One Mile Under (39 page)

“Here’s something you can take with you,” Robertson hissed at him. “I’m gonna make sure she’s dead. Tonight. How does that feel?” His eyes shone like fiery embers. He pinned Hauck’s hands onto Hauck’s chest and jerked him a few inches closer. From the corners of his eyes Hauck could see the pump tubing now only inches from his head, each earsplitting bellow from the well almost inside him now. It would only be seconds, and he would have Hauck up against the churning pump.

Hauck turned his face away.

He was almost directly underneath the enormous horse head now. Robertson raised up to put everything into one last thrust, and Hauck’s arms came free. With the pump shaft inches away, he waited until the horse head bore down, Robertson getting ready for one final push into its path, then spun the Alpha man with whatever he had left, grabbing on to the hydraulic cables that were barely a foot from his head.

“This is for Dani …” Hauck said, looking into Robertson’s eyes, and kneed him in the groin. The Alpha man raised up in pain. The pump lowered again and Hauck grabbed the cable and looped it around Robertson’s neck.

“And this is for Trey …”

In the nanosecond that the machine came to a stop, Robertson’s eyes bulged as he realized what would happen next and his hands pawed madly at the cables.

Hauck looped them one more time.

The pump reared back up, dragging Robertson upward with it. The hydraulic cables straightened as the giant horse head rose into the air, snapping Robertson’s neck with its force. It held him there, then three seconds later, drove downward again. Then back up, his body slack and immobile now, dangling tautly in a grim, deadly rhythm.

Up. And then back down.

Up and down.

Exhausted, Hauck lifted himself to his knees. He looked up at Robertson’s inert body being jerked around like some crash dummy. “So how does
that
feel, asshole?” he said.

He knew he didn’t have much time. McKay was still somewhere. He might well have even watched what had happened on the monitors inside. Hauck looked around on the ground, searching madly for the gun Robertson had kicked away. It had to be here somewhere … He was sure it—

Then he heard the sound of shoes crunching on gravel and a familiar click that was as emptying of all hope as it was unmistakable.

“Well done. I give you full credit, kicking his ass. And with one arm.”

Hauck looked up. McKay had his gun on him, nodding admiringly toward Robertson. “Looking for this?” He kicked Robertson’s gun about six feet away.

Hauck watched the gun skip out of his reach. All hope disappeared with it.

“It’s not going to work,” Hauck said, rolling back on his knees. “Too many people already know. Even if you kill me, it’ll just bring everything down. There isn’t going to be any merger.” He looked at McKay, the gun pointed at his chest. “There’s nothing left to protect.”

“You may be right.” McKay nodded with a resigned breath. “But you surely didn’t think I’m going to let you just walk out of here. Not now.” He came over and put his foot on Hauck’s shoulder and pushed him back to the ground. Hauck grimaced. He bent and put the gun against Hauck’s face, Hauck too exhausted now and with too much blood lost to even feel fear. Just that this was the end. He let his mind go. To Dani first—how he prayed she would somehow be safe after this, even though he was unable to save her now. And then to Jessie, who would never even know what happened to her father. How he died. He tried to summon the strength, but he couldn’t. He grabbed a fistful of dirt and just looked up at the wide moon, as good a sight as any to dream on.

He heard a voice. “Nothing personal, Mr. Hauck.”

He wanted to stab one more time at the gun, but there was nothing left, only the dirt slipping out of his fist.

Nothing.

Suddenly there was the sound of tires on gravel and a blinding cone of light swept over him and McKay.

It didn’t bring Hauck much elation. It was likely just the other Alpha operative coming back up from the gate. Which was what McKay must have assumed as he continued to press the muzzle of the gun against Hauck’s skull.

But this light was blue and red. And whirling. And it seemed there were several of them, bouncing off the trestles. Everywhere.

Hauck heard McKay mutter under his breath. “What the fuck is …”

Hauck squinted into the glare. Suddenly he heard shouts, car doors opening. More lights and vehicles coming up behind them. Into the area around the well, with the horse head with Robertson’s body attached continuing to drag him up and down.

For a moment Hauck thought it was likely just a dream, until the pressure against his skull suddenly lifted.

And then he heard someone shout, out of the glare of rotating lights. A voice that was familiar, but which he’d heard only once before, so it took him a second to be sure.

“I don’t think you want to go through with that, Mr. McKay. Enough’s enough now, don’t you think?”

Chief Riddick’s voice.

“What the hell are you doing here, Joe?” McKay barked back. It didn’t have the feel of a question, more of a command.

“Maybe something I should’ve done a while ago. Put the gun down now. No need to make it worse. It’s all over.”

More cars came up through the gate. Hauck rolled onto his side and squinted into the glare. McKay stood up, his fingers still flexed on the trigger. As many as twenty people were facing him. Three or four in uniform. Others, as Hauck narrowed his eyes in disbelief, he had seen earlier. Milt Yarrow. And Don Ellis. A lot of people pointing guns. Rifles and shotguns.

“You’re making the mistake of your life, Riddick,” McKay seethed in a voice like stone.

“Maybe. But in my view, I think it’s more like I’m finally undoing it,” the police chief replied. “You don’t want to test my resolve here, Mr. McKay.”

The Alpha man looked at the hopeless situation and dropped his gun.

And then people were rushing everywhere. Someone came up to Hauck out of the glare. Through the pain, his almost hallucinatory state of mind, he saw that it was Watkins.

Dirt and soot were all over Hauck’s face and there was blood over his shirt. He gave the farmer a grateful smile, all he could muster.

“That him?” Watkins asked, gazing up at Robertson’s still-bobbing body.

“Best I could do,” Hauck said. He tried to stand, but couldn’t, showing Watkins his bound hands. “Given the circumstances.”

“Don’t worry. Works for me. Here, let me help you up … If these boys took another minute to make up their minds what to do here, I’m not sure what we would have found.”

“Chuck—” A bolt of dread shot through Hauck. He grabbed the farmer’s arm, so spent and past all pain he could barely say the word. Though Watkins could have read it on Hauck’s face, and seen the terror in his eyes.

“
Dani
.”

Dani had stayed with Geoff at his friend’s house up Elk Creek Road in Snowmass Canyon for two days now. She was officially going stir-crazy.

She’d spoken to Ty a couple of times and assured him she was perfectly safe and well taken care of. Snowmass was twenty minutes away from Carbondale. And even in the valley, where rumors of who was with whom and who had split up traveled like wildfire, only a couple of people at work even knew she and Geoff were together. And no one knew about Geoff’s friend. Anyway, it was Wade whom Ty seemed so worried about. Wade, who had practically raised her, whatever he had done. He might’ve gotten himself in over his head in some mighty hot water, but in a million years, Dani was sure he would never actually come after her. Still, she hadn’t even left the house, even to pick up a new cell phone, or contacted any friends. She basically just sat around with Blu, watching TV, reading whatever was around the place, eating whatever Geoff brought back. Trying to be a good patient and get her strength back. And her wits. And stay out of sight.

Her battle in the water tank was like a nightmare to her now. She’d woken up both nights drenched in sweat, Geoff grabbing her thrashing arms. The first night she relived the chase in town: the terror of realizing that the person seated next to her at the counter was the person who killed Trey. Stabbing him with the dispenser, then fleeing into town, hiding on the truck, the frantic dash toward the police station just out of reach …

Then the two SUVs surrounding her.

Last night she dreamed of being back in the tank. Water levels rushing in on all sides. Crawling her way through that dark, creepy conduit, more like a murky, black, foul water-filled tomb. No exit this time. Realizing that her air was about to expire. She screamed, her hands pawing at something—the closed pipe cap. Or that’s what Geoff told her she was doing when he woke her up. In her dream, she remembered trying to push her way out of the blocked opening, something bumping into her back. It was a body. A dead body that had brushed up against her in the dark. Its arms entangling with her in the dark. She spun around to get it off her and screamed out in terror.

It was Trey.

Even Blu came over to the bed, putting his snout next to her on the mattress, sensing something was wrong. Geoff held her and wrapped her close to him until she fell back to sleep. It had been a long time since she’d felt close enough to someone to let that happen.

In the two times she and Ty had spoken he somehow sounded different to her: kind of resigned, almost like something inevitable was going to happen. That didn’t sound like him. He told her to write out a description of what had happened back at the river, leaving nothing out. He said one day the police would ask for it so to remember the details as best she could.

She just kept asking him what he was doing there and letting him know she was worried about him and that maybe she should come too.

Tonight, she was worried more than ever. She’d tried calling several times on the house line and he hadn’t picked up. It was going on ten
P.M
. And that wasn’t like him. She’d left a couple of messages, growing in concern. Geoff had gone off to town to pick up a pizza and some eggs for the morning. She was alone there with Blu. She had the TV on. She’d flicked from the Discovery Channel to the Vikings on the History Channel and now was just watching some rerun of
How I Met Your Mother
just to lighten the mood. It was an eighties chalet-style house, and every time she got up the floorboards creaked, and with everything going on, that made her a little anxious too.

She tried Ty one more time on the house phone, and when he didn’t pick up, for a third time now, she officially began to go crazy. If something happened to him, how would she even know? Who could she even call? He said if she went a day without hearing from him to call this number in Washington, D.C. She went to the kitchen counter and pulled it from the pad.

It belonged to a friend of his. Naomi.

She thought she heard a car outside, the sound of tires crunching on twigs and gravel, and her heart eased with relief that Geoff had finally returned.

But no car light flashed through the windows, the way it did when someone came up the steep drive. She went and looked out. Nothing. Maybe just the wind, rustling through the trees.

It really did suck, being out here in this house all by herself.

The seconds started to go by slowly and no one came up to the house.
Just calm yourself, Dani. You’re making yourself crazy. Take it easy.
The open living area was up on the second floor and had a deck off it with a view of the ski area, and Dani opened the door and looked out, but she didn’t see any thing at all. She thought about calling Geoff from the house phone. He promised he’d be back in fifteen minutes. It was over twenty now. All the outside doors were locked. She opened the sliding door and stepped out on the deck. Blu got up and came out with her.

“What do you say, Blu, am I just getting all spooky here by myself?”

The Lab walked over to the railing and began to bark.

Jesus,
it was enough to unnerve anyone, not to mention someone who had just been through what Dani had.

She went back in and shut the door behind her. And made sure she locked it, though who could climb their way up to the second floor? She checked the time: 10:35.
Geoff will be back any second. Calm yourself, Dani. No one even knows you’re here.

Blu began to whimper and let out a growl. He didn’t like being cooped up here any more than she did. At least
he
got to go out once in a while. He didn’t go far; just explored the woods and pooped and peed and then came back. Now he went to the top of the stairs leading down to the backyard. There wasn’t much of a yard; the house was built on an incline and the woods and brush grew in pretty close to the house.

Dani said, “You want to go out, boy? I don’t blame you.”

The dog headed down the staircase and Dani followed him. She looked outside and didn’t see a thing, and opened the door just a crack and listened, restraining Blu by the collar. Whatever it was, it was just her imagination, she decided. The only light was from the moon, which was close to full. Feeling a little foolish, that she was making up dangers when there was enough real anxiety to go around, she finally opened the door wider and let him out. “Okay, boy, go ahead.” He trotted out. Then, hearing Ty’s caution in her head, she decided to be safe and closed the door back up. She stayed there awhile and watched the dog poke around. Normally this time of night he just sniffed for a bit, then did his business and came back in.

This night he was acting a little strange.

His sniffer must be going crazy, because he was making his way as if he was on the trail of something, through the plantings on the side of the house, and he whimpered a bunch of times and barked. Dani kept an eye on him through the glass. Must be an animal out there, she decided, as he barked and barked. Then he headed around the side of the house and out of sight. “Oh, come on, Blu, not tonight,” she groaned impatiently. “Please …”

She waited a minute or so and then heard Blu barking up a storm around the side of the house. There was a stream that ran alongside; sometimes there were raccoon or deer. Up here there could even be mountain lions. Dani listened at the door and decided it was all going on too long. She grabbed his leash and stepped out and called for the dog. “Here, Blu, come on in …! You want a biscuit?
Biscuit!
” she yelled, which never failed to bring him in.