Isolation , Jones, Nathan [top 20 books to read TXT] 📗

risk driving into a trap so they broke off the pursuit there.”

So once again Jay had gotten away with it. “What about Mayor Darby? Is he okay?”

“Alive,” Starr said gruffly. “Took a bullet to the shoulder, but Stanberry's doctors are patching him up and he should pull through. Darrel wasn't so lucky . . . he bled out a few minutes ago.”

It was a shame to hear that. Nick hadn't really liked the man, more of the opposite really, but if nothing else Darrel had seemed committed to protecting his town and his neighbors.

He hadn't deserved this.

Nick signed off, half surprised Jay hadn't chimed in to taunt them like he often did when they resorted to using the radio. Not that he was complaining as he focused on searching the area with his patrol.

“Glad to hear Darby's going to make it,” Chase said. “He never seemed to care about us aside from what we were doing for him and the town, but at least he genuinely seemed to be doing his best for everyone. I'm glad Jay whiffed on his first shot.”

They all stared at him; Chase had been part of the second team, who hadn't been with Nick and the others while they'd been listening to the chaos just after the shooting. He must've had his radio off.

“From what I heard Darrel was his first shot,” Ben said slowly. “Darby was dodging when the second shot hit him.”

Chase frowned. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” Nick shook his head. “It happened fast, but they're pretty sure it was in that order.”

“But this was during the town meeting Darby was leading, right?” the young man pressed. “When the Mayor was standing by the hole in the barricade and completely exposed? Did Darrel see the danger and jump in front of him or something?”

Nick shook his head again, although he had an idea where this was going. “No, it took everyone completely by surprise.”

Chet snorted grimly. “So Jay, or whoever the sniper was, had the goal to shoot Mayor Darby in the middle of the meeting, but hated Darrel so much he decided to shoot him first?”

Nick exchanged glances with the other scavengers. “Can you blame him?” Ben finally asked. “He'd be my first target too, if I was the sort of cowardly murderer who'd shoot an unsuspecting person from hundreds of yards away.”

It seemed like the team wasn't nearly as disturbed by the attack as the people in town talking over the radio had been. Nick wondered if it was because of their status as borderline outsiders. “Darrel may have been a jerk,” he said sternly, “but his only crime was doing his best to protect his town.”

There was a somewhat abashed silence. Then Val cleared her throat. “If you think about it, though, since he was in charge of turning people away at the borders, he was basically the face of the town. So when he antagonized everyone he met he gave Stanberry a bad reputation.” She shook her head. “Not to mention the way he talked to Jay and the Wensbrook survivors.”

Charlie nodded. “He really was the worst person for the job, although it stands to reason the only way he got it was nepotism, being the Mayor's cousin and all. I still wouldn't say he had it coming, since Nick's right that he didn't do anything to deserve it, but he definitely gave the guys who hate us plenty of incentive to shoot him.”

Nick shook his head. “The big thing is that Jay's gone way beyond burning down abandoned houses now. He killed people today, and hurt way more.”

A grim silence settled over his group for a minute or so. “We're going to have to do more than just tighten security and send out more patrols,” Chet finally declared. “That's obviously not working.”

“Yeah.” Nick stared into the distance, absently adjusting his grip on his rifle. He didn't want to see his friends hurt in a fight, but what choice did they have when Jay was using bombs and sniping from hundreds of yards away? “The question is, what do we do?”

✽✽✽

Larry jumped to his feet and stormed towards Jay's truck as it pulled into the makeshift parking lot by their camp.

Jay hopped out of the driver's side, but before Larry could start laying into him Chuck Northam, a squirrelly little guy who'd sometimes gone hunting with him and Jay and their friends, darted around from the passenger's side and stepped into his path.

“Got something to say?” Chuck growled.

“Not to you,” Larry snapped back.

Chuck reddened, but didn't get out of his way. The guy had been weaseling his way closer to Jay ever since Larry had convinced everyone to abandon the fight, just before half their town burned. Since then Larry had kept his distance from their leader, too defeated to keep trying to convince him or their friends to stop this madness.

With him out of the picture Chuck had been all too happy to step into that space, becoming Jay's good little crony. He was the one who'd helped Jay design the bombs they'd used for their attack, although Larry didn't want to know why the guy had been walking around with that sort of knowledge.

Chuck fancied himself second in command of the group, but nobody respected him enough to take him seriously; they mostly ignored his attempts to lord it over them, unless his orders came directly from Jay.

Although with this successful attack that might change.

Larry was more than happy to keep showing the little weasel the contempt he deserved, especially after what Jay had just done. So he stepped around him, shouldering him aside when Chuck tried to stop him, and kept right on going to get in Jay's face.

“What the blazes was that?” he shouted, loud enough for everyone in both camps to hear.

His friend feigned confusion, although his face was flushed and his eyes gleamed with triumph. “You're going to have to be more specific.”

“Don't give me that BS!” Larry snarled. “Since when was assassinating Stanberry's