I exhaled, looking up at the men, nae feeling well enough tae stand. “I am sorry about my grief, I hae jumped many times.”
Zach said, “It’s okay, Magnus, we got you.”
“When did ye arrive, Colonel Quentin?”
Quentin looked solemn. “Just a few moments ago—”
Fraoch said, “Twas two storms, one right after another.”
I nodded and scrubbed my hands up and down on m’face. “I am frightfully hungry, I haena eaten since Balloch castle, the fourth time I jumped there. Lizbeth and Sean send their regards.” The field we were in was blooming with wildflowers, I picked a stalk of grass. “Is she lost, how will we recover her?”
Colonel Quentin said, “I don’t know, Boss, I had a full blown rescue operation with William Wallace—”
“William Wallace? Och, I daena believe it, he is an unhelpful bawbag.”
Colonel Quentin said, “You met him too? Holy shit.”
Chef Zach said, “William Wallace,theWilliam Wallace?”
I said, “Ye hae heard of him?”
Chef Zach said, “Of course I’ve heard of him! He’s the most famous Scotsman in the world, have we shown you Braveheart?”
I peeled away leaves from a long wildflower stem while they spoke, it was calmin’ tae m’mind.
Colonel Quentin said, “We’re off topic I think, Zach, crazy shit just went down—”
“Right of course, carry on.”
Quentin said, “I was attempting to rescue Katie and James and we had guns blaring and I had taught Wallace an end-around play…” His eyes went vague and far off, then he said, “I was proud of that, but it’s only something that James would understand — wish he were here to hear it.”
“From the west?” I asked.
“Yeah, and while I circled the castle it was like the world had vanished, all the people were gone, it was a creepy-ass ghost town.”
I peeled another long leaf. “Did ye see or hear any ghosts?”
“No, but I did see a sign from James. His initials carved in a cell wall. He had been keeping track, it looked like twenty-four days or something.”
“Nae sign of Kaitlyn? I believe she might be kept in a room on the second floor.”
“I checked all the rooms, but…” His eyes went wide. “Should I go back? Maybe I didn’t look hard enough…?”
“If James was gone, she was likely gone as well, but…” I stood. “I need ye tae write all this down, we ought tae map out what ye saw. We hae tae make sure we daena miss any clues.”
As we headed tae the house, lugging some of Quentin’s crates, the winds picked up again. Chef Zach looked up at the sky. “Fuck, another storm is coming, three in a row.”
We ducked behind a stand of trees, the wind was brutal and dangerous.
I called out. “How many weapons do we hae, any extra?”
Colonel Quentin lifted the lid on a crate and passed out weapons.
Chef Zach said, “Look on the bright side, though, it’s probably not going to be a shootout, it’s probably Katie and James.”
I said, “Aye Zach, but can ye run tae the house tae protect the kids?”
“Absolutely.” He raced down the road.
