Slay Bells Ring

Chapter Sixteen – Kane

The man doesn’t begin to stir until sunrise, which is to say, it’s a long night of sitting there and staring at his unconscious face while waiting for him to do something. I told Holly she could sleep if she wanted, that I’d take watch, but she refused and decided to play watchdog with me.

It’s just as well. I like having her in my sight.

“What…” The man groans as he comes to, opening his eyes and then blinking a dozen times until his gaze focuses on Holly, then on me. “Who—shit.”

I give the man a wicked smile. “Shit’s right, buddy. You came to the wrong cabin and tried to kill the wrong girl. Ms. Cooper is under my protection right now. Do you know who I am?” As I speak, the man grows paler and paler… or maybe he only grows paler because he realizes he’s tied up and I’m holding onto a really big knife.

All the man can do is shake his head no.

“So, you don’t know who I am, but you obviously know who she is.” I point the knife at Holly, who glares at the man with the same hatred she first sent toward me. I do like the fire in those eyes, but… I don’t want her to hate me—which isn’t something I should be thinking about right now.

Need to focus on the matter before us.

“You came here to kill her, didn’t you?” I ask, wanting to hear him admit it.

The man’s face twists in annoyance, but he remembers how helpless he is, so that annoyance fades into submission as he sighs and mutters, “Yeah, I came here to kill the girl.”

No sooner does he say it when Holly stands, curls her fingers into a tight fist, and then launches that fist directly into his face. The punch is quick and good in form, and she hits his nose at the right angle to break it. The snapping of cartilage is music to my ears. “Looks like you failed,” Holly hisses out, and then she takes her seat once more.

As the man groans from the sudden attack, as blood starts to ooze down his face from his broken nose, I look at Holly and she glances at me. “What?” she asks with a shrug.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look sexier while punching someone else in my life. It also filled me with a bizarre sense of satisfaction. Holly is capable; she might not have been able to kill me, but she is still strong in her own right, and she knows how to throw a wicked hook.

It takes me a moment to say, “Nothing.” Turning my attention back to the man, I tell him, “She’s a little upset, for obvious reasons. I’m sure you can understand that. We killed the last guy who tried to put a bullet in her. He’s out back.” I lift the knife between us. “Stuck this in his chest. It slid into him like he was nothing but butter. We could do the same to you, but we have a proposition for you.”

The man is silent, but his nostrils flare and his eyes widen. He has to know this won’t end well for him.

“You tell us everything you know, and I won’t use this knife on you,” I say. “What do you think? Is that something you can do for us, or should I let Ms. Cooper here take a turn with the knife? I should warn you, she came to this cabin wanting blood, so she might want to drain you of most of yours—”

“Fine,” the man sputters out. “Fine. I don’t know much, but I’ll tell you what I can. What do you want to know?”

Holly and I exchange a glance before she says, “Who hired you? Obviously.”

He sighs, and under his breath he mutters, “I’m not getting paid enough for this shit.” His eyes are an amber color, and they flick between Holly and me. If I had to guess, he’s in his twenties, too young to truly recognize the consequences of a job like this turning sour. “You want to know who hired me? Fine. I’ll tell you what I know. I don’t know his name. He’s some old guy. Gray hair, brown eyes. He had me meet him in his car in an alley. Fancy car, fancy suit. Said he’d pay me five hundred thousand to kill one girl, that it’d be a quick and easy job and the world wouldn’t miss her. Sounds like I wasn’t the only one he offered the money to, the asshole. He didn’t tell me about any competition.”

“I wouldn’t be worried about your former employer right now,” I warn him.

Holly is quiet for a few seconds. “What color was his car?”

“Black.”

“Clean-shaven, acted like he was too good to be talking to you?”

The man nods. “Yeah, yeah. Seems like you know him. Looks like whoever it is wants you dead. Now, that’s all I know, and you promised you’d let me go—”

Holly and I ignore the man as we turn to each other. I lean towards her and she does the same as she says, “It’s Howard. Has to be. No doubts anymore.” Her voice comes out soft and sad, like she’s hurt even though she already suspected he was behind this. “Guess his ambitions want me out of the picture.”

“I guess so,” I say.

“Hey, hey, hey!” the man calls out. “Hello? Still here? Are you going to free me now or what?” The way he says it, so obnoxious, I’m actually kind of glad he won’t be leaving this cabin alive.

I’m the one who deadpans, “No. Now I’m going to kill you.” I stand.

“But, but you said you’d let me go—”

“No, I didn’t. I said I wouldn’t use this knife on you.” I set said knife down on my chair as I walk behind the man and set my hands on his shoulders, feeling them tense instantly. “You were going to die here either way. Luckily for you, you cooperated, so I’ll make it quick.”

One hand moves to the top of his head, curling in his short hair, and the other moves to cup his chin and curl around his bottom jaw as the man stutters out, “Wait, wait, wait.” But he already gave us the information we wanted, so there’s nothing for me to wait, wait, wait for.

Holly doesn’t look away. She watches as I jerk my arms in opposite directions and snap the man’s neck. The man’s head slumps forward, and I immediately work on untying him. I need to get him outside with the other body.

After I put on my boots and throw on my jacket, I heave the man over my shoulder and carry him outside. It’s not snowing right now, and the sun shines brightly overhead. The area is covered in snow; assuming it doesn’t snow anymore, I’ll have my hands full with shoveling out the cars. Hopefully the main roads are, at least, a little cleared off.

Although… it might be smart to take one car out of here and dump the other.

The idea comes to me as I set the second man’s corpse down near where the first is, right up against the backside of the cabin. A decently-sized propane tank rests nearby. Before leaving the area, I check the meter. It’s not full, but it’s full enough.

Hmm.

Within a minute, I’m back inside the house, sitting down near Holly, who hasn’t moved a muscle. I think she’s still reeling at the truth—it’s one thing to suspect, but another thing to know it for a fact. She probably feels as if the last thirteen years of her life were a lie.

“The snow has stopped,” I say, and all Holly does is make a verbal sound of agreement. “With some shoveling, I could probably get us out of here, if you’re ready. And if you’re willing to listen, I think I might know a way we can get rid of the bodies and make it look like you’re dead, too.”

Her green eyes focus on me. “Why?”

“If he thinks you’re dead, he won’t send any more hitmen after you. You can catch him off-guard.” I pause. “ I assume you’ll want to confront him and get him to admit to everything, and then get your stabby on. Maybe use this for real.” I offer her the knife back, but she doesn’t go to take it, to my surprise.

A slight frown tugs at her lips. “And what about you?”

“I guess that depends if you want my help.” My fingers curl around the knife handle as my gaze falls to it. “I told you already I never planned on leaving this mountain alive, but if it means anything, I do want to make things right. I want to help you. I can help you take this Howard Giles guy down, and then…”

“And then what?”

“I have a getaway stash. It’ll be enough to start a life somewhere else. You can leave Holly Cooper behind and be whoever you want to be.”

Holly looks away, her brows furrowed. “What if I don’t know who I want to be?”

“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.”

She fiddles with her hands on her lap before turning her gaze back to me. “Say I ask for your help and we kill Howard. Say I take your getaway stash. What will you do? Where will you go? Will you find another cabin in the middle of nowhere to drink yourself to death in?”

I decide to tell her the truth, or at least part of it. “I don’t know.” Honestly, it’s not that I can’t think of a future—I could always go back to the Guild for more work. They’re blissfully unaware they almost lost one of their prime contractors—but it’s more like I don’t want to think of a future.

Not without her.

Going back to the Guild, doing what I do best… I don’t know if I could do it, if I could pretend like I was fine. How could I possibly go on while knowing Holly was out there, somewhere? It’s been days, mere days, but I’d feel as though she took a part of my soul with her.

So, no, I don’t know what the future would hold for me, but this story isn’t mine. It’s Holly’s, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she gets her happy ending.

To get the attention off me and what my future holds, I ask her, “The real question is, Holly fucking Cooper, are you ready for the climax?”

The look she gives me is one of silent determination. The woman before me might’ve injured herself stupidly the night she tried to kill me, but she’s tough. She’s resilient. She doesn’t look away from the face of death; she stares right at it and dares it to make a move. I can’t help but wonder what kind of person she’d be if I hadn’t played my part in shattering her life thirteen years ago.

Holly is measured in taking the knife from me. “I’m ready,” she says. “Are you?”

“Little killer, when it comes to this sort of thing—” AKA when it comes to murder and infiltration. “—I was born ready.”

We don’t pack everything, though we do take some of the food and water that’s left with us. We also take a few blankets, in case we get stuck anywhere and we’re forced to huddle together in the car. As for which car we’re taking, it’ll obviously be mine. After some shoveling, I go searching for the vehicles belonging to our two hitmen, and I bring them closer to the house, so they’re caught in the fire, too.

I find a phone in one of the hitmen’s vehicles, and it takes a little guesswork to figure out which one it belongs to. I have to hold it in front of their faces outside to unlock the damned phone, and when I do, I hastily go through it once I’m back inside the cabin, warming up by the fire.

While I was busy outside, Holly got everything ready inside. Everything we’re taking with us is packed and waiting near the door. Some belongings will be left here to make it look somewhat believable. I don’t know if Howard will fall for this, but it’s the best plan we have.

Let’s just say this particular cabin won’t be seeing Christmas tomorrow.

I find a contact simply labeled as Boss Man, and I assume it must be either Howard himself or a middleman. Regardless, I send a text to the number, saying simply, It’s done. Gonna clean up the cabin.

I don’t get any texts back, but I figure we’ll keep the phone until we hit whatever city comes first, then we’ll ditch it. Holly and I will have to lay low for a while together to make sure our bait is taken. You don’t start reeling in a fish until you’re sure that hook is set nicely.

By the time we’re ready to go, it’s late afternoon. I carry the bags of food, water, and blankets to my car, which I then turn on and warm up. Holly bundles herself up and claims she doesn’t need my help getting to the car, but once she sticks her feet in those boots, it’s obvious they do nothing but cause her feet pain when she walks in them, so I heave her up into my arms and carry her to the car, too—much to her chagrin, I should add.

As Holly huffs and puffs, I get her situated in the car and ignore the salty looks she throws my way. She was utterly delusional to believe she could take me. She’s no scarier than an angry kitten.

The final thing I need to position are the bodies behind the cabin. I lug them back around and drop them inside near the fireplace. Want to be sure the bodies are so unrecognizable that immediate identification is out of the question. I can’t say whether their dental records will be pulled, but we don’t have time to worry about that right now. Besides, if Howard thinks he’s in the clear, he’ll use his ill-gotten fortune to push everything under the rug.

Once the bodies are set in the cabin, I light a candle we found, and then I leave the burning match on the sofa bed. It’ll catch and spread. The candle I bring to the kitchen and set on the counter, near the oven.

What’s the plan? Oh, no biggie. Just setting the scene, laying the groundwork so the big boom can happen while Holly and I are driving away.

I turn on all the burners but don’t catch the igniters so the thing simply leaks gas, and then I hurry out of the house, slamming the cabin door behind me. I’m in the car, ready to go in less than thirty seconds, and soon after that, we get going.

Don’t want to stick around, for obvious reasons. Holly and I need to be long gone by the time the authorities get here. I’m never one to put anything to chance, but given the circumstance, it’s pretty much our only option.

We’re about halfway down the long driveway when we hear a loud explosion behind us as the cabin gives way to the colliding of fire and gas.

Here goes nothing.