The Fort (Aric Davis)

them, or at least trying to, Tim filled a bowl with Cheerios, topped them with milk, then grabbed a spoon and sat at the table. “What’s going on?” he asked.
    Becca stood. “I’m going to my room.” She stomped off, looking tired, furious, and indignant all at the same time.
    Tammy called after her, “We’re not done talking about this, young lady!”
    A door slammed in the distance in answer. Tammy took a slow drink of coffee and then set the mug on the table before turning to look at her son.
    “Your sister made some questionable choices,” she said. “As did some of her friends, and some boys made those bad decisions almost turn out a whole lot worse.”
    “Tyler Cranston?”
    “No,” Tammy said, frowning. “At least I don’t think so. Becca hasn’t told me exactly who it was, just that they met some older guys and things didn’t go as planned.”
    “Dad said he wasn’t really going to kill anybody.”
    “Good. I’m not sure your father has that in him. Which is a good thing, Tim. My brother—your uncle Mike—he thought he was a pretty rough guy, and he signed up for the army along with a bunch of other guys who thought they were too, and a whole lot of them came back in boxes.
    “There’s nothing wrong with just being a regular guy like Dad. In fact, it’s a really good thing. There’s also nothing wrong with being a gentleman, unlike those guys your sister met. Do you know what I mean when I say that? If you want, I can get Dad and you two can talk a—”
    The ringing phone cut her off, but as she moved to stand, it stopped. She waited for Becca to yell that it was for one of them, and when she didn’t Tammy opened her mouth to continue. Seeing an opening, Tim cut her off.
    “I know what you mean,” said Tim, having no idea what she meant at all. “I don’t need to talk to Dad about it either. Besides, he’s probably really busy.”
    Tammy turned, leaning back in her chair to look out of the blinds into the backyard. She had excellent timing: as she turned, Stan heaved a transfer shovel to the ground in disgust. “You may be on to something, Tim. Your father does seem to have his hands full.” A sad smile pulled at her lips, but then gave up. She looked at him. “But if you want to talk about this, we can. Just give your sister some space, and try and be nice without being obvious about it.
    “Oh, and one more thing: this is a problem our family has, and it does not need to be blabbed all over the neighborhood. Becca has a reputation to think of. Is that clear?”
    “Yes, Mom.” Both of them turned as Becca came back into the room, and Tim forced an insincere smile onto his face.
    Ignoring him, Becca said, “That was Molly’s mom. Molly never came home last night.”
    “Is she still on the phone?” Tammy asked as she stood, walking quickly to the kitchen phone. “Did you tell her what happened?”
    “No, Mom. I’m sure she’s fine.” Tammy, who was dialing before Becca could finish talking, stuck the phone to her ear and said, “Tim, find something to do outside.”

9
    When Hooper had first seen her, he’d nearly crashed his car. Once he’d wrapped his head around what he’d just seen, he circled back to pull up in front of her. She approached the car with caution, not like the normal streetwalkers he was used to dealing with, who were so hard up for drugs that their nerves and good sense had been fried. She leaned in the car and said, “I’ve got a room a few blocks from here. You want to go party?” The way she said it was unsure and nervous, but it was also perfect, she was new to the streets. She also resembled Amy more than any girl he’d ever seen before; it was almost impossible that they could look so similar.
    “Sounds good,” he said, and as she slid into the car next to him, he slipped the revolver from his pocket.
    “I’m staying a couple blocks south at the—”
    Hooper cut her off, raising the revolver as he spoke. “You’re going to shut up right now,” he said, the words coming out of some other him that always knew exactly what to say and do in these situations. “If you just sit back and relax, you’re going to be just fine. OK, sweetheart?”
    She nodded, her eyes big and focused on the shiny handgun. She wants me. Hooper could tell she did, because even with the terror in her eyes he could see lust shining through.
    “You’re new out here, aren’t you, Amy?” Hooper asked, and the girl nodded in response. “That’s