“You know we left all the boxes of police reports back in the rented SUV.”
“Well, that’s a shame. Because this kid looks like he hasn’t eaten a decent meal in a year. He’s nothing but skin and bones. But if the teen isn’t a captive, then where do you suppose Smith found him?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. We stick to the plan, establish our perimeter, test the waters like we talked about, and don’t do anything stupid. But when it comes to that piece of shit, I deal with Smith. You take the kid or get Kiya to stick to him like glue in case he tries to run.”
“Leave me the skinny kid, huh? Okay. Fine. If I can’t take him down, I can’t take anybody.” She watched the two men alternate between nets, catching more trout than two people could possibly eat. “I don’t suppose they’ve ever heard of Montana’s catch and release program?”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
They didn’t have to announce their presence because Smith seemed to have an acute sixth sense. The man they’d been after confronted them keeping one hand on the weapon at his waist. “What are you doing out here? You’re a long way from civilization.”
When Josh started to speak, Smith interrupted. “I don’t like people sneaking up on me.”
Josh heard a noticeable Tennessee twang in the man’s words. “It’s a free country. We’re hiking just like you guys are. Any luck with the fish around here?”
Skye couldn’t help it, she stared into Smith’s dead, vacant eyes. The only problem was the guy was very much alive…and very pissed off without half trying. Facing down evil would surely come at a price.
Josh widened his stance, prepared for a fight. Taking his time, he slid his backpack off his shoulders, dropping it to the ground. He fingered the Glock pistol he had tucked in his waistband.
“I don’t think you guys are hikers at all, here to see the sights,” Smith returned in an accusatory tone.
“Look, we don’t want any trouble. We’ll just leave you guys alone. Go back to what you were doing, you just keep fishing, and we’ll be on our way,” Skye said, trying to make her voice tremble a little with fear.
As if spotting Skye for the first time, Smith turned his focus on her. “What kind of man brings a pretty lady like this out in the boonies around all these wild animals you’re likely to come across out here? Honey, you look like you could use a real man, not some pencil dick from the city.” Smith moved his hand over his crotch. “I bet I got what you need right here.”
“Not so impressive from where I’m standing,” Skye fired back, the snarky bite hitting one nerve too many.
Smith slammed down his fishing net. While shaking his head, he strutted closer, moving toward Skye. “You look part injun to me. What would a stinking squaw like you know about anything? You just keep your wisecracking mouth shut because you don’t want to mess with me.”
“Now I’m really scared.”
“You should be cause I’ve killed more people than you could possibly know about.”
Keep him talking, Skye mused since that had been part of the plan. “Starting in Afghanistan or Iraq?”
Smith tapped his chest. “Hey, early on, I learned I had a talent no one else seemed to have.”
“Oh yeah? Sounds like you’re proud your kind of evil preys on the innocent when they’re least expecting it, huh?”
“Yeah. Like now. You two bozos out for a little hike have no idea who you just ran into. And I didn’t make the rules. It’s a fact of life, the weak are there for the taking. I discovered a long time ago that killing makes me feel powerful, godlike.”
Skye tittered with laughter as she eyed Josh getting into position. “You think you’re powerful? Gimme a break. You’re weak, nothing but a little coward. There’s nothing skillful about killing little kids while they sleep, or little old ladies for that matter. The four-year-old girl you murdered in her bed didn’t pose a risk to you. You didn’t need military training to take her out. Nor did the seventy-year-old grandmother whose life you took without even a glance at her face.”
Smith narrowed his eyes into a steely squint. “How do you know about that? How do you know about the little girl in…?”
Skye refused to let him finish. She wanted him off-balance. “Stoneham, a suburb of Boston. Her name was Adele, Adele Allman. I know all about you, Michael Smith. I know all about your trail of terror beginning in Brunswick, Georgia.”
Skye noted Smith looked stunned, even confused, but it didn’t last long. Bravado was a mighty force to knock out of someone. And this man had an extra supply. “There’s no way to outrun your evil. Don’t you know that by now? You’re nothing but a sleazy lowlife, a man who kills for the enjoyment factor and for no other reason.”
“I kill because I’m good at it.”
While Smith had fixated on Skye, Josh had slipped his pistol from under his jacket. He brought it out in plain sight and aimed it at Smith’s heart. “Drop the weapons. Get down on your knees. Put your hands on your head and lock your fingers together. Do it all slow like so I can see you’re serious.”
Smith merely laughed, cutting his eyes to the teen. “Listen to me, boy. You do what I say, when I say it. That way we both stay alive. You got that?”
The teen simply dropped his fishing net and put both hands in the air in surrender.
“Kiya, keep an eye on the boy just in case,” Skye commanded the wolf. Kiya trotted over to stand in front of the boy.
“Drop the weapons now, or I’ll shoot you where you stand,” Josh repeated.
“A pencil dick like you doesn’t have the guts to take me down. Trust me on that. I’ve seen your kind before, college educated with more money than they know what to do with.” He sniffed the air. “I can smell your Ivy League education and bank account from over here.”
From the other side, Skye had drawn her Ruger. “You think you can take both of us? Get rid of the guns. Use two fingers. Start with the .44 on your hip.”
Smith’s jaw tightened as he unfastened the holster and took out the weapon, dropping it to the ground.
“That’s good. Now take off the two gun belts and toss them into the river,” Josh demanded.
With each command, Smith’s eyes seared into Josh, and he especially aimed those cold baby blues toward Skye. But he obeyed the directive and threw the weapons in the water.
Skye made the mistake of taking a step forward. Without warning, the man charged at Josh, lunging at him head first.
Skye fired off a round that hit the attacking man in his shoulder.
Josh’s back hit the ground hard with Smith on top. The man had pulled a knife. Josh caught the glint of steel out of the corner of his eye and watched the blade as it danced near his throat. He struggled to turn the barrel of his Glock and point it at the man’s head.
Smith was strong, stronger than he looked. With his knife, Smith used the blade to swipe and cut, making slits into Josh’s hand and fingers to try and pry the gun out of Josh’s grip.
While the two men fought, Skye couldn’t risk another shot that might go through Smith and hit Josh. So she gripped the barrel of the Ruger with two hands and used the heavier handle to smash into the side of Smith’s head. The blow knocked him off balance.
The hit was hard enough to make Smith tumble to the side, but he still clutched the knife. He swiped it toward Skye and used his legs to kick out. The man didn’t make contact but the rocky slope made her fall backward, up against the rocks. She managed to get off another shot before landing on a slab of boulder. The hard hit forced the air out of her lungs and left her woozy.
But her second shot had grazed the man’s left temple.
Josh got to his feet and waited for Smith to fall. But it never happened. The bullet didn’t even slow him down. Smith was like a wild man hyped up on PCP. The enraged killer stood up, wobbly, but still able to move.
Josh skidded over to retrieve the Glock, but he didn’t get a chance to pick up the gun because Smith was on him again, pummeling with more fis
ts and knocking him backward.
Trying to right himself, Josh delivered a glancing blow that missed. Smith blocked and countered with punches to Josh’s ribs.
Grabbing the man’s arm, Josh yanked Smith to the ground. They rolled in the dirt, each trying to gain an advantage over the other. Smith managed to get his leg up and throw Josh off him.
They sprang apart, both men getting to their feet. For several long seconds, the men sized each other up, and then went after each other. Locked in a death struggle, they exchanged blows, blocks, and counter-punches that went back and forth.
It seemed like Josh was overmatched.
Skye managed to stand up again. Fingering the knife she hid in her boot, she bit back her fear, reared back and threw the knife at Smith. The blade entered his ribcage. But all it did was knock him back a step. This time, she pulled the backup .380 out of her waistband. For several long seconds she watched the fight take up where it had left off, trying to gauge the best angle. Hitting a moving target was harder than practice rounds. She did her best to find a clear shot and couldn’t.
But then she saw Josh trying to work Smith into a corner of the canyon. From out of nowhere though, the man whipped out another gun, this time a small .22.
Just as he tried to aim the pistol, Skye darted forward and fired again, hitting Smith in the hand that held the gun. Blood poured out of where Smith’s thumb used to be. The weapon went flying, clattering somewhere on the other side of the trail near the babbling brook.
The teenage boy left his post at water’s edge and ran down the trail to retrieve the .22.
Without his gun, Skye threw her leg out, trapping the man’s wrist between the ground and the heel of her boot. There was a cracking sound as she stomped on the man’s hand.
Smith countered with an elbow into her thigh and a punch that sent her reeling. She stuttered backward, losing her balance, tumbling into…something.
Smith looked up to see the boy holding the gun. “Shoot them, damn it,” Smith instructed. “For God’s sakes, don’t just stand there, shoot these bastards!”
When the boy just stood there, Smith barreled his way once again into Josh, wrapping him up in a crushing bear hug.
Able to work his arms free, Josh used his palms to smack the man on both ears, causing Smith to loosen his hold.
Josh spotted his opening when another shot went off behind him, distracting Smith for the briefest of moments. Ignoring the gunfire, Josh rushed Smith, grabbing him by the shirt and lifting him off the ground.
Smith tried to chop block Josh’s shoulders to get him to let go, but Josh hung on. In a show of brute strength, he lifted him higher, flipped him upside down, and dropped him headfirst into the rocks. The pile-driving move snapped Smith’s neck with a loud, bone-shattering crunch.
Josh moved over Smith’s broken body to check for a pulse and make sure the guy was dead. He put two fingers up to the carotid artery and was pleased to find no rhythm whatsoever. He rested his hands on his knees until he went over and snatched up the elusive Glock off the ground and picked up the knife, ready to kill again.
Where had the teenage boy gone? he wondered. And was the kid friend or foe?
While his mind dealt with that immediate risk, he heard Skye groan. Whirling around, he was ready to take on the teen, but saw Skye sprawled on the ground instead. The teenage boy was kneeling beside her, tears running down his cheeks, and the .22 Smith & Wesson a few feet away.
Rushing over, Josh knocked the teenage boy aside so he could get to Skye. She held up a bloody hand. “Burning. My side.”
The teen glanced up at Josh, his face ashen, warring between terror and fear. “I didn’t mean to shoot her. I wasn’t even aiming at her. The gun…it just went off when she fell into me near the river. I was holding the gun in my hand because I meant to shoot that piece of shit who killed my family. I’ve been waiting for my chance to do it for a year. This was my chance. That was my moment and…I…I messed it up. But…she…she bumped into me…and the gun…it just went off. It was an accident.”
“Be quiet a minute,” Josh ordered, kneeling next to Skye, trying to determine the extent of the injury. His hands moved inside her jacket to lift up her sweater. The bullet had torn an ugly hole into her side. Blood oozed out of the wound and spilled onto the rocky dirt.
She groaned in pain again and saw Kiya creep up to lie beside her. The wolf licked her hand, and then her face, snuggling up next to her body.
The wolf’s howl echoed up and down the canyon.
Skye heard flutes, the woodwinds rising slow and steady. The rhythm of the drums built as the tribe began to gather. The tremolos lulled her into a dream state. She caught a glimpse of Sierra’s face smiling back at her. The vision, the light of her heart, the baby with the striking eyes so like her own, looked over at her.
Overhead the crow cawed, then swooped down like a ribbon of fire. Her tribe gathered around what seemed like that same fire, flames licking skyward.
Warriors circled—armed with spears ready to defend, to fight—stood guard. Were they waiting for her to cross to the other side?
She heard Josh’s voice and tried to call out.
“It’ll be okay, baby. It’s not that bad,” Josh said, his tongue tangled in a lie. He pointed to the boy. “You, go through my pack and get me the thermal blanket inside and a T-shirt. I have to stop this bleeding.”
“I didn’t mean to shoot her,” Brayden moaned, digging through the bag as ordered. “See? I can’t do anything right.”
“Just help me with her,” Josh pleaded.
Skye wanted to close her eyes again and drift off to sleep. She felt warm, and then cold. “The snake dream…it was right.”
“Stop talking like that,” Josh said, beginning to panic. “Be still a minute so I can stop the bleeding. Drag that bag over here,” Josh told the teen.
“My name’s Brayden, Brayden Lachlann from St. Louis, Missouri.”
“Okay, Brayden, dig in that pack and find me the first aid kit. I need the roll of tape and some bandages.”
Brayden searched through the backpack until he handed off the kit. “Smith had a first aid kit, too, hidden out here with some other stuff, a shitload of money and four guns. Want me to go get it? There’s some betadine in there, and something called New-Skin® to close a wound.”
“Is it near here?”
“It’s right over there where we camped last night.”
“Hurry,” Josh said, laying out the bandages and organizing the contents to see what he had on hand to treat the gunshot. He wiped away the blood and found a small circular hole.
“This may a hurt a little,” he warned.
Skye’s belly quivered in a weak attempt to laugh. “Couldn’t…hurt any worse…than it does now. Why are there so many people here?”
Hallucinating Josh thought as he swallowed hard and felt around the wound for the bullet. Not finding it he wanted to believe it had gone right through. But he knew better than that. There was no exit wound that he could see. He decided to sound upbeat and flat-out lie. “Okay baby, with any luck, it might’ve gone straight through you. But it’s still bleeding like crazy. I have to get it to stop.”
Brayden came running back. “Here. I also brought a bottle of pills that says it’s painkillers.”
“No, I don’t want any kind of medicine that guy had on him. Who knows what kind of crap he was taking?”
“He chewed a lot of Oxy.”
“Exactly.”
Josh poured a good portion of the betadine over the wound and into the hole. He read the instructions on the bottle of New-Skin®, learning it didn’t recommend using on an oozing gash. Desperate though, Josh pinched the skin together around the hole and coated the area with the clear liquid. The stuff smelled like nail polish remover and went on the same way. He had Brayden hold the bandage in place while he rolled the tape around her waist.
When he was done, he took out the satellite phone. But there was still no signal. He looked up
at the canyon walls to the left and the mountain range on the right and wanted to throw the thing up against the rocks. “What good is this thing if it never works?”
“Smith had one in his stash, too. It didn’t work either. He said it was something about the way the summit blocks the southern sky.”
“Whatever it is, we have to get her out of here and into an open field…somewhere. We have to get her to a doctor, get her down off the mountain or she’ll bleed to death.”
From his backpack, Josh brought out a small hatchet. “Take this and see if you can find me a couple of long branches. We need to make a travois to transport her out of here.”
When Brayden just stood there staring at Skye and the all blood, Josh lost his patience. “Brayden, get over it and help me with her. We need to make a travois to carry her out of here and get her to a hospital. Go look for two of the longest branches you can find. Do it now!”
Finally, Brayden got moving. He disappeared through the tree line toward a thicket of aspen.
Josh grabbed Skye’s hand and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Hang in there. Okay? I’ll check the map and see where the nearest open field is. If I can get you to an open area, I’ll be able to use the phone. Nod if you understand me.”
Skye nodded and reached up to touch his face. “We get out of this, I want a raise, a big one.”
Josh chuckled and kissed her forehead. “That’s my girl. We get out of this, we’re done. From now on, the cops can go after their own vermin.”
“Sounds…like…a…plan.”
Josh tore through the pack looking for anything he could use to tie the branches together. He found what was left of the rope they’d used to mark the trail earlier.
Soon the teenager reappeared dragging two thin, gnarly tree trunks behind him, and dropped them next to Josh. “I found these already down. Will they do?”
“They’re fine. Use the hatchet to strip off the dead twigs, get them down to the bare wood so we can cut them into the right sizes. We need poles that measure about six feet long, and several more to chop up for the middle sections.”
Truth in the Bones Page 27