Cabin Fever Page 20

  Running across to the other room, he placed another charge in there and then grabbed the next one while moving along the corridor towards his next drop point. He placed it inside the door and then crossed the hall, dropping another into the next room.

  Moving swiftly towards the next section of the building, he hid the charge behind his back as someone stepped out of one of the rooms further along and began walking towards him. Raising his gun, he shot the man square in the head and then ducked into the room as another appeared. He dropped the charge and grabbed the next one as he listened to the man outside in the hall.

  Any second now he'd find the body.

  Just as the man opened his mouth to call out for help, Jack moved back out into the hall and shot him twice in the back, causing him to slump on top of the other man. He placed the charge by the window in the other room and then closed the door as he moved back into the hall.

  Stepping over the dead men, he placed a charge inside the door that they were blocking and then headed towards the last room. Taking out his other gun, he stopped outside the door and took a deep breath as he pulled his goggles down so they hung loosely around his neck.

  Kicking the door open, he burst into the room and shot the two men at the console before they even had a chance to look around. He left them slumped over each other on the desk and placed the remaining charges at the front and rear of the long room. Crouching down by the front window, he removed the empty explosives belt and then took his sniper rifle down off his shoulder and scanned the brightly lit courtyard.

  His eyes traversed the sea of men and vehicles until he reached the truck. Stood beside it was Donovan. He was issuing orders to the men, overseeing their work as they loaded crate after crate into the back of the vehicles.

  Holding his breath, Jack stared down the sight and gradually moved the gun until Donovan was dead centre in the crosshairs. He let his breath go and took another one as he moved from Donovan to the truck, smiling to himself as he saw the gas tank on this side.

  Moving his aim back to Donovan, he shifted into a more comfortable position and flexed his fingers as he waited for the right moment. He glanced at the bombs, watching the seconds tick by. Timing was going to be crucial.

  As the man in his sights turned so he was facing him straight on, he squeezed the trigger and didn't wait to see him fall before aiming at the tank and unloading another round.

  The truck seemed to implode as the bullet ripped through it, sending a huge fireball up into the air as the echo ricocheted off the surrounding mountains.

  Running to the back window as the cries of anguish and chaos outside finally reached his ears, he looked up at the mountain and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the snow-cap had only shifted slightly.

  He looked out of the window, smiling as he watched all the men in the courtyard running into the building. Little did they know that by coming to look for him they were only going to find a similar fate to that of their boss.

  The timers on the bombs said ten minutes.

  Just enough time to get himself off the mountain.

  Going out of the window, he descended the drainpipe and moved to the front corner of the building. He could see there were only a few men left outside now; the explosion had dealt with half of them and the others had gone into the building to search for him.

  He took aim at one of the other vehicles and then looked up at the mountain. He couldn't risk upsetting the snow before the bombs went off. Moving his gun so he was targeting the man who was standing alone to the left of the exploded truck, he shot him twice in the chest and then checked to see if the others had noticed.

  He kept low as he ran across the open area and into the woods. Skirting the perimeter of the forest, he aimed at one of the five men who were guarding the pickups and shot him. He slunk back into the shadows as the other four looked around and then picked off another one of them before moving again. He watched them as they started towards his previous location, checking their dead colleagues along the way.

  Shooting the man at the back of the three, he watching him fall over and then put a new clip into the rifle. As the two remaining men turned to see the fallen man, he shot the one at the back and then the last one.

  He could hear the helicopter engine starting up in the distance and realised that someone was trying to make it off the mountain.

  "Time to go,” Jack muttered to himself and kept his eye on the building as he started towards the helicopter.

  A sharp pain across the back of his head caused him to drop to his knees and he cringed as he heard his attacker's voice.

  "Not so fast.” Nick grinned down at him and then kicked him hard in the stomach, causing him to double up and drop his rifle. “I should've known that you were one of them."

  Jack spat blood out onto the snow and then gritted his teeth as he stood up, coming face to face with Nick.

  "Kate was right ... you're too stupid to be a good crook.” He punched him hard across the jaw, watching him stumble backwards into a tree.

  "Kate?” Nick looked stunned and Jack smiled. It was exactly what he needed in order to catch him off guard.

  He went to draw one of his guns but Nick kicked it out of his hand. Clutching his stomach as he tried to breath normally, he waited for Nick to make a move. As Nick went to grab the gun that he'd dropped, Jack drew his other one and moved towards him.

  Nick grabbed Jack's arm at the exact same moment that he grabbed his.

  Struggling to keep Nick pointing his gun into the air while trying to aim at him, Jack brought his knee up into Nick's stomach and then bent his arm around, forcing him to drop the gun. He kicked it away from him and watched it disappear into the snow as he pressed the gun against the back of his head.

  He was about to pull the trigger when the force of the first explosion in the cabin knocked him backwards.

  He watched in horror as the charges went off one by one, shaking the mountains and causing an avalanche just like he'd predicted; only he'd predicted that he'd be off the mountain.

  His head hit hard against the tree behind him as Nick punched him across the jaw and tried to wrestle him for the gun again. His heart pounded heavily against his chest as he saw the avalanche start down the mountain. As he found the gun pointing at him, he clenched his jaw and struggled against Nick but quickly realised that he wasn't going to win.

  The shot echoed around the mountains, rapidly drowned out by the roar of the avalanche.

  * * * *

  Kate ducked as she heard the explosion and then set off at a run through the woods, knowing instinctively where it had come from. She ignored the calls of the ranger as she gritted her teeth against the pain and continued to sprint towards the other cabin.

  Her eyes widened as she looked up at the mountain and saw the white wall of snow picking up speed in the pale moonlight.

  "Jack!” She doubled her effort, running as fast as she could and hoping that it wasn't too late.

  She could hear the ranger running behind her and it felt as though she was being chased. Dodging and weaving through the trees, she began to slow as her ankle pulsed with pain and her arm throbbed. She could hear the sound of the avalanche dying away as it slowed, and she ducked behind a tree as the cloud of snow swept past her, nothing stronger than a blizzard.

  As the air cleared, she walked towards where the cabin had been and stared and the mound of snow that now occupied the space. She couldn't believe it was gone. Everything was gone. She felt numb as she tried to take in what had happened and stared blankly at the crisp white snow as the moon shone down on it.

  "Jesus. What happened to the Donovan's place?” The ranger breathed heavily as he came to a halt beside her and she watched him as he surveyed the damage. “No one could have survived that."

  Kate let her head drop forward as he said her inner fear out loud.

  No one could have survived.

  In the silence, a quiet noise caught her attention and she looked up to see the
ranger helicopter flying into the distance.

  Maybe someone had made it after all.

  Chapter 21

  Kate stared out of the window, her fingers firmly gripping the steering wheel. She sighed out her breath for what seemed like the millionth time and drew in another. Breathing seemed so hard right now. Everything seemed hard.

  Her eyes roamed the sweeping hills in front of her, not seeing the rows of marble that rose from them, just seeing the greenness and the patches of flowers.

  It all seemed so cold.

  The green of the trees as they swayed in the breeze, the clear pale blue sky that stretched for infinity above them and the warm sun as it shone down. It all seemed so incredibly cold.

  Everything since that night on the mountain had seemed like a distant blur, like something that she wasn't a part of. She'd felt so detached from it all, but so engulfed by it at the same time. The ranger had done his best to deal with her in the aftermath, but she hadn't heard a word that he'd said to her. She'd just stared at the sea of snow and let the cold realisation sink in.

  Jack was gone.

  Even her sister hadn't been able to console her. Not even her mother had been any comfort. The only person who could have comforted her was gone, and he was never coming back.

  He'd promised that he'd come back.

  She sighed as her eyes fixed on the little church in the distance and she saw people dressed in black all milling around it. She wondered who they had lost and if they felt the same as she did, and then turned away from them.

  It was impossible for them to feel like she did.

  "Want me to go with you?"

  Her sister's voice roused her from her thoughts and she shook her head, silently telling her that she would be okay without having to struggle to find the words. This was something that she had to do alone; this was something she needed to do, even if it only made her hurt even more.

  She listened to the click of the door as she opened it and then glanced her sister, seeing on her face the same sympathetic smile that everyone was wearing for her these days. She wished that they wouldn't; she wished that things could go back to normal even when she knew that they couldn't.

  Stepping out of the rental car, she closed the door and took another deep breath.

  It felt as though she was forcing herself to keep going, that she wasn't just finding it hard to breathe, she was finding it hard to live. If she couldn't live, she could at least survive.

  It's what he would have wanted for her.

  Keeping her head bent, she stared at her feet as she walked along the winding path that led to her destination. She listened to the sound of the gravel as it crunched underfoot, and the song of the birds as they played in the trees.

  They wouldn't be singing if they knew where they were and what surrounded them.

  Endless rows of names.

  She looked up as she reached a crossroad in the path and saw the willow tree exactly where she had been told it would be. She couldn't bring herself to lower her eyes at first. It seemed impossible, as though they wouldn't move from the waving branches of the tree that seemed to soothe her with their peacefulness.

  When they eventually fell, they were already filling with tears.

  The same tears that she'd been letting fall each night for the past three months.

  She smiled briefly at his name on the white marble and then dropped her eyes so they rested on the flower that she was holding.

  Looking at the mound of grass that covered the grave, she realised that there were no flowers and no sign that there had ever been any. She wondered if he'd even had a funeral. Did he have any family?

  He'd mentioned them once. His mother was gone. His father had disappeared and he had a brother who lived far away.

  She'd always wanted to travel. She'd just never thought that this would be the reason that she'd come to England.

  Connie had insisted on being with her. Connie wouldn't let her be alone at a time like this and she was thankful to her sister for her support, even if she couldn't tell her that she was.

  Stepping towards the grave, she knelt on the sun-dappled grass beside the headstone and ran her fingers over his name. It seemed so final to see it there engraved in the stone; an eternal tribute to him.

  Clearing her throat, her fingers fell away from his name and she sighed as she took a deep breath.

  "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner,” she started and tried to ignore how foolish she felt. She knew that she'd regret it if she didn't say the things that she needed to say, so she was going to go through with this as planned, no matter how strange she looked. “I didn't want to say goodbye."

  She smiled shakily as she toyed with the rose and then wiped a tear from her lashes as it threatened to fall.

  "I brought you a rose. It's white. Do you remember all the snow?” She dropped her eyes again as her throat tightened with her emotions, and pulled in another deep breath. “I wish I could have had the chance to thank you ... to say the things that I couldn't find the words to express. I know we didn't know each other long, but it doesn't change anything, and it doesn't make my feelings any less real."

  Heaving a sigh, she let her head fall backwards and looked up at the sky.

  "So thank you for making life a little more interesting, if only for a short while. I wish you could have stuck around ... I wish so many things. Something tells me that I'm never going to find another man like you ... never. You had it you know ... whatever it is that I was searching for. You were the one, Jack.” Bringing her head back down, she looked at the headstone and smiled. “I wish I knew more about you. I wish I'd got to you in time."

  She ran her fingers over the smooth petals of the rose as she thought about everything that had happened since that night. It had all seemed so hard since then. It felt like a permanent uphill struggle.

  Life had been so empty.

  "Some men came to see me. They asked me a lot of questions and they took your car. I had to sign a piece of paper before they would tell me anything, and even then they didn't say much. The rangers say their search didn't turn up much. They identified most of the bodies. The dogs didn't find you or Nick. I know that your people did another search. They wanted to see everything for themselves.” She took another deep breath as she brought her eyes up to his headstone again and stared at his name. “I guess they must have found you."

  She sniffed back the tears as they slid down her cheeks and fell onto her lap.

  "We're going to rebuild the cabin ... exactly like it was before. I can't go there without thinking about the time that we had together ... and I don't want to let you go. I think I'll be spending a lot of time there when I'm not at college. I forgot to mention that I'm going to college, didn't I? Well I am ... no more eight until late for me.” She smiled and sighed out her breath as she thought about the time they'd spent on the mountain. “I'm sorry that I hit you that time. I wish things had been different ... I know that you wished you were someone else when you were with me, but it was you that I fell for. I'd finally found what I was looking for and now it's gone. Something tells me I'm never going to find it again ... but I'm thankful that I found it with you ... if only for a few days. Those days will last a lifetime in me. I won't forget how I feel about you."

  She watched a woman as she walked past towards the small church, waiting until she was in the distance before looking back at his grave.

  "I miss you,” she breathed and furrowed her brows as fresh tears rose up in her eyes. “Is that stupid of me? I can't help missing you. Everyone is being so careful around me ... treading on eggshells so they don't upset me any more than I already am. I wish they'd go back to normal so they didn't constantly remind me of you ... I can still remember everything about you. I can remember the moment we met and the way you caught me when I fell ... the way you kept me calm about my sister and made me really feel as though everything was going to be okay. I can remember the way you smell.” She bit her lip as she smiled through her tear
s. “I can remember the way you looked ... the way you'd show me all those feelings in one glance. I've never been looked at like that before. I've never felt so loved without having to hear the words, not by anyone. This is all I have ... these memories. Your people wouldn't let my have anything of yours ... not even a picture to remember you by. They told me it wasn't possible. You didn't exist. None of it happened. But it did happen, and you did exist, and I can't go back to how things were before. I can't pretend that I never met you like they want me to. I can't let you go. How can I find love and then let it go?"

  She closed her eyes as the tears spilled down her cheeks and let her head fall forwards. It was impossible for her to move on like everyone wanted her to. She didn't care that it was better to love and lose it. Whoever said that hadn't felt like she did. Losing Jack was like losing a part of herself, a vital part that she had to have back so she could go on living rather than just existing.

  He'd promised that he'd come back.

  Part of her was still waiting for him to keep that promise.

  She'd always be waiting.

  Looking at the rose that she was holding, the white petals blurred and swam in front of her eyes as they filled with tears.

  Taking a deep breath, she held it in and tried to get a grip on her emotions.

  "I can't let you go, Jack ... and I'll never find another man who will make me feel the way you did ... the way you do. Everything is different now. I'm different. My world is different. You'd laugh if you knew how much impact you made on my life ... how everything altered the moment I met you.” She sniffed and smiled down at the rose, stroking it lightly. “Listen to me ... rambling on. I have to go soon. We're flying back tonight ... I didn't want to stay long. It hurts too much. Speaking of hurt..."

  She glanced at her arm and smiled.

  "It's all healed now.” She pulled up the sleeve of her top and looked at the scar on her upper arm. “Nurses said you did a good job. I didn't really care ... it was too soon after ... you know what. It reminds me of you. Like a permanent mark you've left on me ... not just in my heart."