The Thirteenth Skull (Alfred Kropp #3)(41)

“Where’s that put us?” I gasped. He was gaining about a pound with every step I took.

“Back door.”

When we reached the door, I dropped him, grabbed a fistful of his collar, and pulled him to his feet. I shoved him toward the keypad.

“If this is a trick, you die,” I promised him.

He punched in the code, the little light flashed green, and the door swung open, revealing a white landscape shimmering like a Courier and Ives print.

Then Nueve stepped through the doorway, his gun pointed at Ashley’s head.

“No, Alfred,” Nueve said softly. “She dies.”

03:02:55:21

“A most ingenious and impressive attempt,” Nueve said. “But ultimately fruitless. Drop your weapon. You know I will not hesitate to kill her.”

I did know that. And I also knew this was my last chance to escape. If I gave up now, I would spend the rest of my life at Camp Lobotomy, a locked-up lab rat at the mercy of this slick Spanish madman. That didn’t really appeal to me, but neither did Nueve putting a bullet into Ashley’s head. I didn’t think Abby Smith knew what Nueve was up to, but that didn’t matter. By the time she found out, it would be too late. I’d be a vegetable and Ashley would be dead.

When you get to that place where desperation meets despair, the best thing to do is zig when the baddies expect you to zag.

It went very fast but felt very slow.

I raised my gun.

And then I pulled the trigger.

And then the bullet smashed into Ashley.

That bought two seconds, because it was the last thing Nueve expected. I used those two seconds to leap over Mr. Bullet-Foot and hit Nueve full force, wrapping him in a bear hug and driving him to the ground.

I straddled his chest, put one foot on his gun hand, and pinned his left arm with my knee. I pushed the barrel of my gun against his finely developed cheekbone.

“The box,” I said. “Where is it?”

“Left pocket,” he said.

I pulled the gun from his hand, stuck it in my pocket, then switched my gun to the other hand so I could get into his left pocket. Once I had the box, I stood up and backed away, putting Mr. Bullet-Foot between me and Nueve.

Nueve sat up, holding his right wrist, red from the pressure of my boot. “Now what?” he asked. “You are surrounded by hundreds of miles of wilderness. How far do you think you can go? If we don’t get you, the elements will.”

I pulled Ashley to her feet. I whispered her name, but she didn’t answer. Her eyes rolled in her head. I didn’t think I had much time.

“Call me crazy,” I said. “But I’m gonna risk the elements.” I brushed past him, holding Ashley against my side.

“Alfred,” he called softly.

I turned.

“You should shoot me.”

I turned away.

“You know what will happen if you don’t kill me,” he said. “I will not stop. You know I will not stop. You know there are no boundaries that can stop me. Dispatch me, and the director might be able to persuade the board to let you go.”

He smiled. “It is the thing-that-must-be-done.”

“I should shoot you,” I said. “For all those reasons plus a couple more.”

I kicked the door closed in his face.

03:02:52:28

We were standing at the back of the château, looking down a steep, densely wooded slope, the bottom of which was lost in the shadow of the mountain range directly in front of us. Ashley’s breath exploded from her mouth, crystalline white puffs of air that barely escaped her pale lips before the wind whipped them away.

“Can you walk?” I asked.

She mumbled something against my chest. Her knees buckled. I held her up and glanced back at the château. Pushed against the wall were six large plastic garbage cans, their lids held down with bungee cords, I guessed to keep the bears from rifling through the trash.

I eased her to the ground. “Be right back,” I said. I trotted over to the cans, freeing one lid and leaving the thick rubber cord threaded through the lid’s handle. I placed the lid upside down at the top of the slope and then returned to her.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I scooped her up.

“Ever go sledding?” I asked.

“I’m from Southern California!” she gasped.

I plopped her into the center of the overturned lid and positioned myself behind her. She drew her legs up to her chest as I wrapped mine around her shivering body. We fit, but barely. At that moment, the door behind us flew open and a mass of black-clad agents swarmed out. No time to think about it now. No time to work up my courage or even consider the wisdom of what I was about to do. There was no clear path below and the odds were we’d hit a tree before we went twenty feet, but if it’s necessary then it’s possible, and our getting away from the Company’s clutches was pretty darn necessary.

I grabbed the metal hooks on either end of the bungee cord and pushed off.

The fresh snowfall from the night before was a blessing— and a curse. It covered fallen branches and small bushes and the twisted upraised roots of the trees, but it also made us go faster. The lid was slightly concave, so by pulling on the cord and shifting my weight from one side to the other, I could kind of direct our descent as we flew down the mountain. We almost tipped straight over a couple of times, until I yelled at Ashley to lean back against me. I didn’t dare look to see if they were coming after us; I didn’t think they could without jumping on some lids themselves or fetching some skis.