Page 24 of Quinn

“You two need to quit sneaking around. It’s obvious you’re fucking each other.”

“You don’t know that.”

I stopped and raised an eyebrow at my friend. “Really? You think no one knows you’re fucking each other’s brains out at every opportunity you get? I’ve seen you sneaking off into the fields, and across the compound to your house. Shit, I think everyone here has witnessed you running somewhere together. Don’t insult my intelligence by trying to deny what’s happening.”

Daly nodded in acquiescence before we headed for the stairs that led to the second floor.

“The frown on your face tells me you’re worried.”

“Yep.”

“To do with Arabella I’m gathering.”

“Yep.”

Daly laughed. “Don’t strain those vocal cords, Quinn.”

“Sorry, just thinking about something that doesn’t make sense.”

We reached the hallway which led to the conference room in one direction and Logan’s office in the other.

“We’ll be there in a minute.”

“Sure.”

***

I found Connor and Jake seated at the conference room table, a sheaf of papers in front of my eldest brother.

After grabbing a mug and pouring a coffee from the ever-present pot on the sideboard, I dropped into a chair.

“Logan and Daly are on their way.”

Connor slumped back in his chair. “Good, we’ll need their help for what’s about to happen. I have a feeling we just might be about to create hell.”

“Who’s creating hell?” Logan asked before taking a seat beside Jake.

Daly pulled up the chair beside mine.

“I believe we’re about to make plans to inflict some major damage on a group of arseholes. Quinn?”

Over the following half an hour or so, I laid out the story of Arabella’s existence—it couldn’t be called a life.

“I can’t believe she is still sane; fuck knows I almost went insane with what happened to me over just a few hours and she’s put up with the same, or worse, for twenty-one fucking years. What’s the plan?”

I turned to Connor. “This is your call, big brother.”

“Hmm, maybe. I don’t understand why a group that prides itself on being secretive would visit a populated area like Hanuabada? Did Arabella say why they were there?”

“She didn’t know but agreed it was strange that they visited there for a week every two to three months. The rest of the time they kept to heavily forested areas where there was no chance of encountering anyone outside the group.”

“Why would a highly secretive group spend time in a heavily populated village on a regular basis? And why the fuck would they relocate their entire village instead of just going themselves?” Jake mused.

“Drugs?”

Logan’s question was what had been niggling at me. There was no other reason I could think of for their unusual ties to the dangerous and lawless village.

“I agree with Logan, I think they were buying drugs to tide them over for a couple of months at a time. From what Arabella explained, it sounds like they use drugs in the tips of spears to keep people under control. She said when any of them didn’t cooperate they would be poked with the spears and afterward they’d feel fuzzy headed and unsteady. The ‘chief’ convinced them it was evil spirits…voodoo. They probably used drugs for their own pleasure too.”