Away From the Sun (23 page)

I pull my backpack up to me from the floor and unzip it. I shove Waverly’s notebook inside and then pull out the manila folder I got from the hospital—information about Jessi Paxton. I look through the pages to double-check that everything is there and I feel confident that it will be enough information.
 

“You might want me to do all the talking at the gate,” Gabe says. “The scouts aren’t going to be quick to let you in, and will be more apt to shooting you.”

“Understood,” I say, shoving the folder back into my bag.
 

Gabe sets the truck in park and gets out of the cab with his hands in the air. Guards line the top of the wall, each of them with guns pointed at us. A single command would put holes all through us, but they recognize Gabe almost immediately. Mendez meets Gabe in front of the truck and gives him a tight
bro-hug
. He continues to wear his sleeveless getup despite the frigid air.
 
Gabe says something and Mendez’s face turns very serious. Then, he looks in my direction. He doesn’t seem angry as much as concerned. Mendez was there the day Skip died. He knows I didn’t kill anybody. But that doesn’t mean he’s anxious to let me back in. I’m still technically a murderer as far as the citizens know. Gabe does some fast talking and instead of being turned away, Mendez has his men open the front gate.
 

“Keep your head low,” Gabe tells me as he gets into the truck and puts it into drive. “Mendez isn’t happy that you’re here.”

“But he knows I’m innocent,” I argue.
 

“Doesn’t matter. You’re a security risk. Just keep your head low; the other guards don’t know it’s you. He’s going to make sure we get a meeting with Paxton without anyone else knowing you’re here.”

Going smoothly so far,
I think.
 

I hunker down in my seat and pull my hood over my face so none of the guards can recognize me. I feel like one of those convicted criminals that has to cover up as they pass by so the media won’t get a good face shot. Only I’m not a criminal.

Gabe drives us through the streets of Crestwood, taking us through back alleys and behind buildings I’ve never even noticed before, until we are finally parked behind the headquarters building. I open the door and sling my backpack over my shoulder and follow Gabe to the side entrance that I snuck into only a couple of weeks ago. He pulls out a set of keys and unlocks the door, walking in before I do.

It feels like I broke in here months ago, not weeks. We walk into the dirty kitchen and through the double doors on the other side. The table that had been set against them is no longer there. We walk toward the stairs, but at the bottom, Gabe looks at me.
 

“You have a tendency to get hotheaded,” he says.
 

“Excuse me?” I say, but my cheeks turn red when he lifts an eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Paxton won’t respond to you as well if you come at him,” Gabe says. “Just be polite and we’ll explain the situation as calmly as possible.”

“Yes sir,” I say with a tone that makes Gabe shake his head at me.
 

The stairs creak as we walk up them and to the second level. The room is big and takes up almost the entire floor. Paxton sits at his desk on the other side of the room, his large hands folded in front of him, resting comfortably on the desk. His dark beard seems thicker and a little less kept than the last time I saw him. He has big, dark bags under his eyes that make him look like he hasn’t slept since I saw him last.

He stands as we enter the room and he extends a hand for Gabe to shake. “Gabe, it’s good to see you,” he says. “We were beginning to fear the worst.” He looks at me and offers a hand, but in my normal fashion, I snub him and take a seat in front of his desk.
 

Gabe lets out a sigh and sits next to me. “A lot has been going on,” Gabe says.
 

Paxton sits back down, his eyes not leaving me. “I would imagine so. I am curious why you brought Remi back.” His eyes narrow and move to Gabe. “She is a convicted murderer after all.”

Gabe doesn’t hesitate. “You and I both know that’s not true.”

Paxton shrugs. “Why are you here?” he asks me.
 

“Don’t you remember the conversation we had before you kicked me out? About your daughter?”

Paxton’s eyes widen now and he sits a little straighter. “You’ve found out something?”

“I have,” I say, “though I’m afraid it’s not all good.”

Paxton’s face turns serious as if to prepare himself for bad news and he takes a deep breath. “Okay,” he says. “What have you got?”

“Information,” I say. “Some of it bad. Some of it really good. But first, we’ve got to talk business.”

“Remi,” Gabe says, but I hold a hand up to shush him.
 

“Are you good on your word? You told me that it didn’t matter if it was good news or not.”

“Yes,” Paxton says, “of course.”

“What was the agreement?” I ask. “I want to hear you say it.”

Paxton swallows, his eyes flitting to Gabe, then back to me. “I said you would be welcomed back here.”

“And?”

He starts tapping the desk with a finger. “And what?”

“And that it will be as though it never happened,” I say. “You will make all this right.”

“Yes, I believe that is what I said.”

“Okay,” I say. “Now that I know that you’re willing to do that for me, I have to talk to you about something else.”

“What about my daughter?” Paxton says.
 

“I’ll get to that in a minute. I want to talk to you about Shadowface.”

Paxton rolls his eyes and sets both palms on his desk. “I don’t care what you read in that journal you stole, but I’m not going to discuss Shadowface with you.”

“You should,” I say. “If you want to know what happened to your daughter.”

“You walk a very thin line,” Paxton says, his face turning red.

Gabe stays silent, watching Paxton as I continue.
 

“The city of Elkhorn is currently under attack by Shadowface’s men. The people there are innocent and cannot defend themselves for very long. We need your help to fight Shadowface.”

“Are you crazy?” Paxton says. “I’m not going to get my people involved in something like that just to get information about my daughter, who no doubt has been dead for years.”

I reach down for my backpack and unzip it, and pull out the manila folder. I toss it in front of Paxton on his desk. “There’s everything you need to know about Jessi. She died in the hospital. Specifically, the maternity ward.”

Paxton’s eyes dart from the folder to my face when I say this. “The maternity ward?” he repeats.
 

I nod.

Paxton opens the folder, reading line-after-line, trying to gather as much information as he can. Tears come to his eyes when he reads his granddaughter’s name. “Evelyn.” he whispers. “That was my wife’s name.” Paxton wipes his face with his sleeve, finally looking up and me and Gabe. “Jessi and her mother used to be very close. But Evelyn…my wife…died seven years ago from cancer. And now…now I’ve lost a granddaughter, too.”

“But you haven’t,” I say.
 

“What do you mean?”

“In Elkhorn, they call her Evie.”

“You mean…the child…she’s alive?”

I nod again.
 

“She’s in Elkhorn?”

“Your flesh and blood.”

Paxton jumps to his feet immediately, his fingers wrapped around the tangles of his hair. He starts pacing the room, so Gabe and I stand from our seats, watching Paxton from a distance. “My granddaughter is in Elkhorn? All this time she was so close. I never knew.”

“She has been well taken care of,” Gabe offers. “She seems healthy and bright.”

“She’s a beautiful child,” I say.
 

Paxton smiles at us. He seems almost like a different person. In the lapse of a moment, he went from hard-nosed leader of Crestwood to a tender, lovable grandfather.
 

“I have to see her,” he says.
 

“She’s been under the care of a woman named Lydia,” I say. “She was a nurse there when Jessi died. She’s been with Evie ever since.”

“The feelings within me are so strange,” Paxton says. “Part of me grieves for the loss of my daughter, but the other part of me is filled with joy about little Evie. Oh, I wish there was a picture of her.”

I take a step forward. “Paxton, we don’t have much time. Shadowface is attacking Elkhorn right now.
Little Evie
is in grave danger. Honestly, I don’t even know if she is still alive.”

Paxton’s jaws are set firm.
 

“We came here to talk to you,” I say, “because you have the manpower to help out over there. If you can help us, there may still be time to stop Shadowface and save your granddaughter.”

“I can’t just do that,” Paxton says.
 

“Why not?”

“You don’t understand,” he says. He brushes past us and sits down behind his desk again. “Being a part of Shadowface’s network is a lot more than just getting supplies and being cared for. It’s becoming part of a colony system. Shadowface is building something big and if we’re not a part of it, then we will be left to fend for ourselves. To leave Shadowface is to doom Crestwood. We’ll be fighting raiders and greyskins until the day we die.”

“But your granddaughter,” I say.
 

Paxton scratches his forehead with a finger. “You know, Shadowface is becoming less and less of a secret every single day. Word is starting to get out, and not just here. But I think Shadowface wants it that way. He has even told us that he wants to meet with all the settlement leaders in the coming months to reveal his identity. Says he’s tired of living in the shadows, but it was the only way he could work for a time. But I don’t know what to do. I can’t just abandon my people to live without food and supplies. I can’t leave them out of the network that will save so many lives in the future.”

“What if you help Elkhorn in secret?” Gabe says. “We’ve got plenty of soldiers.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you have to go under a Crestwood banner,” I tell him.
 

“What, and leave Crestwood defenseless?” Paxton shakes his head. “Can’t do that.”

“So, you leave a few people behind,” Gabe says. “I’m still leader of the scouts, I can determine who stays here and who goes with us without compromising Crestwood’s defenses. We don’t even need that much assistance, but a surprise attack from out of nowhere will be a tremendous help.”

“But in the event that any of our men are captured and questioned, they will mention Crestwood. We would be implicated.”

“Then don’t get captured,” I say.
 

Paxton shakes his head and sighs. “I can’t do it.”

“Think about your granddaughter,” I say. “Think about little Evie. If you don’t do something, she
will
die.”

Paxton looks up at me, a serious look on his face. I can tell that he’s torn in two. He hadn’t expected to be bombarded with all this information today, yet here we are.
 

“It’s a simple decision,” I press. “Help us out, and save Evie, or say
‘no’
and Evie goes to the grave along with your daughter. You’ve outlived a wife and a daughter. Don’t outlive a granddaughter, Paxton.”

He drums his fingers on the desk, and I know that he wants to help us. I understand the constraints he has, but I’m not going to sympathize with him. I don’t want to make it an easy choice.
 

“How much time do I have to think about it?” he asks.
 

“No time,” I say. “And you know this isn’t just something you can bring up with the elders. They won’t go for it. They care nothing for your granddaughter.”

Paxton doesn’t nod, but I know he hears me. The decision is his and his alone. He stands from his chair and tells us that he’s going for a walk. “You should stay here,” he says. “It wouldn’t be wise to be seen. I’ll be back soon. I need to clear my head.”

Gabe and I say nothing until Paxton leaves, shutting the door behind him. Finally, I look at Gabe. “What’s this about?”

“It’s not an easy decision,” Gabe says.
 

“I get that, but doesn’t family come first?”

“He’s got to weigh it,” Gabe explains. “Really, if he helps us, there is no going back. Shadowface will know he helped us. There’s no getting around that. If he helps us, the other elders will just take over and try to declare Paxton a lone traitor.”

“You think he’ll just give up his power here?” I ask, but Gabe only answers with a shrug. I suppose I can’t just expect the guy to drop everything and come with us. And the longer we wait, the more I fear that Paxton will only convince himself that he needs to stay here, leaving behind his granddaughter as she was in his mind—nonexistent.
 

I watch Paxton from the second floor window. I turn my ear toward him to listen, but all I can hear are his footsteps along the sidewalk. He stuffs his hands in his pockets as the cold wind hits him. He walks all the way around one of the buildings, but I’m still able to keep up with his noise.

Eventually, his feet stop moving and it sounds like he rests against a wall. I hear a click and the pressing of a couple of buttons. Then, I can faintly hear the noise of a phone call going through the lines.
 

“He’s calling someone,” I say to Gabe, keeping my hearing fixed on Paxton.
 

“What?”

“Shhh!” I hold up a finger for Gabe to wait. He walks next to the window, looking for Paxton.
 

The phone is still calling. I don’t really know how phones connect now because they went out so long ago. Perhaps it’s just a communication system set up by Shadowface.
 

Finally, I can hear someone pick up on the other end of the line, but there is no greeting, just dead air.
 

“Hello?” Paxton says. “Can you hear me?”

“Why are you calling?” The tone is low and sounds like there is a device to mask the speaker’s voice. “It better be important.”

“I’m calling with some very important information, but also with a request,” Paxton says. He waits for a response, but he is met with silence. He takes a deep breath. “I know that your men are attacking the settlement of Elkhorn, but it has come to my attention that my granddaughter lives there. I’ve been searching for my family for the past three years. Is there a way for you to find her, or at least make sure she isn’t harmed?”