back to the farmhouse early in the morning. Vance was awake with gun in hand and a serious expression on her face. Julie was asleep on a couch in the back room of the first floor.
Vance had seen the car pull up. “Where’d you get it?” she asked when he came into the house.
He held up the pieces of paper. “Same place I got these.”
As they stood in the doorway gazing at the sleeping Julie curled up like a cat on the couch, Vance said, “She didn’t want to go upstairs. I don’t think she wanted to be that far away from me.”
He walked into the kitchen. Vance followed.
They sat, looked over the names and current addresses.
“Three individuals. Two guys and one woman,” said Vance. “How do you want to do this? Split up again?”
“Don’t think so. They’ve been warned by Julie’s comments. They probably know what we’re going to do.”
“So they’ll anticipate we’ll go after these folks and they’ll be waiting?”
“Maybe something a little more efficient.”
“Like what?”
“Like maybe they’ll make all three disappear.”
“You mean kill them?”
“If they kill two, then they’ve done our work for us. They left the one who really matters. If they make all three go away, we’re in the same boat as before.”
Vance set her gun on the table and rubbed her eyes.
“You need to get some sleep,” said Robie.
“Look who’s talking,” she shot back.
“I’ll take the first watch. You can catch a few hours.”
“It’ll be eight a.m. You won’t go to sleep then.”
“I actually feel pretty rested.”
She squeezed his arm.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“Just checking to see if you’re actually human. Despite your ability to bleed.”
He said, “So we go after these people one by one, knowing that they’ll be waiting.”
Vance added, “So they really have the upper hand. Like you said, they could just make them disappear.”
“They could, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“If they need one of them for some reason to do something.”
“Like what?”
“If I knew that I wouldn’t be sitting here trying to figure it out.”
“What do we do with Julie? We can’t leave her here. And it would be really stupid to take her on something like this.”
“It might be stupid, but I’m going anyway.”
They glanced over to see Julie standing in the doorway looking at them with sleepy eyes that still managed, at their edges, to look angry and even betrayed.
Vance said, “Boy, you’re really good at eavesdropping.”
Julie retorted, “It’s the only way I find out anything with you two.”
Robie said, “It’s dangerous.”
“What else is new?” Julie replied in an even tone. She sat at the table. “I’ve been shot at, nearly blown up, seen my parents killed. Chased on foot, chased by car. So really, your ‘dangerous’ argument falls pretty flat.”
Vance glanced at Robie and a smile tugged at her lips. “At certain levels her logic is awfully compelling.”
“So the logic is, since you’ve nearly been killed a few times, the smart thing is to put you in another situation where you’ll probably get killed?” said Robie.
“Don’t feel you’re responsible for me, Will, because you’re not,” replied Julie. She tucked her hair behind her ears and glared at him.
Vance’s smile faded. “Okay, you two, the last thing we need is to turn on each other.”
Robie said, “I am responsible for you. I’ve been responsible for you ever since we walked off that bus.”
“Your choice, not mine. I’m a victim of circumstance.”
“But you’d still be a victim.”
“I want to find out why my parents were murdered. That’s all. Anything more than that I don’t care.” She looked at Vance and then at Robie. “So don’t feel you have to care about what happens to me. Because you don’t.”
“We’re just trying to help you, Julie,” exclaimed Vance.
“I’m not your little do-gooder project, okay? Foster kid off the street you want to make all well and good. Forget it. That’s not what this is about.”
“You’re stuck with us, Julie, whether you want to be or not. And if it weren’t for us you’d be dead,” added Robie.
“I feel like I’m already dead.”
“I can understand that. But feeling dead and actually being dead are two totally different things.”
“Why should I trust anybody?” she retorted.
“I think we’ve earned your trust,” Robie snapped.
“Well, think again,” Julie shot back.
She stood and left the room.
Robie said to Vance, “Can you believe that crap?”
Vance stared across the table at him. “She’s just a kid, Robie. She’s lost her parents and she’s scared.”
Robie immediately calmed and looked guilty. “I know.”