“Son, at my age, they just are not that damn important anymore.”
Rook grinned. “Fair enough. So no more standoff?”
The man reached out his hand. “If you could cut the large wolf, there never was a standoff. I would never have hit you with the gun.”
Rook took the man’s hand, still grinning, though he kept the Desert Eagle in the other at his side. “That’s probably true. What’s your name?”
“Peder Bjork. So, Stanislav, where do you come from?”
“Russia.”
“Russia? I see. And when will you be moving on?”
All at once, Rook felt the urgency of the loss of contact with the rest of Chess Team. How long had it been? Too long, was the answer, and he needed to let them know he was only temporarily out of the game. “I don’t know. A while I guess. Do you have a phone? Maybe I can figure it out myself?”
“No phones here. And before you ask, no Internet, either. Not even mail or telegram.”
“I get it; we have a lot of people in, ah, Russia, who are the same way. Sometimes the damn things are more trouble than they’re worth. How about someone else in town who might let me use theirs?”
“I don’t think you heard me, Stanislav. In the town of Fenris Kystby, we do not have any of that.”
Rook blinked.
“Are you serious? What if there was an emergency?”
“Then someone would drive an hour or two and bring help. There is really nothing we need that we cannot provide ourselves or get during occasional trips.”
Rook opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. Maybe the guy was right. Maybe a few weeks with no distractions was just what he needed. He’d have to contact the team, but that could wait a little bit longer.
“I guess you’re right, Peder. I’ll be staying for a few days. Is there an inn or any kind of boarding house in town? Maybe a place where I won’t wake up with a gun in my face?”
Peder barked a laugh. “You have a lot to learn, Stanislav. There is not anything like that. You are better off just moving on.”
Rook felt the anger rising in his chest and he let his fingers flex around the Desert Eagle still at his side. “Yeah, well I like it here. I think I’ll stay. You got any suggestions or are we back to a standoff?”
Peder raised his eyebrows and twisted his lips in thought. “Well now, I do have one idea. I have a little pest control problem on the farm that maybe a man like you could help with. Since you like my barn so much, I could let you sleep here for a few days in exchange for your help.”
Inside, Rook groaned, his mind filled with images of chasing rats around the barn with the gun and cursing. But he had plenty of free time on his hands, and he didn’t have any better options. So he nodded. “That’s a generous offer, and I’ll take you up on it. Thanks”
Peder said, “Are you going to put that pistol away, or are you still waiting for me to draw on you?”
Rook looked down at the gun, and tucked it into the back of his pants where it would not be seen or put his boys in danger. “Better to have it handy and not need it than the opposite.”
“True, Stanislav, very true. You know, you are almost certainly the luckiest man in Fenris tonight.”
“Why’s that, because you didn’t shoot me?”
“In a way. You’re lucky you picked my barn, that’s all.”
“I didn’t feel lucky when I first opened my eyes.”
Peder chuckled. “If you had picked any other barn besides mine, you could have counted on one thing.”
“What?”
“No one else in town would have woken you up before pulling the trigger.”
3
After his rude awakening, Rook didn’t go back to sleep. Peder gave him a brief tour of the farm, which didn’t consist of much beyond the house, the barn, and some fenced enclosures for grazing. The barn housed half a dozen chickens, three cows, two pigs, two horses, and two goats, and Rook watched as Peder released them into their respective pens.
It reminded him of home in New Hampshire, which made him think of his fellow Chess Team members and how he needed to find a way to contact them. First, though, he wanted to find out more about the pest control problem Peder had mentioned. That, and get some breakfast. As Peder showed him the house proper, Rook broached the subject.
“So what exactly do you need my help with?”
Peder motioned to a faded blue couch that had seen better days. “Take a seat, Stanislav. We have a problem in this town no one wants to talk much about. Since it started taking my animals though, I’ve been trying to do something.”
Great, Rook thought. I’ll be chasing coyotes instead of rats. “Since what started taking your animals?”