Page 21 of The King's Pawn
Fuck!
The rifle… Where was the pedo’s hunting rifle?!
I bolted toward the living room, heard the door blow open and slam against the wall, heard thethwumpof a muffled gunshot. The cabin’s wood walls splintered to my left, too close to my head. I veered right, flew into the bathroom, then slammed the door and locked it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” I hadn’t even gotten a look at the guy.
“You’re supposed to be dead, kid.”
Simon?FuckingSimon?!I spun on the spot, searching for something to use as a weapon, something heavy I could swing, anything. Towels, soap, toilet paper—fuck, my arm throbbed.
“That flimsy door isn’t going to stop me, so save us both some time and get out here.”
The window! I flicked the latches, heaved it open, and shivered in a blast of cold. What was it Killian had said, I’d freeze to death in under an hour? My odds outside were better than in.
“Why are you doing this?” I called, sounding weak as the words stuttered between chattering teeth.
I grasped the window frame and heaved my upper body through. Fuck, it was cold, and the window gap was real small…
“It’s not personal, I needed your father distracted and you were an easy target. But see, the whole Southie lie started to unravel. They got wind of it, told your father it was bullshit. Imagine that, Southies and Back Bays fucking talking, like we aren’t enemies now?” He laughed. “I was supposed to make a shit-ton of cash, but this bullshit with you made them twitchy, made them think I was setting ’em up. Then I got to wondering if Val was onto me. So, where the fuck was Killian, right? He’s the attack dog, was he about to tear into me? And you know what I find out? Nobody had seen Killian for days, not since he was given the kill order for Noah King. Then I’m thinking, what if Killian was always onto me from the get-go, and hedidn’tkillyou? What if he was setting me up? And here we are. Killian’s got you hidden away up here while he comes after me. He figured it out and told you all of it, didn’t he? You and him think you’re so fucking smart. Except, I got you now, and when he comes back, I’ll finish him too.”
It hadn’t been like that. Killianwouldhave killed me, if he hadn’t wanted to fuck me instead. We hadn’t known anything until we’d started talking. But now the wholekill Noah Kingshit made sense.
The bathroom door rattled. Stuck half out of the window, I wiggled my hips through, inch by inch. At least Simon liked the sound of his own voice. He could tell me his whole fucking life story, just so long as he stayed behind that door to tell it.
“Fucking open up!”
Just a bit more… I dangled upside down, reaching toward the ground. Blood dripped from my fingers. That was bad, wasn’t it? It was a lot of blood. And I couldn’t feel my left arm so much now.
The door banged again.Fuck, fuck, fuck.The window let go of my hips. I fell and crumpled in the snow, then scrambled to my feet and dashed for the tree line. It didn’t seem all that cold. It would be fine. I’d run for the road, and someone would pick me up.
Several inches of crushed snow cover hid divots and tree roots, trying to trip my every step. I stumbled on, wincing as pain twinged my arm. It was fine, just had to get to the road… Just find the road…
“You dumb fuck!” Simon hollered.
A shot pinged off a tree somewhere close by. I ran into the gloom, veering left and right around stark tree trunks. Snow clung to my shoes, my legs, weighing me down. Where was the fucking road?! It had to be here somewhere. Trees stood upright, like prison bars. Trees in every direction. No road.
It was here. It had to be.
“You’re dying out here, Noah! Like the piece of worthless shit you are. Give up now. Save us both this bullshit.”
His voice bounced through the trees, coming from all around. I didn’t know which way the cabin was, just knew to keep moving away from my own tracks in the snow. Tracks he’d follow. Fucking snow. My trail couldn’t have been more obvious if I were wearing a fucking neon sign.
Hurrying on, I stumbled around trees, fell over hidden divots, and dropped down a bank that had rushed up out of nowhere, coming to rest under a fallen tree by a half-frozen brook.
Fuck, everything felt heavy. I shivered so damn hard all my bones ached. But I needed to move, to walk down the brook, to hide my tracks.
I pushed off my ass, to my feet, and lurched into water so cold my ankles burned. It was fine, it was all fucking fine… I had to keep moving, just keep moving, and find the road.
Just find the road.
Just run.
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Killian
The car abandoned at the side of the road not far from the dirt track that led to the cabin had to be Simon’s. He might have arrived ten minutes ago, or two hours.