The Children and the Blood (8 page)

Except now he was going in the wrong direction.

And he couldn’t believe that little roadblock would slow them for long.

“Hey,” he called, looking swiftly to the older girl.

No response.

“Hey!”

The girl flinched, and then slowly, her eyes tracked over to him.

“Where’s this road go?” he asked, clenching the wheel as they flew around another turn.

Incrementally, her gaze turned to the darkness, and lingered there.

He grimaced. She wasn’t even seeing the road right now.

“Girl!” he called, trying to draw her back.

“I don’t know,” she answered numbly. She blinked a few times, and then her gaze dropped to her lap. Gently, she ran her fingers over her sister’s black hair.

He looked back at the road, trying not to swear.

The road crested and then began to descend in a rapid series of dips and curves. On the left side of the car, the foliage-covered mountainside disappeared, leaving only a steep drop-off. Slender trees clung to the cliff, the only real barrier between the car, the open air, and the shimmering river a terrifyingly long distance below.

He swallowed hard, focusing on staying on the road. A bit farther downhill, a wide bridge arched across the river. Under the starlight, the open space seemed cavernous, welcoming anyone chasing them to see their car from miles away. Taking a breath, he guided the sedan into the winding curves, fighting the urge to just floor it.

The tires hit ice.

Frantically, he cranked the wheel and hit the brakes, feeling them pulse madly beneath his feet. Skidding sideways, the sedan careened through the turn and caught a tree against the rear door. The impact whipped the frontend around hard, and in an instant, they slammed into the trees.

Someone was screaming. Sluggishly, he looked around. The girls were pressed against him and the noise was the ringing in his ears. But his face was warm. With a thick hand, he reached up, smearing the blood trickling down his cheek.

A small gash. Nothing bad. Debris from the rear window was all.

Details started to play back through his mind.

Blinking slowly, he looked to the left. All the side airbags had deployed, saving him from impaling his skull on the broken window, but he couldn’t see anything past the gaps between them. It was just black. And then he glanced up at the windshield.

The truth hit him like ice water.

They were resting against the trees. The tiny slivers of trees clinging to the sheer edge of the mountainside.

His head turned, though his body was afraid to move. The older girl raised her head and looked at him dazedly.

“Get out,” he said, his tone meticulously calm. “Climb out the passenger side right now.”

Her gaze moved to the windshield, to the trees, and then to the darkness. Already pale, her face lost every shred of color it still possessed.

Shaking her sister’s shoulder, she roused the child and then motioned jerkily for the girl to climb out over her. Trembling, the child obeyed.

“Come on,” the older girl said to him, her voice tense.

“Just go.”

She reached over, taking his hand and pulling him with her.

The car shuddered as they moved, and if he’d had anything left in his stomach, it would’ve risked coming back up right then. His arms felt like lead, and his body was thoroughly engaged in hating him for all he’d put it through. At the edge of the seat, the girl paused, waiting as he scooted over the console and inched toward her.

She yanked him with her as she fled the car. Stumbling out after her, he swallowed hard, while the car sagged farther into the creaking embrace of the trees.

“Thanks,” he said.

With a tiny nod, she stared at the car, and then her eyes went to the road.

He followed her gaze. A hundred yards ahead, the bridge waited, its broad expanse practically glowing beneath the starlight. It’d take forever to cross, and they’d be visible the whole time. And even if they reached the opposite side, without a car they’d still be sitting ducks for everyone chasing them down this road.

Which left heading up.

He glanced at the mountainside, his eyes tracing the treacherous path to the top. If they could reach that, and the damned cell phone started working, maybe they could hide long enough for help to arrive.

Taking a breath, he reached carefully back into the car. The girl made an incredulous noise, and then stared at him like he was insane when he eased back out.

He held up the cell phone and gun. “Come on,” he said, walking past her toward the slope with much more composure than he felt.

Gripping her sister’s hand, she followed.

“Who are you?” she asked quietly.

He glanced back. “Cole.” It wasn’t an explanation. It wasn’t even much of an answer, honestly. But the truth was complicated, and he couldn’t begin to think of what else to say.

Her brow furrowed. “Okay.” A pause. “I’m Ashley.”

They reached the side of the road and the conversation died.

Tucking the phone into his pocket and the gun into the back of his jeans, he headed for the first of the fallen rocks dotting the mountainside. Hoisting himself up, he grimaced against the protests raised by every muscle he owned. Behind him, Ashley boosted her sister onto the rocks, and then pulled herself up after them.

Moss carpeted the boulders protruding from the slope, threatening to dislodge him from every inch of height he gained. Scraggly bushes clung to scraps of soil beneath trees twisting at awkward angles toward the sky. The road grew more obscured as they climbed, and soon nothing of it was visible beyond the brush.

At the first level area, he turned and grabbed the younger girl, pulling her up to his side. Blue eyes like a moonlit pool stared up at him from beneath a mop of jet black hair, and then dropped worriedly away to find her sister. Gripping the rocks determinedly, Ashley hauled herself over the edge and then took the little girl’s hand.

He glanced around. Forest surrounded them, but farther on, he could see the mountain continuing to rise. He let out a breath, energy draining at the prospect of more climbing.

Tires screeched to a halt on the road. Doors slammed. A voice, muffled and angry, snarled orders and, a heartbeat later, a car sped away.

Ashley’s eyes found his, and he could see her shaking.

Rustles carried from the bushes below.

The men had split up and they were climbing. Fast.

He scooped the child into his arms and took off through the forest with Ashley a step behind.

The tree cover broke ahead of them. For fifty yards, a sparsely wooded plateau stretched across the mountainside, the product of falling rocks barreling through the forest in an old avalanche. Without pausing, he and Ashley tore across the distance, racing for the densely packed trees on the far side.

A gunshot shattered the silence.

Ashley screamed.

Skidding on the dirt, Cole turned. Ashley lay on the ground, clutching her leg as blood soaked her jeans. In his arms, the younger girl twisted, fighting to return to her sister.

His grip on the child tightened as his gaze went to the forest. Black-clad men emerged between the trees, and one of them was glowing.

He recognized Reece and his blood went cold. Keller was nowhere to be seen.

Frantically, Ashley fumbled a knife from her pocket and then flicked it open, pointing it at the men as she struggled to rise.

“Run!” she shouted at Cole.

He ignored her, yanking out the gun. “Get away from her!” he yelled, clutching the little girl with one arm as he aimed the weapon at the men.

He felt the gunshot before he heard it.

Pain tore through his shoulder. He stumbled back.

And then there was only air.

The little girl screamed as they fell into the night.

*****

The bullet flew past her and she heard Lily scream. Spinning around, she saw the boy stumble, agony twisting his face.

And then they were gone.

Ashley stared.

Lily was gone.

She flinched as the cries cut off. With a gasp, she pushed away from the ground and ran for the cliff. Lily couldn’t have fallen. Lily couldn’t have…

Her leg gave out beneath her in an explosion of pain and she crashed down, hands skidding across the dirt and the knife flying away to clatter against a boulder. Eyes locked on the space where the boy had stood, she scrambled at the soil, hauling herself toward the ledge.

Hands grabbed her, dragging her backward and shoving her down till her face smashed into the dirt. Wrenching her arms behind her, they crushed a knee into her back and shouted for her to remain still.

A cry tore from her throat as she tried to fight.

Lily couldn’t…

A fist came out of nowhere. Slamming her face with a dazzling display of red and white light, it drove her back to the ground, and she couldn’t do anything but struggle to breathe around the pain. Tears burned in her eyes, her head rang, and her cheekbone felt shattered. Choking, she opened an eye, staring through a blurry haze toward the cliff.

Men surrounded her. At the edge of the ravine, a few stood, and amid the ringing in her ears, their words surfaced slowly.

“What the hell were you thinking?” one snapped, glaring at his burly companion.

The other man shrugged, an impatiently defensive look on his sweaty face. “What? Kid pulled a gun on me. Besides, Brogan said we only needed one.”

Looking at him as though he was insane, the first man snarled disgustedly and then turned away, pulling out his cell. “Get me Brogan,” he barked into the phone. He paused. “Well then, dammit, find Simeon!”

Ashley stared, their words spinning in her mind. Only needed one. Lily was… and her dad… and Jonathan… and Rose… these men had… she didn’t even know why…

And all because they’d only needed one of them to survive.

As though feeling the pressure of her gaze, the burly man glanced back, and a smirk twisted his face at the sight of her. Nonchalantly, he crossed the distance to her side.

Bending down, he wrapped his fingers into her hair, pulling her head away from the ground. “You got a problem with me, brat?” he snickered. “Do something about it.”

Sharply, he shoved her face deeper into the dirt, sending pain surging through her cheek. Laughing, he straightened and then clapped the man holding her on the shoulder before sauntering away.

She couldn’t breathe. Trembling shook her and she couldn’t stop it. Somewhere inside, emotions welled up, superseding one another in tumbling waves. Grief gave way to anguish, gave way to agony, gave way to searing pain…

Gave way to rage.

Burning, twisting, seething rage. From deep inside it rose like magma from the heart of the earth, roaring to the surface and tearing her body apart as it came.

They’d hurt Lily.

They’d destroyed everything.

Because they’d only needed one.

Just one.

Her eyes found the burly man. She watched him turn back toward her.

And then the world exploded in flame.

*****

The ground hit him hard.

Crashing onto his back on the rock, Cole felt the air rush from his chest, and pain nearly blinded him. A few inches away, the little girl slammed down, her screams ending as though severed by a knife.

Gasping, he blinked hard, trying to see the girl past the red fog in his eyes.

Her hand found his.

The haze pulled back. He glanced behind him.

He lay an inch from the abyss, on a tiny protrusion of rock barely a few feet wide. An overhang of rock covered part of the ledge, and without thinking, he gripped the girl’s hand and rolled to his feet, heading for the negligible cover.

Pain went off like a firecracker inside his shoulder.

Sucking air through his teeth, he flung himself beneath the overhang, dragging the little girl with him. Together, they tumbled into the back wall, hitting rocky outcroppings and dried roots as they landed.

The girl whimpered, and quickly, he put his hand over her mouth to silence her. On the edge of the outcropping, he caught sight of his own blood, glimmering like a red beacon. Blanching, he drew his feet in as tightly as they would go and pulled the girl closer, waiting.

Pebbles scattered across the ledge, kicked down carelessly from above.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Reece.

His teeth were clenched so tight, they were about ready to break.

“What?” came the reply. “Kid pulled a gun on me. Besides, Brogan said we only needed one.”

The words made his brow furrow, jarring as they did against the idea that the men had been out to kill the girls. They didn’t care if the little girl was dead. They just wanted one of them alive. He could still call the cops. Ashley might stand a chance.

He heard Reece growl something inarticulate in response, and a heartbeat later, gravel crunched as footsteps moved off. Drawing a shuddering breath, Cole tried to focus on reaching the cell phone in his pocket a million miles away.

In his grasp, the little girl twisted. Her eyes flicked toward his shoulder worriedly before turning to the rock above them as though seeing through the mountain to her sister. Gritting her teeth, she pulled away from him and started crawling from beneath the overhang.

He could barely move to stop her. His arm felt useless and probably was. The blood soaking his shoulder was like ice, and the pain made it ridiculously hard to think. Blinking, he swallowed and then struggled away from the rocks, reaching out with his good arm to draw her back.

A wave of fire blasted over the edge of the cliff.

With a shout, Cole crashed backward while trees, rocks, and screaming men flew into the night to tumble down into the river far below. Snagging the little girl with one hand, he yanked her back against him and stared.

The gout of flame died, disappearing into the sky in a cloud of black smoke. Fire crackled overhead, loud in the sudden silence.

They… he shivered, unable to form a coherent thought.

His gaze slid to the little girl.

“Ashe,” she whispered.