The Killing Game

by Anderson, Toni

  These children meant nothing to Mayór Valisky or the spy. And now they had to mean nothing to him.

  He settled into position. Cleared his mind of the man and became the machine. He no longer saw the big eyes of children who struggled every day to carry a heavy load of water up the steep slope to their starving mothers and siblings. He no longer saw their pitiful rags, which failed to disguise the shivering of their gaunt limbs.

  One—he started shooting—two—faster as they began to scatter behind boulders—three—and run back up the path toward a slow death by starvation. Four, five, six. Scarlet sprayed the pristine snow. He was doing them a favor by putting them out of their misery. Seven, eight, nine…and the last child couldn’t have been more than five years old with bone-thin legs and hollowed-out cheeks. She stopped running and turned toward him. Tears running down her cheeks, she raised her hands to the sky in prayer.

  Ten.

  He swore he saw his soul flying to Heaven along with hers.

  ***

  British Embassy, Rabat, Morocco. May 1988

  “Come away from there, Axelle. Quickly now.”

  Axelle knew better than to argue with her mother, but she flashed her a disgruntled look before leaving the fountain in the middle of the heat-baked courtyard. She shook off the water and then wiped her hands on her pink cotton dress. Ugh. Pink. Vomit.

  She’d almost rebelled at wearing it, but her mom had promised her a new book if she did. And finding new children’s books written in English wasn’t easy in Morocco—not when Axelle read a book a day and still had time left over to get in trouble. She winced. Trouble was a bit of a specialty of hers, much to her father’s disapproval, although she was pretty sure her mother liked it when she made her father angry.

  That fact upset her more than her father’s shouting.

  Axelle was scared her parents were going to get a divorce. A tight pain constricted in her chest. She didn’t want them to split up. And she was doing her best to remember not to be naughty anymore.

  Palm trees rustled in the wind that came off the ocean but didn’t alleviate the hot stickiness of the day. She eyed the nearby pool with a sigh of envy and rolled her eyes for good measure as she followed her mother inside the pale square building that was the British embassy in Rabat. God. She huffed out a frustrated breath and kicked the doorway on the way inside.

  When her mother had suggested she skip school that morning, the idea had sounded fun. But it soon became clear that rather than spending the day at the beach as she’d been promised, her mother just didn’t want to be alone on her various errands around the city.

  Axelle would rather be listening to her grade-five teacher read Charlotte’s Web aloud, than sit down with boring grownups. She yawned and felt her jaw crack. Maybe there’d be cookies—or biscuits as her mother called them. Her stomach rumbled as she remembered she’d missed snack time.

  She ran and caught up to her mother, catching hold of her fingers. “I’m hungry. Why didn’t Daddy come with us?”

  Her mom paused and hefted her leather satchel higher on her shoulder. “Your father was busy.” She pursed her lips, which Axelle recognized as a sign to drop the subject. She hadn’t seen her father for more than a minute all week.

  Axelle gnawed her lip as they climbed the stone stairs. She was tired and hungry and bored. “When are we going to the beach?”

  “Soon.” Her mother smiled and Axelle was struck as always by how beautiful she was. Long, straight, shiny brown hair; light hazel eyes that looked exotic with their black eyeliner; lips deep red from the lipstick she always wore. And when her mom smiled at her like that, Axelle would promise her anything—even to sit quietly in a stuffy room when she could have been at the beach.

  “I have a little surprise I didn’t tell you about.” Her mom’s eyes sparkled from some secret mischief.

  Excitement raced. What could it be? A pony maybe? She’d been begging for a pony for months. Axelle grinned back and tightened her grip on her mother’s fingers. Even though today had been boring, she loved spending time with her mom.

  Maybe there was a TV she could go watch while her mom talked. “Can I have candy?”

  “Remember what the dentist said last time you saw him?”

  “No.” Axelle pulled a face.

  “He said you ate too much candy.”

  Axelle hung her head to hide her mutinous expression. She hadn’t enjoyed having a filling but she still liked candy.

  Their footsteps echoed down the long cool corridors. There was hardly anyone around. Well, only the usual boring men in their dull boring suits. One passed them and eyed her mother like she was candy. Axelle’s held tighter to her mother’s hand. Her mom shot her a grin and they swept on by.

  They paused in front of a huge set of wooden doors. Her mom knocked, opened it, and looked inside. Her shoulders sagged. “Oh, he isn’t here yet. We should probably wait outside.”

  “Who?” Axelle snuck beneath her arm and peeked. Only faint light filtered through the window shutters, but even so she spied a tray of fresh cream cakes and a pitcher of ice-cold water. She let go of her mother’s hand and slipped inside the room.

  “Oh, I suppose we can wait in here.” Her mom looked at the Swatch watch Axelle had given her for Christmas. “How ironic that I’m actually early for once.” She laughed but it didn’t sound happy.

  Anxiety worked its way through Axelle’s body and made her uneasy.

  Her dad was always complaining that her mom tried to make him late on purpose. Last time, he’d left his wife behind in a huff and they’d later had a huge row. Axelle didn’t want to think about it.

  Her tummy rumbled. She was starving. “Can I have a cake, mommy? Please?” There were bright couches and paintings on the wall, but the only thing that spoke to her were the cakes on the tray. They looked delicious and her stomach growled noisily.

  “You can have a drink of water until your surprise arrives.” Her mom walked over to the tray and poured Axelle a long tall glass of water. Axelle drank the whole thing in one gulp, her eyes never leaving the cakes on their pretty three-tiered platter.

  Suddenly there was a powerful vibration in the air, and the room seemed to shimmer like a desert mirage. Then a massive boom that hurt Axelle’s eardrums. The floor shifted and she screamed, but she couldn’t hear anything except that boom and roar that scared her so bad she thought she was going to pee her pants. The ceiling cracked, and huge chunks of plaster started to fall. She lunged for her mother’s hand as the floor disappeared beneath them and they were both falling.

  She landed awkwardly on her back with a jarring thud. Letting go of her mom’s hand to curl up into a tiny ball, she threw her hands in front of her face to protect herself from the dust and plaster and concrete that rained down. Her whole body shook with terror. Dust clogged her throat and she started coughing and retching, her heartbeat so loud it drummed through her ears.

  It took a moment to realize the noise had stopped. Axelle tried to blink the grit out of her eyes and see where they were. Where had the sun gone? It was dark, really dark—like nighttime. Then she saw a weak beam of light pierce the stone.

  What had happened? Had the world exploded?

  “Mommy?” Her ears still rang and she didn’t know if she’d said it loudly enough for her mom to hear. “Mommy!” she shouted and it echoed strangely.

  But when the echo died away only eerie silence remained. Panic welled. She couldn’t catch her breath and she gulped air, panting as a wave of dizziness hit her. A noise behind her made her spin, and her heart lodged in her mouth. A long block of concrete had fallen and seemed to be resting on a huge solid piece of wood that creaked and groaned under the weight. The thought of it crushing her had her scrambling away from it, but there was nowhere to go.

  She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. More plaster and timber trickled down, burying her. She clawed at it, trying to shift it to get to where her mother should be, and away from the groaning wood that was go
ing to collapse at any moment. Sweat ran down her face as the heat built inside the dark suffocating prison. Her hands were cut and bleeding but she didn’t stop digging.

  Somehow she made a tiny hole just big enough to wriggle through. Jagged edges ripped her dress and scraped her legs, and moments later she heard the wood shatter in her wake. Her lungs pumped, her mouth dropping open in shock.

  She’d almost been killed.

  “Mommy?” she whispered into the darkness. Away from the shifting concrete, she made herself stay still and listen. After a moment, the dust resettled and her eyes adjusted. She made out the dust-covered figure of her mom lying half buried in the rubble. She crawled closer. “Mom?”

  Why wasn’t she moving?

  Axelle frowned in confusion and touched her hand, squeezing her mother’s fingers and waiting for that answering response. But her mother never moved. She peered at her mother’s pretty face, touched a finger to her powdery lips. Nothing. She didn’t react. Wasn’t breathing.

  A huge terrifying fear invaded Axelle’s body and drove away all thought and reason. She shook her mother’s arm and started screaming. “Mommy, wake up! Wake up! Mommy, Mommy!”

  When she had no voice left, when her throat was raw and her lips covered in the same dust that coated her mother’s body, she quieted. It was useless. Her mother wouldn’t wake up. Hot tears scalded her cheeks as she huddled in the dark.

  Loneliness pressed in on her, and her heart started pounding again as panic bit once more. She didn’t want to die. Her hands throbbed from cuts and bruises; whimpering sounds echoed in the darkness and it took a moment to realize it was her making those noises. Finally, finally, the faraway wail of sirens broke the silence, and Axelle started screaming all over again.

  CHAPTER 6

  How many years had it been since she’d held hands with a guy? A soldier? A shiver brushed over her skin like a ghost from the past.

  It felt strange. As if she’d been transported back in time. And yet, here she was, relying on the strength of those long, strong, foreign fingers to guide her safely through the night. Adjusting her footing in response to subtle pressure changes, tuning her body to match his. Trusting a man she’d just met. Relying on a man, period.

  It wasn’t something she did.

  It wasn’t who she was.

  She believed in saving things, in using data to make her point, not violence. But data wasn’t going to save her leopards from their current predicament. Her fingers tightened involuntarily and he slowed to match her pace. The guy was fit, not even breathing heavily, despite everything they’d been through and how many miles they’d walked. She was fit too, she ran and worked out, but exhaustion was making her feet scuff and her vision blur. Not that she was about to admit weakness to this newcomer.

  The clouds had disappeared and a thin moon shone clear and bright. “Tell me about the man you’re after,” she said, trying to force herself awake.

  “It’s classified.”

  “Oh, for the love of God,” she snapped. “I need to know who I might be dealing with.”

  “Keep the volume down,” he said calmly. “You don’t have to deal with anyone. You have to stay hidden until we catch this bastard.”

  “Yeah, that’s gonna happen,” she whispered caustically. “Soldiers aren’t immortal.” Her voice cracked with buried pain. “I need to know what’s going on in case you’re not around to handle it.”

  “I’ll be around, don’t worry about that.” His fingers tensed around hers.

  She didn’t believe in those sorts of promises. She’d heard them before. “Who are you really? How many men do you have?” The moonlight was bright enough to watch his expression turn grim. He shook his head, walking faster.

  “Tyrone Dempsey. Sergeant. 2350045.”

  “Ha-ha.” Her scratches stung but the fatigue helped numb the constant ache. “How long before we set up the trap?”

  He stopped and said in a low voice that bristled with impatience. “Keep the noise down. Sound carries for miles in these hills and we’ve no idea where he might be.”

  Axelle grimaced. “Sorry.” She wasn’t used to a cloak-and-dagger existence. She left people alone and they usually returned the favor.

  He started forward again. “We’ll stop over this ridge and assess the area.”

  She looked around and recognized her surroundings. “Wait, there’s a shallow cave in that hillside over there.” She pointed along the narrow gorge they were traveling through.

  The team had set up a hide there the first summer they’d come to this region. Dempsey looked at the ground, then at the surrounding hillside. There was a faint dusting of snow. He nodded as if trusting her decision. “We’ll climb up via the ridge and I’ll circle back along the top and down into the cave to try and not leave tracks.” He looked at the dusting of snow. “Although that’s almost impossible under these conditions. We better hope for more snow or enough wind to sweep them away.”

  She started the steep climb out of the valley. “I assume this person is a terrorist?” She noted the way he tensed even though he didn’t answer. “Figures. How’d you know he’s in this region?”

  “Do you ever stop asking questions?” Still the conservation was barely above a whisper.

  Out of breath, Axelle used a hand on her knee to help her climb. “Sure—”

  “When you’re asleep?”

  She grunted. It wasn’t attractive but she didn’t care. The guy had already seen her at her worst. “Asking questions is what scientists do.”

  A soft huff of air told her he was laughing. He let go of her hand. The sudden feeling of separation caught her off guard. He pointed along the faint trail. “Keep moving carefully along the path, I’ll go plant the collar and catch you up.” Suddenly he was gone, leaving her alone in the frigid landscape.

  “Don’t be foolish,” she whispered. Alone was fine. She liked alone. She wasn’t scared of the dark. Just of caves and enclosed spaces the same way any sane human would be if they’d been trapped beneath tons of rubble that could shift at any moment… She put the brakes on that train of thought.

  If she concentrated hard she could make out the snake and curl of the trail in the glimmer of moonlight. Ice coated some of the rocks, and each footstep was treacherous. She hoped her horse was safe but in her experience animals were smarter at finding their way home than humans. He’d have gone back to camp for the warm mash he knew was waiting. Josef and Anji would worry but there was nothing she could do about that.

  The world was absolutely silent except for her breath puffing in and out of her lungs and her footfalls scratching the brittle earth. Dempsey materialized at her side like a specter and she jumped. He caught her elbow. “Come on. I planted the collar and spotted a decent place to lay up. We’ll embed and call the lads for backup.”

  Excitement tripped through her veins at the thought of taking this fight to the poacher. Although why Dempsey thought her poacher and his terrorist were the same person she couldn’t fathom. Didn’t matter. She’d take any help she could get in the effort to save her leopards.

  They worked their way up the opposite side of the valley. Wind blew the dusting of snow across the trail, obliterating their tracks.

  It was getting much steeper.

  She jolted when Dempsey maneuvered her in front of him and put both hands on her hips to hold her in place. A frisson of sexual awareness shot through her.

  “The cave is just above this boulder.” His hands burned imprints through her clothes and into her skin and she was suddenly, for the first time in what seemed like decades, aware of herself as a woman. “I’m going to give you a boost, which probably means putting my hands on your arse.” His voice was husky, his breath brushed against her ear as he tried to keep the volume as inaudible as possible. “If you have a problem with that, I’ll figure out some other way. But this is the quickest and easiest method to get where we need to be.”

  The idea of his hands on her ass stirred long-represse
d erotic memories, which bothered her a lot. Her heart pounded and her mouth went dry. But there was another problem. A bigger problem. “I’m not real big on caves.”

  He took that as affirmation and boosted her up. She reached for the lip of rock and tried to find purchase with her feet. Two big hands found her butt and gave her a forceful shove that allowed her to crawl over the top. She didn’t know what the hell she was feeling and didn’t have time to think about it as his backpack bobbed in front of her. She caught the straps and the damn thing nearly pulled her back over the edge. It was heavier than she was.

  She hung on and leaned back, pulling the thing with every ounce of strength. Then he was beside her and yanking the pack beside him with what looked like ease.

  “You need a lesson in traveling light.” Her breath came in shallow pants.

  “Yeah, well my horse was busy and at least I have my comms and sleeping bag with me. If you’re lucky I might share.” He winked.

  She smiled for the first time in days. She’d almost forgotten the art of banter, but right now it eased the tension and untied the knot that constricted her throat. “We’ve held hands and you’ve copped a feel, I guess now we have to sleep together.”

  Mischief danced in the sparkle of his eyes. “I’d heard American girls were easy.” He held out his hand and pulled her along behind him.

  “I’d heard Englishmen were charming.” She deliberately got his nationality wrong. “I guess we were both wrong.”

  He clutched his chest and pretended to stagger. “English?” He shuddered. “I’d rather be stabbed through the heart with a toothbrush.”

  He was kidding with her. Something about him was so relaxed and familiar it almost hurt. Axelle felt comfortable in his presence and yet wired by the unexpected attraction. It was as if they’d known each other for years. As if they trusted one another.