Caleb ran past the tree and splashed through a patch of mud. Kurt and Emma followed.
Kurt searched his pockets for the GPS as he ran, but he couldn’t find the damned thing. The only thing he could imagine was it had fallen out of his pocket when he rammed into the leader.
Now, without the GPS, they were lost, and being hunted by men who wanted to kill them.
Up ahead, Caleb slowed his pace. Kurt knew they couldn’t continue going as fast as they had, but for now, they had to keep up a decent speed.
“Keep going,” he said. “Find a route not so overgrown to make the running easier.”
Caleb did so, and he actually increased his pace again as he forged a path through the woods, avoiding the tall ferns and keeping to the lower shrubs. Branches snapped underfoot, sounding too loud in the growing gloom and making Kurt wince. Rain bounced off the foliage, weighing it down under the relentless barrage of blows, and he hoped the sound masked their footfalls.
He glanced back but didn’t catch a glimpse anyone following them. But that didn’t mean they weren’t out there.
A pile of leaves on the ground suddenly erupted as though a small explosion had gone off, and a man disguised beneath a suit of ragged cloth and foliage jumped up in front of them.
CHAPTER 15
“Fuck,” Rogers said. “We’ve lost them.”
Conner sucked in a deep breath. Beside him, Williams wiped blood from his still bleeding nose, the drops from which bloomed on the undergrowth like roses. Black rings had already started to appear underneath his eyes and he was still unsteady on his feet after being knocked unconscious for a couple of seconds.
“They can’t have gone far,” Conner said. “And they don’t know which way to go without this.” He held up the GPS Vaughn dropped when he rammed into him. He still couldn’t believe the copper and his family escaped.
“So which way do we go now?” Williams asked.
Conner had smacked his leg into a tree during the fall, and he rubbed his thigh to alleviate the pain radiating from the spot. “They’ll want to get back to their car, so I suspect, unless they can remember the way from here, they’ll retrace their path as best they can.”
“So what we waitin’ for?” Rogers spat a wad of phlegm on the ground.
“We’re probably best splitting up. All they have is a knife, and we can cover more ground that way. Here, I’ll give you both the coordinates of the car so you can input it into your phone’s maps. Williams and I will search the woods, while you head for the car in case they make their way back there. As we can’t contact each other, we’ll have to arrange to meet back at the car in, let’s say, three hours.”
“And what do we do when we find ‘em?” Rogers asked.
“We kill them,” Williams said. “They can recognise us now.”
The men nodded, and after inputting the coordinates they split up.
Conner strode through the trees, his eyes and ears alert for any sign of the Vaughn family. He wasn’t happy with the decision to kill them, but he realised if they let them go they would be able to identify them. They had no choice, but Conner had never killed anyone, never mind a whole family. He didn’t think he would be able to do it. He had beaten people up, even broken a few of their bones, but actually taking a life was the ultimate sin.
He wondered what his dear old mum would think if she could see him now. Being a God-fearing church goer, she certainly wouldn’t be proud of him. She disowned him a number of years ago, calling him a lost cause.
He wondered how many of those precious commandments she harped on about he had broken over the last twenty-nine years. He’d certainly used the Lord’s name in vain. He hadn’t honoured his mother and father. He had stolen, even committed adultery when he hooked up with Sarah Brown. She said she and her husband hadn’t been getting along for years. Conner wasn’t bothered. All he cared about was she was willing and able, and she wasn’t a bad-looking woman, but when her husband found out everything changed. She wanted to leave him and move in with Conner, but he’d never been serious about the affair. The last he heard her husband kicked her out and she lived in a council flat. By all accounts he also wouldn’t let her visit their two kids. None of that bothered Conner. He thought he was better off out of it.
But murder, he guessed, was the ultimate sin.
The sky grew darker, the rain more relentless. Conner couldn’t help but think it had a biblical feel, the air charged with some unseen force. His mum would love the irony. The last time he had seen his parents was about four years ago. His dad disowned him long before his mum did, saying he would never amount to anything. Conner was angry his dad had been proven right as he drifted from one job to another, before finally ending up selling drugs. But he made a living and there were plenty of customers.
Conner continued through the woods, trampling over swaths of yellow flowers. He caught the sound of a birdcall in the distance, but couldn’t discern which direction it originated from before the sound petered away.
He tightened his grip on the gun, its presence a comfort in the gloomy surrounds. He wondered if either of the others had any luck finding their quarry.
None of this still made any sense. What stupid game was Armstrong playing? He knew he was probably in the woods somewhere. Was he watching Conner now? He recalled their first meeting. Armstrong approached him with an order for some skunk, and as the weeks and months went by, he slowly ingratiated himself with Conner. They didn’t become best buddies, but he seemed like an okay guy and he even made him laugh at times. Then one night he said he had a proposition for the right man. He said he could see Conner’s disillusionment with his lot, and how would he like to make some easy money? Of course Conner had been interested. Without money, you couldn’t do anything. Money was the only God Conner would pray too.
When Armstrong outlined the proposal, Conner had been apprehensive, but Armstrong insisted they wouldn’t be caught. He said he had a fool proof plan.
As Armstrong had never given him any reason to doubt him, Conner agreed. Armstrong kept most of the planning to himself, but Conner never imagined he would blow up the rollercoaster. Although he hadn’t pressed the button himself, he realised in the eyes of the law he would be just as guilty. That guilt still weighed heavy on his shoulders. He remembered seeing the photographs of the victims in the newspapers and on the news, some of them kids. They hadn’t even had a shot at life.
Armstrong introduced him to Rogers and Williams a month before the heist went down. He didn’t know much about them. Armstrong thought it best if none of them got too close, that way if any of them were caught they couldn’t divulge any information on their partners in crime.
Conner hoped they didn’t have to test Armstrong’s theory out.
CHAPTER 16
Caleb screamed. Emma almost fell over as she skidded to a stop. Kurt raised the knife, ready to strike, his heart thumping furiously.
The man held his hands up. “Whoa, calm down. Sorry if I scared you. Just didn’t want you stepping on me.”
“Who the hell are you?” Kurt demanded, the knife held out in front of him. Disguised beneath the strange, ragged camouflage suit, he couldn’t make out the man’s face.
“Easy fella. Name’s Frank Windsor.”
“What are you doing out here?” Emma asked as she pulled Caleb behind her.
“Twitching.”
Kurt frowned.
“You know, bird watching.” He held aloft the binoculars hung around his neck.
Kurt eased his grip on the knife and lowered the weapon. “Sorry.”
Frank squinted at the knife. “Want to tell me what’s going on?” He lifted his mask to reveal an amiable face. At a guess, he was in his mid-forties.
Kurt glanced behind him, the sweat rolling from his brow down his cheeks. “My name’s Kurt Vaughn, and this is my family. I’m the police officer in charge of the investigation into the theme park bombing. It’s a long story, but the men responsible are after us.”
<
br /> Frank whistled softly. “You mean those men are in the woods?”
“And they have guns,” Caleb said from behind his mum’s legs.
“Yes, and they could find us at any moment,” Kurt added. “We need to get away.”
“Now,” Emma said, her voice shaking.
“How did you get here?” Kurt asked.
“Drove. Parked in a car park off the main road.”
“Probably the same place as us. Please, can you take us there?”
Frank nodded. “Sure. Follow me.”
As Frank walked away, Emma glanced at Kurt, her expression revealing her uncertainty. Kurt shrugged. What other choice did they have? He nodded. “Stay behind me.” Then he headed after Frank.
Kurt kept a tight hold on the knife. He realised the blade wouldn’t be much use against someone with a gun, but it made him feel more secure.
He still couldn’t believe they had progressed from treasure hunting to fleeing for their lives. Frank continued in front and Kurt thought dressed as he was, he resembled one of the carnivorous and venomous fictional plants in John Wyndham's novel, The Day of the Triffids.
“It’s lucky you found me,” Frank said.
Kurt kept glancing over his shoulder at Emma and Caleb. He was proud of how strong they were being, especially Caleb. He probably didn’t understand everything going on, but he was handling himself well, and putting a brave face on.
“Easy to get lost out here,” Frank continued. “Think it surprises some people, what with this not being such a big country.”
Kurt winced. Frank was talking too loud. “Can you keep it down a bit? The men chasing us might hear you.”
“Sorry. Wasn’t thinking.”
Kurt suspected Frank either underestimated the threat or he didn’t believe them, but he hadn’t been on the receiving end of being pursued. Frank didn’t understand how ruthless those men were. How cold-hearted. They killed all those people in the theme park as a diversion so they could escape with the money. That made them callous and calculating. He wouldn’t put anything past them.
The ground levelled out and the trees started to thin. The lack of canopy allowed Kurt to see exactly how heavily the rain fell and he zipped his jacket up as far as it would go. Through the trees he saw fields, but much of the vista was hidden behind the downpour.
“How long do you think it’ll take to reach the car?” he asked.
Frank stopped at the edge of the trees. “Another half hour or so.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.
“Do you mind not lighting that up?” Kurt said. “They might smell the smoke.”
Frank frowned. “Look, you may have someone chasing you, I don’t really know, but unless they’ve got noses like bloodhounds, I doubt they’ll smell my cigarette.” He ignited the lighter and sucked on the cigarette, puffing out a stream of smoke.
Kurt licked his lips. “Can we just get going?” He heard something moving within the wood and his heart skipped a beat before continuing at twice the speed of before. He stared back, eyes narrowed as he tried to spot anything moving.
“What?” Emma asked.
“Thought I heard something.”
Frank exhaled another cloud of smoke. “Probably a bird or a squirrel.” He started walking.
Kurt looked across the field. He knew crossing in the open, they would be at their most vulnerable as they would be exposed, but they didn’t have any other choice. He squeezed Emma’s hand and kissed her on the cheek. “We’re going to get out of this, okay?”
Emma nodded and offered a weak smile. A moment later a crack of gunfire sounded in the distance and a bullet spun her around like a marionette.
CHAPTER 17
Emma screamed and clutched at her arm as she tripped and fell on her bottom, grimacing. Blood seeped through her fingers.
“Mum!”
“Down, get down,” Kurt shouted as he pushed Caleb to the ground.
“What’s going on?” Frank asked as he turned around, blowing out a plume of smoke.
“Get down,” Kurt shouted again.
Frank stood holding his cigarette between his lips, next second a bullet smacked into his chest. He glanced down with a puzzled expression, then collapsed onto the ground.
Caleb started crying.
“Shit,” Kurt said as he crawled over to Emma. “How bad is it?”
“How bad do you think it is?” she snapped. “I’ve been shot!” She sucked a breath through bared teeth.
Kurt rubbed his face, stubble scraping against his palm. “Let me have a look.” When she removed her hand, he studied the small hole in her jacket. Blood seeped out. “Okay, keep pressure on the wound.” He closed his eyes for a moment; not knowing what to do was crippling him. His family were in danger, and he needed to do something, but what?
His eyes snapped open and he clenched his fists. There was only one way out of this. Kill or be killed. But first he had to find out where the shooter was.
“Caleb, you’re a young man now,” he whispered. “I want you to be strong, and I want you to look after your Mum.”
Caleb’s bottom lip trembled and tears streamed down his cheeks. Kurt hugged him close, inhaling his essence. “I know you can do this. You’re my hero.”
Emma stared at him, her expression distorted by pain. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to put a stop to this.”
“You can’t go out there.” Her expression turned even more pained.
“I have to. For all our sakes.” He squeezed her hand.
“I don’t want you to die,” Caleb spluttered.
“I don’t intend to.” Choking back tears of his own, Kurt crawled away from his family, using a furrow in the ground to conceal himself. Mud coated his body and twigs stabbed his hands as he shuffled along, using his hands and knees to push and pull. He only hoped to God the men had split up and only one of them was anywhere near, otherwise he didn’t stand a chance.
Progress was slow, and his heart thundered inside his chest as he imagined seeing the shooter above him, barrel of a gun pointing down at his face.
When he thought he had moved far enough away, he pulled himself up behind a tree and peeked back. His family remained hunkered down about fifty feet away, holding onto each other for support.
Tentatively, he peered around the trunk, looking for any sign of movement. Rain dripped down from the leaves inside the wood, and apart from the occasional flutter of a fern or a leaf, he couldn’t spot anything.
Where the fuck are you?
Unable to see anyone, he picked up a piece of broken branch about a foot long and preparing himself, he threw it into the woods. He watched the projectile turn end over end before landing in a bush with a loud rustle.
Kurt braced himself. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the woods, then he noticed the movement he had hoped for as less than thirty feet away, a man ran out of from behind a tree: Williams.
He carried a pistol and moved with an assured pace.
Kurt wasn’t certain the man was alone, but he knew he wouldn’t get another chance to do something. He waited until Williams had his back to him, then he exploded out of his crouch and sprinted through the woods, the knife held aloft.
Hearing him approach, Williams spun around, instantly raising his gun as he did so. Kurt ran for all he was worth, his thighs burning, heart thumping, breath held. The gun roared as Williams fired. Kurt felt the bullet whiz past his ear. With one last concerted burst of effort, he launched himself through the air, bringing the knife down as he did so. The blade speared Williams’ collarbone, sliding through his flesh and chipping the bone inside. Still travelling forwards, Kurt smashed into Williams, and they both crashed to the ground. Kurt released his grip on the knife as he tumbled over, his head striking the ground, creating a kaleidoscope of light behind his eyes. He braced himself, used his feet as a brake, and grabbing handfuls of dirt and foliage, bounded to his feet.
Williams lurch
ed to his feet too, the knife protruding from his shoulder and a murderous expression on his face. Kurt threw the mulch in his hands at Williams’ face, momentarily distracting him. He kicked him between the legs. Williams doubled over. As he did so, Kurt kneed him in the face, sending him flying backwards.
As Williams struck the ground, Kurt jumped on top of him. He pulled the knife out of Williams’ shoulder, then without hesitating, he rammed it into the man’s chest, once, twice, three times. The blade came out trailing streamers of blood.
“Kurt!”
He looked up; saw Emma standing, pulling Caleb into her body to shield him from the horror.
Kurt wiped sweat from his brow and rolled off Williams. He glanced around, wary of another attacker springing out of the woods, but when one didn’t come, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the canopy, breathing heavily.
When it came down to it, taking a life hadn’t been as difficult as he had imagined. But his family’s lives had been in danger and the bastard had already shot his wife and probably killed Frank. No, his reaction was a fight or flight instinct.
Kurt struggled to his feet and bent over to yank the knife out of Williams’ chest. He wiped the blade on the man’s jacket and picked up the gun. He wasn’t an expert on firearms, but he knew the gun was a pistol of some description. He searched the man’s pockets and found a phone, a GPS app running on the screen, with directions to the car park.
He stuffed the gun and phone into his pocket and hurried across to his family.
“Is he dead?” Emma asked.
Kurt nodded. He crouched down and turned his son around so he was staring at him. “I had to do it, Caleb. The choice was him or us.”
“I know.” He put his arms around his Dad’s neck and hugged him.
“How’s the arm?” he asked as he stood up.
“Numb”
“Has it stopped bleeding?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Well that’s good I guess.”
“Better than bleeding to death.” Her brief smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.
The Heist Page 5
