On Deadly Ground (Dan & Chloe Book 2) (16 page)

Chloe’s left hand snapped out from the bed and she snatched the sawn-off shotgun from Tile’s grasp.

He was stunned by how fast she had managed to disarm him.

Chloe turned the shotgun on him.

‘I don’t want to shoot you Tile but I will if you don’t man the fuck up and help me.’

The shotgun dropped from her fingers and clattered to the tiled floor.

‘Fuck!’ Chloe gasped as a fresh wave of pain crashed over her.

Tile crouched down and picked up the sawn-off, he straightened up and looked down at Chloe. He could see sweat beading on her forehead as she fought the pain.

Tile shook his head.

What the fuck is it with these fucking English people?

Tile put the shotgun down on the edge of the bed and helped Chloe to slowly sit up.

‘You’re fucking crazy,’ Tile said. There was admiration in his voice.

Chloe slowly swung her legs around to the edge of the bed. Chloe’s hospital gown slipped from her shoulders exposing her breasts to Tile.

Tile’s mouth dropped open.

‘Yeah, I have tits, come on Tile. You’ll be seeing a hell of a lot more of me in a minute so get used to it.’

Tile couldn’t help it and he laughed.

‘Damn, you’re something else, so how do you want to do this?’ he asked. He tried to keep his eyes away from Chloe’s naked breasts but he couldn’t, he failed miserably.

I mean, fuck, I’ve seen some tits in my time, but fuck me those are amazing
.

‘What did they do with my clothes?’

‘Huh, sorry? What?’

Chloe chuckled painfully, ‘Tile, you’ll be seeing my cunt in a minute, can we please get over it?’

Tile snapped his eyes up to Chloe’s face. She could see that he had gone a shade of red that she hadn’t seen outside of a Ferrari showroom and she smiled.

‘I need my clothes Tile.’

‘Right, hang on.’

Tile opened various cupboards and a wardrobe but he couldn’t find any of Chloe’s clothes.

‘I can’t see them anywhere.’

‘What do you have on under that shirt?’

‘Huh, what?’

‘Your shirt.’

‘Right, yes, hang on.’

Tile unbuttoned his fleeced shirt and slipped it off, he was wearing a t-shirt beneath it. Chloe could see several scars on his exposed shoulders.

We all have our histories
, Chloe thought.

Tile handed her his shirt. Chloe dropped it next to her on the bed.

‘Help me out of this fucking gown. Shit, hang on,’ she said.

Chloe pulled the IV needle from the back of her hand. She winced at the pain, she pulled off several monitoring patches. Chloe knew they had only minutes before a nurse or doctor came running, the machine’s alarm would alert them.

Chloe and Tile managed to remove the gown and Chloe even managed a small smile when she saw Tile’s eyes alight on her naked crotch.

‘Told you you’d get to see everything, when this is all over you can look to your heart’s content, but right now we really need to get the fuck out of here.’

Tile helped Chloe to put on his shirt.

‘What’s the plan?’ Tile asked as he buttoned the front of the shirt for her. A part of him was saddened when her breasts vanished beneath the shirt, the rest of him was greatly relieved.

Damn, she really is the sexiest creature my tired old eyes have ever seen
.

Chloe patted his hand reassuringly and told him her plan.

                                                        *****

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

Hours before Chloe was startled
awake in the hospital bed (with images of Dan’s spurting cock still fresh in her mind) Dan had prepared for the events that he knew were closing on him.

After destroying the phone he had headed out to the paddock, he had called out to Weiser. In the darkness the animal’s eyes burned like meteors as the horse appeared from the deeper depths of the night.

Dan had climbed up on to Weiser’s bare back and in the darkness, guided only by the stars he had gathered the last of their horses. He corralled them far to the north-west where he knew they would be safe and after riding back to the ranch house he had ordered Weiser to return to his friends.

‘Look out for them old friend, now go.’ Weiser had stamped his hooves and then he had reared up on to his hind legs before taking off in to the night.

Dan had checked on the mare in the stables and she appeared comfortable and judging by her size and the way her belly hanged low Dan knew the foal would be with them very soon.

Dan then activated the stables’ security system. Reinforced metal shutters came down and the air conditioning system kicked in, he managed to get out just before the last shutter closed the building down. He felt a lot better in the knowledge that regardless of what happened over the next few hours that the mare would be safe.

Dan had returned to the house and he had headed immediately to the arsenal and gathered what he felt he would need. He’d filled a heavy-duty plumber’s bag with weapons. He’d carried this down to the porch, he’d also slipped on one of the customised bullet-proof vests.

From the kitchen he fetched a couple of beers and carried these out to the porch, lastly he picked up two small plastic boxes, both of which looked like transmitters. Once he was happy that he had everything he would need he activated the ranch house’s security system.

He sat down on the porch steps, at his back he could hear shutters slipping in to place over exposed windows: the ranch was now ready and able to withstand any kind of assault.

Dan spent an hour loading various weapons. He slipped on a twin shoulder rig and he holstered the pair of Glocks. He finished one beer and then he started to prep the powerful rifle that he had removed from the arsenal.

It was a sniper’s rifle (it was very similar to the one he had once used in Australia, which felt like a lifetime ago) with the ability to hit and decimate a target up to a mile and a half away.

Not for the first time Dan thought about man’s innate desire to create more and more powerful ways in which to destroy his enemy.

The rifle had been customised to take a twenty round magazine and after checking that it was oiled to perfection he rested it barrel-up against the side of a chair (the scope was clear of the chair, he had no wish to knock the scope’s settings).

Dan could see that the sky to the west was turning a dark red and he knew that in another hour it would be dawn. He scanned towards the sloping hills and the woodland covered ridge to the north.

Dan expected Baxter to come by road but if the man had any sense he would send some men in over the ridge creating a two pronged attack. It made no difference to Dan how Baxter intended to attack, he’d spent the last three years preparing and planning for situations like this.

Dan sipped his second beer and as he waited he was reminded of a Shakespearian quote that had always stuck with him.

When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions
.

Dan knew he wouldn’t have to wait much longer to find out just how many men foolishly allowed Baxter to lead them to their death.

One of the plastic boxes began to trill sharply and a red LED flashed on, this was followed by a second, and then in rapid succession three more lights lit up.

Dan smiled.

He picked up the other box and extended a small antenna; this box had three switches.

Dan looked out at the wooded ridgeline, the smile still on his face.

Dan flicked the first switch.

Even from nearly five miles away the thundering boom of an explosion rolled over Dan. He saw the ridge turn to red, red like the very depths of Hell, as powerful C4 charges that Dan had meticulously set ignited.

Dan had spent months drilling holes in to hundreds of trees, each hole was the circumference of a silver dollar coin. Each drilled hole was packed with C4 explosive, a charger had then been inserted in to the putty-like substance, he had then spent hours smearing dirt and leaves over each hole to obscure the explosive.

Now, as the C4 went off, Dan could only imagine the devastation and carnage caused when a hundred trees were blown to smithereens, sending wooden shards of shrapnel through the air at incredible rates of velocity.

Dan chuckled, he counted to five and hit the second switch and a blast, this one farther away, boomed across the landscape. In his mind’s eye he could see the effects of thick tree trunks exploding outwards.

Dan wished he could be up there to see shards of splintered wood tearing through tender meat, ripping men to pieces.

Dan smiled as he imagined the confusion up on the ridge, cut off from both the front and behind, survivors would be trapped. Dan continued to chuckle and he flicked the third switch.

The concussive blast was felt even from this far away and Dan couldn’t help but laugh. He was caught up in the madness of war, for that was how he saw this, a war and there would be only one survivor.

He’d once promised Chloe that he would see the world burn to dust before he would allow any harm to come to her. He looked towards the burning ridgeline and the flames burning through the dry grassy slopes and he smiled.

Dan doubted that anyone had survived the detonations on the ridge, but if by some miracle someone had survived the devastation caused by three hundred trees ripping apart, he was confident that they would see the wiser path, and would get the fuck out of Montana.

At no point during the last two minutes as he had set off each wave of destruction had he considered that an innocent had been out for an early morning stroll. There was no hunting within twenty miles of his ranch and the trails favoured by hikers were farther to the west.

Dan knew that if he was being truthful it wouldn’t have mattered one way or the other. When it really got down to it, all Dan cared about was Chloe and as of earlier today the child that she now carried. Dan could theorise and philosophise for hours but deep down, beneath the man that Chloe had made him, he knew that he was not so different from his brother Terry and killing people that you didn’t know or cared about was as easy as swatting a fly.

The first plastic box began to beep and Dan glanced down at it, now the LEDs were flashing green, informing him that there was movement out on the highway. Tiny cameras that he had installed out on the highway had picked up passing vehicles and had sent an alert back to the ranch.

Dan picked up the rifle and took up a position near the corner of the porch where he would have a perfect view down the track that led out to the highway.

He moved on to his front and lay down, he flicked the powerful scope to life. Dan looked through the scope and the pre-dawn darkness turned green as the scope’s powerful night vision kicked in and within moments he was zeroed in on the entrance to his land. If any vehicles turned in from the highway he would have the perfect visual.

After the excitement of the explosions Dan took several long, deep breaths and he waited patiently for the next stage to unfold.

                                                        *****

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

At the same time that
Dan was getting in to a shooting position Tile was helping Chloe to climb up in to the cab of his pick-up, as the door’s rusting hinges squealed painfully Chloe asked if the truck would actually get them out to the ranch.

‘Don’t worry about the ole girl; she’s got it where it counts.’

Tile managed to not actually look at Chloe’s ass for whole seconds at a time. He breathed a sigh of relief when she finally scooted in to the cab and settled back in to the worn leather seat with a groan of pain.

Tile closed the door and walked around the back of the truck, he opened the driver’s side door and his vision was filled with the twin barrels of the sawn-off shotgun.

Chloe had managed to slide across in to the driver’s seat.

‘What the hell Chloe!’ Tile said.

‘Sorry Tile, but I’ll take it from here, give me the keys.’

‘Look Chloe, I told Dan that...’

The cocking of the sawn-off’s twin hammers silenced Tile.

‘Keys.’

Tile handed up the ignition keys. ‘You’re in no fit state to be driving.’

‘Cartridges?’

‘What?’

‘Cartridges for the gun?’

Tile chuckled; he couldn’t believe this young woman’s tenacity. ‘There’s a box in the glove-box.’

Chloe slammed the door and wound the window down. ‘I’m sorry Tile but there’s gonna be a lot of killing. I’d rather not have a witness to any of the shit that needs doing.’

‘It’s not my first rodeo Chloe, I can keep my mouth shut, let me help you.’

Chloe twisted the ignition key and the engine roared to life, she dropped the stick in to reverse and tugged the handbrake off.