Double Dare by Michael Madigan

Author:Michael Madigan
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, suspense, thriller, amputate, amputee, adventure ranch, enemy, wildfire, military, assassin, mercenary, Dolores River Valley, San Juan Mountains, dare, whitewater rapids, cliffs, mountains, climbers, climbing, dare, fast-paced, Colorado, CO, adrenaline
Publisher: Adventure Publications (Perseus)
Published: 2013-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

“It only hurts,” Cutter smiled, for what seemed like the one-hundredth time that a staff member stopped by the porch to check on him, “when I move anything.”

By the next day everyone at Double Dare knew that the Boss and Maggie had both fallen somewhere near the river and were busted up. They’d live, but neither would be laughing or barking out loud for a while.

The town doc checked out Cutter and diagnosed him as having a severely bruised kidney, bruised lower back muscles and a cracked rib. The purple-red contusions and surface abrasions were so extensive, though, he wondered aloud how they could result from a simple fall.

“It’s a mystery,” Cutter agreed, tight-lipped.

As in many small rural towns, the local MD was a practitioner of true general medicine, and he examined Maggie on the same visit to the ranch, on the same table. Vuko’s kick had cracked two of the Aussie’s ribs, but she didn’t seem to have suffered any internal injuries. Cutter knew that if the dog hadn’t treated Vuko’s hand as if it were a chew-toy, he would have suffered much more damage.

Three days later, Cutter was tired of retelling the story he had hastily made up. Something about getting tangled up with each other climbing out of the truck cab at the river, Cutter skipping his back off the door jam and then falling on the dog. There was no point in telling anyone about the fight. It would only launch Grateful Bobby on a seek-and-destroy mission from which no one could call him back.

Cutter may have looked incapacitated, sitting in one of the willow rockers as the last hummingbirds of the season whirred from one feeder to another on the porch. But for the first time since Vuko reappeared, Cutter felt like he held some of the cards. He knew secrets now he didn’t know a few weeks ago. For the first time, he possessed the beginnings of a strategy. For the first time, he felt like he was in The Game.

Cutter’s satellite phone buzzed at his side.

“Cutter,” said Michael Antonini, “I found Nicole.”

“Where? How?”

“She’s a stripper at the Diamond Cabaret in Denver. And the reason she disappeared eight years ago? Vuko sent his goons to the hospital with an offer of twenty thousand dollars if she didn’t press charges. She just went away.”

The news stunned Cutter. But it fell in place with what Vuko had let slip during the fight.

“I ran into Vuko a couple days ago. Literally.”

“I heard you had an ‘accident.’ Who looks worse?”

“It’s got to be me,” Cutter said, grimacing. “Michael, I’m convinced Vuko never intended to take us to court as a way to get Double Dare. He’s a psychopath. But he’s also educated and intelligent, and so obsessed with taking the ranch that he would never back off if he thought his lawsuit would do it. But yesterday, while he was busy kicking my ass, he said ‘Believe me: it won’t get to court.’ Just like that.” Cutter could still feel the rank spittle on his face.

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