His large, dark eyes regarded Thorn with cold indifference, as though Pauly had sized him up in a split second and decided Thorn wasn’t worth further consideration.
Around his neck he wore a leather cord with a beaded medallion of green and white, and on his right wrist was a silver bracelet ornamented with oval turquoise stones. Thorn didn’t know much about Native American tribes, so he could only guess what this man’s ancestry might be. But the flavor of his medallion and bracelet and the broad face and harsh slash of his cheekbones hinted at one of those clans who centuries ago were driven over the Bering Strait by the last ice age and had trekked down into the new continent and settled in the deserts of the Southwest.
“Some last-minute asshole,” Wally said. “I don’t like it. No way.”
“I’m with Wally,” Cameron said. “I’ve spoken to him at length and found him to be an arrogant man. An untrustworthy wiseass. I don’t think he’s capable of becoming a member of any group, much less ours. I vote no.”
She drew a breath, gave Prince a disheartened look, and moved on. “All right, that’s two against. But let me make this clear. If we don’t accept Thorn in the group, we’ll have to make a hard choice how to proceed.”
“Slice his throat, dump his carcass at sea,” Wally said. “That’s not hard.”
“I vote yes,” Flynn said. Staring off at the sunlight slanting into the tent.
“And that’s my vote as well,” Leslie said. “So that leaves you, Pauly.”
“Vote no, Pauly. The guy’s a hairy-ass motherfucker.” Wally danced up to Thorn, threw a couple of phantom slaps at his face. “Pauly votes no.”
“Pauly? Shall we give him a chance?”
The man said something below his breath.
“What is it, Pauly?”
“Why’s he here?” His voice was low and thick as though it had been days since he’d last uttered a word.
“What do you mean?”
“Why’d he come?”
“He was worried about Flynn.”
“Why?”
“He thought Flynn was mixed up in something suspicious. Isn’t that right, Thorn?”
Thorn nodded.
Pauly peered hard at Thorn as if inspecting a slab of meat.
“Vote no, vote no, vote no,” Wally chanted.
Pauly said, “Abstain.”
“Abstain!” Wally threw up his hands. “You can’t fucking abstain. You got to vote no. The guy’s an asshole. Look at him, he’s dumber than a bag of used condoms. What’re you talking about, man? Don’t abstain. I’ll personally do the honors, cut his smart guy’s throat.”
“All right, that’s it,” Leslie said. “Thorn stays. But it’s probationary. We have a few days before we move. Time for Thorn to prove himself one way or the other.”
Thorn kept silent. Not the moment for an acceptance speech.
“I’m coming for you, douche bag,” Wally said, stabbing a finger at Thorn. “Head on a fucking swivel.”
Looking down at the ground, Leslie said, “Now I have some bad news.”
No one spoke. Wally waved a mosquito from his face.
“Marcus Bendell was killed this morning. Electrocuted.”
Flynn flinched but the others showed nothing.
Wally said, “No big loss. Bendell wasn’t playing a skill position.”
“Like you are?” Flynn said.
“Goddamn right.”
“A hacker? Ten-year-old kids can do what you do on their cell phone.”
“I’m a fucking SCADA programmer, asshole. I spent a year in a hacker dojo learning UNIX, mastering the code. I can make passenger jets crash. What the fuck do you bring to the table?”
Leslie stood silently, waiting for them to sort it out.
When Flynn didn’t reply, she said, “Answer him, Flynn. What do you bring to the table?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I have to contribute.”
“What’s your skill, Flynn?” She spoke softly and without judgment or pressure as if she’d spent considerable time mediating between hostile men in sweaty barracks tents.
“I don’t have any.”
“Second that motion,” Wally said.
“You’re an actor, aren’t you? An artist. A creative person.”
Flynn said, “Sometimes I wonder.”
“We all wonder,” she said. “Only those cursed by hubris don’t wonder about the roles they play.”
“Cursed by hubris?” Wally said. “What is this, vocabulary day? We’re back in tenth grade?”
“You never left, Wally,” said Flynn.
Leslie let the silence grow for several moments, then said, “Marcus was an informant for the feds.”