Contracts by Matt Rogers (i like reading txt) 📕

You need these next eight hours to get the swelling down.’

King sighed, but seemed to accept it. He slumped further down the trunk and stretched his bad leg out. The only light came from Slater’s headlamp, so he didn’t see the wince plastered across his friend’s face, but he knew it was there.

Slater said, ‘How are you feeling?’

‘I’m only going to tell you this one more time,’ King said, staring up at him. ‘Stop asking me that. It only makes it worse.’

‘Sorry. I’m concerned, that’s all.’

‘Give me the rest of the night to hibernate, and I’ll be okay by morning.’

‘You should call Violetta.’

King said, ‘Good point. I’ll do that, and you get me ice.’

‘Where from?’

‘The guest house.’

‘He won’t do it.’

‘Ask nicely.’

‘That won’t make a difference.’

‘Then ask sternly.’

‘King…’

‘If you want me to be able to walk tomorrow, I need ice. There’s no other way around it.’

‘I don’t want to get caught hanging around there again. It’ll put him and his family at risk.’

‘Then use your training, for Christ’s sake.’

Slater stared into space for a beat, then shrugged and nodded. ‘Okay. You owe me.’

‘I’ve always owed you.’

‘You’ll be okay here?’

‘We just killed a dozen men. I’m sure we’ve bought ourselves at least an hour, don’t you think?’

Slater left the duffels and the sleeping bags with King and set off toward the trail. His arm throbbed with each step, but it was manageable. He made sure to take care where he placed his feet, especially moving downhill, but he was adjusting to the dark with each passing minute. After a spell, he got careless.

Then he tripped on a body.

He plummeted forward and threw his shoulder down and rolled with it, careening through the undergrowth, and loose dirt showered over him. Then he twisted on the spot and brought the Sig Sauer up to aim and found himself face-to-face with a pale corpse. It startled him that he could make out the bullet hole in the centre of the insurgent’s forehead, but then he turned his face to the sky and found the moon had crawled out of its hiding place behind thick cloud.

He used the weak ethereal light to guide him the rest of the way to the guest house.

He approached low, aiming for a side door that led to what he believed to be the kitchen, but it opened even before he could knock.

The owner stared at him, wholly disappointed.

Slater tucked the Sig into his waistband before the man could lay eyes on the pistol.

‘What do you want?’ the man said.

‘An ice pack.’

‘Go away.’

‘Please.’

‘I told you stakes before.’

‘We’ve been busy,’ Slater said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘There’s no-one left to witness this.’

The owner’s face paled, and he steadied himself. Then his expression hardened. ‘For now. There’ll be more.’

‘But not yet.’

Silence.

Slater said, ‘I don’t want to make you fetch me it at gunpoint.’

The owner growled to himself. ‘There only so many times you can threaten me before it become obvious you not going to do it.’

‘I’ll do it if I have to.’

The man shook his head in disappointment and retreated into the corridor. Slater didn’t follow him. He waited patiently, and rubbed his hands together as warmth spilled out of the guest house.

The owner returned promptly with a trio of ice packs. He passed them over, one by one.

Slater said, ‘You didn’t have to do that. I only asked for—’

‘I no want to help. For what it might do to my family. But if you are here, and I must help, then I help as much as I can.’

‘Thank you.’

The guy waved a hand dismissively. ‘Worse for you than for me. Your friend … he have trouble walking.’

‘Swollen ankle. He might be hurt real bad. We don’t know yet.’

‘So he need this.’

‘Yes.’

‘Then wish him good luck. From me.’

‘Thank you. I will.’

The owner paused there, scrutinising Slater.

Slater allowed it.

Eventually the man said, ‘You have no quit in you.’

‘Sorry?’

‘Every day, I see guest come into this place. All very tired. All weary from trail. It is tough, especially when cover great distances. I give them food and drink and sometimes bed. But I always look at their eyes. So I can see if they have quit. And usually I right. Sometimes altitude affect them, sometimes their bodies break down. But I know if they going to stop. You will not stop. I can see in eyes.’

Slater soaked it in, and said, ‘I appreciate that.’

Then the owner narrowed his gaze. ‘See, you are definitely feeling altitude. You are heavy. But no quit.’

Slater didn’t want to address that.

It felt like his bones were made of lead. Like there was a two-hundred-pound weight resting squarely on his shoulders.

He said, ‘No. I don’t think I will.’

‘Your friend, either.’

‘No,’ Slater said. ‘He certainly won’t.’

‘Then you will get girl back. I know.’

‘Do you?’

‘Just guess. But usually, my guess good.’

Slater offered a hand, and the man shook it.

‘That means more than you know,’ Slater said.

The corners of the man’s mouth tilted upward, and he said, ‘I know.’

Slater tucked the icepacks under his arm and turned away, trudging back toward the tree line.

Suddenly reassured.

Because, unbeknownst to the owner, for the first time in his life he’d felt like quitting.

52

When Slater left, King fished the satellite phone out and kept one hand over the display’s glow, just in case there were any insurgents in the vicinity.

He dialled, and pressed the device to his ear with a heavy hand.

Violetta immediately said, ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes. They ambushed us. We took care of it.’

‘At the guest house?’

‘No. The owner didn’t let us stay. His family were threatened.’

‘I see.’

He could hear every slight waver in her tone as she struggled to suppress her emotions.

It gnawed at his willpower.

Screamed at him to let the emotion out.

But he couldn’t.

Not this close to victory.

They were compartmentalising for a reason.

He said, ‘We’re sleeping outdoors. We’ll be okay.’

‘How many ambushed you?’

‘A dozen, maybe.’

‘Jason…’

‘We’ll catch them tomorrow. You know we will.’

‘You have to survive until then.’

‘They don’t have endless forces. That was their best effort, and we quashed it. They’re counting on getting as far