A few moments of silence passed.

"Why didn't Hayes let you have that damn medal?"

Stone scooted up to a standing position and leaned back against the wall. "It was so many years ago, I don't think I remember anymore."

"Sure you do. That place you never forget. Ever."

Stone glanced at him. "When were you in Nam?"

"Last eighteen months of the war."

"I was more on the front end." Stone gazed down at the floor as he spoke. He had never really told anyone about this before, but he also knew it really didn't matter anymore. They would either die in this place or Stone would die in another prison, if he wasn't executed.

He looked up at Knox. "Macklin Hayes had one way of fighting. Throw as many grunts into the meat grinder as he could find, and see where the chips fell. But regardless of the outcome he saw to it that the reports that went up the line all detailed his brilliance on the battlefield. Although I believe the closest he ever got to actual combat was the occasional dustup in the officers' mess."

"I had some brass just like that. Talked a great game but never wanted to come up to bat."

"Hayes believed that I cost him a fast promotion to lieutenant colonel. And maybe I did."

"How?"

"There were three villages on a patch of dirt that the higher-ups suddenly decided we had to own. I guess so they could make it seem like we were winning the war back home. They gave the assignment to Hayes. A nice little carrot for his next bump up the line to the one-star. He ordered three companies forward, one company to hit each village. The night before we were going in Hayes called a meeting of all the sergeants."

"What about the captains?"

"They were all dead. We ran through captains and second lieutenants like you wouldn't believe. Anyway, he ordered us to flatten the places. Nobody left."

"No soldiers, you mean."

"I mean nobody, Knox, men, women and children. Nobody. Then we were to put a torch to the place and say that the Viet Cong had done it. It was some disinformation bullshit campaign that Hayes had come up with. He was constantly pulling that crap. Guy was like Machiavelli reincarnated. I think he saw it as a career enhancer."

"What happened?"

"Two of the three companies followed orders. One didn't."

"And Hayes came after you?"

"He tried. But I told him if he did I'd tell everybody the truth. It wasn't like he could say I'd disobeyed orders, because the orders he gave should have landed him right in front of a court-martial. See, I knew how he played the game. The brass upstairs might look the other way if the mission went off, but any hiccup that the journalists could get hold of and they'd eat him alive. Anyway, with one village left, the command chain wasn't pleased. So it took old Hayes a little longer to get his cluster of oak leaves."

"But he found another way to hurt you. The medal."

"I really didn't give a shit at that point. I'd been fighting a war that had no end. Every friend I'd ever had over there was dead. I was tired. I was sick of Southeast Asia, the rain, the heat, every minute of every day of my life spent taking and giving up a hundred yards' worth of dirt and jungle, and for what? For what, Knox?"

"Is that when you joined Triple Six?"

Stone hesitated. "I guess you've earned the right to know."

"I promise you it won't go any further. If they convict you it won't come with any help from me."

"Yeah, that's when Triple Six came, although I wouldn't say I joined. They made it clear that was my only option. I just ended up trading one hell for another. I was always lucky that way."

"I'm assuming you were great at your job. So why did the CIA turn on you?"

"The years went by and I married Claire and we had our little girl. Best thing that ever happened to me. Without getting too sappy about it, it was like a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me. And I decided I didn't want to play the game anymore. I just couldn't pull the trigger, Knox. I couldn't stand my own stench. I couldn't fly halfway around the world, pop someone in the brain and come home and hold my little girl and kiss my wife. I couldn't do it anymore."

"And they didn't appreciate that?"

"Men like that think they own you forever. And maybe they do."

Stone slid back down to the floor, tipped his head back and closed his eyes.

"I'll help you, Oliver. I swear it."

"You just help yourself, Knox. It's too late for me. And all I'll be getting is exactly what I deserve."

CHAPTER 73

THEY'D ALL CAUGHT a few hours' sleep at Tyree's home about two miles from downtown Divine. It was a modest-size plank house on a nice piece of land set on a hill with a long meadow behind.

Tyree made a big pot of coffee and put together some breakfast. The big sheriff's eyes were red and puffy.

"I apologize for the sorry state of the vittles. I'm not used to having this much company."

"This is all the vittles I need," said Reuben, gulping from a large mug of straight java.

They'd gotten to Abby Riker's place and the scene there had easily told them what had occurred. Front door busted in. Furniture overturned and the deputy sitting in the middle of the floor with blood running down his face. Besides that there was no clue who had taken Abby or where they'd gone. Tyree had put out an APB but they'd heard nothing yet. And every hour that slipped by did not bode well for the woman's safe return.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that," said Tyree guiltily.

"You had a man posted to guard her, Sheriff," Annabelle pointed out.

"Earl isn't much good in situations like that. But he's all I had. I should've been the one to protect her. If anything happens to her-" He broke off and stared down, and a tear fell from his eye onto the kitchen table.

"Why do you think they took her?" Alex asked quietly after an awkward silence.

Tyree wiped his face and looked up, clearing his throat loudly. "Been thinking about that. Danny's out there somewhere. Maybe they were afraid of what he'd do. So they took his mother as insurance. That boy loves his mother."

"Do you think Danny was involved in the drug-running?" asked Annabelle.

"Don't know. Fact that they were using that old barn makes me think the answer to that might be yes."

"But you said he left town."

"After Debby died. Maybe he drew the line at folks murdering his friends."

"Any word on the judge?" asked Alex.

"Surprise, surprise, he's gone too."

"So he must've been in on it and got tipped off," said Harry.

Tyree nodded. "He'd been a judge down in Texas. And he spent time in South America, least that's what he told me."

"They know drug dealing real well there."

Tyree added, "See, I been reading about how easy it is to ship stuff up from Texas that comes over the Mexican border. Seems there's two ways to deal prescription drugs. Steal it or make it."

"Make prescription drugs?" said Caleb, looking astonished.

"Drug labs in Colombia in particular have been producing oxycodone knockoffs by the ton and smuggling them in here," Alex explained. "The stuff isn't pure, of course. It's not like a filthy drug lab has the same quality control as a legit pharmaceutical manufacturer. And that's why it's so dangerous."

Tyree nodded. "So maybe our friend the judge had connections down there. Maybe the place was too hot to hold him. And when he stumbled across old Divine he thought he'd found a good place to lie low for a while."

"So the judge has the pipeline connections. Would your brother have big-city connections for distribution purposes?"

"Eighty percent of the prisoners up there are from big cities and most of 'em were in the drug business and killed somebody. That's what got them to Dead Rock. So, yeah, he might have distribution contacts."