Authors: James Raven
He
chased her for perhaps fifty yards before finally catching up, but even then
she didn't give in and struggled wildly like a cornered fox when he grabbed her
arm.
“Keep
fucking still or I’ll hurt you,” he yelled at her.
She
eventually calmed down. She dropped the holdall and just stood there, her
shoulders sagging, her breath coming in wheezy gasps.
Parker
grabbed her arm and put his face close to hers.
“Where
is he?” he said.
She
looked at him. “I don't know what…”
He
backhanded her, a scathing blow across the left cheek.
“Don't
give me that bollocks you bitch. You're on your way to meet him now.”
“No.
No. I swear.”
He
tightened his grip on her arm.
“Now
where is he?”
She
spat in his face. “D'you really think I'd tell you after you tried to kill him?”
“I
don't know what he's told you, but it was him who did the dirty on me.”
She
shook her head. “You're wrong. He was trying to help you.”
“Is
that so?”
“Yes
it is and you know it.”
“Now
look,” Parker said. “You’ve arranged to meet him somewhere haven’t you?”
She
shook her head again. “No. He's already gone. Ages ago.”
“He's
only just left the harbour in a boat. I saw him.”
“That's
not true.”
Parker
was losing patience. He said, “Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Liar.
I’ve been along this road before and I know there are no houses in the
direction you were heading.”
“Then
you didn't look hard enough,” she snapped back.
“Now
listen, Bella. If I have to I'll keep you here all fucking night. And you know
what that'll mean. He'll have to go without you.”
“Please
don’t,” she yelled. “Just leave me alone?”
“I
want you to take me to him.”
“Why?”
she blurted. “So you can murder him?”
“I
don't want to kill him, Bella. Honest. I just want to get away from here. I
give you my word. All I want is to save my own skin and the only way I can do
that is to go with you on the boat.”
She
shrank away from him slightly. “I wish I could believe that.”
“You've
no option, Bella — not if you don't want to lose him.”
He
could tell by her expression that she was not sure what to do. He had one thing
going for him, and that was her devotion to Maclean. If she wanted to leave the
island with him tonight then she would have to trust him.
He
said, “The sooner the both of us are away from here, the better for all
concerned. There'll be no more killing.”
“The
jetty,” she said after a moment. “I’m meeting him there.”
TWENTY
NINE
Jamie
Fraser was dead when they found him - killed by two savage blows to the head. Young
Rauri MacDonald was sent to deliver the news to his family who ran a small farm
on the north side of the island. Rauri's father, together with Angus Campbell,
picked up the body and carried it outside the tackle shed, where they laid it
on the ground in front of the assembled group of islanders who had descended on
the harbour after a boat was seen leaving.
They
listened carefully to Greg Barrie's account of how he had been forced to drive
the Land Rover and fit the engine to the boat.
When
he was finished, Angus looked around at the others. He, like them, failed to
make any sense of it. The boat was gone, which meant someone had taken it. But
who had taken the Land Rover which had been spotted driving at speed through
the village?
Angus
wondered if there had been a dispute between the two villains which had
resulted in them splitting up. But he also wondered if one of them had taken
the boat while the other had gone for the treasure which they'd hidden
somewhere. Were they planning to meet up along the coast?
“There’s
only one way to know what’s going on,” he said. “We have to find the Land Rover
and go after the boat.”
He
pointed to three men at random. “You go and try to get another craft launched.
There’s an outboard at Bill Cullen’s house in the village. The rest of you
follow me.”
THIRTY
As
Maclean steered the little boat into the cove, he was careful to avoid the
submerged rocks. It was a manoeuvre he would not have attempted if the sea had
been in a different mood. He'd seen what had happened to the cruiser and
therefore had a pretty good idea what would become of the craft were it to be
lobbed on to those razor sharp rocks. But his luck so far had been running in
the right direction and he was feeling optimistic.
First,
that blind fool Parker had failed to see him squatting on the floor behind the
lobster pots—and that was despite shining the torch directly at him at one
point. And then, to top it all, Parker had inadvertently prepared the way for
his own hasty departure. Fortune shining down on me, he thought. About bloody
time.
He
could not have wished for a better night. A great calmness prevailed. The moon
poured its liquid glow over the gently rolling sea and the sky was peppered
with clusters of bright, twinkling stars. It wouldn't be an easy crossing to
Mull. He knew that. Out there the sea might be a good deal more active and it'd
be a struggle to make progress because the boat was riding low in the water
under the weight of the five suitcases filled with treasure. The rest he’d had
to leave behind because there was no way he could have taken them with him.
He
adjusted the grip on the control and the prow went to the right. On his left
there were more rocks jutting up through the water. There were bits and pieces
of debris clinging to these rocks; a splinter of wood, a shredded piece of
cloth — remains of the cruiser which the sea had as yet not claimed.
The
engine chugged along healthily, kicking up a spray and giving him a wonderful
feeling of freedom and exhilaration.
He
came up against the jetty and killed the engine. The heavy silence enveloped
him. He tied the rope to one of the soggy timbers, then stood in the prow, face
level with the jetty boards.
“Bella,”
he called.
There
was no sound and no sign of her. He cursed her for not being punctual.
“Bella.”
Still
nothing. His eyes searched the darkness.
He
raised his voice slightly. “Bella. Are you there?”
He
reached for the rusty ladder and pulled himself up on to the jetty, not
thinking to take the rifle with him.
“Bella.”
Nothing.
“Bella.”
Something
caught his eye up on the road. Set against the moon-flushed sky it looked for
all the world like the distinctive outline of a vehicle. But Bella didn’t have
a car!
Suddenly,
he felt naked without a weapon and he turned to go back for the rifle. But a
noise to his left brought him to a halt. He spun round as two figures stepped
out of the darkness.
Parker
was standing behind Bella, holding her left arm with one hand whilst using the
other to point the shotgun at Maclean's stomach.
“Going
on a trip, Andy?” Parker said.
Parker
released his grip on Bella and she strode across the distance between them and
threw herself at her lover.
“Andy!”
she cried. “Oh, Andy! He made me bring him to you. He said he'd keep me here if
I didn't.”
“Don't
worry, love. It's all right.”
Maclean
put his arms around her and pulled her close.
“He's
promised he'll not harm you, Andy. He says he just wants to leave here with
us.”
“Does
he now.” Maclean looked at Parker for a long moment, his gaze intense. “You
were wrong you know,” he said.
“So
I've heard,” Parker said.
“You
should have let me explain.”
Parker
grinned. “You mean we should have given you time to alert your friends?”
Maclean
shook his head. “That's not how it was.”
“I
know what I saw. It looked pretty obvious to me why you were there.”
“Did
it? Well, for your information I was there to try to help you.”
“Really?”
Maclean
ignored the sarcasm. “I was hoping I'd see you before they did. I probably
could have helped you get away from there if you both hadn't jumped to a stupid
conclusion.”
“As
I recall it you were quick enough to use your own gun,” Parker said.
“Well,
I didn't think it sensible to just stand there and let that idiot Hodge blow my
brains out.”
“I
wasn't aiming a gun at you when you clobbered me in the shed just now.”
“Don't
make me laugh, Phil. You'd have done the same in my shoes. If I'd shown myself
you'd have taken a shot without thinking.”
Parker
laughed. “So you're telling me that it wasn't on your mind that with me out of
the way the treasure would be yours?”
Maclean's
eyes flared in anger. He pushed Bella to one side and thrust out an accusing
finger.
“Think
back,” he said. “Remember how it was. You didn't give me a chance. Before I'd
even opened my mouth that crazy fool was taking aim. If only you'd listened. I
had the rifle. You could have taken it and got clear of there.”
“Why
were you there, anyway?” Parker said. “You were meant to be looking for a way
off the island.”
“They
wanted me there. I tried to steer them away from the hill but they wouldn't listen.
What more could I have done?”
“You
could have revealed yourself to me down at the harbour,” Parker said. “But you
didn’t.”
Maclean
shrugged. “In my position you would have done the same. I couldn’t risk you
going for me.”
Parker
thought for a moment and said, “I take it the treasure's in the boat?”
Maclean
nodded. “Some of it. There’s enough for us to split it between us. So why don’t
we just climb aboard and go?”
Parker
started to say something, but Maclean held up his hands and said, “Look, we
haven't got all night. This clear weather may not last much longer. There's
nearly ten miles of sea between here and Mull, so it's best we get going now.”
“And
there's fog coming,” Bella cut in.
Maclean
turned, a worried look on his face. “How'd you know?”
“I
heard it on the radio before I left home. They said it's moving in now from the
north.”
“That's
all we need,” Maclean said. He turned to Parker. “Well, what's it to be, Phil?
Do we go together and split the treasure down the middle, or do you kill us and
go alone?”
Parker
eased his forefinger off the trigger and lowered the shotgun.
“Okay,
let’s go,” he said.
Maclean
smiled “I'm glad you've seen sense.”
But
just then a shot rang out and Maclean watched, horrified, as blood came gushing
out of Bella’s shoulder.
*
She
didn't scream. She just dropped down onto her side. The bullet had entered the
back of her shoulder and come out just above her chest. Maclean fell to his
knees beside her as more shots rang out.
“They're
up on the road,” Parker shouted. “A whole bleeding bunch of 'em from the sound
of it.”
Whump! Whump!
One
bullet hit the rock near Parker's head and the other smacked into the ground
inches from Bella. Obviously they don't know Bella's here, Parker thought.
They're just shooting at shadows.
Ca-rack!
Ca-rack!
Someone
using a rifle. More bullets hitting the ground around them.
“We've
got to get to the boat,” Maclean called out. “She’s still breathing. Can you
keep me covered?”
“Yeah.
Go. now.”
Parker
fired up the hill. He had no target in his sights. He just aimed in the general
direction of the Land Rover.
Once.
Twice.
Reload.
Once.
Twice.
He
groped in his pocket and found only two more shells. He broke the barrel and
shoved them in.
Ca-rack!
Ca-rack!
This
time the bullets slammed into the rock in front of him.
He
aimed up the hill at the flashing light from their rifles and pulled the
trigger.
Once.
Twice.
At
the same time, Maclean lifted Bella in his arms and carried her to the edge of
the jetty. Then he heaved her up on to his shoulders and descended the ladder
on to the boat.
When
Parker heard the engine fire up he crawled backwards away from the rock and
lowered himself down the ladder. Maclean was sitting in the prow, cradling
Bella's head in his lap, so Parker took the controls.