inside, they walked through a hallway where people nodded at Norris as they passed. Keo felt a brief pang of jealousy. Maybe it wasn’t so brief. Norris had achieved so much while he was just trying to stay alive. Future historians would probably write books about people like Norris and Danny and Lara. Keo would be lucky if he got a footnote or two.

  The main comm room was occupied by three people, two women and a man. When Norris entered, he said to the women, “Get me Black Tide command.”

  One of the women turned around in her chair and switched on a radio that was connected to a console. The whole setup looked pretty high-tech for a building in the middle of a former wildlife preserve. Keo guessed Arrowhead was used to making contact with those beyond their natural defenses. And given Black Tide’s muscles, it was only natural to have them on, figuratively, speed dial.

  It didn’t take long for the woman to make contact. She introduced herself as being from Arrowhead, then handed the microphone to Norris.

  “This is Norris. I need to have a powwow with your Commander Hartford. It’s urgent.”

  It took longer than a few minutes, during which Keo found a seat and rested for a bit.

  Norris made a face at him. “Tired?”

  “Bushed,” Keo said. “I’ve had a long few months.”

  “I bet. Want to get some shut-eye while we wait?”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. I’ll make up for it when this job is done.”

  “Horatio,” a familiar voice said through the radio. It was Danny. Or Commander Hartford, as Norris and the rest of the world knew him.

  “I got one of your man here, Hartford,” Norris said into the mic.

  Danny didn’t answer right away.

  Then, after about ten seconds of silence, “Who?”

  “Chang,” Norris said, looking over at Keo.

  Another long silence.

  This time, it lasted almost twenty seconds.

  He’s not alone, Keo thought.

  Then: Lara’s with him.

  “This has to be confidential, Horatio,” Danny finally said through the radio.

  Norris turned to the three others in the comm room with him and nodded. “Give us the room, folks.”

  The two women and man left, leaving just Keo and Norris. Keo walked over and made sure the door was locked, just in case. He already knew what Danny was going to tell Norris, and it wasn’t something anyone else needed to know.

  “All right,” Norris said into the mic. “We have an empty room.”

  “Chang’s there?” Danny asked.

  “He’s here.”

  “Let me speak to him.”

  Norris held the mic to Keo. “It’s for you.”

  Keo took it and pressed the transmit lever. “Danny.”

  “How many?” Danny said. There was no hi or acknowledgement, just that simple question. Danny was asking for the code word that only Keo was supposed to know.

  “100 deep,” Keo said.

  Norris gave him a puzzled look, but didn’t say anything.

  Then, before Danny could respond, “He knows who I am, Danny. Horatio and me go way back.”

  “Seriously?” Danny said.

  “Yeah. Small world, I guess.”

  “No shit.”

  Keo passed the mic back to Norris.

  The older man took the microphone. “Why did you send Keo to Shaker Town?”

  “Keo, tell him,” Danny said.

  “There are rumors that they’re developing a new kind of weapon,” Keo said. “Something that could alter the balance of power in the region.”

  “What kind of weapon?” Norris said.

  “That’s why I was there. To find out the answer to that question.”

  Norris narrowed his eyes at Keo, maybe trying to figure out if Keo was telling him everything.

  “We don’t know,” Keo said. “Nobody knows. Again, that’s why I was there. Why I spent two months just getting established.”

  “How sure is Black Tide about the existence of this weapon?”

  “That’s…complicated.”

  “How?”

  “The intel is from one source that’s been in Shaker Town for close to half a year.”

  “Just one source?” Norris said. He hadn’t bothered to try to disguise his doubt.

  “Again, that’s why I was there, Norris. To confirm or deny the intel.”

  “So have you? Confirmed or denied this supposed weapon’s existence?”

  Keo shook his head. “Not yet.”

  He briefly considered telling Norris about Roy and the entire fiasco involving his access key, but decided it was a moot point.

  He said instead, “Real or not, Black Tide had to make sure. Shaker Town was already dangerous. If they really have developed something that could challenge Black Tide, they’ll be able to do whatever the hell they want around here. And I think you remember what they were doing before Black Tide got involved.”

  Norris’s face turned grim. “I remember, kid. I buried a lot of people’s sons and daughters because of Shaker Town.”

  “So you know how vital this mission is. Why we need to know.”

  Before Norris could respond, the radio he had clipped to his hip squawked. “Horatio, come in.” It was Lindsey, the woman who had led Keo to Norris.

  Norris unclipped the two-way. “I need more details,” he said to Keo.

  “I’ll tell you what I can,” Keo said, but thought, Just not everything.

  Norris pressed the transmit lever on the radio and said into it, “Horatio here.”

  “We got them, sir,” Lindsey said.

  Norris mouthed Shakers at Keo, before answering the radio, “Alive?”

  “A little bruised and dirty, but still alive for now,” Lindsey said.

  “Bring them back to town. We have some questions for them.”

  “Understood.”

  Norris put the radio away, while Keo thought about Harvey and Fridge looking “a little bruised and dirty.” He imagined a little bloody and maybe more than a few scars, too, after what had happened last night and this morning.

  Keo stood up. “Let me do it.”

  “Do what?” Norris asked.

  “Talk to them.”

  “Why?”

  “I know them better than you do.”

  “Barely, according to you.”

  “Still better than you do. Besides, I have experience with this.”

  “Experience with what? Interrogations?”

  Keo shrugged. “Sort of.”

  Sixteen

  Harvey probably wished he were back in Shaker Town right about now. The big man was covered from head to toe in mud, and was sporting enough bruises on his face (and, likely, the parts of his body hidden underneath his clothes as well) to convince Keo that he had put up a fight during his capture. The Shaker leader wouldn’t have gone down easily, and the fact that he’d been captured at all was a shocker. Harvey had the makings of a go down guns blazing-type of fellow.

  Fridge, on the other hand, looked as if he just wanted to pee himself. And maybe he’d already done that—more than once—while he was led back to Arrowhead by its hunters.

  And hunters were exactly the kind of people Arrowhead had at their disposal. Men like Lon and Don, whose real names Keo s
till didn’t know. Even Mick and Pick, as young and experienced as they’d been, had seemed very at home in the woods. There was a reason the town had remained independent for so long even as The Deacon and his Shaker Town soldiers dominated their other Georgian neighbors.

  The holding cell was in a nondescript building about 50 meters or so walking distance from the comm station, and it didn’t look as if it’d gotten a lot of use in the past. It was in there that the Shakers sat and waited. Guards stood watch inside, but Lindsey was already inside the holding room, waiting for Keo and Norris.

  “Sir,” Lindsey said, nodding at Norris. She hadn’t bothered to acknowledge Keo, though he thought she’d tossed something along the lines of, What are you still doing here? in his direction when she saw him walking in beside Norris.

  “How are they?” Norris asked.

  “Alive,” Lindsey said.

  “You look hungry. Did you have lunch yet?”

  Lindsey looked down at her watch. “Still too early, sir.”

  “Go grab a bite anyway.”

  Lindsey hesitated.

  “Go on,” Norris said.

  The woman nodded, getting the hint. “Yes, sir. Feeling a little snacky at the moment.”

  She walked past them and kept going. Keo glanced after her, and caught her doing the same. When their eyes locked, she quickly looked away and hurried out of the room.

  “She’s your second-in-command?” Keo asked Norris.

  “As close as I have to one,” the older man said.

  Norris led him down the hallway toward the back. There were five cells, but only one, at the very end, was currently occupied.

  Keo stopped next to Norris and looked in at Harvey and Fridge.

  The two men sat on the floor—there was no bench—with their backs against the wall. Harvey narrowed his eyes at Keo—and just Keo—while Fridge pretended he was somewhere else. There were no windows in any of the cells, but there was still plenty of natural light to see with.

  “You,” Harvey said. If stares could kill, Keo would probably be dead by now. Or suffering a very, very slow death.

  “Me,” Keo said.

  “I knew you were one of them.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Why doesn’t anyone believe me when I tell the truth?”

  “I’m going to kill you,” Harvey said.

  “You’re not going to do anything,” Norris said.

  The Arrowhead leader’s voice seemed to almost boom, which surprised Keo. Was it the hollowness of the hallway? Or was Norris doing something with his voice? Or maybe, just maybe, the Norris that Keo knew had been replaced by this man. Still Norris, but a bigger-than-life version of him.

  “But you will tell me why you were here last night,” Norris continued.

  “Is that right?” Harvey said. He spat a glob of blood onto the hard concrete in front of him. “You might as well kill me and get it over with.”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Norris said. “But I will make you wish you were dead.”

  “You think you can?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “So do it, then. Let’s see what you got, old man.”

  Norris grinned, and Keo thought, Hunh. That’s new.

  The older man turned to Keo and nodded before walking back down the hallway. Keo went with him.

  Norris didn’t say anything until they’d left the hallway behind and closed the door. There were two guards standing a few meters away, but they kept their distance to give Keo and Norris privacy.

  “What do you think?” Norris asked. “Will he talk?”

  “Yes,” Keo said. “If you ask the right questions, in the right way.”

  “‘The right way?’ What does that mean?”

  Keo stared at him. Really, really stared at him.

  “How far are you willing to go to make him talk?” he asked Norris.

  Norris didn’t answer immediately.

  “How far,” Keo pressed.

  “Whatever it takes,” Norris finally said.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Norris. Are you sure about that?”

  Norris didn’t answer that question quite as readily.

  He’s still an ex-cop, Keo thought, still staring at his friend. Whatever he’s done, however much he’s grown as a leader of men, Norris is still a cop.

  “You can’t do this,” Keo said.

  “Why not?” Norris said. He looked almost offended.

  “You’re you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Horatio. The guy who saved Arrowhead.”

  Norris chuckled. “Is that who I am?”

  “Isn’t it?”

  The older man shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I guess that’s for history to decide.”

  “It’s already decided. You’re you, and I’m me.”

  Norris shook his head. “I still don’t know what that means.”

  “It means Danny asked me to do this for a reason,” Keo said. He looked back at the door into the holding area. “I need a few minutes alone with Harvey.”

  “What else?” Norris asked without missing a beat.

  “And a hammer.”

  Lindsey was the one who brought the hammer over, and two of Norris’s men went back to the cell and removed Fridge. The young Shaker had his head down as he was led out, still pretending he was somewhere else. The fact that he was mostly unhurt—not counting his muddy appearance—was proof that he hadn’t fought when captured, unlike Harvey.

  Keo would have gone to work on Fridge if he thought the man knew anything worth interrogating. But he didn’t, because Fridge didn’t.

  So he waited for the others to leave the hallway. Lindsey was the last to go. She looked back at Keo when she reached the door.

  “Don’t come in until I come out,” he said.

  She nodded and left, closing the door after her.

  Keo turned around and looked through the open cell door at Harvey. The big man sat on the floor with his back against the wall, in exactly the same spot where Keo had last seen him. The Shaker matched Keo stare for stare. If he was the least bit alarmed by Fridge’s removal, or the hammer in Keo’s hand, the man didn’t show it.

  He walked inside. “It’s Keo, by the way.”

  “What?” Harvey said.

  “My name. My real name. It’s Keo. Rhymes with mayo.”

  “Who gives a shit.”

  Keo smirked. “Just in case you were wondering.”

  “I’m not like you, always wondering. I couldn’t give two fucks about your real name, dead man.”

  “‘Dead man?’”

  “That’s what you’re going to be when you go back to Shaker Town.”

  Keo closed the cell door. He didn’t lock it because he didn’t have the key. He wasn’t even sure why he had closed it. It seemed like the thing to do. Not that Harvey could have gone anywhere even if he were to make it out into the hallway. Norris had plenty of men with guns waiting on the other side.

  He turned back to Harvey. “You’re right. I am going back to Shaker Town. Can’t help it. It’s why I’m here. Well, not here, here, if you know what I mean.”

  “You talk too much,” Harvey said.

  “I’ve been told that. Lots.”

  “They’re all right.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Everyone’s a critic.” Keo flexed his fingers around the hammer. “What’s The Deacon got cooking in that hotel of his?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Harvey said.

  “You’re one of his command staff. Who else would know more than you?”

  “Ask The Deacon.”

  “I will, when I see him. Right now, I’m asking you.”

  “And I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Of course you do.”

  “Nah. You’re speaking Greek, buddy.”

  Keo smiled. “Reminds me of this Greek girl I met once. In Paris, ironically e
nough. Pretty girl. Tried to stab me with a fork.”

  “Too bad she didn’t finish the job.”

  “For her, yeah. Not so much me.”

  Harvey grunted. “Is this supposed to intimidate me, dead man?”

  Keo shook his head. “No.”

  “So what’s the point?”

  “I was just being friendly.”

  Keo stopped about three feet in front of Harvey and went into a crouch, letting the hammer dangle over his right knee. It was a nice 16-ounce fiberglass claw hammer with a bright yellow non-slip rubber handle. The head was smooth solid steel, and the whole thing weighed just a shade above one and a half pounds. It’d seen plenty of use and there were scratches everywhere, and the color had dulled somewhat.

  Harvey’s eyes were drawn to the tool in Keo’s hand. The big man was clearly trying to resist it, and he probably didn’t think Keo had noticed. Except Keo had, because he’d been waiting for it.

  Keo tightened his fingers around the hammer’s rubber handle. So hard that it made a slight—very slight, but audible—squeaking noise.

  “Tell me about the weapon,” Keo said.

  “What weapon?” Harvey said.

  “The one The Deacon is making inside that hotel. Tell me everything you know about it. Details. Locations. Everything.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “I don’t give a fuck—” Harvey started, when Keo lunged forward and swung the hammer.

  Harvey moved quickly—way faster than Keo had expected, for a man of his size—and lifted his left hand to ward off the attack.

  He succeeded. Somewhat.

  Instead of Harvey’s chin, which he’d been aiming for, Keo caught Harvey’s rising left hand. The steel head of the hammer cracked against the back of Harvey’s palm, and the big man screamed as he fell sideways.

  Keo stood up and hovered over him.

  Harvey lay crumpled on the floor, looking up. The defiance was still there on his face and burning in his eyes, but it’d lessened noticeably. He clung to his left hand with his right, as if he couldn’t believe Keo had actually struck him.

  “Tell me about The Deacon’s weapon,” Keo said. “Tell me everything you know.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Harvey shouted.