The Hunter's Quarry by Mark West

Author:Mark West [West, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Keel rubbed his gloved hands together. Munro stood beside the Range Rover, deep in thought as she rubbed a cloth over the large crossbow she’d taken from the boot and assembled. Moonlight glinted off the crafted piece.

She smiled when she noticed him watching her.

“This is the hunter,” she said. “It belongs out here in all this space. The pistol’s only good for close-up work.”

“Let’s hope you don’t need to use it.”

“I’ll shoot to wound, I’m a professional.”

He knew she used the cleaning as a meditative act to keep her mind occupied. Carlisle, on the other hand, didn’t have anything to occupy him and his constant pacing from the people carrier to the Range Rover was starting to get annoying.

Keel glanced at his watch. The crew had been gone a little more than ten minutes and he’d expected to have heard something by now but he knew time could be elastic in the middle of the night in a place you didn’t know and the minutes stretched like one of Dali’s watches.

The Google map of the area showed a line of trees running from the house onto a wide field. A railway line cut across this and ran down to the A14 and followed the line of the carriageway. On the other side of the railway was a dense wood. If Rachel and Jack made it there then the hunt would be more difficult, so it was important to flush them out quickly.

All three radio handsets bleeped and Carlisle answered his.

“All three plots clear,” said Hatcher. “Both barns are locked tight, so I’ll come in.”

Carlisle glanced towards the farmhouse and worried the inside of his cheek. He looked at Keel.

“I’ve got a bad feeling,” he said.

Keel leaned against the Range Rover and folded his arms. “About the farmhouse?”

Carlisle nodded. “Stephens should have cleared it by now.”

* * *

Rachel’s adrenaline rush faded and she felt suddenly woozy. Her legs got heavy and she toppled sideways as her horizon shifted.

“Oh,” she gasped.

Jack was holding her hand and managed to keep her upright for long enough to lean her against the wall.

“You alright?” he said.

She saw it hit him too then. His expression went slack and he sat down heavily opposite her.

“Jesus,” he muttered. “The adrenaline’s worn off.”

“I feel fucking awful,” she muttered, and the fatigue was only part of it. “He wanted to hurt me, Jack. It was scary.”

“There was nothing else you could do.”

She massaged her neck with a hand that didn’t feel properly hers. Pins and needles raced through her fingers.

“I killed him,” she said and her voice cracked. She took a deep breath and let it out shakily.

“It’s not that simple,” he said.

She looked at her fingers as she flicked them to try and clear the pins and needles. Was he right and, even if he was, could she possibly believe him?

“What happened?”

“He came at me. He wasn’t interested in anything I said and was going to do stuff to me before he dragged me out.”

Her voice shook again and she took another deep breath, letting it out slowly as she fought back tears.

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