Blake backed up towards the wall. Robed and masked men began to fill the room, filtering through the thin gaps between the lines of beds.
Shocksticks appeared in the men’s hands. Blake looked from left to right as they converged upon him.
Blake gently guided both girls behind him, against the wall.
Blake breathed hard. A deep shuddering breath. The men began to form a semi-circle around Blake. Blake roared. A bestial, primordial roar.
The first attacked. Blake smashed his throat, ripped the shockstick from him and slammed it sideways into the head of the next. The next had his head turned 180 degrees.
They fell upon him. Blake became a blur. He fought like he did at the wooden man, punching, stabbing, kicking, ripping. Keeping himself between the men and the girls.
Behind him, cowering, Sara watched his father fight, his body raging. The robed men fell around him. Sara got up, her hand slowly coming up, reaching for her father. The other girl pulled her back.
The bodies were piled around Blake. The last one fell, his knife still held in his hand, embedded in his sternum, up to the hilt.
Blake grabbed Sara and the other girl’s hand and hurried towards the doors that opened out into the yard.
He stepped outside to see two masked armed guards calmly walking towards him, carbines slung across their chests fingers over the trigger guard. Almost casually one took up a firing stance and aimed the muzzle at Blake’s head. Blake could hear more men approaching behind them. The other armed guard brought his wrist to his mouth.
‘We have them.’
Blake breathed in the night air. It smelled of pine and dust. A cooling breeze gently played across his brow. He felt the softness of Sara’s hand in his. He felt the tension drain from his shoulders.
It was over.
The guard cocked his head, receiving an instruction piped through his earbud.
‘Understood,’ he replied to the command that had been given. He raised the stock of his automatic rifle.
Blake looked down at Sara standing beside him.
‘Sara,’ he whispered. But she didn’t look up, her attention drawn to the treeline beyond.
The first armed guard was punched aside as if hit by a truck. The whump of the shotgun reached his ears a second after he hit the ground. The unmistakable rattle of an assault rifle on full automatic filled the air making mincemeat of the men behind Blake and the girls.
The second guard in front turned, bringing his weapons to bear and was slammed into the air as a shot took him in the chest.
A figure separated itself from the tree line, firing continuously.
‘Here!’ shouted Rainer.
Josie sprinted towards Blake carrying a shotgun. More armed guards appeared. Josie slammed shells into them, making them dive for cover. Blake ran towards Rainer and the tree line. Josie brought up the rear.
Automatic fire raked the ground and trees around them as they disappeared into the woodland.
Behind them men started to filter through the tree line. The ground around Blake, Rainer, Josie and the children started to pock as the men’s weapons found their range. Rainer turned and laid down a blistering line of fire from his assault rifle. They were nearly at the bridge. The water beneath flowed fast.
A single shot whipped Blake’s legs from under him.
Rainer pulled Blake onto the bridge, the girls followed. Josie pulled Blake up.
‘Come on!’ screamed Josie.
Blake limped onto the bridge behind cover. The men were advancing. The air around them filled with zipping bullets, the ground around them bursting, the wooden bridge splintering.
Blake tried to stand, his leg would not hold. Blake squeezed his eyes closed, his jaw clamped shut. When he opened them, he was deadly calm. He held his hand out to Rainer.
‘Give me my daughter.’
Rainer placed Sara in Blake’s arms. Blake held her face in his hands. He smiled through free flowing tears. He embraced her tightly and whispered in her ear.
‘I love you.’
Blake grabbed Rainer with one hand. He pushed Sara to him and took his gun. Blake looked at Rainer.
‘You don’t stop until she’s with Ray.’
Rainer understood what was being asked of him.
‘For anything,’ Blake said, his teeth clenched.
‘I won’t,’ replied Rainer
Blake pushed Rainer.
‘Now, Go!’
‘No. We’re not leaving you.’
Bullets splintered the wooden bridge and punched divots out of the ground around them.
‘I’ll catch you up.’
Josie didn’t buy it.
‘Go, Now!’
Rainer pulled at Josie! ‘Now!’
Rainer laid down a line of fire. Josie looked at Blake as he struggled to his knees, bringing the automatic to bear. Then he started firing and men started falling.
Josie grabbed the girls’ hands and ran with Rainer.
Many men fell as Blake laid down one line of fire after another.
Blake turned to see his daughter in the distance carried away by Rainer, Josie and the other girl beside him.
Sara’s eyes locked on his. Time slowed. She raised her arm, her hand reaching to him.
Blake held out his hand as bullets splintered the wood above his head forcing him to look away. When he looked back she was gone.
He closed his eyes for a moment. Another round of fire took chunks out of his cover. Tears blurring his vision, roaring with rage, Blake swiveled back and put down one devastating burst of fire after another into the advancing men.
Josie stopped at a tree line and saw the flashes from the bridge as Blake fired again and again. In front of her Rainer was sprinting.
Rainer stopped. Josie ushered the girls in his direction.
‘Go!’
They ran to him.
Josie turned and ran back towards Blake.
‘Josie!’ shouted Rainer.
Blake risked one last look around. They were gone. A bullet grazed his arm. Another his shoulder. His automatic clicked empty. Blake ejected the cartridge and searched for another.
Out of the advancing men came Caldwell, his automatic boldly outstretched. He reached Blake.
The man next to Caldwell was punched back as Josie opened fired with the shotgun. Another took a chunk out of Caldwell’s neck.
Caldwell dove aside. Josie slammed round after round into the men, scattering them again. She fell down beside Blake.
‘What are you doing?’ breathed Blake.
‘It’s over for me, Blake. But not for you. Go. Go to your daughter. Go. God dammit. GO!’
Blake pulled her to him, kissed her forehead.
‘Thank you,’ whispered Blake
Josie smiled at him. A bullet splintered the wood just above her head.
Josie lay prone and brought the shotgun to bear. The air around her fizzled with hot metal. The bridge disintegrated as the men made their advance. Blake moved back, shuffled along the bridge and staggered up. He watched Josie pump shotgun shell after shotgun shell. Then he turned and disappeared into the dark.
Four men fell before a shot took Josie in the shoulder.
She slammed a round into the man. Another man took careful sight, her head in the cross hairs. He fired.
The shooting stopped.
Caldwell advanced, a hand to his neck as the injury closed all by itself and stood over Josie’s still body. His men stormed past him, over the bridge and fanned out into the darkness in pursuit of Blake.
Rainer hurried the girls into the van, gunned the engine and sped into the night.
Blake staggered along the river bank. Behind him the shouts of men, barking dogs and flickering flashlight beams closed. Blake eyed the water. It was flowing fast but back towards the bridge and the searching men. He shook his head. A beam of light caught him. A shout followed. Shots rang out, bullets ripped through the trees around him. Blake tumbled down and fell into the water. He took
a deep breath and submerged.
Caldwell scanned the water. His men took positions along the bridge. He saw Blake submerged. He pointed. His men raised their rifles. Blake was nearly at the bridge.
‘Take him.’
The sounds of shouting, warped by water, grew louder. Light suddenly illuminated him. The water around him filled with zipping bullet trails.
Blake closed his eyes, he lifted his face, spreading his arms as if inviting the bullets to take him.
The demon that had been quiet for so long watched from above. Watched as the man flowed towards certain death, his arms outstretched as if to embrace, the same as it had stretched its wings to embrace the man in his dreams.
The demon dived as the rounds began to find their range ripping through the flaps of Blake’s coat. It flashed underneath him, turned and then folded its wings around him.
The bullets found their range but simply vanished inches from Blake. The men turned the river into froth as they emptied their clips into him and stood helplessly as he flew past submerged and unharmed.
Caldwell shivered for a moment, his outline flickering.
Blake’s body disappeared in the dark swirling water. Caldwell’s men turned to the other side and continued firing.
Deep beneath the freezing water the demon released its embrace. Blake floated unconscious to the surface.
Torchlight flicked across the surface and found its mark.
‘There he is!’ screamed Caldwell. ‘Go, go, go!’
The small army of men fanned out and filed along each side of the river bank. Their lights bobbing and weaving as they sped to catch up and kill the man that had defied their every attempt so far.
CHAPTER 30
the return...take my hand...executing simmonds...hello brother...
A dying sun rendered the sky a deep amber. A van screeched to a halt outside the house on the beach. Ray was out first and met Rainer as he exited. He shouted when he saw Sara taking her in his arms. Serena came running out. She screamed embracing Sara.
‘Where’s Blake,’ asked Serena before Ray could.
‘He was hit. I’m going back for him.’
‘I’m coming with you. Serena will take care of the girls.’
Ray gave Sara a kiss.
‘Find him papa. Bring him back alive,’ whispered Serena.
Ray nodded.
‘Take care of them. Anyone other than us comes here.’
‘I know what to do.’
Serena corralled the girls into the house.
Ray got into the passenger seat. Rainer gunned the engine and accelerated away.
Speeding, Rainer reached back and pulled an automatic out and offered it to Ray. Ray shook his head, declining the weapon.
Caldwell’s men searched along the river bank. Light from groups of flashlights bobbed and weaved as the men became spread out.
The first of three men in the lead group shone a torch on disturbed mud. Tracks led further up the bank.
The first held his finger to his lips and gestured in the direction of the tracks to the other two with him.
They moved silently up through broken branches and muddy tracks, weapons ready.
Blake’s body lay face down in the leaves. The first kept his weapon trained on his prone body and gestured to the other two to move in.
They came to stand over Blake’s body.
‘Make sure.’
The second aimed his rifle at Blake’s head.
A hand appeared over the first one’s mouth, the other at the back of his head whipping his neck round. He dropped, neck broken, revealing Rainer.
A foot kicked the rifle, a round cracked into the ground beside Blake’s head. Ray slammed his flat hand into seconds’ throat, dropping him. The Third raised his rifle. Ray stepped forward and snapped his gun arm as if a breadstick, then slammed his fist up into his chin, his arm blurring like a piston fired once. The third dropped, dead.
Ray turned Blake over.
‘He’s not breathing.’
Rainer turned at distant shouts. Bobbing torchlights started to make their way in their direction drawn by the sound of the single rifle shot.
The first’s radio mic came alive.
‘Alpha two zero come in.’
‘Hold them off,’ commanded Ray.
Rainer picked up the First’s rifle and moved towards the lights. Ray blew into Blake’s mouth. Then he placed his hand on his chest and pumped. Rainer took station just beyond Ray and Blake.
‘They’re coming.’
‘I know,’ replied Ray working fast.
Ray blew into Blake’s mouth again. He pumped his chest.
‘Come on. Come on.’
Rainer took aim as the first men appeared in his line of sight. He opened fire.
Shouts and screams sounded out as Rainer’s assault rifle took out the nearest group. Then the air was thick with metal as the following groups fired back.
Sara observed, detached, the grey surf rolling over the beach under the black night sky as if it were a film watched from afar.
The drugs in her system had begun to dissipate. She could feel the weight of memory that remained hidden like an army of ancient buoys floating deep under the ocean. Serena had washed her and she had let her. She had been washed by others and she had let them too. Snippets of remembrance like the flashes of action in a teaser movie trailer popped in her head now and then, bubbles from the ancient buoys popping on the surface of her mind.
The fat man that followed her, the chemical cloth, being transported, to here, to there. A doctor, a slight surprise that it was a woman, the examination, the affirmation. Then the drugs, always the drugs. Then the men and...she pushed away the weight of those memories threatening to come free.
She had withdrawn further and further to a small space inside her mind and listened to the echoes and observed the things going on around her and the things done to her as if from afar.
Then the man came. The man that she knew. That she saw him in amongst these other men did momentarily penetrate the stupor she had existed in. How could he?
Everything between that moment and seeing Serena and Ray existed as a blood red streak in her mind. Punctuated once, by the image of the man she knew as her father, his hand held out to her, as she was pulled away and he took her place amongst them.
She shook her head at the memory of the dark thing that had floated above him.
Sara could smell her fresh clothes, devoid of perfume. Just clean. The other girl was sitting at the table, Serena had washed and dressed her too. Serena placed a hot drink in front of the other girl and handed one to her. Chocolate. Sara took a sip.
Not a word had been said by anyone since they had arrived. Ray had left with the other man who she did not know.
There was a knock at the door. The girls looked at each other, worried. Serena raised a reassuring hand. She stepped out. Sara and the girl listened to the sound of the front door opening and footsteps. Moments later Rainer walked into the kitchen, Ray beside him. Both were filthy, exhausted.
Serena appeared between them and beckoned the other girl out.
Sara looked from the girl to the two men, their faces serious.
A man appeared between them, leaning on Serena. His face was pale, tired. His leg heavily bandaged. Her father. She observed him as she did everyone now. Her heart remained quiet, but not empty at the sight of him. He seemed smaller and bigger at the same time. His frame was thinner than she remembered, but his bearing was different, as if the things that held him together were harder, more tightly coiled. She looked but she could not see the dark thing.
Ray and the old man with him stepped aside. Her father nodded to Serena who let him go. He held himself up, swaying slightly. They left them alone.
Her father slid out a chair and sat heavily on it. He closed his eyes momentarily, squeezing tears onto his gaunt cheeks. He smiled and gestured to the chair beside him.
‘Sit with me.’
She sat.
Grey surf cut crescent shapes in the sand the colour of ash. A cold sea wind kicked it white where it caught the swell of charcoal water underneath a sky of iron.
An amber sun made its slow rise from the horizon as their footprints filled with water, edges blurring and swirling before disappearing forever.
An early morning dog walker observed the bright lights of the house and the kitchen where a father and daughter sat together in silence.
The strip lighting beat a harsh electric glow on the concrete floor of the workshop. The remains of engine blocks, rusted and never to run again, littered one side of the iron and cement structure. The walls, once white, had over time slowly become the grey that signaled the end to all things, the most fitting of colours for this night.
A hand ripped the hood from the man. Bound and gagged, Simmonds squinted under the harsh lights. He was drenched in sweat. The hand screwed a silencer onto the automatic and chambered a round.
‘I know you,’ said Simmonds.
Rainer lifted the distinctive Gothic ring rotating it between two fingers.
‘I know you too.’
Simmonds spat on the floor.
‘Real sacrifice isn’t made by offering someone else’s soul. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back,’ said Rainer.
‘And how’s that working out for you?’ replied Simmonds.
‘It’s not. But then I never offered anyone else’s but my own.’
‘Tell that to the women that died for you.’
Rainer levelled the automatic and pulled the trigger, blowing the back of Simmonds’ head out. His body slumped forward.
‘Tell them yourself.’
Rainer lit a match and threw it.
Outside Rainer pulled his coat tight against the chill night air. He took a deep breath as the building began to burn behind him and then walked out into the dark street.
Nathaniel Winter climbed the stairs of the dilapidated building, two shopping bags in hand. He stopped, unlocked a door and stepped into the dark apartment.
He switched on the light. It was sparse, clean. Nathaniel placed the bags on a small table by the window. He took a bottle out and cleared out a glass and poured himself a shot. He took a sip savoring the taste then pulled the prison package containing his personal effects from the bag. From inside he took out a folded picture. It was of a young Nathaniel Winter, the birthmark clearly visible. He carefully unfolded the photograph, examined it for a moment then pulled a cheap mobile phone from his pocket and took a picture of it.
The Winter Man Page 30