Just His Luck

by B. J Daniels

  For a moment he let himself imagine the three of them as a family. He could see it. He and Lizzy holding Maisie’s hands as she skipped along between them. A family. His family. The image buoyed him as he reached the next cabin, opened the door and quietly stepped inside. It only took him a few moments of searching before he moved on to the next cabin and then the next.

  At cabin six, he thought he heard a vehicle engine in the distance. Please let it be law enforcement coming to help. But he felt a sliver of dread pierce his heart. He had to find Lizzy first. He had to save her if possible before the law arrived. He couldn’t chance that the killer would panic and finish her off before he could reach her.

  The thought drove him harder. Only three to go. All his instincts told him that she was in one of them. The killer had carried her all this way looking for a place to hole up. Beyond cabin nine, there was nothing but wilderness, no real place to take a stand with a hostage.

  He opened the back door of cabin seven slowly, more cautiously than before, his weapon drawn. The door screeched and he froze. He heard a sound from inside. He’d been right. The killer had weakened from carrying her and hadn’t made it to the last cabin after all.

  Listening, he heard it again. The rustle of movement.

  The killer?

  Or Lizzy?

  * * *

  ACE WAS DRIVING FAST, throwing up rocks and snow and ice as he ascended the mountain. He saw the lodge ahead in his headlights. Cold darkness. There were no lights anywhere, nothing but blackness and the sound of the wind swaying the snowy pines. He slowed, feeling a chill clear to his bones.

  He’d never seen anything like this. He felt as if he really was in a zombie movie. He thought about turning back but had a growing fear that he would never reach town. If anyone was still alive at the guest ranch—

  But even as he thought it, all his instincts told him to run. This was beyond anything he’d ever had to deal with. Whatever was going on up here, he wanted nothing to do with it.

  As his cruiser came flying over the last rise, he saw a man standing in the middle of the road. He slammed on his brakes, his heart in this throat. This one wasn’t dead. Not yet anyway.

  He picked up his radio. It squawked. “Need an ambulance and coroner. Need backup. Sterling’s Montana Guest Ranch. Urgent.”

  His hand shook as he put the radio back. He’d thought his greatest fear was driving up here and finding everyone dead. But with a start, he knew his worst nightmare was that one person was still alive, still looking for fresh blood and waiting for him up here in the dark of night on this isolated mountainside.

  The thought sent a wave of terror through him. He wished now that he’d picked up the highway patrolman on his way up the mountain. Or let someone else take the call.

  He gripped the wheel tighter. His nerves were so raw he wasn’t sure he would be able to pull his gun to defend himself. Worse, he feared his bladder would fail him if he had to get out of his cruiser.

  His fears seemed to multiply as the man staggered toward the cruiser, holding out a bloody hand.

  * * *

  SHADE HELD HIS breath and let his eyes adjust to the darkness inside the cabin. He knew he wasn’t alone. He could hear someone breathing within a few feet of him. The movement he’d heard had grown still. Had the killer heard him come in the back?

  He knew the layout of these cabins by heart after growing up here and helping get them ready for guests since he was a boy.

  This one was a two-bedroom with a short hallway that led past the bathroom and into the living room. The bathroom was off to his right. A door to a bedroom a few feet ahead off to his left. Farther up the dimly lit hallway would be the door to the second bedroom before the hallway opened up to the living area.

  The noise he’d heard had come from the living area where he had to assume someone—possibly with Brad’s gun now—was waiting for him.

  He edged along the hallway in the dark, weapon drawn, until he was opposite the bathroom. He couldn’t see anyone in there, but he could hear them struggling to breathe. Lizzy? He wanted to rush to her, but first he had to deal with whoever had taken her. He prayed that she would keep breathing until he did.

  As he started past the bathroom door, he heard movement inside. He froze and tried to see into the dark bathroom.

  Lizzy.

  She was trying to move. He realized that she could see him in the dimly lit hallway. He held his finger to his lips and the movement halted. He signaled he’d be back and heard her try to speak.

  With his back against the wall past the bathroom, he cautiously headed for the living room, knowing he might only get one chance, one shot. He had to make it count.

  * * *

  LIZZY WANTED TO SCREAM. But she could barely make a sound. Shade. She saw that he was armed, but he had no idea what he was about to encounter in the other room. Her heart had surged at the sight of him. She’d known he would come, dreading it and yet feeling her heart swell with love for him. Of course, he would come looking for her. The killer had planned it that way.

  She wanted to call out to him, to warn him, but her throat seemed to have closed from the drug they’d used on her. Her lips felt like rubber. All she could do was breathe and keep trying to get her muscles to work again.

  She’d managed to shift her legs some and could now feel her fingers flexing. The drug was wearing off. Just not fast enough. She strained to hear as Shade moved cautiously toward the living area. The killer was out there waiting for him. Of that she was sure. But she feared the person wasn’t alone.

  Lizzy thought she heard a vehicle. Josh should have called for help by now. She’d expected the ranch to be crawling with law enforcement. Unless someone had stopped him from making it down the mountain. Unless he hadn’t gone. Unless—

  “Don’t come any closer,” she heard someone say in the other room.

  She frowned in confusion. She’d been so sure that she’d figured out who the killer was. But she’d been wrong.

  A flashlight beam came on, some of the ambient light making its way down the hallway. She blinked, even that little bit of light blinding her for a moment.

  “Put the gun down.” Kayla’s voice came from the living room. “I don’t want to kill you but I will.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  THE BLEEDING MAN stumbled into the side of the cruiser. Ace’s gaze locked with eyes like deep holes in the pained face that appeared at the window. With a shock, he recognized Brad Davis, the newspaperman who’d befriended him during the race for sheriff.

  “Help me,” Brad said as he pressed a bloody hand against the driver’s-side window, leaving a print. Ace told himself he should wait for backup. For all he knew, Brad was the killer. But he could see the man’s blood-soaked coat where it appeared he’d been injured.

  He cringed as Brad began to pound on the window. He knew he had no choice. He grabbed the door handle and, throwing open the door, drove the man back as he pulled his weapon.

  “Help me,” Brad demanded as he clutched at his side, blood oozing out between his fingers. “I need...help.” He seemed about to lose consciousness. “Kayla,” he managed to say as he grabbed Ace’s arm with one bloody paw. “She has my gun.”

  As Brad started to pass out, Ace pushed him into the back of the patrol car. “Stay here,” he said. “Help is on the way.” His mind was whirling. All of this was happening too fast.

  The sound of a gunshot pierced the night air, making him turn to look in the direction the sound had come from.

  That’s when he saw the light in the cabin. It flickered. A flashlight beam? His heart jumped. Someone else was still alive down there. The killer?

  * * *

  SHADE DIDN’T LOWER his weapon as he looked into the barrel of the gun pointed at him, and then at the woman holding it and a flashlight. “Kayla.”

  She sat against the wall. He
could see from where he stood that she was wounded. Her coat was soaked on one side. Had Brad shot her?

  “What’s going on, Kayla?” he asked quietly. In the ambient glow of the flashlight beam, he told himself he shouldn’t be surprised. They’d all considered her the weirdo. But still he was. She looked...scared.

  “Where are the others?” Kayla asked, sounding like she was in pain.

  He frowned. “I don’t know.”

  Kayla glanced toward the door but quickly returned her gaze to him. The gun in her hand stayed pointed at his chest.

  “What did you do to Lizzy?” he asked. “If she’s hurt, we need to get her help. What did you do to her?”

  Kayla shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen Lizzy.”

  He stared at the woman, worrying that she was completely deranged, that all of this had been too much for her. She must have lost contact with reality. Except for the gun in her hand.

  “You need to put down the gun, Kayla. This is over. By now, help will be on the way.”

  She shook her head.

  “You really need to get medical help,” he said, the barrel of his weapon still pointed at the woman’s heart, just as hers was pointed at his. “I can understand why Ariel—”

  “None of you did anything to stop her. You let her bully everyone. I never understood why you didn’t stand up to her.”

  Shade shook his head. “It wasn’t just you. She put all of us through hell.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Kayla said, sounding close to tears. “I just want it to end...” She waved the flashlight across the room and back. But the gun stayed pinned on his heart.

  He saw the change in her eyes. She knew she was going to die. Which meant... He dived as she pulled the trigger. He heard the bullet hit the wall where he’d just been. The report echoed in the small cabin, and a shower of Sheetrock dust fell over him an instant before the second shot. This one caught him in the side, exploding in hot pain.

  Stars danced before his eyes and dimmed, making him fear he’d pass out before he could stop Kayla from killing him.

  * * *

  THE DRUG WAS wearing off, but there were still parts of her body that weren’t cooperating. Lizzy struggled to roll to her side and climb to her hands and knees. She’d been working on getting blood flow back into her limbs when she heard the gunshot.

  Dizzy and still weak, she forced herself to her feet and had to grab the sink to keep from keeling over. How was she going to be of any help to Shade in her condition? She didn’t know, only that she had to try.

  Running her hand along the wall for stability, she exited the bathroom and started toward the living room. The only light was coming from the large flashlight lying on the floor ahead of her. Shade must have dropped it. In her fogged state, she picked it up. It was heavy and cold to the touch.

  She shined the light on Shade. He was wounded and bleeding badly. She dropped down beside him.

  And then she saw Kayla, slumped against the wall, her chest and hands soaked with blood as she raised her gun.

  * * *

  ACE QUICKLY CLIMBED back into his cruiser and shut off the engine, killing his headlights. He sat listening to the tick, tick, tick of his cooling engine as he waited for backup. The snow had stopped but now lay as a white blanket that shone in the darkness.

  Nothing moved. He’d never felt more alone. It was as if the world had ended and he and whoever had that flashlight down at that cabin were all that were left. Brad had either passed out in the back seat or died. Ace didn’t want to check.

  Either way, he was alone on this mountain with a killer.

  Then he heard more gunshots.

  Do something! Here’s your chance. You came up here to play hero. If you just sit here, someone else will get credit for ending this. Backup is coming.

  And yet he couldn’t move, paralyzed with fear. It was a totally unique experience for him. He’d always jumped in with both feet, loving the thrill of the fight, the chase, the arrest.

  He stared out his windshield, ignoring the bloody handprint on his driver’s-side window. He had no idea how many people up here were dead and wouldn’t unless he got out and did a body count.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off the cabin with the light still shining there. Knowing that was where the gunshots had come from.

  Making up his mind, Ace threw open his door and ran through the dark stillness that lay between him and the light. He prayed for the sound of sirens. He should have called for backup sooner. He should have done a lot of things differently.

  But there wasn’t time to worry about that now, he thought as he neared the cabin. He had to stop the killer.

  He was almost there when he saw a shadow move next to the cabin. He raised his gun, but the shadow disappeared so quickly, he thought he’d only imagined it.

  Racing up onto the porch of the cabin, he threw open the door, his weapon ready.

  * * *

  LIZZY WOULD REMEMBER feeling as if she was moving in slow motion and everything else was happening way too fast. Kayla had her gun pointed at Lizzy, only to swing it toward the door as it banged open. The woman’s eyes widened at the sight of the deputy and the gun in his hand. Kayla pulled the trigger.

  Deputy Ace Turner let out a grunt before dropping his gun and crumbling to the floor. Kayla fired again at the doorway. The bullet lodged in the woodwork next to the door. She was aiming to fire again when another figure appeared.

  A bloody, disheveled Jennifer filled the doorway.

  “Kayla, no!” Lizzy cried, her words coming out hoarse. She strained for Shade’s gun on the floor next to him. But Jennifer grabbed Ace’s service revolver and turned it on Kayla. The report echoed in the small cabin as the bullet struck Kayla. She toppled over and then lay still.

  “Drop it!” Lizzy called to Jennifer, her voice growing stronger. She raised Shade’s gun and aimed it at the woman in the doorway. She could hear the sound of sirens coming up the mountain.

  Jennifer, looking as if she was in shock, hesitated, her gun pointed at Lizzy. Then she slowly lowered the weapon and let it drop to the floor.

  “Lizzy,” Shade said, his voice breaking.

  “It’s all right,” she said as she heard the sound of sirens coming closer and closer.

  Jennifer leaned against the doorjamb, her face lit by the flashing lights of law enforcement racing toward the cabin. Over the sirens, Lizzy could hear Jennifer making a keening sound. The high-pitched cry sent a chill through the room.

  Within minutes there were uniforms everywhere. Lizzy stayed with Shade until he was placed in the ambulance. The drug had worn off enough that she could take control of the situation on the mountain. Still, it all felt so surreal, like a bad dream that was never going to end.

  It wasn’t until later, on the way to the hospital in one of the patrol SUVs, that she reached into her pocket and took out the diary page that had been pressed into her hand. She smoothed it out, recognizing Ariel’s curlicue writing.

  And then there is Lizzy, who has the biggest secret of them all.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “CAN I SEE SHADE?” Lizzy asked the moment she arrived at the hospital. She was told she would have to wait. Both Brad and Shade had been taken into surgery along with Jennifer, who had minor injuries including a few defensive knife cuts on her arms, and Tyler with his head injury. When Josh arrived, he gave her the bad news about Christopher and Ashley, both stabbed to death down the road sometime after they left the guest ranch.

  “Kayla?” Josh asked.

  “Dead,” Lizzy said. “Brad said he shot Kayla when she came at him out of the dark. He tried to get away from her but fell. He said that must have been when she stabbed him.” Lizzy had told state investigators, back at the lodge as bodies were taken away and crime scene tape spread around the guest ranch, how Ka
yla had shot Shade, killed Ace and attempted to shoot Jennifer.

  She didn’t know how long she’d been in the hospital’s waiting room before the doctor came out. “Shade’s just come out of surgery,” Dr. Bullock told her. “So he isn’t awake.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I want to see him.”

  The doctor nodded and gave her a patient smile. “Just for a minute.”

  She walked down the hallway, pushed open the door and froze. Shade lay in the bed, his normally tanned face pale. Lizzy swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped to him. She’d almost gotten him killed. She’d almost gotten all of them killed. As it was, almost half of her class was dead.

  But by the grace of God, Shade was alive. If Kayla had shot him again... Lizzy knew she shouldn’t be thinking like this. Shade was going to be fine. Brad, Tyler and Jennifer were somewhere in the hospital, also going to make it. It seemed that if Kayla had had her way, none of them would be alive.

  Lizzy pulled up a chair closer to him and, after studying his face for a few moments, picked up his hand and pressed it to her lips. She felt hot tears run down her cheeks and splash on his large, sun-tanned hand.

  Wiping her eyes, she looked down at his fingers tangled with her own. She realized she’d never looked at his hands before or seen the tiny scars that came with being a rancher. She smiled as she rubbed her thumb over them, thinking of how brave he’d been. He’d come to save her against all odds. She hated to think what would have happened if he hadn’t.

  Her gaze shifted to his handsome face. “Hey, cowboy,” she said, her voice breaking. “You’re going to be all right. Good as new.” She nearly choked on the lie. Would any of them ever be the same again? But Shade had to be. He was a father and there was a little girl who needed him. Maisie wasn’t the only one.