The Grudge (13 page)

“We’ll figure something out.” Devon squeezed her hand. “Once we trap him we’ll have the upper hand.”

“I hope so. I think I feel something crawling up my leg.” Alyson started to squirm around.

“It’s probably just your imagination. Lay still.”

“I have a black widow, or maybe even a tarantula, crawling up my leg and you tell me to lay still?”

“It’s too cold for either of those. Do you hear something?”

“A snowmobile. Darn; our trap must not have worked.”

“No, it sounds like it’s coming from down the hill behind us. Wait here.” Devon started to crawl out.

“Devon, wait. What if he just circled around and is coming back?”

“I doubt he would have had time to do that. I’ll check it out, then come right back. Now be quiet.”

Devon crawled out from under the deck and went in through the cabin. Alyson tried to listen, but she couldn’t hear anything except her own heartbeat. Eventually the sound of snowmobiles became louder. She could definitely hear several. It sounded like they were coming from both sides.

Where was Devon? He’d said he’d be right back. Right back was maybe a minute, two at the most. He’d been gone at least five. Alyson heard footsteps on the deck.

“Dev?” she called.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Bret was looking under the deck. “Come on out of there and maybe I won’t shoot you.”

“I can’t; I’m stuck.”
Come on, Dev. Where are you?

“I doubt that. Now be a good girl and come on out. I can shoot you from here, you know. The bullets from this gun will travel right through the decking and into your pretty little head.”

“Okay, I’m coming.”

Alyson crawled out and Bret grabbed her.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

“He’s not here. He went for help. I’m sure he’ll be back any minute with the police.”

“Why don’t I believe you? Maybe because there are no snowmobile tracks going down the hill toward the village. Your little diversion was inspired, though. I especially liked the use of the traps. If I hadn’t been ex-military and trained to watch where I step, you might have got me. Now where’s lover boy?” Brent shoved the gun in her back.

“I don’t know. Really. He told me to hide, that he was going for help.”

“You kids are really starting to grate my hide. Mark was my last one. If you hadn’t stuck your nose in where it didn’t belong I’d be on my way out of the country by now.”

“How? The roads are closed.”

“Didn’t you hear? They opened them. After I finish off you and lover boy I’m outta here. Heard Mexico’s nice this time of year, and a whole lot warmer. Then again, maybe I’ll take you along. I haven’t had a pretty young thing to warm my bed in quite a while.”

“Thanks, but I’d rather die. Why’d you do it? Why’d you kill all your friends? They served in the war with you. Mario got you a job when you got out. They were like family and you killed them.”

“They used me. They set me up and made me the scapegoat. We were all in it together, but I was the only one to end up in some damn psychiatric hospital for five years.”

“The article I read said you were the only one to fire on the family.”

“I was following orders. I couldn’t help it if the higher-ups got the wrong intel. Someone tells me to shoot, I shoot. If the others were so innocent why didn’t any of them try to stop me? They stood by and watched me do all the dirty work, and then they turned on me to save their own hides.”

“I guess I see your point. Still, killing them seems a bit extreme.”

“Do you have any idea how they treat you in those psycho wards? Killing them was nothing compared to what I had to endure all those years. I was a good soldier with a promising future, but they took it all away from me. All they had to do was testify that the people had guns, that they were aggressive and we acted in self-defense. All they had to do was back me up and we all would have gotten out of there with honorable discharges. We were a team; they should have had my back. Instead, they deserted me. They all went home and left me to waste away in that pit of a facility. Marines don’t leave team members behind. It’s the first rule of combat. They violated that rule. They deserved to die.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Enough of the sweet talk. Get inside. Let’s see if we can’t find your boyfriend. I’m really anxious to tie up my loose ends and get started south.”

Alyson walked inside with the gun to her back. Where was Devon? He must have seen what was happening. There weren’t a lot of places to hide. Brent was sure to find him.

Suddenly a log came flying through the air and hit Brent in the head. Brent stumbled and Devon hit him from behind, knocking the gun out of his hand. Alyson grabbed the gun while Devon and Brent wrestled on the floor. Alyson aimed the gun in the air and pulled the trigger.

Both men stopped fighting when the ceiling exploded above them.

“Get up and put your hands behind your back,” Alyson demanded.

“You may as well kill me ’cause there’s no way I’m going quietly.” Brent got up and started toward Alyson. She pulled the trigger and he crumpled to the floor.

Devon rushed over and took the gun from Alyson’s shaking hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Is he dead?”

Devon felt for a pulse. “No, he’s alive. The security patrol is on the way up the hill. I saw them earlier. They should be here any minute.”

“Good. I’m feeling a little dizzy. I think I should sit down. Maybe you should tie him up or something.”

“Yeah, maybe I should.”

The security patrol showed up ten minutes later. They applied emergency treatment to Brent’s wound and called for a chopper to evacuate him. Alyson and Devon caught a ride with the chopper back to the resort.

“Oh my God, I was so worried.” Mac was strangling Alyson as she cried into her hair. “You should never have gone off on your own. You could have been killed. What were you thinking?”

“It’s okay. I’m fine. We’re both fine.”

“I thought you were dead. Do you have any idea how it feels to wonder if your best friend is dead or alive?”

“Actually, I do. I’m sorry I put you through all that.”

Trevor grabbed Alyson and hugged her until it felt like her ribs were going to break. “I am so going to kill you. What were you thinking? You could have died up there on that mountain.”

“Me dead? Nah. You know me; I’m the resilient type. It takes a lot more than one psycho killer to put me in the ground. Besides, I had Devon. He was great. Where is he anyway?”

“I don’t know. I saw him come in, but then he went upstairs. I haven’t seen him since.”

Alyson took Mac’s hand in one of hers and Trevor’s in the other. “I’m truly sorry for what I put you through. I guess we didn’t think everything through. When we found out about Mark our only thought was to try to warn him before it was too late. I guess the whole thing was for nothing, though.”

“No, you did save his life,” Mac informed her. “Eli’s dad got Devon’s message. The security team got to him before he died. He’s in the hospital, but he’s going to be fine.”

“You’re kidding. He lived through that? I saw the mountain of snow. I don’t see how anyone could have survived that.”

“Mark’s a professional. He knew what to do. By the time the security team got to him he had already managed to send a ski pole through to the surface. They actually got him out pretty fast.”

“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Somehow knowing that our actions helped Mark makes me feel a whole lot better about the rest. We should tell Devon.”

“I’ll get him,” Trevor volunteered.

Devon walked downstairs a few minutes later with his suitcase in his hand.

“Are you going somewhere?” Eli asked.

“I decided to take that internship I’ve been thinking about. The chopper pilot said he’d give me a ride to the airport. I decided to take his offer. I still need to pack and arrange for temporary housing.”

“Are you sure?” Eli asked. “The New Year’s Eve party is tonight. I thought you were looking forward to going.”

“I was, but I decided this was more important. There will be other parties; this internship is important for my career. By the way, I heard about Mark. I’m really glad he’s okay. I’m glad we all are.”

“Okay. I guess we’ll hook up when we get back.”

“Yeah. We’ll hook up.”

Devon shook Trevor and Eli’s hands, he gave Andi and Mac a hug, and then kissed Alyson on the top of the head. The chopper was waiting for him at the launch pad. Trevor and Eli volunteered to drive him over to it. Andi decided to go along, then have them drop her at home on their way back.

Trevor and Eli went outside, leaving Mac and Alyson alone.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Mac sat down on the sofa next to Alyson.

“Talk about what?”

“You and Devon. Something must have happened for him to just up and leave like that. I mean, we’re all leaving in a few days and all of a sudden there’s all this urgency to get back.”

“Nothing happened.”

“Alyson, you’re my best friend. I’m your best friend. You can tell me.”

“Things just got intense while we were gone.”

“Of course they got intense. Some psycho lunatic tried to kill you.”

“That’s not what I mean. When we were at the cabin things got … intimate.”

“Oh.”

“Not that kind of intimate. More like emotionally intimate. We talked about a lot of things that we’d never talked about before. Personal things about who we were and where we came from and what we wanted out of life. Stuff like that.”

“You told him about Amanda?” Mac asked.

“No. I couldn’t. That’s the problem; here we were in this intimate situation, sharing our dreams and memories, and I couldn’t tell him anything real about myself. I think he’s falling in love with me. There were things he said that kind of led to that conclusion.”

“Do you love him back?”

“I don’t know. Maybe if I could. But I can’t. We’ve discussed this before; I can never tell him who I am.”

“Devon seems pretty trustworthy.”

“It’s not that. By telling him I’d be putting him in danger. I never should have told you. I worry every day that your knowledge of my past will someday come back to bite you. I could never live with myself if anything happened to any of you.”

“So you broke up with him?”

“Not exactly. He told me about the internship he was considering and I sort of pushed him into it. I have a feeling he was thinking about turning it down because of us. I couldn’t let him do that.”

“Yeah, I guess not. Can I do anything?”

“Honestly, I think I just need some sleep.”

“Okay. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

Alyson lay back on the couch and pulled the hand-quilted comforter over her. She let a single tear escape as she mourned what she could have had with Devon if things were different. As she dropped off to sleep she willed herself to dream about a happier time, when her life would once again be her own and she no longer had to hide from who she really was.

Books by Kathi Daley

Come for the murder, stay for the romance.

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