Tucker’s just the same. And if they told their security people about you, well they’d rip your heart out and eat it while it was still beating if they thought it would make them like you.”
“ I get it,” Izzy said, but it made her sick to think they were intentionally going to set out to murder eight people. She didn’t know if she could do it, no matter what kind of people they were.
“ The hard part for me,” Lila said, “will be killing the dogs.”
“ What?” Izzy said.
“ Woof,” from Hunter, almost as if he understood.
“ Yeah, the dogs, Hitler and Stalin.”
“ Woof,” again from Hunter.
“ Hitler and Stalin?” Black said.
“ Yeah,” Lila said, “But despite their names, I like them. We were close once. When I was growing up there, I used to sneak out at night, the dogs looked the other way if my treat for them was good enough. Once they sniff me out, they’ll come to me without raising a fuss.”
“ You grew up there?” Black said.
“ Long story.”
“ Don’t tell me this Wayne character is your father,” Black said.
“ No, but he made me what I am. I’ll tell you on the way.” Lila turned toward the door. “Come on, let’s go.”
Lila led Izzy to the Charger. Hunter got in back. Black got in the Jag as Izzy started up the Charger. With the car running, but still in park, Lila got out, pulled her Glock and shot out both front tires of the Jag. Then she hopped back in the car, shoved it into drive and peeled rubber as she shot down the drive. She pointed the car toward the resort’s exit and when they were at it, she stopped, put the car in neutral and turned to Izzy.
“ Holy shit!” Izzy said. “What’d you do that for? I was just starting to like you and now you do something like this!”
“ Because what I said back there is true. One of you has to survive and since Amy’s your granddaughter, I get it that you have to try and help her, though I would have preferred Black on this rescue mission, because she’s darned good with a gun and not afraid to use it.”
“ I’m not afraid to use a gun,” Izzy said, not sure she was liking Lila’s take charge attitude.
“ I know, but are you good with a gun? How much practice have you had? Can you hit what you’re shooting at?”
“ You’d be surprised.” Izzy grinned, despite the fact that she felt awful about Black, who was probably furious.
“ You can hit what you’re shooting at?”
“ Every time.” Izzy tried for smug, but she didn’t think she was pulling it off.
“ That’s good to know.”
“ So let’s get out of here.”
“ Not just yet,” Lila said. “The dog can’t go.”
“ What?”
“ Think about it.”
Hunter whined.
“ She’s right, boy, you have to stay and take care of Black.” Izzy got out of the car. “Come on.”
The dog jumped from the backseat into the front, got out of the car. Izzy scratched him behind the ears. She didn’t want to part with the dog. Hunter had become almost a part of her. It was as if he knew what she was thinking, as if he understood her. “We’ll be back, but just in case we’re not, take care of Black like you’ve been taking care of me.”
Hunter looked up at her, met her eyes and Izzy could almost believe he was about to cry. She held an open hand out and the dog nuzzled it, then he turned and ran back into the resort, she watched him, till he made the turn toward the cabin and was out of sight.
“ I swear,” Lila said, “that is one smart dog.”
Chapter Eighteen
Mouledoux piloted his unmarked up the mountain under a cloud covered sky. But even in the almost pitch black, he could tell he was passing stately homes, most with locked gates in front of their driveways. One of the hazards of wealth, if you had it, others wanted it, so it had to be protected. That and a lot of rich people just plain didn’t like associating with the great unwashed.
He grabbed a glance at the dashboard clock. Thirty minutes to midnight. He’d made good time, despite the fact that he’d had to keep it under fifty during a lot of the drive through Northern California, because the road was warmer than the land it sliced through, so animals liked to rest on it. Twice he almost hit a deer. A coyote shot in front of him just outside Susanville and he’d missed it by inches, its eyes glowing with the reflection of his headlights. And he’d killed a couple rabbits. Bugs Bunny, it seems, wasn’t as adept at getting out of the way of a moving vehicle as were Bambi and Wile E.
As he passed a sign marking the altitude at six thousand feet, it started to snow. Early, he thought. Maybe it was a sign, but good or bad, he didn’t know. Soon enough he’d be in Mansfield Wayne’s lair and he’d find out if he’d made the right choice. He really only had two and he’d been grappling with the decision the whole trip from Oregon. Should he call it in, report Peeps, and come up to Wayne’s with the cavalry. Or should he come alone, play it by ear and maybe save his partner’s ass.
He hung a right at Radium Road, as per his instructions. There were no homes on this road, stately or otherwise. It seemed deserted, spooky, as it wound up the side of the mountain. Fortunately, the weather wasn’t below freezing, so the snow was melting as fast as it the road, but the landscape on both sides of it were getting a dusting. Tall pines lightly covered in snow reminded him of Christmas and he wondered if he’d blundered so badly coming up here that he’d be unemployed, or worse, incarcerated by the time the holidays arrived.
Maybe he should turn back. Maybe he’d made the wrong decision. The road curved around a bend and Mouledoux saw lights up ahead. Mansfield Wayne’s estate. He slowed, pulled over to the side of the road, killed his headlights. He’d made the wrong choice, he was sure of that now. He’d been stupid. Wayne had two kidnap victims up there, his partner was complicit in the crime and here he was, Mississippi Bob Mouledoux, joining the side of the bad guys.
Sure, he’d told himself, he wasn’t really, he was going in to try to rescue his partner from the dark side, but that would never fly with internal affairs, his chief or anybody else who might review this afterwards. Heck, he’d never believe it himself. The whole world would think he’d sold his badge for thirty pieces of silver, just as Peeps had done.
It was too late for Peeps, Mouledoux saw that now, but it wasn’t too late to save himself. His partner’s ship had sailed and was sinking fast and only an idiot would board it now.
He picked up the mic to call it in, but the radio was dead. No chatter, no static, nothing, just dead. How was that possible? He’d been listening to police chatter all the way from California.
He reached for his phone, touched the button to wake it from sleep, but it didn’t leave it’s slumber. He pushed it again, got no joy. He pushed the reset. Nothing. Like the radio, it was dead. That too made no sense, as he’d been using a car charger. The battery should have been full.
Nothing for it now, but to go back down the mountain till he could find a landline. That’d take about a half hour, maybe a bit longer in these conditions. Maybe he could stop at one of the homes that didn’t have a locked gate in front of its drive. Yeah, that made sense.
He was about to turn around when someone rapped on his window. Startled he went for his weapon when the passenger window exploded with the sound of gunfire, raining him with safety glass.
“ Don’t!” a man in black shouted as he poked a mean looking riot gun through the space where his window once was. “I blew your window out with my handgun. I just as easily could’ve used this and taken your head off.”
Mouledoux pulled his hand away from the shoulder holster.
