Cut Off (Book 3): Cut Loose Read online

  “For the same reason your beloved God has so many followers. He’s afraid of me.”

  18

  Katie kept a close eye on the young couple at all times. She didn’t understand how they did it. They pecked each other’s cheek, smiled, touched and fawned over each other. They worked together, ate together, washed together, and Katie suspected they were still somehow managing to creep away and sleep together. How did they not get sick of each other?

  Constantly monitoring the couple left her little free time to spend with her mother, who seemed mopey these days. She stood with her head bowed down, peeling potatoes in a kitchen that had turned little-by-little into Jodie’s kitchen and not her own.

  “Are you okay, Mum? You seem a bit… withdrawn.”

  “Hm? Oh. I’m fine.”

  She got back to peeling her spuds, making the skin a long spiral shape. She showed her how to do that when she was five to make cooking seem more fun. It was only when Katie looked up to see who was missing that she realised why her mother was acting the way she was.

  “Where’s Steve?”

  “Steve?” She might have said, ‘Who’s Steve?’ “He said something about going down to the local library.”

  “The library? Why’s he going there?”

  Nancy shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. No one knows what goes through that man’s head.”

  Oh, I think I have an idea what does. The thought alone turned Katie’s stomach. She thought long and hard about why that was and whether or not it was something she ought to worry about.

  “Uh-oh, here comes trouble,” Nancy said.

  “Hm?” Katie looked up. “What is?”

  “I’ve seen that look before. You’ve got something on your mind and I bet I know what it is.” Her mother grinned.

  Katie’s heart was in her throat. Oh God. Please no. Don’t let this conversation happen now. No daughter should have to talk with her mother about topics of a… personal nature.

  “You don’t need to look so awestruck. I know what it’s like to be in love.”

  It’s happening. It’s happening. Katie lowered her eyes. “I was going to talk with you about it before.”

  “That’s okay. We’ve all been busy. But don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

  Katie gulped. “What are you going to do about it? I think Camden might be a bit shocked.”

  “He would be. He’s his father’s son. But he’ll come around. Don’t hang around. Take action. Seize life by the short and curlies.”

  Katie paled at the thought of her mother seizing Steve – or any man – by the (gulp) short and curlies. She knew it must have happened at some point in the past – at least twice to have given birth to her and Camden. But still.

  “Has this been going on for a long time?” Katie said. “Camden and I only noticed when you arrived here.”

  Nancy paused and looked up from the latest spud she was peeling, a frown on her face. It was a question she hadn’t expected. But was there a less obvious question Katie could have asked?

  “I guess awhile,” Katie said. “It’s not like you fall in love every day.”

  “Love?” And then Nancy’s eyes widened with shock. “I… need to take a break. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Katie watched her mother hotfoot it out of the lodge. She went over what she said to her and wondered what had gotten into her mother. The most shocking thing was her mother acknowledging she found Steve attractive and wanted to see more of him. Why should her questions have surprised her? They were the same questions anyone would have asked.

  Unless. . .

  Oh my God.

  She turned and accidentally spilt the potatoes across the floor.

  “Oh God. No, no, no, no, no.”

  She ran through the conversation start to finish and analysed each look and arch of the eyebrow, scanning desperately for proof that she was wrong and that didn’t just talk about what she thought they did.

  They’d been talking at cross purposes.

  Her mother had been talking about her and Aaron.

  Katie had been talking about her mother and Steve.

  And now she knew that Katie and Camden knew, or at least had their suspicions, right from the moment they first arrived at the lodge.

  That was why her mother had left in such a hurry.

  That was why her mother looked the way she did.

  She didn’t know her children knew about her and Steve.

  Katie buried her face in her hands.

  “Is everything all right?” Jodie said. “Don’t worry about the potatoes. I’ll pick them up later.”

  “Yep. Okay. Everything’s fine.”

  She bent down to pick the vegetables up and her head felt woozy. In a few years’ time, they’d look back on this and laugh. It just wasn’t happening today.

  19

  With the lack of good truck-sized vehicles, the only option was horse and coach. The fuel, food, water, and medical supplies were being transported all over the country using the archaic mode of transport. And so far as Michael could tell via the images he saw in his binoculars, this particular coach was travelling without an armed escort.

  Michael perched on the buff of a hill surrounded by trees on either side. “Right on time.”

  He noticed the same supplies arriving into the prison from when he was still behind bars. Every two days, like clockwork, the horses streamed past with a single man perched on the top like something from an old western movie. It always confused him as to why they hadn’t thought to protect it from bandits and vagabonds. The answer became obvious the moment he checked over his shoulders. Because they were still locked up at the time.

  And since that day, he wondered how he might go about hijacking such a valuable cargo if he one day found himself on the other side of those metal bars. The answer was as simple as could be.

  “It’s coming,” Michael said. “Let’s go welcome our new friend.”

  They let gravity hurl them down the steep hillside. It was all about they could do to keep themselves from falling flat on their faces. They barely had to jog four hundred yards before they reached the tree they’d felled across the road. The trees gave good cover and they needn’t worry about being seen.

  They came to a stop behind a thick copse and waited for the stagecoach to roar past and screech to a halt.

  “Woah!” The driver pulled on the reins and brought the fiery horses to a standstill. “Come on now, let’s back up a little bit…”

  The gang rounded the coach. Michael on the left, Jack on the right. Jill climbed up the ladder on the side and onto the top of the big old black container that carried a ton of supplies. Isaac trailed Michael and walked with his hands behind his back.

  The driver raised his hands. “No need for violence, friends. I’m just an old-timer getting paid to do a job. I’m not going to fight you or get in the way of whatever it is you want to do.”

  “Climb down, oldtimer,” Jack said. “Slowly, now.”

  The old man was incapable of moving at a pace faster than slow by the look of things. He landed on his feet and began to perform stretches. “I’ve got to work the kinks out before you drag me away to wherever it is you’re going to take me.”

  “Why would we drag you away?” Michael said.

  “This is a stagecoach robbery, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve been warning them about sending me out here on my lonesome. I expected somebody like you boys to turn up last week when I started this route but it never happened. A wasted opportunity, I always thought. I even thought to set up a fake robbery so me and a friend could get rich off the back of it but I knew the blame would rest solely on my shoulders eventually. Then I’d lose this job and I don’t mind telling you, there’s not a lot of work out there for an old-timer like me.” His watery blue eyes perked up. “Say, you boys wouldn’t be interested in recruiting, would you? I could be like the rapscallion grandpappy in them old films. I’ve got the teeth
for it.”

  Jack laughed. “He does have a good sense of humour.”

  “Uh, no,” Michael said. “We’re not recruiting new members. Sorry about that.”

  “Oh. I see how it is. Don’t worry about it. Disappointment’s what I’ve gotten used to over the years.”

  “Why don’t you boys have armed escorts?” Jack said. “The military has plenty of weapons and personnel to protect you.”

  “That might be true but this ain’t the military’s supplies. This belongs to the Geronimo Reyes community in Bedfordshire.”

  “Bedfordshire? You’re a long way from home.”

  “They drop the supplies off on the riverbank, load me up, and off I go. There’s no other way for me to get here save across the roads.”

  “What are you carrying?” Michael said.

  “Half a ton of fuel, food, water, some medicine. Worth a pretty penny to the right buyer.”

  “Help us drive the coach and you’re free to have the use of as much of the take as you want.”

  The driver’s ears pricked up then flattened like a dog that’d been chastised. “Can I take some with me later? After the heat’s blown over?”

  “Sure. But you can’t tell anybody where we hid it.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I won’t tell anyone a thing. I won’t even tell them what you look like. By the way, if you’re going to make this a regular thing, you ought to consider wearing masks in future.”

  “You can tell them what we look like. It won’t matter before long.”

  The driver climbed with surprising agility back up on top of the coach.

  “How are we meant to get past the obstruction?” He was referring to the tree trunk they chopped down.

  “It’s not as much of an obstruction as you might think,” Michael said.

  Together with Jack, they rolled the tree to one side, into a slight recess by the side of the road. The driver could see the trunk was hollowed out with age.

  The driver chuckled. “You boys sure are full of surprises.”

  Jill hopped down onto the seat beside the old man, who looked up at her and smiled his best winning smile. “Well, hello there, pretty lady.”

  Jill giggled behind her hand and leaned into the old man, whose grin grew even wider.

  “Aren’t you the cutest thing I ever saw?” the driver said, gently pinching her cheek and eyeballing her skirt that rose above her knee.

  “I need to tell you something about myself,” Jill said.

  The driver licked his lips. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

  “I’m halfway through becoming a man.”

  The driver was silent a moment, then his grin grew wider still and leaned in close. “Aren’t we all?”

  He snapped the reins and the coach lurched forward.

  20

  Inspector Frank Taylor and his deputy, Gregory, pulled to a stop, horses kicking up a thick cloud of dust. Inspector Taylor carried a revolver at his hip – no doubt because he thought it made him look more dangerous – while Gregory carried a pocket Beretta. More than enough to take down any prisoners they attempted to round up. But by the look of fear on Inspector Taylor’s face, Katie didn’t think it was escaped convicts that brought him there.

  “We need your help,” he said.

  “I thought you were the ones who were meant to help us when the time came?” Bill said.

  “We don’t have time for that now. This is an emergency!”

  Bill folded his arms. “Go on then.”

  “One of the carriages bringing important supplies was hit today. The carriage never arrived at its destination.”

  “You think it was hijacked?” Katie said.

  “It had to be.”

  “So why come to us?” Bill said.

  “You’re the only fellas in the area with a lot of weapons. We’re going to need them if we want to protect the next shipment of supplies that come in. And we sure don’t want to miss that shipment when it gets here.”

  “So get the military to protect them,” Bill said. “That’s what they’re there for.”

  “You don’t understand,” Inspector Taylor said. “These supplies don’t come from the military or the government.”

  “Then who do they come from?”

  “A private community we do business with down the river. It’s a deal the town’s got.”

  “Who?”

  Katie knew the name he was going to say before he said it.

  “Geronimo. Geronimo Reyes.”

  Bill, Katie and the others shared a look.

  “Of all the people…” Tanya said, shaking her head.

  Their expressions of shock were so obvious even Inspector Taylor recognised them. “Wait. You know him?”

  Bill pinched the bridge of his nose. “He handed us over to the military who thought we were terrorists. It’s a long story. All you need to know is it was bullshit and Reyes is not to be trusted. We won’t help transport his shipments. If he wants them to reach us, he’s going to have to pay for people to protect it.”

  “He does. Right up to our dock. Then it’s up to us to bring them through.”

  Katie shook her head. This was unbelievable. She expected local governments to be useless, but this useless? “Why didn’t you think to protect them in the first place? Supplies are just about the most important thing in this world right now.”

  “We don’t have the men. We’re stretched thin as it is. You think I can spare half a dozen men to protect them three or four times a week?”

  Bill waved a hand. “Get supplies some other way.”

  “We can’t. There is no other way. Or maybe there is, but not at such short notice.”

  “Looks like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, amigo,” Ronnie said with a chuckle.

  Inspector Taylor pressed his hands together. “Please. You have to help us.”

  “We don’t have to do anything,” Bill said. “This is your problem. You fix it.”

  “People won’t starve to death if they don’t get supplies for a few days,” Katie said. Then she noticed the desperate look on the inspector’s face. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Something you haven’t told us yet.”

  “The fuel,” Inspector Taylor said. “If we don’t get it to the generator on time, the maximum security safety protocols will fail. And then they’ll be out.”

  Ronnie waved a hand dismissively. “Most of the prisoners are out already. Let them come. It doesn’t make any difference now.”

  “These prisoners… they’re not like normal criminals. These guys… they’re monsters. They stop at nothing to get what they want. If they hit the streets, we’ll never find them again. And with the power out, it’ll be the perfect storm for them to take over.”

  The others shook their heads, but Katie didn’t. She could see what he was talking about now. She’d seen the kind of things people were capable of when the rules no longer applied and they were allowed to run rampant.

  “We’ll help you,” Katie said.

  The inspector ran his hands through his hair. “Thank God.”

  But that didn’t mean she would accept working for nothing. “What’ll we get for our services?”

  “You save a town,” Inspector Taylor said. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “No. We’re not public servants.”

  “How about the town’s thanks?”

  “Thanks don’t fill bellies.”

  “You seem to be doing all right in that department.”

  “Are you trying to say I’m fat?” Katie braced a hand on her hip. “Maybe we won’t help you after all–”

  “No, of course not. You’re actually in very good shape–”

  “You’ve hurt my feelings. You’re going to have to really offer us something good in exchange for our help. Even if we are fat and overweight.”

  “I never said–”

  “Hurry up.” Katie looked at an invisible watch on her wrist. “Time’s ticking.”

  “
A percentage of the cargo!”

  “What percentage?”

  Inspector Taylor hopped from foot to foot. “Can’t we talk about that on the way there?”

  “I’m not lifting a finger until you tell us what we’ll get for risking life and limb on this venture.”

  “You won’t be risking life and limb. It’s a simple babysitting exercise.”

  “It always is… until the bullets start flying.”

  “Ten per cent!” Inspector Taylor said.

  “Thirty.”

  “You’re really pushing it–”

  “Thirty-five.”

  The inspector turned beseechingly to Bill. “Bill, help me out here.”

  “You’re on your own, Frank.”

  “Fifteen,” Inspector Taylor said.

  Katie shared a look with Bill. “What do you think?”

  “It’s not bad, so long as nothing happens,” Bill said.

  “You’ve got yourself a deal, Inspector. And don’t forget our prior agreement still stands.”

  21

  The men flanked the tanker on either side, as well-kitted out as any military unit. Katie knew this because she had spent time around these men at Geronimo’s castle. The man who betrayed us. And now we’re meant to trade with him.

  She didn’t blame these men. They followed orders and did what was best for their loved ones. They rescued them when they most needed it.

  Katie was desperate to ask after Ella, the little girl she left behind. Was she okay? Was she being picked on at school? Did she do her homework?

  Is she happy?

  But the men wouldn’t recognise Ella from amongst the dozens of other children inside the castle. Much less were they likely to tell her if they did know. And if they knew where the terrorist gang escaped to, wouldn’t they send men to take them out? Possibly. It was hard to know what happened after they left the community behind.

  The tanker they brought was large, enough to sustain the prison’s systems for a few days. How was the town paying for these supplies? Geronimo Reyes was a businessman. He wouldn’t offer handouts if he didn’t get something else in return. Katie shook her head. It wasn’t her concern. Her concern was ensuring they received this payload.