The Hunt: ‘A great thriller...breathless all the way’ – LEE CHILD. T.J. Lebbon

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СКАЧАТЬ they’ll be hunting you.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘This is a hunt. You’re the prey.’

      He shook his head, trying to make sense of anything she was saying. That distance he’d felt back at the house – drawing him back from events, allowing him to react without going mad – suddenly seemed shakier than ever, and fear flooded in once more. His head still throbbed. A cool, sharp pain pulsed across his temple where Rose had hit him, and just thinking of that assault made him feel sick. He’d never been attacked like that before. He felt sick.

      ‘The Trail provide people for rich clients to hunt.’

      ‘What, like chase down? Catch?’

      ‘Kill.’

      Chris shook his head. He couldn’t take it in. Kill?

      ‘It’s a trophy hunt,’ Rose went on. ‘Like with lions and elephant in Africa, except this is with people. You’re the target. There’ll be some fat rich fucks in that helicopter who’ve paid millions each to hunt and kill you. The Trail set it up, provide everything they need – training, weapons, backup and support. They ensure there’re no repercussions. Except I’ve changed their plans a little. This one was supposed to take place in Cardiff Bay and the docklands. The Trail would have steered you here and there, made sure you did all the right things. It’s set up, completely, and when they felt the time was right and everything was safe, they’d have engineered the kill. Cleared up the mess, sent everyone home. Big money.’

      ‘Big money. Money? You’re doing this for … ?’

      ‘I’m doing this because I escaped my hunt, and because of that the Trail murdered my family. And now I’m going to kill them. All of them. See? Understand?’

      ‘I can’t escape,’ Chris said softly.

      ‘No. But you can run. They know that, which is why they chose you. But by bringing you up here, into the wild, I’ve done you a favour. You have an advantage over the rich fat fucks now, and whatever the Trail had set up in Cardiff is useless to them. It’ll all last much longer.’

      ‘But my wife. My girls.’

      ‘Are safe while you’re still on the run.’

      Chris closed his eyes and tried to take it all in. It was impossible to digest, too huge to contemplate. Too unbelievable.

      ‘It’s a joke,’ he said. He even managed a small laugh. ‘A wind-up. Reality TV, or something. Derren Brown’s hypnotised me.’

      Rose said nothing. He saw the dried blood on her hands, remembered what she had done. That had all been real. Nothing like that could be faked, not without movie trickery. He’d been there to smell the blood, hear it hitting the ground, see the ragged mess of the man’s throat, see the impact of bullets.

      ‘It’s real,’ he muttered. Rose glanced across at him, then pointed.

      ‘There,’ she said. ‘By that spur of rock on the ridge. That’s where you get out. Hide for a bit, get ready. You’ll know when to head off.’

      ‘How?’

      ‘When they get there.’ She slammed on the brakes, turned to him. He thought perhaps she’d hand him the gun, but she didn’t. Maybe that would make things too easy for him.

      ‘You don’t give a shit about me,’ Chris said, and a glimmer of something passed across Rose’s face, an expression he could not identify. Then she smiled, and for the first time it seemed almost genuine.

      ‘There’s a phone in the rucksack. It has my number, only mine. I’ll do my best to look after you. But I’m going to be busy, and you have to look after yourself, too.’

      He could hear the helicopter now, rapidly coming closer. He stared at Rose. She wasn’t about to change her mind. Nothing was going to change, and Chris knew that he had to take action.

      ‘What happens to my family if they kill me?’

      ‘Usually they’re let go if the hunt’s successful.’

      ‘Usually? How many times—’

      ‘Out,’ Rose said. She touched the gun.

      ‘What, or you’ll shoot me?’ But he could see that she was getting edgy now, hand resting on the gear stick, foot caressing the gas pedal. Itching to go.

      Chris opened the door and stood from the car, hanging on to the metal for a moment as dizziness threatened to drop him. He slung the rucksack over one shoulder, and Rose threw the Adidas bag out at his feet. He was hoping she’d say something else to reassure him, or to help. But even before he could close the door the car skidded away, raking his legs with shards of gravel as it tailspun back onto the road and up towards the ridge. He saw her silhouette lean over and slam his door shut.

      Chris stood there swaying in the midday sun, cooled by the mountain breeze. He had never felt so far away, and so alone.

      The helicopter appeared to the north, higher up against one of the mountains, describing a gentle descent towards the ridge where the road disappeared. He couldn’t see the BMW right then, but he knew that Rose was accelerating up towards that ridge, too. They might just reach it at the same time. He wondered what would happen then.

      Hunt, he thought. That’s ridiculous. That’s crazy.

      Then the helicopter changed course, its shadow flitting and leaping down the mountain’s craggy side like some wild animal.

      Coming right for him.

       Chapter Eight

       holt

      Of course, he only wanted to fuck her.

      She couldn’t imagine why any man would show interest in her otherwise. She was a physical mess, an alcoholic, dirty, her hair now long again and knotted, clothes unkempt and worn through in several places. When she did look up from her feet it was to search for the next drink. She only saw as far as the morning after, and never took much notice of how hard that would be. She was a failure, a wreck, a hollow woman with a dead family and nothing left to live for. Existing was now simply a habit.

      There was before, a beautiful utopia of love and friendship, joy and pleasure, and a contented pride in everything her children did, every single day. And then there was after, a smoke- and booze-filled miasma of crippling, unbelievable grief. In between was the unbridgeable gap of her pursuit and their murder.

      How could anyone be attracted to what she had become?

      But he sat next to her at the small corner table all the same. He didn’t speak for a long time, just continued to drink from a smoked glass. He topped up from a bottle in his bag, and she liked that. His expression when he tipped the bottle against his glass made her smile. Smiling was СКАЧАТЬ