Lord of Order by Brett Riley (the reading list book TXT) 📕

Could be you’re plannin an assault on this Temple. Could be somethin worse. Tell us what you’re up to, or you’re gonna wish you had.

Stransky grinned. Her teeth were white and straight, even though the rest of her looked like she had never seen a bathtub. I got the love of the true God on my side. You shitbirds don’t scare me.

Hobbes backhanded her on her left temple, the sound flat and meaty. She grunted and fell against Boudreaux’s legs. The younger deputy shoved her away, and when she regained her balance and looked at Troy again, the smile was gone.

Don’t be bringin God into this, Troy said. I’m gonna ask you nice one more time. It’s your last chance to leave here with all your teeth and both eyes. What are the Troublers plannin, and how many are comin? Where will they be?

Up your ass, Stransky said. She laughed, the sound like briars scraping broken glass.

Hobbes raised his hand again. Troy shook his head, and Hobbes hooked his thumb back in his gun belt. When Stransky’s laughter subsided, Troy said, I gotta hand it to you. Ain’t nobody ever laughed at me in this office before. Maybe out there in their little hidey-holes, but never where I can see em. Still, all them guts ain’t gonna help you. These boys are losin patience.

Stransky spat.

Boudreaux grunted. Heathen, he hissed.

You ain’t as smart as you look, Troy said, and you looked pretty dumb in the first place. Gentlemen?

Hobbes yanked Stransky to her feet. Boudreaux dragged one of the straight-backed chairs into the middle of the room, and Hobbes shoved Stransky into it. Go get them chains, Hobbes said to Boudreaux.

Boudreaux exited, his boots thundering down the stairs. Troy came around to the front of the desk and sat on its edge. He rested the toe of one boot on Stransky’s knee. You people always gotta do things the hard way. But what good will that do? Even if you don’t tell us nothin, we’ll find out eventually. Look at how we found you.

Stransky cackled again. Hobbes punched her in the jaw. She crashed to the floor and lay there, still laughing. She spat blood. You think you know what’s goin on in this city. In this world. But you don’t know jack shit.

Hobbes raised his fist, but Troy waved him off. The lord of order bent and looked Stransky in the face. What’s that mean? What can you and your godless scum friends know that we don’t?

Stransky tried to sit up. Godless? We don’t lick the boots of the bastards that killed billions of people. Them loony birds in Washington never had nothin to do with God. That was just a mask they wore so dumbasses like you would think you’re on the right side. And look how well it worked.

Neither Troy nor Hobbes replied. Boudreaux was back on the stairs with the chains, thumping and rattling and creaking. Stransky held Troy’s gaze. If she feared whatever was to come, she gave no sign.

Let’s get back to the subject at hand, Troy said, and remember—whether you’ll be able to walk afterward depends on what you say. What are the Troublers up to, and where will they be?

Stransky looked into Troy’s eyes, as intimate and serious as a lover. She moved as close to him as she could before Hobbes grabbed the back of her shirt. I won’t tell you what or where, she said. But I’ll tell you why.

Troy straightened and leaned against his desk. Boudreaux entered, thick chains hanging off one shoulder and dragging on the floor, the cuffs and locks clanking. After the young deputy stopped next to Hobbes, Troy said, I’m listenin.

Stransky turned her gaze on each of them, one at a time. I’m only tellin you because I hope you boys love this town. You can kill me, but I won’t say shit else. You understand?

Get on with it, Troy said.

I’ve met with runners from our people in Washington. They’ve spent months confirmin rumors we’ve been hearin a long time.

What rumors?

She cleared her throat. Rook’s gonna turn New Orleans into a city-sized prison for folks like me. But here’s the real kicker. He’s plannin a new Purge, and we’re standin on ground zero.

Boudreaux gasped. Troy felt as if she had slapped him. He stared at her, silent.

But Hobbes scoffed. Garbage, he said. Y’all live hand to mouth out yonder in the muck. Don’t need no Purge. Like usin a shotgun to kill a mosquito.

Stransky sneered. Your precious Crusade went and got secular in its old age. Rook believes most of y’all self-righteous jackoffs are headin for hell in the same handcart as us, and he wants to speed you along. He’s gonna wipe out everybody but his own inner circle and some hand-picked brood mares with big tits and long legs.

Horse dung, Hobbes said.

And it all starts here.

No.

Prisoners from all over the continent are on the march. Everybody the other lords locked up, and everybody they can root out on the way. Guards are comin too. Scores of em.

But why would he drive all the Troublers here? asked Boudreaux.

To get us all in one place, dumbass, Stransky said. It’ll be an event for the histories, the one that links Rook’s name to Strickland’s. He’ll butcher us, and then, with nobody left to resist, he’ll move on to the rest of the world. Kill off the wolves, and the sheep go easy.

She’s crazy, said Hobbes. We’re loyal. And saved.

In Rook’s world, everybody’s a Troubler except them that kiss his feet every day, said Stransky. And we’re a long way from D.C.

Troy shook his head, frowning. I figured you for better than this. That’s the most far-fetched lie I ever heard.

It ain’t no bullshit. You’ll see. Today we got word a rider’s comin from the capital. Be here before you know it.

More lies, said Hobbes.

Stransky ignored him. This fella’s gonna give you a new mission. He won’t go into much detail, like about how