He doesn’t answer, and he doesn’t have to. There is little chance of Aiden being able to stand that idea either. Ever since he told me about what happened to Cypress with the group he’d joined as a youth, I can’t get it out of my mind. Can’t stop thinking about him alone and in pain. Just as he could be now.
I want him out of there. I want him back with us where he belongs.
“There’s a window,” I mutter. “We could go down and shoot through it.”
“It’s too high up. We wouldn’t be able to aim properly. We could hit Cypress.”
“What if we draw them out?”
“Draw them out how?”
“We could make a lot of noise. Make them think there’s a whole posse of us.”
“That won’t work either.”
“Why not?”
“Because no one actually falls for that.”
“Fine. What would Cypress do if he were here?”
“Probably walk through the fucking front door.” There’s a pause, and he looks at me. “We are not doing that.”
“Maybe we should.”
“Why?Whyin God’s name would we do that?”
“Remember what that man said? The one you killed in front of me.”
“Thank you for specifying.”
“He said Zeke wanted to talk to me. If you’re right, then one of those men could be Zeke. Maybe we give him the chance?”
“And if I’m wrong? Also, a chance atwhat? What are you gonna do, walk up to the door and say we need to talk?”
“What other options do we have?”
“Anythingbut that one.”
“Fine,” I huff.
Aiden lets out a long breath and fixates on the shack again for a time. “We could cover the stove pipe on the roof. Smoke them out.”
“What about Cypress? He’ll still be in there.”
“If it gets him out, I’m sure he’ll forgive us.” Aiden glances around, looking for the best route down. “You’ll have to be the one to go up on the roof. Could climb up using that overhang on the west side. But you’ll have to be careful not to fall through. It looks old. And you’ll have to be quiet. Can’t sound like a flustered animal.”
“Maybe if I do it’ll scare them out faster.”
“Or maybe they’ll shoot you. Christ, maybe I should be the one to go up there.”
“If you’re worried about the roof with me up there, then it’s not going to be any better with you. You’re too big.”
“Thought you liked that about me.”
I roll my eyes. “Are we doing this or not?”
“I don’t like it.”