Matt Hilton - Slash and burn

It wasn't one of Huffman's men, but a small dark woman. She was dressed in a blazer and jeans and a white blouse.

She looked like a cop.

Then the reality struck Kate. The woman's white blouse was spattered with blood. So were her hands. She couldn't know it, but Ruth Wicker had been tasked with the job of getting rid of Desmond Molloy and she'd jumped at the opportunity. Wicker was more of a sadist than most of Huffman's hired killers.

Both women realised they were in danger at the exact same second. Kate began to squeeze the trigger of her gun, but she wasn't as keyed in as the small woman. Wicker ducked to the left, then swung her leg, catching Kate's gun hand, knocking the shot astray. Then Wicker leaned down, grabbed her gun and wrenched it away. She backhanded Kate across the face with a blow like a wedge of steel. Black flashes invaded her vision and she fell backwards.

Wicker reversed the gun in her grip, aimed it between Kate's eyes.

'You're the whore that Joe Hunter wants back,' Wicker said. 'Shame you're going back to him with a hole in your skull, isn't it?'

Kate heard the words with a trickle of relief. Joe was still alive.

Wicker began to exert pressure on the trigger.

'Hold it, Wicker,' Huffman said from behind Kate.

Wicker sighed, lowered the Glock.

Kate craned round to look up at Huffman. He stood over her, a phone to his ear. He was smiling whimsically.

'OK, Hunter,' she heard him say. 'We meet in one hour.'

I hung up the phone.

There was a bad taste in my mouth and I felt like spitting. I'd have done so but there was a lady present. Imogen was sitting next to me in the back seat of the Windstar. Rink was in front of her, and Harvey was driving. We were on the move on the streets of Pilot Point so that we didn't present a sitting target if indeed Huffman was trying to vector in on Kate's phone.

'We should bring in the FBI.' It wasn't the first time Imogen had suggested it.

We'd already had this conversation and discarded the idea. But for Imogen's sake, I explained our conclusion.

'I've killed men on your behalf, Imogen. I'd rather see an end to this without facing the rest of my days behind bars.'

'I'd rather go to prison than end up dead,' Imogen huffed.

'Not me.' I left the subject of involving law enforcement at that. Imogen had her part to perform in my plan to get Kate back. It was going to be tricky and carried an element of risk. Imogen could very well die in the execution. But, the way I saw it, she owed her sister that at least.

'Head for Quicksilver Ranch,' I said to Harvey and he nodded.

We followed East Liberty Street out of town, picked up the highway north into Grayson County then took a minor road towards Huffman's place. We were back in semi-rural pastures dotted with trees and bushes. A little further on we'd find the prairie where the earlier ambush had occurred. For the purposes of an exchange for ransom like the one we were on our way to, we'd have normally picked a more public place. That would have cut down on the likelihood of a gun battle. But under these circumstances – and in order for my plan to work – I required the empty prairie. I didn't want any witnesses. None whatsoever.

It was dusk by the time we arrived at our first stop. The drop-off point was as secluded as we could hope for, with only longhorn cattle as witnesses.

Rink and Harvey were out of the Windstar in an instant and both disappeared into the long grass. I climbed into the driving position and set off. Imogen was sitting with her eyes closed. Her face was pale and there was a sheen of sweat on her forehead.

'If everything goes to plan we'll have Kate back within the hour,' I reassured her.

'And if it doesn't?'

'We'll probably all be dead. But I'm not planning on that. Just do as I instructed and everything should be fine.'

'What if Huffman kills me the second he sees me?'

'Then I'll kill him.'

'That's a great consolation,' she muttered.

'He won't shoot you, Imogen, he wants what you recorded on your camera. If he shoots you he'll never get it. He'll be worried about copies and want to check that he has all those accounted for before he does anything to you.'

'He's reckless, Joe. He likes confrontation. I wouldn't be surprised if he shot me just for the hell of it. Just to see how you will react.'

'Then he'll be sorry.'

'You're very sure of yourself,' Imogen said. 'What makes you think you can take him out before he gets you?'

'I was a professional soldier for fourteen years. I've been in similar situations before. Huffman's just a punk who has murdered a few other punks. I'm pretty sure I can handle him.'

My words sounded conceited, but I said them more to give Imogen hope than because I believed them. She snorted. 'Jake was a professional soldier too, Joe. And we both know what happened to him.'

'Yeah. He gave his life for people that he cared for. If it comes to it, so will I.'

Looking in the mirror I saw that Imogen's eyes were now wide open. She was staring back into my reflection. Finally she sighed. She'd caught the hidden meaning in my words.

The rest of our journey was done in silence. But it wasn't that far, just a mile or so. I brought the Windstar to a halt adjacent to an entrance I hadn't reached that first time on this road. There was a gate, and a copse of trees, and I'd been correct when first I'd spied this place and concluded it was the way to Quicksilver Ranch.

I surveyed the land beyond the gate. Nothing moved. Twilight was setting in and a shadow passed over the prairie. I couldn't see any sign of the ranch itself so it must have been somewhere beyond the horizon. I turned to Imogen. She blinked back at me, tears in her eyes.

'I never intended for any of this to happen.'

'I know.' Reaching over the seat I took one of her hands. 'Keep your chin up, Imogen. Everything'll turn out fine.'

'As long as we get Kate back.'

I was determined that we would. Letting go of her hand, I reached for my SIG, checked it and I was good to go.

'Remember, just do as we agreed.'

'OK.'

No argument from her this time: made me feel a whole lot better about what was to come. I shifted the Windstar into drive, touched the gas and drove through the gate on to Huffman's territory. At the quarter-mile mark, I stopped the vehicle and got out. I opened the rear door and held out my hand to help Imogen out of the car. It was the last time she'd be treated gently before this was over with.

I could hear vehicles approaching.

Without looking for them, I grabbed Imogen by the collar of her jacket and dragged her to the front of the car. There I threw her down on her knees in a billow of grit and dust. I stood behind her, pulled out my SIG and jammed it tight against the top of her head. Imogen began wailing. Finally I looked up and saw three vehicles approaching in convoy. They stopped a hundred yards short of us and figures began climbing out of the cars. I wasn't surprised to see that one of them towered over all the others: Larry Bolan back where he belonged.

Other than the photos that Harvey had shown me on his laptop, I hadn't ever laid eyes on Robert Huffman. Excluding Bolan, there were five other people who moved to the front of the lead vehicle. They were all dressed in what amounted to pseudo-military gear. One of them was much slighter of build and for a fraction of a second I thought that it could be Kate, but I quickly discarded the notion. It was a woman, but whereas Kate was tall and graceful, this woman held herself with the same masculinity as all the others in the group. Three of the others held guns, while the final man had his hands clasped at his navel as though in prayer. I took that one to be Huffman.

'I've brought Imogen, Huffman,' I yelled at him. 'Show me Kate right now or I put a bullet in her brain.'