Spirit of a Hunter (22 page)

Reacting with pure instinct, driven by rage, he rolled to one side.

Instead of finding his chest, the bullet grazed his arm. A hot wire of pain unleashed the base animal in him, blinded sense and reason. Boggs plowed out of the trees seven yards away and came up for the kill, aiming his weapon right at Sabriel’s face. Sabriel waited until Boggs’s ego took him too close and swept his feet out from under him, disarmed him.

He hit Boggs with every ounce of power he had left. Fist connected with face. Punch after punch exploded out of him, until Boggs flopped like roadkill.

Sabriel tied him up to a tree so that any movement of cuffed hands and feet would rip off his balls.

Sabriel shook the fog of pain from his brain. He should’ve known what the track was telling him, that Boggs was on his tail, that Boggs had laid them down to suck him in and trap him. Beaten by a jerk that wasn’t all that good a tracker. But he couldn’t afford to let his emotions overshadow his thinking.

Sabriel cut tracks until he found Nora’s and pushed himself to make headway until he was dead tracking—

following faster than she was moving. As the beating pulse of helicopter blades chopped at the air in the distance, he prayed he wasn’t too late.

* * *

T
HOUGH THE
C
OLONEL
smiled, his expression did not light with friendliness. “Where’s the boy?”

“I’ll never let him go back to your asylum.” Tommy turned to Nora. “That’s what he wanted to do. He was going to drug you. Have one of his doctors testify that you were mentally unstable. Then once you were caged, Scotty would be his. I heard him, Nora.” His gaze, the most sober Nora had seen it in years, implored understanding. “I had to get Scotty away from the mansion.”

“You did the right thing, Tommy.”
I just wished you’d trusted me with your plan
.

“Tell me where the boy is,” the Colonel ordered.

Tommy struggled to his shackled feet and faced his father, steady eye to steady eye. “Never.”

Tendons strained at the Colonel’s neck. Icy anger darkened his voice. “You will obey a direct order!”

“You know what I learned in your house, Colonel?” Tommy asked, the fear that had cowered him all of his life gone. “I learned that I didn’t matter. It took Nora to show me that I was worth loving. It took Scotty to show me what unconditional love was all about. It took leaving your choking rein to learn I was worth something.”

“Then you learned nothing.” A cold, hard smile crimped the Colonel’s lips, then dissolved. He raised his
rifle and pointed it at her. “Tell me where the boy is or I will kill her.”

Tommy’s head whipped in her direction. “Trust me, Nora.”

“Last chance, Tommy boy.” The Colonel took aim.

Tommy spit in his father’s direction. “Never.”

“Your choice.” The Colonel squeezed the trigger.

Tommy lurched, launching himself at her.

She fell sideways. Her head ringing with the report of gunfire and the hard slap of granite. Her lungs emptied and she could not catch another breath.
I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead. Oh, Scotty, I’m so sorry!

Tommy’s heavy body smacked onto hers.

Warm blood stained the rock under her head.

* * *

S
ABRIEL CRAWLED
to the edge of the scrub of jack pines, sliding silently on patches of lichen, being careful not to dislodge a stone that would attract the attention of the Colonel’s men below.

Two men with rifles. Hutt with a pistol at Nora’s head. Costlow threatening Tommy with his size and a branch big enough to knock out a bear. The Colonel with a pistol at his hip.

With all eyes on Tommy, Sabriel approached the sharpshooter standing on the helicopter’s left, positioned to keep the Colonel in his sight, but out of view of his twin on the other side. Using one of the pressure points Grandpa Yamawashi had shown him, Sabriel took out the soldier and dragged him into the brush, leaving him so he could do no harm. Sabriel stalked to the right
side of the helicopter, slipped under the nose, out of sight of the pilot, and stunned the second rifleman with a nerve pinch to the neck.

Two down, three to go
. He slithered around the perimeter of the bare rock, positioning himself behind Costlow. Danger shot in the Colonel’s eyes as he aimed his weapon at Nora.

Too far
, Sabriel thought.
I’m too far
.

Tommy shoved Nora and took the bullet intended for her. Blood burst in an ugly red bloom on Tommy’s chest before he collapsed onto Nora.

For a second Sabriel could do nothing more than stare.

The creep had killed his own son in cold blood. But Sabriel couldn’t think about the blow now, couldn’t let the sharpness of the pain detract him. Not with Nora the next target.

As Sabriel maneuvered in close to take out Costlow, Nora rose to her feet and his stomach dropped.

A furious aura of strength surrounded her. Yielding was dying, and she was not going to give another inch.

A still chill iced her voice. “You’ve just lost the one thing you wanted.”

Then she moved.

Nora, no!

* * *

N
ORA SHOOK
Tommy’s limp body. “Tommy!”

Blood. So much blood.

“Nora…‘Gimme Shelter…’ ‘Norwegian Wood…’ ‘Atlantic City…’”

“No, Tommy, what have you done?”

She rolled him off of her, shed her fleece jacket and pressed it against Tommy’s chest to stanch the flow. “Tommy! Talk to me.”

“He’s dead,” the Colonel said, no expression tainting his voice. “And if you don’t want to end up in the same condition, you’re going to stand up, raise your hands and lace them on the back of your head. You will
not
cheat me out of my legacy.”

Tommy’s only chance of survival was for her to pretend he was dead.

The Colonel didn’t care about Tommy. Didn’t care about Scotty. Only about winning.

Her stomach curdled at the thought of Scotty growing up under the Colonel’s thumb. Of her sweet boy cracking like Tommy. Or worse, hardening into a clone of the Colonel. There was no way she would simply hand her son over to him, hand him the power to shape her son into a monster.

She had to buy herself time. Tommy had saved her life. She couldn’t waste his sacrifice. She had to find a way to save Scotty.

Soaked in fear sweat, she rose and did as the Colonel asked. “You’ve just lost the one thing you wanted.”

“Scotty? No. I’ll still find him.” His eyes shone with triumph. Her flesh prickled. “As for Tommy, he’s been lost for a long time. I simply put him out of his misery.”

“I always thought soldiers had more control than the average person,” she said, proud that her voice remained steady in spite of the fear trembling inside her. “But your
impulsive act lost you Scotty. Only Tommy knows where Scotty’s hidden.”

“I have trackers who can find a needle in a haystack.”

“Such brilliant trackers that they need three months to track down two inexperienced teenage boys.”

He raised his rifle. “You’re of no use to me.”

“Yes, I am. I can find Scotty. Tommy gave me the song.”

Her busy, busy mind spun, tumbled, reeled. The world shrunk to now, to the Colonel and his men, to the thwacking heartbeat of the helicopter blades. To this one moment in time where if she didn’t rock the boat, she might as well die.

She’d gotten into this mess because of her past decisions. Choosing not to fight. Choosing to accept. Choosing to cause no ripple that would leave her alone in the dark.

This was not the role model she wanted for Scotty.

She took a deep breath. Another. Her damp hands wiped the side of her pants.

Darkness from the approaching storm brewed on the horizon. The wind belted a violent rap, tossing the helicopter off its perch like a toy, sending it hovering into the sky nearby.

“I’ll give you Scotty and you’ll leave me here. Alive.”

To her ears, her voice sounded hard, convincing.

The Colonel’s smile was ghastly. His laughter as sharp and sudden as ice cubes cracking in water. “I could kill you right here and nobody would ever find your corpse.”

“You want your grandson to see you as a hero. You won’t kill his mother within his eyesight. And you won’t risk his spending a night alone out here. Not with this storm coming. Not when the cold could trigger an asthma attack and kill him.”

“You think you can manipulate me?” the Colonel asked.

“No. You’re too smart. You know that what I’m saying is true.”

“Too little, too late, Nora.” He approached, a hunter squaring off for the kill. “I gave you a home, shelter, prestige. I opened my home to you, even though you were nothing but street scum. I sheltered you, protected you, gave you all the advantages that come with the Camden name. All I asked in return was that you give me an heir.”

“I gave you one. A beautiful, sweet boy.”

“You were too soft on the boy. How is the boy supposed to grow a spine that way?”

His words glanced away against the new hard skin of her determination.

“You’re right,” she said. “I admit that I was weak. I should have stood up for Tommy when you threw him out and limited his visits with Scotty. I should have stood up for Scotty when you tried to push him beyond his abilities. I should have stood up for myself when you accused me of being a bad mother. I will always regret that weakness. No more. I won’t let you ruin Scotty’s life.”

Logic collapsed, blanking her mind, disappearing into a vortex of pure instinct. Everything around her
slowed, slowed, slowed, until her heartbeat drummed inside her head. Her hand reached into her pocket, wrapped around Scotty’s monkey fist.

The Colonel’s hand was steady on the grip. His finger curled around the trigger, tightened.

She launched Scotty’s monkey fist with all of her strength and it found its target of the Colonel’s eye.

The Colonel reeled back, recovered and pointed his gun once again at Nora’s chest. Anger cresting in a powerful wave propelled her forward. With a warrior’s cry, she jammed all the years of fear, hatred and fury into the Colonel’s outstretched arm and rammed into her jailor’s body as if it were nothing but a boneless uniform.

As they fell in a heap, the Colonel cushioned her landing. His elbow cracked against granite. His weapon fired wildly, three bullets strafing the air in a futile SOS. A fourth punctured the helicopter. The pilot’s head smacked against the plastic bubble, splotching a web of red.

The helicopter dipped. The skid tilted, spun, unraveling a rescue ladder from the bird’s belly. Then, like a jouster’s lance, the skid aimed straight for Nora. She rolled off the Colonel to get out of the way.

Madness burning in his eyes, the Colonel lifted his weapon. Keeping tabs on the wayward helicopter, Nora kicked at the Colonel’s wrist, forcing it into the path of the flaying ladder. The tangle of rope pulled tight around the Colonel’s weapon and arm, diverted the gun’s spew of bullets into the sky and hoisted him off the ground. He reached up reflexively with his free arm and grabbed
a ladder rung. The pilotless bird pitched again, caught a swirling current of air, and spiraled out of control over the side of the mountain.

The Colonel’s scream vanished in the explosion that boomed like thunder, shaking the whole valley.

Chapter Fourteen

Dead. The Colonel was dead.

He could take his own son’s life and not blink.

He could ruin his grandson’s life, and think he was doing him a favor.

Violent. Controlling. Tyrannical.

But he was dead. And she was free.

Nora rocked onto her shaky knees, her relief nothing more than a flicker as she expected the Colonel’s men to take over where he’d left off. She frowned at the barren landscape. Where had all the Colonel’s men gone? Scattered like the cowards they were now that their leader couldn’t sign their paychecks? She snorted. That was so like them.

Then Tommy, lying there so still, met her gaze. She shot to her feet and ran to him. She dropped to her knees and moaned at the blood-soaked fleece and the heart-wrenching sound of air gurgling out of the open wound. Too much blood. Too much. “Tommy?”

“Nora,” Tommy said, his voice no more than a thread.

“Stay still, Tommy. I’ll get you help.”

“Too late.” He reached for her wrist. His grasp feeble and ice cold. “I did it…for you…For Scotty.”

“I know.”

His eyes implored her. “I did good?”

“You were amazing.”

“So were you. Nice shot.”

Her throat jammed tight with tears. In this instant, he looked at peace—like the man she’d met and fallen in love with all those years ago. The man who’d made her think he was the answer to her fears, when all along she’d been his. She forgave him, forgave herself. They’d both been doing the best they could in a difficult situation. “The Colonel’s dead. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

“Go find Scotty,” Tommy said, his hand slipping from her wrist. “Tell him I love him.”

“I’ll tell him his father was a hero.”

“Mission accomplished.” With one last whoosh of air, Tommy went limp in Nora’s arms. She checked for a pulse at his neck, but found none. Tears clouded her vision.

“Nora!” Sabriel’s voice ripped through the air.

Too late, she noticed Hutt bearing down on her, gun raised.

* * *

S
ABRIEL TOOK
the legs right out from under Costlow, knocked him out with a well-placed blow to the temple, binding him so he couldn’t cause any more trouble, and was about to maneuver to Hutt when Nora launched Scotty’s monkey fist at the Colonel.

Seeing Hutt take aim at Nora, Sabriel reached for his weapon.

Fear pressed on him like ice, dark and cold.

He was close, so close. He couldn’t lose her.

Don’t look at Nora. Concentrate on Hutt
.

Sweating, cursing, pain jarring him with every step, with no time for finesse, Sabriel steadied his grip and aimed.

Hutt’s pistol discharged with a boom.

* * *

N
ORA FLATTENED
against Tommy’s body. Hutt’s gun went flying out of his hand. He fell, swearing and holding his hand.

From the rugged granite Sabriel arose, a wild man, streaked with dirt and blood, looking solid and competent. A beautiful, magnificent sight. He kicked Hutt’s gun over the side of the mountain and tied him up.