"It wasn't that kind of a diversion. I thought so, too--that's why I went to check--"
"No." He spins to the door. "Fuck, no. Do not tell me--"
I grab his arm. "Yes, I'm telling you he's gone, and that there's a reason why I didn't come running to get a search party. Just listen. Please."
He nods, and I explain.
23
You did the right thing.
That's what Diana told me. That is, I know, what I will hear from Anders, from Nicole, from everyone else who believes in me and wants to offer support.
That is not what I get from Dalton.
Fucking impossible situation.
That's what he says, and it's what I need to hear. Acknowledgment that there was no right choice here. There were only choices.
He doesn't tell me he'd have done the same. That goes without saying. Because what is the alternative? That I raised the alarm and hoped someone took Brady down before he could shoot Val?
Fucking impossible situation.
I put Val in that situation, so I could have done nothing that would end in her death. Even though what I have done might still kill her.
I don't trust Brady to let her go. Like Diana, Dalton argues that Brady has no reason to kill her and no reason to take her with him. But he says that because, to him, this is logical.
To Dalton, if Brady has no reason to kill Val, then he won't. He understands that we may be dealing with a man who kills for pleasure, but he cannot comprehend the implications because they don't exist in his world. Even with the hostiles, he presumes they attack us for a reason.
When I correct him, though, he says, "Yeah, but will he endanger his life for the enjoyment of taking hers? I like sex, but I gotta warn you--if our house catches on fire midway through? I'm leaving. Taking you with me, but leaving. If Brady kills Val, we're going to be all over his ass. Far as I'm concerned, if he gives us Val back, I'll do a rudimentary search--that's it. I'm not risking lives to recover him. But if she dies . . ."
"You'll hunt him down."
"We will."
Back at the shed, Dalton tells people to carry on. Then he asks a few to help him tackle "security shit--'cause it doesn't stop even for a fucking fire." He takes Anders, Nicole, Sam, and Kenny. Paul feels the sting of being passed over. He's core militia, and Nicole is not yet, but Dalton's commitment to women in the militia means showing that they won't be tokens, left off the front lines when situations get serious.
Anders runs Storm over to Petra's. Our first stop is the station, where Dalton asks Nicole and Sam to wait outside. We take Kenny in.
Dalton closes the door behind us.
"I'm going to ask you to step into the cell," Dalton says.
"Sure," Kenny says. "You need me to check something?"
"No, I'm going to lock you inside until I get back."
Kenny lets out a strained laugh. "Is it something I said?"
"When you showed up here three years ago, I thought you were useless. Couldn't hold a saw. Sure as hell couldn't fire a gun. Nothing I could do with you except make sure you didn't get your damned ass killed before you could go home. Then you decided to apprentice in carpentry, and I thought, huh, maybe . . . Still, when you asked to join the militia, I thought, fuck no. Another desk jockey fancies himself a lawman. Gonna shoot yourself if I give you a gun. But you proved you could handle it. You became Will's right-hand man. You still drive me fucking crazy sometimes, but I came to respect you. And that respect is why I'm not throwing you in the cell. I'm asking you to walk in yourself."
"I don't under--"
"The only thing to understand right now is that I gave you an order. Either you do it or this gets uglier than I want."
Kenny walks into the cell. Dalton closes the door.
"Oliver Brady is gone," I say.