Matt Hilton - Dead Men's Harvest

Not against the thing that might be headed your way, I thought. I wanted to share my fears with him, but I simply couldn’t. ‘Just do as I ask… please. It’s best for everyone.’

‘Except Rink,’ he said.

‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘I’ll find him.’

The silence at the other end of the line was laden with Velasquez’s fear. I got what he was thinking. I would find Rink, but would he be alive or dead? That was the very thing I feared, and maybe he’d read as much in my voice.

‘OK, Joe. We’ll do as you ask. But as soon as you hear anything, and I mean anything, you let us know.’

‘Deal.’

Velasquez was about to hang up, but felt he had to add, ‘Bring Rink home, Joe. I’ve just put a down payment on a swimming pool. I need this job, man, or my wife will have my ass!’

It was gallows humour, but it made me smile. Not that I looked happy, it was a death’s-head smile at most. ‘I’ll do my best or die trying.’

I hung up.

‘Are we gonna get going now?’ Hartlaub asked.

Ignoring him, I pressed buttons. My call was picked up on the third ring. ‘Hello, Harvey,’ I said.

‘That you, Hunter?’ Harvey Lucas is an African-American who reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson in the Shaft remake. He’s as sharp as a tack and dresses the same. He’s an ex-army Ranger, the best man with a computer I’d ever met, as well as a very good private investigator. More importantly than that, he was one of the few men I could fully trust.

‘Have you heard from Rink?’

‘Not for a couple of days,’ Harvey said. ‘There a problem, Hunter?’

‘Yeah.’ I told him everything. Harvey had been involved with us when Rink and I hunted Cain the first time. Because of that, he was possibly on the killer’s radar screen and there was no way I’d leave him out of the loop.

‘Doesn’t sound good. You think that Cain might’ve got to him already?’

‘Rink isn’t the kind to get lost. I’m praying that he got wind of Cain’s escape and has gone deep cover.’

‘Not without warning us first,’ Harvey said. He was right.

‘Can you do a trace on his phone? See if you can pinpoint where it was before it was switched off?’

‘Leave it with me. I’ll get back to you ASAP.’ He hung up.

I placed Brigham’s phone in my jeans pocket. The young agent scowled. ‘I’m gonna need it,’ I snarled at him. He looked like he was about to argue but Hartlaub shook his head, and that was the subject finished with. I followed them to the SUV. Hartlaub drove, still neglecting to tell me where we were going. Then again I’d more on my mind to worry about, so didn’t ask. Half an hour nearer our destination Brigham’s phone rang and I fished it out of my pocket.

‘What have you got?’

Harvey sighed. ‘Not a great deal. The last coordinates for Rink’s cell phone were logged at 04.43 hours this morning. They show he was kinda off the beaten track, out near to the Pahayokee Overlook in the Everglades National Park.’

Pahayokee Overlook? That would be Velasquez’s Pocahontas Swamp, I assumed.

‘Walter has some explaining to do first, but then I’ll head down there.’ My words earned me a dark look from Hartlaub, but I didn’t care. Whatever Walter expected from me would have to wait. Rink was my priority.

‘Where are you?’

‘The Adirondacks. But if I have my way, I won’t be here for long.’

‘Meet me in Florida,’ he said. ‘I’ve access to a chopper so I can be there in five or six hours.’

I decided I could do with his help. I could head on down to the Everglades, but what was I going to do by myself? Beat hundreds of square miles of saw-tooth grass with a stick?

‘I’ll see you there.’

‘Do you need me to bring anything?’ Harvey asked.

My SIG Sauer P226 was a welcome weight in the back of my jeans. ‘I’m good to go.’

Flathead Lake was mirror-smooth, reflecting the evening sun where it peeked over the Salish Mountains. The water was burnished with fire, glinting highlights searing the eyes of the man who sat on the shore south of the Swan River tributary. He was dressed for the cool evening, with a scarf wrapped around his lower face, a cap pulled low so that only his eyes could be seen. Even his eyes had lens coverings, giving them an unnatural amber cast, which now was reinforced by the reflected water.

He wasn’t local to the area. But then again, the nearby town of Bigfork was home to a large number of urban refugees who’d arrived during the last decade. Bigfork had fast become the leading arts community in Montana, attracting visitors from all over the world. The man’s English accent wasn’t uncommon, but neither was French, German, Swedish, Japanese or any other. In summer the population swelled exponentially, but even now, during winter, there were enough transients for the man to remain anonymous.

‘Are you ready to go, Jeff?’

The man glanced to his right. Patricia was standing on a rock, hands jammed into her jeans pockets. The rock gave her extra height, accentuating her willowy frame. Her rat-chewed urban-chic hair was stuffed beneath a woolly hat — the type with ear flaps and tassels that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Nepal.

‘How about helping me up?’ Jeff asked, extending gloved fingers to her.

‘Come on,’ she said, turning away and hopping off the rock. ‘You can manage.’

Jeff shook his head. Patricia wasn’t one for pity.

Standing up was always a problem, especially if he’d been in a certain position for too long. The scar tissue from the ‘industrial accident’ he’d suffered protested, doling out plenty of discomfort before he got moving.

His first few steps were achieved bent almost double. The sand under his feet didn’t help, and it was only when he reached the hard-packed trail leading up to a lay-by on route 35, and he was able to grab handholds of the overhanging trees, that he straightened up.

Patricia moved slowly ahead of him. She’d a nervous energy about her, and she twitched every other step, as though she needed to burn some of it off.

Toby Callahan was waiting for them in the SUV. He was older than Jeff, and fifteen years older than Patricia, too. Patricia slid into the seat next to Toby, relegating Jeff to the back.

‘Are you all done looking?’ Toby’s hair was going grey, the short bristles above his ears catching the final rays of light.

‘It’s a beautiful lake,’ Jeff said. ‘I don’t think I could ever get enough of the place.’

Toby wasn’t listening. His question hadn’t required an answer. It was more a reminder that he had better things to do than play chaperone.

They drove north-west, skirting Bigfork and heading towards Jewel Ridge. The Mission Range loomed on their right, sweeping hillsides that dropped almost vertically from the heavens. The trees were on fire with autumnal colours as the day flared in a final goodbye and night was ushered in.

The cabin nestled on a hillside overlooking a rocky valley. A stream chuckled between boulders as it sought egress to the nearby Swan River. There was a grey sedan parked in front of the wooden porch where Jeff often sat watching the night sky. Standing by the car was a man in a black windcheater jacket, blue jeans and Timberland boots. His balding head was disguised by a denim baseball cap. As Toby pulled adjacent to the sedan, the other man ground a cigarette under his boot heel.

Toby wound down the window, and Brett Hanson leaned in. Jeff could smell his nicotine-laden breath. ‘Flights are all arranged,’ Brett said. He glanced into the back, catching Jeff’s eye. ‘We leave from Kalispell in ten hours. You’d better get your shit together, Jeff.’