"Nothing here," she said, rising. "He needs emergency surgery."
"Well, then," Baker said with a shark"s smile as he pointed the pistol at her. "I guess that makes you pretty d.a.m.n useless, doesn"t it?"
Alicia fought panic. How much did he know? She swallowed, searching for moisture.
"Not if you want to sell the broadcast power technology," she said.
"What"s that supposed to mean?"
"Because I"m the only one who can make it work."
She saw Baker"s eyes narrow as he stared at her. Her insides were heaving with grand mal shakes. She prayed they didn"t show.
"Yeah? Why should I believe that?"
How much does he know know? Had he seen the will? No... odds were against that But considering the Greenpeace clause in the will, he"d probably been told from the start not to hurt her. At least she hoped so. If she was wrong, her next words could buy her Thomas"s fate.
"You mean you weren"t told to treat me with kid gloves?"
She watched him consider that, then saw him lower the pistol.
"All right," he said. "We"ll find out what"s what after we finish off your boyfriend."
"He"s not my boyfriend."
"I guess not. Not the way he took off without you."
Alicia wondered about that. She"d been shocked to see him run rather than attack, but when she considered his chances of defeating three armed men, she couldn"t blame him. She just hoped he planned on coming back for her.
She realized with a start that she didn"t have to hope. She knew knew he"d be back. he"d be back.
She had to start believing in someone someone.
Suddenly she heard the rattle of gunfire from somewhere in the woods.
"Sounds like my guys have found your boy," Baker said with that grin. "I wouldn"t want to be in his shoes. Not even for all the money this stuff"s worth."
Another burst of gunfire.
"Listen," Baker said, his grin broadening. "It"s like music."
Jack hid behind a big oak. At least he thought it was an oak. All he knew for sure was that its trunk was about two feet across-barely enough to hide him-and bordered the deer trail. Jack held one of the lateral branches of a smaller tree growing between the big oak and the trail. He"d used his Swiss Army knife to trim most of the branch"s twigs, leaving only one-inch stubs jutting out like nails.
And now he waited, listening to Barlowe"s noisy approach along the trail.
He had a length of the ubiquitous vine coiled loosely about his left wrist, and the tree branch that had once stretched face-high across the trail bent back as far as he dared without snapping it off the trunk.
His knuckles looked blue from the cold, but his palms were sweating. Timing was everything here. A second too early or late and Jack would be following Yoshio into the Great Whatever.
And so he waited, letting the sounds get louder and closer, waited until he sensed that Barlowe was just about to step into view, then he let go and ducked back, loosening the loops of vine as he slid around the other side of the trunk.
Barlowe"s cry of pain and his sudden wild shooting were Jack"s signals to go. He leaped from the back side of the tree, landing directly behind Barlowe. The merc was stumbling back toward Jack, his left hand to his face, firing blindly with the Tec-9 in his right. Jack waited a heartbeat until Barlowe lowered his left hand, then looped a coil of the vine around the merc"s throat and yanked the startled man backward.
As he slammed Barlowe"s back against the big tree, he noticed blood running from his left eye. One of the twiglets Jack had left had found its mark. In hyperdrive now, Jack dropped one end of the vine, put the trunk between them, then reached around the other side and reclaimed the loose end.
He hauled back on the two ends of the vine, putting all his weight into the job. He couldn"t see Barlowe on the far side of the trunk, but Jack could hear his choking grunt as the vine garrote cut off his air. His legs thrashed frantically and he tried to fire his Tec backward, angling the muzzle around the trunk, but Jack simply moved to his left without loosening up on the vine. The two bursts Barlowe got off did little more than kick up wet leaves.
And then the shooting stopped, though the thrashing continued. That could mean only one thing: Barlowe had realized that his Tec-9 was not going to save his life. And Jack figured what he"d try next.
Quickly he twisted the two ends of the vine together so he could keep it taut with one hand. Then he stretched around to his right.
Just as he"d suspected, Barlowe was pulling his Special Forces knife from its scabbard. The wicked-looking saw-toothed Rambo blade gleamed in the light as Barlowe brought it up behind his head to saw at the vines.
"No you don"t," Jack said, and grabbed his wrist.
The struggle was a short one. Weakened by lack of air, Barlowe didn"t have the strength to pull free of Jack"s grip.
Finally, he sagged.
But Jack wasn"t about to release the vine. Barlowe could be playing possum.
Just then the bark on the trunk above Jack"s head exploded into stinging fragments to the rattling tune of a.s.sault weapon fire.
He ducked and turned. He spotted the other merc, Kenny, about fifty yards away, crashing toward him.
Kenny whooped and yelled. "Hey, Barlowe! What"re you shooting at? I found him! He"s over here! Yo, Barlowe! Over here!"
Jack released the vine and crawled around to Barlowe"s side of the tree. The merc"s face was blue-tinged, his eyes closed as his body sagged to its knees.
On the far side he could hear Kenny"s noisy progress, yelling and firing short bursts as he approached.
"Gotcha now, f.u.c.ker! Say your prayers, "cause you got about a minute to live. Hope you"re s.h.i.ttin" your pants, f.u.c.ker. Hey, yo, Barlowe! Where are you, man? You"re gonna miss the fun!"
"Barlowe"s right here," Jack whispered. "Waiting for you."
Jack grabbed Barlowe"s Tec-9 but its strap was wrapped and twisted around his arm. He yanked first, then tried to untangle it, and all the while he could hear Kenny crashing closer.
"Dammit!" he hissed as he fumbled for the strap release.
And then pain blazed through the front of Jack"s left thigh. For an instant he thought he"d been shot, then he looked down and saw Barlowe"s knife dropping out of a b.l.o.o.d.y slit in his jeans, and Barlowe staring up at him with the reddest whites Jack had ever seen.
And Kenny just on the other side of the tree.
Ignoring the pain in his leg as best he could, Jack hauled Barlowe to his feet-had to hand it to the guy, he was one tough, determined son of a b.i.t.c.h-and faced him toward Kenny"s sounds. As he held him up he wriggled his hand under the merc"s right arm, searching for the Tec-9"s grip.
Kenny arrived with his own Tec blazing, and Jack felt the jolting impact of the slugs tearing into Barlowe.
"Oh, Christ!" Kenny wailed as the shooting stopped. "Barlowe, what-?"
Jack couldn"t see Kenny, but he could imagine his expression. Jack"s questing finger found the trigger of Barlowe"s Tec then, and he pulled it. He had no idea where he was aiming, he simply started firing blind and wild, and hoped the clip wouldn"t run out.
He chanced a peek over Barlowe"s shoulder and saw Kenny stumbling backward, arms and eyes wide, his chest a b.l.o.o.d.y ruin.
Jack released Barlowe and his Tec, letting him fall forward. Both mercs. .h.i.t the ground about the same time.
And then Jack sagged against the big tree, clutching his b.l.o.o.d.y thigh. It hurt like h.e.l.l every time he moved his leg.
Just what I need, he thought.
But at least he was no longer the only unarmed man on the hill.
The gunfire had stopped.
"Well," Baker said, "that"s it for your boyfriend."
He leaned against the desk, his pistol still in his hand.
"You don"t know that," Alicia said.
She could not imagine Jack dead. He seemed too resourceful to be dead. But then, she"d only seen him playing his tricks. She"d never seen him in a gunfight. And no matter how good he was, how could he overcome two men armed with automatic weapons?
"I do know that," Baker said. "All that shooting can mean only one thing: They cornered him and had some fun with him. Probably shot up his legs first, then started moving around the rest of his body. By the time they were through, he was probably begging them to kill him."
Fearing she might vomit, Alicia turned away. Jack-Just Jack-dead. Add one more to the list of men dead because of her. She"d involved him in this. He"d come willingly, but still, if she"d just let it go, let Thomas have the d.a.m.n house, they"d all be alive, and she wouldn"t be trapped in the woods with these human monsters.
She heard a loud, celebratory whoop from somewhere outside the cabin.
Baker straightened and crossed the room, grinning.
"That"s Kenny. He"s a noisy son of a b.i.t.c.h."
Another whoop.
Baker stepped outside and stood with hands on hips, staring toward the tree line.
Jack trained Barlowe"s Tec-9 on the cabin door and let out a whoop, hoping he sounded enough like Kenny to draw Baker out.
He leaned against a tree trunk to take the weight off his left leg. The trees were smaller here and didn"t provide much cover. Hopefully he wouldn"t need it.
Off to his right, Yoshio"s body was a pale blotch among the weeds.
His leg throbbed and burned. He"d cinched the shoulder strap from the Tec above the wound, and that had slowed the bleeding, but it did nothing for the pain.
He whooped again.
Come on, Baker. Show your ugly face.
If he"d had a pistol, he"d have been sneaking up on the cabin now. But with only this Tec, no way he could risk charging inside and shooting. Not with Alicia in there. These d.a.m.n things were too inaccurate. No telling who he"d hit once he pulled the trigger.
And if he"d taken the time to limp to the car for the 9mm he"d stashed there, Baker would have figured something was wrong and be ready for him.
So it had to be this way. He only wished he was closer. Marksmanship had never been his strong point, and with a Tec-9 at this distance he"d have to rely far more on luck than skill.
Just then Baker stepped out into the open, looking around for Kenny. Jack pulled the Tec"s trigger and emptied the magazine at him.
The corner of the door above and to the right of Baker"s head dissolved into a cloud of splinters, and Baker dove headfirst back into the cabin.
Furious, Jack smashed the empty Tec against the tree and hurled it into the woods.
Now what? He had a feeling things were going to get really ugly now.
The explosion of gunfire had staggered Alicia. As Baker regained his feet after a flying leap into the cabin, Alicia stared at the ruined door, still shuddering and vibrating from the barrage it had absorbed, and wanted to cry with joy.
Somehow, some way, Jack was still alive. He"d not only survived, he"d come back.
"Kenny!" Baker was shouting. "Oh, Christ, he must"ve killed Kenny!"
She looked back at where Thomas lay. His pistol was just on the other side of him. If she could- Baker grabbed her arm and yanked her close. His breath was sour.
"Who is is he, G.o.ddammit? Where"d you find this guy?" he, G.o.ddammit? Where"d you find this guy?"
"His name"s Jack," she said. What could it matter if Baker knew that? "That"s all I know."
"Don"t give me that. There"s gotta be something going on between you two, otherwise he wouldn"t have come back."
"No. He gets a percentage of whatever this is worth."
Another truth, but Alicia had a feeling Jack would have come back no matter what the arrangement. Baker would never understand that, but a percentage was something he could buy.
He nodded. "Yeah, I guess I"d come back for that too."
He spun her around, grabbed a fistful of hair at the back of her head, and propelled her toward the door. Her scalp stung and burned from the rough treatment.
"You"re hurting me."
"You better hope that"s the worst of it, honey. Because we"re gonna see if you"re really as valuable as you say you are."
He positioned her in the doorway and half crouched behind her, peeking over her shoulder. She felt the cool metal of the muzzle of Baker"s pistol press against her temple. Down the slope, almost to the trees, lay a body. Alicia knew from its white shirt that it had to be Yoshio. She closed her eyes. Still another death.
Back inside the cabin, she heard Kemel moaning for a doctor.
"Hey, Jack!" Baker shouted. "Or whatever your name is. Come out where I can see you or your girlfriend gets it!"
"I"m not his-"
"Shut up!" he hissed, jamming the muzzle harder against her scalp. "Not a f.u.c.king word from you!"
And then she saw Jack, moving between the trees. He stopped and stared at them, but said nothing. Then slowly, deliberately, he raised his middle finger.