*
CASSIE SNAPPED AROUND at the sound of the gunshot. It had come from somewhere through the trees to their right.
Pompy whispered, “That sounded pretty close.”
She nodded although she doubted she could be seen in the dark.
Gipper slowed to a stop and she realized Bull had halted in front of her. The five horses stacked up.
Bull turned and nodded toward Sheriff Pederson and both men stepped down out of their saddles. Cassie wasn’t sure what they were doing.
Bull approached her and put his hand on her knee and she bent toward him.
“Look, we’re close to those cabins now so I think we should dismount and go the rest of the way on foot. Let’s tie up the horses here.”
She nodded and stepped into the left stirrup and swung her right leg over the cantle. It seemed like a long way down to the ground. Bull took Gipper’s reins and led the horse away, and she bent and roughly massaged her legs to get feeling back in them.
Pompy and Thomsen soon joined her. She heard the soft snick-snick of Thomsen arming his AR-15.
Pederson whispered to the three of them, “Bull and I are going ahead to scout. Stay here until we come back.”
“You sure?” Thomsen asked.
“We want to make sure we’re in the right place,” Pederson said.
It was a long five minutes before they returned, Cassie thought. The cold seeped into her and she tried to ward away a tremble that was half from being chilled and half from being scared.
When she heard the crunch of a footfall in the forest she drew her Glock out of the holster and gripped it with two hands, muzzle down.
“Okay,” Pederson whispered from the trees ahead. “We found the cabin. There’s a light on inside.”
The sheriff stepped closer.
“Spread out and walk real carefully,” he said. “There are empty cans tied up by wires across the game trails. I almost walked right into one. So go real slow and watch out for trip wires. Push through the brush and stay away from game trails.
“Now lock and load. And no talking. When you see the cabin get behind cover and wait. Sooner or later someone will come outside and then we can move on them.”
It made sense, she thought. There was no reason to announce their presence and create the opportunity for a hostage situation or give Pergram an excuse to execute Kyle.
So she waited until Thomsen and Pompy moved away from her in opposite directions and she slowly stepped forward. As she entered the thick trees she glanced down constantly looking for the glint of wire or string in the starlight.
Although she couldn’t yet see the cabin she could pick up indications of it up ahead: the smell of woodsmoke, cooking smells that clung to the brush.
Then a single yellow square in the darkness.
She thumped against a downed pine tree and followed its trunk to the upturned roots and settled in behind it. When she raised up she could see the yellow square of the lighted window through a V of the broken roots.
*
“YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED to get in there,” Amanda said to Kyle with rising alarm. “He’ll know. And he’ll know I know.”
“Amanda, shhhhh,” Kyle said.
He was retrieving Ron’s metal “Oh Shit” box from under his bed.
“I’ll have to tell him,” Amanda said with panic. “You know I’ll have to tell him, Kyle.”
“Shhhhh.”
“Don’t shush me!”
She went on but Kyle ignored her. He worked the clasp and the metal lid hinged back. Like he suspected there were no weapons, just an old-fashioned videodisc player and dozens of DVDs in plastic jewel cases. Ron’s collection of Ron doing things to women back in the day.
Then he found what he was looking for.
Kyle drew out the remote control device with the red dot on it. It corresponded with Tiffany’s collar. Kyle turned it on and hung it around his neck.
Amanda’s face turned mean. “What have you got there? Kyle—what the hell are you doing? You’re going to get us both killed.”
*
RON THOUGHT HE HEARD a horse snort somewhere up ahead of him in the trees. He stopped and listened but he didn’t hear it again. He wondered if it could have been an elk or moose.
Surely Tibbs and his gang hadn’t sent others up the mountain as well?
It didn’t make sense.
But there was no doubt he likely had just a few hours to pack up and get off the mountain for good. They’d found him and they’d send more men once it was daylight.
It was over.
Sorry, Amanda. She was too much baggage to take along. His second family had been much better than his first—but still not good enough. It was possible they could become what he wanted but there wasn’t enough time to make it happen anymore.
Although he did like how Kyle had shown eagerness to go with him an hour before. He found himself getting attached to that boy but he couldn’t trust him completely yet.
Maybe he should have let Kyle come along? The kid could have put down that lawyer. Then Ron would know for sure if Kyle would develop into who he wanted him to be.
*
KYLE SAW THE HEADLAMP strobing through the trees in the direction Ron had gone.
“Here he comes,” he said.
“I’m going to tell him, Kyle,” Amanda said with her hands on her hips. “He’s gonna see that thing around your neck.”
“Amanda, please.”
“I’m gonna…”
Kyle said, “I turned on Tiffany’s collar.”
Amanda stared at him, uncomprehending.
“When I went to grab my parka I reached into the pocket of his coat and turned on her collar.”
“Oh my God,” she said. He couldn’t tell if she was scared or relieved.
*
CASSIE HEARD FOOTFALLS and saw a splash of light on the trunks of the trees to the right of the cabin.
Then a dark form with a headlamp.
Was it him?
She raised her weapon and rested it in the crux of the V. She could barely see the fluorescent dots on the front and back sights but she lined them up and aimed them center mass.
Should she let the man just walk up to the cabin and go inside? Could the others see him?
Then a horse whinnied back in the trees.
*
RON STOPPED TWENTY FEET from the front door of the cabin.
That time, it was a goddamned horse for sure.
He reached up and turned off his headlamp.
Then he was bathed in the bright white beam of a flashlight. It came from the trees to his left.
He broke into a run toward the cabin door.
A woman’s voice shouted, “Facedown in the dirt, you son of a bitch! Facedown!”
*
KYLE HEARD A SHOUT from outside. He looked out the window and saw Ron coming.
He raised the remote and pressed vibrate.
Ron froze a few feet from the door and looked down at his coat pocket.
Kyle said, “That’s right.”
*
CASSIE LEANED OVER THE UPROOTED pine tree with her Glock aimed at Pergram. She hesitated to fire because she didn’t want stray rounds to penetrate the wall and hit someone inside. And he’d stopped. He was just standing there looking down at his waist.
“Get down on the ground,” Pederson yelled from the dark. It had been his flashlight.
Cassie could see Pergram’s face in quarter profile. He’d raised his eyes toward the cabin, toward a face in the window.