Kilty Secrets

by Amy Vansant

Well, where he’d felt so at home after a good cleaning.

  Already, he missed Joseph and Fiona and the world they’d been creating together. Their new world.

  Now, a storm of hate roiled his heart. Hate for the people who had taken it all away.

  They would hear the thunder of his pending approach from miles away. They would feel the crackling lightning of his vengeance!

  The door opened and Rune smiled.

  “Hey, Maddie, good to see you. How are you?”

  In his head, he heard trumpets of doom.

  Blood would spill! Pain would rain upon his enemies!

  But first, he needed a place to stay. He didn’t imagine anyone would ever look for him at Maddie’s. The actress was useful. Maybe she could even help him plan his next move.

  “You again,” she said. She wobbled on her feet as she opened the door. Rune thought he smelled alcohol. Smiling, he walked in and took his usual place on her sofa. “It’s been a bad day. I’ve suffered a setback. I need a place to rest and think.”

  Maddie flopped onto the chair across from him. “Aren’t you wondering why I’m home in the middle of the day?”

  He scowled. “No.”

  She told him anyway. “It’s because filming is suspended while they figure out what happened to Dixie.”

  “Then it will be suspended for a very long time.”

  “Yeah, well I can’t afford that. There’s talk they might cancel the show.”

  Maddie seemed very angry. She stared at him until he looked away and then, disgusted by his own cowardice, he looked back and stared harder back at her. She didn’t blink. His eyes dropped to the bottle of wine and the glass in front of her. Both were empty. He spotted another open bottle on the kitchen counter, that one white, but also empty.

  “Are you drunk?” he asked.

  Her eyes flared as she pointed at him. “How are you going to fix things?”

  Rune lost interest. Drunk people were so boring. Joseph only drank beer, and he was always very mindful of how many he consumed. He liked that about Joseph.

  “I didn’t go back and help him,” he mumbled.

  “What?” Maddie screeched the word.

  Such noise. Rune waved her away and returned to his thoughts, mumbling out loud. “I should have gone back in. Joseph could be dead and I didn’t help. He was my only friend. He helped me see the possibilities.

  “Hey, Freakshow.” Maddie shifted to the edge of the chair. “You said you were going to help me. You killed my co-star and now I might be out of a job. You need to fix this.”

  Rune bit the side of his cheek, thinking.

  Did Fiona trick him?

  What if she was lying? What if she had no intention of helping? It seemed as though she’d come around but...

  She has the list.

  Rune felt his anger rising.

  That’s it. Fiona had already stolen the list from Joseph. She was never going to tell him she had it. No! She only used that information to send him away so she could get away. So she could go inside to her friends. She’d been afraid to send him back in—afraid he would have killed the Highlander and his insipid lot.

  Rune heard a click and looked up in time to see Maddie straddling her legs and lowering a gun in his direction. The click was her pulling back the hammer on the weapon. She was very close. There was very little chance she could miss him.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “You help me or I’m going to kill you. I’m prepared this time.”

  Rune stood. He could feel his anger shifting focus. He heard the lightning crackling.

  “You put that down.”

  “I will not. Not until you fix things.”

  “You can’t kill me,” he said, as matter-of-factly as he could.

  She sneered. “Can’t I? Maybe I’m willing to find out.”

  Rune took a step forward and a shot rang out. He felt something strike his chest, and the force knocked him back onto the sofa.

  He looked down to find blood seeping into his shirt, capillary action spreading an uneven circle across his chest.

  He turned his attention to Maddie, who still stood in the same position, gun still pointed at him, her mouth now wide with what looked like surprise.

  “You shot me,” he said. He heard a wheeze and realized she’d punctured his lung. It hurt to breathe.

  “Put the gun down.”

  “I can’t.” Her hands were trembling now. She winced, obviously worried she’d fire again on accident.

  “Lower it.”

  “I can’t. You’ll kill me.”

  “I won’t.” He stood, slowly, every breath agony. “I wouldn’t. You’re my friend, Maddie.”

  Her lip began to tremble as she lowered the gun. Her eyes were awash with tears, her face twisted in an unattractive mask of sloppy emotion.

  “Now I’m going to jail,” she sobbed, a shiny drip of mucus from her nose running over her upper lip.

  Repulsive.

  “I just need you to listen to me.” She whined like a little girl. “I need you to fix—”

  He lifted his metal arm and held out the hand, hoping it could block a bullet should the need arise. “I understand. I need to lie down. Can you help me? It’s very hard to breathe. I think you punctured my lung. I feel so weak.”

  “Oh my god. I’m so sorry.” Maddie glanced at the gun in her hand. Searching for a place to put it, she laid it on her dining room table and then scrambled to him, sniffling.

  “You can lie down in my guest room—”

  The moment she was near, he grabbed her wrist with both hands.

  Her eyes bulged wide. “You said—”

  “Are you crazy?” he asked. “Did you think I was going to let you live after you shot me?”

  She pulled and beat at him, trying to free herself. He turned his head so her blows didn’t strike his face. Though he didn’t feel strong, the grip of his metal hand was nearly unbreakable. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  The blows to the side and back of his head slowed until they stopped. The skin on her face seemed to melt across her features.

  Finally, Maddie collapsed to dust.

  Feeling stronger, panting, Rune tore open his shirt and inspected his chest. The wound was healed, a perfectly circular scar dotting his flesh.

  For a moment, his healed breast swelled with elation.

  No matter, Maddie. Her house could come in handy. He could hole up—

  No.

  His mood darkened.

  The gun shot.

  He couldn’t stay. The neighbors might already be calling the authorities.

  I have to leave. Now.

  Rune ran out of the house and jogged towards Parasol Pictures.

  Fiona. He had to find her.

  His daughter had told him she’d been at that girl’s apartment on the studio lot. She’d probably gone back there after she tricked him.

  Catriona.

  The name bounced through his head. It meant something but he wasn’t sure what.

  I’ll find Fiona. I’ll get the list and I’ll kill her.

  No. He was thinking bigger.

  I’ll kill them all.

  He’d found a rhythm jogging. It felt as though he could run forever. He was almost disappointed when he spotted a sign on a wall that signified the space behind it as the property of Parasol Pictures.

  Jungle foliage peeked above the fence line.

  It wasn’t the front gate, but maybe that was a good thing. He could sneak in, undetected, and make his way to Fiona. He leapt up and grabbed the top of the fence, pulling himself up with a rush of strength he didn’t know he had.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The moment Catriona walked into her apartment she jumped at Broch, throwing her arms around his neck.

  “Take me to bed or lose me forever.”

  “Whit?”

  “Sorry. It’s from Top Gun. But you get the idea.”

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and she stare
d up at the gold flecks in his hazel eyes. She felt as if her chest might explode with love for him.

  How had this breakthrough happened? Is this what true love feels like?

  She’d had crushes before but nothing that made her feel the way she did now. She wanted to envelop Broch. Every blink of his eyes or twitch of his lips made her ache with love. Not just desire, though there was plenty of that as well.

  Thoughts of divorcing him had been stomped to death and thrown out the window into a fiery volcano of no.

  No. wait.

  A volcane-no.

  She giggled and he peered down at her.

  “Whit’s so funny?”

  “Nothing. Making myself laugh.”

  “Ye dae that a lot.”

  “I know. Sorry.”

  He shook his head, smiling, as she marveled at him.

  I want to eat you alive and keep you inside my chest. Is that weird?

  “Aye,” he said as if he’d heard her thoughts.

  “Ah git yer meaning,” he said, stroking her hair back from her face.

  Whew.

  If he could read every odd thought that ran through my brain he’d be running back to ancient Scotland.

  “Bit are ye okay? Ye’ve been a wee nutty since the thing.”

  She grinned. “Listen to you. Okay, the thing, you’re starting to use all the modern slang.”

  Adorable. You’re like some giant gorgeous Scottish Sasquatch. A Scotchsquatch.

  She shook her head.

  Stop it.

  “Ah’m serious, Cat. Dae ye feel well?”

  She stood on her toes to steal a kiss and he retracted his neck.

  “Blether tae me,” he insisted.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. It’s just, all that man’s...” She struggled to find the right word. “Power...life force...whatever, into me. I feel like I’m running off of two batteries instead of one, if that makes sense.”

  “It doesnae.”

  “Oh. Of course not. Um, it feels like I have twice the energy as usual. And I feel a little drunk almost. But not drunk-drunk. Giddy.”

  “Ah. That doesn’t sound sae bad.”

  “No. Not at all. I’ve been racking my brain for a way to use up all this energy...” She hoped she’d said the line suggestively enough and whooped as he bent to scoop her into his arms.

  “Ah hae an idea.”

  Mission accomplished.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. Never in her life had she dreamed a man could sweep her off the ground like that.

  “How do you do that? I’m not a tiny girl.”

  “Ah’m not a tiny man.”

  She tittered. “No, you are not.”

  He took her into the bedroom and dropped her to the mattress from a little higher than necessary, setting her to laughing all over again.

  As she bounced, her phone rang and she pulled it from her pocket.

  “I’m unavailable,” she announced, glancing at it as she moved to place it on the bedside table.

  It was Sean.

  “Damn.”

  “Whit is it?”

  “It’s Sean. I better answer. He’s already furious. Hello?”

  Sean sounded annoyed from his first word. “We’ve got an intruder on the Amazon Death Step set. Motion alarm went off and the camera’s picked up someone.”

  “Who?”

  “It was just a flash. Couldn’t see a face. Another one of the lead’s groupies, more than likely. I’m going to have to do something about that wall along the eastern perimeter. Teenage girls are shockingly inventive when it comes to stalking their idols.”

  “Maybe it’s a jungle cat.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Catriona flopped her free arm across the bed. She wanted to scream.

  “Send one of the guards.”

  “There’s no one available I can trust to handle an actual intruder.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Home with Luther. I wanted to talk to him about everything that happened and I owed him a dinner. Jeeze, Cat, will you just go check please? What’s the problem?”

  Broch had pulled off his shirt and stood beside the bed, tight and deliciously lumpy in all the right places.

  She closed her eyes.

  The timing.

  “You owe me for ignoring my rules earlier,” added Sean. “Oh, and it’s your job.”

  Hard to argue with that.

  She sighed. “Fine. I’ll run over there.”

  “Take Broch.”

  “I will. I’ll let you know in a bit.”

  She hung up, grit her teeth and released a quiet scream of frustration.

  “Whit’s he want?”

  “The security cameras were triggered over on that big Amazon movie set. Someone’s out for a jungle stroll.”

  Broch grunted and stooped to pick up his shirt. “Ah’ll gang.”

  She swung her legs over the bed and put her arms around his butt to pull his stomach against her cheek. “No, we’ll go together, get it done and get back here.” She kissed his belly.

  “Nae if ye keep that up,” he mumbled.

  Catriona dug her holster and gun from the closet and strapped it across her chest before they trudged downstairs and hopped in the golf cart they kept parked nearby.

  The Amazon Death Step set occupied a good part of the northwest corner of the lot and included an indoor-outdoor jungle area and a realistically sized mountain, complete with a waterfall. Just a week earlier, Catriona had visited the set during the shooting of a scene using a live jaguar. They’d let her feed it a hunk of meat.

  The studio was hoping Amazon Death Step would be the next Indiana Jones, but she didn’t have high hopes. The lead was a singer-turned-actor they hoped would bring in the teeny-bopper audience, but Catriona felt he lacked the chops to play the dashing hero and would lose everyone over the age of thirteen.

  “It’s probably the kid practicing lines with the fake toucans,” she said as they pulled up to the door of the studio.

  Catriona typed the code into the lock keypad and they entered a world very different from the desert landscape outside. There was a relatively empty area just inside the door littered with cameras, booms and director’s chairs, but beyond the production area was nothing but vines, rocks and tropical trees.

  “Let’s check the dressing rooms.”

  They walked to the far wall and opened three doors, one at a time. Each revealed a small costume area, undisturbed and empty of intruders.

  Catriona turned to the jungle. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to go tromping through there.”

  Broch nodded. “Me tae. Feels buggy tae me.”

  Catriona laughed. “They do like to be authentic, but I don’t think they pumped in mosquitos...”

  The foliage around them proved a strange mix of real plants and plastic or silk ones. Just a few steps into the mess they stopped short to avoid dropping into a pool of indeterminable depth, the bottom painted black to make it seem murky and foreboding. Behind it, a black plastic ramp rose towards the outside portion of the set, which had been raised to simulate a mountain.

  “They’re using that for a waterfall,” explained Catriona, pointing to the ramp. “I saw it running the other day when I came by to meet the jaguar. When they release the tank up there the water rushes into this pool and then gets pumped back up to start all over again. It cost a fortune.”

  Broch’s eyes scaled the ramp as he shook his head, clearly disapproving. “How come they dinnae just gang tae the real jungle?”

  “That’s a good question. It’s hard to imagine it’s cheaper to build something on this scale than it would be to fly everyone to the Amazon.”

  “Ah ken here they dinnae hae tae worry the star will be gobbled by a snake.”

  Catriona chuckled. “That might be it.”

  Something clanged above them and their gazes shot to the top of the artificial mountain. To the left of the giant plastic slide someone was climbing dow
n the metal staircase built to access the tank and plateau above.

  “Hey!” screamed Catriona.

  The man turned and peered down at them. While he remained partially hidden by the plastic palms, there was no mistaking who it was.

  Rune.

  Broch was already running towards the metal staircase. Rune turned and started back up.

  Catriona made a move to follow Broch and then stopped. The staircase was narrow—she’d be stuck behind him, unable to help should Rune try to battle him on the stairs. She assessed the path of the faux waterfall ramp and noted a staircase had been molded into the plastic. The way was steep and shallow, like the world’s most treacherous attic steps, but she could climb to the top that way and maybe cut off Rune on the catwalk above.

  Catriona shifted her holster and ran to the stairs to climb them like a dog, using her hands to steady her body against the plastic.

  Ahead and above her, she saw Broch turn, searching for her behind him on the stairs.

  She waved and motioned back before continuing to climb.

  Rune neared the top. Catriona still had half the mountain to scale and was already out of breath. She hadn’t realized how steep and tall they’d built the mountain until she was too far to turn back.

  She glanced at the pool below and realized there was no handrail or place to grab. She felt a dizzy thrill run through her chest and looked away.

  “This was a stupid idea,” she muttered.

  Rune crested the top level of the staircase. Unless he paused to await Kilty, there was no way she’d reach the top in time to cut him off. She cursed under her breath and tried to pick up her pace, her lungs burning with exertion.

  There has to be a better way to burn off all this energy.

  Rune ran across the catwalk above her, stopping to peer down. She stopped climbing, hoping he wouldn’t notice her, but she could tell by his expression he had.

  Damn. There goes the element of surprise.

  She expected him to run even faster across the catwalk now that he knew two people were in pursuit, but instead he turned and headed back towards Broch and the staircase.

  What is he doing?

  Rune disappeared from view and the sound of an obnoxious warning buzzer blared through the cavernous studio. Startled, Catriona nearly jerked herself off the stairs and plunged to the pool below. She threw her body against the plastic and clung there, her heart racing.