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Authors: Matt Hilton
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merely grinned. Her scrutiny went back to me, and in particular my thighs. A dark patch stained the denim near my right knee.
‘Oh, God! I drooled all over you.’ She batted at the side of her face, embarrassed all to hell, as she sought to wipe away any incriminating evidence.
‘That’s a novelty for Hunter . . . women drooling over him.’
‘Glad you find it funny, Rink,’ I grumbled.
‘Now you know what it’s like to be me.’ He broke into a loud crack of laughter.
The joke helped bring any further embarrassment to a stop, for both of us. I shook my head in mock disbelief. ‘You’ll get used to Rink soon enough, Kirstie. He has this inflated impression of his looks. When I look at him I see a bulldog chewing a wasp, but some women seem to find the rough-and-ready look attractive.’
‘Don’t confuse “rough-and-ready” with “rugged”,’ Rink said, still laughing.
‘Or “rugged” with “conceited”?’
‘No harm in believing in yourself, brother,’ he countered.
To Kirstie I said, ‘That’s why he never wears a hat. He can’t find one big enough for his head.’
The banter was serving its purpose. It alleviated Kirstie’s embarrassment, but also pushed away the lingering memory of her dream. She tucked back her hair and reached for the cap that had fallen on the floor between my feet. As she leaned close I experienced a mild flutter of electricity that rode my body all the way to my throat, and my senses were filled with her closeness and the scent of her perfume. It was an intimate moment. Kirstie was staring at me, and I looked enquiringly.
‘You OK?’
‘You were in my dream.’
‘I was?’
‘Yes. But not like that.’ She gently shoved Rink’s shoulder with the heel of her palm. ‘I was being chased.’
‘By me?’
‘No . . . someone else . . .’ She didn’t expound, but I noted a flicker of horror dart across her features again. ‘But you were there. You were leading me to safety, but, well, I didn’t make it.’
‘Want to tell me who was chasing you?’
‘I . . . I don’t remember.’
Kirstie was lying, that was obvious, but I wasn’t about to press her. My attention was drawn by Rink’s soft hiss. I looked past him to lights in the road ahead. They were red lights, strobing off and on, interspersed by a blazing white that cut harshly into my retina. Someone stepped away from a car, waving a flashlight up and down, then directly on the front of our car. The torch bleached the windscreen; trail dust and dead bugs fogging the glass.
‘Fucking inept cops,’ Rink growled. ‘You’d think they’d know better than blinding a goddamn driver. What does he want to do . . . run me off the goddamn road?’
Yeah, I thought, even an inept cop should be more careful than that.
I checked the position of my gun, ensuring that the tail of my shirt concealed it.
Chapter 11
Having dozed for who knew how long, I had no clue where we were, other than it was somewhere remote. Still dark, with a patchwork of stars amid low cumulus clouds, the horizon was a meandering wave of hills and valleys, where only a few pinpoints of light showed habitation. On the opposite side sheer cliffs pushed for the heavens, broken fingers of stone interspersed by large and forbidding bulwarks. There were certainly no streetlights to illuminate the car sporting the gumball lights. Our headlights were countered by the strobing red and white, making the figure moving towards us appear to stutter in his stride with each flickering beam.
‘What the hell is this all about?’ Rink swayed uneasily as he applied pressure to the brake pedal.
‘Whatever it is, I don’t like it.’ I pressed a button on my cell phone, sending a prearranged signal to Harvey a few miles back.
Kirstie looked fraught.
‘Don’t worry, just keep your head down like before and let me do the talking. Here . . . pull your cap down.’ I eased the peak round so that it covered much of her face, even as she
‘Oh, God! I drooled all over you.’ She batted at the side of her face, embarrassed all to hell, as she sought to wipe away any incriminating evidence.
‘That’s a novelty for Hunter . . . women drooling over him.’
‘Glad you find it funny, Rink,’ I grumbled.
‘Now you know what it’s like to be me.’ He broke into a loud crack of laughter.
The joke helped bring any further embarrassment to a stop, for both of us. I shook my head in mock disbelief. ‘You’ll get used to Rink soon enough, Kirstie. He has this inflated impression of his looks. When I look at him I see a bulldog chewing a wasp, but some women seem to find the rough-and-ready look attractive.’
‘Don’t confuse “rough-and-ready” with “rugged”,’ Rink said, still laughing.
‘Or “rugged” with “conceited”?’
‘No harm in believing in yourself, brother,’ he countered.
To Kirstie I said, ‘That’s why he never wears a hat. He can’t find one big enough for his head.’
The banter was serving its purpose. It alleviated Kirstie’s embarrassment, but also pushed away the lingering memory of her dream. She tucked back her hair and reached for the cap that had fallen on the floor between my feet. As she leaned close I experienced a mild flutter of electricity that rode my body all the way to my throat, and my senses were filled with her closeness and the scent of her perfume. It was an intimate moment. Kirstie was staring at me, and I looked enquiringly.
‘You OK?’
‘You were in my dream.’
‘I was?’
‘Yes. But not like that.’ She gently shoved Rink’s shoulder with the heel of her palm. ‘I was being chased.’
‘By me?’
‘No . . . someone else . . .’ She didn’t expound, but I noted a flicker of horror dart across her features again. ‘But you were there. You were leading me to safety, but, well, I didn’t make it.’
‘Want to tell me who was chasing you?’
‘I . . . I don’t remember.’
Kirstie was lying, that was obvious, but I wasn’t about to press her. My attention was drawn by Rink’s soft hiss. I looked past him to lights in the road ahead. They were red lights, strobing off and on, interspersed by a blazing white that cut harshly into my retina. Someone stepped away from a car, waving a flashlight up and down, then directly on the front of our car. The torch bleached the windscreen; trail dust and dead bugs fogging the glass.
‘Fucking inept cops,’ Rink growled. ‘You’d think they’d know better than blinding a goddamn driver. What does he want to do . . . run me off the goddamn road?’
Yeah, I thought, even an inept cop should be more careful than that.
I checked the position of my gun, ensuring that the tail of my shirt concealed it.
Chapter 11
Having dozed for who knew how long, I had no clue where we were, other than it was somewhere remote. Still dark, with a patchwork of stars amid low cumulus clouds, the horizon was a meandering wave of hills and valleys, where only a few pinpoints of light showed habitation. On the opposite side sheer cliffs pushed for the heavens, broken fingers of stone interspersed by large and forbidding bulwarks. There were certainly no streetlights to illuminate the car sporting the gumball lights. Our headlights were countered by the strobing red and white, making the figure moving towards us appear to stutter in his stride with each flickering beam.
‘What the hell is this all about?’ Rink swayed uneasily as he applied pressure to the brake pedal.
‘Whatever it is, I don’t like it.’ I pressed a button on my cell phone, sending a prearranged signal to Harvey a few miles back.
Kirstie looked fraught.
‘Don’t worry, just keep your head down like before and let me do the talking. Here . . . pull your cap down.’ I eased the peak round so that it covered much of her face, even as she
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