Stone Cross (Arliss Cutter #2) - Marc Cameron Page 0,32
a sudden flash of panic crossing his face this time. His arms pumped faster as he wrung out his last drop of speed, a gazelle in a last desperate attempt to shake a closing lion. Normally, he would have been faster than Cutter, but righteous anger gave a little added boost for the scant few yards Cutter needed to pull ahead half a stride, and then crowd in, stepping directly in front of the other man’s lead foot. Cutter slowed immediately, turning in time to watch Green Shorts do a Superman dive, arms outstretched to catch himself as he fell.
Cutter forced a grin, reaching to help the startled young man to his feet. Stunned, Green Shorts took the offered hand. Cutter held nothing back, and almost yanked the kid’s arm out of the socket helping him to his feet. He didn’t need words to get his point across. I am more than capable of running you down and beating you to death with your own arm.
Green Shorts started to protest, but Cutter stopped him with another slightly maniacal grin.
“Sorry about that,” he said for the benefit of other runners who filed past. “These old legs get away from me sometimes.” He gushed like they were buds. “Man, you’re fast. Another ten strides and I think you would’ve pulled away from me.”
Green Shorts cursed under his breath, rubbing his shoulder as he limped to the edge of the field where the three college girls waited for him. Two of them smiled at Cutter, which seemed to irk the kid more than the stumble.
The twins were engrossed in an argument over their football and had missed it all. Constance stared straight ahead as she jogged past.
Mim trotted up, panting, giving Cutter a wary side-eye. She wasn’t overweight, but she wasn’t used to running, or dealing with the stress of watching her brother-in-law pull the neck off a careless turd.
“You’re gonna put someone’s eye out with that pointy moral compass of yours,” she said. “Ethan warned me you could be a hothead.”
“Is that right?”
They started walking again. “So did Grumpy.”
Cutter followed, giving an honest laugh. “That’s rich, considering Grumpy had more scars on his knuckles than most people have knuckles.”
Mim put a hand on his elbow as they walked. “You’ve been in Alaska, what, ten months?”
“About.”
“And in that time, you’ve done nothing but listen to our problems. That’s a lot of sin-eating, if you know what I mean.”
“I’m fine,” Cutter said.
“Not so sure about that,” Mim said. “I’m a mom, remember. Ethan said you used to get so angry as a kid you would forget to breathe.”
“I grew out of that.”
“Did you, Arliss? I’ve known you since we were sixteen years old. You went off to Afghanistan a tough but basically happy guy. Ever since you came back, you’ve been this ticking bomb.”
“Honestly, Mim,” he said, “I am fine. I just don’t put up with bullshit.”
She glanced up. The sadness in her eyes should have crushed her, but it didn’t. “There’s always going to be bullshit, Arliss. The earth is basically just one big spinning ball of it. It’s all around us. You have got to let it roll off. The way I see it, we have two more laps to give you time to cool down. We can walk in silence, or you can trust that I care about you the way you care about me.”
Cutter doubted she felt the same way he did. Not by a long shot. If there was anyone he wanted to tell, it was Mim.
“There was someone I should have saved,” he said, his throat so tight he had to swallow hard to force the words out, “. . . and I didn’t. I won’t let that happen again—”
The twins ran up from the sidelines, tugging on the tail of Cutter’s sweatshirt.
“Uncle Arliss,” they said in unison.
Matthew shouldered a little closer than his brother. “Will there be some more stuff to cut for the cowboy chili pie?”
“Matt and me want to use the knives again.”
“Knives?” Cutter said, grateful for the interruption. He glanced at Mim and then back at the boys. “I guess you can cut up some onions if you’re game for that kind of work.”
“Let us be men!” the boys said.
“You bet,” Cutter said, coughing a little to regain his composure. “There’s always stuff that needs to be cut.”
DAY THREE
CHAPTER 11
Vitus Paul came across the tracks in the snow when he was five minutes from the lodge. He was soaked and chilled to the bone