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  ‘I’m not here to sell you on our beliefs,’ Maeve said. ‘I respect you both, so I won’t pitch it to you right away. I’m simply here to offer you jobs, independent of the movement. But at the same time I know eventually you’ll see how beautiful our message is. One step at a time, my dear.’

  Slater said, ‘What sort of work will it involve? I don’t want to get there and find out you’re going up against the police and the military.’

  ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’

  ‘I don’t know. We’ve only just met.’

  She said, ‘We wouldn’t last a day if we were that overt. No — we are subtle. Exposing ourselves to the masses right now wouldn’t be smart. But there’s always risks, doing what we do. I’m planning in advance, expecting more resistance in future. There’s already some trouble brewing here. Two of my contacts have gone radio silent on me — I suspect one of them has fled town. I can’t reveal more until I know I have your loyalty, but just know you’ll never be asked to do anything outside the range of your abilities.’

  ‘How do you know the range of our abilities?’

  ‘I made an assumption based on how many people you put in the hospital.’

  Slater said, ‘The pay?’

  Maeve said, ‘We’ll get to that.’

  ‘That’s what everyone says before revealing it’s dog shit.’

  ‘First I need an expression of interest. Tell me you’re interested, and you stand to make more money and do more fulfilling work than anything you’ve seen in your lives. That I guarantee.’

  King said, ‘I’m interested.’

  They looked at Slater.

  He nodded slowly.

  She said, ‘We live in a commune in Thunder Basin. The facilities are excellent. Will you come out and see them? We can discuss all the details out there.’

  Slater looked hesitant.

  Maeve lowered her voice and said, ‘Want to know something else? Your friends are with us.’

  King said, ‘We don’t have friends.’

  ‘Maybe not yet,’ Maeve said. ‘But wouldn’t you like to get to know those two beautiful girls from the bar better? Alexis and Violetta, I believe it was…’

  She trailed off, flashing a sly look.

  Neither of them spoke, but they both made it appear they were tantalised.

  Maeve put the nail in the coffin. ‘To them, you’ll be gods. If you take my offer, you’ll have power over all of my followers. You’ll be my security team. They worship me, so they’ll worship you. What sorts of things could you get up to with the women who love me? You can have them all. Whoever you want, however you want.’

  Silence.

  King said, ‘I’m in,’ knowing there was a special place in hell for Maeve Riordan.

  45

  In the back of her pickup truck, King and Slater sat quiet and stoic.

  At close to one in the morning, after finalising specifics, Maeve drove them into the darkness. It was absolute, all-encompassing — the grasslands swallowed them whole. They had their hands in their laps and their duffel bags between their legs like they were off to military boot camp.

  Maeve had already asked them how many nights they’d booked at the Arbuckle Lodge, and they’d told her it didn’t matter. When they were in, they were all the way in, and they had no attachment to anything other than their own destinies, so they’d be coming with her now instead of waiting out their stay in Gillette.

  She liked that.

  Now, Maeve said, ‘I need to make a few things clear.’

  Slater said, ‘Sure.’

  ‘You’re not hired just yet, obviously. We wanted to snatch you up before anyone else could get to you, so we made our move prematurely, but that’s okay. We’re all professionals here. If you don’t like our setup, or we don’t like your attitude, we go our separate ways. No harm done.’

  King said, ‘What’s going to be surprising about your setup? I thought you already covered everything.’

  Maeve shook her head, the back of her skull wrapped in shadow as she stared out the windshield into nothingness. ‘I haven’t even scratched the surface.’

  Slater knew, between himself and King, he was the bad cop. So he sat forward and said, ‘What exactly is going on here?’

  Maeve said, ‘The movement I run … no matter how hard I try, I can’t explain what it is. You’re just going to have to see for yourself.’

  Slater said, ‘You think we’re suckers?’

  King said, ‘Will…’ like he was scolding a younger brother.

  Fulfilling the role of “good cop.”

  Maeve said, ‘It’s quite alright, Jason. Both of you relax. You’re going to stay with us for a few days as we get to know each other. Right now we hardly know a thing about each other. How can we know if we’ll work well together if we don’t click?’

  King said, ‘That sounds fine.’

  Slater shook his head in the darkness. ‘Are we getting paid for this time?’

  Maeve looked over her shoulder, her face stern. ‘If you don’t like it, Will, I’m happy to take you back to your lodge. But if at any time you’re unclear about the dynamic, then let me make it clear right now. This is my setup. My commune. You are welcome guests, but until I fully trust you, that’s all you’ll be. Everything I said in the hotel room still stands, but you wouldn’t have come with me if I simply asked you to visit. If everything goes well, you’ll have jobs — and lucrative ones at that — but that’s dependent on whether or not we click.’

  King said, ‘We’ll click.’

  Slater said, ‘Maybe.’

  A long period of quiet elapsed. Slater stared out the window, pretending to think it over. There wasn’t much to look at. Just the gaping chasm of the frontier at night.

  Slater said, ‘I’m fine with it. You keep saying “we” though. Who runs the commune with you?’

  ‘My husband,’ Maeve said. ‘Dane. He’ll want to talk to you tomorrow.’

  King said, ‘We’d be happy to.’

  Maeve said, ‘Not you. Just Will.’

  King didn’t respond.

  Maeve said, ‘Is that going to be a problem?’

  Slater said, ‘Why me?’

  ‘Dane is our head of security,’ Maeve said. ‘He’s very particular about who we recruit. He’ll interview you one by one. And you’re first, Will, because something tells me you’ll have more questions than your friend.’

  Slater said, ‘Something tells you right.’

  King said, ‘Who are we replacing?’

  Maeve said, ‘What?’

  ‘I assume you already have some sort of security measures in place. Who are they?’

  Maeve said, ‘“They” are Elias.’

  Slater said, ‘One man?’

  ‘He’s talented in specific areas,’ Maeve said. ‘I won’t go into detail. Don’t want you running your mouth around town if you decide to leave.’

  No one answered.

  Slater understood what she’d done. By hinting at illegalities, she’d put both King and Slater at risk. Even though she hadn’t revealed anything concrete, she’d said too much. Now they’d better accept her offer, or they wouldn’t be allowed back into society with what they already knew about Mother Libertas.

  It was already all or nothing.

  They either devoted their lives to the cult or were silenced forever.

  The truck bounced on a pothole as it surged further into the grasslands.

  46

  King saw the cluster of buildings first as the soft lighting broke up the darkness.

  There were only a couple of exterior lights switched on, but it was enough to make the commune look like a homing beacon, especially surrounded by such emptiness.

  Maeve rounded the outskirts so as not to wake everyone in the bunkhouses — at least, that’s what King assumed they were — and drove up the incline to where the farmhouse lay dormant. No lights blazed inside the two-storey house, and the porch lights were off too. The headlights from Maeve’s picku
p lit up the wraparound porch with stark white lighting.

  Exposing someone sitting on an outdoor rocking chair.

  He was long and spindly, and he rose off the chair as soon as the light hit him.

  Maeve said, ‘That’s Dane. I don’t know what he’s doing out of bed, though.’

  They all got out of the pickup as Maeve killed the engine. The headlights took another few seconds to die, but when they did they plunged everything into total darkness. Dane’s silhouette had been watching them silently, and now it disappeared.

  King stood fixed to the spot, thoroughly unnerved.

  Maeve called through the night, ‘Turn a light on, would you?’

  The porch creaked as Dane moved across it. Slater was on the other side of the vehicle, and King suppressed a shiver, shaking the feeling of being starkly alone. He regretted leaving the Mossberg and the Glocks back in Gillette. Maeve had forced them to dump their weapons and then frisked them both carefully before letting them into her truck. They’d gone along with it. He was coming to realise she had a way with words, a certain inflection of tone that made you grateful she was even paying you attention.

  He’d gone into this knowing exactly who she was in her core, and still he had to fight not to be put under her spell.

  There was a reason Mother Libertas was growing so fast.

  The porch light came on, and revealed Dane Riordan in better lighting. He was far taller than his wife, his shoulders slightly stooped from the shame of being the centre of attention due to his height. But he was all thin muscle and bones, and probably weighed no more than a hundred and seventy pounds.

  He said, ‘Jason and Will, is it?’

  Looking up from below the porch, they both nodded.

  Dane descended the porch steps and extended a hand. ‘Dane. Pleasure.’

  They shook his hand one by one.

  Maeve drew up alongside him, completing the subtle two-on-two face-off.

  Dane said, ‘Obviously there’s a lot that’s still up in the air. I’m sure you can both understand.’

  King said, ‘Same goes for us. But we’re interested. Whether this works out or not, I think we’ve got more in common than you think.’

  ‘Is that right?’

  King nodded.

  Dane looked at him for a beat, then said, ‘You might be right. Can I speak my mind?’

  ‘Please,’ King said.

  ‘I’m not the type to make small talk and skirt around the point. Nor is my wife here. If you two have a problem with operating outside the parameters of the law, I suggest you enjoy our hospitality tonight then make your way back to Gillette tomorrow. If you stay, you’ll be asked to do things that will make you uncomfortable. Is that going to be a problem?’

  King said, ‘No problem. We’re both war criminals if you judge what we’ve done within the “parameters of the law.” Is that going to be a problem?’

  Dane smiled. ‘No. It certainly won’t.’

  He turned to Slater. ‘You don’t talk much.’

  Slater said, ‘You’re right.’

  ‘Dinner,’ Dane said. ‘Tomorrow evening. You and I.’

  Slater glanced at Maeve, who smiled knowingly. Her eyes said, See? I know my husband.

  Slater said, ‘Sure. You’re buying.’

  Dane laughed.

  He turned to Maeve and said, ‘I like them.’

  Still facing them, Maeve said, ‘I’m afraid we need sleep. But Elias will show you to your room.’

  ‘Elias?’ Slater said. ‘The guy we’re replacing?’

  ‘No,’ a voice said behind them.

  47

  They turned.

  Elias was blonde-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned. He was tall and wiry like Dane Riordan, but his poise was more athletic, more graceful, less laboured. His posture was impeccable underneath the simple garments he wore. He was a baby compared to King and Slater, somewhere in his mid-twenties, but his eyes were intensely confident.

  Slater could see through them, though.

  He saw false confidence. A kid who’d never been in a street fight. Slater guessed, just from the posture, that Elias was trained in some Eastern martial art. More about looking good and flowing smoothly, less about being able to destroy someone’s face with a barrage of strikes.

  You never know…

  Elias said, ‘You’ll be working alongside me. Not replacing me.’

  Slater squared up to him, brash and unashamed. ‘And how does that make you feel, kid?’

  Maeve darted in behind him and seized his wrist in an iron grip.

  Slater turned.

  Maeve said, ‘You don’t talk like that to him. You don’t talk like that to any of us. Is that the example you want to set before we’ve hired you?’

  ‘No,’ Slater said. ‘I’m sorry. He just snuck up on me, is all.’

  His tone smug, Elias said, ‘Scared you? Sorry, friend.’

  His wrist still in Maeve’s grasp, Slater said, ‘I’m a little jumpy. Quick to defend myself. Two tours will do that to you, make you check every corner. I’m sure you can relate, Elias.’

  Elias said nothing, brushing off the thinly veiled insult to his lack of worldly experience.

  Elias said, ‘Do you practice Wing Chun?’

  Slater paused at the question’s strangeness. ‘Is that a requirement? Being a ninja?’

  Elias pursed his lips, looking Slater up and down. ‘It would help. How will you defend us from threats?’

  ‘With my combat training,’ Slater said. ‘There are other martial arts.’

  ‘They’re inferior.’

  Slater didn’t answer. What he wanted to say was ‘There are other martial arts that actually work’ but he refrained. He’d antagonised the man enough for one night.

  The air bristled with tension as Maeve said, ‘You two have made friends already. Jason, stay back for a moment, please. Elias, show Will to his bunkhouse. And leave each other alone. I can’t stand this alpha male dynamic.’

  Elias nodded respectfully. No matter his opinion, Maeve’s word was clearly law.

  He folded his arms behind his back again and glided down the trail, expecting Slater to follow.

  Slater looked at King. ‘You good?’

  Maeve responded. ‘He’s good.’

  There wasn’t much Slater could do.

  He nodded, bid them goodnight, and followed Elias down the trail.

  48

  Maeve sat King down in one of the rattan chairs in the sitting room and shooed her husband away.

  Dane melted into the background and disappeared through a doorway, and then it was just the two of them, alone.

  She said, ‘Tea?’

  King said, ‘I’m okay, thank you.’

  ‘You must be tired,’ she said, ‘so I’ll keep this brief. I hope you don’t mind me sending your friend away. I think he needs rest. I wanted to speak freely without hearing retorts to my every word.’

  ‘He’s cold until you get to know him,’ King said. ‘Then he’s the loyalest person you’ll ever meet. He’ll do great things for your … movement.’

  She hesitated. ‘Why did you pause?’

  ‘I was thinking of the right word.’

  She smiled, and he couldn’t detect any hint that it was a performance. She was damn good at her job. ‘Were you going to say “cult”?’

  He shook his head.

  She said, ‘It’s okay. I won’t bite. You can be honest with me.’

  He said, ‘I don’t know what to call it. But that’s not the word I would have chosen.’

  ‘It may seem like a cult from the outside,’ Maeve admitted. ‘I wouldn’t judge you if that’s what you thought. It’s a valid concern. But you only found out about this world hours ago. I want you to know that the principles and philosophies I’ve discovered are life-changing. With time, I’m sure you will take advantage of them. And … do you mind if I speak freely?’

  ‘Please.’

  ‘You have incredible potential. More than you
r friend. Working in harmony with Mother Libertas and its principles … there’s no telling how far you’ll go. I can’t imagine the man you’ll be a year from now. All it requires is your commitment.’

  If King hadn’t gained control over his ego long ago, he might have actually bought it.

  She made you feel special, like you were the centre of the universe and everything revolved around you.

  It was seductive.

  Intoxicating.

  For the first time he noticed an oak humidor on the table. She reached out and lifted the lid, revealing ten Cuban cigars lined neatly within. The box had already been there, so she’d known from the moment she left Thunder Basin she’d be returning with King and Slater. That took genuine confidence.

  Maeve said, ‘Care to indulge?’

  ‘It’s late,’ King said.

  ‘That wasn’t a no.’

  He settled back in the armchair and smirked. ‘You’re right. It wasn’t. Will you be joining me?’

  She looked up into his eyes. ‘You’ve got to have a little fun in this life.’

  She handed him one of the massive cigars. ‘This is from Hoyo de Monterrey. It’s a “Le Hoyo de Río Seco.” The thickest cigar to come out of Cuba in regular production. They cost a pretty penny.’

  He said, ‘Is this my first week’s payment?’

  ‘No, my dear. That’ll come in time.’

  She used an Alfred Dunhill cigar cutter — lavishly expensive in its own right, engineered to perfection — to snip the end off her own Cuban, then King’s. Then she lit her end with a metallic double torch lighter and passed it over to King. He touched the flame to the end of his own cigar and the tobacco flared orange. He drew the initial smoke into his mouth.

  It was incredible.

  They smoked slowly, relishing the process, and King realised it was a genius manoeuvre on Maeve’s behalf. A cigar of this size would take over an hour to finish, and the nicotine buzz would build as time passed, stripping him of his inhibitions.

  She was adept at using substances to get what she wanted out of people.

  As the alluring scent of expensive cigar smoke circled the sitting room, she said, ‘I expect you want to know what this place is all about.’