Chapter Forty-Three

Frank’s eyes widened and he froze, just for a moment, when he realized what he’d likely found.

Scout didn’t see it. By the time she looked back at Frank, he was progressing on down the wall as if nothing had happened.

Frank got to the end, removed the last book, and turned toward Scout. He could tell she’d not noticed that he’d found what they were searching for. He shrugged. "Nothing," he said, just a little too loudly. "I don’t think they’re back there."

Scout waved the gun toward the desk. "Try over there. See if those monitors come out of the wall."

Frank nodded and did as he was told. Now what do I do with this interesting little bit of information?

Kat’s hearing was hypersensitive by the time the faint sounds neared the location of the button that would expose them. She pressed her ear against the panel. The sounds seemed to pause there briefly, but then continued on. She faintly heard Frank’s voice and realized it had been he who had been removing the books. He told Scout he’d not found anything, yet she was fairly certain he had. What are you up to?

Kat remained where she was for several more minutes until it seemed the immediate threat had passed. She heard nothing more from the outer room. She kept the submachine gun with her but returned to Riley’s side.

"We need to be quiet now. Try to rest," she whispered as she sat down and put her arm around Riley.

Riley leaned into the crook of Kat’s shoulder and closed her eyes, letting her exhaustion overtake her.

Kat remained vigilant, the MP5 on the floor beside her.

As she drifted off, Riley thought about the life she’d had and what she wanted now. She wondered what else there was to Kat’s story. And what do you want, Kat, when we get out of this? We have so much to talk about, she wanted to say, but she was too far into sleep to speak.

Kat should have been plotting their escape, but her mind was preoccupied with Riley. There was still so much she hadn’t told her. Kat hadn’t admitted that much of what Garner initially had told her had been a lie. She hadn’t worked for the government. Not officially. She was one of a group of expendable, anonymous trained killers assigned to jobs that neither law enforcement nor the military could do.

Some of the money for Garner’s group surely came from government coffers, but she also got assignments that were paybacks. Hits financed by rich individuals who had scores to settle but couldn’t get their own hands dirty.

She’d taken the assignments until she’d felt she’d long paid her debt to Garner. Then she went freelance so she could make her own decisions on what jobs she would take. Only targets who were dangerous and unredeemable. People who had done things that earned them no mercy.

Garner had exploded when she told him her decision. His tirade and threats of retribution finally made her see that he was not the father figure she’d believed, but a manipulator who cared only about how her talents could be exploited. After she left his office that day, she dropped out of sight.

Apparently her former mentor had now decided to make good on his threats and make her an example to others who wanted to leave. The contract on her life was only a surprise because of its timing. More than five years had elapsed since she’d left Garner’s employ. Why now, Evan?

Kat’s attention was diverted by a muffled clatter from the other room. It had a discordant musicality to it, and she realized with a heartsick certainty that her prized cello had become the latest target of Scout’s rage.

By 5:00 a.m., Scout was ready to give in to exhaustion. She hadn’t slept in nearly two days. Her anger over having been outsmarted had initially kept her focused on the search for the two women. But she was struggling to keep her eyes open, and she couldn’t stop yawning. She needed sleep. She couldn’t afford to be careless.

Frank and Otter sat on the couch, having just completed a third search of the tunnel. Otter leaned back and closed his eyes. Frank eyed Scout warily, awaiting her next orders.

She stood with her back to the bookshelves, her head less than five feet from the button that would admit her to the hidden room.

Frank resisted the temptation to look toward the spot.

"I want you two to go outside and search for tracks. Get warm stuff on, you’ll be out there a while." She nodded toward the tunnel.

The men suited up, and Scout handed Otter a flashlight.

"Up there." She pointed toward the emergency exit with her gun.

He started climbing.

"I’ll keep an eye on the monitors," she called up to Otter as he exited the hatch. "Come back in two hours unless you find something earlier."

"All right."

Scout turned to Frank. "Go up and lock the hatch. You’re going out the other way."

He did as instructed.

When he returned, Scout motioned Frank toward the generator room. She punched in the code to open the outer door, shielding the panel from him so he would not know how to get back in. "Two hours." She handed him a flashlight and shut the door behind him.

She returned to the living room and went to the monitors. Both men were still in camera range near the exits, as though reluctant to wander far from the bunker. Scout didn’t think they’d find anything. She was convinced the two women were hiding somewhere inside. But the men’s absence would at least allow her to rest. Her hopes now hinged on the arrival of Katarzyna’s friend in less than six hours. Perhaps Kenny would be incentive enough for her quarry to come out of hiding.

Scout went into the bedroom and locked the door. She lay down on the bed for a short nap, gun in hand. If that doesn’t work, I know something else I bet will. Fire. She didn’t want to resort to it unless she had to. Scout wanted her enemy to know who she really was and how clever she had been. And she wanted the satisfaction of seeing Katarzyna’s face as she died.

Fire would be much too quick.

Frank and Otter spent several minutes checking around the exits before ranging farther with their flashlights. Neither worried about being able to find his way back. It had stopped snowing, and the tracks they made were easy to follow. Both remembered how to get from one exit to the other, so they worked their way toward each other.

Frank had no intention, at least not yet, of divulging where he believed Hunter was hiding. Still, his attitude toward Otter had softened somewhat since they had been chained together, and he wanted to see if the other man had any ideas.

Otter knew his chances of getting out of this were greatly increased if he and Frank worked together.

The two men were drawn to each other’s flashlight beams and met under the shelter of a large evergreen.

"Find anything?" Otter asked.

"Nothing. You?"

"Nah. I don’t think they got out. But damned if I can figure out where they went, either. Hunter’s got a hell of a hiding place." The cold air was helping Otter fight off the drowsiness that had threatened to overtake him in the bunker. "I’m worried about what Blondie’s gonna do when she accepts she ain’t going to find ’em. She’s nuts."

Frank nodded.

"And she’ll have no further use for us," Otter added.

"Yeah, I thought about that, too. Got any ideas?"

"I’d like to just take off right now," Otter said. "But I had a hard enough time getting here. Without a snowmobile and a path to follow, I don’t like our chances in this cold. I have to say this--Hunter picked a good spot to hide."

"Yeah," Frank answered. "I haven’t a clue how to get out of here either. And if we tried, Scout could track us down pretty easy if she wanted to."

"So that’s out," Otter agreed. "At least for now. I looked for a map while we were searching but didn’t find one. I did grab this." He pulled a large crescent wrench from the pocket of his coveralls. "I’ll hit her if I get a chance. But she’s been pretty careful."

"Yeah. I’ve been wondering if she sent us out here just to get rid of us. You don’t think she’ll keep us locked out, do you?" Frank asked.

"Who knows with that broad? I think we should look for a chance to jump her when we get back in. We could load up a couple of snowmobiles with food, water, and extra gas. It’ll be light soon. Easier to see where we’re going even if we don’t know what direction to take. We gotta hit a house or somethin’ eventually."

Frank nodded. "Okay. I’m with you." He thought it a reasonable plan if they could overpower Scout. But he would also look for a chance to use the information he had. He hoped Scout wasn’t even now rechecking the bookshelves, but he thought it unlikely.

The men split up and resumed their search of the woods around the bunker. At 7:00 a.m., as the sun was coming up, each man returned to the exit he’d used and waited to be let back in.

A half hour passed.

Then an hour.

Still no Scout.

Both men fidgeted impatiently, wondering whether she did indeed intend to leave them there outside in the cold to fend for themselves.

Scout awoke groggy. She glanced at her watch, surprised she had slept so deeply and so long. It was nearly 10:00, and Kenny was due in an hour. She stretched. Her stomach rumbled loudly. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten anything.

She went into the living room and glanced at the monitors. Frank leaned against the rock wall, waiting to be let back in. Otter was nowhere to be seen, but the area around the hatch was well trampled with footprints. She wondered whether he’d been dumb enough to take off, but decided it really didn’t matter.

She threaded her way through the books on the floor and made her way to the kitchen. A little breakfast, then she’d think about whether she had any further use for Frank.

Riley had napped, but fitfully. Her fears and anxiety kept her from truly restful sleep. She lay on her back on the floor, Kat’s lap her pillow.

Kat had forced herself to remain alert despite her overwhelming fatigue. The lack of any further noise from the room outside worried her. She couldn’t believe Scout would be content to just wait for her to show herself. Unless...Frank had told her where they were?

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30