The Horns of Avalon (Purge of Babylon, Book 8)

by Sam Sisavath

  Man, I’m so confused right now.

  “Erin!” Hart said—he was almost shouting now for some reason. “Don’t do it! Riley wouldn’t want you to do this!”

  “Riley?” Erin said, and though Keo couldn’t see her face because he was behind her, he could hear the confusion in her voice. “Is he dead?”

  “No,” Hart said. “But he’s been shot.”

  “Shot? By who?”

  “It’s a long story,” Hart began to say, when Keo thought, Fuck me, because he could see Erin’s fingers tightening around the gun and saw the slight hitch in her elbow as she began to draw the weapon.

  He slammed into her from behind, catching her almost in the small of her back with his shoulder, and knocked her off her knees and threw her back onto the deck. Her hands had abandoned the gun in order to stop her fall and Keo spilled on top of her, hearing her scream as his weight drove her chest-first into the steel floor.

  He felt like laughing—wasn’t this what had just happened to him?

  One good turn deserves another, pal!

  He rolled off Erin’s back and scrambled to his knees but didn’t get any farther because the muzzle of a rifle was pointing right in his face from just a foot away. Worse than that, the eye looking at him from behind the iron sight of the weapon was blinking so rapidly Keo was afraid it might explode at any second.

  Keo stared back at the man and said, stretching the words out as far as they would go, “Don’t…pull…that…trigger.”

  The man kept blinking and a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead despite the cold wind. But he didn’t shoot.

  “Jesus Christ,” Hart said from behind him. When Keo looked over his shoulder at the older man, he said, “You almost got yourself killed, you dumb bastard.”

  “Yeah, well, it was either that or let her draw,” Keo said.

  Hart turned to Erin as two of his men pulled her up from the deck. Her face was flushed red and she blew hair out of her face while they twisted her arms behind her back and zip-tied them.

  She looked away from Hart and at Keo and actually snarled at him. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

  “Hey, I saved your life,” Keo said.

  “What?”

  “I saved your life.”

  “You were saving your own hide!”

  “You say tomato, I say potato. Same difference.”

  “I should have let Troy throw you overboard like he wanted to.”

  Keo glanced back at Troy’s lifeless corpse.

  Jesus, what a shot.

  He turned back to Erin. “Troy and I were best friends; he’d never do that. But let’s not get bogged down with the past, huh? We’re both alive, and that’s all that counts.”

  “Who the hell are you, anyway?” Hart said, staring at Keo.

  “Keo.”

  “Kay?”

  “Keo.”

  “What, like the car?”

  Keo grinned. “I’ve been called worse.”

  20

  Lara

  “Small world,” Keo said when he saw her walking through the door.

  “Getting smaller all the time,” she said. “What happened to your face?”

  “Ran into a tree.”

  “Why didn’t you go around it?”

  “It was a very big tree.”

  “I’d ask if you’ve ever been in a jail cell before, but I think I already know the answer.”

  He grinned at her from the back of the Ocean Star’s brig. Except for the still-fresh bruising around his nose and forehead, he didn’t look any worse than the last time she had seen him on the beach outside of Sunport. She was surprised, though, that the woman sitting on the bench next to him wasn’t Jordan. There were four other men inside the cell with Keo and the woman, but none of them looked familiar, either.

  She looked back at Keo. “Wanna tell me what you’re doing here? Besides causing trouble, I mean?”

  Keo got up and walked the short distance over, then leaned against the metal bars in front of her. “You know me. Always popping up where you least expect me.”

  “Where’s—”

  He shook his head before she could say Jordan’s name.

  “Bad?” she finished instead.

  The grim look on his face was the only answer she needed. Before she could ask any other stupid questions, he said, “I know what I’m doing here—well, sort of—but what are you doing here? I was told this was enemy territory, but here you are, not even in shackles.”

  “Long story,” she said.

  “Ah, one of those.”

  “When is it never one of those?” She glanced back at one of Riley’s men standing guard at the door behind her. “He’s a friend.”

  The man took out a key and walked over. “Back,” he said to Mercer’s men. When they had all retreated to the back, the guard opened the cell door with one hand, the other resting on his holstered sidearm.

  Keo stepped outside and the man quickly slammed the door shut, locking it again.

  “Free at last, free at last,” Keo said. He looked back into the cell at the woman. “Sorry about Troy.”

  The woman glared at him but didn’t reply. Not that she had to. Those eyes pretty much said everything she was thinking.

  “Her name’s Erin, and she’s one of Mercer’s top guys,” Hart had said while briefing her on what had happened on the platform earlier. “She and Riley were there in the beginning with Mercer. Only Rhett and Benford have been with him longer.”

  “Is that why you were trying so hard to keep Peters from shooting her?” Lara had asked.

  “Riley and I know her from way back. There was a time when he actually considered bringing her with us, but she’d gone to Texas before he could make the offer.”

  Lara looked in at Erin now. Except for the glare she had shot in Keo’s direction, Lara couldn’t really read anything else of note on Erin’s face. She didn’t look angry, exactly, but she wasn’t fine with her current circumstance, either.

  “Riley knows her longer than anyone,” Hart had said. “He really thought she might have come with us if he’d gotten the chance to sell her on the idea.”

  Riley thought he knew Andy, too, and how did that turn out?

  The woman must have sensed her staring, because she looked away from Keo and over at her.

  They exchanged a long, silent look before Lara turned back to Keo. “Come on; let’s get you cleaned up.”

  “Are you saying I stink?” Keo asked.

  “Are you saying you don’t?”

  He sniffed himself, then shrugged. “Fair enough.”

  She led him to the door, then out into the corridor. Lights perched along the edges of the oil rig had turned on automatically at dusk and were now visible through the small windows along the walls.

  “How’s everyone on the tugboat doing?” Keo asked. He was rubbing his wrists as he walked beside her.

  “Complicated,” she said. “But we’re dealing with it. Wanna tell me what you were doing with Erin and the others?”

  “As soon as you tell me how you got so chummy with these guys. As far as I know, they’re both Mercer’s crew. Only…not, apparently.”

  She told him about Riley, about his attempt to hijack the Trident last night, then his plans to detach himself from Mercer’s war and, finally, their agreement.

  “He dead?” Keo asked when she was done.

  “He’s in sickbay with Zoe now. Hart’s also there. He wants to talk to you.”

  “You trust him?”

  “He’s in over his head, but he’s willing to listen. What happened earlier with Erin was my idea; he was just going along with it.”

  “No. I meant Riley. You trust him?”

  “He hasn’t lied to me yet.”

  “As far as you know.”

  She nodded. “As far as I know. But he hasn’t done anything to make me believe he can’t be trusted. In fact, he’s probably a little too trusting for my liking.”

  “The getting shot by
his own people thing.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “That’s gotta sting.” Then, “Where is the Trident, anyway? I didn’t see it when we were pulling in.”

  “It’s docked on the other side of the Ocean Star and out of view.”

  “Smart.”

  “We have our moments.”

  They walked in silence for a moment, before Keo said, “Should I even ask if the Ranger made it back yet?”

  She shook her head and sighed. “It’s complicated…”

  * * *

  “You wanna do what?” Hart asked.

  “Kill Mercer,” Keo said.

  “Why the hell would you want to do that?” Hart said. Lara couldn’t tell if he was against the idea or just confused by it.

  “It’s personal,” Keo said.

  Lara stood between the two men near the door, listening to them going back and forth inside the oil rig’s sickbay while watching Zoe check on Riley’s vitals across the room. Both Hart and Keo were talking in low voices—or, at least, they had started that way. If Zoe was bothered by the conversation as it grew in volume, she didn’t stop adjusting the IV drip connected to Riley’s arm to let it be known. Riley was heavily sedated and hadn’t woken since they brought him inside the room hours ago.

  “Was that what you were doing out there when you got caught?” Hart asked. “Sneaking around, trying to find Mercer?”

  “Something like that,” Keo said. “I didn’t know where he was or even what he looked like, so I had to take more chances than I would have liked.”

  “How was getting captured going to help you?”

  Keo shrugged. “It wasn’t my first choice, but it worked out. Erin was taking me to him for interrogation.”

  “Where?”

  “The Ranch.”

  “You know about that?”

  “It’s been a topic of multiple conversations I’ve had with your fellow Mercerians.”

  “‘Mercerians,’” Hart grunted. Lara couldn’t tell if he liked the word or found it insulting. Maybe a little of both. “Why didn’t they just shoot you on the spot?”

  “Only Erin can answer that,” Keo said. “She’s the only reason I’m still alive now.”

  “Hunh,” Hart said.

  “That mean something to you?”

  Hart glanced over at her, and Lara could tell he was replaying their last conversation about Erin and Riley. “Maybe,” Hart said.

  “Tell Keo what you told me,” Lara said.

  Hart nodded and repeated what he had told her about Riley and Erin, how Riley had almost recruited her, but she left for Texas first. Keo listened silently, processing the new information without interrupting.

  “The Ranch is an island called Black Tide,” Lara said when Hart was finished. “That’s where they were taking you.”

  “So that’s where Mercer will be,” Keo said. “Which leaves the obvious question: How do I get there?”

  “Reaching Black Tide isn’t the problem,” Hart said. “I can give you the coordinates, and you could get there by boat with enough fuel reserves.”

  “What’s the security like?”

  “That’s the good news…”

  “Good, I like good news.”

  “Right now, Black Tide is at its most vulnerable. You won’t find a better time to assault the place. With the war in full swing, there won’t be enough men left to watch every inch of the place, so you could easily sneak onto it at night.”

  “So I could just swim ashore with no one the wiser?”

  Hart shrugged. “Theoretically.”

  “I’m a very good swimmer.”

  “It’s true,” Lara said. “Keo is half dolphin.”

  “So about that boat and a map…” Keo said.

  “You have your pick of boats; we won’t be needing them anyway, thanks to the Trident,” Hart said. “You can fill it with as much gas and reserves as you need to reach the island. Getting back, well, that’s your problem, because we’re not going to be here when you come back. That’s assuming you make it out of there alive.”

  “You let me worry about that.”

  “Can I ask why?” Hart said, looking curiously at Keo.

  “Why what?”

  “Mercer. Why, and what do you hope to achieve by killing him?”

  “Some assholes just need killing,” Keo said. “Your Mister Mercer is one such asshole.”

  * * *

  “Jordan,” Lara said.

  Keo nodded and leaned against the railing at the top of the stairs, with the submarine door into the oil rig closed behind them.

  “He killed her?” Lara asked.

  “Not with his own hands, but he may as well have.”

  “This war of his…”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry, Keo. I know you two were close.” She paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “I really liked her, even though we only met for a short time.”

  “She was easy to like.”

  “When did it happen?”

  “After Sunport. We were on our way to T18.”

  “And Gillian?”

  “I don’t know. We—I never made it to her.”

  Keo went quiet and they spent the next few minutes staring silently at the sunless horizon, at the black-and-blue of the ocean sloshing under the full moon. Even the wind seemed to have settled down, and she didn’t have to zip her jacket all the way up unlike the last time she was out here. She focused on the Trident, anchored nearby with just enough of its lights turned on to give its position away.

  “What are you going to do after you kill Mercer?” she finally asked.

  “I don’t know,” Keo said. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

  I was afraid of that.

  “We could use another able body on the Trident,” she said.

  “You got Hart and the other guy.”

  “Riley hasn’t told me where I’m supposed to take them. If we don’t like it there, it wouldn’t make sense to stay. This alliance of ours might be very short-lived.”

  “Does Hart know the location?”

  “I think so, but he won’t tell me without Riley’s permission.”

  “Loyal to the end, huh?”

  “Loyalty’s a hard thing to find these days.”

  “And there’s the kind that convinces you dropping bombs on pregnant women is perfectly A-OK.”

  “I didn’t say it was always a good thing.”

  She glanced over at him. There was a single light bulb over the door behind her, and it cast a halo around them. She wished she were looking at the face of someone who expected to come back from his “mission” alive, but she knew better.

  “I could really use you back on the Trident with me, Keo,” she said.

  “My greatness precedes me,” he smiled, though it wasn’t nearly as convincing as his usual smiles.

  “It’s well deserved.”

  “I knew you secretly liked me.”

  “Don’t be an ass.”

  He chuckled. “Just sayin’.”

  “Come with us.”

  “You mean after I finish with Mercer.”

  She shook her head and turned around to look at him. “No. I don’t mean that at all.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Forget Mercer. Come back to the Trident with me instead.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I can’t.”

  “At least tell me you’re hoping to also stop this war by killing him.”

  “I could, but it’d be a lie.” He looked off at the darkness around the oil rig and gritted his teeth. “There’s nothing noble about this, Lara. There isn’t a grand plan. There’s just me and him.”

  “You just want to kill him, is that it?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s it.”

  “That’s it.”

  “Jesus, Keo.”

  “Yeah…”

  She turned away and leaned back against
the railing. “Danny’s probably dead,” she said quietly.

  “What?” Keo said, looking over at her for the first time since they stepped outside. “I thought you said he was just having a problem getting back. That’s a hell of a long way from ‘probably dead,’ Lara.”

  “Carly hasn’t stopped crying since he radioed in hours ago. She doesn’t think he’s going to make it.”

  “Jesus. What did he say?”

  “It wasn’t what he said; it’s what he didn’t say.”

  “What about the girl and her boyfriend?”

  “They’re with Danny. If he doesn’t make it, I don’t think they have much of a chance on their own.”

  Keo let out a loud, frustrated sigh and laid his forehead against the chipped railing for a moment before lifting it back up, and Lara thought, Goddammit, girl, you are one manipulative bitch, aren’t you?

  “You’re putting me in a tough spot,” he said.

  “I’m asking you to live.”

  “What makes you think I don’t want to live?”

  “Cut the crap, Keo. Don’t insult me by lying.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “Say yes to coming back with me and forgetting about Mercer.”

  “I can’t do that. Jordan’s dead because of him.”

  “I’m sorry about Jordan, but there are other people still alive who care for you. Like Carrie. She’s been waiting for you.”

  “You told her I was here?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Good. Keep it that way.”

  “Why don’t you want her to know?”

  “I won’t be staying long anyway. Plus, I’ve never been very good at good-byes.”

  “What about Bonnie?”

  “What about her?”

  “She likes you, too.”

  “I don’t blame her. I’m fucking handsome, and there’s not exactly a lot to choose from these days.”

  Lara couldn’t help herself and laughed softly.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, feigning hurt.

  “Nothing,” she said, and shook her head.

  “Besides, you’re a tough kid.”

  “I’m twenty-six going on forty-six.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You don’t look a day over thirty-six.”