Last to Die: A gripping psychological thriller not for the faint hearted (26 page)

J
essie scrabbled
her way under a scrub bush and pressed her body into the dust, panting and in agony. She felt weak and nauseous. Her arm hurt so badly it was agony to move it.

She wiped the sweat from her brow with her good hand and tried to squint through the dappled light and the spindly trees. She visualised him on her trail, seeing him drawing closer as she dithered and dilly-dallied on the edge of sanity, with only her heart racing in her ears for company.

She was trapped and she knew it, as it had taken her no time at all to run the length of the cover and realise it was scant. With him below somewhere, her chances of climbing into the rocks and finding water or shade were completely blown. But if she remained where she was he would be on her in no time.

She closed her eyes for a moment, wishing she could think straight. Up, she needed to go up, and to do that she needed to climb without being shot. Inexplicably, she thought of Kyle Saunders, of his face when she had rushed at him in the school. With that, another thought came to her. A thought so ridiculous she momentarily forgot her pain.

I must be delirious.

So what?

Crazy
.

What choice did she have?

Jessie crawled out from under the bush and took another look at the overhanging rocks. She knew that if she ever was to reach them there was only one thing she could do. At that moment crazy was all she had.

She got up and began to run. She broke cover and bolted for the huge boulders that marked the beginning of the rock climb.

Caleb saw her break cover and disappear into the rocks. He gave a satisfied grunt as he cleared the top of the scree and stood sucking air.

It was time to finish this.

He took off after her, keeping his eyes on the sections of rock around which she had vanished. He saw blood on the ground and knew from the way she was running that she was injured. Part of him was glad. It was hot and he was tired from the climb. There was nowhere from here but up, and even if she did attempt it, at this stage he would, despite his earlier reluctance, simply shoot her down if he had to.

Caleb reached the rocks, noticed another large smear of blood on two of them and pressed on. It was ridiculously easy. The blood droplets were as obvious as wet footprints in sand. He squeezed his body between two massive boulders towards a ledge that led to a wider shelf. He was adjusting his quiver when something struck him on the head.

Caleb staggered backwards. He raised his hands, but something looped around his arms and stuck him a second unmerciful blow.

He tried to remain upright, but dropped onto one knee. Dazed from the blow, he fumbled the Winchester from his shoulder just as Jessie Conway dropped into the gap from the rock above, swung her foot and kicked him square in the chest.

Caleb tumbled backwards, the Winchester gone from his hands. He saw it land by the ledge and grunted as he and Jessie lunged towards it. Jessie reached it first. In desperation, Caleb ripped his knife free from its scabbard and struck out wildly.

The knife caught Jessie. She screamed and Caleb felt blood spray across the back of his hand. He tried to stab her again, but she rolled and swung something towards his head. This time Caleb snatched at it, locked his fingers around it and hauled. Jessie let go and dived for the Winchester, but Caleb was too quick, and in the tussle the gun tipped over the ledge and was gone. Jessie twisted her body away and kicked him, catching him in the hip. She climbed to her feet. Caleb saw that he had wounded her in the thigh and that she was bleeding badly. She was pretty torn up everywhere else too, he noticed, blinking hard as his vision flickered and blurred. Jessie glanced at him, her eyes wild.

Then Caleb was alone.

He tried to get up, but could not. The buzzing sound filled his head. He leaned all his weight on one hand and tilted his head back, careful to breathe through his mouth. He tasted copper. There was blood and dust in his mouth and nostrils and blood on his hands – some hers, some his. He blinked and focused on what he had taken from her.

It was a bra; a lacy bra filled with rocks, the material tied in a knot around them.

Despite his pain, Caleb began to laugh. He looked at the sky above and howled with laughter, ignoring the lightning in his brain, the blood, the broken tooth clacking against its neighbours. He might never have stopped had he not needed to lean forward and spit blood from his mouth.

After a while he rose shakily to his feet and wiped his eyes. He picked up his bow and checked it over to make sure it was undamaged. No matter about the gun, he thought, sliding his quiver onto his hip. By the time he was finished with this bitch she be would be sorry that being shot was no longer an option.

I
t was late afternoon
, rolling into early evening, by the time Mike and Ace reached the area Caleb’s sister had said to check, and a further hour before Ace managed to find the road with the little wooden bridge. ‘Quiet ’round here, ain’t it?’ he said as they drove across.

‘We haven’t met a single vehicle in over an hour.’ Mike squinted through the open window at the dense woodland on either side of the road. ‘Or a house for that matter.’

‘She said this guy won’t come easy,’ Ace said, leaning one arm out the window.

‘I don’t give a shit about that. I don’t give a shit about 
him
. I just want to know where Jessie is.’

‘He might take some persuading.’

Mike glanced at his brother. ‘We need him 
alive
 to talk.’

‘I know that.’

‘We on the same page here, right Ace? My only priority is to find Jessie.’

‘There might be bloodshed.’

‘Then so be it.’

Muscles jumped in Ace’s jaw. A few miles further on, they came to a fork in the road. Ace slowed the truck to a crawl.

‘We do this there’s no going back, Mike.’

‘There’s no going anywhere without her. Drive.’

Ace released the clutch and took the right road. They drove for another half mile, before turning off onto a lane barely wide enough for the truck to pass. Finally, they pulled off the track into a small homestead, the front yard thick with weeds and grass.

The cabin was old, but they could see it had been maintained. The roof looked relatively new, but it was the steel door, incongruously fixed to the front of the property, that stood out most. Ace crawled the truck in, his eyes watchful. To the rear of the cabin stood an ancient barn; its roof sagged like a swaybacked horse.

Ace backed the truck under some trees and faced it towards the road. When he got out, Ace took his rifle from the rack and carried it loose in his hand. He quieted Captain with a soft word and looked towards the cabin.

‘No sign of action.’

‘I see that.’ Mike lifted his own rifle. ‘Let’s go.’

They walked around the cabin to be sure there was no one home. All the windows and doors were locked.

‘What do you want to do?’ Ace asked.

Mike stepped up onto the porch, turned his rifle and smashed one of the windows with the stock. He knocked out the remaining glass, handed Ace his weapon to hold and climbed through the window. He returned the favour and Ace climbed in after him.

Ace stood on the bare boards and looked around at the animal heads hanging from the walls and the old weapons that adorned the beams. ‘Looks like a hunter’s lodge.’

Mike tore through the cabin in minutes but there was no trace that Jessie had ever been there. He cursed and ran his hands through his hair. ‘She’s not here. Jesus, Ace, there’s no sign of her. What if this is a wild fucking goose chase, huh? What then? We’ve been wasting our time? We’re what? What? She’s been gone for days, she could be anywhere. She could be … 
anywhere
.’ Mike dropped to his haunches and hid his face behind his hand, his rifle cradled in the crook of his arm.

Ace let him be. The pain ripping through his brother was not going to be eased by some pithy remark or gesture. He opened the fridge door and closed it again; he studied a map on the wall for a moment then looked around the rest of the room. He fingered a locked metal tool case and ran his hands along the workbench. Neat, meticulous even. The shelf over the bench contained a number of plain cardboard boxes. Ace took one down and opened it. It was filled with feathers. Ace sifted through them and lifted one out.

‘Take a look at this.’

He held out so Mike could inspect it. ‘Eagle, same as the one that killed Rudy.’

Mike took it in his trembling hand. He lifted his tear-soaked face.

‘Let’s go check out that barn.’

They climbed back out the window and crossed the yard, keeping their ears open and their eyes peeled, staying real close to one another. Unsurprisingly, the barn was locked by a thick chain and a padlock.

Ace went back to the truck and returned with a lump hammer. Three strikes later and the lock lay smashed open in the dirt. Ace and Mike grabbed the doors and hauled them open.

‘Taurus,’ Ace said, nodding his head to the gold car parked inside the door.

‘It’s the car from Ray’s Diner, I’m sure of it.’

‘You okay?’

‘Yeah,’ Mike said, his expression grim. ‘Peachy.’

Ace tried the door handle and found that is was unlocked. He popped the trunk, and pretended he didn’t notice Mike’s expression of agonised relief when it was found to be empty. Next he checked the glove compartment.

‘Got something.’ He lifted out some paperwork and read through it. ‘Says here this is owned by a Maryanne Weils.’

Mike tapped the roof with his finger. ‘I don’t care what it 
says
, Ace, this is the car he drove. I 
know
 it.’

They searched the rest of the barn. It was Ace who spotted the trap door. He pulled it open and descended the wooden steps into the cellar below. After carefully pushing open the cell door with the nose of his rifle, he squatted on his hunkers and sniffed the food dishes and a drink container. He was still there when his brother stepped into the doorway behind him.

‘Aw,’ Mike’s eyes widened when he saw the bed and toilet. ‘Aw, Jesus Lord.’

Ace lifted the beaker. ‘Milk, ain’t full spoiled yet.’

Mike ignored him. He walked to the cot and lifted the pillow. He tilted it towards the light. There was a dark red hair caught in the piping, a colour the envy of all the bottle redheaded women in Rockville. He began to tremble and could not stop. When he looked around the tiny space he imagined her here, felt her terror, her claustrophobia. He buried his face in the pillow, inhaling as deeply as he could, trying to capture her scent.

Jessie.

He wept.

‘Listen to me Mike. There’s food inside the cabin, right? Maybe enough for a day,’ Ace said softly, ‘Clothing too. We have the key for the Taurus, so I’m guessing he’s still around the area, meaning he’s on foot or he has another vehicle. Either way, looks to me like he’s coming back. Mike, Mike come on now.’

Mike managed to compose himself enough to speak. ‘What do we do?’

‘We can go looking for him, but if we miss him we don’t know when he might surface again. We knocked out the man’s window, he’s gonna know straight out the gate he’s got visitors.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Mike choked back a sob. ‘You want us to sit around and 
wait?
’

Ace jerked his thumb to the steps. ‘We can talk topside.’

‘You think she’s already dead, don’t you?’

Ace put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it while he looked around the tiny cell. His face was in shadow, his thoughts hidden from view. ‘I am not making that pronouncement.’

‘
Then what?
 What is it you’re not saying? I saw a look on your face when we crossed the yard up there. You tried to hide it, but I know you Ace, I know you as well as you know yourself.’

Without a word, Ace turned and walked up the stairs. Mike rushed after him.

‘Goddamn it, Ace! You talk to me now.’

As soon as Mike cleared the steps, Ace kicked the door closed and yanked Mike closer to him by the front of his shirt.

‘Keep yelling, maybe you can let folk over the next county know our location. Quit it and help me with these doors.’

‘What was it?’

Ace moved his cigarette to the corner of his mouth without touching it. His eyeballs were streaked pink with temper. Without a word he jerked his head for Mike to follow him outside.

‘What do ya see?’

‘Grass? Weeds?’ Mike looked around the decrepit yard. ‘What am I supposed to be looking at?’

‘Mounds and depressions.’

‘De—’ Mike frowned. Then it hit him what Ace was talking about. He walked to the nearest mound, it was not new and the grass grew freely on it, but there were more, many more. He looked at Ace aghast.

‘Dear Lord, how many are there?’

Ace closed the barn doors and joined him. ‘Dunno, let’s take a look.’

‘I don’t know if I can do this.’

‘Stay here then, I’ll go.’

Ace walked off, smoke drifting over his shoulder as he moved around the property. He retuned to Mike.

‘Few recent enough, but none of ’em brand new.’

Mike literally sagged with relief. He was pale and sweating. Ace wondered how much more his little brother could take in one day.

‘You think we should call someone ’bout this place?’

Mike raised his gaze skywards and let out a long shaky breath.

‘Dear Jesus Lord.’

Ace blew out streams of smoke through his nostrils. ‘Let’s move the truck out of sight.’

A
n explosive stitch
ripped through Jessie’s side, causing her so much pain she was almost bent double. She stumbled on, each step more agonising than the one that had come before it. She managed to shuffle on another few hundred feet before she crashed to a halt against a small outcrop of rock.

She lay where she fell, desperately trying to suck air into her burning lungs. Her throat was raw and she barely had the strength to lift her head. All the adrenaline was gone now; she was exhausted, beyond exhausted.

You fool, she berated herself, you should have tried to finish him off. You had a chance; you had a 
chance.

She looked down, the wound on her thigh was bleeding heavily and she was weak from shock and blood loss – the leg of her pants was stiff and stained dark from it. She opened her pants and eased them down her leg to examine the wound. As soon as she put her fingers to it, blood began to run afresh. It was deep, maybe to the bone, she guessed, and the flow so heavy she was scared he might have nicked an artery. She doubted it could hold her for much longer.

No time to worry about it now, you need to keep moving
.

She pulled her pants up, refastened them and leaned hard onto her hands. Stopping had been a mistake. Already she was beginning to stiffen, her aching muscles completely spent. She knew if she rested too long she might not get up again. This was it. There was no gimmick to any of it: she either rose now or she was done.

Jessie got to her feet, but the ground was shaky beneath her. She clung to the rock to steady herself, took a deep breath, then another. Finally, she eased upright into a standing position. She let her good leg bear as much of the weight as it could.

The next section was technically difficult and took everything she had. She climbed over rock and hard soil. The ground rose sharply though, so she had no choice but to pause for rest every few hundred feet, glancing over her shoulder as she did, waiting to see some sign of her pursuer.

She pushed her way through a bunch of scrub bushes and found herself standing out on a rocky cliff face overlooking a gorge. In disbelief, Jessie stepped gingerly to the ledge and peered over. There was nothing but a long sheer drop down into bushes and trees several hundred feet below.

No other way down.

Jessie reeled back, stunned. Her legs trembled from exhaustion and a sudden wave of vertigo.

‘Oh no, no. No.’

She peered up at the vast expanse of rock rising above her. It was limestone, mostly smooth, but there might be enough crevices to use if she had the strength to climb. She inched back from the edge of the ledge and stood looking up. She chewed on her lip.

It had been a mistake coming this way. She should have known better; she should have gone to ground or hidden in amongst the trees. She had messed up.

You’re wasting time
.

Jessie shielded her eyes with her hand. There was a ledge far above. It looked high and her legs had nothing left.

She looked down again. Why had she come this way? Why?

She wiped her hands on her pants and went to the foot of the rock face. After a moment, she took a deep breath, grabbed a handful of rock and hoisted herself upwards. She swung her injured leg left but missed the crevice she was aiming for and slid to the ground again.

‘Shit.’

She slammed her hand against the unforgiving stone, gritted her teeth and stepped close again. With steely determination, she braced herself against the ground and pushed off with her good foot. This time when she swung her arm up, her fingers found a crevice. She clung to it with all her might, waited for her feet to find whatever purchase they could, and swung up again.

Do not look down, she warned herself, don’t you dare look down.

Jessie Conway did not look down. If she had, she might have seen Caleb Switch moving onto the rocks, his eyes fixed on her every move.