The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,103

say, Zee having a gun is just the tip of the iceberg, but maybe we could start there,” I said.

“She hath arms, for these Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are ne to be trusted ne to be trifled with,” Gentry said.

“Wait. That guy was KKK?” I said.

“What guy?” Edrard swiveled to look at me.

“While you were gone, Zee’s uncle came here with a guy who’s apparently in the KKK. So what the hell is going on?”

“What did Gentry tell you?” Zee said.

“That we were going to get your sister,” I said. “I assumed she needed convincing to leave a bad boyfriend. Or he needed convincing.”

“My sister is LaReigne Trego-Gill. She was taken hostage in the prison escape from El Dorado last week.”

“You’re serious? And you somehow think you’re going to do what? Go negotiate with white supremacists who murdered people and kidnapped your sister? And then what are you gonna tell the police about how you got her back?”

“We’ll drop her off in the country and she can walk into town and tell the police she escaped,” Zee said.

“Yeah, I’m sure nothing could go wrong with any of that.”

Zee looked annoyed and Gentry was scratching his neck, but I couldn’t get a bead on Edrard. He looked uneasy, but he wasn’t saying anything.

“Look,” I said, “if that guy is KKK and he actually knows where your sister is, we need to call the police. They’re the people equipped to deal with this.”

“You don’t have to be a part of this. But we’re not getting the police involved,” Zee said.

“What do you think we are? Navy SEALs?”

“No, I think you’re exactly what you are.” She managed to make it sound like an insult. “It was not my idea to invite you along, and Gentry, no offense, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“My lady, with all respect to thy view, ’tis better we should be four than two. I am thy champion, and they aren my brothers-at-arms.”

“I appreciate that. I do. But I don’t want to drag a bunch of people into this,” she said.

“Oh, now that’s occurring to you,” I said. “That maybe you shouldn’t take a bunch of amateur knights to a negotiation with the Klan. Exactly what are you going to say to convince them to let your sister go?”

“We’re not going to negotiate,” Zee said. “We’re going to ransom her.”

I wondered where the money had come from, and obviously she had money, since she’d given a bunch of it to the bearded guy. The Klansman. I hated to admit it, but I was starting to agree with Rosalinda. Zee wasn’t our kind of people, and she was getting Gentry mixed up in something dangerous. He wasn’t even paying attention to us. While we were talking, he picked up Zee’s gun and very calmly popped the clip out of it. Then he ejected the bullet from the chamber, like he was in a movie.

“When last was this cleaned?” he said.

“I don’t know,” Zee said.

Gentry opened his big rucksack to get a rag and a bottle of oil. He started taking the gun apart and cleaning it, while Zee watched.

“You know how to use a gun?” she said. “What happened to swords and armor, Sir Gentry?”

“I am no fool, Lady Zhorzha. I build flying machines. Yea, I ken the workings of a gun. My father taught me.”

“Well, I think you should wipe it all down, including the bullets, so it doesn’t have your fingerprints on it. You know, in case it gets used.”

Gentry nodded and went on cleaning the gun.

“So, we’re talking pretty casually about shooting people. Did I read that right?” I said.

“I’m sorry he brought you all the way out here without telling you what was going on,” Zee said. “If I’d known, I would’ve stopped him.”

“I mean, I kind of knew,” Edrard said. Which was complete bullshit. At no point had he mentioned white supremacists or hostages or anything like that. He had such a fear of missing out, he would go along with anything. “But do we know for sure where your sister is?”

“Yea, we haven a map,” Gentry said.

He put the gun back together and gave it a last wipe-down before he put it in Zee’s backpack. Then he went to the bathroom and washed his hands. When he came back, Zee got the map, Gentry got his iPad, and, like we hadn’t been discussing the KKK at all, the three of them started looking at satellite maps and discussing what