Cut Off (Book 3): Cut Loose

by Dalton, Charlie

  The armed men on the other side took their leave. The stagecoach driver looked between them nervously. “You fellows going to be watching me deliver this thing?”

  “We are,” Bill said.

  “You were the man who got hijacked last time?” Katie said.

  “Yes. There aren’t many people who can drive a heavy carriage like this, even fewer who want to with bandits out there.”

  “They’re not bandits. They’re escaped criminals.”

  “If you say so,” the old driver said.

  They climbed on and the old man snapped the reins.

  22

  The coach stopped before the tree that lay spread across the road as the first one had. A figure stepped out from around the vehicle, a small, slim figure from this angle, who approached the fallen log and peered at it intently before pulling back.

  Then a group of them stepped forward. Two men on either side kept lookout with their automatic weapons slung across their shoulders as the others shoved the hollow log aside.

  “Do you want to fire?” Jill said. “My trigger finger’s really itching.”

  Michael didn’t know if they knew the Chelsea Smile gang was there or not, but they would if they opened fire. They could probably take out a couple of the men, especially as they had the upper hand with the height advantage. But how long could they fight before they swept up behind them and took the advantage from them?

  “No,” Michael said. “No firing today. There’s too many of them. We’ll have to come up with something else.”

  These men didn’t come from nowhere. He could see by the way they held their weapons that they knew how to use them. These were trained men – well trained, he thought – and there couldn’t be many of those in a sleepy town like Pikehall.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Michael said. “Let them be the ones to freeze their arses off.”

  23

  The prison loomed the way all giant blots on the landscape seemed to. You could still make out the scorch marks on the side where a fire took hold. The fences bore evidence of having been torn apart by angry hands and then hastily stitched back together again by more desperate ones.

  If – or more accurately when – the power gave out on this place, the worst criminal element they kept inside the prison were going to have no trouble scaling those fences. No trouble at all.

  The driver knew where he was going and took the carriage around the back, into large a room that hummed. There were two generators. The bigger one had already been relegated to silence. Only the smaller one, about the height of a tall man, still worked.

  “What happened to that generator?” Katie said.

  “We ran out of fuel,” Inspector Taylor said. “The last shipment was on its way but failed to get here in time. After that, we had to make a decision. Keep the little one going or give up altogether.”

  He hopped over the side and smiled at the hired help. “All here and accounted for with no shots fired. I don’t suppose you want to renegotiate after nothing happened? Doesn’t feel like you earned ten per cent to me.”

  “Fifteen per cent,” Bill said. “And no renegotiation. We earned it because of what could have happened, not what did.”

  “Right. Right.” Inspector Taylor didn’t sound too convinced. “Well, I’ll mosey on down to your place when we get it unloaded and hand your share over.”

  “We’ll take it now,” Katie said.

  “We can’t give it to you now. They’re still unloading it.”

  “We can wait.”

  She leaned against the carriage’s big wheel and picked at her nails.

  Inspector Taylor ruffled his whiskers. “Aren’t you going to help us get it off the back?”

  “That wasn’t part of the job description now, was it?” Bill said.

  “Yeah, but I suppose you’ll be wanting to get home sooner rather than later. The faster we unload it, the sooner you can get back.”

  Bill shrugged. “We’ll have to wait the same length of time as you.”

  Inspector Taylor’s shoulders sagged and he got to work ordering the others with a little more bite than necessary.

  24

  It was gone eight o’clock by the time they returned to the lodge. As Katie rode the largest horse, she got to pull the trailer of supplies behind them.

  Gregory attempted to make polite conversation during the journey but he was a little to dull and lacking anything of interest for Katie to pay attention to. Besides his muscles and pleasant face, she didn’t see what Hannah saw in him.

  A flag waved overheard and Katie waved back. Ronnie. She felt sorry for the twins. They took the majority of the watch responsibilities each day. They must have been getting bored with it by now.

  Katie led the trailer toward the toolshed where they would park the tools for the night. They’d sort them out in the morning when there was more light. Knowing Inspector Taylor, there was always a chance that he might have slipped a stick of dynamite in there while they weren’t looking.

  “I’ll be back in a sec.” Gregory swung himself down from his horse and walked over to the lodge.

  “And what do you suppose he’s up to?” Katie said.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Bill said.

  “Not to me, it’s not.”

  Gregory stood at the front door, checked his uniform, his hair, his breath, and then tried on his best smile.

  “Have you guessed yet?” Bill said.

  “Nuh-uh.”

  The boy knocked on the door and waited. He sniffed his armpit at the last second before the door opened and spilt wholesome warm yellow light across the front drive. It was Nancy who answered. Gregory said something to her and Nancy looked a little taken aback. Hannah was there a moment later. She beamed at him.

  Katie couldn’t hear their conversation, but it was clear from the body language they liked each other. The lad was tall and towered over Hannah, who cupped her hands together and smiled up at him as he produced something from beneath the folds of the jacket of his uniform. Katie couldn’t see what it was, but whatever it was thrilled Hannah. She clapped her hands like a performing monkey and reached up to hug give. Gregory grinned and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I swear, there must be something in the water around here, that’s all I can say,” Katie said.

  She turned to cast a look around the surrounding area, searching for Camden, to ensure he didn’t see the scene. It would crush him. She would distract him from seeing it if she had to. She was pleased to see he wasn’t there and must have been on patrol somewhere and–

  A figure stood up from the farm fields where they’d been spreading the seed all day. Camden watched, incredulous, heartbroken. All the things she knew he would be. He dropped his hoe, turned, and ran away.

  Katie wanted to chase after him, to let him know everything was going to be okay, that there were plenty more fish in the sea. Not that she knew much about the subject. Her love life wasn’t exactly a bed of roses. But she knew him better than most. He would want to be left alone.

  She felt a flash of anger at the girl on the doorstep, who found it so difficult to give her love to her brother, and yet so easily gave it to any muscled stranger that wandered past.

  She was a fool.

  Still, in some ways, it was a good thing her brother discovered her true nature now rather than years down the line. The heart loved who it loved and there was no way to stop it with words alone. It took actions, it took the kind of thing poor Camden was witnessing now.

  Across the way, Aaron watched the scene with the same sense of trepidation she felt. He’d seen the whole thing and turned to look at her. She pretended not to notice. She watched him out the corner of her eye and refused to turn around until he left. But he wouldn’t go. Finally, unable to stand being pinned in a corner that way, she turned to face him.

  It wasn’t him she’d seen out the corner of her eye at all, but a half-made scarecrow. Aaron was already gone.

  25

 
; The flags waved and a lone horse ran up the driveway. It looked to be a serious issue until the horse slowed to a canter and Katie recognised who it was. Gregory. She got a bad taste in her mouth and a sneaky suspicion this wasn’t going to end well. She met him at the lodge.

  “Anything I can do for you, Gregory?” Katie said.

  “No. I just dropped by to give Hannah these.” Gregory clutched a bouquet of wild flowers wrapped in a pretty scarf. “I didn’t want her to get cold.”

  Katie’s smile was tight. She held out her hand. “I’ll give them to her.”

  “I was hoping to give them to her myself.”

  “She’s very busy. I’m sure you are too.”

  “Yeah, but–”

  The lodge door opened, and who should walk out but the lady herself. Her eyes fell upon her suitor and her face blossomed with happiness.

  “I brought you flowers,” Gregory said. “I remember you said you like purple ones, so I searched the forest for an hour and came across these.”

  Katie curled her lip in disgust. Probably poison ivy.

  “They’re beautiful.” Hannah took the flowers and breathed in their scent. “And they smell amazing.”

  Anemones don’t have a scent, fool.

  Gregory grinned his white teeth at her before noticing Katie was still standing right there, no more than a yard away.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to it then.” Katie stepped aside and left them alone.

  She spotted her brother, still working the land. He still wore a sad expression but it wasn’t filled with the same level of anger as it had the first time he witnessed a similar scene. It was filled with resignation now and he carried on hoeing the soil.

  You keep on tilling, little brother. Eventually, you’ll find someone who deserves you. One of us should be happy.

  Just beyond her brother, spreading seeds from a satchel he wore over one shoulder, Aaron stopped and stared at her. She hated it when he stared at her. Okay, so that wasn’t strictly true. She hated it when she didn’t look good and he stared at her. That was all the time these days.

  She turned away and moved toward the tool shed. If she looked busy, he’d leave her alone.

  She stepped in the shed and let the silence take her. It was dark and musty in there but she welcomed it. Some hard fieldwork ought to take her mind off things. She moved along the long rows of implements, looking for the kind of action she wanted to do rather than the job she wanted to carry out. A nice stabbing motion would be good.

  There was plenty of work to do – in fact, it never seemed to end. And they still didn’t have a crop yet. Or animals to tend. They would before long, and then they would have to run the place like a well-oiled machine, each person performing one activity after another until day’s end.

  A noise.

  Metal implements rapped against one another. It came from behind the wall of tools on the far side.

  Katie scooped up a pair of shears and opened it so the blade glistened off the sporadic shafts of light.

  The wall jolted again.

  Katie put her hand to the wall and felt movement on the other side. But this was her father’s hideout and he didn’t do things like everyone else. If someone had a keen eye and good sense of proportion, they would have noticed the tool shed was a little smaller on the inside than the outside, and that was due to the narrow hiding place her father installed within the wall. This wasn’t the only one he created either. He made dozens of such security devices over the lodge and within the land.

  Only she, Camden, her mother and Bill knew about them. But she doubted it was any of them inside this wall making all that noise. She approached it and peeked in through a peephole.

  Through it, she saw bare flesh, a man’s lips to an exposed shoulder, and a woman with her head thrown back in ecstasy.

  It was the lovers. Luke and Louisa.

  I knew they were getting around Bill’s new rule of sleeping together! I knew it!

  With no other recourse, they were forced to come up with alternate arrangements, and this was it.

  Katie licked her lips and glanced over her shoulder. The wall shuddered again and Katie eased forward to peer through the peephole one more time…

  “Hey, peeping Tom.”

  The couple turned toward the wall, eyes latching on Katie’s single unblinking eye. They hastily covered themselves up and got dressed. But they weren’t the ones who spoke. Katie would have preferred it if they had been.

  Oh God. Please no.

  She shuffled around to face the front door.

  And there he stood in all his glory with that ludicrous smirk on his face.

  “You don’t need to spy on others if you want some of the same action, you know,” Aaron said. “I’m right here.”

  Katie raised her chin. “I wasn’t spying on anyone.”

  “Fine. You were watching without permission in a secretive way. Is that better?”

  Katie hastened toward the door, but he blocked it. “Can you let me through?”

  “No please?”

  Katie glared at him and squared her shoulders. “Now.”

  “Don’t you want to give the performers a little round of applause?”

  Blood rushed to Katie’s face. “No, I don’t want to give them a round of–” She cocked her head to one side in thought. “Wait. How do you know who’s in there?”

  “Who’s in where?”

  “In the wall. You couldn’t see them from all the way over here.”

  “By a process of elimination.” Aaron had guilt written all over him.

  “You’ve seen them at it before! You’re the peeping Tom!”

  Aaron shrugged. “Without internet or late night TV, what else am I supposed to do?”

  “You’re disgusting.”

  “Excuse me, who was the one caught watching them redhanded?”

  “I told you–”

  The back wall shifted aside and Luke and Louisa hustled toward the door, heads bowed in the ultimate walk of shame, buttons done up wrong and their shirts on back to front. Aaron wiggled his eyebrows as they passed.

  “Wonderful performance, as always,” he said.

  The couple said nothing but blushed brighter than newly-picked strawberries as they hurried outside.

  Katie gave him a flat stare. Aaron reflected it back. He didn’t care.

  “Tell me why you’re ignoring me,” he said.

  “I’m not ignoring you. I’m busy.” Katie stepped outside, missed her footing and caught the shears on the doorframe and almost fell flat on her arse.

  Aaron bent down to help her up.

  “Don’t touch me!” Katie said.

  “Don’t touch you, don’t speak to you, don’t even look at you will be next.”

  She considered what she thought earlier about him looking at her when she didn’t look her best and ran a hand through her hair to make it look a little better. She looked at her traitorous fingers and growled, turning on the spot and marching toward the door.

  “You only ignore me when I want to speak with you,” Aaron said. “The kiss we shared–”

  “Sh!” Katie checked over their shoulders to make sure no one heard.

  “You’re embarrassed to be with me. Is that it?”

  “No. I mean, we’re not together. We never have been together.”

  “But the kiss–”

  “Was just a kiss. And it shouldn’t have happened.”

  Then she saw the look on his face. It matched the one her brother wore the day before. Crushed. But this time, she was the one who caused it.

  “Didn’t you care about me when we… were in the garden at the castle?” he said. “I thought… I’m sorry. I thought there was something between us.”

  There is, she wanted to say, but how could she hope to have a relationship with him when they had so much to do around the lodge? None of them had time for a relationship – least of all Aaron. Now was the time for building and setting up for the long haul, not looking for a lifel
ong partner. And though it might hurt now, it would stop hurting one day soon and then they could both move on with their lives and forget about each other.

  Hard to believe that now. She thought about him every minute of every day. But it had to happen. It was the best thing for him, for her, for everyone.

  Even if it didn’t feel like it.

  “I guess I’ll see you around,” Aaron said, taking his leave.

  Wait, she should have said. Give me some time. We’ll fix it.

  But the words didn’t fall from her lips. She was too proud and she’d travelled too far down this road to turn back now. She watched his back head away from her.

  26

  After her little altercation with Aaron and trimming the hedges back to within an inch of their lives, Katie felt exhausted. Physically and emotionally drained.

  She hung the shears on their hook and instead of heading toward the lodge where everyone else was settling in for dinner and then a card game or two, she turned in the opposite direction. Her stomach protested but she ignored it and proceeded into the woods.

  The ground was turning hard where boots passed over it often in recent days. She followed the trail to a log that’d long since grown over with wild vines and fallen leaves. It was just far enough into the forest for the lights and sounds from the lodge not to be heard. The birds tweeted their end of day sermon. It was a nice spot to sit and think.

  She slowed when she spotted a shadow moving. When a face emerged and turned to look up at her, she realised she wasn’t the only one with heavy thoughts on their mind.

  Camden sat with his head bent down. “I guess this must be the Log of Contemplation. I saved you a seat.”

  He patted the log beside him and she sat down. They were quiet a moment as they appraised the surrounding foliage.

  “I think I preferred it when Hannah didn’t know how I felt about her,” Camden said. “At least then I could pretend she saw other guys because she didn’t know about me.”