Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,118

a doctor,” Judd said. “Either way, I think Dalton and Lawry need to lay low for a couple of days while I see what I can find out.”

“You good with that, Lawry?” Parlan asked.

Lawry nodded. “Nobody saw me, and I doubt they can identify Dalton, so finding a place to squat to avoid running into Charlie and Sweeney and have someone connect us to them is the best we can do right now.”

“You have mobile phones that work?”

“Yeah. Mostly. You lose the signal a lot when you get away from the towns, such as they are.”

“Try to find a place where you can check in daily.”

Parlan waited until Lawry and Dalton left his private car. Then he looked at Judd.

“We’re not the only ones trapped inside borders,” Judd said. “Been hearing about plenty of the boys who are finding it hard to adjust since that damn war.”

The boys. Judd’s code name for men who preferred to make a living on the wrong side of the law. Outlaws. Bank robbers and cattle rustlers. Gamblers and thieves. Killers.

“Used to be a man would settle in a town,” Parlan said. “He’d buy a house, have a wife and children, go to the Universal Temple on Earthday same as the rest of his neighbors. He didn’t dirty his own nest. He never did anything in that town that gave his neighbors a reason to think he was anything less than respectable. And what he did outside that town … That was nobody’s business but his.”

“You’re thinking it’s time to play the respectable con again?” Judd asked.

Parlan nodded. “Open a business, settle down. It will take a few years for the human towns to recover.”

“If they recover.”

Parlan nodded again. That was the hard truth. The towns he’d seen so far in this region were bleak prospects for a man like himself. Yes, it was time to find a place where the clan could settle down for a few years. More to the point, he was heading for the only place where they should be able to slip in with the rest of the newcomers.

“If we settle down to play the respectable con, Cooke and Webb are going to be a problem,” he said.

“They’re already a problem,” Judd replied.

“Can you take care of it?”

Judd smiled. “It’ll be a pleasure.”

CHAPTER 23

Sunsday, Messis 21

After an early breakfast at the hotel, Jana and Tobias crossed the street and strolled across the square. Alone, she would have taken the long way around by walking on the streets, not wanting to see the bloodstained grass or have her breath catch as she passed the spot where she’d shot the dogs. But Tobias had to get back to the Prairie Gold ranch and wasn’t sure when he’d be able to return to Bennett. He had a responsibility not just to the ranch but to the whole Intuit community, since the ranch was the main source of meat for Prairie Gold.

“Ah … ,” Tobias said.

Jana stared at the three Wolves—and her puppy—tearing into … “I left her in her crate. What’s she doing out here? And what is that?”

“Pronghorn antelope,” Tobias replied.

“She can’t eat that. Rusty can’t eat that.”

“Actually …”

Virgil, Kane, and John stopped tearing off chunks of meat and looked at her like she was nuts. Rusty, hearing her voice, grabbed the severed lower half of a hind leg and carried it to where Jana stood, wagging her tail as she dropped the present on Jana’s boot.

Tobias sounded like he had something stuck in his throat, but he said in a low voice, “Praise her.”

She didn’t want to praise the puppy. She didn’t want to find other kinds of presents—and some that might not be altogether dead—being dropped on her foot because she had reinforced this behavior. But a pack shared the meat, and since she wasn’t going to go down on her hands and knees and put her face in the antelope, growling at Virgil in order to claim her share, she praised Rusty and gave Virgil a look that should have singed fur.

Crouching, she wrapped a hand around the leg just above the hoof—and wished she’d eaten oatmeal instead of steak and eggs that morning, since oatmeal wouldn’t have scampered around the Elder Hills before becoming someone’s meal.

“Since she’s not used to it, it’s probably best not to give the pup too much fresh meat at one time,” Tobias said in a conversational tone, looking at the Wolves. “And if you’re planning to do more than sleep for a few