American Crow (30 page)

‘It certainly is, Jerry, it certainly
is,’ I repeated, hoping in vain that the sight of the inferno would erase the
image of Nancy’s brutal end there, as much as the slow and painful death of
Lyle Corrigan would when I finally got my hands on him...

Chapter Twenty-Nine

‘jackson’s hollow’

W
e landed in some pasture about a half a mile from the
hunting lodge. The pilot said it was the closest we could get before we hit
dense tree-cover. Corrigan, he explained, arranged it to get picked up from the
landing area as soon as he’d arrived, and then to be collected from there after
he’d completed his business.

And sometimes the pilot stayed if it was
just a brief visit when his boss’s business was purely physical with Tolley,
other times when he wanted to spend longer, the pilot flew back to the Red Rose
and waited for the call.

‘You got any rope?’ I pressed, feeling
the adrenalin pumping in my veins.

‘Yep, in the lock up at the back. What
you planning on doing, hanging the guy?’

‘No,’ I said cracking a smile, ‘I’m going
to tie you to a tree, Jerry, so that you don’t fly off.’

‘Mister, I’ve seen the same look in your
eyes as I’ve seen in Mr Corrigan’s, so I aint gunna mess with ya...’

I gave him one of my meaner stares, not
enjoying the comparison with a mindless sadist then nodded.

‘Let’s go...’

We jumped out and jogged over to a stand
of trees a couple of hundred metres away. I made the pilot sit down with his
back against one of them. Then I started to tie him to the trunk.

‘What I don’t get, is why someone of his
importance hasn’t built a helicopter pad right next to his retreat,’ I said
pulling the binding tight.

The pilot winced then looked up at me.

‘I asked him the same thing once. He told
me he wanted to keep it wild up there. Untouched…’

I raised an eyebrow at the hypocrisy then
stared down at the deflated figure slumped before me.

‘How long you planning on being up there,
mister, if you don’t mind me asking?’

‘As long as it takes, Jerry,’ I said
bringing the side of the gun down hard against his temple.

I checked his jacket for a knife and found
just a cell phone. A phone. Corrigan probably rang the pilot directly when he
wanted picking up. It might be useful...I stuffed it in my jacket then sprinted
hard across the field and jumped the fence, heading in the direction of the
lodge as the pilot had described on our way over.

I glanced skywards and saw that dawn was
fast approaching. I looked at my watch. I had perhaps another half hour of
semi-darkness at most to infiltrate the lodge before I became a sitting duck,
especially if Corrigan’s security were up there and armed to the teeth.

I checked the Colt, not quite believing
that the case had ended up like this, then carried on with renewed purpose, two
simple thoughts running through my mind - find the girl and confront Corrigan.
Anything less wouldn’t be enough...

I stumbled onto a more pronounced track
then weaved my way uphill through the forest until I saw a flicker of light
just about discernible through the tightly-packed trees. I slowed my pace as I
neared, then stared intently at the imposing mountain lodge looming in the
half-light, silhouetted against a gibbous moon that was nestling proudly on the
ridge behind it.

At the edge of the glade running to the
house, I went down on my haunches and eyed the scene more carefully. It was a sizeable
building constructed on huge stilts that thrust their way out of the
mountainside, and was capped by a trio of steep, high-pitched gabled roofs that
cut sharp triangles into the brooding Appalachian sky.

My gaze fell to the wooden porch running
all the way around it on the lower level, then up to the first floor balconies
situated beneath each apex. The middle set of glazed doors had their shutters
closed. A soft orange light was leaching out from underneath them... 

As if the occupants inside had sensed
something outside, they opened suddenly. I hit the ground. Corrigan came out on
the balcony dressed in just his dressing gown, phone in hand. He was obviously
taking a call from the Red Rose about the fire. Burning the house down had
given him an early warning. Not the smartest move, even though it had been
satisfying...

Now he was going to be calling Jerry to
take him right on back there to examine the ashes. I cursed myself quietly then
remembered I’d taken the pilot’s cell.

As if on cue, it rang loudly in my
pocket.

Hastily I pulled it out and answered.

‘Sir...’

‘Jerry, I need you to get down here as
fast as you can, the bloody ranch is on fire,’ Corrigan boomed.

‘Yes, sir,’ I said again, trying to
emulate the pilot’s voice as best I could.

‘How soon do you think you can get here?’

‘I’m already here, sir. Thought you might
need me…’

‘Good work, Jerry…Thank god I can rely on
someone to do something right. Hopefully there’ll be a home to return to by the
time we get back. I can’t leave anything for five seconds without some imbecile
fucking things up. I’ll be down in ten minutes...’

He clicked off and I watched him head
back inside, where a naked Tolley came briefly into view, sliding a dressing
gown over her lithe frame. She looked in good shape for her years, and far too
good for a monster like Corrigan...

I edged closer on my elbows and watched
bemused as she seemed to reassure him with a barrage of kisses as he finished
getting dressed. Then my gaze dropped to the now illuminated lower floor, where
a host of burly henchmen were pacing through the house gathering up their
belongings, preparing to leave at a moment’s notice.

I had to move fast and make a decision.
Corrigan was going to be ready to fly in a few minutes, and when he got to the
landing site and found Jerry all tied up, the shit was going to well and truly
hit the fan.

I melted back into the darkness. Then
when I was sufficiently far enough away ran hard towards the clearing with
everything I had left. Perhaps confronting Corrigan was the best way of finding
the girl anyway? If I had the tycoon cornered, then maybe I had a bargaining
chip to find out where he had Olivia holed up? If it turned out she was dead
already, then it didn’t matter. It was just me and him…

At the edge of the wood land I coughed up
some lung, then scaled the wire fence again and sprinted back to where I’d left
the pilot. As I approached I heard him moaning, beginning to come around. I
tapped him gently on the cheek with the back of my hand, hastening his return.

‘Wake up, Jerry. Wake up…’

He opened his eyes and tried to raise his
arms, then discovered quickly that he couldn’t. I cut the rope around him then
hauled him up, where he teetered groggily.

‘We’ve got to get back to the chopper and
fast.’

‘You want me to fly you somewhere else
now? You killed Mister C?’

‘No Jerry...he’s heading this way and is
expecting you to fly him back to the ranch. I need you back in the chopper,
hands on the controls with the blades turning, looking exactly like you’ve been
asked to do that, okay?’

‘Right…’ he said in a daze.

‘And if you are unwilling in any way, I’m
going to make sure the next bullet in this magazine has your name on it, you
understand? Now run…’

I shoved him in the flank with the gun,
cajoling him to run back to the helicopter, where he flopped heavily in the
seat then fumbled with his belt as if he were drunk.

I lay down in the long grass and called
out to him knowing time was short.

‘I want you to wait for Corrigan to get
in and for the jeeps to turn back before you take us up, okay? Then do it nice
and slow...’

‘Sure,’ he replied, looking
petrified.   

‘Does he usually take some of the
security guys on-board with him?’ I shouted as he started up the engines.

‘Sometimes...’

‘Well, I want you to tell him you’re
light on fuel if anyone else looks like they’re going to get in…Explain that
you don’t want to take the extra weight on board.’

‘Sure,’ he replied, his hand visibly
shaking on the cyclic.

‘And don’t do anything rash, Jerry, or
you’ll be the first to go down. Remember I’m just outside your fucking door...’

He looked over and nodded as two sets of
headlights morphed eerily from the darkness, then illuminated the field
brightly with their undulating beams.

I pressed myself flat in the long grass, gripping
the gun anxiously, waiting for Corrigan’s arrival; hoping Jerry would play his
part and take my threat seriously. Gradually the jeeps hammered their way
across the uneven ground until I could feel the earth vibrate beneath me as
they closed in.

I raised my head slightly and saw the
blades beginning to turn. Corrigan ran over and jumped in. For a few seconds,
he and Jerry looked deep in conversation. I tensed, waiting for the tycoon to
call for help. Finally the engines increased in thrust and began to roar ready
for take-off. It seemed as if Jerry had kept his end of the bargain...

The revolution of the blades neared their
peak as the jeeps started to pull away signalling Corrigan’s security was
satisfied that their boss had been safely transferred. Seizing my chance, I
rolled four or five metres onto the landing rail and gripped it like a monkey
as the main bulk of the chopper began to lift slowly in the air.

Fifty feet up, I looked down and watched
the jeeps head back towards the forest. At a hundred feet I slowly righted
myself, grabbed the vertical strut and glanced in the back window. Corrigan and
the pilot were still talking. The tycoon looked relaxed. Unaware…

I exhaled nervously my stomach churning,
then reached out tentatively for the rear-door handle with my right hand. The
chopper wobbled suddenly as if waiting for its chance to evict me. I teetered
and grabbed at the door desperately. Missed. Then started to fall backwards…

‘Fuck!’

I kicked out at the skid desperately just
as I was heading down and managed to hook my leg over it, then grimaced in
agony as I swung upside down like some half rate trapeze artist…The chopper
rose and fell again awkwardly, but this time I used the motion to launch myself
upwards and grab the skid again with both hands.

I exhaled in relief, righted myself
slowly, then climbed back up the rear vertical strut where I took a moment to
compose myself, waiting for my arsehole to head back down south.

When I was calm enough, I pulled out the
Colt, threw open the door and launched myself across the rear seat, the gun
trained on Corrigan. The tycoon twisted around at the intrusion, his stony face
moulding into one of complete shock when he absorbed who it was... 

‘What in the hell…’

I sat up, slammed the door shut and pointed
the automatic in his face.

‘Mr Blake…you are becoming tiresome in
the extreme,’ he said unflustered.

The pilot glanced around anxious for some
instructions.

‘Black Mountain, Jerry.’

He turned again in his seat and eyed me
nervously.

‘I, I don’t think we got enough fuel for
that, sir…’

‘I don’t care,’ I said matching
Corrigan’s stare.  

‘Why in the hell do you want to take us
there?’ he snapped as if he were in still control of the situation.

‘Because you love it so much…’ I said
with a cold smile, ‘Fly!’ I shouted at the pilot who was still hovering
indecisive above the landing area.

‘Sure thing!’ he said thrusting forwards
on the cyclic.

‘You know if you kill me, it won’t bring
her back,’ Corrigan said smartly, as if he were reliving the moment he’d
strangled Nancy and got some sort of kick out of it.

‘No…’ I said pressing the muzzle into his
chest, ‘But it will make
me
feel one hell of a lot better...’

‘But then you won’t find the girl you’re
looking for either, will you?’ he said smartly.

‘You reckon?’ I said, eyeing him with
utter disdain.

‘That’s what you came here for after all,
isn’t it? Just like the other two investigators who came down to snoop around?’

I remained silent, trying not to react,
Nancy’s soft features etched into my mind still.

‘It’s the only reason I came down here,
Corrigan...’ I said eventually.

‘I didn’t even know who the girl was,
until one of those awful private detectives gave up her name,’ Corrigan
announced casually, as if there wasn’t a gun pointing at him.

‘Really?’ I said not believing him.

‘You should have helped my men when you
had the chance. Maybe it wouldn’t have come to this? We could have found the
girl before things got serious, before she and her friends tried to break into
my ranch.’

I raised a contemptuous eyebrow.

‘But you wanted to talk to her before
that, Corrigan. You were worried about something else, weren’t you?’

I watched him squirm.

‘If outsiders start snooping around,
poking their noses into my operation, threatening my business, then I have to
act...