I looked down at the partygoers and caught sight of a young woman who looked like a blonde version of Brooke. She was standing beside Bryce, and I watched as she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. I looked back over to Brooke. “Why is there a woman down there who looks just like you?”
Brooke sighed. “She’s the reason we’re here. That’s my twin sister.”
Chapter Eight
NATE GARRETT
“This isn’t a rescue mission, is it?” I asked. “Because that would be stupid.”
“No, I just wanted you to understand why I let Bryce go.”
“He’s dating your sister.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. Her name is Addison. She’s about as unpleasant a person as can be, and she’s dating a Nazi, which I guess makes her one too. When I came out to her a few months ago, she called me some very unpleasant names, and I knew that no matter what happened next, we were done. I tried to get her out of trouble; I even arrested Bryce, but then he got out and sent me pictures of her beating on some woman. That’s what he meant by what he’d do. He’d make sure I had evidence to arrest my sister. Evidence I can’t pretend I didn’t get.”
“And if you do pretend and it comes out, then you get charged with obstruction of justice or some other crime. Either way you lose your job.”
Brooke nodded. “Addison and I were never close, even as kids,” she started. “Our parents divorced when we were eight; I went to live with our dad, and she with our mom. I didn’t really get on with my mom—we were too different—and thankfully my parents were grown up enough to see that there was no benefit to making one of us kids miserable just to keep us together. Eventually, my mom got remarried to a rich doctor, and then I basically only saw her at holidays and Christmas. Always with Addison. Who was a bully and cruel. She hated me, and even though I wanted her to like me, to be my sister, she just kept on hating. I never really figured out why.”
“But she still plays on that part of you who wants a relationship?” I asked.
Brooke nodded. “Yeah, I still get the occasional call from her asking to meet up. That she just wants to get to know me better. That she’s sorry about what happened in the past. It happens every few years, and the last one was a few months ago. Our granddad died six months ago, and she was basically sniffing around for anything she might have been left.”
I looked back through the binoculars to the party.
“I don’t know what to do,” Brooke told me. “I got those pictures; I’ve seen my sister commit a crime, and if I go to my boss, I’d be all but admitting that I kept it quiet because I didn’t want to arrest her.”
“And now?”
“And now? Part of me thinks, Fuck them both; get them arrested.”
“Where’s your mum in all this?”
“Ah, she died when we were twenty-one. Overdosed on pain meds. Husband is in jail for supplying them. My dad lives in Norway with his new wife. She’s a lovely lady, but he wants nothing to do with Addison. He tried to talk sense into her, and she got Bryce to threaten him and his wife, so he said she’s free to stay a Nazi as far as he’s concerned.”
“Families are never easy,” I said. “From what I’ve seen, anyway.”
“What about your family?” Brooke asked.
“I don’t know who my dad is, and I’ve never met my mum,” I said. “I know who she is, but not where.”
“You’re an orphan?”
I nodded. “Yep. Raised by a man I thought of as my father.”
“A good man, I hope?”
I shook my head. “He might have been once, but not anymore. Now, he’s bitter and resentful. He’s become everything I always thought he hated. It’s not entirely his fault; he had someone whispering in his ear for a long time. He tried to protect me, push me away, and by the time I realized what he was doing, it was too late. He’s lost to me now. And I think that’s probably for the best.”
“I’m so sorry,” Brooke said.
I shrugged. “You get used to it. I came here, to Clockwork, to heal. I was in an accident, and the man I was working for brought me here to keep me away from my old job. He knew that I would only try to force my way back into a life that would kill me when I wasn’t ready. So here I am.”
“What did you used to do?”
I’d been wondering how I was going to explain this without actually telling her the truth. I was about to say something when a noise like gunshots sounded out from the party. I raised the binoculars and looked down at several Nazis who were shooting into the air as a Clockwork Sheriff’s Department vehicle drove into the area.
“Well, this is about to get bad,” I said.
Brooke walked over and looked through the binoculars. “No,” she whispered.
I took the binoculars back and watched the sheriff get out of the car, only to be greeted by Robert Saunders. The two men spoke for several seconds before the sheriff shook his hand, climbed back into the car, and drove off.
“Your Sheriff King is working with these people,” I said.
“No, he hates these Nazis,” Brooke said. “Damn it. I thought he was one of the good guys.”
I continued to watch the party as several of those present climbed into three trucks. The men all appeared to carry guns of various kinds. I swept across the area and spotted two people I really didn’t want to see.
Both men were people I’d met before, one a long time ago and the other only a few years ago. Both men had tried to kill me in the past. “Fuck,” I whispered.
“What’s wrong?” Brooke asked.
I passed her the binoculars. “You see the two men with Robert Saunders?”
“Yep. One looks like a bald Viking, and the other one has long hair and a beard and looks like someone I would not want to pick a fight with.”
“The Viking is Baldr; the other one is called Orestes.”
Brooke lowered the binoculars. “The Baldr? The god?”
“Yes, that’s him. Orestes is the son of Agamemnon.”
“Can they hear us?”
“From half a mile away?” I asked. “They’re not human, but they’re not capable of hearing over vast distances.”
“I don’t think you told me the whole truth earlier,” Brooke said, returning to her viewing.
“It’ll have to do for now.”
“Those three pickups are leaving. Lots of people inside, including Orestes. They look ready for war.”
Only one place popped into my head. “The Kuros,” I whispered.
“Why would they go after the Kuros?” Brooke asked.
“Robert says that Simon is his son. He seems like the kind of person who would use force if he needed to.”
“Yes, he does,” Brooke agreed. “Let’s go see them, just in case.”
“You can’t call for help,” I told her as we got back into the Mercedes. “If they are after the Kuros, we can’t let them know we’re aware of it.”
“Any chance you have a cache of weapons in your truck?”
“Not exactly,” I told her as I drove at speeds much faster than those I’d kept to when driving to the clearing.