Guarding the Witness. Margaret Daley

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СКАЧАТЬ opened the door. “What about Mark?”

      Ducking down behind the counter, Arianna answered in a heavy voice, “Dead.”

      That was what he’d thought. With a head wound Mark hadn’t had a chance to get a shot off. And to get into the cabin they had to go through Kevin. A young marshal with only a year’s experience. Again he reminded himself to tamp down his emotions. Later he could mourn the dead. His only goal was to protect Arianna.

      “Lock this after I leave.” Dread at what he would find blanketed him as he slipped through the front door out onto the porch. Already the night sky started growing light as sunrise neared at four-thirty.

      No one was on the porch. Alert, every muscle taut with tension, Brody descended the steps and slinked toward the left side of the cabin. When he rounded the corner, a man plowed into him, sending him flying back. Brody managed to keep a grip on his gun even while his arms flung out. The impact with the ground caused the air to swoosh from him. The bulky assailant crushed him into the dirt, sitting on him, knees pinning down his arms and fists pounding into Brody’s upper body and face. Stars swam before Brody’s eyes. From deep inside him he drew on his reserve, fueled by a spurt of adrenaline. He was the only thing standing between Arianna and death.

      Between punches Brody sucked in a shallow breath, laced with the scent of sweat, then poured what strength he had into freeing one of his pinned arms. When he did, Brody cuffed the brute on the side of the head with his Glock. The man’s drive slowed. Brody struck him again with the butt of the weapon.

      His assailant growled and swiveled his upper body, grasping the hand that held the weapon. His attacker wrestled Brody for the gun, trying to twist his arm—possibly to break it. The Glock hovered between them. Brody focused all his will on an effort to regain control of the weapon. His chest burned with the lack of oxygen. The gun wavered inches from Brody, the barrel slowly turning toward him. A dark haze edged into his mind. Brody sent up a silent plea to God, and with a last burst of strength, he halted the Glock’s momentum, then he began turning the end toward his assailant’s torso.

      Brody pulled his finger around the trigger with the man’s hand still covering his. Brody stared into his attacker’s dark eyes as the bullet exploded from the weapon, striking his assailant’s chest. He jerked then slumped over, pinning Brody to the ground.

      His ears ringing, the scent of gunpowder filling his nostrils, he shoved the man off him and scrambled away, never taking his eyes off his attacker. In the dim light of predawn he felt for a pulse. Gone. He checked the man’s pockets for ID. There was none, but he found a switchblade with blood on it. Brody searched the area.

      What happened here? Where is Kevin?

      Tension stretched every nerve to beyond its limit. Rising, Brody kept scanning the terrain as he circled the cabin, using the shadows to cover his presence as much as possible. By the time he reached the porch again, he was even more confused by what had happened. Kevin was nowhere he could see, and he hadn’t encountered anyone or anything else suspicious.

      When he knocked on the door, he said, “It’s Brody.” He noticed the drapes over the window move, then a few seconds later the click on the lock sounded in the quiet. Too quiet. No birds tweeted. No howls of the wolves he’d heard earlier. The hairs on his nape stood up.

      How did the assailants arrive? Not by helicopter. He would have heard that. By four-wheel drive? By foot?

      The door swung open. Arianna took one look at him and dragged him inside. “I hope the other guy looks worse.”

      “He’s dead. I can’t find Kevin. At least he’s not near the cabin or in the open area.”

      “I almost came out when I heard the gunshot to check on you.”

      “What stopped you?”

      “Whether you believe it or not, I can follow orders. I figured if someone killed you, my best chance was in here, and if you got the jump on one of them, you’d be back. I was going to give you another five minutes before reassessing what I needed to do. In the meantime, I checked the pockets of these two. No identification on them. All they brought with them was their Wilson Combat revolvers and this.” She held her palm flat with a piece of paper on it. “A detailed map to this cabin.”

      “Great. They didn’t just stumble upon us.”

      “You thought they did?”

      “No, but I could dream they had and no one else knew about the cabin yet. At least until I could get you safely away from here.”

      Arianna’s mouth pinched into a frown as she stared at the nearest dead assailant. “As you know, we have to assume the worse. Did the guy outside have anything on him?”

      “He had a switchblade with blood on it and no ID.”

      Her gaze returned to his face. “No gun?”

      “In a holster at the small of his back under his jacket. Not the best place to draw quickly. I surprised him coming around the corner. We’re getting out of here.”

      “You’re not calling this in?”

      “No. Something isn’t right. How did these guys find us? Where’s Kevin?”

      “Do you think he’s dead, too, or that he let someone know I was here?”

      “Don’t know, and since I don’t, I can’t trust anyone until I know more. My job is to keep you alive to testify. I intend to do my job. Even more now. Rainwater has made this personal.” Brody strode into the kitchen and washed the blood off his hands and face. “Get one of the marshals’ duffel bags. Stuff what you think we can use in it. We don’t have transport out of here, so we’ll have to go on foot and find a place to camp. Bring food that is easy to carry. We won’t use a fire to cook.”

      “Yeah, too risky.”

      He gestured at his bloody clothes. “I’m changing and gathering what I can from the bedrooms. I imagine the ranger has a lot of what we may need for camping.”

      Arianna snapped her fingers. “Be right back.” She rushed down the hallway and returned a half minute later with her camera.

      “I don’t think this is a good time to take pictures of the wilderness.”

      She smiled. “Not the wilderness but these two animals. When we get back to Anchorage, I want to make sure we find out who they are and who they work for.”

      “That’s easy. Rainwater.”

      “But who they are might help us get Rainwater for a murder of a federal agent.”

      He covered the distance to the hall. “Are you sure you weren’t a cop before this?”

      “No, but when you protect others you learn things. Change and take care of those cuts or I will. There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom.”

      “Don’t have the time. I’ll do it later. I want to leave in ten minutes. We don’t know who else is out there and how long it will take them to realize these guys didn’t succeed. When they figure that out, they’ll come looking for us.”

      The thought there could be more than three sent to kill them spurred СКАЧАТЬ