Cut Off (Book 2): Cut Throat Read online

  Laurie could see the man had already made his decision.

  “Then may I make a suggestion, sir?”

  “By all means.”

  “Make me his superior officer.”

  The colonel snorted. “I’m sure as the ranking officer he would love that.”

  “Only for this mission, sir. After that, things can go back to the way they were.”

  Fitz appraised Laurie. “I was warned about you and your unusual style of doing things. I like unusual. I’m a little unusual myself.”

  “I take that as a compliment, sir.”

  “You use the term ‘sir’ with some disdain. Have you ever noticed that? You should keep a close eye on it. It might cause you some trouble in the years to come.”

  “Sir, I meant no disrespect–”

  “Yes, you do.” Fitz approached Laurie and stood less than a foot away. With Laurie still sitting, he felt uncomfortable. “We train people to become killers. A lot of our recruits come from broken homes. You’re no different. I read your file. Not the one everyone else can get their hands on. I mean your real file. I know just about everything there is to know about you, soldier. We break people down before rebuilding them in our image. We’re exceptionally good at it. But you… somehow you slipped through the net. You kept a little of that miscreant with you, didn’t you?”

  To have his history so brazenly used against him as a weapon like that gave Laurie the chills. There’s another file on me? His eyes darted to the file, still open, on the colonel’s desk. It was all he could do to keep his eyes off the ink on those pages.

  “And yet, you’re still here,” Fitz said. “I suppose we’re all gluttons for punishment, otherwise we’d never have made it through training, would we?”

  He moved back to his desk. Laurie still hadn’t fully recovered from the shock of learning there was another file on him. And it was sitting right there, on the colonel’s desk. All the personal pain and angst he’d struggled against over the years, clearly printed in black and white. There were photos too, all sporting the same colour palette. Black. Grey. Yellow. Purple. Blue. All the colours of a domestic abuse rainbow.

  Fitz eased back into his seat behind the desk. It creaked beneath his weight as he picked up another file and began reading. “My secretary will give you the mission details. Collect them on your way out.”

  2

  If Katie thought her grandfather was going to take it easy on them after their recent ordeal, she had better prepare herself for a rude awakening.

  He banged on her bedroom door with his fist. “Time for work! Get up! The cows need milking and the goats need feeding! Wake up!”

  Katie groaned. “All right! I’m getting up!”

  The pounding stopped and Katie rolled over and wrapped a pillow over her head. Exhaustion’s warm embrace lulled her back to sleep.

  Two minutes later, that fist banged on her door again. If she didn’t know any better she would have guessed he was sitting outside, listening for when she fell back to sleep so he could annoy her at precisely the right time.

  “Katie?” Ella murmured. At some point in the night, she emigrated from her bunk and into Katie’s. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s grandfather,” Katie said. “He wants us to work the farm.”

  I’d have been better off in the slave labour camp.

  “Now? It’s still dark out.”

  “That’s how you work a farm.” Katie’s eyes moved to the side with a new idea. “But maybe… maybe we can get a little more sleep. Come with me.”

  They stood in the middle of the room and faced the mirror leaning against the wall. Katie removed her nightie so she wore only her bra and a pair of borrowed shorts. Then she removed Ella’s T-shirt. The little girl drowned in it.

  “It’s cold!” Ella complained.

  “It’ll only take a second,” Katie said. “It’ll be worth it. Trust me.”

  She opened the door and rubbed her eyes, face stretching behind a fake yawn. Ella followed her lead.

  “Glad you’re finally awake, princess–” Bill said before turning to see what they were wearing – or rather, not wearing. “I… Uh… Um…”

  He turned his back on them and proceeded down the stairs. Katie was pleased to see the rush of blood run up his neck.

  Mission accomplished.

  “We’ll be down in a bit, grandfather,” Katie said sweetly.

  “Work begins in five minutes.” Bill didn’t turn back. “I’ll see you downstairs.”

  Katie grinned. Her plan worked. Tomorrow, he wouldn’t be knocking on their door quite so noisily.

  “Blow me down. Now there’s a sight you don’t see every day.”

  The blood fell from Katie’s face.

  No…

  She turned to find a man in his early twenties leaning against a doorframe, a cup of coffee in hand. His carefully-sculpted muscles bulged beneath his strained T-shirt. He openly ogled her exposed skin.

  He raised his coffee in salute. “Mornin’.”

  “Aaron? What are you doing here?”

  “Your grandfather wanted me to help prune his hedges.” His grin and accompanying smirk gave the sentence a whole new meaning. “I didn’t realize he had some he needed taken care of indoors too.”

  Katie refused to back down and glared at Aaron across the way. If she expected him to back down, she had another thing coming. The fool just stood there, sipped on his coffee, and kept staring. He even had the gall to lick his lips!

  “Aren’t you chilly, standing there like that?” Aaron said.

  “No.” Katie folded her arms and felt her goosebumps. “I often wander around like this.”

  Ella tugged on her hand. “I’m cold!”

  Still, Katie wouldn’t break her gaze with Aaron. “She’s oversensitive, that’s all.”

  Aaron finished up his coffee. “Thanks for the… conversation. I guess I’ll see you downstairs.”

  Katie smirked, pleased with her victory. Sucker.

  She shivered at the cold and then turned to shut the door behind her.

  She froze.

  Darryl stood, hair sticking up at wild angles, eyes bulging, at her bra.

  “What time did grandfather–?” Camden appeared behind Darry. He raised his hands to block the view of his sister like a vampire confronted with sunlight. “As if this morning didn’t start bad enough. Go put some clothes on! Hussie!”

  Katie opened her mouth to argue but it was no use. Her supposed victory turned sour. Shamed and embarrassed, she accepted defeat and turned with what little dignity she still possessed and shut the door behind her.

  “He’s handsome,” Ella said with a grin.

  “Who?” Katie said. Ella could have only been referring to one man. “No, he’s not. He’s mediocre. At best. Put some clothes on.”

  She looked in the full-length mirror and appraised herself. Not bad, she thought. She caught the wicked smirk on her face, one promising mischief and madness. “Oh, shut up!” She tossed a towel over the mirror and marched to the wardrobe.

  3

  The farm was a deceptively beautiful place early in the morning. It reminded Katie of Disney movies where the characters spoke to the animals and the animals talked back. But that was when there was sunlight. When it was dark like this, with no warmth, it more closely resembled her nightmares.

  “Couldn’t we have just one day of rest before we get stuck into working the farm?” Katie said.

  “Why waste a perfectly good day?” Bill dumped a set of tools on the lawn. A shovel, a bucket, a stool, and a wicker basket. “Choose your weapons.”

  Despite her lethargy, Katie moved fast. She dived for the wicker basket, Camden went for the bucket and stool.

  Darryl was left with the shovel. He stared at it with a confused expression on his face. “What’s this for?”

  “That’s for mucking out the pigsty,” Bill said. “They’ve been feeling a little poorly later, so it’s a little watery out there. It’s easier on
the arms but tougher on the nostrils. Here, take this. You’ll thank me for it later.”

  He handed Darryl a clothes peg. Darryl used it to close his T-shirt at the top. Camden removed it and placed it on his nose.

  When Darryl spoke, it was with a blocked nose. “What do I need this for?”

  “You’ll see when you get to the pen.”

  Darryl put two and two together and his eyes grew wide. “I’m a shit shoveller?”

  “The one and only,” Camden said. “Literally. It’s a one-man job. Luckily.”

  Darryl handed the shovel to Camden and made to snatch his bucket. “Let me have a go! I’ve never worked on a farm before.”

  “No swapsies,” Bill said. “You’ll get a go at everything eventually. For now, you’re shovelling shit. The good news is, the only way is up from here on out.”

  Darryl frowned at Camden’s bucket and stool. “What are you going to do?”

  “Milk the cows. Stroking those short stubby udders… I imagine you’ll be a natural at it.”

  Darryl shoved Camden. “And you, Katie? What’s your job?”

  “Picking up hen’s eggs. The best job on the farm.”

  “Not so easy these days,” Bill warned. “You want to be careful with the new rooster. He’s not much of an early bird.”

  “Wonderful.” Katie’s tone was flat.

  “In future, whoever gets up earliest gets first dibs on which job they want to do.” Bill held up a hand beside his mouth and faux-whispered. “I’d go for the wicker basket every time.”

  “Where’s Hannah?” Katie said. “And her friend. What’s her name?”

  Darryl stifled a yawn. “Jodie.”

  “Where are they? I’m not working if they’re not here.”

  “Hannah’s awake,” Camden said. “She’s taking care of Jodie. She hasn’t recovered yet.”

  Katie grumbled under her breath about lazy people and lying in and being inside in the nice warm house.

  “If you’d prefer to be inside looking after her, I’m sure Hannah would be happy to oblige.” There was an edge to Camden’s voice that Katie wasn’t used to hearing.

  Nice to know whose side you’re on, bruh.

  “What about me?” Ella said. “I don’t have a job.”

  “You get to choose who you’re going to help. One of the others or me with sorting out the tools in the shed.”

  Ella bit her bottom lip and kicked her shoes nervously. She edged away from Bill’s gaze and shuffled behind Katie. The little girl was afraid of spending time with people she didn’t know. It was understandable. Strangers were meant to be the most dangerous people in the world to children and her recent experiences only reinforced that belief.

  “Eggs it is, then,” Bill said. “Now, hop to it. The sooner you get your jobs done, the sooner we can finish and have breakfast.”

  4

  Ella turned out to be a much more enthusiastic egg gatherer than Katie. She liked stroking the chickens and their plump bodies. Seeing the little girl so excited by the creatures, she had an idea.

  Katie checked over her shoulders. “Want to play a game, Ella?”

  “What sort of game?”

  “An egg gathering game. I used to play it when I was your age.” When my lazy cousin didn’t want to pick up the bloody eggs.

  “Okay.”

  “It’s easy and very simple. The winner is the person who gathers the most eggs fastest.”

  “Cool.”

  “It’s very cool.”

  “What’s it called?”

  “Uh… It’s called ‘How Many Eggs Can You Gather In Ten Minutes?’ First, we collect the eggs in the coop. Then, we run to find the eggs hidden around the farm.”

  “When do we start?” Ella said.

  Katie checked her wrist where a watch ought to have been. “Right… Now!”

  Katie lifted the chicken coop lid and reached into the empty nests and under the sleeping chickens. She turned and deposited them in the basket.

  Ella looked uncertain. “What if they peck?”

  “They won’t peck. They’re still asleep.” Lucky chickens. “Just reach under them and take the eggs out.”

  After Ella collected one, she was very quick to get a second. And a third. And soon, she was gathering twice as many eggs as Katie was, not that Katie was putting a lot of effort into it.

  Once they collected all the eggs from the coop, Ella looked up at Katie.

  “Now go look everywhere around here. Don’t wander far.”

  Ella took off like a shot, with far more energy than Katie was capable of at that time in the morning.

  Katie’s attention was taken with Aaron, who wore an old pair of gloves and was busy gathering up the weeds from beneath the plants. He shoved them into a wheelbarrow and wiped an arm across his sweaty brow. Katie’s mouth felt dry and she could hardly speak, much less turn her body away.

  He glanced in her direction and caught her looking.

  Crap!

  Katie crouched and pretended to look for eggs at the foot of the gate. She was in luck and found one. She stood up and raised the egg in victory.

  Aaron mimed clapping his hands with his giant pair of gloves.

  The damage was already done.

  He picked up the wheelbarrow and wheeled it past the chicken coop.

  “See something you like?” Aaron said with a grin.

  “I was looking at the plants and how bad a job you did in pruning them.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “That’s because I haven’t pruned them yet.”

  Oh.

  “Catch you later. Feel free to flash me anytime.” He turned and pushed the wheelbarrow away.

  Katie stuck her tongue out at him and felt like a little girl at primary school all over again. She sighed and turned to the basket.

  She started.

  The basket was packed to overflowing. A lot of the eggs were discoloured and covered in moss.

  Ella wiped an arm under her nose, covered head to foot in slime. “A lot of them were hard to find. I think some were hidden away a long time.”

  “Uh… Good job.”

  Ella bounced on her toes. “What do I win?”

  “A bath.”

  5

  By the time breakfast rolled around, the sun had finally made an appearance. A normal time for a human being to wake up. Katie and Ella removed their dirty boots at the door and stepped inside. The moment they did, they backed away.

  “Phwoar!” Ella pinched her nose. “What’s that smell?”

  Camden likewise held his nose. “It’s Darryl.”

  “He shit himself?” Katie said.

  Aaron laughed. “I think several pigs shit over him.”

  “You were meant to use the tool to shovel shit, Darryl,” Camden said. “Not your hands.”

  “I didn’t use my hands!” Darryl protested. “But the shovel was slippery and kept falling on the floor.”

  Aaron opened the windows. “Leave the door open.”

  “You did a good job though, Darryl,” Bill said, offering a rare slice of praise. “I’ve never seen the pigsty cleaner. Go get washed up.”

  “He did already wash up!” Camden said.

  “The soap does nothing,” Darryl said unhappily.

  “Camden, show him the good stuff,” Bill said. “Otherwise none of us will be able to eat in the kitchen for a week.”

  Camden led Darryl – and the smell of shit – to a side door.

  Bill waited for them to leave before he spoke again. “Hasn’t he ever used a shovel before?”

  “I doubt he’s ever used any hand tools before,” Aaron said.

  “That’s not true,” Katie said. “He knows how to use a shovel well enough when he’s stuffing his face.”

  “You know,” Aaron said with his trademark grin, “I think he might be a looker if we shaved some of that puppy fat off him. You ought to put a pin in him while you can, Katie.”

  Katie stuck her tongue out. “Now I really am goi
ng to puke.”

  The door squeaked as Darryl and Camden came back in the kitchen. Everyone tentatively sniffed the air and were relieved to find it smelled of lemon zest.

  “I’m glad to have you all here,” Bill said. “It usually takes me half the morning to get the daily chores out of the way. And instead, they’re done in a fraction of the time. Of course, we were a little slow in getting up this morning but I’m sure we’ll improve before long.”

  Katie rolled her eyes. Great. Even earlier mornings.

  Bill opened his refrigerator and pulled out everything he had. Eggs. Bacon. Black pudding. Even half a dozen sausages. “We’re going to use what I’ve got in the fridge. Perishable stuff from the supermarket mostly.”

  “It’s already gone off–” Camden began before feeling the cool breeze emanating from the fridge.

  “Your fridge still works?” Katie said.

  “I had to replace some of the parts,” Bill said, “but yes, she works.”

  “Then you have power?”

  She flicked a light switch and the glow from the lightbulb felt like magic. Her shock and amazement were reflected on the others’ faces.

  “How is this possible?” Darryl said. “I thought the power went out everywhere?”

  “With what your father taught you, I’m sure you’re more than capable of answering that for yourselves,” Bill said.

  “A generator,” Katie said. “I forgot you have one.”

  “I have two.” Bill turned the gas stove on and filled a pan with oil. “But you won’t find me using them both at the same time. With you guys here, it’ll eat up a lot of the fuel I’ve got stored up. I want to use it as little as possible while you’re here.”

  While you’re here. Typical of him to start counting the days until they left.

  “I thought you were completely independent here?” Camden said.

  “I am. But Lord help me if I get a craving for that unhealthy supermarket fat- and salt-rich processed crap from time to time. It’s a crime, I know, when I have this fresh produce. Well, there won’t be much more of that for a while.”