sparklers lit up behind his eyes. The sound of his wheezing melted into the renewed barking of the massive Zeke.
“Now look at that,” Rennie said. “You never know what you’re gonna find out here. Where’s Neal?”
Steve rolled slowly onto his back, unable to speak.
Rennie gave another kick, this one just enough to get his attention. “I asked you where Neal was.”
“I shot him.” Bethany’s voice.
Steve saw Rennie turn toward the lean-to.
“You did?” Rennie said, almost admiringly. “Now how did you do that, little thing? You got a weapon in there?”
With one swift move Rennie shot a powerful kick to the lean-to. It cracked. He used his hands to pull at the plywood and cast it away, exposing the sleeping bags.
The knife. He’ll see the knife.
Steve couldn’t move.
“What’d you use there, Rahab?” Rennie kicked at the exposed bags and the dirt. “Where’s the weapon?”
“I don’t have it anymore.”
“Uh-huh. Like I’m supposed to buy that?”
The dog was so crazed now Steve was sure it would uproot whatever it was tethered to. Surer still that Rennie was about to kill him. And Bethany.
He tried to roll onto his stomach so he could prop himself up.
Rennie wasn’t paying any attention to him. He approached Bethany, who stood with her hands at her sides.
She’s got it. She’s got the knife and she’s going to use it.
“Sweetheart, you are in a very big world of hurt right now,” Rennie said. “You’re gonna need me. You’re gonna be nice to me. Now you tell me what you used to shoot poor Neal. Rifle?”
“Yes,” Bethany said.
“Sweet. How far away were you, honey? Was he moving?”
“Yes.”
“And where is he now?”
“He went over.”
“Over? He—” Rennie looked Steve’s way. “How’d he get out?”
Bethany didn’t answer.
“Where’s the rifle, honey?”
“I buried it.”
“You buried a rifle? Now why would you go and do a stupid thing like that? Don’t you know a gopher might find it and shoot his eye out?”
He laughed. Ezekiel barked like there was no breakfast and no tomorrow.
“I’m gonna give you one chance to tell me where that rifle’s at. Then you and me and the lawyer there are gonna go find it together. Then I’ll decide what to do with the two of you. Maybe I better just take you back. That’d look good, wouldn’t it? Maybe they can mount the lawyer’s head on the wall, right next to the moose. Huh?”
Laughing again. Enjoying drawing it out.
Steve’s view of Bethany was obscured by Rennie standing in front of her. He was too big. Even if she got a shot at him with the knife, she might not even be able to much damage. At best a distraction.
Rennie gave him a quick glance, making sure he was still down. When he looked back at Bethany. Steve tensed his legs.
“I didn’t hear you,” Rennie said.
“Over there.”
Rennie turned his head slightly to the left.
That’s when Bethany struck.
Steve heard her scream and saw Rennie clutch forward, like he’d been hit in the stomach.
Steve pushed to his feet and drove forward with everything he had. Which wasn’t much.
Rennie screamed. Then straightened up.
Steve took him from behind, jumping on his back and throwing a stranglehold around him. Steve could feel the back muscles of the big man, rock hard.
Rennie spun once. Steve hung on like a man holding a lamppost in a typhoon. The dog was going berserk. Rennie grabbed Steve’s arm with his left hand. With his right he struck back with a fist. It landed on top of Steve’s head like a dropped brick.
Steve pushed his head down, to the left side of Rennie’s neck.
Where was Bethany? Where was the knife? Everything was whirling, Rennie grunting, dog barking, Steve feeling like he couldn’t hold on much longer. A riot of confusion.
Rennie struck again with his fist. Weaker this time.
Then he put both hands on Steve’s arm, pulling and scratching at it.
Rennie spun once more. Steve hung on. He’d managed to get his good leg, his right, wrapped around Rennie’s body.
Rennie dropped to one knee. Then the other.
Steve had a good lock and knew Rennie couldn’t breathe. Rennie’s hands slipped off Steve’s arm. He flailed back wildly at Steve.
Zeke the dog had moved from barking to something worse, a sound Steven thought he’d never heard before.
What hell must sound like.
Rennie’s arms dropped.
So did Rennie. Flat, face down.
Motionless.
Steve held on just to make sure.
Then he heard a guttural sound, a choking sound. Only it wasn’t from Rennie. It came from the dog.
67
Steve looked up and saw the strain on Ezekiel’s face as his legs pushed