FOURTEEN

It took until long after dark for Mason to return to Cumberland Gap. He found Pierce in the diner just off the town square, where he pulled up a chair and faced Pierce across the table, arms crossed, making it clear that he had no intention of joining Pierce in a meal.

They were the only customers at the diner. All the others cleared out when Mason walked in.

Mason waited for Pierce to ask what had happened during the day in the valley. He liked making other people speak first.

Pierce kept sipping his coffee. Then he waved at the waitress and asked for his bill.

“It’s on Sheriff Carney,” she said, standing as far as possible from Mason. Mason leered at her, and she crossed her arms over her chest and made a fidgety move backwards.

Pierce nodded at the waitress, then pushed back his chair. He stood.

“Hang on,” Mason said.

Pierce leaned on the table with his palms but didn’t sit.

“Don’t you want to know about the girl?” Mason asked.

“If you had something to tell me, I should have heard it by now. Table’s yours.”

“She’s not in the valley,” Mason said. “Alive or dead.”

Pierce raised an eyebrow. Mason didn’t like this, the man standing above him, looking down. He was being disrespected. By an Outsider.

“Widen the circle,” Pierce said. “This is your territory. I’m not going to tell you how to find her.”

“It’s not that simple,” Mason said, boiling. “You going to sit back down?”

Pierce shrugged and sat. But it was clear that Mason had lost some face by asking.

“We picked up her trail,” Mason said, “from the waterfall to about a mile downstream.”

“Okay, so she climbed down during the night,” Pierce said, “then started walking out until she heard the hounds. Turned back.”

“It took awhile with the bloodhounds to figure it out completely,” Mason said. “This is what her trail looked like.”

Mason pulled a piece of paper from his vest pocket. He’d drawn a crude map with a stream, the waterfall, and the shape of the valley. He’d also drawn a dotted line in the shape of a V, with the bottom of the V at the waterfall.

“From the waterfall,” Pierce said, touching the bottom of the V, “she started one way. Retraced her steps, started another way.”

“Maybe. But at both these points”—Mason touched each open end of the V—“there’s no sign of her. Like an eagle swooped down and picked her up.”

“Not a horse,” Pierce said.

Mason snapped. “I’ve been doing this for twenty years, and I’m the best there is. You don’t think that’s the first thing I’d consider? No horse tracks nearby. No way possible for horses to be that deep in the valley, anyway. Not in that kind of terrain. She didn’t leave by horse.”

“I believe that’s what I just said,” Pierce said. “Maybe I need to be clearer about who is boss here.”

“Maybe I—”

“You think I didn’t see you signal to release the dogs on Jordan last night?” Pierce said. “That was stupid and unnecessary. Now the man’s dead.”

“Dead?”

Pierce nodded. “Now there’s no way to ask him where the girl might have gone.”

Mason scowled and glared at Pierce.

“Which eye?” Pierce said.

“Huh?”

“You’re trying to stare me down, but I don’t know which eye I should focus on.”

Mason pressed his hands on the table, his knuckles going white with tension. “Time you lost some blood.”

“If you pull your knife, I’ll kill you. In the meantime, you better find that girl.”

Mason moved his hands off the table, onto his lap.

“If I pull my knife,” Mason said, his hand on the hilt, “you’ll be clear on who’s boss.”

In an instant, the tabletop slammed into Mason’s face, spilling him backward in his chair, pinning his arms in place as he crashed on the floor. Just like that, Pierce was kneeling on the table with his full weight, trapping Mason under it like a bug under Pierce’s heel.

The waitress disappeared into the kitchen.

“For three days now,” Pierce said, “I’ve put up with your crap.”

“You better make sure I’m dead before you lift away this table,” Mason said, struggling against the top. “Otherwise, I’ll kill you. Whether I have to knife you in the back or strangle you in your sleep, you won’t live to Sunday.”

“How badly do you want to face Bar Elohim? He knows all the snakes you’ve been hiding under your pile of rocks. You’re a free man only because it suits him. But this is so big, if you don’t deliver, Bar Elohim will make sure your face shows up on every vidpod in Appalachia as the most wanted, and even your own men will hunt you. Not a good prospect, given you’ve spent years showing them the nastiest tricks in the book.”

Pierce moved off the table and kicked it away. Mason began to sit, reaching down with his right hand for his knife. Pierce stepped on Mason’s wrist, leaned down and grabbed Mason’s elbow, yanking it upward so quickly it took Mason a second to comprehend that the horrible snapping sound and the incredible pain in his lower arm were two connected events.

He opened his mouth to gasp for air. Pierce shoved a napkin in it and put his knee on Mason’s throat.

“A man like you succeeds because you have no scruples in breaking the rules of civilization, and by the time a normal man realizes this, it’s too late for him to fight back.” Pierce spoke calmly, his face only inches away from Mason’s. “You think I’m a sissy from the city and don’t understand what’s happening here? What you don’t know is that I’m better at this than you. Nod if you understand. Otherwise I’ll break your other arm the same way and not think twice about it.”

Mason’s forehead was cold with sweat. He nodded. Not from fear, but practicality. He wasn’t in a position to fight back, and if both his arms were broken, it would be that much more difficult to kill the agent later. Not to mention capture the girl.

“Tomorrow,” Pierce said, “we’ll go over plans to track the girl down.”

Pierce pulled the napkin out of Mason’s mouth and walked away from him. Mason focused on his hatred for Pierce to dull the intense pain in his broken arm.

“In the meantime,” Pierce continued, “I’ll send Dr. Ross to the sheriff’s office to set your arm. That’s where you’re going to spend the night. Watching surveillance video on the public cameras in case the girl tries to sneak into town.”