"I did."
"That was--"
"Petra."
We leave Val's and Brady's bodies behind. We cover them and mark the spot. Then we set out to Rockton.
"I killed Val," I say.
"You did what I couldn't. Last winter. With Peter."
He's looking straight ahead as we walk.
"I froze up," he says. "All I could see was Peter holding a knife on you, and I panicked. I should have shot him."
"No, you couldn't. If you had killed him, we'd have lost Nicole."
A few steps before he says, his voice low, "I didn't care. Not at that moment. I just froze."
"And I just reacted. I panicked. With another result."
He shakes his head. "You thought it through. Made a choice. I still regret not shooting Peter. I go over it and over it in my head. What if I lost you because I froze up? And now you'll second-guess making the opposite choice."
More quiet walking. Then he says, "We're both going to suffer. Wonder if we made the wrong decision. But I guess that's better than the alternative."
"Which is?"
"Not giving a shit." He looks back in the direction of the bodies. "Being like them."
61
We're nearing town when we meet Anders, pacing the path. He looks behind us and says, "You didn't find Brady."
"We did," I say. "Someone didn't want us bringing him back alive."
Anders swears. "The sniper."
I make a noise he can interpret as assent for now.
"How's Kenny?" I say, dreading the answer.
"Stable. That's all I can tell you. We got him back, and now we're getting the swelling down so Mathias and I can see the bullet. Unfortunately, that's not our biggest problem right now. Phil is ready to put Wallace on a plane and fly him out of here. I was giving you guys another sixty seconds before I stopped him at gunpoint."
We break into a jog, and I say, "Is Phil in on it? Or is this the council?"
"No idea. I told Phil what Wallace did. Told him you think he's the killer, not Brady. It seemed like he believed me. Then he starts packing. I say hell, no, not until you guys get back. He reminds me that, in Val's absence, he's in charge. I argued, but he ignored me. Acted like the walls were talking and then went to check the plane."
"Where is he now?"
"He ordered me to bring Wallace to the hangar. I told him to go fuck himself and came to see if you guys were nearby."
We head straight for the hangar. Anders tells us Jacob and Storm are fine. He managed to persuade Jacob to sneak into my old place through the back door, and he's recovering there.
We're nearing the hangar when we hear the plane start.
"Shit!" Anders says.
We're about twenty meters away when Phil appears, doing a last visual check of the runway.