Legacy of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  Burning. She thought she had remembered the burning, but she hadn’t, not the actuality of it. She remembered choking, but not the surge of mortal fear her body sent to her brain at the reality of the intense, airless heat. Flames crawled along the ceiling of the ground floor as she fought her way through the smoke. A piece of ceiling fell behind her, but she kept going. Everything shifted and groaned, well alight. More flames shot up the curtains, remnants floated in front of her eyes. The stairs were gone.

  ‘Mia!’ she croaked uselessly, then coughed. She couldn’t get up there. How was she going to get up there? The place was an incinerator. And it hurt. Everything hurt. She was too late. She spun, bumped into something. It grabbed her arm, almost pulling her over. Billy.

  Ally grabbed him like a lifeline. He was weaving, trying to use Ally for balance. Even through the smoke she could smell the vomit, see the blackened, blood-encrusted right arm.

  ‘I need to find Mia, where’s Mia?’

  He stared blankly ahead and she shook him.

  ‘Billy! Where’s Mia?’

  He blinked, focused on her face, coughed violently. But an arm slowly lifted, pointed, and he turned. Choking, she followed him to the remains of the stairs. There was another opening in the wall; the bottom of those narrow steps. But there was so much smoke. She lost him, then he was back. He slumped, hands on knees and pointed to the floor.

  Desperately, she dropped to her knees, felt around. Mia. Ally found her bound wrists, grabbed hold, straightened, and pulled at her prone body, moved her a couple of inches. She adjusted her grip, fought the tight, constricting pressure in her chest, took a shallow, smoke-filled breath and tried again.

  Cam had never wanted a weapon so much in his life. Ben’s arm was still extended with his Glock ready, but Rob wasn’t giving an inch.

  ‘I’ll cut a big hole in her – back off!’

  Ben didn’t budge. ‘You can’t keep us all off, Rob. It’s over. Let her go.’

  ‘If it’s over, I don’t have anything to lose. Back the fuck up!’ He dragged Ebony around them, closer to the house.

  ‘Let her go!’ Cam ordered. ‘Or what I’ll do to you will make what you did to Bella look like a makeover.’

  Rob glanced again at the house. ‘Your stupid bitch girlfriend’s gone back in after her slut of a sister. Guess she’s going to fry after all.’

  ‘What?’ As Cam’s head swung round, Rob’s hand jerked on the knife. At the same time Ben fired, hitting Rob in the shoulder. The knife fell, and Rob staggered backwards. Clutching his arm, he spun and ran.

  Ebony collapsed on the ground, blood sliding down her throat.

  ‘No!’

  It was only a scratch, Cam saw as he knelt at her side. The blood was trickling, not pouring.

  ‘Cam,’ Ebony sobbed, her eyes glassy.

  ‘Ebs, it’s okay. It’s not deep. He just nicked you, honey, you’re okay.’ He caught a glimpse of Ben chasing Rob. Both men plunged into the fire.

  ‘He’s right,’ Lee said, dropping down beside Cam. ‘You’ll be okay. I wouldn’t lie, Ebs.’ He already had pressure on the wound, stroked her forehead. ‘Sorry, Cam, I thought we had him.’

  ‘There was nothing more you could have done. He was determined. We’re just lucky Ben’s a damn good shot. Here comes an ambulance, get them to bring in more. Keep the pressure on. I have to find Ally.’

  Cam allowed himself three decent breaths before heading back into the flames. ‘Ally!’ His voice was already sandpaper. It was impossible to see, to breathe. The furnace was imploding. He covered his face, pushed through.

  By some miracle he almost stumbled into her. Mia’s shirt was alight and he smothered it, picked her up. ‘Let’s go!’

  Ally’s head shook ferociously. ‘Billy!’ she wheezed.

  Ben appeared. Not bothering to try to talk, he shook his head, indicating he’d lost Rob. Cam shoved Mia at him. Ben caught her and headed towards the door.

  ‘Where?’ Cam asked Ally.

  Ally fought her way back to the stairs, leading him to where Billy had collapsed.

  Cam had just got Billy to his feet when something crashed against the side of his face out of the smoke. He went down, falling onto Billy.

  Rob was holding a charred piece of bannister, swinging it like a baseball bat. Ally screamed as this time he came at her. She ducked and Cam sprang up, hitting Rob in the stomach with his shoulder. Both men went crashing into the lounge.

  Five feet from the struggling pair, the second-storey bath fell through the ceiling.

  ‘Cam!’

  Cam got in one good hook. Rob’s head flew back, blood spraying. He collapsed on the floor.

  ‘We have to get out! Please!’ Ally pulled at his arm, coughed again, uncontrollably. With a nod, Cam grabbed hold of Rob, started pulling him out. When they reached Billy, Ally couldn’t get him on his feet. Cam gave Rob a shove, a look of disgust on his face as he swapped one limp body for another. They struggled to the door, falling out of the old house as the last of the roof began to collapse.

  Two paramedics took Billy. Ally rushed to Mia. Her face was covered by a mask. Ally could still hear sirens, wondered where they were all coming from. Then there were hands on her, someone talking to her, pulling at her. She shrugged them off, she needed to make sure Mia was all right.

  Cam gently eased her away. ‘She needs to go to the hospital, let them take her, Ally, let them look after you.’

  Billy was wailing. He was badly burned, the gunshot wound was oozing, and he was struggling for breath, yet he was fighting like a professional boxer. She reluctantly relinquished Mia to get Billy’s attention.

  ‘Billy! Billy, it’s okay. Billy, you’re safe. They’re friends.’ Billy turned, eyes wild as he stared at her. ‘Ally, friend.’

  ‘Yes, Billy, friend.’

  He threw himself at her, clinging like a trusting child, and sobbed.

  ‘Someone warn those firefighters there’s a serial killer in there!’ Cam called.

  ‘Already aware!’ Lee called back. ‘But I reckon he’s a flat one!’ Apart from a few pieces of charred framework, the second storey had collapsed into the first, leaving a raging pile of rubble.

  Cam made her go in the ambulance, but he went with her.

  ‘I’m okay.’

  ‘You’ve suffered smoke inhalation, burns, and that bruise on your side is already purple.’

  ‘Rob booted me.’

  ‘I hope he burned and I hope it hurt.’

  ‘Cam!’

  He raked a hand through his hair. ‘It might not be how I’m supposed to feel, but screw it. For everything he did to all those people, especially you, I hope he suffered.’

  ‘You’re burned too. And your face looks so sore.’

  ‘It’s nothing.’ He smiled at her, one eye already closing where the bannister had smashed into it, and touched her face. When he pulled his fingers back he showed her the ash and soot that covered them. ‘I can barely see you under there.’

  ‘You think you look any better?’

  ‘You went back in. How the hell did you do that?’

  ‘I couldn’t leave her there.’

  ‘Nothing stops you, does it? The most traumatic thing you’ve ever been through, the thing that sits you on your arse every time, and you just barrel through it.’

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘I got angry. I was madder than I was scared. I was going to lose Mia, the fire was going to take something else I loved, and it pissed me off.’

  ‘I didn’t know Mia was in there. I would’ve gone back in.’

  ‘I know. I hope Ebs is all right.’

  ‘She’s going to be fine. We all are.’

  CHAPTER

  29

  It was a week before they were all out of hospital. They met at Cam’s house for pizza and wine. Most sported burns and bandages, some had suffered smoke inhalation, and the emotional fallout was going to take some time to heal. But most importantly, they were all recovering.


  Would recover.

  At the back door, two dogs and a puppy sat, hopeful of a treat. Ally gave them each a bone before accepting a glass of wine and sitting down.

  ‘How’s Billy?’ Lee asked Ally. ‘Do we have an update on him?’

  Ally nodded. ‘He’s okay. When he talks to you, it’s like having a conversation with a very sweet five-year-old. He’s settling in well at the facility, though he wants to whittle but they won’t let him have a sharp knife – at least, not yet. So they have him working with clay. He seems to like it.’

  ‘He did all those figurines?’

  ‘Yeah. How incredible is that? They were his way of communicating with me. Letting me know he missed his pets, wanted them back. Gus came and got him when Mavis went into hospital, told him he had to stay at his place, but Billy missed the animals and kept coming back to visit. Only, he knew he’d get in trouble if Gus found out, so he hid from me. But I kept catching glimpses of him. He wasn’t happy about me shutting the cat out, which is why he kept opening the window to let him back in. The night Tom went to Ebony’s, he turned the shed light on and filled his biscuits, hoping he’d come back. Gave me a bad night’s sleep, but he was just worried about Tom.’

  ‘And the bleach?’

  ‘He can’t tolerate it. Sends him into a meltdown. Doctors said it’s not uncommon for people with certain mental illnesses to react to things like that.’ Ally paused. ‘It’s a bit creepy how often he was in the house and I didn’t know it.’

  ‘And he really rescued Bella?’

  ‘Said he found her in the bush and brought her to me. His “out” on the phone meant she was outside. He still didn’t want me to see him, in case he got into trouble.’

  ‘Poor thing. I’m glad he’s going to be all right.’

  ‘And big brother’s footing the bill.’ Ebony leant into Cam’s side for a brief hug.

  ‘He helped the girls. I owe him. And maybe Mavis can rest in peace, knowing he’s okay.’

  ‘You told her?’

  ‘I don’t know whether she heard me, she was two-thirds gone. But I think she might have nodded, so I hope so.’

  ‘Has anyone heard how Bella is going?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘She’s a wreck,’ Ben replied. ‘It’s going to take a lot of time and therapy before she comes home.’

  ‘I guess we’ll never know what happened to the others.’

  ‘Yes, we will,’ Ben promised. ‘When I find Rob.’

  ‘Do you think he actually got out?’ Ally asked in disbelief.

  ‘There’s no trace of his body in the rubble, so we have to assume he did. I’ll put his picture out with Martin Sullivan’s.’

  ‘Martin?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘Yeah, look, there are elements to the case you’re probably not going to want to know. Some more information came through from analysis of the forum.’ He looked around, took his time. ‘They were putting colours against hunts. We know hunts are ranked by skill levels. The green, blue, yellow and red hunts are monthly events, planned on set dates on a yearly basis. They range from half-day drive out and have a shoot events, to more skilled, full-weekend tracking.’

  ‘That’s pretty common knowledge,’ Cam said.

  ‘Except that didn’t follow with the black hunts. See, there’s a hierarchy in the group. The black hunts were full moon hunts and restricted to what they call masters. When we looked at the dates, these hunts were posted no more than three weeks in advance, and announced the night after each woman was reported missing.’

  Ally gasped. ‘They were hunting women for sport?’

  ‘All the plebs we interviewed were only aware they were night hunting. There’s only two masters in this forum – Rob was the Devil and, from his conversations, we’re pretty damn sure the Raven is Sullivan.’

  ‘They were doing this together?’

  ‘Yes, but not just them. There’s a locked basement in the main building of the military grounds. We found evidence the women were kept there. We also found a dozen chairs, a foldout table, maps, bottled water, nightvision apparatus and written notes suggesting pools of cash were involved. Lots of cash.’

  ‘An organised crime ring,’ Lee said with a curse.

  ‘We’re now looking at several other young women who have vanished in similar circumstances in the past seven years from all over the state, and we’re investigating hunting forums linked to Sullivan’s. The case is getting some serious attention, teams are being set up. I’m going to be involved. I’ll get a thorough search underway for the remains of the missing women, starting with the river.’

  Mia shivered, then sighed dramatically. ‘With all this going on, you’re never going to leave us alone.’

  A slow smile stretched across Ben’s face. ‘Wouldn’t want you to miss me.’

  She sniffed and looked away as she disguised a smile. ‘Just because you helped save Ally and pulled me from a burning building doesn’t mean I have to like you.’

  He leant in, whispered, ‘But you do.’

  Her eyes narrowed at that. ‘You’re delusional.’

  ‘I’ve been called worse.’

  ‘Oh baby, I know.’

  ‘I’m not your –’

  Cam’s phone beeped, and Mia’s attention turned to him as he read a text. He looked up and they exchanged grins. ‘I’m gonna have to borrow Ally.’

  Intrigued, Ally followed Cam to his ute and climbed in. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘Just down to your place to check something out.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’ll see.’

  She climbed into the car and studied his face. ‘Is everything all right?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Then what’s with the secrecy?’

  ‘It’s called a surprise.’

  ‘You know I’m not good with surprises.’

  ‘You’d want to be good with this one.’ He pulled up and went around to her side of the car, took her hand. ‘Let’s go.’

  She followed, wondering just what was going on when he led her in the direction of the shed.

  Ally knew her as soon as she saw her. Tears welled, and her heart stopped, then kicked, bringing a long broken part of her back to life. Startled, the chestnut filly snorted and ran a quick circle around the yard, then reared and leapt, showing off, her hooves pummelling the air. She squealed in delight, tossed her head, and raced back, excited about the world.

  ‘She’s just like her,’ Ally whispered, ‘she’s just like her mother.’ As the tears fell freely, she stepped into the yard. The filly trotted over to see her, sniffed, then moved in for a scratch. ‘It’s too much, this is too much. How did –’

  ‘It wasn’t easy.’

  ‘How can I accept …’ But she had to. Just looking at Magna’s daughter, she could never give her back.

  ‘You damn well will. I could have bought us a mansion in a foreign country instead. A big one. Hell, I could have bought the foreign country. Didn’t think it would have the same appeal. So you’ll accept her all right. With gratitude.’

  Ally stroked the filly’s glossy neck, then turned and threw her arms around him, held on. ‘I can never thank you enough for this. I just can’t.’

  After a moment he pulled back, just a little. ‘You could stop crying and start by agreeing to tie yourself to me for the rest of your life.’

  ‘Okay.’ She sniffed, wiped her eyes.

  He chuckled. ‘I’m serious.’

  ‘So am I.’

  He studied her face and saw that she was, so he dug out a small velvet box. ‘Would you mind wearing this then, just so everyone knows?’

  She opened the box to see the pretty diamond in the swirling gold ring. ‘It’s beautiful.’

  She heard a car behind them, saw her friends pour out with champagne bottles and glasses.

  Her brows rose and she half-laughed through the last of the tears. ‘Sure of yourself, were you?’

  He sent her his lopsided grin. ‘I had the horse in my corner.’<
br />
  ‘Yeah, that tipped it.’

  ‘If you change your mind, we have a lifetime to argue about it.’ He kissed her, long and slow, until she pulled back.

  ‘You know what this means – you’re stuck with the cattle.’

  ‘There’s always a price. What’s a bit more fencing? You might even get that arena.’

  ‘You two are just so incredibly romantic!’ Ebony said, handing them each a champagne flute. Mia poured.

  Ally barely tasted the sweet bubbly champagne as it hit her tongue. The expression on Cam’s face almost stopped the breath in her lungs and left her weak at the knees.

  Breathe, focus, rel – screw it.

  Handing Mia her glass, she threw herself into his arms.

  Relaxation wasn’t what she had in mind.

  EPILOGUE

  He watched from the trees, snarling, as Ally and Cam celebrated with their friends. He’d love to wipe the smiles off their faces. His injured shoulder throbbed relentlessly. The bullet had gone straight through but the wound was a bitch. His nose probably wouldn’t heal straight where Cam had smashed his fist into it, and he’d copped some decent burns getting himself out of the house just before it collapsed on top of him. Worse, the masters weren’t happy that he’d failed to secure the property. The whole thing had made him look bad. Ally had made him look bad. But it was too late for that now. He needed her alive. He had an idea she might be moving up the hill with Cam, that soon enough all he’d have to worry about down here would be a bunch of horses. The masters might be able to come back here to hunt again. So he wouldn’t touch her, not yet. He’d wait and see. While she was useful, she’d live.

  In the meantime, the contests would continue. There were other grounds, other locations. The impressive figure of Ebony Blakely caught his attention as she laughed and sipped champagne. What a pretty little pain in the arse she was. All her snooping and bitching had put him in some damn difficult positions with the masters, put pressure on he just hadn’t needed. He’d thought about taking her, dreamed about it, sweet little whore she was. But she’d been too high a risk, he’d had too much to lose.