Stone Cold Read online

  Chapter Nineteen

  The hospital was small and built on a single level. There were many rooms off the corridor and the building was built like a donut with a garden in the center of the ring. The wards were configured in rooms of four or six beds and Katy occupied a room all to herself with three empty beds that had not been made up. She looked up as Stone walked in, a lame bunch of flowers that had cost him twenty bucks in his hand and wearing a look of concern upon his face.

  She looked shocked to see him, but that was not all she looked. She looked terrible and had clearly been savagely beaten. Her eyes were black and both her top and bottom lips were swollen and split. Stone could see that her right wrist was bandaged, and her left arm was in a sling.

  “Jesus Christ… Who the hell did this to you?”

  “I fell…” she said quietly.

  Stone scoffed, “I’ve spent my entire adult life either getting my ass kicked to look like that, or making some other guy look that way…” He paused. “Who did this to you?”

  She looked annoyed, shifted irritably in her bed. “I fell,” she said adamantly.

  “Onto somebody’s fist?” He walked over and handed her the flowers, but she struggled to move, and the effort clearly hurt her. Stone looked around, then settled on a water jug on a single cupboard unit beside her bed and dropped them into the water.

  “Great, let’s hope I don’t get thirsty…”

  Stone smiled. “I’ll get you a clean pitcher before I leave.” He paused, sitting down on a chair beside her bed. “What happened?”

  “You’re a man of action, aren’t you?” she said sadly. “You could have asked how I was, whether I was in pain, but no. You go straight for the fix. You want to know, so you’ll get whoever did this, right?”

  “Well, at least you’re no longer talking bullshit about falling…”

  Katy shrugged, but even the merest of movements caused her discomfort. “It’s good to see you,” she said softly. “To be honest, I never thought I’d see you again. I thought you’d be going the full Grizzly Adams and would at least have a two-week-old beard by now.” She paused. “You’re not even wearing a plaid shirt.”

  Stone smiled. “Well, now that I’m here, are you pleased to see me, or do I go back to my cabin and train a bear cub, or something?”

  “Are you getting a lumberjack shirt?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Then it’s good to see you,” she smiled. “But what brought you back?”

  He shrugged. “I just wanted to see if there was something worth chasing,” he replied. “I’m not sure if it can go somewhere, but it must be worth the ride.”

  She looked up at him sorrowfully. “Maybe it would be better if you just kept on moving,” she said. “I’m in too deep with the mine, have too many decisions to make money wise. I am in a financial mess, to be honest. Not the greatest start to something...”

  “You’ll get there,” he said. He stood up and leaned over her, but she flinched away, and he frowned. “What? I thought…”

  She clasped his hand and said, “Let’s just take it slowly.”

  He shrugged, “OK,” he said and went to kiss her, but she turned her cheek, and his lips brushed her soft skin instead of her lips.

  “They’re too sore,” she explained. She squeezed his hand more tightly, then said, “What in God’s name did you think you were doing with my dad’s truck? Scooter came by with it all put right, the engine reconditioned and new brakes and tires all round.”

  “I thought I’d help,” he said. “I don’t want anything in return.”

  “I can’t accept it; I’ll pay you back.”

  “Get yourself well and find that gold, then you can talk about paying me back. But I really don’t mind.”

  “I’m probably going to sell out to Duke Tanner,” she said suddenly, her face dropping. “It’s the right thing to do. I’m no gold miner, I suck at it. I need to wash my hands of it and return to practicing law.”

  Stone shook his head. “Not to him!” He paused. “He did this to you, didn’t he? Or had it done?”

  “I fell!”

  “Bullshit. Your eye sockets are blackened in only a way that a fist can do. You’ve suffered a backhand swipe across the mouth, and I would say that whoever did this to you twisted your wrist in an arm-lock…”

  “Stop it!”

  “Well? I’m right, aren’t I?”

  “Just get out!” she screamed at him and a second or two later a nurse hurried in. Katy looked up and said, “My visitor was just leaving,” she explained. “Please see him out…”

  Stone looked at Katy, and then back at the nurse. “OK,” he said, holding up both hands in a passive gesture. He looked back at Katy and said, “I’ll help you…”

  “Sir, if you don’t come with me, I will have to call security,” the nurse told him.

  “Katy don’t do anything rash,” said Stone over his shoulder, making his way towards the door. “I can help you deal with this. You’re a lawyer, give me power of attorney and I’ll run the damn place until you’re back on your feet…”

  Katy held up her hand, wincing with the effort. “Wait,” she said calmly, then shook her head, unable to process the thought. She looked at the nurse and said, “I’m sorry, I need a minute.”

  “Are you quite sure?” the nurse replied, eying Stone hostility. “I’ll be right outside, honey…”

  Stone walked back, pulled out the chair and sat heavily. “Jesus. A man mends your truck, halts his plans for merging into the landscape, and declares his feelings for you, and you go and get him thrown out?” he said mockingly.

  “Not exactly thrown out,” she smiled, and it was the first time he had seen true warmth in her expression. She reached across and gave his hand another squeeze. “What the hell do you know about gold mining?”

  “Well, I’ll know a damned sight more tomorrow than I do today, and I guess I’ll know a hell of a lot more than that by the end of the week…” She smiled, but her lips were dry and cracked and it made her grimace. “I’ll get you that water,” he said and made his way outside. He searched for the nurses’ station, then caught sight of someone watching him from the far end of the corridor. As far as he could see against the curvature of the building. Shaved head, neck tattoos and a biker jacket of denim and leather mix, held together with badges. He knew the face, had cracked it with the barrel of a shotgun two weeks earlier. One of two men who had stolen his truck and gone off with Duke Tanner. The night Katy McBride had been run off the road and attacked.

  Lame Horse. I need it done. No witnesses.

  Stone stared hard. The man hesitated and it was enough to show his intent. He wasn’t here for a check-up or to stick a band aid on something. He was here to see Katy McBride and that could only mean one thing. He was finishing what he had started. Stone did not believe she had fallen, but he was certain that if the man had not been involved in that, then he had certainly been involved in running her off the road and that meant the cold and calculated method they had chosen to either kill or subdue her by smothering her. Stone was pacing towards the man hard. He saw the hesitation turn to panic and fight or flight kicked in. The two instincts are often determinable by guilt and context and the man ran. Choosing not to flee in a bar fight was an entirely different matter, but then again, he had already lost out to Stone once before. Two for two. Guilt and history. The man was in a full-on sprint and barged between two nurses, sending them both sprawling to the floor. He dodged an orderly pushing a gurney, then paused to grab the gurney from him and upturned it sending it clattering into the two nurses, and the mattress and cover bundled onto the floor. Stone looked at the two nurses, realized they were just shaken, and hurdled them landing on the mattress. His feet became caught up in the mattress cover and he steadied himself as he kicked the cover free. The orderly was getting back to his feet and cursing loudly, Stone bypassed him and sprinted onwards, but the curvature of the corridor meant he could not yet see the man he was ch
asing. The look on the face of one of the medical staff as he approached him told Stone the man had not come this way, and he stopped and jogged back down the corridor to the first room on his right. It didn’t make any sense to Stone, as he was entering the center of the donut, and escape could only be achieved on the outer ring. He pushed the door open and was immediately met with a bed wheeled with terrific force. Stone crashed back against the door and sprawled into the corridor. He realized to his horror that an old and frail-looking woman was still in the bed, and her drip was trailing, sluicing a clear liquid onto the floor as if it was a hose that had been left switched on. She was screaming and the man he had been chasing pulled the bed back towards him, then got his shoulder behind it and charged forwards again, the bed hitting Stone like a medieval battering ram. Stone, who had been getting back to his feet, was cannoned backwards and the bed continued to roll over him. The man saw his chance and stepped around the bed, kicking Stone in the face as he took off back up the corridor.

  Stone felt the impact, was aware of the sensation of numbness, his hearing replaced merely by an overwhelming ringing in his ears. His vision blurred, replaced by white light and stars of gold and red. He had fallen onto his side, and he shook his head, objects gradually becoming clearer, the white light ebbing and the stars moving in circles. He blinked profusely, struggling back to his feet. He was aware of voices, some of outrage, others of concern, and above all of these, the screaming of the woman in the bed, who had now been prioritized and was receiving attention from onlookers.

  Stone started after the man and pushed his way out through the doors and into cool Alaskan air. He looked around him, but oblivious to what had just happened inside, the outside world was in full swing. Paramedics were unloading a patient under a covered area to the side of the main entrance. A couple were walking together, the woman way past her due date. He imagined they were waiting for the baby to decide when they were ready. He looked to his right and a couple of vehicles were parking, while another truck was gently pulling clear of a space, the driver pre-occupied on his phone. Stone walked onwards, scanning the carpark, the other doors of the building. He saw a police cruiser and his first instinct was to rush forward and requisition the cop and aid his search but remembered in time that he was on the run.

  Questions and answers.

  Stone kept walking, his senses slowly coming back, and the pain of the savage blow to his face becoming prevalent. He was no stranger to pain and injury, from the football field as a star quarterback he had experienced more than his fair share of tackles, to the battlefield and beyond. He knew he had taken a blow that would have felled most people, people who had not been taken to the edge. He could feel the ligaments in his neck protesting, feel the bruising coming out. He touched his forehead and felt a sizable bump. At least that was a good sign, the swelling going in the right direction. Stone knew he had been lucky, but you made your own luck. His forearm was throbbing, but he had gotten his block in first, the man’s shin connecting and taking some of the speed and energy out of the kick. He figured he could have ended up with a broken arm, or a worse head injury if he had not reacted accordingly, but his block had done its job.

  Nobody gunned their engine in a hospital parking lot. But someone had. Stone could hear the warble of a V8. Not tuned for speed. A solid-sounding truck engine, torqued down for towing and hard work. A gear change, and then another through an automatic box. Too much speed for a carpark in broad daylight. Stone started to run towards the noise, but it gained quickly and as he charged out from a row of parked cars, he saw the old Chevy Tahoe coming towards him. Both men were clearly visible behind the windscreen. The two men he had given a ride to and who had stolen his truck. One of the men was reaching for something and instinctively, Stone dived onto the grass as the younger of the two men fumbled and pointed a revolver out of the window. Stone rolled and the gunshot rang out, the bullet going wide and throwing grass and mud into his face. He rolled behind the hood of a parked car, then kept rolling as he heard another gunshot and then the sound of the truck mounting the sidewalk and then the grass. The truck collided with the last two feet of the car’s hood and fender and the car was knocked out of its space a full forty-five degrees and rested in the road, rocking on its springs, and blocking the lane. The truck slammed on its brakes and the younger of the two men waved his revolver from side to side, fully expecting Stone to still be there. But Stone was long gone. He had rolled and sprinted and flung himself behind a soccer mom SUV. He kept his head low, dared not move as the man checked in vain, struggling to come up with a plan B. The engine of the Tahoe revved above the noise of the crashed car’s alarm and the man got back inside. The truck took off at a terrific pace and its engine and exhaust reverberated off the parked vehicles and became ever more muted. Stone got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his clothes but stopped when he heard a siren and then several gunshots. Two short, sharp reports of an automatic, and then three more that sounded louder, echoey and less sharp, which he knew to be that of a more powerful caliber revolver. He could tell that the gun fired at him had been something like a .357 magnum or a .44. A powerful, but standard trail gun in these parts, with plenty probably riding around in vehicle glove boxes for bears and ‘just in case’. He started to jog in the direction of the gunfire and when he rounded the building back to the entrance, he could see paramedics working on the cop. There was a lot of blood on the ground, and onlookers were gathering sharing their accounts of what they had just witnessed. Stone fought his instinct to lend assistance, even take control of the scene, and slinked back in through another entrance.

  There were medical staff, orderlies, and security officers in varying states of panic attempting redress, but Stone recognized the headless chicken scenario and the fact nobody confronted him meant that the situation was fluid, with nobody establishing control. When he reached Katy’s room, she looked up her expression full of concern. “Where have you been?” she asked, then she exclaimed, “… Oh my god! What happened to your face?”

  “You should see the other guy…”

  “Really?”

  “No, he got away,” Stone conceded. “But I think he was here to see you…”

  “What do you mean?” she sat up, or at least tried and she grimaced and sunk back down in the bed.

  “Here, let me help…” Stone went to her, and he gently slipped a hand under her and eased her up closer to her pillows.

  Katy winced and used him as a frame, taking her weight as best she could as she shifted.

  “What did I tell you?” The nurse appeared, frowning. “If you need to move, press the alarm. I will help you; those stitches will tear…” She looked at Stone, not noticing his bruises, she was only concerned for her patient. “Stand back, sir,” she said firmly, and Stone detected, somewhat rancorously. Then she eyed him more closely, and said, “That’s a mighty fine bump and bruise you have there…” She looked at Katy and said, “Is everything OK, ma’am? I can get security and the police if you want me to.”

  “No,” Katy replied sharply. “No, he’s a friend…”

  “Well, OK,” the nurse replied. “Now, just sit tight, we have security on the corridors and the police are on the way. There’s been an incident outside, but it’s all under control.” She looked at Stone and said, “Well, seeing as you’re a friend, I suggest you sit here with the young lady and look after her until everything is settled outside. And that includes letting anyone in here, who isn’t her friend. If you catch my drift…” She looked every bit as stern as she sounded, and Stone nodded dumbly as he watched her leave.

  “I never did get that water,” he said.

  “Don’t leave me,” Katy replied quietly, squeezing his hand for comfort.

  Stone looked down at her and said, “I won’t. You’re quite safe with me.”

  “I know I am,” she said, her voice almost drifting. Her eye lids looked heavy, and she looked as if she was about to go to sleep. Stone sat down, keeping hold of her hand.
“I know I’ll be safe with you…”

  Stone watched her as she dozed peacefully, but there was something about the tone and expression of the nurse that made Stone uneasy. And the more he thought about it, the more questions he had and the more he knew Katy McBride was not telling him the truth. It had been no accident, and the man in the corridor had confirmed it. He had been coming to finish what he had started, and Stone swore then and there that the man would not get another chance.

  Chapter Twenty

  “You’ll want your old room,” Maude said. “For the memories…”

  “Any room is fine,” Stone replied irritably. In his experience hospitality staff delighted in knowing their guests’ business and stood in sanctimonious judgement at any opportunity.

  “You’ve seen her, then?”

  “I have.”

  “She was in quite a state, when they found her.”

  “When who found her?”

  “Don discovered her in the morning, then Marvin called for an ambulance. They sent a medical helicopter and took her down to Carlsson Sound.” She paused. “She didn’t tell you?”

  Stone shook his head. “There was a problem with security down there, we didn’t get to talk about much.”

  “Yeah, active shooting, or some such.”

  “A guy shot a cop. I don’t think it is classed as an active shooter scenario.” Stone picked up his key, but Maude kept hold of the tag.

  “Don’s a good guy,” she whispered. “They’re cousins and he takes care of the maintenance for all the machinery at the mine. Marvin has been with the McBride’s for years…” She looked around for any sign of Howard, then whispered. “But I saw a side to Duke Tanner that night and it’s got me thinking he’d stop at nothing to get his hand on McBride’s Folly. And he and Marvin have been friends for years…”