Slash and Burn Read Online Free PDF Page B

bend in the trail, I looked across at her. She looked mad, too. But her anger seemed to be directed not at me but inwards, like she was berating herself for letting her identity slip.
    ‘There are things that I have to do, Kate, things that don’t fit the sensibilities of most people. Sometimes I have to kill, yes, but I’ve never killed anyone who wasn’t trying to kill me or wasn’t hurting someone else. If that doesn’t sit too well with you, I’ll take you back to Little Fork and you can get a flight back home. We’ll call it quits.’
    ‘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