Even outside, the smoke was thick enough to be obnoxious. Kelly coughed and waved her hand.
"I know it sucks," Jake told her. "But it will bother them more than us, especially the ones that are all the way turned."
Jennifer Fowler looked pale and upset. "We need to get you people out of here," she said. "They'll be back with the rest in no time."
"Jennifer, I don't know why you're going to all this trouble to help us, but I sure appreciate it." Case knelt. His stomach felt queasy from stress and exhaustion. "Can you get us back to town?"
"They'll track us whatever we do."
Cherry came outside, drenched with sweat, and sat down on the porch. Jake trotted back to join them; he did not even look winded. "I need some scraps of your clothing." Before Case could respond, Jake had torn Case's shirt away. He then busily dabbed it in blood from Case's various scratches. Case watched as Jake started to rip the shirt into tiny strips and then finally caught on.
"Kelly, come out here," Case called. She walked closer, her expression puzzled. "Are you wearing a bra?"
Kelly blinked. "No."
Case looked down at the tears in the legs of her jeans. "Okay, then hold still." He opened his pocket knife and cut away strips of her pants. He also took some of the lower part of her blouse. He searched her for scratches and dabbed blood onto the scraps.
Jennifer was watching intently. "It won't work for very long."
"I know," Jake said, "but likely long enough."
"How are you going to get away once they find out?"
Jake stuffed the scraps of cloth into his pockets and down the front of his shirt. He pointed back toward the trail. "They saw us come up that way, right? So why would we risk the open road if we know a shortcut. They'll expect us to leave."
"Maybe."
"They will. And I'll start back down the trail and leave some scraps every few yards to guide them that way. You get back up into the loft and form a defense."
"And you?"
"When I get back down to the cliffs, they'll be hooked on the route. I'll rock climb straight down, drop into the creek and wade back to the highway. Then I'll jog up here, right back to the cabin. I'll come in the front way. They should still be looking for you near town."
"Should be."
"You use that burned wood to cover the driveway so they don't smell you," he said. "I'll handle the rest."
Jennifer and Jake hugged. "Don't you go and get yourself killed," she said. Her voice broke on the last word.
"I won't. Be safe."
The boy turned and ran away, his feet barely seeming to touch the ground. He paused at the trampled space in the brush to stick a scrap of bloody cloth on a thorn and then vanished into the woods.
"Let's get back inside," Jennifer said. "It's likely we ain't got long."
Doc Cherry had watched Jake leave from her place on the porch. She got to her feet wearily. "Is he going to be okay?"
Jennifer walked briskly through the smoking rubble. "He knows his way around." She went into the living room and looked up. "Is there another lantern upstairs?"
"Yes." Case joined her near the blackened couch. "But we used the ladder as a barrier before."
"Cherry? There's a stepladder on the back porch. Go get it."
Doc looked scared, but Jennifer's voice had a crispness that wouldn't be denied. Cherry went around the side of the building to find the ladder. Meanwhile, Kelly joined Jennifer and Case in the darkened living room. She looked down at the shotgun and handed it to Case. "I don't have a clue how to use this."
"I'll trade you," Case said. He handed her the .38. "With this you just point and shoot. But hold it with both hands and wait until they're pretty close."
"Here." Doc returned with a rickety wooden stepladder. Jennifer set it up below the loft and Case braced it with his body. "Get up there fast and stay quiet," Jennifer ordered. Kelly tucked the gun in her torn jeans and clambered upstairs. She stepped over the nailed ladder and reached down. Doc Cherry came second and needed a push on the buttocks from Case to make it upstairs.
OoooooooOOOooooOOooooo…
"You're next." Case held the ladder for Jennifer. After a moment of introspection she climbed up and vanished into the gloom upstairs. Case pondered the situation. "Kelly, drop me some of that twine."
Case climbed. He tied the end of a looped strand of the strong twine to the top and pulled the ladder up behind him. Kelly was sitting on the bed, head in hands. Cherry was peering out through the hole in the window slats, trying to see if the creatures would be able to get to them from that nearby tree. Jennifer stood alone, the shotgun in the crook of her right arm. She had her back to them and was facing the wall. Case walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be okay. You said so yourself."
"Doc?"
It was Kelly. She was looking at the back of her leg. "I think I'm hurt." Cherry turned away from the window and knelt at her side. She moved the lantern closer and examined a large cut on the back of Kelly's calf. "I'll tie it up. Might be a good idea to get a tetanus shot, we get out of this."
ArroOOooooOOOOoooooo…
"Be quiet," Jennifer snapped. "And put that lantern out."
They gathered on the bed, pulled their legs up onto the mattress and huddled together. They hugged without thinking; four trembling bodies pressed close for warmth and reassurance. They sat so perfectly still that they all heard the thumping of paws and the busy grunts and whines of the pack arriving outside. Case looked at Kelly. Her eyes were wide with fright. Something agitated the wolves and one howled again. They seemed to run in a concentric circle and then off into the brush on the west side of the cabin. Soon the yard fell silent again.
They appeared to have taken the bait.
Jennifer held a finger to her lips. She demanded and got absolute silence. Case glanced at his watch. The dial had been cracked but it still worked. It was a little after three in the morning. More than ten minutes passed before Jennifer allowed them to make a sound.
"Okay," she said in a quiet voice. "Everybody take a position in case they come back. Keep quiet. Whisper if you need to say something."
Case went to the edge of the loft and eased back against the wall, where he had been during most of the first encounter. From this position he could see the pale corpse of Sheriff Whitley, sprawled face down under some scorched curtains by the couch. He wondered who had covered Whitley…and why.
Kelly went to sit back on the bed. She kept her leg propped up and the briefcase nearby. Cherry hunkered down near the window; Jennifer the far corner of the loft. They waited as quietly and patiently as they could, willing the reticent sun to rise.
33
"Someone's coming."
Case was startled awake by the whisper. He'd been dreaming of guarding sheep with a spear. He rubbed his weary eyes, glanced at his watch and was surprised to find that he'd been asleep for nearly an hour. He listened intently and then rubbed his face again. "I don't hear anything."
"Well, I do," Jennifer said. "And it's a car."
Cherry sat up. "Could it be Jake?"
"I don't know," Jennifer said, warily. "Could be he decided to drive back up so we'd have ourselves some transportation."
"But that wasn't the plan."
"I know. That's why we stay put."
In less than a minute, they all heard it; the incessant thrumming of tires crunching through gravel. The moonlight had dimmed somewhat, so the driver came slowly up the hairpin turns of the long, dark drive. Some of the wooden shutters on the front windows had been broken or burned, so those inside the cabin were able to see down into the driveway and a bit beyond. The long, probing glare from the headlights coated the trees with an eerie white glow.
The car came to a stop but left the lights on. Whoever was inside silently examined the distressed premises, the broken and smoldering furniture scattered across the porch and out onto the lawn. Case heard the engine die, the doors open quietly and now feet crunching the gra
vel.
A flashlight's beam stroked the porch and slid into the living room, like something serpentine, almost liquid.
A woman spoke first. "Is anybody in there?"
A man's voice, gravely and low-pitched. Faint accent. "Hello? What is up?"
Doc Cherry's eyes lit up at the thought of being rescued. She started to answer the call, emitted a small sound, but suddenly Jennifer clapped a hand over her mouth. She and Case exchanged looks. He got that Jennifer seemed to know the voice—and she was not at all pleased.
"What's going on?"
"These two came to town looking for you," Jennifer whispered. "I was inside the garage when Jake talked to them. It's some big, ugly foreign guy and a tough looking Hispanic woman. They smelled like real trouble."
Kelly gasped with alarm. Case grimaced and shook his head in frustration. Things seem to be getting more royally screwed up by the hour.
"We know you are in there." The man.
Jennifer shot Doc Cherry a nasty look. "They heard you," she whispered. She looked at Jake. "Now what?"
Outside, Lips moved wide to the left of the car. The headlights illuminated things for him and probably did a fair job of blinding those inside, so he just left them on. He jerked his head and Carlita moved out to the right. When she was in position, he spoke again. "Look, we just want our money. Throw the package out and if it is all in there we will let you go."
Cherry and Jennifer's heads swiveled in tandem, expressions bewildered, and their lips moved. Money? Case reached out for the briefcase and tugged it closer. Tapped it with his fingers.
Kelly gripped her hair with both hands. Her nerves were nearly fried. "For God's sake Joe, maybe we should just give it to them."
"What the hell," Jennifer asked, furiously, "are you talking about?"
"If you make us come in there after you," Lips called, "then the deal is off. I kill you all. Now make up your goddamn mind. We do not have all night."
Jennifer leaned closer to Case. "Look, those fools are making entirely too much noise out there. They'll end up bringing the Clan back up here, and if that happens we're all finished."
Case moved closer to the edge of the loft. He considered jumping down to confront the newcomers in person, but knew he'd never get back up in time. Finally he shouted a response. "How do we know you'll keep your end of the bargain?"
Lips grinned wickedly, his shadowy, pocked face cratered like the lunar surface hovering above him. "I guess you will have to trust us."
"Yeah, right," Case answered, sarcastically. He lowered the volume a bit. "Now look, listen to me. There is a pack of wild dogs on the loose up here." He pondered a way to make that statement sufficiently alarming. "And they're all rabid. We've been fighting them off all night. If we don't keep our voices down you're going to have more to worry about—a lot more than getting the money back."
'Rabid dogs, eh?" Carlita chuckled. "And I'm on the run from Mother Theresa."
But Lips reacted differently. Goddamn mad dogs? He eyed the smashed, burned furniture and naked corpses lying in the yard. "You are the BSing me. Yes?"
"I'm the BSing you no," Case said. "So whatever we're going to do we need to do it fast, and as quietly as possible."
Lips jogged up onto the porch. He stepped around the couch and went flat against the wall to the left of the front door. "So. Did you open the package?"
"Somebody else did, but I looked."
Carlita moved up onto the porch. She went down on one knee, her gun raised. "Tell us what you saw. What was inside."
"Bearer bonds," Case answered. "We didn't add it all up but it looked like one hell of a lot of money."
"What happened to the girl?" Lips knelt, risked a quick look inside the living room. Case almost picked him off, but held back. He kept thinking there might still be a way to get out of this without more noise and reckless gunfire. And anyway, if they were closer, they would also be a little quieter.
Case looked directly at Kelly. "You mean that McCammon girl? She's dead. It wasn't her fault, man. She tried to get the money back from the people who stole it. But they killed her yesterday morning and buried her in the town garbage dump with some guy named Case."
Carlita stepped into the living room then expertly vanished into the gloom. "And exactly who are you, friend?"
"I'm just somebody who stepped in a smelly pile." Case patted the briefcase without thinking. "I didn't ask for any trouble, okay? You can have the money back, but I want to get out of this alive."
"Sure," Carlita soothed. "And we just want the money back. We don't have any orders about whacking who took it." Her voice was so cheerful it seemed to grin. And that's why Case sagged at the vibe of her answer. He looked at Jennifer and shook his head. Mouthed: They're going to kill us.
Cherry whispered: "This is just great."
"Yeah." Case chuckled dryly. He looked out at the full moon and then down into the living room. "I think it's called being between a rock and a hard place."
"You're not alone up there, are you? My, what a naughty boy." It was Carlita, moving closer. She used an armchair for cover and began edging it nearer to the loft. Upstairs, Case indicated for Jennifer and Cherry to take the other side of the space. He and Kelly would keep an eye on the man down below.
Suddenly, Case wondered if the construction of the loft was according to code or better. Would it be thick enough to stop bullets, or were they fated to die in a hail of gunfire released from right under their feet?
"No, I'm not alone," Case said. "And I'm not unarmed, either. So how about you stop right there and we'll talk this thing over."
"So. Rabid dogs, huh?" The man was snickering, but it seemed to Case like false bravado. Case could almost see him in the shadows, a huge presence, but still didn't want to risk a shot with ammunition so limited.
"Look, I was telling you the truth about that," Case said. "You think we're up here watching cable?"
ArrOOOooooooOOOOOOOooooo0…
Lips froze. "What the HELL was that?"
"Lips," the woman called, "cool down."
"It was the dogs," Case said, sadly. "Or wolves, to be precise. I think they're headed this way, thanks to you."
The loft was still. The night went rigid as burned plastic. Everyone held their breath. Then… Something moved in the trees outside. Jennifer whirled, gracefully. Heedless of the noise, she ran to the hole in the wooden slats covering the window. She poked her head out and returned it smiling. "It's Jake."
The boy struggled through the hole in the wood. He was panting and covered with sweat. "They were hauling ass down the mountain," he said, "but then they heard something and turned around again."
"Why not come back?" Case said. He grunted. "Hell, it's a freaking convention center up here."
"That couple we saw in town, Jake? They're down there with guns. They want something Case has, but he doesn't want to give it back."
Jake gave Case a quizzical look. "Hell, I'll give it back," Case said, "but not unless we all get out of here alive."
OoooooooOOOOooooooo…
Down below: "Carlita, this is GODDAMN weird. I do not like dogs."
"Easy, Lips."
Carlita and Lips, Case thought. Use their names. "Like I said, Lips, it's a pack of wild dogs, and they're rabid."
"This is no BS, huh?"
"It's the truth. Now can we come to an understanding or do you want to spend the next couple of days dying of rabies or trapped in your car?"
Carlita moved down below. Figuring he had nothing left to lose, Case let go with one shot. The stuffing flew out of the easy chair. Carlita stopped boogying. "Okay," she said. "You have my attention. We seem to have come to a draw."
Case flipped the briefcase open. He shuffled through the bearer bonds, squinting in the dim light of the lantern. In the living room, Lips cleared his throat. "Tell you what, buddy. I do not like that sound outside. So… You throw the money down now and we leave. Simple as that."
Case closed the lid of the b
riefcase but did not latch it. "How do I know you won't shoot us up or set fire to the place again first?"
"Who's up there with you?" Carlita asked, innocently. "I'm just curious."
"Sure you are." Case struggled to remember how many shells were left in the .38. "Because you do have standing orders to hit a couple of people too, don't you?"
Lips made a break for it, trying to cross the shadowy living room floor to get under the loft. Case fired again, a narrow miss, and drove him back into the darkness.
"Damn this waste of time! Just throw it down," Lips said quickly. Case thought he heard something desperate in the big man's voice. "Do that and I promise we will be gone from this place."
Jake and Jennifer raised their heads in unison. Their eyes went wide.
Even Case sensed the presence of the wolf pack.
"Okay, here it comes," Case called. "Here's your money." He grabbed Kelly and kissed her cheek, then threw the briefcase away. It sailed into the living room. The shape seemed to hang in midair for a long beat before the lid opened. Then the precious bearer bonds flew out in an arc, almost like a deck of playing cards. Then the case abruptly dropped and crashed to the wooden floor. Meanwhile, the bonds floated down more slowly, scattering in various directions.
"Son of Bitches!" Lips swore in Russian, tucked his gun into the waist of his pants. He grabbed for some of the papers. Carlita lifted her head up above the armchair. She drew a bead on the loft to cover him.
"Stay down," Case said. Jennifer and Jake moved to the far right, near Cherry. Case pulled Kelly down next to him and forced her flat on the floor.
"Is it the bonds?"
Lips examined one carefully. "It is them."
"Can you get them all?" Carlita called. "I've got your back."
"Yeah, yeah." Lips seemed totally preoccupied now; briskly collecting the papers and stuffing them into the briefcase. "And if that American son of a bitch pokes his head up, you please will blow him away."
Movement outside: A rustling through the brush outside the window to her right made Carlita flinch. "What was that?"
CLAN Page 25