Feast Day of Fools (Hackberry Holland 3)

“But you’re with the government, aren’t—” Cody began, opening and closing his bruised hand, his words catching in his throat.

“No, I’m like you, a citizen soldier. We’re looking for a man by the name of Noie Barnum. He’s a misguided idealist who can do great harm to our country. A man such as yourself has many eyes and ears working for him. You can be of great assistance to us, Reverend.”

“I don’t have anybody working for me. What are you talking about?”

“You have a church house full of them.”

“People in my congregation got their own mind and go their own way.”

“We both know better than that. You put the right kind of fear in them, they’ll do whatever you say.”

“I don’t want any part in this. You get those guys out of my house,” Cody said.

“Reverend, let’s be frank. You’ve stumbled into a world of hurt. Would you rather deal with people of your own race and background or Mr. Krill?”

“How do you know about him?”

“We watched you talk with him. Mr. Krill is the man who wants to sell Noie Barnum to Al Qaeda. Would you like that to happen?”

“You were spying on me?”

“What does it matter? You’re working for us now.”

“No, sir, I work for the Lord.”

“You’re saying I don’t?”

The other men reemerged from Cody’s house. “It’s clean,” one of them said.

“Answer my question,” Temple Dowling said to Cody. “You’re telling me to my face I’m not on the side of our Lord?”

“No, sir, I didn’t say that. What’s he mean, it’s clean?”

“It means you’re not hiding the man we’re looking for. It means your computer doesn’t indicate you’re in touch with the wrong people. It means you just passed a big test. I’m going to give you a business card, Reverend, and I want you to call me when you find out where Mr. Barnum is. I also want you to keep me updated on what that Chinese woman is doing. That means I want to know about everything that happens down there on her property. You’re going to be my pipeline into Mr. Krill’s little group. Whatever he does, whatever he tells you, you’ll report it directly to me.”

“You’re going too fast,” Cody said.

“You’re doing all this out of your own volition. That’s because you’re a patriot. I know about that clinic bombing. You’re a man willing to take risks. That’s why I’m making you part of our team.”

“I didn’t have anything to do with that clinic business. No, sir.”

Temple Dowling set his hand on Cody’s shoulder. “We’re going to take care of you. There’ll be a chunk of cash in it for you, too. You’ve got my word. Give me a big hug.”

“What?”

“Just kidding. I had you going, didn’t I?”

Cody’s head was swimming, a smell like soiled cat litter rising from his armpits. “No, sir,” he said.

“No, sir, what?” Temple Dowling said.

“I’m not working for y’all. I’m not having any part of this.”

“I have two affidavits that say you bought the oven timer that detonated the bomb at the clinic. It blinded and disfigured a nurse. I have pictures of her if you’d like to see them. I have a videotape of you in the crowd across the street. You couldn’t stay away from your own handiwork, could you, sir? That’s what I mean when I say you’re a man who lives on the edge. You’re not a suck-up, kick-down kind of guy. You know how to rip ass, Reverend. That woman won’t be in the baby-killing business anymore, that’s for sure.” He glanced at his men and was no longer able to contain his laughter. All of the men had a merry expression in their eyes and were clearly enjoying themselves. “Reverend Daniels, you’re a special kind of shepherd,” Dowling said.

When his visitors had driven away, Cody could hear kettle drums pounding inside his head. He sat down on a wood bench, his spine bowed, his eyelids fluttering, his muscles as flaccid as if his bones had been surgically removed from his body. The only other time he had felt this level of despair was when two county-prison gunbulls had finished with him and lifted him off a sawhorse and dropped him on a workroom floor like a slab of sweaty beef. He wondered why people thought they had to die in order to go to hell.

CHAPTER FIVE