“I got a thing or two to say to that one,” a man wearing a blue coat said, nodding at Lynn from his position by Neva’s side. “She killed two of my friends.”
“I see you brought me more.”
“Enough,” Stebbs said sharply. “What do you want from us?”
“Don’t want nothing with you, old man,” Gap Tooth said. “We went to make a trade with your pretty boy there, but he wasn’t home. Thought maybe he was making time with the girl, and here we are.”
One of the men standing with Vera, who wore a green hat, spoke up. “Where’s the little one?”
“She’s busy dying,” Lynn said coldly.
He looked down at his feet, but not before she caught the flicker of shame in his eyes. “I’m sorry for that.”
Vera moaned and her eyes moved to Lynn, a pleading question there that she couldn’t answer. Lynn looked away, swallowing hard. “What’s your trade?”
“Our business ain’t with you,” Gap Tooth said.
“You’re on my property, and I’m the one asking.”
“Goddamn girl, you ain’t learned friendly yet, have ya?”
Blue Coat fingered his crotch. “I’ll teach her, before we leave.”
Eli crossed the distance between them before the men had the chance to cock their guns and delivered a chop to his neck that brought Blue Coat to the ground, gasping. The guns turned on Eli, and he put his hands back in the air. “You came to trade, make a trade. He talks with his dick again, he loses it.”
Gap Tooth considered his comrade, still fighting for air and curled into the fetal position. He lowered his gun. “We want your fancy girl. Even trade for her momma.”
“No,” Lynn said without hesitation. “I won’t trade a friend for a stranger.”
“Ain’t your call, girlie.”
Eli stood shivering in the chill, his hands still in the air. “She isn’t mine to trade. I don’t own her.”
“I’ve got food,” Stebbs said quickly. “Vegetables, fruit, water. Whatever you need.”
“We got water and I ain’t hungry, not in that way.”
The back door burst open, all guns changed their positions, and Vera yelped at the sight of her daughter. “Her temp is a hundred and four, I need—” Neva jerked to a halt when she saw the men.
“Neva,” Eli said carefully, “we need to—”
“Mother!” Neva cried, lurching toward her despite the guns pointed at her. She fell to her knees beside the older woman, tears falling openly. Her fingers wrapped around the noose and began pulling it over Vera’s head.
“Hold on there, missy,” Blue Coat said, his hand stopping hers. “We ain’t done negotiating.”
“Negotiating for what?”
“Neva, honey,” Vera said calmly. “Listen to me—”
“It’s simple, fancy lady,” Gap Tooth said. “You come with us, and we leave your mother.”
Neva held her mother’s bound hands in her own, her face blank as she stared back at him.
Lynn edged toward them, hands still in the air. “Neva, you don’t have to—”
Blue Coat swung his gun on her. “Shut it.”
“I’ll go,” Neva said, glancing at Lynn. The rush of energy from Neva that Lucy’s sickness spurred had turned into a cold determination, and Lynn barely recognized the eyes staring back at her from the other woman’s face.
“Eli, get my coat,” Neva said.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he answered.
“Get her coat or she goes cold,” Gap Tooth said.
“Lynn,” Neva said, her eyes boring into Lynn’s, “take care of my sick baby.” Every word punched through the protest Lynn had already formed. Lynn’s rage had kept her from seeing what Neva knew too well; Vera was a doctor, and Lucy needed her badly. More than she needed her mother. If the men knew Vera’s skill they would never trade her, no matter how badly they wanted Neva.
“Eli,” Lynn spoke slowly, disbelieving her own words. “Get Neva’s coat.”
When he didn’t move, Lynn broke Neva’s gaze and glanced at him. He searched her face for a moment and Lynn knew he was weighing the fates of Lucy and Neva in the moment before he went to get Neva’s coat, head down. Neva bent to take the noose off her mother, but Blue Coat jerked her to the ground and began tying her hands before she could. Lynn winced, fury at her inability to stop them boiled over.
“You should know that I’ll kill you all, and soon,” she said.
“Them’s big words, little girl, when I’m up here,” the man on the roof said.
“My voice carried though, didn’t it?”
“Now that looks good on you, Fancy,” Blue Coat said to Neva as he tightened the noose around her throat. “Don’t go running off on me now.” He kicked Vera in the ribs and she fell to her side in the mud. “Been nice knowing you, looking forward to getting to know your daughter just as well.”