has iron balls,” Bronco says and then crosses his arms. “But she wasn’t planning a revolt. Her children were starving, yet she was sitting around waiting for the Village’s leadership to fix things. If a woman like her wasn’t plotting, then who will rise up?”
Bronco lowers his arms. “Today, when I told Gunther the deal about the guns, he didn’t react. The man doesn’t own a poker face. He knows the Village is fucked. John Marks is willing for them all to die, and they’re willing to let it happen.”
“Why?” Rooster asks, scratching at his thick gray beard. “That woman was feisty. There are tough people in the Village. Why not take on that rich bitch Marks and end this thing?”
“Cults are built on the idea of submission to a higher purpose,” Conor says, and I notice Wyatt narrow his eyes at his cousin’s words. “They trust in the message, whatever it might be. The Village has always been about living by their own rules and viewing outsiders as the enemy. Even if we show up with food and offer to feed them if they’ll turn their backs on Marks, they won’t do it.”
“But you had that great gun idea,” Wyatt says loudly and nudges his buddy, Evan “Farts” Jones.
The rest of the men don’t smile at Wyatt’s shit. They’re aware of Bronco’s dark mood even if Wyatt can’t feel it.
Stretching out his long legs, Conor shrugs. “I hoped the Volkshalberd might be inspired to take matters in their own hands. It’s possible a few still might when things get worse. Better for them to rise against Marks than for us to massacre dozens of people and risk bringing state and federal law into Elko. Not to mention the press. But you do you, Wyatt.”
“Or we can do me,” Bronco grumbles. “And I’ve been thinking about what we’ve learned in the last forty-eight hours. Thanks to Anders’s hippie girlfriend, we now know the asshole behind all this trouble is John Marks. Understanding how that family works, Steph Marks must be involved too. Possibly, the druggie youngest brother too, but I’d heard rumors that he OD’d years ago.”
“Then, we kill Marks and his sister. Problem solved,” Wyatt announces.
“Hey, hotshot, have you ever asked your old man why we didn’t just pop the Marks family when we took over Elko decades ago?” Bronco growls at his nephew. “This was back before we went soft and kept your ass from murdering everyone. So why do you think we didn’t take those rich fucks out?”
Wyatt always has the same move. He starts trouble, pushes it as far as it’ll go, and then backtracks once shit gets dangerous for himself. Then he plays the victim as if everyone else is the asshole, and he’s just trying to help. I’ve seen him do this move since I first arrived here. He gets away with his bullshit since he’s the nephew of the top guy and his daddy helped found the Executioners. Anyone else would have been buried by now.
“Let me help you out, son,” Rooster says in his deep, twangy voice. “The Marks family are sneaky cowards. If they feel threatened, they’ll use an entire children’s cancer ward as a shield. When shit went south for the Marks family in Elko, they fucking vanished and left their allies paying the price.”
“And if we storm the Village, we might find they’re not even there,” Lowell says, eyeballing Wyatt. “We had no idea they were in Elko until Pixie ratted them out.”
“So, what’s the plan?” asks another founding member, Akron.
Bronco nods at his longtime friend. “We’ll hit up Pixie and Fairuza for info on the Village’s layout, who is close to Marks, where they keep their weapons. Some of that info might be fluid, but we’ll get an idea of what we face. After that, we attack.”
“The goal is as few deaths as possible,” Lowell adds before Wyatt can start trouble. “A bunch of dead kids won’t fly, even in Elko. That shit gets press attention.”
I scan the men’s faces and spot Conor. His heavy-lidded eyes tell me he’s working up an idea. Bronco sees the same thing, but they won’t brainstorm shit in front of the rest of the guys.
For years, I’ve followed Bronco around, acting as his personal bodyguard. He likes how I scare people just by standing still. I learned a lot while watching him and Lowell work. They always devise their plans in private and then share them with the group. The Executioners aren’t