“Not to excuse Serpentus,” Carl said, gnawing his lip, “because they obviously have some responsibility here and I want to see them get nailed, but like I said before, I think there was another player.”
“What makes you say that?” she asked. “And could you hold that part of the door open? This one’s tricky.” The mews were constructed with pig wire and four-by-four wood posts, and Michael could see the pig wire was bent on the top door of this one. Without someone to hold it, it fell out of position, and as Michael watched the other two birds gulp their supper down, their movements lightning fast and almost synchronous, he could understand how having to run in front of the opening to reposition the door to the mews before fastening it could make someone feel mighty vulnerable.
“Instinct,” Carl said. “Incongruity. You’re right. Serpentus has their little fascist cop group, and they’re scary and all mercenary trained, don’t get me wrong. But you know what they don’t do?”
“They don’t kill people by pushing them into a cliffside in a monster truck,” she surmised.
“No they don—watch out!”
Mandy leaped back right when the bird in the mews lunged for her, ignoring the haunch of goat she’d just thrown into its quarters. Carl threw himself forward, slamming the pig-wire gate shut a caught breath before the bird thrust its head out the opening. The gate clanged off the bird’s beak, and it let out an indignant shriek, but Carl was busy fastening the three hook-and-eye locks that held the gate shut.
The bird eyed him coldly, ignoring the dinner lying at its feet, and let out a slow, meaningful “braaaaaaaaawk” sound that loosened Michael’s bowels and made him have to pee.
“That bird,” Mandy said distinctly, “is going to want to kill you.”
Carl kicked the mews hard enough to make it ring around the bird’s head. “I’m finally in a good place in my life,” he said. “That bird can fuck right off.” He smiled over his shoulder at Michael. “Think dinner’s ready yet?”
“Yeah,” Michael said weakly. “I’ll go check it.” He looked at Harry and Sunny, who were staring at the cage with flat affect, neither frightened nor surprised. “You two come inside and wash your hands,” he said. “We’ve already set the table.”
“Hamburger?” Sunny asked.
“It’s got hamburger in it,” Michael said. “Let’s get cleaned up.”
Risk and Escape
CARL LAGGED behind with Mandy, wishing he could take her shotgun and cold-bloodedly kill the three creatures that shrieked in the cages behind them, but he couldn’t. They hadn’t asked to be hatched, and if they did die, they should be studied, if for no other reason than so people wouldn’t have an excuse to do something like this again.
“Thanks,” Mandy said weakly. “My big fear is that I’ll die here and the kids won’t have anybody to take care of them.”
Carl let out a breath. “Does Harry speak?”
She shook her head. “He might have if their mother had gotten them some early childhood intervention, but she didn’t. He’s pretty content to do what I ask him, and Sunny too, but back in civilization they’d need social workers and lots of intervention care. Sunny might enjoy it, but Harry dislikes change. I’d love to give it a shot, though.” She shuddered. “Going away for a day to get supplies is scary enough as it is.”
He thought of the emergency conversation he’d had with Danny. “I spoke to my sources. We can start by getting an education specialist out here to simply live with them for a week and evaluate them as they work. If nothing else, that will give you some time where you’re not out here alone. We can also—if you let me give coordinates—get you some supply deliveries, if you tell me how you get in and out.”
She snorted. “Small aircraft, Carl. Can you manage that?”
Carl felt stupid. “Of course!” He looked out over the property again, taking in the outbuildings, including a large red structure with a giant double door. “The big barn. I was thinking hay, but if your herd is grazing off the hills—”
“We do have some hay,” she said. “But since I have to mow the property once a year to get it, mostly it’s grazing. I don’t know about all these new people—”
“Mandy, we’re going to get the bastards who killed Matteo. And we’re going to nail Serpentus for allowing this abomination. And Ginger Carson for whatever her role was in it too. If you believe nothing else, believe that those of us who want to avenge Matteo’s death are not going to let you rot out here.” His voice softened. “Particularly since you were special to Matteo di Rossi as well. I know it’s rough, but—” He gave a crooked smile. “—that young man in the house just cooked hamburger pie for you and your friends based on my say-so alone. That’s the level of good works we’re talking about here.”
She gave him a sideways look. “Judging by the way he was looking at you, he would have done all that for you anyway.”
Carl tried not to look too stupid about this and probably failed. “Well, yeah. But trust me. His heart? That sweetness? That’s what we’re talking about here. Help us get out of this valley and back to the vineyards and we’ll try to find the names to take and the asses to kick. In the meantime, you don’t have to be alone here anymore.” He let out a grunt of frustration. “If you don’t have faith in me, you need to have faith in him.”
“I don’t know him,” she said after a moment. “But I do know you.” She let out a sigh. “Still, I have to admit, he is awfully cute.”
Carl grinned. “Right? I have no idea what he sees in me. It’s the damnedest thing. He just started to look at me like I was special.”
She laughed. “Oh, Carl. I used to look at you like that all the time. Then you went off to catch car thieves in Hungary.”
“See? I’m not that bright.”
She laughed again. “Shut up. I’m about to have a meal I haven’t cooked myself, which, believe me, happens about once every three months. When you’re done, we can figure out how to get you out of here.”
“Are you sure there’s not a road?” he asked.
“There’s a goat track,” she told him frankly as they neared the front door. “An off-road vehicle could probably make it, but you might as well write your rental off now.”
“Maybe not. You’ve got tools, don’t you?”
“Of course.” She gave him a look that indicated she couldn’t possibly have survived the past five years if she couldn’t change her own goddamned oil.
“My friend’s a mechanic by trade. Give him a day to work on the Cherokee and let me take the plane in and out, and maybe we can come up with a plan.”
She stared at him, and he could see the girl who had looked at him with such worship in her eyes so long ago. “You have a pilot’s license?” she asked.
“Oh, I didn’t say that….”
HE’D BEEN afraid Michael would protest being left behind to modify the Cherokee while Carl attempted to fly the plane back to the landing strip Hunter had used earlier that day.