Ice (11 page)

He made his voice purposely steady and without emotion. “Earlier today, before I got to the house … did Darwin hurt you?”

He expected an immediate “No” that he wouldn’t believe, or a painful “Yes” that would make him want to go back to the body and kill the man all over again, but Lolly hesitated before answering. “He tried. He almost—” Her voice broke and she stumbled.

Gabriel stopped, pulling her to a halt, and he turned the flashlight so he could see her expression. Her face was white and pinched with cold. The poncho had torn, and ice crystals had formed on her hair, just as they had on his. But her gaze was steadier now, even if her lips were blue. He cupped her face in the gloved hand that wasn’t holding the flashlight. “He won’t hurt you now.”

Her answer was a nod, and in spite of the dire circumstances, it was relief that changed her expression. “Yeah, I know. You killed his ass.” She paused, then added, “Thanks. Good job.”

He almost laughed. Reassured, he started them walking again. She was going to be okay. Lollipop was turning out to be a pretty tough cookie. He continued to steady her as they walked up the hill, one slow, cautious step at a time. He stayed alert, watching and listening for the woman—Niki—but all he could hear was wind and the straining limbs of old, ice-covered trees.

Niki struggled to her feet. When that man had just appeared out of the darkness like a demon or something and attacked Darwin, her instinct for self-preservation had kicked in and she’d run like hell, without even a single thought about helping Darwin. She’d been looking over her shoulder instead of paying attention to where she was going, and she’d stepped in a shallow dip. Her feet had immediately gone out from under her, and she fell hard on her back, hard enough that she had lain there for a minute, too stunned to move.

When she’d been able to roll to a sitting position she’d just sat there on the frozen ground, watching Darwin and the man as they fought. She was out of bullets, so she couldn’t do shit to help Darwin. The
best thing she could do, she thought, was take care of number one; it wasn’t as if Darwin would have been rushing to
her
aid, if the situation were reversed.

She couldn’t see all that much, because of the trees and the way the flashlight had rolled when Darwin dropped it, but as she watched the fight she thought maybe Darwin would get hurt. The son of a bitch who’d rescued Lorelei was a big guy. She also thought that maybe Darwin would win the fight, because he was a lot stronger than he looked and he fought dirty. This was one of those wait-and-see situations, though she didn’t want to wait too long. If things started looking bad for Darwin, she’d be better off taking care of herself. She had to get back to the house, get the ice they’d left on the coffee table … she needed some now,
right now
. It would make her feel a lot better, get rid of this crawling, antsy feeling.

But she must have knocked herself silly when she fell, because she was a little dizzy. It wouldn’t be smart to head out too soon and fall again, really hurt herself. She’d sit there for another minute or so, see what happened to Darwin. Maybe she’d get to watch him kill the big dude.

So she sat very still, even though the ground was so cold the sensation went through her clothes like a sharp knife, even though her ass got wet, and she watched as Lorelei Helton came rushing out of the darkness, a stick raised high, and hit Darwin in the head with it. It didn’t slow him down much, but it distracted him, and suddenly Niki knew this wasn’t going
to end well for Darwin. Two against one just wasn’t fair.

Then Lorelei began beating at Darwin with the stick, over and over,
whap whap whap
. He’d had the big man down, but he let Lorelei get to him, and he rushed at her. Niki closed her eyes in disgust. Darwin never could plan worth a damn. That left the big man free, which was so damn stupid, and then of course the fight was over and Darwin was whining in that way that got on her nerves so bad. All she could do was shake her head. She couldn’t help him, she had nothing except an empty pistol. Darwin was on his own in this, the stupid shit.

Her head felt better, the dizziness had subsided. Silently, while they were preoccupied with Darwin, she got to her feet and began easing away. The sound of renewed struggle made her stop and look again, and she saw the big man smash his elbow into Darwin’s face, saw the way Darwin just sort of went down like an empty skin sack, and she knew he was dead. She’d seen enough dead people to recognize how they flopped, as if their bones had all of a sudden turned mushy.

She never had been able to depend on the dick-head, and now he’d gone and gotten himself killed.

Carefully, as silently as possible, she worked her way out of the woods. Twice there were really loud cracks and it scared the crap out of her until she figured out what had happened. Limbs were breaking off the damn trees. All around her, tree limbs were drooping
under the weight of the ice; one of them could come down on her, at any time. This shit was creepy.

When she reached the road, she was so relieved to be out of those damn woods that she forgot about the ice and tried to run. Her feet immediately went out from under her and she went down hard on her knees. The pain was excruciating. Niki ground out a few cuss words as she slowly stood. She remained bent over for a moment, rubbing her knees, until she thought she could walk again. This time she eased to the shoulder—what there was of it—where she had better traction, and continued uphill at a much slower pace.

The cold, the darkness, the keening wind, the creepy ice … all of it surrounded her, and she realized how alone she was, how horribly alone, with no one to turn to. Darwin hadn’t been much, but at least he’d been there. Now he was dead, because that big man was a murdering bastard. He was dead, she was alone, and she was outnumbered. On the up side, the Blazer belonged to her now. It wasn’t as if Darwin would be needing it again.

As she walked, Niki got more and more pissed. If it hadn’t been for that bitch Lorelei, Darwin might’ve won the fight, and instead of walking back to the house alone, she’d have Darwin beside her now. They’d get warm, do some meth to celebrate their victory, and maybe screw in Lorelei’s bed.

Ice pelted her face, and she didn’t like it. It was too fucking cold out here, and everything had gone
wrong. Everything! They should’ve just robbed the grocery store this afternoon and gotten the hell out of town. Nothing had gone right from the minute she’d seen Miss Lorelei Bitch in her fancy Mercedes.

She caught a wisp of a voice on the wind and turned around to look down the long, winding driveway. Lorelei and the big guy were behind her, walking back to what they probably thought was safety. For a moment she saw a flash of light, and then it was gone. Like her, they were keeping to the side of the road and staying in the dark.

An idea came to her, and slowly she began to smile, even as a gust of stinging wind caught her full in the face. If things turned out right, when she left here she’d be driving that Mercedes instead of Darwin’s piece-of-shit old Blazer, and those two would wish they’d never tangled with her … for a little while, anyway, then they’d never wish for anything again.

“As soon as we’re around this curve, we should see the lights,” Lolly said. Gabriel didn’t know if she was encouraging him, or herself. Laboriously they plodded forward, rounded the curve, and she stopped as she searched the darkness for the beacon of the porch light that would encourage them to keep going, to reach the warmth and safety of the house.

There was nothing. The darkness was absolute. “The power’s out,” she said thinly.

“Yeah.” Gabriel urged her forward, his arm literally
propelling her. He wasn’t surprised by the loss of electricity, though he wished they’d at least made it back before the lines went down. Going toward a warm, brightly lit house was more of a psychological lift than seeing nothing but darkness at the end of the road. He needed something besides his own strength to keep them going, because he was fast running out of it.

Lolly was slowing down, her steps becoming heavier and more laborious; both of them had lost enough coordination that he was concerned. The cold was sapping her strength. She was about to give out, but he couldn’t allow her to stop, not when they were so close to shelter. Shelter meant survival, and he couldn’t afford to think of anything else.

He steadied Lolly, made sure they continued to move forward, and at the same time kept an eye out for Niki, who from all he could tell was no less deadly than her friend had been. Without a gun, would she even try to take him on? Experience with meth addicts said she would. She might try to get past him, get to Lolly. Even an empty pistol could kill, if you hit someone in the vulnerable temple area with it. Lolly was protected by all the stuff she’d tied over her head, but that was no guarantee she couldn’t be hurt or killed.

Logically, Niki would realize she needed shelter just as much as they did. She might already be at the house, waiting for them. The electricity might not be off; she might have turned off the lights herself, so
she’d have the advantage of surprise. He couldn’t afford to assume she was either out in the cold, or inside the house; he had to expect anything, everything, and make no assumptions that could prove out wrong and catch him unprepared. Until Niki was accounted for, he couldn’t let his guard down.

The night continued to be punctuated by the sharp retorts of limbs and trees snapping. The sound wasn’t constant, but neither did it end. None of the trees closest to the road had fallen, not yet, but they would, and soon. For now the worst of the fall was deeper in the woods, where trees had been left untended for an eternity. At least the ones bordering the road had occasionally been trimmed.

“I don’t suppose there’s cut wood for the fireplace stacked by the back door,” he said, trying to distract Lolly, trying to encourage her to imagine the comfort that waited ahead.

“No wood,” she said, panting with the effort to keep going. He winced, kissing the dream of a fire good-bye, then she continued, “We converted to gas years ago.”

Even better. “Hallelujah. Gas stove, too?”

“Yes.”

“Water heater?”

“Uh-huh.”

That was a relief, a huge one. They’d have some means of getting warm, and could spend the night in relative comfort. “Not much farther to go, Lolly, and
we’ll have a roof over our heads, heat, even some food.”

“What if she’s there?” Lolly asked, terror in her voice. Obviously her thoughts had been running along the same lines as his.

Gabriel shrugged. He was outwardly calm, inwardly concerned. “If Niki’s there, I’ll handle it. I promise.”

She nodded in agreement, but didn’t seem to be entirely convinced. Who could blame her? Their situation wasn’t a good one, between the weather, the dark, and the nut-job who could come bursting without warning from out of the forest, or out of any closet or from under any bed.

Above them, a big engine abruptly roared to life.

Gabriel lifted his head at the sound. “Well, we know where Niki is,” he murmured.

Lolly drew closer to him. “Yeah.” She sounded nervous and wary.

Was Niki really stupid enough, or strung out enough, to try to drive down this hill? She wouldn’t be starting the Blazer just to get warm, when all she had to do was go in the house. Why give her position away like that?

The sound of the engine changed, and gears shifted. Headlamps came to life, cutting through the darkness, catching in its beams the almost ethereal mist and making it glow.

Niki smiled. The Blazer was coated with ice and just getting the door open had been a bitch, but she’d managed it. She was alone, she was out of bullets, but Lorelei Helton and her big guy with his stick didn’t stand a chance against her Blazer. She’d run them down like the dogs they were.

“For Darwin,” she said, getting teary at the memory of the miles they’d covered in this Blazer. Maybe he hadn’t been perfect; maybe he had cheated on her a few times. But through it all he’d been
hers
, and now he was gone. Darwin, gone. She couldn’t believe it.

She gunned the engine and headed toward the hill and the center of the narrow drive. The rear end of the Blazer immediately started sliding around and she fought with the wheel for control, which she gained, and lost, and gained again. At least she was headed in the right direction. She was barely out of the yard when the headlights picked out her targets, there on the side of the road. The two murderers stood side by side, close together, stupidly looking up the hill, looking at her. They didn’t realize what she had planned. They probably thought she was running away, that she was a coward who would give up and let them win, a coward who wouldn’t make them pay for what they’d done.

Then the big guy seemed to realize what she planned to do, because he bodily lifted Lorelei and leapt into the tree line with her. A bloody haze of rage rose in Niki’s vision. No fucking way was she going to miss them now, like a few trees could stop her.
They had to pay. They had to pay for killing Darwin; Lorelei had to pay for making a fool of her by going out a second-story window; she had to pay for leading Darwin on until he couldn’t think about anything except getting in her pants. She’d catch them and ram them up against a tree, pinning their bodies there, and she’d laugh while they died in agony. She wanted that. She wanted it as much as she wanted her next hit. She’d have her hit soon, in just a few minutes, as soon as she’d taken care of this little chore.