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be nice.”
    “There are three types of people running around out here. The true believers, the nonbelievers, and everyone else in the middle.”
    “Which one are you?”
    “Everyone else.”
    “So why do the nonbelievers follow Mercer if they don’t buy what he’s selling? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s dangerous out there.”
    Davis shrugged and looked toward the barn doors, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear what he was about to say next. “He saved our lives. Most of us wouldn’t be here if not for him. That’s the kind of thing that buys a lot of loyalty.”
    “But you don’t believe in his war.”
    “What we’re doing out here...” He focused on Keo again. “You know? About the attacks on the towns?”
    Keo nodded.
    “I’m just a schoolteacher,” Davis continued. “I didn’t even know how to fire a gun until the world ended. Butch believed, though. He was one of the true believers. Me, I’m just trying to get by. Mercer saved my life. He saved all of our lives. I owe him…” He shook his head. “But I don’t owe him to kill old men and pregnant women and children.”
    Keo crouched in front of Davis and stared at the man’s heavily bruised face.
    Davis looked back at him. “I’m telling the truth. All of it.”
    Keo ignored him and asked instead, “How’s the face?”
    “It’s numb. Everything’s numb. I know my right eye is the size of my foot at the moment, but I can’t feel it. Or my nose. Or my mouth. I can hear how I sound, but thank God I can’t feel the reasons why.” He reached up with his bound hands and touched his cheek, wincing at the contact. “Were you really going to do it? Use that spork on me?”
    Keo nodded. “Yeah, I was.”
    “Well, fuck.”
    “Yeah.”
    “So, what now?”
    “Tell me about Mercer.”
    “And then?”
    “Mercer. What does he look like?”
    “And then? ” Davis pressed.
    “Then I move on to Lochlyn, and if Mercer’s not there, I go on to this ranch of yours.”
    “What about me?”
    “I don’t need you anymore, so you stay here.”
    “I need a gun. If you’re going to leave me behind, I need a gun.” He held up his bound hands. “And you have to release me.”
    “All right.”
    “You swear.”
    “Only on Fridays, but never on Sundays.”
    “Fuck you,” Davis said. “I mean it. You swear you’re telling the truth.”
    Keo raised his right hand and smiled at Davis. “Scout’s honor.”

         
    2
    LARA
    “ P ORT A RTHUR’S A NO-GO ,” Danny said through the radio. “It’s locked tighter than a virgin’s sphincter.”
    “You know a lot about virgin sphincters, babe?” Carly asked.
    “Hey, I hear things.”
    “I bet you have.”
    “Any trouble getting from Starch to Port Arthur?” Lara asked, and Carly repeated the question into the microphone.
    “Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Danny said, but didn’t expand on his answer.
    He was somewhere outside the Texas port city with Gaby and Nate, though he hadn’t given any specifics just in case someone was listening in on their frequency. It was a small chance, but these days even the smallest something had the potential to blow up in your face.
    Just in case, right, Will?
    “What does he think the collaborators are doing in Port Arthur?” Lara asked, directing her question at Carly.
    “What am I, your personal parrot?” Carly said, and handed the microphone over to her. “I already spent ten minutes talking to him before you showed up. That’s about nine minutes too much with Danny, in case you were wondering.”
    Lara smiled. That wasn’t even close to being true, because she knew for a fact her friend had spent every day Danny was out there worrying about him. That was something they all did a lot of these days. Before Danny, it was her and Will.
    Damn you, Will, you promised me…
    She said into the radio, “Danny, what are they doing in Port Arthur?”
    “Your guess is as good as mine,” Danny said. “The kid thinks