Road to Babylon (Book 9): The Ranch

by Sisavath, Sam

  “Isn’t that the whole point of setting up a clinic for the locals?”

  “Yeah, but like I said, we don’t just hand those out to anyone who comes through those doors.”

  “So let me talk to your commander,” Keo had insisted.

  Lawrence had shaken his head. “She’s busy. But even if she wasn’t, she’d tell you the same thing: We don’t give out those drugs without a reason.”

  “I already told you a reason: My woman’s pregnant and has a sepsis infection. She needs everything on that list.”

  “And how does she know all this?”

  “She’s a doctor,” Keo had said. That wasn’t entirely true, but it was close enough.

  “So she self-diagnosed?”

  “That’s right.”

  Lawrence had shaken his head again. “I still can’t give them to you.”

  “Who’s your commander? Maybe I know her.”

  “How would you know her? Who are you, anyway?”

  “John Chow,” Keo said, repeating the fake name he’d given Lawrence when he first entered the clinic. “I used to be Black Tide.”

  “Why didn’t you say that before?”

  “I thought I didn’t have to.”

  It took Lawrence an hour to get in touch with his CO. The blonde who finally showed up was in her late thirties—tall, with green eyes, and Keo didn’t recognize her. But then, there were hundreds of people at Black Tide when he was around and thousands more after he left. And most of his contacts were with the field operatives, not the medical staff.

  “You asked for me?” the woman said. MANSFIELD was on her name tag.

  “John Chow,” Keo said, shaking her hand. “I need to fill this list,” he added, showing her the list Lara had made for him.

  Mansfield scanned the sheet of paper. “What does she have?”

  “She’s pregnant and has a sepsis infection. Blood poisoning.”

  “I know what sepsis is,” Mansfield said. She handed the list back to him. “You can have the antibiotics, but not the rest of the list without me diagnosing the patient first.”

  “Like I already told Lawrence. My woman’s a doctor. She already self-diagnosed.”

  “Not good enough. I need to see her in person.”

  “That’s going to be a little hard to do. She’s five days’ ride from here.”

  “Then you should have brought her with you.”

  “Which part of ‘she’s pregnant’ don’t you understand, Captain?”

  Mansfield was unmoved. She put her hands on her hips. “Those drugs aren’t candy. I need her here in person.”

  Keo sighed. He was worried this might happen. “What about one of your helicopters?”

  “What about them?” Mansfield said.

  “What are the chances I can borrow one of them to take you to her?”

  The captain shook her head. “Sorry, but that’s out of the question. You need to bring her here in person. Until then, I can only give you the antibiotics.”

  Goddammit, Keo had thought.

  He had only two options left. The first was to take what he needed by force, but that would have introduced other problems. Namely, getting on the bad side of the Black Tiders at Galveston. That wasn’t really something he saw himself doing, or wanted. Not that he thought Mansfield or Lawrence could stop him, but they weren’t the only ones on the island.

  The other option didn’t involve violence, but it did mean telling the truth.

  Mansfield must have seen the conflict on his face, but she read it as something else. Her voice softened a bit when she added, “You can bring your wife in here anytime. In fact, that’s probably a better option, don’t you think? Have you thought about who will deliver the baby when the time comes?”

  Keo hadn’t—and as far as he knew, neither had Lara—but that wasn’t his concern right now.

  He glanced back at the door behind them to make sure it was closed. There were other civilians in the clinic outside, but Lawrence and two other Black Tiders were taking care of them.

  Keo turned back to Mansfield. “How long have you been with Black Tide?”

  Mansfield was rifling through folders stacked high on her desk when she looked back up at him. “Why?”

  “Because you don’t know who I am, do you?”

  The captain narrowed her eyes at him. “Should I?”

  “Yeah, you should.”

  “I don’t recall any John Chow.”

  “That’s not my real name.”

  “So you gave Lawrence a fake name?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Wanna tell me why?”

  “My real name’s Keo. You may have heard of me. I was with Black Tide in the early days. Hell, I was at The Battle of Houston.” He cocked his head slightly, trying to see if Mansfield recognized the name. “Any of this ring a bell?”

  Mansfield stared at him for a while without saying a word.

  “Anything?” Keo asked.

  “I thought you looked familiar the first time I saw you,” Mansfield said. “The fake name threw me off.”

  “You know who I am?”

  The doctor nodded. “We never actually met, but I saw you around the island. I mean, the other island. Black Tide.”

  “You were there?”

  “In the early days. I was one of Commander Tilson’s trainees. You came to see her once or twice while I was around, but we never formally met.”

  “Commander Tilson?” Keo said. “I don’t know who that is.”

  “Zoe?”

  “Ah.”

  “You didn’t know her last name was Tilson?”

  “No. But then, I didn’t even know Danny’s last name was Hartford until just recently. Surnames weren’t exactly a high priority back then.”

  “No, they weren’t,” Mansfield said. She came out from behind her desk and sat down on the edge. She was still staring at him intently, but those green eyes of hers were a lot friendlier now. “Jesus, I can’t believe you’re still alive. I thought you were dead. We all did.”

  Keo wasn’t too surprised to hear that. The last time he’d spoken to anyone at Black Tide was with Danny, almost a year and a half ago now. He hadn’t really been keeping up with what Black Tide was up to these days, and he assumed they hadn’t with him, either. Not that they’d know where to find him, which was exactly how he—and Lara—wanted it.

  “I’m alive, and I need everything on this list,” Keo said, handing the piece of paper back to Mansfield.

  She took it back. “You got married?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Of course not. Who gets married anymore?” Mansfield took another look at the list before glancing back up at him. “How soon do you need this?”

  “ASAP would be nice.”

  “Give me ten minutes,” Mansfield said as she headed to the door.

  “Mansfield,” Keo said. Then, when the doctor looked back at him, “Can we keep this to ourselves? You said everyone thought I was dead. If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “If it were anyone else, I’d tell you to go jump in the Gulf.” She shrugged. “But what the hell. You’re Keo. The Keo.”

  Keo grinned. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “The stories I’ve heard about you…” Mansfield shook her head and chuckled. “Tell me something: Is it hard to walk around with balls that big?”

  As far as Keo knew, Mansfield kept her word because no one had showed up at the ranch in the almost two months since he left Galveston. Of course, someone could still show up later, but he trusted that the captain hadn’t broken her promise. Even so, Keo kept expecting to see Black Tide helicopters in the sky, or a Jeep or two on the ground heading toward the ranch every morning.

  None of those things ever happened, and he was glad. Lara and he had made a concerted effort to disengage themselves from what was happening out there, and the last thing they wanted was to be pulled back in. They had a good life going, even if it was being threat
ened at the moment by a certain blue-eyed bastard from Keo’s past.

  Gotta learn to keep the past buried, pal. Gotta learn that little trick one of these days.

  Keo thought about all that as he and Bunker rode out of the ruins of Longmire and continued through the valley alongside the flat highway. They hadn’t said very much since they left the town behind. Keo didn’t think there was much left to say, and apparently Bunker agreed. The rancher was rarely at a loss for words; maybe he wasn’t, now. More likely, Bunker was trying to mentally prepare for the nights to come.

  You’re out there, aren’t you, you fucker? So what’s the game this time?

  The thought of “playing” its game made him shiver slightly. He hadn’t liked it back in Paxton, and he didn’t like the idea of doing it again now. Especially not with so much more at stake. At least it was just his life on the line the first time; now, it was Lara’s, too.

  …and the baby’s.

  Fuck you, asshole. You come after my family, and I’m going to splatter your brains to the wall. That’s all it’s going to take. A bullet to the head, to end you once and for all.

  One bullet to the head…

  They were making good pace back to the ranch when Bunker, riding slightly ahead of Keo, pulled up on Lucille.

  Keo did likewise. “What?”

  “You hear that?” Bunker asked.

  Instead of answering, Keo listened.

  Really, really listened.

  He heard cold winds howling between the hills in front of them. More, coming from the still-standing walls of Longmire in the background. But there was nothing out there that stood out.

  He looked over at Bunker. “What did you hear?”

  “Hoofbeats,” Bunker said before he turned Lucille and broke off from the road and toward one of the nearby hills.

  Keo followed. He hadn’t heard what Bunker had, but the guy did have much better hearing than him. Keo didn’t dismiss the possibility he wasn’t fully 100 percent after his last encounter with Blue Eyes. His bones had mended and his wounds had healed, but he also hadn’t had to fight either in those times, so he wasn’t completely sure of himself. Yet, anyway.

  The rancher reached the crest of the small hill up ahead and stopped. He peered down the other side, tipping his Stetson to keep the sunlight out of his eyes. Keo didn’t have a hat, so he had to use his hand to shield his face from the brightness as he reached Bunker.

  He hadn’t heard it earlier, but he could see it now: A lone brown horse pulling a wagon behind it up a winding dirt road. He could just make out a single figure sitting in the front seat, guiding the horse by the reins. It was a woman, but she was still too far away for him to make out what she looked like.

  “If she’s heading for Longmire, she’s going in the wrong direction,” Bunker said.

  Keo nodded. He’d noticed the same thing: If it stayed on the path, the wagon would bypass Longmire completely. The rider wouldn’t even see the town’s remains with the hills blocking her view of the city.

  As the wagon drew closer, Keo could just make out the clop-clop-clop of the lone horse. How Bunker had even heard it earlier, Keo couldn’t figure out. Maybe the rancher really did have much better hearing than him. Bunker also had a pair of binoculars, which he took out of his saddlebags now and looked through.

  Keo sat patiently in his saddle, waiting. The wagon was at least half a mile away, and if the rider could make out Keo and Bunker on top of the hill watching her, she hadn’t reacted. With the morning sunlight, maybe she couldn’t see very well.

  “Well?” Keo said when Bunker finally lowered his field glasses.

  “One woman, with something in the back,” Bunker said.

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “Looked like bundles.”

  “Bundles of what?”

  “Bundles of something.”

  “Well, that clears it up.”

  “She saw us, though.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yup. Stared right back at me.” Then, almost absently, “She’s not a bad-looking gal.”

  “You can tell that from all the way over here?”

  “I have good eyes, amigo.”

  Good ears, too, apparently, Keo thought.

  Despite Bunker’s confirmation that the driver had seen them, the wagon remained pointed in their direction and didn’t stop or try to veer away in order to avoid them. If the woman kept going straight, there was a good chance she’d stumble across the ranch. Even if she didn’t know the exact location of Bunker’s property, she would be able to glimpse the solar collector cells on the rooftops of the buildings from a distance and might decide to investigate.

  Unless she already knew where to find the ranch…

  “You think she knows?” Keo asked.

  “She’s definitely not looking for Longmire,” Bunker said.

  “Have you seen her before?”

  “She doesn’t look familiar.”

  “I think she knows about the ranch.”

  “Is that another hunch?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, only one way to find out…”

  Bunker nudged Lucille, and the big Paint began moving down the hill. Keo followed, Annabelle easily maneuvering the slanted ground as the two of them went on an intercept course with the approaching wagon.

  As they descended, Keo reached down and slid the slung MP5 from behind his back to his side, within easier reach. He still had the longer AR in a sheath alongside the big Morgan, but Keo wouldn’t need it as long as he had the submachine gun. But it was nice to have a backup piece in case he needed one. The last time he didn’t have that option was back in Paxton, and he could have really, really used one.

  “It could be a trap,” Keo said.

  “That’s what the cool-looking guns are for,” Bunker said. “Besides, what are you afraid of? It’s just one woman on a wagon by her little lonesome.”

  “Yeah, just one woman on a wagon, in a morning when we just found Longmire razed to the ground.”

  “You got a point,” Bunker said as he began to slow down a bit.

  Keo did likewise with Annabelle. He scanned the area, looking for signs of a potential ambush. He hadn’t seen anything from the top of the hill, and didn’t, now, at the bottom of it. If there were shooters out there waiting for them to show themselves, they would have taken their shots earlier, wouldn’t they? Unless, of course, this was all just an elaborate way to draw them closer to the wagon, but that seemed unlikely.

  The wagon didn’t stop until it was within five or so yards from where Keo and Bunker sat on their horses, waiting for it.

  “Howdy,” Bunker said.

  The woman didn’t answer, but she also didn’t move from her seat or reach for anything that might have been a weapon. Her face was slightly dark, and there was dry blood on her clothes. She was in her late twenties, and Asian. Vietnamese, he thought, but maybe Cambodian. She definitely had her roots in Southeast Asia, he could tell that much with certainty. Most importantly, though, Keo recognized the thousand-yard stare in her eyes. He’d seen it too many times in too many battlefields around the world.

  When she didn’t answer him, Bunker continued. “Nice day for a wagon ride. Where you headed, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  She may or may not have minded. It was impossible to read that flat expression on her face as she scrutinized Bunker back, then did the same to Keo. She stared at their faces wordlessly, as if she hadn’t heard a thing Bunker had said.

  “You okay, miss?” Keo asked.

  He didn’t get any response either.

  “Hey, lady,” Bunker said. Then, when she still didn’t answer, he leaned slightly forward in his saddle and snapped his fingers to draw her attention. “Hey, laaaaaady. You there? Can you hear me now?”

  If she was insulted by Bunker’s attempts, she didn’t show it. Instead, she glanced between them one more time before finally asking, “Which one of you is Keo?”

  What the fuck
? Keo thought.

  “She speaks!” Bunker said. Then, jerking a thumb in Keo’s direction, “He’s the one with all the ugly scars.”

  “How do you know my name?” Keo asked. He had, without realizing it, moved his right hand closer toward the slung submachine gun.

  The woman put the reins down and reached into her jacket pocket.

  “Whoa, whoa, watch the hands,” Bunker said, reaching for his holstered sidearm while holding up one hand to stop her. He stopped just short of pulling the pistol.

  The woman ignored him and took something out of her pocket, before tossing that same something to Keo.

  He caught it.

  “What the hell’s that?” Bunker asked.

  Keo didn’t answer him. He was too busy looking down at the squishy plastic object in his palm.

  It was a baby pacifier, and there were small red speckles on the nipple that may or may not have been blood.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Bunker said.

  Keo looked up at the woman. “What is this? Why did you give me this? How do you even know my name?”

  The woman met his gaze with that same thousand-yard stare. If anything, the pain in her eyes had intensified. “It told me to give it to you. It said you’d understand.”

  “‘It?’” Bunker asked. “‘It’ who?”

  The woman didn’t answer. Her eyes, soft brown, remained focused on Keo, and vice versa.

  “What’s she talking about?” Bunker asked. “Hey, Keo, you still there?”

  He was, but Keo wasn’t listening to Bunker. He was too busy remembering:

  “I’m going to take everything from you,” the creature had said to him outside of Paxton, just as their little “game” was reaching its apex. “Everything, and everyone. Including those at the ranch. Yes, I know about the ranch, meat. I know all about the ranch…”

  It had known about the ranch then. It had known about Lara.

  And now, it was telling Keo through the pacifier that it knew about the baby growing inside of her, too.

  Sonofabitch…

  “What is going on here?” Bunker was asking. He sounded more than a little frustrated. “Anyone wanna fill me in? Pretty please? With cherry on top?”

  “I have to get back to the ranch,” Keo said, even as he turned Annabelle around.