Isolation | Book 4 | Holding On Jones, Nathan (best smutty novels txt) 📖

make an example of anyone who set a toe out of line during the chaos. She wants to make sure the rest of us get the picture and go back to being good citizens. As if we weren't already.”

Ellie had nothing but respect for the relief administrator, but hearing this made her opinion of the woman flip on a dime.

How dare she just waltz in and start going after good people who'd only done what they had to? What gave her the right to pass judgment when the government had completely ignored Stanberry's repeated pleas for help while Jay was terrorizing them?

To think of everything she and Hal had been through, that Nick and their friends had-

Her thoughts abruptly juddered to a halt as an awful realization struck her. Nick! He'd gone to try to speak on the McCleese brothers' behalf, but if Gorstrom was after everyone else who'd been decision makers during the conflict with Jay, she'd probably be after him too since he'd been in the center of it.

And he'd just walked right into her camp without realizing the danger.

Without another word to Borden, Ellie turned and bolted towards the relief workers' camp. Gen was right with her, apparently having come to the same realization; her pleasant features were pinched with worry, and she was fretting her lower lip.

If Ellie had been thinking more clearly she would've headed for Bruce's car and had him drive her there, since all this rushing wasn't speeding things up at all. But Stanberry wasn't a particularly large town, and the camp was right outside it, so at a fast jog it would only take a few minutes.

She noticed Borden and the people with him had elected to tag along, which was good; the more people they had asking questions, the more pressure Gorstrom would feel to take them seriously and not just brush them off. On the way through the town they picked up a few more people as well, concerned citizens who'd gotten wind of what was going on and also wanted answers.

Before long Ellie was past the barricade and striding briskly towards the relief workers' camp. Thankfully it was fairly small, so it didn't take long to find the town and camp leaders. Especially since they were all in the open, sitting in a huddle around a table beneath a canopy drinking cans of soda under the bored supervision of a couple of soldiers.

They were talking in low, worried voices, expressions tense, as Ellie and Borden arrived with their group. She'd heard Starr was one of the ones taken, but she didn't see him; was he still with Gorstrom, being interviewed or whatever? Or maybe he'd already been allowed to leave, although that seemed optimistic under the circumstances.

She expected to have to talk her way past the soldiers guarding Darby and Starr and the others, but the men just nodded politely as they approached. Probably they were just there to make sure their “guests” didn't leave.

“Here comes the cavalry,” Darby said with weary sarcasm as they all crowded around the pavilion. “Hope you're ready to bust out the pitchforks, because Gorstrom isn't in the mood to be reasoned with.”

The soldiers shot the mayor dirty looks at that, and one muttered something into his headset; calling for backup? “What's going on?” Ellie asked before things got out of hand. “Have they told you?”

“Sure,” Johnny said with a snort. He looked more angry than Ellie had ever seen him, even during the fight against Jay. “We're all under arrest for stuff we did to defend our loved ones when the government left us to fend for ourselves.”

There was an angry murmur from the crowd, and Ellie noticed a few more soldiers hurrying towards the pavilion, holding crowd control equipment; forget out of hand, violence could actually break out here if cooler heads didn't prevail.

To her relief, before that could happen a commotion near Gorstrom's tent heralded Starr emerging, led by Lieutenant Morris, who Ellie had worked with while helping out with the vaccinations. Starr looked more resigned than angry at the situation, and he followed the officer meekly as Morris walked him over to the pavilion.

The lieutenant had to notice the tension in the air, but if so he showed no sign of it as he waved towards the other leaders. “Time to pack it up, folks,” he said amiably. “You're free to go, for now. Just don't try to run off . . . you'll only get more charges piled up against you.”

That went a long way towards calming the crowd, although Ellie was keenly aware of that “for now”. And she still didn't know what was going on, or whether Nick was in trouble too.

The town and camp leaders gratefully stirred to their feet, following Morris towards the edge of camp closest to the town. The rest of the crowd trailed behind, the tension in the air dissipating with every step towards the reassuring bulk of the barricade.

Ellie doubted Darby or the others would be so quick to agree to leave the safety of the town or quarantine camp at the relief workers' insistence after this. Although they probably wouldn't have much choice in the matter.

Morris stopped at the edge of camp, leaving them to continue on towards town unescorted. “By the way, Mayor,” he called after them as they headed for the roadblock, “your tip about the arsonists was bunk. I just hope you're clueless and weren't deliberately lying . . . you're already in enough trouble.”

Ellie was appalled at what she was hearing. “You ratted out Chet and Ben?” she demanded when they were out of earshot of the camp. She couldn't believe that just a few days ago she'd extended an olive branch to this weasel.

Darby hunched his shoulders defensively, looking even more exhausted and sickly. “Morris asked where they were, and I saw no reason not to cooperate.”

“No reason-” Bruce spluttered, looking equally outraged. “They're our friends! They fought to defend our families and the town.