Matt Hilton: Slash and burn

'I don't want to call it quits,' Kate said, her voice rising in pitch.

'Don't you get it, Kate? How the hell do you expect me to get the job done when there's a cop looking over my shoulder?'

'What difference does it make who I am? We're in this together, aren't we?'

'You don't understand. I'm prepared to kill. If I pause for one second to worry about the repercussions, then that could be it. It'll be us who die, and I'm not willing to let that happen.'

'Joe,' Kate said. She seemed a little steadier as she leaned across and placed cool fingers on my forearm. 'Don't you see? I'm not being judgemental either. I came looking for you because of the man you are. I didn't want a by-the-book lawman as a partner. I came looking for you because I knew you'd do what needed doing without question.' She showed me the Glock. 'Do you think this is standard NYPD issue? I went through murder to get special dispensation to carry a concealed weapon, but it was worth it. I brought this expecting trouble, Joe. I'm not going to pull a hissy fit if you have to shoot someone who's trying to kill us.'

'OK, then.' Turning my attention back to the road, I flicked on the high beam. 'I'm pleased we've cleared up that little misunderstanding. Now, if you don't mind, open the door and get the fuck out the car.'

She blinked in astonishment as I unclipped her seat belt.

'Now, Kate,' I snapped. 'I don't have time to argue.'

I slowed the Explorer down, leaned across and pushed open her door. She looked at me in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on. Then I gave her a shove and she slid out on to the road.

Next second I went out of the driver's door.

I'd been travelling slowly enough that neither of us picked up anything more than a few scrapes, but not so slowly that the Explorer would grind to a halt between the two massive boulders partially blocking the trail.

I'd recalled the man on the road above shouting into a mobile phone. On the twisting ride down the mountainside, I'd wondered why they hadn't done more to catch us. Even the shots seemed more show than substance. Then I saw the two boulders. How the road narrowed so we'd have to take it easy going through.

Good place for an ambush.

Kate was sitting on the dirt trail with a dazed expression on her face. Then her eyes met mine, and lightning jumped between us. She was still holding her Glock and for a split second I thought she was going to shoot me.

'You OK?' I asked, moving over to her.

'What the hell was that all about? You could've killed me.'

'We were going too slowly to kill you. Anyway, I warned you my methods were unorthodox.'

'Are you insane?'

For an answer I merely pointed between the two rocks.

The sounds of gunfire shattered the night.

Kate jerked in time with each bark of a handgun, each crash of a shotgun. When the sound of our vehicle smashing into something immovable reached our ears, she was already scrambling up.

'The bastards were waiting for us,' I said. 'If we'd driven through there we'd be dead meat. Under the circumstances I think a sore ass is a fair trade.'

Kate accepted my hand as I led her off the trail and into the woods.

'We have to keep moving. Put as much distance between us and these guys as possible,' I said, taking her down an embankment and through a gap in the foliage. On our left was the rear side of one of the huge boulders. An ancient trail led between the boulder and a cliff face. The trail forked, and I pushed Kate towards the fork leading up and over the cliff with my hand in the small of her back.

Behind us came the sounds of the pick-up truck and SUVs slowing as they approached the pass. Voices were raised, men shouting to those waiting on the other side. Then came excited catcalls as the men tumbled from the vehicles in order to take up the chase. I could feel a smile painting its way on to my features. If I'd had the luxury of a mirror, I'd have recognised the grim rictus-smile I adopted when men needed hurting. There was a heat in my chest too; the bubble of anticipation building. The thing that made me feel alive.

Had I been alone, I'd have relished this challenge. I'd have grasped the opportunity to take on these men and I'd have finished them one by one or all together – it didn't matter. However, I wasn't alone. And Kate's safety was my priority.

Looking at her moving through the trees in front of me, I noticed again her athletic grace. She had exchanged the summer top and shorts of our first meeting for a beige linen jacket over a cream blouse and figure-hugging denims and boots. If anything she looked even better. Back at Imogen's house – not to mention when blasting through the roadblock – she'd shown her worth as a capable ally. However, I come from an old school where women are to be cherished and protected. It didn't matter that she was a trained police officer and could shoot better than most; I made myself a silent promise that I wouldn't allow this woman to come to harm. If that meant keeping our heads down and running away from these punks, well, so be it.

A rifle cracked behind us.

Kate came to a halt, turning back towards me with her Glock raised.

'Keep moving. They're just shooting blind. They don't know where we are.'

'Where are we going?' Kate asked, setting off at a jog beside me.

'Away from here.'

'Running away isn't helping us find my sister.'

'No, but it's keeping us alive. We can pick up the search later.'

'We could try and take one of them alive, make him tell us where she is.'

'Pointless,' I said. 'They don't know where she is. That's why they were waiting at the house. They want to find her as much as we do.'

'But they could tell us why they're looking for her.'

'We'll let Imogen tell us when we find her. Now, keep going along the top of the cliff. When we get to the far side, I want you to wait by that tree.'

The clifftop made a natural arch, about seventy feet at its highest point, before dipping down to the road a couple of hundred yards further on. Trees and bushes grew along the crest and there was one particularly large tree that hung precariously over the drop. Its roots had broken free of the cliff face and made a sort of natural cage among the rocks. The shadows beneath the roots were a good place to hide Kate for the short time I'd be gone.

'What are you going to do?'

'We've no transport, Kate. Unless you fancy walking all the way back to Little Fork, I'm going to have to get us some wheels. Now it's been some time since I did any wilderness survival training. Still, I remember enough to know that those clouds mean there's a blizzard on the way.' I indicated my own thin jacket and jeans. 'Dressed like this, I don't think we'd survive the night.'

'It won't take us all night to walk ten miles.'

'Not if we took the road, it wouldn't. But these guys are going to be hunting us all the way. We'd have to stick to the woods. Overland, it's more like twenty miles to town, and we don't know what other surprises the terrain might throw up. There could be rivers to cross. We get wet in a blizzard… forget about it.'

Her lips pinched together. She looked so much like her brother Jake that for a few seconds I was transported back a dozen years. He was a contrary son of a bitch, was Jake Piers. 'No arguments, Officer Piers,' I told her.

She held up her hands, the Glock hanging loose in her fist.

'Keep that handy,' I said, 'but no shooting unless it becomes absolutely necessary.'

'I won't shoot at all, Joe,' she said with the faintest of smiles, 'unless they're too close to miss.'

Waiting until she was concealed behind the twisting roots, I leaned in close. 'Give me ten minutes. If I'm not back by then, you'll know I've failed.'

'What happens then?'

'Then you'll be on your own.'