The Burning Edge

“What’s that got to do with me and my kids and the decent people you murdered?”

“Collateral damage. They got in the way of our war on terrorism.”

“You’re not at war with my children!”

“Shut up!” Unger said.

“You dishonor all the brave people who gave their lives overseas. You’re not soldiers!”

“I said, shut the fuck up!” Unger said.

“Soldiers don’t terrorize little children. You’re criminals, murdering cowards, and you’ll burn for what you’ve done.”

Felk left for the door, came back and dropped a shovel on the floor in front of Lisa.

“Time to go, bitch!”

They cut her from her bindings and marched her from the cabin into the woods and rain at gunpoint. Felk held his gun on Lisa. Unger kept his holstered and carried the shovel, guiding her by flashlight. They progressed along through the thick forest until they came to a meadow.

“Dig,” Felk said. “About three feet down. We’re going to bury you along with your two pups. No witnesses. No trace. No nothing.”

Unger tossed the shovel on the ground, stepped back, withdrew his gun and trained it on Lisa. Felk stood opposite, keeping her at gunpoint. Both were just out of reach for her to swing the shovel at them.

Lisa trembled as the shovel’s spade bit into the wet earth.

54

Lake George, New York

Gannon’s headlights raked through the night rain across the small parking lot at Hallick’s General Store and found Ethan huddled in a corner of the porch.

He was sheltered but soaked and shivering.

Gannon hurried him into his car and blasted the heat.

“Are you all right, Ethan?”

He shook his head.

“They’re going to hurt my mom and sister.”

“Who are they? How many? Do they have guns?”

“Yes, they have guns. I saw two big men. I think they’re the same people my mom saw hurt people at the truck stop.”

“Okay, listen, we should wait. Help is coming—”

“No! It’ll be too late! You have to do something now!”

Gannon rubbed his chin, thinking hard. Could he live with himself if he sat there when he could’ve helped?

“All right,” he said. “You stay here at the store until the police come. Tell them I’ve gone to the cabin. I’ll get as close as I can to see what I can do.”

“Drive to the great big round rock, it’s like a ball,” Ethan said. “Then walk from there so they won’t see your lights.”

Gannon found the round rock and parked. The flashlight in his glove compartment had dead batteries. He got out and started walking through the darkness along the twisting dirt road unable to believe what had unfolded.

He had no idea what he was going to do. He had no weapon; he’d taken a firearms course in Buffalo for a story, but he hated guns. He could be facing two armed men with military training. Murderers. He shoved his concerns aside. Lisa and her eight-year-old daughter were in there and he had to do some—

Gannon stopped dead.

Was that a voice?

Senses heightened, he concentrated on his surroundings, when he saw it—a flash of light in the forest and voices.

Was that it?

He was close enough to the cabin for it to be them. Lisa’s directions had said there were no other neighbors nearby.

Gannon strained to see in the rain and darkness. He left the road and inched through the woods toward the light and the voices. He fought to be as careful as possible, not to fall, or make noise. The rush of the downpour helped deaden his advance and he drew close enough to see two men, one holding a flashlight and a gun, the other holding a gun. Between them a woman with a shovel was digging.

Jesus.

It was Lisa.

Gannon took a long deep breath and swallowed hard. He had no time to think.

I’ve got to do something.

Lisa had dug an oblong hole well over two feet deep into the soft earth.

Through her prayers, tears and rage, emotions swirled.

God, please don’t let the children suffer.

We’ll be together soon, Bobby…

“Deep enough.” Felk nudged Lisa with his gun. “Get in there and get on your knees.”

Lisa sobbed as she got into the hole.

“Don’t hurt my children.”

“Go get her pups, Nate,” Felk said.

Unger tramped off to the cabin, following the path lit by his flashlight, while Felk lowered himself, keeping his gun on Lisa.

“We’ll do them in front of you, so it’s the last thing you see.”

“No, please.”

They heard Unger’s boots on the cabin’s wooden deck, heard the door as he went inside, then rapid movement on the deck again as Unger shouted into the woods.

“The boy’s gone!”

“Gone? What the—”

Felk turned from Lisa and a blurred force shot from the darkness, knocking Felk to the ground. Fueled by some overwhelming power and lightning instinct…fight with all you have…Lisa seized the shovel and before either man knew what had happened she’d clubbed Felk’s head three times, and was moving on the stranger.

“No! Don’t! It’s me, Jack Gannon!”

She turned the blade of the shovel and again she beat Felk with such frenzy Gannon had to pull her away. He used the flashlight to find the gun and remove all rounds as they saw light flashing as Unger came crashing through the forest.

“Ivan, he’s gone!” Unger approached the hole, panting. “I don’t know how he got free. I taped—”

Unger’s last thought was wondering what caused the explosion of stars before everything went dark—not knowing that the flat steel back of Lisa’s shovel had landed full force on his face.

With Unger on the ground, Lisa smashed him with the shovel several more times before Gannon could stop her.

Both men were unconscious and bleeding profusely. Gannon had removed the rounds from Unger’s gun.

“It’s all right,” Gannon told Lisa. “Ethan got away. He got to the store and called for help.”

Lisa was sobbing.

“He’s safe at the store. Help is coming,” Gannon said.