Hammer hurried across the room, grabbed Lily by the hand, and dragged her into the bathroom. “What did you do to Hunter Cullen?”
“Not a thing,” Robert said. “He, Michael, and me, we just took a little ride. Once we got to, Tucka—wherever the fuck we are—I let them go. They had to walk a little ways back to town, but they’re fine. You see, I’m not the bastard you think I am.”
“Where are you?”
“Where do you think?”
Hammer swallowed hard. “Let Lily go. Your quarrel is with me.”
Lily began to shake her head frantically, and Hammer pointed his finger at her, his face hard.
“Yes, but she’s the one that got away. I can’t have that. I have a reputation to keep up.”
“Fuck your reputation, you crazy bastard! You want a reputation? Why don’t you fuck with someone who’ll give you a challenge? It’s because you’re a fucking coward! You’d rather shoot a woman, an innocent woman, than have to deal with someone that might beat you.”
“You don’t think I can take you?” Robert asked, his voice deadly calm.
“You seem to want to take a shot at everybody but me. Come on. It’s just you and me now. Show me what you’ve got.”
“I hear a siren coming,” Robert said. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to send the cop away, and then we’ll play your little game. If I see that bitch appear, she’s dead, got it? If the cop doesn’t leave or goes inside, he’s dead, and then you’ll both be next. You know what I’m capable of, Hammer. You fuck with me, and you’ll never get out of that place alive.”
“If I come out, you’ll let Lily go?”
“Oh, no. That’s not the game. You want to keep her safe, you’ll have to kill me before I kill you. If you fail, I’ll kill her. Think of it as an incentive to do your best.” Robert paused. “The cop is coming up the drive. I’m watching,” he said and then hung up.
“What?” Lily asked, her voice laden with fear.
“We’re going to end it. Now.”
“How?”
“Stay in the bathroom.”
“No! Tell me what’s going on!”
“Just stay here,” he said as he hurried out of the bathroom and down the stairs as someone rapped on the door.
Hammer opened it. “Officer.”
“There’s a report of someone with a gun in the area. I’m here to check on you and offer you a ride back to town.”
Hammer heard Lily come up behind him and he pursed his lips in annoyance. “Listen and listen good,” he said to the cop. “Don’t look around. There is a man with a gun somewhere in the woods behind you. He has a rifle trained on you right now. “Don’t turn around!” he hissed as the officer started to move. “If you want to see your family tonight—”
Hammer flinched as the officer jerked forward an instant before he heard the crack of a rifle. The deputy fell, dead before he hit the ground, the bullet thudding into the wooden cabin after passing through his body. Hammer jumped back and slammed the door.
“Shit!”
There was a hole in the inside wall, and one of the windows at the front of the house had a spiderwebbed hole in it. The bullet had passed between him and Lily.
“Get down,” he growled as he pulled her down to the floor with him. “I told you to stay upstairs. You could have been killed!”
His phone began to ring. “You motherfucker!” he shouted into the phone.
“Took too long.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you. Do you hear me you fucker?” His heart hammered hard and fast.
“Come out, come out, come out wherever you are,” Robert chanted.
Hammer ended the call. Lily was staring back at him with wide eyes. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”
“How?”
“I’m going to go out there and try to lead him away. Then you get in that trooper car and haul ass out of here, understand.”
“No. I’m not leaving without you.”
“You have to, goddammit! If you don’t go, we’re both going to die.”
“No. I love you, and I’m not leaving you!”
Hammer paused, her words hitting him like a hammer blow. “I love you too,” he said, his voice as soft as his touch to her face. “That’s why you have to go. What’s in the gun safe?”
“I don’t know.”
“We have to open it.”
“I told you, I don’t know the combination.”
“You’ve got to try, Lily. With only my pistol, I don’t stand a chance.”
They stayed low, below the level of the single window in the kitchen, and scurried to the storage area under the stairs. Lily opened one of the doors to reveal the safe inside, and began to type on the electronic keypad as Hammer held his weapon. If Robert came through the door, he was a dead man.
Hammer’s phone rang again. He debated not answering it, but then did. He should be able to tell if Robert was moving. “What, you cocksucker?”
“Are you going to come out and play?”
“You’ll gun me down as soon as I step outside.”
“Nah. That’s too easy.”
“And I should believe you? You said the cop could leave.”
“So? He could have had every cop in the county swarming up here, right? You wanted it mano a mano—you got it.”
Hammer looked at Lily as she typed on the keypad, shook her head, and then tried again. “Maybe we’ll just stay in here, and I’ll call the cops.”
“Call them,” Robert challenged. “If any more cops show up, I’ll just fade into the woods, and then you’ll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. I’ll come for her, and I’ll come for the rest of your gang. You won’t be able to stop me. It might take me years, but eventually, I’ll kill them all, and their blood will be on your hands. You called me out. You said for me to name my time and place. This is it. Sure, go ahead, call the cops, but then we’ll both know who the coward is, won’t we?”
Hammer didn’t care about being called a coward, but Robert was right. Until he was caught or killed, Lily wouldn’t be safe. None of them would.
“Deal,” Hammer said, his tone firm.
“Good hunting,” Robert said, and Hammer was once again left with the abrupt beeps of a hang up.
“What deal?” Lily asked.
“I’m going to face him. When—”
“No!”
“Listen to me! I have to.”
“No. We can call the police. They’ll send enough—”
“Shhh…” he hushed, pulling her to him. “They’ll never catch him. If he’s in cover, they could walk within a foot of him and never see him. He’s expert at this. It has to be this way.”
“Why?” she cried.
“Because it has to end now. If the cops show up, we’ll spend the rest of our life watching over our shoulders, wondering if today is the day you’ll die. Or me. We’ll never be safe. Even if we run, eventually, he’ll find us, and when he does, he’ll kill you.”
She began to shake her head, and he grabbed her face, held it still, and then kissed her. “It’s the only way. I love you.”
“Don’t…”,Her eyes filled with tears.
“I have to. When I lead him away, you run. You get in that police cruiser or my truck, and you run as far and as fast as you can. I’ll call you.”
She shook her head again. “No. I’m not leaving you.”
“Lily—”
“No! I’m not leaving!” She turned back to the safe and keyed in another set of numbers, then another, then another. “Please,” she whispered as she tried yet another combination. “Dammit!” she hissed as the little red light appeared again, mocking her in her failure.
Then tried again, and a green light came on. She gasped and grabbed the handle, twisting it quickly, almost if she was afraid the safe would change its mind.
“It was mother’s birthday, backward,” she said as she pulled the door open.
Inside was a shotgun, a rifle, a couple of pistols, and ammunition for each. Hammer reached in and pulled out the Winchester Model 94, .30-30 lever action carbine along with the box of shells, and began to load the weapon. The rifle had no scope, which put him at a severe disadvantage, but he wasn’t the marksman that Robert was anyway. In a long-distance shooting contest, he was dead, but the rifle was far better than his pistol.
Lily pulled out the two pistols and began to load them. Combined with her own service pistol, that would give her three weapons to fend off Robert if he tried to come for her.
Hammer slung the rifle over his shoulder then pulled Lily to him. “Don’t open the door for anyone but me. And for God’s sake, if you’re not going to run, stay away from windows.” He kissed her hard then pushed his pistol into her hand. “Take this.”
“No! You need it.”
He refused to take it back. “I can’t hit shit beyond twenty yards with a pistol. If I have to get that close, I’m already dead.”
She looked at him, reading the dread and concern in his dark eyes. She placed the weapon on the shelf with the other pistols before she threw her arms around Hammer and held him tight. “Kill that bastard,” she whispered.
He kissed her again then slipped out of her embrace and silenced his phone. This was dangerous enough without his phone ringing and giving away his position. He moved across the room and out through the front of the house to the small desk. He didn’t trust Robert, there was no way he was going out through the regular door.
He climbed over the deck railing and shimmied down until he was hanging from the desk. He looked down. It was still an eight or ten-foot drop to a steep, sloped bank. Grimacing against the pain that was coming, and praying he didn’t break an ankle or leg, he released his grip and dropped. He hit the ground with a grunt and fell, tumbling and sliding down the hill until he slammed into a rock. It was all he could do to not cry out in pain.
“Fuck!” he gasped as the pain subsided.
He took a moment to take stock of himself and realized that nothing was broken, though he was covered in cuts and scratches. He listened, wondering if Robert had heard his tumbling slide down the hill. He looked around until he found the rifle, and then scrambled up the hill as quietly as possible, picking up the Winchester as he did. He continued up until he was below the deck with his back against the foundation of the cabin.
He crept along the block wall then slid to his stomach before he peeked around the corner. He didn’t expect to see anything and didn’t. He had no idea where Robert was, but at least now, Robert didn’t know where he was either. That made them even.
He knew Robert was in sight of the door, which gave him a general direction, and he couldn’t be very far away, or the trees would block his shot.
Hammer pulled back and thought about his next move. Robert was a master of camouflage, but he knew, generally, where he had to be. He would slip back down the hill, circle around, and try to come up behind him.
He started to pull away from the wall and then stopped. He knew Lily could take care of herself, but if he left her, there would be nobody between her and Robert. He thought for a moment and then began to move slowly down the hill. He didn’t like it, but finding Robert first was their only chance. Once he was far enough around the side, he would close back in and keep the cabin in sight. He knew he was splitting his attention, and that was dangerous, but he couldn’t leave Lily.
Moving as silently as possible, Hammer crept below the line of sight of the hill and then began his stalk.