Climbing Fear

by Leisl Leighton

  Reid put his arm around her, pulling her to his side. ‘Let the girl go, Tucker.’

  ‘I think I’ll keep her right where I’ve got her. You see, I’ve suddenly realised you’re going to have to come with me and she’s my guarantee you’ll do it without a peep. I can’t have you calling the cops on me, now, can I? Besides, we’ve still got a score to settle, you and I, and better to do that away from here without the possibility of witnesses. Now, move it!’

  ‘Mummy,’ Tilly sobbed as he started walking backwards with her towards the door. ‘Reid!’

  Reid’s arms were around Nat, trembling as much as she was, his voice a growl in her ear. ‘Hurt her and you’re dead.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, like I haven’t heard that one before. Luke made similar threats when he found out what I was making Steve do, but look who died and who’s still standing.’ He glanced at Steve as he made his way across the porch and down the stairs. ‘You’ve got the statues? And the letter?’

  Steve patted the backpack, trembling. ‘Here.’

  ‘Good. Then come on. We’ve got work to do, diamonds to sell, money to make.’ His grin flashed wider, his snake-like gaze centred on Nat and Reid as they followed out the door behind Steve. ‘You two—’ he gestured at them, ‘—do exactly as I say. Who knows, if you’re very good, I might even let the little girl live.’

  ‘Tucker,’ Steve said. ‘Don’t hurt the girl. There’s no need for this.’

  ‘Of course there’s need. He took everything from me. It seems only right to take everything from him too.’

  ‘You said it yourself, he’s lost everything. He can’t climb, can’t do any of it without Luke. The TV show will be cancelled soon because he can’t do any of what he used to do. There’s no need to hurt anyone else.’

  Tucker ignored him and Nat winced, the words a cruel reminder of what Reid had thought about himself for so long, too long. She wanted to deny them, to comfort Reid, to make sure he wouldn’t revert back to thinking they were true, but one look at his face told her that rather than twisting the knife in, weakening him, the words uttered by the man he’d thought his friend had only made him stronger, angrier.

  Steve’s desperate gaze flickered from Tilly to Nat and Reid. ‘I’m so sorry. I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt her. I promise.’ His movements were jerky as he followed Tucker like a beaten dog still willing to go with its master.

  Reid’s fury was a sizzling, sparking thing as he glared at Steve. ‘How could you do this? You loved Luke. How could you have killed him?’

  ‘I didn’t. I didn’t. That was Tucker. I didn’t know he’d arranged to sabotage Luke’s gear. All I knew was that he’d had Luke drugged. When I found out, I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. Remember?’ He looked like he was burning from the inside out.

  ‘Not good enough. You could have told me about it, about Tucker, about what he was doing.’

  ‘I wanted to but I couldn’t. You don’t know what I did. If the wrong people found out, they’d torture me forever before killing me. Tucker is the only thing stopping that from happening. I have to do what he says. I have to.’

  ‘Shut up. Shut up!’ Tucker screamed. He was almost at the car with Tilly.

  Reid leaned in closer to Steve, his whisper harsh, forbidding. ‘But he killed Luke.’

  ‘That was … You don’t understand. He would have told …’

  ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ Nat asked, cutting him off. It had all become clear to her. Everything that had happened, that had made her fear and be so uncertain again, was because of the men standing in front of her, not Andrew’s parents at all. Fury began to rise inside her, eclipsing her fear, making her tremble this time with rage. ‘You broke into my house and pushed me that night. You were going after the statues. Is that why you were here last night too? Why you poisoned Bos and hurt Barb? To steal the statues? There’s diamonds in them, isn’t there?’

  ‘Of course there is, you stupid cow,’ Tucker said over the top of Steve’s mumbled apologies. ‘Those statues have millions of dollars-worth of diamonds in them and I have clients getting deathly impatient to have what they’ve paid for. Here’s a thought, I might just hand you over to them as an apology. They like to have a bit of rough fun, and if I know anything about Reid it’s that he always picks girls who like a good hard fuck. I might try you out myself before I give you to my clients.’

  ‘You won’t touch her!’ Reid snarled.

  ‘I’ll do whatever the hell I like. Now, get in the car before I lose my patience.’

  She could feel Reid’s trembling rage as well as she could feel her own, but she didn’t move. She needed to try to stretch this out, to give them as much time as possible to figure a way out of this, for someone to notice there was something wrong, hear Tucker’s raised voice, and come to see what the problem was. Her mind raced, thinking of something else to halt things. ‘It was you in the bush, wasn’t it, Tucker?’ Satisfaction slipped through her as Tucker stopped again. ‘You stole the guns from the neighbouring farm and shot those rabbits for food.’

  ‘A man needs more than stale trail rations.’

  ‘You didn’t clean up after yourself, like you taught Luke and I,’ Reid said. She could still feel the rage in him, but he seemed to have caught onto her tactics, was playing along.

  ‘I don’t do lots of things that I once did, thanks to you, you self-righteous prick.’

  Something glinted in Tucker’s eyes that made her shiver. Oh god, she wanted to run over there and tear Tilly from his arms, get her away from him as fast as possible. But she couldn’t. He still had the knife.

  ‘You have no idea how close I came to shooting you in the bush last week. I was so tempted. But Steve stopped me. Said he could get what we came here for without anyone knowing. I should have known he’d screw it up. Did you bring the gun I gave you, at least? We’re going to need it later.’

  Steve nodded dumbly, face grey and patted the backpack. ‘It’s in here, loaded and ready to go.’

  ‘Good, it will make it all so much easier when we get where we’re going. Let’s go.’ He jerked towards the car, his obvious intention to make them move past him so he could follow.

  Tilly was sobbing, the sounds tearing shreds from Nat. ‘Tilly, Tilly, it’s going to be okay.’ Her mind spun, trying to think of something, anything, to stop Tucker from moving towards the car. Her eyes landed on Steve. ‘Please, Steve. Help us.’

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘If you do this,’ Reid said, his voice rough. ‘If you let him take Tilly and kill us, you’ll never know any peace.’

  ‘I never have.’

  ‘Stop yabbering, Steve. We’ve got to go.’

  Steve turned and walked to the car where Tucker was standing with Tilly.

  Tucker’s smile widened. ‘You drive. I’ll make sure they behave themselves with our little surprise package here. You two stay there until I get inside with her and then you can follow, nice and slow and get in.’

  ‘Mummy!’ Tilly cried out as Tucker took the knife from her throat and jabbed it into a sheath on his belt and began to push her into the car.

  ‘Tilly,’ Nat sobbed. She’d never felt so helpless in all her life.

  ‘Get in!’ Tucker shouted to Tilly who was suddenly struggling against his hold now the knife was no longer at her throat. Her head smacked against the edge of the car as he pushed her in and she collapsed to the ground.

  ‘Tilly, no!’ Nat started towards her daughter, her only thought to get to her, to save her. She felt Reid behind her, rushing past, his intent etched in every inch of his body, to protect Tilly. He launched himself forward, catching Tucker by surprise as he straightened. The tackle took them both sideways, away from the car, from Tilly.

  Nat raced forward, gathering her daughter up in her arms, relief a shattering explosion inside her as she felt the puff of Tilly’s breath against her neck. She brushed her hair back from her face, noting the bruise already blooming on her forehead, the trickle of b
lood already creating a crust over the small prick-wound in her neck. She held her tight, rocking back and forth as Reid tussled with Tucker only metres away, the vicious intent on both men’s faces a frightening sight. She felt something pluck at her arm and turned to face Steve who had come to her side and was trying to pull her up, pull her away. But she couldn’t go. Couldn’t leave Reid to fight Tucker alone. But she couldn’t let go of Tilly, her fingers clenched around her daughter convulsively as if she could never let go.

  Tucker had Reid pinned. At some stage in the tussle, he’d pulled his knife from the sheath at his belt and now had it raised above Reid ready to plunge it into her lover’s chest. Grabbing the heavy backpack from Steve, she threw it at Tucker. Things fell from the open mouth as it flew through the air, but it still had enough weight in it when it hit his shoulder that it knocked him off balance. The knife plunged, slamming into Reid’s shoulder instead of his chest. Reid cried out, the sound a wrenching tear in her heart. ‘No!’

  Tucker jerked the knife out of Reid’s shoulder shoving Reid away like so much garbage, he turned to face Nat. ‘You fucking bitch. I’ll teach you to interfere.’

  She shrank back, clutching Tilly as Tucker walked slowly towards her, blood dripping from the knife in his raised hand.

  Terror screamed through her. Nat’s nightmare had come to life.

  Once again, she was looking into the eyes of a madman, into the eyes of death. It might not be a gun levelled at her this time, a blood-soaked knife glinting in the sunlight instead, but it didn’t matter. This man could kill just as well with a knife as a gun. She could see that clearly in his eyes.

  Oh god, she couldn’t move, but she had to. She had to be strong, but she was so terribly afraid it wouldn’t be enough. There was so much blood.

  No. She couldn’t let herself think about the blood already soaking into the ground. He couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t. She had to do something to get the madman away from him, away from her daughter.

  ‘Take her. Take her,’ she screamed at Steve who was cowering next to the car a few metres away. ‘Get help!’ She pushed Tilly at him, even knowing that help was too far away. Mac and the others were all down at the corrals at the opposite end of the property, letting the kids say goodbye to the horses before their parents arrived to take them home in an hour or so.

  But she had to try something. Anything. She scrambled sideways, away from Tilly, but not to run away from danger. No, she was going to make it follow her. ‘Get help!’ she yelled at Steve again, hoping to galvanise the traumatised man into action. She managed to gain her feet, but then tripped over something hard on the ground.

  ‘Nothing can help you now, you stupid bitch,’ the madman screamed and lunged at her, knife held high.

  She grabbed the thing she’d tripped over, her fingers winding around the hard wood, and lifted it above her just as Tucker brought the knife down.

  The knife sunk into the statue, the force of the blow numbing her fingers, but still, she held onto it, her only weapon, her only defence. Tucker was off balance and she swung the heavy statue at him, hitting him in the side of the head with a dull thunk. The statue, damaged by the knife and the blows, snapped in half and sparkling drops of sunlight flew out of it, scattering in the grass all around them as Tucker fell sideways.

  Nat scrabbled away, feet struggling to find purchase, slipping on the diamonds and dirt and grass.

  ‘My diamonds! You bitch!’

  ‘Nat, no!’ Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Reid struggling to stand, to come to her, his pained grunt as he fell down on his knees.

  The sound didn’t just get her attention, it grabbed Tucker’s as well.

  The man grabbed the jagged half of the wooden statue and began to run towards Reid.

  Oh god. She was going to lose him, lose everything, just when she thought she was going to get it all. Horrifying sadness threatened to engulf her, but she couldn’t let it. She had to save Reid. Had to save her daughter. She’d had to fight for happiness, love, belonging, and she’d fight with everything in her to keep it. She was going to get the things she’d barely let herself wish for, starting with this Christmas. Images flashed in her mind; waking on Christmas morning with Reid at her side, smiling down at her, his hands running knowingly over her body, his lips on hers, his body around hers, inside hers, bringing intense pleasure as the light of dawn lit the sky; lying with him after, snuggled together, listening for the sound of Tilly’s feet on the floorboards racing to their room to jump on the bed between them, her daughter’s shriek of laughter lighting the air as Reid picked her up and threw her over his shoulder to race down the stairs to the huge tree he’d bought for them, that they decorated together, brightly wrapped presents underneath; the joy on their faces as they tore through the paper filling her with such happiness, it burst through her skin; kissing and laughing and then dressing quickly, stealing more kisses to be interrupted by Tilly as she kept running into their room to share her excitement over the gifts they bought together for her; running up to the main building, Tilly between them, promises shared in their glances all morning as they helped to cook and then eat the huge Christmas feast Barb always put on; finishing the day by tucking a tired Tilly into bed and then going downstairs to watch the sun set over the hills before slowly peeling off their clothes and making long slow love through the night and every night after.

  The images stole her breath, made her tingle with longing and expectation and happiness and the most vicious wanting.

  Those images were going to be hers.

  She picked up the other end of the broken statue and lunged towards Tucker. ‘You’re not taking him from me, you bastard.’

  ‘Stop!’

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Steve standing there, a gun in his hand, pointed at her. She knew what was coming, the punch that would send her backwards, stealing her breath, the flash of burning pain the incongruous pop of sound that would follow the bullet as it drove into her flesh. But she didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. She had to save Reid.

  She swung her arm at Tucker, breath a burn in her throat. The sound of Reid’s anguished cry exploded around her as the crack of a gun echoed into the stillness of the bush.

  Chapter 26

  There was an oof of sound and Nat opened her eyes, startled, astonished it hadn’t hurt, the bullet that had taken her life.

  She blinked. If this was heaven, it was very strange. Why was she standing, holding a broken statue in her hand, diamonds sparkling in the grass all around her? And why was Reid pulling himself out from underneath Tucker’s heavy body?

  Had she connected with Tucker’s head? Had she killed him? Why was there a pool of blood spreading on the back of Tucker’s t-shirt?

  There was a commotion close by and she turned dazedly to see Flynn and Mac and Ben and a few of the men racing up the lane towards them. ‘Flynn?’ When had he arrived?

  Hands were on her shoulders, her arms, her body, her face. ‘Are you hurt? He didn’t hurt you, did he?’

  She stared up at Reid, the blood splattering his face, the dark pool of it on the shoulder of his torn t-shirt.

  ‘I didn’t get shot.’

  ‘No. No, Steve shot Tucker. Oh Christ, Nat. I thought … I thought …’ He hauled her against him with one arm.

  ‘I’m not dead?’

  He pulled back, lips wobbling into a smile. ‘It seems not.’

  ‘You’re real? This is real.’

  ‘Yes, shit, yes,’ he said, lips on hers, on her cheeks, her eyes, her forehead, his hand on the back of her head, holding her close.

  ‘Is she okay?’ Flynn said, mouth grim as he came up to them while Mac ran off towards the house.

  ‘She’s okay, she’s okay,’ Reid said, voice trembling. ‘When did you get here? You weren’t supposed to be back until Monday.’

  ‘Aaron wanted to come home early. What the hell has been happening here?’

  ‘It’s a long story.’

  ‘You’re
injured,’ Flynn said, his green eyes, the Findlay eyes, raked over his nephew, his strong features set in lines of worry.

  ‘It’s fine.’

  ‘It doesn’t look fine to me.’ He began to shout orders to those who had come running.

  Reid looked down at Nat as Flynn took charge of everything around them. ‘You’re okay.’

  ‘Yes, I am.’ The last few moments were replaying in her head. Steve hadn’t shot her. He’d saved her, saved Reid and Tilly, shooting Tucker instead. She shook her head, struggling to understand the turn of events. She turned and saw Steve on the ground, eyes wide, face pale, Tilly once again clutched in his arms. ‘Tilly.’

  She ran over and grabbed her daughter, cradling Tilly against her, while staring at Steve. ‘Why? Why’d you shoot him and not me?’

  ‘He was going to kill Reid. I couldn’t let him do that.’ He shuddered. ‘Luke loved him. He made me promise to look after him if anything ever happened to him.’ His eyes drifted from her. ‘I kept my promise, Luke. I kept my promise.’

  She stared at him. He was broken. Probably had been for years. Just like Andrew. But unlike Andrew, he’d helped someone he loved. Maybe, sometime in the future, there was hope for him.

  ‘Is she okay?’ Reid’s arm came around her.

  She stood with his help, Tilly cradled against her. ‘We have to get her help. She’s got a nasty bump on her head.’

  ‘We’ll take care of her.’

  She looked up at him. ‘Together.’

  ‘Always.’

  They were suddenly surrounded by others clamouring around them with questions. The police were suddenly there too and she remembered they were going to drop by later in the day to follow up on the attack on Barb. They wanted to question Reid and her then and there about what had occurred, but Reid told them to meet them at the hospital and commandeered Flynn into driving him and Nat and Tilly there straight away. He wouldn’t even wait for someone to put a bandage on his shoulder. Mac handed Nat a first aid kit and while Reid held Tilly across his lap in the car, she tended his injury as Flynn drove.