Her panted breaths didn’t get a chance to fog the air as she raced forwards into an area where the trees thinned. The weather was worse than she had thought possible, the wind and snow so intense and the darkness falling so rapidly that she could barely make out what was a few feet from her. It slowed her, but hopefully it would cover her tracks too, would make it hard for the man she hadn’t hit with the bear spray to find her. He would be coming after her while his companion tried to shake off the effects of the spray. Maybe she could disappear in this storm and find a place to shelter, one where he wouldn’t find her.
She risked looking back.
Gasped as she saw a light bobbing around behind her, chasing after her through the snow.
She had to go faster.
Cameo pushed herself harder, running blindly as panic took the helm, and regretted it when she ended up following another wrong route, heading higher into the trees with no way of getting down without a long slide down a steep, wooded slope. She would probably break something if she went down there, and she couldn’t turn back either. All she could do was keep going and hope there was a route down again and this trail didn’t just lead up to the mountain.
The snow grew deeper, covering the trail, forcing her to slow down and watch her step. She panted hard as she carefully walked, kicking snow aside so she could see the path. Her trembling legs made it hard work and the glances she kept tossing at the thirty-foot drop to her right weren’t helping. She couldn’t seem to convince her eyes to remain on the path though. That drop kept beckoning her.
Pain blazed across her left arm before she even heard the gunshot.
Cameo flinched and stumbled, landed on her hands and knees on the trail. She forced herself to stand again, covered the rip in her coat with her right hand and pushed herself to keep going. It had been a wild shot—a lucky shot. That was all. If she just kept going, she would be fine.
She couldn’t stop herself from slowing though as her blood seemed to chill and her mind started to blank and her legs felt like noodles beneath her.
A shriek tore from her lips as the man grabbed her right arm and twisted her towards him. She hit him with her left arm and gritted her teeth as the fire burning across her biceps blazed hotter. She clenched her jaw and kept hitting him, desperately trying to break free, images of her brother flashing across her mind as fear swamped her. She was going to end up like that—beaten and dead.
No. She couldn’t let it happen. She fumbled, trying to reach her bear spray.
The man shoved her to the ground, into the snow, and jammed the gun in her face.
Freezing her.
“Tell me where the money is, bitch.” He squeezed her left arm.
Cameo whimpered and screwed her eyes shut, but refused to cry out as pain rolled through her, making her nauseous.
“Tell me where it is.” He growled those words.
She looked up at him. “I don’t have any money. Nate was lying to you. He probably thought you would let him go… was desperate. I don’t have any money.”
Cameo could see in his dark eyes that he didn’t believe her, that he was never going to believe her. She stifled another cry as he dragged her onto her feet, using his grip on her left arm to lever her up off the snow.
He glared down at her. “Karl will deal with you. He’ll be arriving in a couple of days.”
Panic blasted through her. Karl had been the one who had beaten her brother to death. Sweet Karl who had turned into a bastard when he had become an adult. She had been shocked when she had discovered he had gotten into the drug business, hadn’t wanted to believe the things Nate had told her, but now she did.
Karl was as sadistic as her brother had painted him.
And he was going to kill her when he realised she didn’t have his money.
And then he would kill her parents.
“March.” The man shoved her past him on the track, back the way they had come.
Cameo jerked backwards and hit the man with an elbow to the face, only meant to knock him away from her so she could run.
He stumbled, bellowed as he fell backwards and tugged her towards the edge of the path. She grabbed one of the trees and clung to it, holding on for dear life as his weight pulled her with him, and then relief rushed through her as he lost his grip.
Relief that swiftly became guilt as she looked down the slope, watched him strike a tree and get spun around. His flashlight twirled, blinding her before it clattered down to the bottom of the slope ahead of him. His gun went off as he hit another and she flinched and curled into a ball, grimaced as he tumbled and landed against a tree at the bottom of the slope, his body bent backwards at an awful angle.
Cameo released the tree and twisted to face the slope, the cold uneven ground biting into her hands and knees. She eased forwards, peering down at him as she breathed hard, trying to see him more clearly through the darkness. Dread pooled in her stomach. In the weak glow of the flashlight that had landed facing him, he wasn’t moving and blood tracked down his forehead from a nasty wound on his temple. He couldn’t be dead. Oh God, she couldn’t have killed a man.
She leaned further forwards, desperately seeking a sign of life.
Shrieked as her left hand slipped, fumbled for the tree nearest her and missed it.
She hit the slope on her chest, somehow managed to spin herself around and roll onto her back so she was sliding feet first instead. Her lungs felt too tight as she desperately tried to control her descent, reaching for trees and roots, anything to stop herself. Her left leg hit a tree, the impact jarring, and she cried out as fire rolled up her bones. She ended up spinning around again, into an uncontrolled roll that had her tumbling down the rest of the slope.
Cameo slid to a halt beneath a pine and laid there on her back, breathing hard, snow blasting against her.
Everything felt numb as she stared at the dark canopy, as pain ebbed and flowed through her, and what she had done rolled up on her. She had killed a man. She was sure of it. Cold chilled her and she tried to fight the darkness as it crowded the corners of her vision, but she wasn’t strong enough.
Heavy footfalls shook her awake, had her forcing her eyes open and her hand to her bear spray. She managed to get it off her belt and held it before her in trembling hands as her breath stuttered from her and fear rushed through her again, tearing down what little strength she had left.
Only it wasn’t the other man.
The towering man who emerged from the blizzard wasn’t one she recognised, although he wore black like the other two had. Maybe he was with them. Maybe she had missed him in Banff when she had noticed the other two. He didn’t have a weapon she could see though, or even a flashlight to help him in the dark.
“Stay back.” She shook the bear spray at him.
He arched an eyebrow at her, his eyes filled with an unimpressed look as she threatened him. “No need to get violent. I’m only here to help. I heard the gunshots.”
She didn’t have time to contemplate just how smooth and deep his voice was, or how it seemed to ease the tension from her. Sickness swept through her. Get violent. She was deeply aware there was a body near her—a death she had caused. Panic gripped her once more, so tightly this time she felt as if she was going to pass out as she fought for air.
“I killed him,” she muttered, her hand shaking hard now, causing the bear spray canister to jitter all over the place. She let it drop to her lap as fatigue washed through her, as the last of her strength left her.