Chapter 38

We had a short wait but Rink and Harvey were back at the same place I’d dropped them off within a few minutes. My friends materialised out of the long grass next to the road, each with his rifle in hand. Harvey clambered in the front while Rink got in with the sisters. Rink stashed both his and Harvey’s M24s in the luggage compartment behind the back seats and covered them with a blanket. As soon as that was done, I hit the gas and we took off for our cabin by the lake.

‘Jesus Christ,’ Harvey said. ‘You’ve been hit, Hunter. Pull over and let me drive.’

‘I’ll be fine…’ I said through gritted teeth. To be honest the pain was engulfing me and there were shadows at the edges of my vision.

‘Pull over, Goddamnit!’ Rink said in my ear.

‘We’ll put some distance between us and Quicksilver Ranch first. The bastards could be following.’

‘After you drove off they got back in their vehicles, but they looked like they were heading to the ranch,’ Rink said. ‘I put a couple bullets their way just to keep 'em moving, but I don’t think I hit any of them.’

Kate turned to peer back along the road. It was empty, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t coming. Our sudden attack had disarrayed them, but they were still capable of fighting back. It was only the threat of the M24s that had stopped them following. Once they realised the hidden snipers had left the scene they would be mounting their pursuit. Huffman wouldn’t give up so easily. And neither would Larry Bolan. He’d be royally pissed off that he’d missed his chance at me again.

‘We should have dropped them all when we had the chance,’ Rink said.

‘That wasn’t our purpose.’

‘I know.’ Rink turned to the sisters, saying what I wanted to say. ‘Sorry you had to go through that, but there was no other way to get both of you out of there alive.’

‘It was terrifying, but it doesn’t matter,’ Imogen said, looking at her younger sister’s face.

‘Not now,’ Kate agreed and hugged her sister.

They had barely stopped hugging since they’d got into the Windstar. Finally Kate extricated herself from Imogen’s arms and leaned forward and touched a point on my neck just above the bullet wound. Her fingers were soft and warm and I trembled.

‘Except for one thing, Joe Hunter. You ever do anything like that again and I swear to God I’ll kill you myself.’

I’d have responded, except her words were as soft as her touch. I sighed wearily. It had been a long few days since we’d met on the Gulf Coast. My eyes began to close. Not so much fatigue as relief at seeing her alive. Maybe my eyes stayed shut a little too long.

‘That’s it!’ Harvey became animated beside me. ‘Pull over now. I’m taking over. Before you do what Huffman couldn’t and kill the lot of us.’

I brought the Windstar to a halt and we all shifted position. Harvey drove and Rink took shotgun. I was wedged between the two women in the back. It wasn’t a bad place to find myself. Between them they had my shirt undone and they fussed with the wound in my shoulder. I fell asleep with a smile on my lips.

The next time I woke up, I was back at the cabin. Everything was dark and still. My head was a little fuzzy and I thought that at some point someone must have fed me a bucketful of painkillers. My left side was numb, and reaching tentatively with my good hand, I found my shoulder compressed by expertly administered bandages. Sitting up, I found I was on the single bed in the cabin. There was a light on in the bathroom but the door was closed. It sounded empty and I guessed the light had been left on to add some ambient glow without the harsh overhead light waking me. A low buzz of conversation came from outside.

I was naked but for my boxer shorts. I found my jeans and tugged them on, twice falling back on to the bed before I managed to button them up.

My steps were unsteady as I negotiated the room. Opening the door, I saw my friends sitting in a loose group down by the lakeside. They heard the door and all turned to look at me. They had got a fire going and it looked like they were enjoying a late dinner. My stomach did a flip at the greasy smell of burgers and I had to push down the urge to vomit.

Kate and Imogen were so alike in the flickering light from the fire that it took me a second or two to differentiate them. Making matters worse was the fact that Kate was dressed in some of the spare clothing Imogen had brought with her. Kate helped by standing up and moving my way. Imogen, Rink and Harvey watched her approach me, then discreetly returned to their own conversation.

‘You’re supposed to be sleeping,’ Kate said softly.

‘You know me, Kate; I never do plan on doing much sleeping. I’ll be OK before long.’

‘You’ve been shot, Joe. You’re weak and the rest will do you good.’

‘I’ve been shot before. Much worse than this.’

Kate placed a hand on my chest. She traced an old wound just to the left of my sternum. This wasn’t a bullet wound but a scar left by a knife that had come very close to ending my life. Tubal Cain — the serial killer who kidnapped my brother last year — had almost killed me, but I’d killed him instead. The other bullet wound I referred to was hidden beneath these latest bandages.

‘Back to bed, tough guy,’ Kate said, pressing me back into the room.

‘There are things to be done…’

‘Yes, Joe, there are.’ Her eyes met mine and even in the dimness I saw her pupils dilate. She pushed me even harder and I stumbled backwards. Kate followed me into the room, pushing until my knees met the bed and I was forced to sit down. Kate stood over me. There were tears in her eyes, and she slowly shook her head.

‘At first I thought that you were going to hurt my sister,’ Kate said sadly. ‘And I hated you for that.’

‘It was only a trick…’

‘I know that now. You risked your life for me and Imogen and you got shot. But at the time… God! I don’t know! I hated you as much as I hated any of them.’

‘But now you know the truth do you still hate me?’

‘A little.’

‘A little?’

‘I hate you for making me hate you,’ she said. Then she laughed at the absurdity of her statement.

‘I shouldn’t have left you alone at that motel.’

‘No, you shouldn’t have. You should’ve stayed. You know that’s what I wanted, don’t you?’

‘I did,’ I said. ‘But there were other things on my mind.’

‘Rink explained to me about your ex-wife. That it was your wedding anniversary. You must have loved her a great deal, Joe.’

‘I did.’

‘You haven’t fully let go yet, have you?’

‘It wasn’t my idea to divorce.’

‘Rink said that Diane remarried, that she has a new husband.’

‘Yes. Simon. He’s a decent man.’

‘So don’t you think it’s time to let her go?’

I couldn’t answer. Despite everything there’d always be a place in my heart for my ex-wife.

Kate sat on the edge of the bed. She laid her palm flat on my stomach. She looked incredibly beautiful with the light from the bathroom playing on her skin. ‘If you had stayed, things would have been very different.’

‘I know and I’m sorry. It must’ve been awful for you.’

‘It was.’

‘It’s crazy,’ I said, ‘but everything that’s happened since then is because I left you there alone. Makes you wonder about fate, doesn’t it?’

Kate eyed me. ‘Fate seems to have its own way of sorting out the order of things. If you hadn’t gone out when you did, we wouldn’t have got this opportunity to get to know each other all over again.’

‘You still want to know me?’ I leaned up and took one of her hands in mine.

‘Now that we’ve got Imogen back safe and sound, I want that more than anything in the world.’

‘Me too.’

I pulled her down beside me and we held each other. Kate kissed me; this time I didn’t pull away.

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