“I don’t like to talk about it.” Jacks looks down at the floor. “I have his file. If you promise not to wander off again, I’ll let you read it.”
“Why would you take Tank’s file?” I ask. He looks at his feet but doesn’t answer. “Can’t you just tell me what’s in it?”
He pauses. “He likes to hurt girls,” he says, his face full of pain. Jacks takes a deep breath—and it feels as if he is sucking all the air out of the room.
“So, where’d you go, anyway?” I ask, trying to forget about Tank for a minute.
“A couple of guys were anxious for entry. It happens.”
The lights flicker and I glance at the ceiling. “What’s up with the electricity?” I ask.
“The electricity is powered by a diesel generator and only used for the perimeter wall . . . and the Warden’s suite. The rest of Fort Black is dark.”
“And you allow weapons inside?”
“Yeah . . . it’s not like there are rules, really. People have to defend themselves.”
He sits in a chair and stretches, allowing me to see that one wiry-muscled arm is patterned in tribal symbols surrounding a tree on his bicep, its roots hanging down his arm, reaching toward his hand. The other has a bright scene that is too cluttered to make out from where I sit, but I spot a bright gold ribbon that winds from his wrist and up his arm, disappearing under his sleeve and showing up again on his neck, peeking out of his collar.
I’m still trying to make out the tattoo, when I realize he’s been speaking to me. My eyes snap up to his face. “Sorry, what?”
“How did you make it here?”
“I ran.”
He crosses his arms. “Come on. You owe me. I could have had your ass out the door just then.”
“That’s true. Thanks.”
“So?”
I think for a moment. How did I make it here? Because the Guardians taught me how to survive. But I can’t talk about New Hope. For one thing, I don’t know what would happen to me if I did.
I shrug. “Luck, I guess. Plus I’m fast. And smart.”
Jacks laughs. “Are you sure you haven’t been here before? You definitely talk the talk.”
“Well, like you said. I’ve made it this far.”
Jacks stands and goes to the counter. I tense, remembering the potassium chloride. I get ready to spring up and run for it, but Jacks just grabs a cup from the cabinet. He fills it with water from the tap and brings it to me.
“Uh, thanks,” I say warily, but I’m starting to trust Jacks. When I had him pinned, he never tried to fight back. Instead he stayed cool and talked me down. He doesn’t want to harm me. If he did, he could have told Pete to shoot me or let Tank have another crack at me.
“Well water. You get used to it.”
I take a sip and wince at the rusty, metallic taste. As I force it down, the door bursts opens and Doc and the man in the Stetson hat walk into the room. The wannabe cowboy is in his midforties, and has dark hair and a well-kempt beard. His bushy eyebrows nearly meet the hat pulled low on his forehead.
“Hello again, Amy.” Doc smiles thinly. “This is the Warden. He’s come to welcome you to Fort Black.”
“Hiya, Amy,” the man says with a heavy Texan accent. “I hope my nephew has been taking good care of ya.”
My eyes flick to Jacks in shock.
Jacks is the Warden’s nephew?
Jacks’s voice cuts through. “I have. As you can see, she’s still human. There’s no need to worry.”
“Not yet . . . but it hasn’t been the full twenty-four hours. It is important we take precautions,” Doc says, not meeting my gaze.
The Warden, on the other hand, looks me up and down. “Well, Jacks has given his word to watch her for any change, and Doc says she’s free of the Black Plague.” He smiles, and for a moment I see his resemblance to Jacks. “If you have any trouble, you just let me know,” he tells me. “We’ll find you a place to stay if you want.”
“I’m fine,” I say quietly.
The Warden ignores my statement and looks over my shoulder to Jacks. “Jackson, you take care of this little girl, ya hear?”
I stifle an incredulous snort.
“Bye now.” The Warden dips his hat to me and leaves, followed by Doc.
Once the door closes, I turn to Jacks, who’s awkwardly avoiding my gaze. “Your uncle’s the Warden?”
He shrugs and nods, looking down as if embarrassed.
I study him. He didn’t tell Doc or the Warden about my disappearing act. He seems sincere, not guarded the way Rice always was when he was trying not to tell me the truth about New Hope and the Floraes.
“Look, if you’re this hooked up, you must know how to get to this guy I’m looking for.”
“I know some things,” Jacks says. I look into his eyes. The intensity of the stare he gives me back makes me blush and look away. I can still feel his dark eyes on me.
“Well, maybe you know him. Ken Oh?”
He shrugs. “I’ve run across a couple of guys named Ken, I guess. Ken O, though? Like the initial O?”