Dennis Yates - Red Mountain

This wasn’t going quite the way he’d imagined. He’d wanted to see the man begin pleading for his life. He’d assumed Will understood his time on earth was nearing the end. But more than killing him, he needed to see him suffer.

Shoot him in the kneecap, boss. That’ll get him blubbering for you.

Good idea…

When Mr. Frosty took careful aim and was about to squeeze the trigger, a blast of hot white light shot out from behind his eyes. He saw some black raggedy object shoot past his head and plop on the ground several feet in front of him.

Stupid fucking crow…

He’d always hated birds. They woke him up before sunrise and shit on his car. The crows always sounded as if they were mocking him.

He staggered toward it, wondering how in hell a bird could have been so dumb as to slam against the back of his head and kill itself.

Except as he got closer he realized it wasn’t a bird at all.

It was his bloody scalp…

Mr. Frosty touched the top of his head and felt warm slick sponge beneath his fingertips. He fell to the ground and rolled over to his side. His face was turned toward Will in surprise. An opened eye gazed sightlessly into the sun.

After several twitches he didn’t move again. And yet the dark thing he’d made a bargain with raged inside him, frantically searched for a means of escaping from its outsmarted host.

Peggy stepped forward cautiously, keeping Wilbur’s revolver aimed at the dead man’s chest. She reached down and pried the gun from Mr. Frosty’s hand. To the thing inside him, she was like a ray of sun breaking momentarily through a bank of winter fog, and it savored her warmth during the brief contact. Later it would find itself being tormented by flies coming to lay eggs in the dead man’s body.

Will moved into the light and she handed the gun to him.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” she said.

“I know.”

****

Will held Peggy tightly in his arms and tried his best to comfort her. She cried heavily, to the point where he felt her warm tears soaking through his shirt. Robert had been so close, only to be torn away by the same man who’d arranged the kidnapping of her and her son in the middle of the night. Will placed a hand against either side of her head and gently lifted it up so she could see his face.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to get him back.”

Peggy nodded and placed her hands upon his. Will examined her face, noticing the bruises around her jaw and neck for the first time.

“Holy shit. Did Marsh do that to you?”

“Mostly. Wilbur landed one to my jaw, when he thought it would be a good idea to turn me over to Marsh.”

“Well he’s just lucky now to be alive.”

Will removed his hands. He turned and peeked into the house where he saw Betty cleaning the mess from Wilbur’s face with a washcloth. They’d found him behind the barn suffocating on his own blood. Jan stayed on the couch with the children on either side of her. They were quietly petting Nugget.

“How’s Connor holding up?”

“Not too bad, considering. He’s got his dog back. Now he just needs his dad.”

“So what do you know about Marsh, other than the fact he’s been leading a group of psychopaths?”

“It’s some kind of cult. They’ve had plans for Robert for a long time. I think they’re going to kill him.”

“How many guys have you seen working for Marsh?”

“I don’t know. There has to be a least four or five of them. They’d take off in the evening and wouldn’t be back until almost dawn. Except last night they never came back.”

“And they won’t be either.” Will said.

“What happened?”

Will stared down at the porch. “Robert was supposed to fight a man down at some railroad tracks. When the two met they managed to talk sense into one another and not go through with it. They came up with a plan of their own. The overseers got really mad and started shooting. They killed the other guy and then tried to kill us. We had to protect ourselves.”

Peggy’s face darkened. “Who was this other guy, the one that got killed?”

Will realized what Peggy was thinking, and he moved her away from the window so Jan and the others couldn’t see them.

“It was Robert’s great cousin. Steven Westlake.”

“God… That’s Jan’s husband.”

“Should we tell her?”

“Not now. I don’t think she could take it.”

Will nodded. He hugged Peggy once more. “If I’m going to try and save Robert I better get moving.”

“You’re not doing this alone Will. We’re going with you.”

“Bullshit you are. I’m not going to let you get killed too.”

Peggy grabbed his collar and pulled his face closer. Her eyes so full of cold rage it sucked the breath out of him.

“Yes we are…”

****

Marsh hummed along with an old Johnny Cash song while the bundle of dynamite shifted on the seat between them. Robert concentrated on driving and tried not to think about it. He’d bitten his lip until he’d tasted blood.

They passed carloads of casino patrons heading in both directions. Some drivers returning to Portland seemed buzzed and occasionally they swayed over the yellow median before making a sudden correction. Robert gave them a wide berth wherever he could.

“Are you going to finally tell me what this is about?” Robert asked.

Marsh waited until the song was over before considering Robert’s question.

“Come on Robert. It can’t be any real mystery to you. You’ve known for a long time that something big was going to happen some day. Remember the ghost you saw back when you were a kid? How you wondered if it had all been a dream? The ghost is fucking real amigo. In fact I talk to him almost every day.”

Robert felt cold sweat trickle down his back. “Whose ghost is it?”

“Jared Horn. Your great grandfather.”

“So why does he talk to you?”

Marsh stuck the nub of a cigar in his mouth and chewed pensively.

“I’d inherited Horn’s house from my aunt. I got drunk one night and was looking around the place when I fell through a trap door. Broke my back, I did. Lay there for days in a cellar waiting for help to come. Then Horn’s ghost made his presence known. At the time I thought I was hallucinating from the pain but after I was released from the hospital I could still hear his voice in my head.”

“So you’re blaming a ghost’s voice in your head for all this?”

“It’s the truth, Crain. I’ve been following orders.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“What’s in it for me? Horn’s promised a fortune in gold if I can deliver you to the place he wants you to be.”

“Do you know what he’s planning to do when we get there?”

Marsh spat a piece of the cigar onto the floor. “Hell if I know. He’s a goddamn ghost.”

****

Will loaded some supplies into the SUV and siphoned off the remaining gas from his disabled pickup. They found a cell phone on the floor and Peggy left a message at the sheriff’s department. She couldn’t tell if the snide dispatcher believed her abbreviated description of events. She could only trust that the woman would let the sheriff know as soon as she heard back from him.

She turned off the phone and climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door. Connor and Nugget had already made themselves at home in the backseat. Will still looked unhappy about taking anyone with him but she didn’t care. They were going to do this thing together.

“Do you have an idea where Marsh is taking him?” Peggy asked.

Will looked at her with hooded eyes. “I only saw the map once. I think they’re headed for the glacier up near Starvation Point.”