Journeyman

by Heather Atkinson

  “I’ll tell you exactly how she’ll react. She’ll remove me from my testicles and hang them up in her precious car where other people put furry dice.”

  “No she won’t, now stop panicking. We’ll have a pleasant dinner and then we can discuss the Silas problem in a civilised manner.”

  “I’m still not sure I’m staying yet.”

  “You’re staying Luke, you owe me.”

  “You know I appreciate what you did for me.” He sighed. “Alright, I’ll stay, as long as you promise to stop Saskia from killing me should she try.”

  “You have my word.”

  Luke knew One Eye’s word was unbreakable. “Okay but one sniff of violence from her in my direction and I’m gone.”

  One Eye nodded, amused. Luke was quite willing to go up against the one-man army that was Silas but Saskia had him quaking in his boots. It just confirmed he’d done the right thing inviting her here. Hopefully between the three of them they could eradicate the threat that was Silas once and for all.

  CHAPTER 19

  Raven was cold and rather bedraggled. A chilly relentless drizzle had rained down on them all day, the cold managing to permeate even the outdoor gear she’d bought. Damon and Aidan had managed to stick to their truce, although the atmosphere between them was as cold as the weather. Annoyed by their petulance, she’d sent them off together to check out a hotel while she took a stroll along the beach, needing some alone time. Plus she wanted to see the fossilised dinosaur footprints on Staffin beach left by a family of dinosaurs a hundred and sixty five million years ago. It had taken her a little time to find them but once she had she was able to follow the trail.

  She thought it ironic that she could find prehistoric dinosaur footprints but not her father. The more time that elapsed the more likely it became that he was dead. They’d almost reached the tip of the island. After the next two villages there was nowhere else to go. They knew he hadn’t left the island this end. All she could do was hope that somehow they’d missed him and he’d already crossed the bridge and was safely back on the mainland far from Silas Hagen. Despair at ever seeing him again plucked at her with its bony fingers but she refused to give into it. She wouldn’t believe One Eye was dead until she’d seen his body. The thought made her shiver.

  The sound of a caw made her look up and she saw two ravens soaring together on the breeze, their black feathers morphing into navy blue as they danced through the shafts of sunlight cutting through the thick clouds. A figure appeared on the beach several feet before her, drawing her attention from the ravens. To her astonishment, it was the same man she’d seen during her mescaline trip. He wore the same black t-shirt, the cold weather not affecting him. His gaze was still ferocious but Raven felt no fear. He extended his arm, pointing inland.

  Raven’s body felt to turn to stone when she saw Silas’s gargantuan figure about fifty feet to her left, head tilted slightly down, dark gaze fixed on her. She wasn’t one to run from a fight but despite what she could do she knew this was one fight she couldn’t win alone, not without her guns anyway, all of which were in the car. Being cautious wasn’t always the most sensible option.

  She broke into a run, heading back the way she’d come, following the trail of dino prints. It wasn’t easy running on the wet sand, which sucked at her boots. Fortunately Silas was a lot heavier, so when she glanced over her shoulder she saw she was leaving him behind.

  As she ran she tugged her phone out of her coat pocket and dialled Aidan’s number. “I’m on the beach,” she told him as soon as he answered. “Silas is chasing me.”

  After he said he and Damon were on their way she shoved her phone back into her pocket and focused on where she put her feet. The ground was becoming increasingly difficult to negotiate, the tide rushing in, obliterating the prints she’d made walking down the beach. The water splashed up over her boots. Silas was gaining on her, wisely sticking to the firmer part of the beach. He was also coming at her side-on, forcing her to remain in the water, which was coming in hard and fast. Was that his plan, wash her out to sea?

  Her hand closed around the smoke device in her pocket. She twisted it and tossed it between herself and Silas, blocking his view of her. His howl of rage was audible over the crashing waves. Raven went still, allowing him to run on ahead of her. She couldn’t see him so she was forced to trust that he was still careering on in the same direction. When she’d been walking down the beach earlier she’d noticed a path that led off it back into the village. Hopefully she could find it again.

  As she emerged from the wall of smoke a massive fist shot out at her. Raven ducked and rolled, grimacing at the squelch she made across the cold sand. Without pause she shot to her feet and continued running, not looking back, knowing a single second’s delay could prove fatal. As she ran she pulled the knife from inside her coat pocket. It sounded like an elephant was chasing her, the thud of Silas’s feet more audible now they were running across firmer terrain. No one else was in sight, the weather encouraging everyone to stay indoors. There was only herself and Silas mad enough to be walking on the beach at this time. He was gaining on her and Aidan and Damon were nowhere in sight. She had to do something.

  Turning, she hurled the knife, which embedded itself with perfect precision in Silas’s upper thigh. With a yelp of pain his leg crumpled beneath him. When his hand went into his jacket pocket, perhaps to pull a gun, she tossed another smoke device and ran, zig-zagging as she went, keeping low as the bullets struck the ground around her. There was a sharp pain in her left upper arm and she cried out, stumbling, only managing to keep upright by sheer force of will.

  Raven sped onto the path that took her onto a residential street, hand clamped to the wound on her arm, blood trickling through her fingers. With her good arm she took out her phone and called Aidan, arranging to meet them on a supermarket car park around the corner. It was a small supermarket but there were a few people about, either just walking inside or loading shopping into the boots of their cars. She couldn’t go into the supermarket dripping blood so she found a bench to perch on, feeling a bit sick and faint. Judging by the way the bleeding was slowing and how the pain had eased to a dull throb she’d just been winged, the bullet nicking her skin. It wasn’t the first time it had happened.

  Pulling up her hood against the rain that had started to come down, she kept her head down, praying her husband and brother hurried up, one hand clamped to her arm.

  Finally she saw her own car pull up on the car park. Aidan and Damon got out and rushed towards her, Raven grimacing when Aidan pulled her into his arms, catching her injured arm. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ve been shot,” she said into his chest.

  “Jesus, let’s get you to a hospital.”

  “No need, I’ve just been winged. I have a first aid kit in the car.”

  “Let’s get you out of this rain.”

  He helped her to the car, Damon holding the back door open for her to climb in, Aidan getting into the back with her. Damon jumped into the driver’s seat, started the engine and turned the heater up full.

  Raven shivered with cold as Aidan helped her remove her sodden coat. He wrapped a blanket around her that she kept in the boot.

  “How did you get in my car?” she asked him. “I’ve got the keys.”

  “You’re seriously asking me that?” said Aidan.

  The twinkle in his eyes lifted her mood and made her smile. “Yeah, sorry. Daft question.”

  “Where’s that wanker Silas now?” said Damon, turning side-on in the driver’s seat so he could talk to Raven and keep an eye on the windows.

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “I left him behind on the beach. I threw a knife at him, it hit him in the thigh, so he’ll be needing medical treatment too. Unfortunately he had a gun. Thank God I had the smoke devices on me, they helped me escape.”

  “You wounded Silas Hagen all on your own?” said Aidan. “Gangs of men together have failed to hurt that bastard.”

  Her
look was icy. “Don’t patronise me Aidan.”

  “I’m not,” he frowned. “I’m proud of you, that’s all.”

  She grasped his hand. “Sorry babe. I’m just sore and pissed off.”

  His smile returned. “That’s my girl. The good news is it’s just a flesh wound. It’ll need a few stitches though and we don’t have any painkillers.”

  She nodded. “Do it.”

  “Okay. I’ll be as gentle as I can.”

  “Don’t be gentle, be quick. We don’t know when Silas will attack us again.”

  “From now on we don’t split up,” said Damon as Aidan cleaned the wound and prepared the needle for stitching. The first aid kit Raven carried about contained more advanced equipment than the standard kit, a necessity in her line of work.

  “Agreed,” said Raven. “I thought we’d lost him but somehow he’s managing to track us.”

  “Probably because of the enquiries we’re making about One Eye,” said Aidan as he worked, wincing at the hiss of pain Raven made as he punctured her already tender skin. “People remember that sort of thing. I suggest we move onto the next place and find somewhere to bed down for the night. You’ve lost blood Raven, you need to rest,” he added, knowing she would protest at calling it early for the night.

  “I can keep going. Besides, Silas got a knife in the leg, he’ll need to rest too. We should use this opportunity to get ahead of the game.”

  “Aidan’s right,” said Damon, not thinking he’d ever hear himself say that. “You need to take it easy.”

  “Okay,” she said, knowing she was going to lose this argument, the conversation taking her mind off the pain in her arm as Aidan worked. “But we set off extra early in the morning.”

  Both men nodded.

  “All done,” said Aidan, tying off the stitches.

  “Nice work,” she said, peering at the neat line of stitches on her arm. “That should hold.”

  “Course it will,” replied Aidan. “Now let’s go and find somewhere to spend the night. No, you’re staying back here with me,” he added when she moved to climb into the front.

  “No one drives my car but me,” she said.

  “Be sensible, you’ve lost blood,” said Aidan. “And it’s not far to the next village. Damon’s perfectly capable of driving.”

  “I’ll try not to crash,” he said as they set off.

  “At least there won’t be any cyclists about in this weather,” said Raven, nestling into Aidan, glad of his warmth.

  Luke encountered Saskia as he was heading into the dining room for dinner. Knowing she liked to eat late he had hoped that by eating early he’d avoid her. Unfortunately she came up behind him before he could sneak into the dining room, the sound of her high heeled boots on the wooden floor causing him to freeze.

  “You,” she said.

  Luke plastered his most charming smile to his face before turning to face her. “Saskia. How delightful to see you.”

  “Still a lying snake.”

  “Not at all. It’s been how long?”

  “Not long enough, like a piece of your anatomy,” she said, grabbing his crotch, making him squeak.

  “Nik,” he called, grateful the door to his room was just across the hallway. Droplets of sweat beaded on his forehead as Saskia’s grip tightened. “Nik she’s got me.”

  The door opened and One Eye’s head popped out. “Saskia,” he smiled. “How lovely to see you. It looks like you and Luke are getting reacquainted. Come on in, we have a lot to discuss.”

  One Eye disappeared back into his room. Saskia looked to Luke, tightening her grip, making him wince.

  “I watch you,” she said. “You betray me or One Eye and I will crush your snake and its eggs.”

  An even higher-pitched squeak issued from the back of Luke’s throat as it felt like she was going to carry out her threat there and then. He exhaled shakily, knees going weak when she released his vital region and strode into One Eye’s room. Luke followed on shaky legs, quietly closing the door behind him and sinking into the chair by the window.

  “You okay Luke?” smiled One Eye.

  “Fine,” he replied with a martyred sigh. “Just Saskia’s usual warm greeting.”

  “The situation is very dangerous,” said One Eye, looking from one to the other, switching to their native Norwegian now they were alone. “We need to cooperate with each other or we could all be killed. Do you think you two can manage that?”

  Saskia nodded. “I will, for you One Eye. Just as long as he doesn’t get up to his old tricks,” she added, pointing at Luke.

  “I will be on my best behaviour, as always,” replied Luke. “Already I’ve been out there, putting my neck on the line, trying to convince the locals that One Eye didn’t kill the unfortunate Bess.”

  “Who is this Bess?” demanded Saskia.

  She listened as One Eye ran through everything that had happened, Saskia nodding seriously.

  “Where are you going?” said One Eye when she strode for the door.

  “Into the forest,” she replied. “I see if Silas is hiding in there like weasel he is.”

  “I wouldn’t recommend that,” said One Eye. “It’s almost dark outside and he’ll know the forest better than you by now.”

  “That doesn’t worry me.”

  “Please Saskia,” he said gently. “Stay, have dinner with us. Let’s come up with a plan together. Besides, we’ve so much catching up to do.”

  As usual, One Eye’s gentle words worked their magic on her. “Very well,” she said. “We eat, we drink, then we think of way to kill the worm.” Her frosty eyes flicked to Luke. “By worm I not mean you.”

  “Thank God for that,” he smiled, relaxing now he knew she wasn’t going to do something hideous to him.

  The three of them walked into the dining room together, Cherie hurrying to greet them.

  “And this must be our new guest,” she said, smile falling when Saskia strode in, looking stunning and intimidating all at the same time. Immediately her hackles rose, as they always did when confronted by a woman more attractive than herself. Reading all this in her eyes, Saskia merely smiled.

  “Nik, I have your favourite table in the corner,” said Cherie, turning her attention to him. She was much more at home with attractive men.

  Alan ducked out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a tea towel. “Saskia, how lovely to see you,” he smiled. “I have our best table waiting for you by the window with a glass of iced vodka as promised.”

  She nodded. “Good.”

  Cherie watched with her mouth hanging open as Alan pulled out a chair for Saskia, fussing around her, making sure she had everything she needed. In all their years together he’d never shown so much attention to a female guest before.

  “I’ll join Nik if I may,” said Luke when Cherie failed to seat him anywhere, too concerned with her husband fawning over the newcomer.

  “Whatever,” she murmured, still watching her husband.

  “I will have steak, rare,” announced Saskia, waving aside the menu Alan held out for her. “With broccoli and carrots. No sauces, I like things dry.”

  “I’m saying nothing,” grinned Luke.

  “Of course Saskia. I’ll fetch it immediately,” said Alan before hurrying back into the kitchen to prepare her order.

  Saskia picked up her glass of vodka with a satisfied smile, gazing out of the window into the fading twilight, casting suspicious eyes across the surrounding trees, not caring that Cherie was glaring at her.

  Damon drove them to a beautiful country house hotel in Flodigarry with a gorgeous view over the water.

  “Bloody hell this is posh,” he commented. “It’s even got a flag on the roof.”

  They bid him goodnight as he headed into his room, Raven and Aidan continuing on to their suite. The hotel had obliged them by having the rooms they required on the same floor. They wanted to stay close now they knew Silas was in the area.

  “Just what the doctor ordered,” smiled Rav
en when they walked into the stunning William Wallace room, which was the flagship suite of the hotel complete with four poster bed and sea view.

  She sank onto the bed, hungry and weary.

  “You need a bath to warm you up,” said Aidan. “And you need to wash off the dried blood, then I’ll order room service. Tonight it’s just the two of us. We’re locking out the world.”

  “Sounds lovely.”

  Sometimes Raven wondered why she spent her life with a man she only got to see a few months out of the year but every time Aidan came home to her he never failed to prove that he was worth it. He ran the bath, carried her into the bathroom, washed her hair and body, massaged her shoulders and kissed her neck. He wrapped her in a fluffy towel, carried her back to the bed, dried her hair with another fluffy towel then ordered room service for them both, as well as her favourite green tea.

  When they’d eaten they cuddled up together on the bed. Knowing she was too tired and sore for sex he was content to hold her, running his fingers through her long dark hair, which made her practically purr with pleasure.

  Raven thought she must have drifted off because the next thing she knew she was back on that beach, endless nothingness rolling off in one direction. To her left she noticed a plume of smoke drifting into the air, the smell of burning wood indicating a fire. Curious, she decided to follow it, taking a track through the trees. The track was overgrown however it didn’t impede her step, the plants seeming to bend aside to allow her to pass.

  The trees parted to reveal a glade in which was a small wooden cabin, wisps of wood smoke puffing from the chimney. She had no qualms about walking up to the cabin and pushing open the door, knowing it was where she needed to be.

  The cabin was warm, a fire dancing in the grate before which was a large soft rug. The furniture was simple and made from wood - a couple of armchairs, a small table with four chairs and a sink.

  In the centre of the room stood the man she’d seen on the beach during the mescaline trip and who had warned her of Silas. His back was turned to her but he wore the same black clothes he’d been in before.