‘And you thought it’d be a good idea to bring her along when it all went tits up.’
‘Yeah. We thought—’
‘Okay, okay, it doesn’t matter what you thought back then.’
He glanced over at the girl. Looked to him like she was having second thoughts about trading a store manager with wandering hands for a complete fuck-up like Sonny. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly.
‘Tell me about this idea.’
Sonny grinned.
‘We let her go and she wanders around outside. Makes plenty of noise, that sort of thing. The guy outside finds her and he thinks she’s a hostage who escaped, so he’s not suspicious.’
‘And?’
‘Let me finish. And . . . ’
It seemed to Todd that the plan hadn’t been thought through all the way. But Sonny surprised him.
‘And she tries to get Loyd’s gun off him, because we have to assume that’s what happened—’
‘Yeah, she really looks like she’d be able to wrestle the gun off a full-grown man. She must weigh all of a hundred, maybe a hundred and ten pounds wringing wet.’
‘No, listen. Maybe she pretends to be cold—’
‘She won’t have to pretend.’
‘—and he stuffs his gun down the back of his pants and hugs her to warm her up. Being the Knight in Shining Fucking Armor, an’ all.’
‘I suppose there’s a chance.’
‘Or, if that’s not gonna happen, she tells him some story about how we’re all raping his girlfriend and whatever else and gets him so riled up he comes charging in here, even if he wouldn’t come after the woman and her kid.’
Todd had to admit that for the first time in his life he was impressed. For once he wasn’t actually ashamed the kid was his cousin.
‘You know, that might actually work.’ He turned towards the girl. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Rachel.’
‘You think you can pull it off.’
She gave a non-committal shrug.
‘Why not?’
‘How you going to say you escaped?’
She shrugged again.
‘I’ll think of something.’
That wasn’t good enough. They needed to get it straight first. She looked like she was a bit flaky—and he wasn’t happy about the reference to her sharing some other stuff with Sonny. So he gave it some thought, told her what to say and they let her out the front door.
Chapter 13
EVAN HAD TO DO something and fast. They weren’t letting Emily and her mother back inside. They’d get hypothermia if they didn’t let them in soon.
Should he give himself up? Approach the lodge in full view with his hands above his head. They’d take all three of them inside, satisfied they had the situation under control while they sat it out.
That wasn’t going to work.
The men he’d seen hadn’t been wearing masks. Everybody had seen their faces. Everybody was a loose end that needed tidying up.
His thoughts were interrupted by a rustle in the trees behind him. He froze, straining his ears.
Somebody was running through the trees. And making a lot of noise about it. One person from the sound of it.
It couldn’t be one of the gang coming after him, not making all that noise, not unless they were more stupid than he thought they were.
Somebody had escaped.
He prayed it was Gina. So far, he’d managed to banish to the back of his mind all thoughts of what the gang might do to a woman as attractive as her, concentrating on more immediate problems, but it would be a relief to know she was safe.
The sounds were less frantic now, as if the person running had slowed to a walk.
Surely someone running for their life would keep on doing just that—running. They wouldn’t start walking until they felt good and safe, and they were far too close to the lodge for that.
He checked the clip on the gun he’d taken from the guy earlier. It was full, apart from the one shot. He stuffed it down the back of his pants again. Keeping half his attention on the direction of the lodge in case anybody else followed, he crept forward through the trees. He took a line towards the noise, calculated to bring him out a short distance behind it.
His calculation was spot on. He got to a rough track through the trees and saw a young woman ten yards off to his left. He whistled softly. She let out a muted shriek and spun around. He stepped fully onto the path, the anchor hanging loosely at his side. She took a step backwards.
‘It’s okay. I’m not with them.’
‘Thank God.’
She took a couple of tentative steps towards him. He stepped up to meet her. Then she half fell, half jumped at him. He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her head in his chest, the anchor rope still firmly in his hand behind her back. The anchor swung gently back and forth into her butt. She didn’t even notice. He held her for a few minutes, her whole body shaking, his mind alert for the sound of anybody following.
There was nothing, just a still, quiet coldness.
‘You must be the liquor store clerk.’
She pulled her head back sharply and stared into his face.
‘We heard it on the radio. That’s them in there, isn’t it?’
She nodded.
‘What happened?’
‘They held up the store—’
‘No, I mean what happened inside? How did you escape?’
She took a deep breath, tried to steady her ragged breathing.
‘All hell’s breaking loose in there. The woman and the little girl are outside, banging on the door and crying, and then the other woman—’
‘Gina.’
‘—I don’t know her name, but she started screaming that the guy who’s been shot was getting worse, he was going to die, and the three of them are all shouting at each other and telling each other what to do, and they’re all running around like headless chicken. It was crazy. No one was taking any notice of me. I just snuck out.’
It all came pouring out in a rush, a torrent of adrenalin-fuelled words all merging into one. She stopped suddenly and buried her head in his chest again.
He held tightly but the shaking wouldn’t stop. With the cold and the panic, it wasn’t likely to any time soon.
She pulled back from him at last and looked at him again. He didn’t like what he saw in her eyes.
‘There’s something I’ve got to tell you.’
Chapter 14
THE DOUBLE DOORS TO the kitchen flew open as Todd and Sonny barrelled in.
‘Where’s—’ Mason started.
‘Don’t,’ Todd said, his tone silencing him instantly.
But Mason caught the wink
‘Later,’ Todd said.
Mason nodded.
‘What about those two outside?’
The hammering on the back door and the pitiful crying was getting to all of them. It was horrible to listen to, the sound of a desperate mother and her child, slowly freezing to death.
‘Let them in,’ Todd said.
Gina shot him a look. Todd gave her an equally venomous one back. He pointed his finger at the middle of her face.
‘If you try anything else, they go straight back outside. Any part of that you don’t understand, you need me to say again?’
She shook her head.
‘And that goes for you too,’ Todd said to Luca and the chef.
They both nodded.
Mason opened the back door. Linda and Emily tumbled in, Linda’s whole body tinged blue. Gina recognized the sweat top engulfing Emily as Evan’s.
‘You have to get them some warm clothing,’ she said. ‘Or blankets.’
‘You’re never satisfied, are you,’ Todd said, scowling. ‘Next, you’ll be wanting chef here to rustle them up some breakfast.’
‘And you’re all heart. At least make some coffee.’
‘I could use a cup of coffee,’ Sonny said.
‘Me too,’ Mason added.
‘Jesus
Christ.’ Todd shook his head. ‘I suppose you all want me to make it as well.’
‘I don’t suppose you know how,’ Gina muttered under her breath.
Todd kicked her on the ass.
‘I heard that, you mouthy bitch.’
‘You were meant to.’
Todd gave up. He stood for a long moment with his hand over his face, then looked at the chef, still clutching a blood-soaked rag to his cheek.
‘You up to making coffee?’
‘I’ll do it.’ Luca got slowly to his feet. ‘He needs to keep holding his face together.’
‘Well, aren’t we one big, happy team.’
‘What about the blankets for them?’ Gina said.
Todd’s jaw dropped. Words failed him.
‘What about we give her your clothes? That’s a nice thick sweater you’ve got on. Then we could put you outside. See if your tongue freezes solid and does us all a favor.’
‘If you want to hold this pad to his wound, I’ll happily take it off and give it to her.’
At least three pairs of eyes immediately dropped to Gina’s bust. She pushed it out further. She’d swear she heard them all swallow.
‘She won’t need it, what with all the heat coming from you, the burning martyr.’
Neither of them said anything for a long moment.
‘Sonny, go see if you can find some blankets.’
Sonny looked at Gina’s chest again, disappointment in his face.
‘I’d rather she took her top off.’
‘I know you would. Maybe later. Just go and find some blankets first.’
But Sonny didn’t get a chance to move before the sound of another gunshot outside took everybody’s attention away from coffee and blankets.
Chapter 15
‘MASON, COME WITH ME. Sonny, if anybody moves—’
‘I know, I know, shoot ‘em.’
Todd and Mason ran from the kitchen, through the dining room and out into the lobby. Todd filled him in with brief details of Sonny’s plan as they ran. Outside the locked front doors, the clerk, Rachel, pounded on the glass with her fists, her face flushed with cold and exertion.
Todd opened up and she slipped inside. She doubled over, hands resting on her knees, head hanging down, like an athlete at the end of a race, as she got her breath back.
‘What happened?’ Todd said, barely able to contain his impatience. ‘Did you shoot him?’
‘Yeah.’ She wheezed the rasping breath of the chronically unfit. ‘But he’s not dead. You need to hurry.’
‘Tell me what happened first.’
‘There was a struggle. I think he’s slowing down, getting weaker. The cold’s getting to him. He’s only wearing a thin top.’
‘He gave his sweat top to the kid.’
‘So anyway, I saw my chance and went for the gun. He didn’t expect it, I took him by surprise, like we said. There was a struggle and we both had hold of the gun and it was waving all over the place and then it just went off. I think I screamed and fell backwards. I thought I was shot, but there wasn’t any pain.’
She stopped to cough some more.
‘Then I looked at him and he’d been hit. I don’t know how bad but he was just standing there in a daze, staring at his leg pumping blood like it was somebody else’s leg and nothing to do with him. Then the leg gave way and he collapsed. He still had the gun but I just ran, zig-zagging in and out of the trees, not looking back. He didn’t try to shoot me. Maybe he passed out. He was losing an awful lot of blood.’
‘Must have hit the femoral artery,’ Mason said.
‘Where is he now?’ Todd asked.
She shook her head hopelessly.
‘I can’t describe it. I’d have to show you but I don’t want to go back out there. I wish I’d never said I’d do it.’
Todd took her by the arm and shook her.
‘Yeah, well, I wish I’d never seen this whole damn place, but it is what it is. You’ll have to show Mason where he is.’
‘Why me? Why doesn’t she show you?’
Todd gave him a look that said he didn’t like to be contradicted.
‘Because if I go and leave you here with Sonny and you two get into it, fuck knows what’ll happen. You’ll probably shoot each other and I’ll come back to an empty hotel.’
Mason’s jaw clenched, his fist bunched like he was looking for somebody or something to hit, but he didn’t have a valid argument. He kicked the wall, knocking a great chunk out of the wood panelling.
‘He’s still got the gun?’
He looked at the girl.
‘I think so.’
‘Great. So he might end up shooting me.’
‘He was bleeding real bad. I don’t think he’ll be a problem.’
‘Don’t stand here all day,’ Todd said. ‘Get going.’
‘C’mon, let’s get this over with,’ Mason said to the girl, pushing her towards the door.
Todd relocked it behind them and turned towards the dining room. At the bottom of the stairs he changed his mind and ran quickly up and into the first unlocked room he found. He pulled the comforter off the bed, grabbed a couple of pillows, found some spare blankets in the fancy armoire and carried it all back to the kitchen.
If the bitch wasn’t happy now, he’d shoot her. No more talk, he’d just pop her one in the mouth.
Chapter 16
EVAN PRESSED HIS BACK tight against the tree as he heard them approach.
‘He’s over here.’ Rachel said, leading the way.
Just one of them.
That was the code. One guy, he’s over here. Two guys, he’s over there. He only hoped she’d got it the right way around.
He held his breath as they got closer, didn’t want a plume of his breath in the cold air to give him away. He’d probably have held it even if it was mid-summer and eighty degrees.
Rachel passed the tree, moving into his field of vision.
His fingers tensed on the rope wound around his hand. If the timing and positioning worked out right, he’d use it like a Gaucho’s bola, snaring the guy’s neck. Failing that, he’d just brain him with it.
‘He can’t be that badly injured if he got all the way here,’ a man’s voice said, almost level with the tree. ‘And I haven’t seen any blood.’
Another two paces, that’s all it needed.
‘Maybe he tied it, I don’t know. He can’t be far . . . What’s that?’
‘Where?’
The guy took a fast step forward and pushed her out the way. She stumbled backwards at exactly the same time as Evan stepped out from behind the tree, his arm drawn back, ready to swing his makeshift bola.
They collided, the back of her head smacking into Evan’s mouth, splitting his lip. She yelped in surprise and threw her arms wide, getting in the way of his swing.
‘Shush,’ the guy hissed at her over his shoulder. He didn’t turn, thought she was yelling because he shoved her.
Evan quietly pushed Rachel behind him. Not looking where she was going, she stood on a small broken branch. It snapped. In the quiet, still air it sounded like a rifle shot. Evan held his breath. Still the guy didn’t turn. He leaned forward, searching in vain for what Rachel pretended she’d spotted. Evan stared at his broad back, the large hands, felt his stomach tighten. He was bigger than the first one, meaner too. Evan sensed it without knowing how, understood he’d never have overpowered this one like he did the other guy.
Just hit him. Now. On the back of the head. Forget all that fancy stuff, go for plan B and brain him.
Too late.
He’d hesitated too long.
The guy turned.
‘There’s nothing—’
He froze, the angry words cut short, not expecting to see Evan behind him. Not for long. His gun arm was already coming up as Evan swung the anchor up and over his head, bringing it down in a perfect arc. Heavy, cold steel sliced through the air. Evan held his end of the rope tight as it snapped taut across the guy’s forearm, wrappin
g around it twice with the anchor’s momentum. Evan yanked, pulling him off balance. The guy dropped his gun in the snow.
Evan yanked on the rope again.
‘Rachel! Get the gun.’
Rachel jerked into action. She darted past Evan, scooped up the gun and stopped ten feet away from the guy before he knew what was happening.
‘His name’s Mason,’ she said.
Evan nodded like it made a difference. He pulled the gun out from the back of his pants. Mason did a little double-take and shook his head, a you’ve got a gun and you use an anchor? sort of shake.
‘Why didn’t you use that?’
Evan shrugged.
‘Lucky for you I didn’t. Now sit down.’
He gestured at the tree behind Mason with the gun. Mason hesitated, looked across at Rachel.
‘Or see if you can get your gun back, why don’t you?’ He jerked the rope again. ‘Except you won’t get that far. Rachel, get over here.’
Rachel skirted around Mason putting as much distance between them as possible. Mason watched her all the way until she was safely behind Evan, then sat at the base of the tree. He knew when he was beat.
Once he was sitting safely on the ground with his back against the tree, Evan got him to untangle the rope wrapped around his arm, then throw the whole lot back to them. Rachel untied the anchor and together they lashed Mason to the tree. Evan pulled a dirty rag he’d found in the boat house out of his pocket and stuffed it in Mason’s mouth.
He led Rachel off into the trees, out of earshot of Mason.
‘So now there’s just the two of them left?’
‘Yeah. The one in charge, Todd, and the crazy one, Sonny.’
‘You sure you’re okay with the rest of it, with going back inside again?’
She nodded.
‘Tell it to me one more time.’
She recited the second half of the plan he’d explained to her. She was good with it all, he didn’t have to worry.
‘Okay, that’s good.’ He pointed at the gun in her hand. ‘Give that to the one in charge. Todd.’
She looked at him like he was crazy.
‘It’ll help make them believe you, make them think you’re still on their side.’
‘Why don’t I just shoot them with it? They won’t be expecting it.’
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