"Go back!” Tempest yelped. She hunkered down in the back seat, but kept sneaking peeks at the Bronco. “I don't wanna see the glacier." Stone gave Tempest’s reflection in the rearview mirror an odd look. "Can we go back to town? Pull-ease?"
"Why?" he asked.
"Because we've got to get away from that car." Ariel enunciated every word, knowing each syllable could be her last.
Tempest grabbed her hand in a white knuckled grip a moment before they were catapulted forward against their shoulder harnesses. The sound of crashing metal resonated in the cab.
"What the!" Stone looked back into his mirror. She didn't need to turn around to know the Bronco had crashed into them and would do it again.
"How'd Father find us?" Tempest flattened herself against he seat and shook like a leaf in a blizzard.
The Ford hit the Dodge a second time. Stone's muttered curse was an apt description their situation. He slammed on the brakes.
"Don't stop," Tempest screamed.
"He'll kill us all," Ariel said. "Just stop long enough to let me out, then escape with Tempest."
"No," Stone and Tempest shouted in unison.
The third impact sent the Dodge hurtling into the ditch. For a moment, the front end hung like a drunken seesaw with engine racing, then it slowly tipped forward. Stone rammed the transmission into park and turned off the engine.
In the quiet, her heart thudded like a jackhammer.
Tempest sobbed. "It's all my f-f-f-fault."
"Hush," Ariel hissed at her sister, while she tried to get Stone, who obviously still didn’t understand their deadly situation enough to flatten himself. It was like trying to move a mountain. "Get down," she shrieked. When he still didn't immediately comply, she threw all her weight against his arm and yanked him down. "I warned you about his love of long shots."
"You told him?" Tempest said.
"We're sitting ducks here," Stone said. "On the count of three, I'll open the back door, then we'll slip out the front and use the ditch as cover." His handgun was in his hand, but he looked like an under-armed match for Peter. "Ready?"
Tempest's face was white, as she nodded.
"One."
Behind them, the Bronco's motor revved, as it pushed the Dodge forward, into the ditch. Stone’s side scraped against rock with a mind-numbing yowl. The cab’s sickening angle increased.
"Two."
Tempest put her hand on the door handle.
"Three!"
Stone dove into the back seat then hurled the rear passenger door open. A thunderclap of bullets ripped the metal. The window burst into a shower of glass shards and the smell of cordite increased.
Tempest slammed open the front door and dove headfirst into the ditch. Ariel landed across her legs, her face hitting frigid water. She gasped, inhaled water and gagged and Tempest wriggled out from under her.
More shots, but spaced, as if Peter was aiming instead of reacting.
Something heavy landed on top of her, forcing her deeper into the mire.
Large hands gripped her waist and yanked her upright. "You okay?" Stone whispered into her ear.
Afraid to open her mouth and taste the fetid water, she nodded.
"Keep your head down and move down this trench toward the airport,” Stone hissed. “If we get separated, meet me at the hangar near the plane. Got it?" Tempest stared at him, white eyed. "Move." The gun boomed, sending a spray of muck flying mere inches from Stone’s head. Tempest tore down the ditch as if the hounds of hell were after her.
Stone peered under the Dodge.
"Come with us. Please," Ariel begged.
"In a minute." He pointed the handgun, which appeared in his hand in the narrow opening between the asphalt and truck frame then squeezed off a shot. With a loud hiss, the Bronco's tire blew. Metal howled, as its grill slid off the Dodge's bumper. "Hurry. Leave." He lined up aimed at the other rear tire and fired. The tire popped. "I'll be right behind you."
She grabbed her backpack, then slid back into the freezing, murky water. Though the prickles of frigid pain, only came as high as her ankles, she bit the inside of her mouth against a welling scream of panic.
Something big splashed into the water behind her. Praying it was Stone, not Peter, she sprinted downhill, glacial runoff splashing waist high.
Four more shots boomed, but she didn't sense any slugs landing close.
She tried to peer ahead to see Tempest, but the fog was too thick to see any farther than the next step. Dear Lord, please guide her to the rendezvous.
The report of Stone's gun ripped through the fog. It sounded close. Almost immediately, Peter’s gun boomed. There was a grunt of pain and something heavy hit the water, sending a shower if freezing daggers over her back.
Ariel turned on her heel, tripped and fell to her knees, then frantically felt for Stone. He was lying face down in the icy trench. She rolled him onto his back and felt for a pulse with numb, shaking fingers. The gun dropped from his grasp. She jammed it into the waistband of her soggy jeans and, again, tried to find his heartbeat.
Something grabbed her hair and yanked her upright. With a triumphant laugh, Peter shook the fist clutching her hair. It felt like she was being scalped alive. His face twisted into an evil smile as he leaned toward her. "Thought you'd beat me again, did you, you fucking bitch?"
She stared at a long black something, which trailed from his mouth.
He yanked her up the bank to the road. Her sneakers squished with each step, her sodden book bag lay like an empty hope against her spine. He grunted with satisfaction and hauled her back toward the car. "I got her," Peter said, triumph suffusing his tone. "Where are you, Ben?" The fog swirled thick around them, making it seem like they were the only two inhabitants of a nightmare.
"You didn't have to kill Stone."
His laugh had a maniacal sound. "Don't worry, I'll take my time with you and ‘Brina." He yanked her hair so hard she yelped. "Before you die, you'll beg for death and regret every time you’ve gloated over getting away."
Tempest stumbled out of the haze in front of them and fell to her knees gagging. A second later, Benji appeared behind her. Ariel lunged to help her, but was hauled up so quickly, her neck felt like it snapped. Pain swept from her head to her toes. A belt wrapped tight around Tempest's throat, the other end was gripped in Benji's hand, as if he was dealing with a rabid dog. The expression on his face was a perfect match for Peter's.
Ariel gave Benji a pleading look. "Why are you helping him?” But she knew. Had known for years. Benji adored Peter and had always wanted to be like him.
She saw Peter's fist a second before it hit her ear. Then she was falling. Pain radiated through her as her face impacted the road. The next moment, everything went black.
Every cell ached when her hearing returned. It took a careful breath to realize that the hot ooze in her eyes was blood and that she was lying on the road. Tentatively, she moved her fingers. Pinpricks for pain radiated up her arms, but she was free of Peter. Somewhere in the cold, clinging shroud, Tempest was softly sobbing. Peter's laugh sounded close.
She opened her eyes and blinked into the darkness. There was a dull thud to her right. Tempest screamed. A 'now or never calm determination' bolstered her to move past her dizziness and pain. Ariel rose an inch and turned toward the sound. Something hard pressed against her belly.
She froze.
Stone’s gun. Did it have any more bullets? Painfully, she pulled the weapon from her sodden jeans and gripped it as Stone had done. She awkwardly planted her palms on the still-warm road and heaved her body upward. It felt as if every muscle in her body had been kicked and battered while she was unconscious. Knowing Peter, they probably had.
Fearing she would fall over if she stood, she crawled up the steep fog-shrouded road, feeling along the uneven edge, so she stayed straight. A light flared, then a flame appeared to move magically through the gloom. Like a ghoul, Peter's face appeared as he leaned down, but he wasn't looking at her, his at
tention was on Tempest. He grabbed a fist full of her hair and pulled her up as if she was a doll. The more she screamed, the more he smiled.
"You cold?" Peter asked, his voice filled with false concern. Tempest whimpered. While holding her head up, Peter moved the lighter under her chin. "Here, let me warm you."
"No!" Ariel surged the rest of the way to her feet, raised the gun and pulled the trigger. Peter stumbled backward and Tempest dropped. She fired again and again and again toward the last spot where she'd seen Peter.
She kept pulling the trigger long after the only sound was a click.
"Sherry, it's empty," Tempest said.
"Are you crazy?" Benji shouted from the murk.
"No. You are." Ariel hurled the gun at the source of the voice and heard the gratifying thud of metal on flesh. Pain forgotten, she moved into defense stance, prepared to die in hand-to-hand combat, if that's what it took.
Something cold and trembling grabbed her leg. She aimed a killing blow, only to have it deflected. “It’s me,” Tempest gasped.
"Dad," Benji said. A groan answered him. "Can you stand up?" There was shuffling in the gloom.
Ariel managed to stand, then she grabbed Tempest's hand and pulled her up. As quietly as possible, they half-carried each other to the other side of the road, once there, they melted into the blackest shadow they could find.
"Damn, Dad, how many times did she shoot you?"
"Hell if I know, but she didn't hit anything serious." Tears filled her eyes and emotions warred within her, as she tried to decide if she was glad she hadn’t killed him. Or not.
"Lean on me. I'll get you to the hospital."
"I've had worse. Where are your bitch sisters? I need to finish what they started."
"But-"
"I will not go to the hospital and leave a paper trail. Those kill you. Little 22 poppers don't."
"But-"
"Shut up and bring them to me."
There was a lot of shuffling in the murk. "You can hardly stand." Ben said.
"Hell, I know that. The fucking bitch got lucky and lodged a fucking slug in my damned thigh."
May the bastard limp for the rest of his miserable life.
“I’m taking you to the car.”
“No! Find the bitches!”
“I can’t in this soup. I’m taking you back to the motel, patching you up, then, once this mess burns off, I’ll come back.”
Peter made a sound of protest.
“Where they gonna go? They’re trapped. And the longer they wait, the more scared they’ll be.”
Peter grunted in agreement. Shortly afterward, Ariel heard the sound of feet shuffling through the cloying cloak that protected them.
Tempest's quivering hand found hers. Silently, they listened to Peter's angry progress. When the car door opened, the fog glowed luminous. As soon as Benji managed to turn the car around, the headlights would find them.
Ariel tugged Tempest back into the cold, wet ditch, felt around, then crawled up the other side. Thorns tore at her face and dug into the palms of her hand. A motor revved, but the sound seemed different. Shriller. Had he broken something when he rammed the truck? She hoped so.
Tiny sounds of crying came from Tempest. "Hurry," Ariel whispered. Half standing, she barreled into a barely seen thicket, each step a sodden squish of misery. Each movement brought daggers of pain.
A squeal of tires preceded the cry of tearing metal. Ariel stopped moving and dropped. The only thing she could see was Tempest's wild hair. She pulled her sister to her, covering her body with her own, expecting to be fanned by headlights.
They never came.
Something large moved down the road. Tempest silently trembled.
They crouched in the briars long after the car was past. Finally, Tempest stopped shaking, by then, Ariel was too numb to feel anything. Ariel bent forward until her lips grazed Tempest's ear. "It could be a trick."
There was a tiny gasp, then silence as if she were biting her lip. Ariel counted to one thousand, then started to count to two thousand. At 1,793, headlights began moving slowly through the fog, the car making short, choppy zigzags as if someone was looking for them on the sides of the road. When Stone's pickup was illuminated, the vehicle stopped, it’s engine’s high-pitched whine making Ariel grit her teeth against a scream, which would doom them both. After what felt like an eternity, the car continued downhill in the same slow crisscross pattern.
Tempest quivered with relief, when the lights disappeared around a curve and Ariel rolled off her. "It's all my fault."
"No, it's not," Ariel whispered back.
"Yes, it is.” She sat up, her face streaked with dirt and what smelled coppery like blood. She pulled a leaf from her hair, then crumpled it in her fist. “I was the one who wanted to touch old ice."
"Shhhh,” Ariel breathed. “One of them could still be out here, just waiting for us to make another mistake.” They sat silent and still as the heavy mist. Waiting. Listening.
Finally, another car moved slowly up hill. Or was it the same car, coming back for whoever had stayed behind? It was impossible to tell in the cloying murk. Hazard lights went on, making the fog pulse with recrimination. Car doors slammed. "There's a trail of blood," a woman's excited, high-pitched voice shrieked.
Tempest moved toward the light. Ariel grabbed her shoulder. "It could be a trick." She stiffened, then nodded and became still as the breathless air. When they heard people splashing in the thin water, Ariel touched Tempest’s arm, then silently as possible, they worked their way through to the far side of the thicket and into a mat of cold, soggy grass. The frosty blades felt like a blessed relief. Exhausted, Ariel lay on the frigid ground. Tempest sat next to her and quietly cried.
Ariel wished she dared release her choking tears, too, but she knew if she started, she'd never stop.
In the distance, something big boomed. Unless they'd gotten turned around in the fog, the sound had come from the ocean. The marina! Her mouth went dry and she knew that in a fit of anger, Peter and Benji must have blown up the Dolly O with all aboard in his fury over losing them, at least temporarily, again.
She should have left as soon as they landed. It would have been better for everyone. And Stone would still be alive.
Ariel knew she'd relive this nightmare over and over and over for the rest of her life.
Chapter 33
Agony hammered at every joint and mosquitoes buzzed around her like a hoard of buzzards. One side on her face felt hot; the other was numb. Something shook her aching shoulder, grinding thorns and rocks into her back. She tried to open her eyes, but the lids seemed glued shut.
"Sherry." Tempest's whisper sounded frantic. "Wake up." The dizzying shaking got worse.
“Stop it,” Ariel groaned. The agitation ceased but the throbbing pain stayed. It felt as if she'd been run over by a steamroller.
Or been kicked all over by Peter. She considered herself lucky to be alive.
"I can sneak into town and get you a doctor."
Ariel moved her head from to the side, but it hurt too much to do more. Stone was dead. A sob wracked her body.
“You need a doctor!” Tempest sounded near to panic.
Experimentally, she ran the tip of her tongue over her lips; the taste of blood mingled with tar and mud. “Peter and Benji are looking for us. You’ll get caught if you go for help.” She shivered.
"Oh, Sherry, I'm so, so, so sorry. I should never have asked to touch that glacier."
"It’s my fault.”
Tempest burst into sobs. "No it isn't.”
“I told myself the Bronco wasn’t a problem."
“You need a doctor. You're all sorts of colors.”
“They could give me meds, but not do anything else. These injuries need time to heal.”
“You sure?”
“Yes,” she lied.
Tempest chewed her lower lip. “They took Stone away in an ambulance. I think I saw a sheet over him. Is real life like movies?" Hy
steria filled her whispered words.
"Not always." But too much so in their case. She forced as eye open. The deserted road was barely visible through the thicket of wild roses and lingering wisps of fog. As the sun burned the mist away, Benji would be back, determined to finish what he'd begun – take them to Peter.
"A wrecker took the truck. At least I think it was a wrecker. They pulled it onto a truck that bent down in the back and when they pulled it up, sparks flew all over." Tempest began crying. "I’m scared and I still think you need a hospital."
Every nerve protested as Ariel raised her arms and hugged Tempest tight. Her sister threw herself against her chest and quietly bawled. Ariel closed her eyes against the briar patch of her existence, but then there was only darkness.
When Tempest's sobs reduced themselves to dry heaves, she patted her back. "We can't stay here."
They should have left as soon as they could see. Not that she could see that well through bloodshot eyes and swollen lids.
Face bloated with misery, and hair crusted against her head with mud, Tempest inched back and looked down at the barely visible road. "He'll start looking for us here. Won't he?"
Ariel was surprised that bloodhounds weren't already howling all over the area. They needed to get far away from this area without leaving a trail. "Help me stand up."
Horror crossed Tempest's face. "I'm afraid to touch you. Father kicked you and kicked you and punched you and-"
"I get the idea, but death is worse." She grimaced as Tempest pulled her upright.
"You got it!" Relief lit Tempest's face. "I thought it was still in the truck. So we do have a chance!"
Ariel forced her fingers upward and felt to familiar security of her backpack's strap. Her other hand gingerly touched her waste. Despite torn flesh on her fingertips, she recognized the stitching of her money belt. So, they did have the basic minimum to survive and build another new identity.
If she could survive long enough to get somewhere safe.
Fatal Attractions Page 27
