Cold Fire, page 15
They spilled apart and stood gasping for air, each clenching their impromptu weapons.
‘It’s no use,’ the giant taunted. ‘You can’t defeat me. I’ll spit you on this fork and roast you over a fire like a hog. Then I’ll hunt down your woman and do the same to her. But not until after I’ve scooped your brat out of her belly and thrown it on the fire.’
‘I know what you’re hoping for, bra. I’m not stupid enough to react to your smack talk.’
‘It isn’t smack when I mean every goddamn word.’
‘If that’s the truth, then come on. Sooner you get down to business, sooner you can prove it.’
The big man didn’t move. He wasn’t about to be drawn into a reckless move the way he’d intended drawing Po. He stood, sucking in lungfuls of air. He was gassed, but still had the strength and ferocity to snap Po in two if he allowed him to get his hands on him again. Po raised the shovel like an axe. The other hefted the pitchfork, but again stayed put. Po sensed that perhaps the man’s appetite for the fight was waning slightly.
‘Why are you chasing Joanne?’ Po asked.
His question came out of left field. The man’s eyebrows knitted as he considered it.
‘It’s obvious now that she isn’t responsible for what happened to that family down in Boston,’ Po pointed out. ‘She’s a victim, not … oh, you son of a bitch.’
The man’s mouth pulled into a tight sneer.
‘Catching her’s personal to you,’ Po growled. ‘You need to shut her up, permanently. She’s not only a victim; she’s also a witness. She saw you murder those kids and their mom.’
‘Why else would I chase her across the country to this frozen ass-end place?’
‘You evil motherfu—’
The pitchfork flew at Po, hurled in a split-second by the killer. Behind it the giant followed, charging to grapple him before he could dodge or regain balance.
As Po sidestepped the flying missile a pistol cracked from the doorway. Bright muzzle flash lit the scene, causing the killer’s face to bleach out and grow more grotesque because of the blood smeared over his mouth and chin. He skidded to a halt. The gun fired a second time and the killer snapped a curse of frustration, even as he turned away and bounded for a side exit. He barely slowed to open the door, crashing through it and blasting the door off its hinges. He pounded out into the blizzard.
Po looked at Tess.
‘I almost had the sumbitch,’ he said. ‘If you hadn’t frightened him off … Tess, what’s wrong?’
With her framed by the doorway, he didn’t require the muzzle flash to tell that her features were almost as pale as the snow falling beyond her. She still held the pistol aloft, her finger trembling alongside the trigger guard. Her other hand cupped her belly, low down and her fingers appeared to glisten darkly. As he started for her, Tess’s knees gave out and she collapsed.
TWENTY-FOUR
Scant minutes earlier, Tess had ordered the scalded woman to get up. At gunpoint she’d ushered her over and made her sit on a sunken couch: it was low enough that the woman would struggle to rise, giving ample warning if she tried to escape. Tess ensured she didn’t get too close, but the house was compact enough that she felt as if she loomed over her captive despite being across the room. She could smell the coffee that still dripped from the woman’s thick mane and drenched her clothes. She imagined that closer up she would see steam rising. Scalding her was a desperate move, a nasty one too, but Tess couldn’t stir an iota of pity for the bitch. She checked her out, but in the dimness the woman was indistinct. She also kept her face averted slightly and from her body language it was through shame.
‘I wanted no part of any of this,’ she croaked.
‘Too late,’ said Tess. ‘You’re up to your neck in it and will be going to jail.’
‘I was forced to do his bidding,’ the woman went on. ‘You saw him, he’s a maniac. I was terrified of what he’d do to me if I didn’t obey him.’
‘You were armed with a gun, he wasn’t. Who coerced whom?’
‘But I didn’t use it.’
‘You almost cracked my partner’s skull with it, you bitch.’
‘But I didn’t shoot him.’ The woman’s head raised a little, hair hanging in wet ringlets alongside her cheekbones. ‘I could have easily shot him and had done. But I didn’t. I didn’t intend shooting anyone, because I’m not like that. I’m not a killer.’
Her claims had grown more strident. They washed over Tess without effect. ‘That’s for the courts to decide.’
‘Please, I swear to you, I was forced into coming here. For Christ’s sake I’m only a driver. I’m only paid to drive.’
‘Who is your employer?’
‘I can’t say.’
‘You can and will.’
‘No. You don’t get it. I can’t say because I don’t know. My employer’s details are kept anonymous, or at least they’re only known to the man I fetched here.’
‘So who is he?’
‘I don’t know his real name. He told me to call him Bob.’
‘That’s BS, and you know it. You’re not some damn Uber driver that’s been pulled into something out of their control. You had this pistol, and you damn well know how to use it. You’re no stranger to home invasion or to violence; not judging by the way you first snuck in and then whacked my partner over the head. So tell me the truth: you and that monster were hired to find and silence Joanne, right? Who sent you?’
Her captive grew silent, head down, hands fumbling at her sides as she tugged at her wet clothing. She was seeking a feasible lie, something that Tess would accept as near enough to the truth to see her as a fellow victim.
From beyond the open door Tess heard a throaty roar, and other sounds, bumps and thuds recognizable in their fashion as the cut and thrust of battle. She turned briefly to check on her captive and then leaned away to peer out the door. Snow fell continuously, and through the shifting curtain she couldn’t see the outbuildings, let alone Po fighting for his life against the giant. For another second she leaned further, hoping to see Po returning safe and healthy, and it was a second too long’s distraction. She heard the rustle of clothing, the scrape of the couch and knew the woman was on the move. Tess had kept the gun trained on her, even while looking away, but as she spun to confront the woman, her aim was off. Either her captive had dodged to one side, or her own arm had strayed slightly. It was only a matter of a split-second for her to realign the pistol, but it was already too late. With wordless determination written on her clenched features the woman speared at Tess, one hand grabbing at the pistol to force it aside and the other stabbing low.
Time seemed to slow down.
Tess cursed her rookie mistake. She should have frisked the woman for weapons before allowing her to get up. Her mistake could be her last. When on the floor, the woman must have discovered Po’s knife lying where it had fallen and snuck it into her pocket. Now her partner’s blade – something Tess had never come to full terms with him carrying – could be what killed her and their baby.
As a cop she’d practiced weapons discipline and was trained in firearms retention techniques to ensure a perp didn’t take her weapon away and turn it on her. So her instinct now was to fight to keep hold of the pistol, while fending off the blade with her other hand. There were few workable techniques for foiling a knife in the gut at such close range, so Tess allowed desperation to guide her hand. The blade pierced her hand, drove completely through flesh and sinew. Its tip scratched her abdomen, but Tess’s hand held the knife from going all the way inside her. She gritted her teeth, meeting the other woman’s eyes with such hate that she felt the other’s resolve wither.
The knife stayed put, but the woman released its handle. Her other arm strove a moment longer to wrench the gun free of Tess, before she shoved and Tess stumbled over something invisible in the gloom and fell backwards. The woman followed her, but Tess fired, screeching at the bitch who would risk harming her unborn baby. The flame from the pistol lit the room, enough for Tess to see her opponent spin and plunge back through the door she’d entered by and race towards the back of the house. Tess scrambled to stand, could feel the metal through her hand grating against her bones. She staggered up and went after the fleeing woman.
She stumbled, and time rushed to catch up. Tess’s vision tunneled, and it was as if the cabin tilted wildly from one side to the other. Nausea swam in her gut and she spluttered out a mouthful of acidic saliva. She propped her shoulder against the doorjamb and it was possibly the only thing keeping her upright.
The red-haired woman was nowhere in sight, already outside fleeing through the blizzard, Tess assumed. Either that or she was going again to assist the brute in his fight against Po. Tess pushed away from the door and gave chase. Blood dripped in large ingots from her damaged hand. She looked down and the sight of the knife through her hand shocked her with palpable force; her law enforcement career had ended after almost having her hand severed by a desperate criminal. It had taken several surgical procedures to reattach and then get her hand working once more. To this day she suffered numbness and tingling at times, and her full dexterity hadn’t ever returned. It horrified her to think that she might have to go through similar surgical interventions as last time. At the same time she thanked God for ensuring it was only her hand that was injured and not her baby.
She wanted to assist Po, but a knife sticking through her left hand was an encumbrance. She halted and stuffed the pistol in her pocket, so that she could clench the handle and draw the blade free. She’d barely felt the knife plunge through her hand, not so on the way out. She groaned in agony as she slowly withdrew the glistening steel. She should throw the vile thing aside, but didn’t. The knife was Po’s and he might need it. She slipped the bloody steel into the snow to clean it, then used the hem of her coat to wipe off the residue. She put the knife in her pocket and took out the pistol. As she progressed across the snowfield scarlet dotted her wake.
Almost blinded by snow, it didn’t matter. She followed the sounds of conflict, and in a short time a huge barn loomed before her. There was no hint on the ground that the woman had run this way, but she could tell older tracks all converged on the barn. She held the pistol butt jammed against her hip, making it difficult for anyone to disarm her should the woman pounce out of the storm. Her injured hand poured blood, despite the cold’s attempt at freezing shut her veins and capillaries. She flicked away blood and then wiped the remainder on her clothing; instantly her hand was awash again. She must already have lost a pint of blood.
Her world tilted again. It was likely that a drop in her blood pressure and not blood loss that caused her weakness. She fought the swoon, feeling a tingling sensation in her face and a buzz in her ears. She exhaled and then sucked in a series of short, sharp breaths. Black floaters swirled in her vision, stark against the white backdrop. Tess halted. She was within a dozen feet of the barn’s open door. She had a scant view inside, but within the darkness she detected movement.
She rushed to the door. Previously muffled voices grew clearer and she heard a threat to scoop out of her baby and throw it on a fire.
Tess was both horrified and enraged by the brute’s words. She was tempted to empty the entire magazine of the pistol into the scumbag and negate his awful threats. Thankfully Po didn’t rise to the bait and rush to his death. The men exchanged words as they gathered strength for the next round.
Stealing herself, Tess leaned around the doorframe.
Her vision was cloudier than ever, a sweeping darkness billowing in from all sides. But it didn’t stop her from fixing on the giant and the pitchfork he raised. Po held up a shovel, as if about to use it to hew down a tree. Neither moved.
‘Why are you chasing Joanne?’ demanded her man an instant before it grew obvious to him.
Tess wasn’t as surprised as Po was; she’d already guessed who was responsible for the killings that had initially made Joanne a fugitive. Po said something she found it difficult to understand but more clearly he stressed, ‘She saw you murder those kids and their mom.’
The brute gloated at the accusation and Po swore.
The pitchfork flew at Po and immediately the giant followed.
She knew her man, knew that his pride had been stung by the earlier beating he’d taken and this was his attempt at evening up his record, but Tess couldn’t risk the big man overwhelming him and then turning his violence on her and the other women. She fired, fully intending to bring the big man down, but her aim was off. She fired a second time and caused the giant to spin about and then hurl his weight at an exit door. It was smashed to kindling and then he was gone. Hopefully her second bullet had found his flesh and he’d bleed to death out there in the cold – anyone threatening to rip her baby from her womb and incinerate it could gladly go to hell!
She looked for Po.
In the dimness she couldn’t tell if he was injured, but judging by his boastful words he was still game for a fight. All bluster fell from his tone after he took a closer look at her. ‘Tess, what’s wrong?’
She showed him, lifting up her bloody hand.
That was all she was capable of.
TWENTY-FIVE
The temptation to strand Harper was strong and had he not suddenly loomed out of the blizzard to slap massive hands down on the hood, Siobhan might have left him to his fate. She hadn’t gathered enough speed to run him down, so eased on the brakes instead. He clawed his way around the side of the SUV and momentarily struggled to open the iced-over door handle.
Exhaling in disappointment, Siobhan reached over and popped the handle from within, and he clawed the door wide. He forced his huge frame into the passenger seat, hair brushing the roof, snow-clogged shoes squeezed into the well. His hands made hooks on his lap: they were almost translucent they were so cold and Harper shivered uncontrollably.
‘Were you g … g … going to l … leave me?’ he demanded.
‘Of course not,’ said Siobhan with no hint of the lie.
‘Y … you were d … driving off when I st … stopped you.’
‘I was going to bring the car to collect you. I wish now we’d tried driving up there, instead of hiking through that storm. I’m frozen. Can see you are too.’
He shoved his hands under his opposite armpits. It was the first time in real life that Siobhan had seen somebody so cold his teeth literally chattered. She’d already set the heater to its highest temperature, but she thumbed up the fan to the max. Hot air billowed in their faces but it was a far from comfortable sensation after being chilled to the bone. If she didn’t get fresh air, Siobhan felt certain she’d pass out. She stank of coffee and the hot air made the smell more intense, sickening. She could also smell Harper’s blood. He’d tried cleaning his face at one point during his return to the SUV, and had removed most of the mess from his lips and chin, but his nostrils were both clogged and rimmed with coagulated blood. Earlier she’d appraised his profile and thought he resembled a granite block. Now that his nose had been smashed, it proved you could get blood from a stone.
‘S … something funny to you?’ Harper snapped.
‘I’m only happy we’re both alive. Things didn’t go exactly to plan up there.’
He rubbed his palms furiously on his thighs and she guessed he was suffering the burning tingle of returning circulation. Good. It was the least discomfort he deserved. He prided himself on using logic. Well, his stupid plan to invade the house and snatch Joanne from her saviors was illogical and had always been destined to fail. In her heart Siobhan genuinely had not wanted to slaughter four innocent people and her reticence to shoot had probably ensured the plan would fall apart. Once the invasion was underway, and her gun taken away, then her views on the matter had altered. She’d not given a second’s pause to stabbing Tess in order to facilitate her own escape, whether or not it meant killing her and her unborn child. Siobhan believed that all life was precious, but none was so precious as hers.
He breathed into his cupped palms. Staring over them at her.
‘Want me to drive?’ she prompted.
‘I want you to explain what happened back there.’
He’d stopped chattering, if not shivering. Siobhan started the car rolling, but barely picked up speed.
‘How the fuck did you manage to lose your gun?’
‘You can’t smell me? I didn’t put it down for a damn coffee break if that’s what you’re wondering. That bitch threw the contents of a hot flask all over me and her fella took the pistol away.’
‘You were supposed to shoot them.’
‘I would’ve,’ she said, ‘if my eyes hadn’t been burning from boiling coffee.’
‘So they got your gun. Explains how that lucky sonofabitch got to come after me. I almost had my hands on Joanne when he intervened. I had to bust him up again and she got away. I would’ve impaled him and nailed him to a wall if’n you’d kept hold of your weapon.’ He paused, wondering. ‘How did you get away? If I thought you handed over your pistol willingly—’
‘For Christ’s sake, Harp! My luck turned, that’s all. The woman was distracted by your fight and took her eyes off me. I almost managed to gut her with her fella’s knife allowing me to escape.’
‘You knifed a pregnant woman in the gut?’ He snorted in dark humour. ‘Maybe I’ll make a decent partner out of you yet, Siobhan.’
‘There’s no chance of that, Harp. I’m paid to drive.’ She tapped the steering wheel. ‘That’s why it was my first instinct to come get the car and try to find you and get us both the hell outta here. Please tell me you don’t want to go back up that hill.’
