More Than Magic (28 page)

“I said
move
! Put those hands back up
now
! And get down there,” Boyd barked.

Nick glanced back. The fog seemed to have cleared in this area, although he imagined up this high that they were actually
in
the clouds producing all this snow. He could see now that they were standing on an incline that led down into a small clearing in front of a large rocky outcropping topped with trees.

They don’t know what to do with me, which means they’ve never killed anyone before. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be standing here breathing, waiting for Old Annie to—what? Pass judgment? Give permission? Weigh her options?

He needed to bring some pressure down on the right side of that scale, fast. Rolling his shoulders again, he lifted his hands, but not as high this time, and slid down into the thick leaf mulch that covered the ground beneath the snow. He thought he could see a well-worn path that led right up to the wall, but it might just be a trick of the light, or lack of light down here—everything was enveloped in white swirling mist.

Nick dropped his hands down just a fraction and turned to face Boyd.

“Hey—”

“I’m going to reach into my jacket pocket and pull out my ID, Boyd, because you still have a chance to avoid the death penalty if you get a good lawyer. And considering the amount of Smoky Mountain Magic you’ve been trafficking, you might just pull it off.”

Boyd’s face had gone almost as white as the snow falling behind him, something that should have pleased Nick, but really didn’t.

“However, if you shoot me and manage to kill me, you’re looking at a mandatory
Federal
death penalty. My name’s Nick McKenzie and I’m an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and I’d like to show you my ID.”

He lowered his hands another fraction.

“You’re—” Boyd couldn’t seem to find his voice.

“I am Special Agent Nick McKenzie of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration,” Nick repeated very slowly. “I was sent up here to investigate the source of the meth you’re producing. If you kill me, it’s a guaranteed Federal death penalty case. I’d like to show you my ID.”

Another voice joined in before Boyd could react. “Go right ahead and show us yer shiny badge, Mr. Revenuer Man. I’ll add it to the collection that my grandpa started back in Prohibition. It’ll look real nice.” Old Annie stood at the top of the incline with Mitch beside her. He carefully set down the box he had been carrying, then took a shotgun from her and helped her hobble down the incline, holding onto his arm and using her cane.

“Mrs. Taggart,” Nick said politely.

She cackled. “Hell, no one’s called me that fer years. Mrs. Taggart. That’s a hoot.” Once she reached the bottom, she hit Mitch in the head with her cane. The boy yelped with surprise and staggered back, rubbing at his ear.

“That’s fer disobeying the rules about where we put our trash. Taggarts don’t piss in their own well.”

Boyd stepped back when she rounded on him. The old woman didn’t seem to have any problem standing while handling that cane like she was swinging for the fences.

“You likely started all this by
not
settin’ that trash fire when you shoulda yesterday. I’ll bet that chemical stink got all up in Her Majesty’s woods.”

So, he hadn’t imagined it. He wondered if he should protest Grace’s involvement. Likely Annie would take that as an admission that he cared about Grace’s welfare, and that would be dangerous, no matter what happened here.

“As I was telling your—” Nick began.

“Oh, I heard you jes fine. Got the volume turned up on the hearing aids.” She laughed, a strange cackling sound, as she motioned to Mitch. “Get in there and get the guns and ammo. Leave the rest of it.”

“Aw hell, we’re not gonna—”

“Shut up. If brains was dynamite, you couldn’t blow yer nose!” Annie looked at Nick sadly. “
These
are the kind of sons that woman produced.”

Nick watched closely as Mitch seemed to disappear into the rock face. Apparently there was a sideways opening that was flush with the rocks. He heard the sound of a lock being opened echoing inside the rocks.

“Yep, that’s our little meth kitchen, Mr. Nosy-DEA man. My grandpap used to hide his still and his hooch here, long time back. Revenuers never could find it then neither. Mitch can’t make his way here by hisself. Even Boyd has trouble finding it most days.”

“I don’t,” Boyd whined.

“Hush. That cave’s damn useful for our purposes. One of the mountain’s secrets, I expect. Just kind of hides in plain sight. Even has nice vent holes in the roof and running water.” Annie looked thoughtful. “Seeing how helpful it’s been to someone or other since afore white folks showed up here, it’s a crying shame to plug it up for real and final, but Evan got us these nice explosives to play with and we been wanting to try ’em out.” She prodded the box up on the incline with her cane. “And since no one can find it now, they sure as hell won’t be able to find it when it’s all caved in on itself.”

Nick tried again. “The agency knows exactly where I am and—”
 

“Don’t say ‘You won’t get away with this’. Everybody says that on the TV and it ain’t true. I seen my grandpap get away with it, way back when. Right in there.” She stabbed her cane toward the cave. “Even when I was just a pup,
I
never had a problem finding this place. The mountain told me where it was.”

Nick frowned. The damn headache had started up again and he could have sworn her voice was slurring or echoing or something. Maybe it was the altitude. Did she just say the mountain talked to her?

Mitch emerged from the rocks with a duffel bag.

“Bring it here and open it up for me.”

“I left that walking stick. The one with the silver top. Did you want it too?”

Annie made a face and shook her head. “I swear. Somedays I’m pretty sure you ain’t got a drop of Taggart blood in ya.”

Boyd snickered and she pointed at him. “Neither of ya.”
 

Mitch just looked confused as he held the bag out to her.
 

Nick took the opportunity to lower his arms another notch.

“I’m not as stupid as these two. Just keep yer hands out where we can all see ’em,” Annie said, reaching into the bag to retrieve a gun holster—a brand new leather gun holster holding a pearl-handled stainless steel 9mm. He wondered briefly if she could shoot it without ending up on her backside.

It was one thing to wish for a quick death instead of a long, slow decline into oblivion. It was another to confront it. And after last night, after feeling more alive than he had in years, he wasn’t going to just let go without taking somebody with him. Dammit. He was going to see Grace again. And his mom and his Nan and Alison and tell them he loved them. And he was going to tell Grace—

“I’m sure you’re plannin’ on walkin’ in there real polite and nice, ’cause that’s the kinda man you are.” Annie was handling the 9mm like she had done it before, racking the slide to make sure it was loaded. He could have sworn he heard her muttering at him, but her lips weren’t moving.
 

“But I think the boys’ll carry you in, just to be fer certain.”

She pointed the gun at him, her hand shaking only a little.
 

Nick dove sideways. He slammed into the ground hard on his back and reached for his gun. Annie, eyes wide with surprise, snapped off a shot even as she stumbled sideways. Nick’s gut caught fire and his fingers suddenly felt like thick sausages, but he managed to fire a round in Annie’s direction just as someone fired a shotgun. He didn’t wait to see if he had managed to hit her, but started crab-crawling backwards into the rocks then fired two rounds in Mitch’s general direction when he had some cover. He would have preferred to nail Boyd, but his vision was already starting to blur.

“Hellfire and damnation! Didn’t ya search him?” Annie screeched. “Who knows what else he’s carryin’! Get in there and—”

There was more gunfire, and rocks splintered above him on the outcropping. He tried to push himself backward into the crevice faster, squeezing off a few more shots. It was only when he ran into the rocky dead end in front of the lab door that he looked down and saw the blood. Damn.

He had forgotten what it felt like to get shot. And that had been a leg wound. This felt like the damn bullet had ricocheted around inside him.
Shit shit shit.
He had to get somewhere safer before he lost enough blood to pass out right here.

Should’ve been wearing your other vest. The nice bullet-stopping one.

The edges of his vision started to go gray. He grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it on his face. The heat had ebbed into pounding pain now and his legs and arms felt numb and heavy.
Stay awake, McKenzie.

There was more gunfire and yelling. His head wasn’t clear enough to figure out why they were still shooting and yelling at him. He might manage to hit someone if they came around the rocks straight at him. But that was doubtful.

Dying in a hospital bed sounded real good about now.

Stop it, Nick! Remember, you want to see Grace again.
He shook his head to clear it and managed to focus on the door of the lab. The entire cave entrance, small as it was, had been boarded up a long time ago and a regular door set into the wall.
And your Nan and your mom and Alison—you want to see them all again.
A dim light glowed in the dark recesses.
And you want to see the Taggarts off Grace’s mountain and in a Federal pen.
Or dead. Dead would be good. The air that blew out was moist and oddly warm on his face, but damn, it smelled of meth, the stuff of his nightmares.
 

It can’t hurt you any more than it already has. Get in there. Move!

He gritted his teeth, willed strength back into his limbs, and rolled in the door.

Chapter Twelve

Grace discovered that everything really did seem to go in slow motion when horrible things were happening. But it was a strange slow motion. Some things stretched out forever, while others sped by too fast.

Nick threw himself down too slowly, but it surprised Old Annie, who stumbled sideways as she fired. Grace’s finger seemed to take eons to pull the trigger with Old Annie Taggart in her sights and Old Annie went to her knees with fluffy white holes in her stupid puffy coat.

Annie had shot Nick.

Grace saw the bloom of dark red at Nick’s waist—soaking through his clothes as he crawled for cover, shooting at where Annie had been, shooting at Mitch. Annie was behind cover now, but Mitch went down with a squeal.

Grace ran out of the trees where she had taken position—too damn far for her buckshot to do much damage. The closest cover was in the outcropping above them, but getting up there would have taken far too long.

Nick was crawling backwards toward the rocks, but he wasn’t moving fast enough and Boyd was taking aim.

Sliding to a stop in the snow, Grace took a shaky deep breath to steady her aim, and fired in Boyd’s direction.

Boyd flinched before he pulled the trigger. His slug ricocheted off the rocks. He spun around and looked up where she stood, bringing the shotgun to bear on her as she took fresh cover. Mitch had clambered back to his feet, running to his grandmother, who was up and leaning against the rocks. She could see blood on all of them, but couldn’t tell how badly they’d been hurt.

There was another shot from inside the rocks, then only the muffled echoes of the gunfight all around them.

Nick was safe behind the rocks. Probably in the cave. Still breathing. Still bleeding.

She couldn’t fight the three of them to get to him. But she couldn’t leave him there with all of them outside like that. If he passed out—

She heard Daniel’s worried voice from this morning.
“You both go missing in the storm, without a trace.”

Grace pulled the shotgun strap tightly over her shoulder, and lunged into the trees.
Oh, I’ll leave a trace all right.

“Get her!” Annie yelled at Boyd.

A slug struck a tree nearby, sending splinters and bark splattering in the snow.

She ran, not looking back. She could hear Boyd behind her, breathing hard, his feet thudding on the fresh snow.

Nick was shot. He was bleeding. He might be bleeding out on a cold cave floor with no one there to—

She stumbled and slid and nearly fell.
Focus, Grace.
She pushed off of a tree and looked around as she ran. She considered dropping the backpack, then thought better of it. She’d need the supplies in it. If she couldn’t make it to Nick with the pack—No, she didn’t want to think about that possibility.

Remember what you told Jamie. Nick will be fine.

It was snowing harder now. The snow that made it through the bare canopy hissed all around her. The forest was getting darker. She wondered what time it was. How long before the sheriff and his men arrived? How long before an ambulance could get up here in this weather?

“Princess!” Boyd called out between pants in an eerie sing-song. “
Come on
Princess.”
 

But underneath Boyd’s taunt was other music—the mountain’s music. A rhythm that she felt like a second heartbeat.