Far Country (61 page)

 David’s voice rose
slightly. “I’m through listening to you! Gracie was doing just fine without
him.  She’ll be fine without him again!”

           
“What has he done to you?” Kelly pleaded.  “I don’t understand any of
this!”

           
“He defiled my sister, and then he murdered her! Murdered her over five long
years! Do you know the hell he has put my family through?” David demanded,
looking down at Kelly.

           
“David, it was an accident!” Richard reprimanded his son. “You
know
it
was an accident! He would never have hurt your sister!”

           
“What do you know?” He bellowed his father. “He took my sister from me, and
then he stole Deborah and Beth! Now he’s stealing Gracie!” He waved the gun at
his father, emphasizing his point. “And you’re helping him, Dad! You are siding
with him against your own son! What do you think that does to me?”

           
A note of hysteria had entered his voice that was as frightening as his growled
threats. Desperately, Kelly sought to distract him.  “You're not making sense,
David! Deborah is not with Steve! She married Pete
Bergan
,
and it’s been years since the two of you broke up!”

           
“She followed Steve up here, didn’t she?” David sneered. “And she’d have had
him except he dumped her as soon as he found out she’d been with me!” His voice
dropped as he spat out, “Like I’d polluted her!”

           
And then his mood changed again and he laughed to himself. “But that’s all
right,” he continued knowingly, a wicked light in his eyes. “I paid him back
for Sarah and for Deborah.  I did at that…”

           
“Leave it, David!” Richard Bolton commanded sharply. David only smiled at his
father, daring him to try and stop him from saying more.

           
Kelly caught the look, and a horrible suspicion rose in her as she suddenly
recalled something he’d just said. 
He’s exceptionally hard to kill…
“What
did you do to Steve, David?” She demanded.

           
David’s eyes met Kelly’s and there was cold laughter in them as he recalled the
moment.  “That rope didn’t just break all by itself, did it?" He
answered her softly.

           
Richard groaned heavily, and Kelly’s eyes widened in horror. “You nearly killed
him!” She whispered, wondering how much Steve knew. Suddenly she realized that
he knew it all, and that was why he remained so wary of David, and so
protective of her around him.

           
“I meant to kill him!” David corrected her in exasperation. “Imagine my shock
when I came home to find him alive, and my own parents treating him like a long
lost son!”

           
He turned to his father. “You sicken me! After all I did to keep him away from
us! Now even you have turned against me!”

           
Richard took a careful step toward his son. “You lied to us, David!” He said in
a calm and reasonable voice. “We didn’t turn against you, we righted the wrong
you’d done us all! We quit believing your lies,” he said quietly.

           
“What about the lies he told about me!” David demanded furiously. “What about
those stories he made up about that girl, Beth?  He got me sent away
because of her!”

           
Richard took another slow step closer to David. “They weren’t lies, David. I
went to see Beth Stewart. It was Heather all over again.”

           
“It was lies!” David exploded. “Steve turned them all against me! They all
lied. You’re believing Steve Williams over the word of your own son!”

           
“Then deal with me, David,” Richard challenged him. “Kelly isn’t important to
you. Let her go and we will talk”

           
David laughed at the suggestion. “After the way she acted at the Christmas
party? I caught her making out with him in the spare bedroom! He used her to
mock me, and she let him!”

           
“You’re wrong, David!” Kelly tried to tell him again. “Steve and I have been
seeing each other for months. He just didn’t want you to know about it! He was
always afraid that you’d do something violent if you found out!”

           
“Violent?” David’s voice was soft, and quiet. His eyes half closed and his lips
turned up in a ghost of a smile. “He was right, wasn’t he?”  David lifted
his gun and slowly took aim toward the distant reception line. Pete and Deborah
were laughing. They were holding hands, chatting with the few remaining guests,
anticipating the night of celebration and a lifetime to grow old in.

           
The red laser sight settled on an area just below Pete’s rib cage. “Belly
wounds are deadly,” he informed her. “Slow death, if done right.  They’ll even
have time to say good-bye.”

           
Kelly could not seem to move. She watched him take aim and slowly squeeze the
trigger.

           
“David! No!” At the last second Richard lunged forward, shoving his son off
balance. David staggered just as the bullet released from the muzzle. Kelly
stared in terror toward her friends, hoping for a miracle, praying that David
had missed. But then she saw Pete stiffen, his face suddenly going blank with
confusion. Deborah paused in her conversation as she felt Pete go rigid beside
her. Slowly he collapsed on the rocks. Deborah’s scream filled the air and was
taken up by the wedding party and guests alike.

           
David cursed and turned on his father. “You almost ruined my aim!” He shrieked.
He raised his gun high and swung it down into Richard’s face like a mallet.
Richard, too, crumpled silently to the ground.

           
Kelly screamed and tried to go to Mr. Bolton, but David still had her wrist
clamped in his huge hand. He yanked her back to his side. “Come on, before they
figure out where the shot came from!”

           
He raced through the trees and cut down the slope that led back toward the main
trail. Kelly stumbled after him, blinded by her tears and out of breath from
weeping for her friends and Mr. Bolton. “Let me go!” She begged him miserably,
but he ignored her and he continued to stumble and slide down the steep
hillside, forcing her to keep pace with his strides.

           
At last they reached the base of the trail. On the level ground, David picked
up speed, striding around the massive boulder that jutted into the main trail.
He did not see Steve, or the thick branch that he held like a baseball bat
until it was too late.  Steve swung the branch hard, catching David full
in the face. David fell backward hitting the ground with a sickening thud - but
he wasn’t dead. He wasn’t even unconscious.  Even as she tumbled to the
ground at his side, she heard him moan and struggle to rise from the ground.

           
Dazed she crawled on her hands and knees, toward Steve, but he was yelling
something. She fought to focus on his words. “The gun!  Kelly, where’s the
gun?”

           
Galvanized, she scuttled to the side of the trail, scrabbling in the leaves and
mulch for some sign of the murder weapon.

           
Suddenly behind her she heard scuffling. She turned just in time to see David,
still in possession of the gun, take aim and fire at Steve’s retreating back.
Steve flung himself around the rock mass, and the shot ricocheted harmlessly
off the stone. Kelly lurched frantically to her feet, but before she managed to
travel five steps, David’s fingers closed on her hair and jerked her painfully
back to his side. She tried to pull away, but he was too strong. He yanked her
hair again, hard, and she cried out in agony as her scalp seemed to part from
her skull. “

           
“Don’t get any ideas about falling down and tripping me, either,” he threatened
her. “Or I
will
tear the hair out of your head!”

           
Kelly looked up at him through tear filled eyes, convinced that he meant every
word. Blood poured from David’s nose, and already the bridge between his eyes
was swelling and turning dark. A lesser man would still be on the ground. David
seemed to sense her thoughts and gave her a cold smile. “He’ll have to do worse
to keep me down,” he taunted her and gave her a shove. “Now walk,” he ordered.

           
Slowly they rounded the boulder, but Steve was nowhere to be seen. 
Desperately, Kelly’s eyes darted along the sides of the trail, but there was
not
hint of movement in the deepening twilight. The shadows
closed in around them.
He could be anywhere!
Kelly realized. 
Apparently, David thought so, too.  He twisted and turned, jerking Kelly’s
body in front of him like a shield.

           
The trailhead was deserted. A second truck had carried the older guests down
the graveled path, and the younger guests had already walked too far down the
trail to hear the scuffle behind them. Kelly was thankful for that. What could
they have done against the gun? Only the Wedding Bells Express was still parked
at the end of the trail, waiting to take the happy wedding party down the hill
to their reception.

           
 Reception? It would be a funeral march, now, she supposed, miserably.
Despite her own predicament, Kelly’s eyes welled with tears as she pictured
again the blank look of shock on Pete’s face as he slowly sank to the ground.
Oh
Pete!
  She cried out in her heart. 
Poor Deborah!

           
At last, David was satisfied that
they were not about to be attacked. They reached the waiting truck, and while
David waved the gun menacingly at all sides, he prodded Kelly to open the
driver’s side door.  “It’s locked!”  She told him, feeling a slight
sense of pleasure as he cursed furiously.  David fairly screamed in
frustration. 

           
“Who locks a truck on a mountaintop?” He raged, slamming his fist against the
glass. He cursed again as he pulled his hand back in agony, and slammed it up
against Kelly’s head to vent his fury. She fell to the ground, half stunned by
the blow. “Get me a rock!” He screamed at her.

           
“Coming up!”

           
Steve? 
Dazed as she was, Kelly heard Steve’s voice and her heart
leapt with
hope.            A rock
sailed through the air, just missing David’s head. Kelly ducked as a second
rock followed close behind the first. A hand clamped on her wrist, and jerked
her back to her feet. Once again, David thrust her between himself and the
trees, firing wildly in the direction the rocks had come from.

           
“Missed me again, David.”  Steve’s voice taunted from a spot thirty feet
or more from where David had been firing. David swung the pistol toward the
voice and fired three more times.

           
Kelly stood beside David in the middle of the open trailhead, barely able to
breathe in her terror for Steve’s safety. 
Had David hit him with his
wild shots? And if not, where was he?
  She could feel David’s body
tensing as he waited for the next assault.

           
“Come out!” He screamed losing patience at last.  He shoved Kelly forward
so that she stood an arm’s length in front of David. He waved the gun
menacingly in the air and called, “Come out now, or I’ll kill her right
here!”  As David turned his head to the left, another rock streaked from
the trees, catching him on the cheek. Caught off guard, David jerked away from
the stone and for a moment released his death grip on Kelly’s arm.

           
Steve appeared from behind a tree. “Run Kelly!” He urged.

           
But Kelly needed no prompting. She was already moving, running and stumbling
toward Steve. Less than twenty feet from the tree line she could see Steve’s
face.  His eyes suddenly bright with danger, his lips forming the word
“Slide!”

           
Like a baseball player reaching for home plate, Kelly threw herself forward and
landed painfully on the hard packed soil as a bullet whizzed over her head.
Ignoring the pain, she was up again, and moments later, she was past the
barrier fence and stumbling thankfully into the protection of the deep shadows
of the tall trees of the forest.

           
Kelly slumped over, grateful for the respite, her hands resting on her knees as
she fought to refill her lungs.  She could hear Steve yelling something,
but she couldn’t make out the words.  As she looked up, a bullet struck
the tree above her and she sprawled forward in the dead leaves of the forest
floor, realizing that she was still far from safe.  She groaned in
exhaustion but raised her head, looking for Steve, and then gasped as she saw
what he was doing. 

           
Steve was drawing David’s attention away from her, slipping from tree to tree,
deliberately presenting a tantalizing target for David’s gun! Even as she
watched, David fired again, and moments later, a red line appeared on Steve’s
arm ripping through his sports coat and white dress shirt. Steve grasped his
arm and grimaced in pain as blood flowed freely between his fingers.

           
For a moment he was caught off guard. Steve froze in full view of David. Kelly
watched in horror as David took aim again, but at the last instant a small red
body flashed from the mouth of the trailhead and bounded toward Steve, barking
happily and oblivious to the danger. 

           
Fiona’s unexpected intrusion startled David just enough to send his shot wildly
into the trees, missing Steve altogether. Steve immediately ducked back into
cover, and David saw he had missed the perfect shot. With a curse he adjusted
his aim and fired straight at the dog.  Fiona yelped in pain and surprise,
collapsing only a few feet from Steve. She whimpered pitifully, but she
struggled back to her feet, hesitating at the edge of the tree line, looking to
see where Steve had gone. Despite the danger, Steve crouched and called Fiona
into the safety of the trees. At the sound of his voice, she dashed into his
arms, quivering in fear and frantically licking his face. Moments later a
second shot spattered in the dirt at her feet and Fiona yelped again in
surprise and cowered closer to Steve. Briefly, Steve checked the confused and
bleeding pup. The bullet wound had sliced a path across her ribs, but it did
not appear to be too serious, he thought. Knowing there was nothing that he
could do for her here, Steve pointed down the trail and commanded, “Run, Fiona.
Go home! Go home now!” It was a command that she knew well, but she didn’t want
to leave her master. Confused, the dog hesitated, wanting to stay with Steve
and be comforted, but a third shot splintered the tree limb just inches from
her head.