Dark Winter Read Online Free Page B

felt behind me very slowly and grabbed her spare hand, passing my helmet to her before feeling my way to her face and pressing my fingers against her lips. She still had her helmet on, which was good: we didn’t want to leave either of them here.
    I turned my right ear towards the sounds of a frightened man. He probably didn’t know what to do, where to go, whether to hide or run blindly into the forest. I hoped he kept choosing to lie still and think the darkness would save him.
    I put out my hand in his direction, feeling the invisible ground just below and in front of me, then inched forward. Mud, roots and leaves collected between my fingers before I came into contact with the cool, clammy bark of a tree. I moved very slowly round it. I heard Suzy behind me, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
    He was close now, moving his legs. I heard them scrape across the rotting leaves.
    My face was getting attacked by whatever flew around here and ate skin. Not that it mattered at the moment. My whole being was focused on finding the target; even the pain in my leg had gone as I inched a little further.
    He was so close I could hear him gulp with fear, then he moved his legs again and leaves rippled across my hand.
    There was nothing to do but jump in that direction. My body fell clumsily on him and he screamed. My nose landed on the side of his face. He curled into a ball, begging and pleading as I got up on my knees. I didn’t know the language; I wasn’t listening.
    Suzy was up behind me. ‘Where is he? Where is he?’
    I got my right knee pushing down on the side of his head. His begging became louder.
    ‘Ssssh, it’s OK, it’s OK.’ My right hand went down and fell on to his sweat-soaked face. I kept hold of his head and held out my spare hand into the darkness. ‘Come to me, quick.’
    She moved into me and I grabbed her, feeling my way up her arm. My fingers found the revolver and guided it down on to his head. ‘You’ve got it. I’ll hold him.’
    I felt the muzzle digging into his skin as he sobbed and started to struggle. I wanted to get this over with. ‘You ready? I’ll let go on three . . . one, two, three.’
    I released his head and pushed myself backwards, and in the same instant she squeezed the trigger. There was a bright flash and the sound seemed much louder than I knew it actually was.
    ‘Stay still, stay still. Got to make sure.’
    I heard the hammer go back.
    ‘Wait, wait.’
    I heard her feeling around for what was left of his head. There was another bright flash and loud bang. The smell of cordite hung between us, trapped by the canopy of leaves, and the pain in my leg returned with a vengeance.
    ‘So, how the fuck do we get out of here?’ Suzy sounded almost normal.
    We were no more than ten metres or so into the rainforest, but we’d only got where we were by following the sound of the target. Getting out was something else.
    ‘Let’s just wait, calm down, see if we can hear the Lite Ace.’ I held my breath. Gradually, the ringing of the shots in my ears faded, and I came to hear the gentle ticking of its engine. It was easy enough to home in on. I felt about for my helmet, and we crawled out of the trees, hitting the road only three or four metres from the vehicle.
    I could see Suzy’s blood-splattered face in the headlights. ‘What the fuck were you doing playing Spiderman?’ I inspected my leg as she did the same with her hand. ‘All you had to do was shoot them.’
    ‘By the time I got level they were already flapping to get out the side door. The wagon was rolling. I didn’t know what to do. Then I thought, Fuck it, just dive in.’ She was smiling: I could see a big grin in the red glow of the rear light. ‘Anyway, it’s done, isn’t it?’
    She was right. ‘We need to get the wagon off the road and you need to clean up your face. The trees are too dense here to drive through – take it down to the Buddha junction, dump it out of sight as best you can, and I’ll