“And you trust him not to do something to your driver?”
“Blondie? Hah. The man’s tougher than he looks. He’s ex-mil infantry too. Almost made it into the SAS. ’Sides, I told him to be careful around Pieter.”
The men off to the right started jogging but Scrim tagged me and pulled me to a halt.
“Quick rundown of a few things. Something as a gift first. To show you I’m on your side, okay? The lodge is wired with hidden webcams. Anything you’ve done in the living room or the bedrooms, Vetrov has recorded. I wasn’t exactly supposed to say this. It’s how I knew your girl was escaping. Vetrov messaged me. It’s also how I know your friend let the woman go.”
For a second, I forgot to inhale or exhale. Everything? Then a half second after…why did he want the photo of us with Zoe. Just another mindfuck? He knew about Andreas too?
“Shocker, hey?”
The goggles showed me his usual devious leer. The man was enjoying this. He was on my side? What crap. “Yes. Shocker. Thanks for saying.”
“My pleasure. It also means the boss is very suspicious of your friend’s involvement in this escape.”
Shit. Bad. Real Bad.
“So, you better perform unless you want to have a fatal wildlife interactive experience, as the boss likes to put it. Bottom line?” He pointed at my chest, still casual like as if he was reading a kid’s story. “You dead. Your friend dead after being mangled with something like a wood chipper. Nasty fuckin’ things. Your lady, probably shipped off after being fucked a few dozen times. Got that? I’m just being practical. Okay?”
I struggled not to punch a hole clear through his throat and kept my voice steady. “Got it.” Inside, I was wrestling my screaming and my rage down to acceptable levels.
Fuck him. How dare he threaten Andreas and Kat? But, I was outnumbered. Compared to Vetrov, I was a little man. I couldn’t stop him if he decided to have me killed and do worse to Andreas and to Kat.
“Good. I’m not your enemy. Really, I’m not. Second thing. I’m gonna test Pieter when we catch the girls. I’m going to threaten to shoot that girl he has the hots for. You keep watch. Shoot him if he tries anything.”
Scrim was asking me to commit murder. Out of the question. But the gruesome reality twisted my gut. I couldn’t say no.
“That sounds very dicey. Dangerous. Especially as my aim is better with a rock than a bullet.”
“Now you tell me? Yeah, you might be right. I’ll have another think. Come on.”
I had an urge to ask him if his boss knew he cut the girls, or Zoe at least. Maybe she’d been the only one, but I didn’t think Vetrov would like merchandise being damaged. Bad timing. I needed Scrim on my side. Later. An email would do it.
This time we set off running.
He was so sure this was Pieter that he was planning to test him. If it came down to shooting or killing Pieter, could I do it? Scrim was my channel to Vetrov, my way to get Zoe. I’d become his little helper, not a role I liked. Whoever had helped free the women was crazy about one of them, surely? I loved that sort of crazy. It was me. If Scrim told me to kill and I refused, I was probably fucked, we all were, and Zoe, my present for Kat, would be off the menu.
I kept running. A short while later, someone shouted up ahead and there was a feminine scream that cut off and merged into a low babble of voices.
“They got someone.” Scrim veered off toward them and we soon came upon the two from the first 4WD. They’d found two of the women and had them down on the ground, already zip tied.
Scrim nodded. “Good going. Get ’em back to the car then one of you catch up to us.”
We set off again. The driver and Pieter weren’t far ahead. Maybe one of them was going deliberately slow?
We loped up to a small creek and then turned to follow it toward the main river.
“Fuck. They’re just up ahead. Haven’t moved much. I wonder if they think they can hide and we’ll go past?” Scrim managed to chuckle even though we were both panting lightly from the run. The man kept fit.
Had the night grown darker and had that given them false hope? They wouldn’t know about the goggles. The screams would’ve carried to them. Maybe Zoe and Jazmine had simply been so worried that they’d made a mistake?
“Just here,” Scrim whispered as he slowed then stopped, planting his feet wide.
They were hiding. The goggles showed them crouching low. Pieter and the blond guy arrived off to our left. Somehow they’d crossed over our path. Now the women were boxed in. Us on two sides, the river and creek on the other sides.
I said a mantra to get my heart rate down and my mind functioning clearly. Now was when it could all go to crap. We advanced, slow, purposeful, no talking. They’d be hoping we’d walk straight past them. I aimed for the smaller silhouette. Had to be Zoe.
Two yards, one, Blondie was on her other side. I lunged down and grabbed her, hearing the squeak then a scream that blasted my ears. Her legs flailed until I sat on her.
It was her – I was certain. Zoe’s soft body struggled against my muscles and found no give. She sagged to the ground, sobbing in agonizing jerks that broke me a little. Poor thing.
I had to get her quiet. There could be campers, people somewhere nearby. Nothing was certain. Blondie was taking care of her legs and wrists.
I’d grabbed a ball gag from Scrim’s bag instead of duct tape. Swiftly, I fitted it to her mouth and strapped it on while I talked. “Shh. Shh. It’s fine. It’s Chris, Kat’s friend. You’re not going to be hurt, Zoe. I’ll look after you. You’re coming with me back to Kat.”
I kept up my flow of words and slowly her sobs turned to quiet crying. I stroked her hair for a few seconds then I stood.
More movement, the thrashing of leaves, and gasps that went nowhere, said they’d caught Jazmine somewhere ahead. I hoisted Zoe onto my shoulder and carried her to where they’d taken down Jazmine. If Pieter had ideas about this woman escaping and him meeting up with her, he must’ve decided to play the innocent tonight. Try again another day maybe. If I were him I’d not bother.
Wait, no, if it were Kat…yeah if Scrim tried to take Kat, I’d have no hesitation in putting him into an early grave. But Pieter didn’t seem that committed to this woman. Maybe Scrim had it all wrong too.
At least Scrim hadn’t tried to shoot her. I dragged off the goggles and wiped my forehead. Fucking muggy, once you went running. Sweat ran down my face.
As they worked on Jazmine a few yards away, I lowered Zoe to the ground. This woman was putting up more of a fight than Zoe. My eyes adjusted fast to the lack of goggles. The tree canopy was sparse here. The moonlight filtering down through the gap gave the scene a fairytale quality, if it weren’t for the muffled noises of a woman being hogtied. Somewhere high above, an owl launched, hooting softly as it glided off in search of prey.
From below in the creek bed came a splashing noise as if someone had dumped a big log in the water.
“Crap.” Scrim rose. I heard him snort back some phlegm before he spit. “Damn it woman, you gave me an appetite for lurv with all your wriggling, but that splash just took it away. That’s gotta be an old croc. We woke the bugger up. Let’s get going. You finally got her legs tied, Pieter?”
“I have.” The big man climbed to his feet.
Success. Thank god. My muscle tension cranked down a notch. My heart beat a little slower.
“Good.” Scrim stepped back in my direction. Metal gleamed in his fist. “Now you shoot her, Pieter. Blondie? Chris?”
Calling us for support?
Shoot her?
Fuck. Plan number two, Scrim? Wish you’d warned me. A yard from Scrim. Four from Pieter. More from Blondie who was on the other side of all of this. Blondie already had his hand swinging up with his weapon in it. This was a better plan than Scrim’s first one. Scrim already had the man in his sights. And if Pieter refused, I suppose that proved who the traitor was. Cause the man had to be in love to do what he did. Didn’t he?
Could I kill him? I had
to or risk losing everything if Vetrov decided I’d been bad. Even losing Zoe wasn’t an option. She wasn’t just Kat’s girlfriend but a way to wash away some of my dirty past. Save her. Kill Pieter. Simple, as long as I shot straight. Three against one.
But Pieter was in love.
Love. Weird. I admired a man who went there. Who could feel like that, who could dedicate himself to a woman. It was one step from obsession…
I expected the man to say what and look baffled while he weighed up his options. Unless he was truly uninterested in the woman…and callous, had to add in callous if you could shoot a bound and helpless women for no particular reason. My heart and mind, by now, had caught up, wound up, to fighting speed. Waiting, waiting, for something to happen. I was rising from my crouch and calibrating distances.
Thinking this didn’t take long.
By the time I was standing, Blondie was down with a knife in his throat. One choked cry from him – then down, falling on his back, writhing. Hard to breathe with a knife in your windpipe.
Scrim had missed two important points. Pieter thought and moved like lightning.
But so did I.
Life is full of choices. Which? The side of shooting helpless women, or the side of an almost obsessive love?
I brought Scrim down with a kidney punch to his back and a chokehold as he fired skyward. The silenced gun made a small phut noise. Then I smashed the side of his head with one blow and kept him as a shield. I’d never killed anyone before. I had today. Knew it. It drove an ice spike directly to my soul. But I was glad. One cockroach less in the world.
Now I had Pieter breathing hard over there with a gun almost up, from the way the light flickered along its length. I shone my little flashlight in his eyes and heard the phut of his weapon.
Behind me, Zoe shrieked then cut off.
Shit oh shit. Had she been hit? For a few seconds, I fought the screaming need to turn and check she was breathing. First. Stay alive.
Pieter had dived earthward and was no doubt aiming where he thought I was. I bet he’d ripped off his goggles.
“Stop,” I grated out but I kept my volume low. “I can see you. I can shoot you, before you get past Scrim’s body. I’ve killed him.”
Scrim gave one last gurgle and stopped breathing as if to put a neat full stop on my statement. Fuck, I was a murderer – another notch on my belt of evil fucking deeds. Pieter hadn’t shifted. “I’m letting you go, man! I’m on your fucking side. I could’ve shot you already. Now go!”
All the while I was aware of that other man Scrim had ordered to return. If he came now…
“Go! Just make sure she doesn’t go to the fucking cops. Okay?”
I probed backward with my foot and was sure I heard a gasp from Zoe. Didn’t mean she wasn’t hit though, or bleeding.
Finally, I saw him rise. Slow. Careful.
He tucked away his pistol, strode to Jazmine and stripped away her bonds with a quick flick of a second knife.
Must remember to invite him over if I ever needed something sliced and diced.
“Thanks. Got your back, man, if you ever need it. Zoe said you weren’t a doos. That counts with me.”
I nodded even if he couldn’t see it. And made a note to find out what a doos was.
Then the two of them jogged away.
When I was game to turn, I found Zoe breathing. Now what? I had her, but maybe I’d crapped all over my chances of keeping her? Vetrov…if he found out what happened, I’d be duck slash croc food at the bottom of a river. Two of his men were dead. One gone missing with one of his women.
How could elation feel so bad? I may have signed the death sentences of everyone. Me, Andreas, Kat, Zoe. The women would be made to wish they were dead.
I shook away my dread of the future. Clear head. Think your way out. There must be a way. Only my stomach kept rolling like it was filled with something rotten that wanted out.
“Zoe, are you hit anywhere? Tell the truth.” I crouched beside her and tried to check her.
She shook her head then waited, rigid.
I squeezed her arm. “You’ll be fine. I’m taking you to Kat.”
Christ. Close call. No holes in either of us. No knives even. All I had to do was find that perfect excuse for Scrim’s men, and for Vetrov.
Think, fuckit, think. There had to be an answer that would convince Vetrov.
I rolled Scrim’s body down into the darkly shadowed creek bed for the croc to snack on when he felt like it. A long, gray lump surged forward and lumbered for the body.
Croc. Huge one.
I did what every man does after he escapes almost certain death. Hands on knees, I puked. Then I wiped my mouth, and decided to buy a lottery ticket next time I had the chance to.
I rescued the goggles, found car keys in Blondie’s pocket, then walked out with Zoe on my shoulder. Met the other guy before he even made ten yards from his vehicle. After I put Zoe in my 4WD, we returned to the creek. He believed me when he saw the knife in his man’s neck. Guess he never figured me for a knife man. I told him I’d run away when the gunplay started as I couldn’t hit the side of a barn. The mean and doubtful look in his eyes dissipated when I stood there and stared back. I guess Pieter had a bad rep.
“You better have a bloody good way of explaining that to Vetrov.”
Yeah, good point. It was one I was working on.
We looked down at the massive croc doing its death roll with Scrim and decided, wisely, to leave it to eat.
“Vetrov can figure this.” On the way to the 4WDs he sent off a text or two. “Okay. I’m volunteered to clean up this mess. And you, you poor bastard, Vetrov says explain.”
“I will. When I get back to the lodge.”
My heart beat so forcefully it hurt my chest.
“You can get the fuck out of here. Me and Red will get Blondie. There aren’t too many roads out of the Daintree. The changeover men were coming in from up north tonight to take the girls to the airfield. Pieter picked a bad place to start a run from.”
After that, he seemed more concerned with getting a blanket to carry Blondie’s body and leaving ASAP. I drove back with Zoe on the passenger seat next to me. Though her eyes were dark and she still had the gag in, I’d put her head in my lap. That might, possibly, be reassuring. Plus I told her a few more times that she was now mine, and Andreas’s, and…Kat’s.
But there was still Vetrov. Fucking Vetrov. The man who could have us all killed on a whim. How did I explain this in an email and sound utterly convincing?
I had a thought. One possibility. It might work. Fucking had to.
We’d been a five-minute drive from the house at most. And a world away. Two people had died since I’d left them. By the time I walked in the door, with Zoe over my shoulder, my shaking hands were still again. The triumphant scaredy cat Dom returneth.
I had a sudden vision of me chucking a match on this place and letting it burn. Of walking away with the lodge afire, and flames lighting up the sky behind me.
If only.
I kept going down the hallway with Zoe and met up with Andreas and Kat.
“Scoot.” I ushered them both ahead of me. Andreas took the girl. Once I had Kat curled up with an untied and ungagged Zoe on the couch, I bear hugged Andreas for a second. My throat closed in.
“You okay, mate?” he asked.
Hated weakness. I shut it down. I’d tell him about the exact details of the killing later, if he wanted me to. I said everything all nice and loud despite Andreas raising an eyebrow. Zoe knew it all and Kat was tough.
“Bad things went down. We caught two of the women but two people got killed – Scrim and another man. Pieter, one of Scrim’s men did it. Tough bastard. He wanted to get away with one of the women. Once the shooting started, I ran.” I screwed up my face and shook my head as if disgusted at myself.
Andreas looked taken aback. His eyebrows went up so high they disappeared under his hair. “You ran?”
“Yep. I can’t hit the s
ide of a barn with a pistol. Scrim never asked me but it’s true. Give me a down-and-dirty hand to hand and I can do it, not guns.” I dragged the two pistols from my belt and handed them to Andreas. “Store them somewhere secure while I go email Vetrov.”
“Wait.” He put up a hand. “Are we safe? I mean there are people on the loose who might give us, as well as this whole operation, to the cops.”
“I don’t know.” I looked over at the couch where Kat seemed to have a handle on comforting the girl, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. “Pieter was here illegally. I guess that makes it unlikely. I think he was in love with this woman. I’ll be back in a minute. Take them all out to the deck and wait for me on the sofa there.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You want me to move them?”
“Yes.”
I left Andreas to think and walked to the study, praying I’d found the right answer to my puzzle.
Vetrov was online and waiting, from the speed of his response.
I gave him the same spiel I had Andreas. That I’d run when the gunfight started.
V: I never took you for a cowardly man.
C: I’m sensible, is all.
Then I went for the one thing I needed from him, apart from absolution for not stopping Pieter.
C: S promised Z to me if I helped him. And I did, best I could.
I had to wait a while.
V: Is not a gift. I will send you bill. Maybe you owe me another time. Rain check, yes?
Shit. I grinned. Yes! Either he’d watched the living room webcam, or he simply believed me. The webcam seemed likely. It was why I’d spoken loudly. Thank you, Scrim. You did one good thing in your life.
C: Sure. Rain check.
This was way better than being dead. If I could just forget that Vetrov probably had a whole library of BDSM porno recorded with us featuring. I sank back in my chair.
V: You are a lucky man.
C: Why?
V: Pieter did not shoot you. I have decided not to shoot you because I just got word that we caught him and her. You need to go kiss the ground and say thank you to whatever gods you believe in.
My mind went dead silent. Then my heart started up again. I didn’t know why, but Pieter’s fate made me feel dreadfully sad. I didn’t know him at all except that he’d been willing to sacrifice a lot to get his woman safe. Nothing I could do. That made me feel like shit. The man was good as dead. Maybe her, Jazmine, too.
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