The Fields of Lemuria by Sam Sisavath Page A

there, Fiona. You have to know that.”
    “Really, thanks for the news flash, Walter Cronkite. I know it’s dangerous out there, but I’ll take my chances. Besides, I’m not telling you to dump me as soon as we get out of this place. What I’m saying is, I’d like to tag along wherever you go to next. Two is better than one, right?”
    “Three,” Keo said. “You, me, and Norris.”
    “Right,” she said. “You, me, and Norris. That’s what I meant.”
    He could see on her face that she didn’t believe a single word of it, so they had that in common.

CHAPTER 9
    Keo gave Fiona space to work on Rupert, standing nearby while they talked in soft voices. Or Fiona talked, because Rupert mostly just looked confused, caught somewhere between wanting to run away, fighting Keo, and lying down and going back to sleep. Keo wasn’t entirely sure if she was getting through to the kid or if she was even close.
    Joe, you little punk. I should have killed you when I had the chance.
    After ten minutes, Keo said, “Are we good?”
    Fiona shook her head. “Give me a few more minutes.”
    “No,” Keo said, and walked over.
    Fiona glared at him, but he ignored her. Rupert looked suddenly frightened and attempted to get up, but he moved too fast and stumbled before falling back down on his butt.
    “Jesus, Keo, you’re scaring him,” Fiona said.
    Keo kept his eyes on Rupert. He really was young. In another time, another place, the kid would be in high school devoting his time to girls, sports, and picking colleges. Right now, he was wearing a grown man’s assault vest, with pouches stuffed with ammo and an empty hip holster. Right now, he looked very much like Joe.
    I should have shot you dead, Joe, you little prick.
    Keo crouched in front of Rupert, whose eyes went immediately to the MP5SD leaning across Keo’s right knee. Then those same blue eyes flickered up to Keo’s face. Rupert had shaggy light brown hair and his face was dirt and mud-free, which, up close, only made him look younger than his seventeen years.
    “Rupert, right?” Keo said.
    The kid nodded.
    “My name is Keo. Your friends have my friend. His name is Norris. Black guy. Fifties. You saw him?”
    Rupert nodded again, hesitantly this time. His eyes went back to the submachine gun. Keo was close enough that he could hear Rupert’s labored breathing. Next to them, Fiona stood quietly. Keo hoped she didn’t try something. He would have hated to shoot her earlier, and he still would now. Not that he wouldn’t do it, but he would prefer not to.
    “I’m going to get him back,” Keo said. “But right now, you’re a nuisance. That means I have two options: Kill you now—”
    Keo fired into the ground a few inches next to Rupert. The suppressed gunshot echoed slightly among the trees, but not enough to travel across the woods and alert anyone nearby or far away. That was the point of a suppressor, after all—and what Keo wanted to get across to the kid: “I can kill you anytime, and your friends won’t come running to help. Got it?”
    “—or make sure you don’t run off to alert your buddies the first chance you get. So, which option would you prefer?”
    Rupert continued staring at Keo, as if he was attempting to summon some non-existent courage. But he was betrayed by his hands, which trembled noticeably at his sides.
    “When I shoot you, no one’s going to hear it,” Keo continued. “Understand?”
    The kid nodded.
    “You don’t do what I tell you, I’m going to shoot you. You make a noise that I interpret, rightly or wrongly, as an attempt to screw me over, and I will shoot you. You even look at me cross-eyed, and I will shoot you. I don’t know you from Adam. I don’t give a shit that you have a sister. You even think about screwing me, and I will shoot you. Do you understand, Rupert?”
    Another nod, this one coming faster—and with more emphasis—than the last few times.
    “Now, get up,” Keo said.
    Rupert tried to get up but