The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,107

Gentry said.

Except for when he’d tried to convince me not to go, Gentry hadn’t clenched his hand or scratched his neck. The closer we got, the calmer he was.

“So, we ready?” Dirk said.

“Yea, but hence we travel under the dragon banner,” Gentry said.

“What’s that mean?”

“No quarter. No mercy.” That was Edrard and, hearing the nervousness in his voice, I wished so hard that he’d stayed home. I wanted to wish that Gentry had stayed home, too, but I couldn’t have done it alone. And Dirk? He acted like we were in a video game.

“Hard-core, man,” he said and laughed.

CHAPTER 41

Zee

Gentry was so relaxed he didn’t even do a drive-by. On the first pass, he turned off the highway and, a few miles further on, he left the county road for the fire road, with Edrard a few car lengths back. For once, I had a job to do. I had the bolt cutters that Gentry apparently always carried in the back of his truck, and I was the one who jumped out and cut the chain on the gate. We drove in probably another half mile, until the dirt road turned into not much more than a gap between trees. When Gentry cut the engine, Edrard pulled up beside him.

Even with the THC drops, I was a nervous wreck, and Gentry must have finally felt his nerves, because he started scratching his neck. After he finished, he got out of the truck and folded the seat forward to get his weapons. My heart hammered like crazy, watching him buckle a leather harness on over his T-shirt. When he was done, that sharp, shiny sword was strapped to his back, ready to be drawn over his head. He pulled a loose blouse on to hide it, and traded out his Timberlands for the soft leather boots he’d worn at Bryn Carreg. Dressed that way, he looked like a woodsman, all in green and brown, with another knife and a small axe strapped to his belt. He squatted down and rubbed a little dirt on his bare skin to take the shine off.

While he was getting changed, Dirk and Edrard had gotten out of the other truck and walked over to us. We didn’t talk, because by then we’d gone over it enough times there was nothing to discuss. Gentry took one of the phones, tucked it into his pocket, and walked off to reconnoiter. After he was gone, Edrard got his bow and arrows ready, and I braided my hair to keep it out of the way.

Then I double-checked the money. Including what I’d started with and what Uncle Alva had given me, minus what I’d paid to the Fury, I had ninety-four thousand dollars. I wasn’t about to offer that up front, because I thought there was a good chance I’d end up haggling with them. So I’d split the cash into two piles: fifty thousand in one Sonic bag and forty-four thousand in another. I locked them both in Gentry’s truck. Finally I chambered a round on my gun, put the safety on, and tucked it into the back of my jeans. Then all we could do was wait.

It was so quiet out there; I didn’t hear any sounds of civilization. Not even road traffic. I didn’t have a watch, so I kept pulling out the phone and checking the time. Gentry had made us promise that if he wasn’t back in half an hour we would leave, but looking at Edrard, I knew we weren’t going to do that.

After twenty minutes, I started to get this gnawing dread like I had never had before in my life. Maybe because nobody had ever taken that kind of risk for me. Gentry was out there walking around in the woods, spying on guys I knew were killers. I looked at the phone again. Twenty-four minutes.

Gentry came walking out of the trees to the west of where he’d gone in. He was deep in conversation with the black knight. Not saying anything out loud, but nodding and gesturing. Edrard, Dirk, and I gathered around him, but it was a few more minutes before he was done. He bowed, first to the black knight, then to me.

“’Tis better than we hoped. I saw but four men. Two in the barn that standeth to the north. They aren at work upon their truck, and much distracted. Another man hath gone into the house. One sitteth upon the porch to keep watch, armed with