Part 13 (1/2)

Kate McTiernan was half blinded by the streaming bands of sunlight, but the world had never looked so beautiful. She breathed in the sweet smell of the gums of trees: oaks, sycamores, towering Carolina pines, with no limbs except at the very top. Kate looked at the woods and the sky, high, high above, and she cried. Tears washed down her face.

Kate stared up at the tall, tall pines. Scuppernongs reached from treetop to treetop. She'd grown up in woods like these.

Escape; she suddenly thought of Casanova again. Kate tried to run a few steps. She fell again. She did the hands-and-knees waltz. She lurched back to her feet. she suddenly thought of Casanova again. Kate tried to run a few steps. She fell again. She did the hands-and-knees waltz. She lurched back to her feet. Run! Get away from here! Run! Get away from here!

Kate turned around in a full, sweeping circle. She kept on turning-once, twice, three times-until she almost fell again.

No, no, no! The voice inside her head was loud, screaming at her. She couldn't believe her eyes, couldn't trust any of her senses. The voice inside her head was loud, screaming at her. She couldn't believe her eyes, couldn't trust any of her senses.

This was the weirdest, craziest thing yet. It was the scariest daydream. There was no house! There was no house anywhere Kate looked as she whirled and turned in circles under the towering pines.

The house, wherever she had been kept, had completely disappeared. disappeared.

Chapter 45.

RUN! MOVE your d.a.m.n legs fast, one after the other. Faster! Faster than that, girl. Run away from him. your d.a.m.n legs fast, one after the other. Faster! Faster than that, girl. Run away from him.

She tried to concentrate on finding her way out of the dark, dense forest. The tall Carolina pines were like umbrellas that filtered light onto the hardwoods that grew beneath them. There wasn't enough light for the young saplings, and they stood like uptight tree skeletons.

He would be coming after her now. He had had to try to catch her, and he'd to try to catch her, and he'd kill kill her if he did. She was pretty sure she hadn't hurt him very badly, though G.o.d knows she had tried. her if he did. She was pretty sure she hadn't hurt him very badly, though G.o.d knows she had tried.

Kate settled into a herky-jerky rhythm of running and stumbling forward. The forest floor was soft and spongy, a carpet of pine straw and leaves. Long spindly briar brambles grew straight up from the ground, reaching for the sunlight. She felt like a bramble herself.

Have to rest... hide... let the drugs wear off, Kate mumbled to herself. Kate mumbled to herself. Then go get help... logical thing to do. Get the police. Then go get help... logical thing to do. Get the police.

Then she heard him cras.h.i.+ng about behind her. He screamed screamed out her name. ”Kate! Kate! Stop right now!” His voice echoed loudly through the forest. out her name. ”Kate! Kate! Stop right now!” His voice echoed loudly through the forest.

His bravado had to mean that n.o.body was around for miles; n.o.body to help her in the G.o.dforsaken woods. She was on her own out here.

”Kate! I'm going to get you! It's inevitable, so stop running!”

She climbed a steep, rocky hill that seemed like Mount Everest in her exhausted state. A black snake was sunning itself on a smooth patch of rock. The snake looked like a fallen tree limb, like a fallen tree limb, and Kate almost stooped to pick it up. She thought she could use it as a support. The startled black snake slithered away, and she was afraid she was hallucinating again. and Kate almost stooped to pick it up. She thought she could use it as a support. The startled black snake slithered away, and she was afraid she was hallucinating again.

”Kate! Kate! You're doomed! I'm so angry now!”

She went down hard in a mesh of honeysuckle and pointy rocks. Excruciating pain shot through her left leg, but she pushed herself up again. Ignore the blood. Ignore the pain. Keep going. Ignore the blood. Ignore the pain. Keep going.

You have to get away. You have to bring help. Just keep running. You're smarter, faster, more resourceful than you think you are. You're going to make it!

She heard him pounding up the steep hill-the mountainside-whatever she had just climbed herself. He was very close.

”I'm right here, Kate! Hey, Katie, I'm coming up behind you! Here I am!”

Kate finally turned around. Curiosity and terror got the best of her.

He was climbing easily. She could see his white flannel s.h.i.+rt flas.h.i.+ng through the almost-black trees below, and his long blond hair. Casanova! He was still wearing his mask. The stun gun, or some kind of gun, some kind of gun, was in his hand. was in his hand.

He was laughing loudly. Why was he laughing now?

Kate stopped running. All hope of getting away suddenly left her. She experienced a jolting moment of shock and disbelief: she cried out in anguish. She was going to die right here, she knew.

Kate whispered, ”G.o.d's will.” That was all there was now, nothing else.

The top of the steep hill ended abruptly in a canyon. Steep, sheer rock dropped at least a hundred feet. Only a few bare scrub pines grew out of the rock. There was nowhere to hide, and nowhere to run. Kate thought it was such a sad, lonely place to die.

”Poor Katie!' Casanova screamed. ”Poor baby! baby!”

She turned to see him again. There he was! Forty yards, thirty, then twenty yards away. Casanova watched her as he climbed up the steep hillside. He never took his eyes off her. The painted black mask seemed immobile, fixed on her.

Kate turned away from him, turned her back on the death mask. She peered down at the steep valley of rocks and trees. It must be a hundred feet, maybe more than that, It must be a hundred feet, maybe more than that, she thought. The dizziness she felt was almost as terrifying as the deadly alternative rus.h.i.+ng up behind her. she thought. The dizziness she felt was almost as terrifying as the deadly alternative rus.h.i.+ng up behind her.

She heard him scream her name. ”Kate, no!”

She didn't look behind her again.

Kate McTiernan jumped.

She tucked in her knees and held on to them. Just your regular swimming-hole cannonball leap, Just your regular swimming-hole cannonball leap, she thought to herself. she thought to herself.

There was a stream down below. The silver-blue ribbon of water was coming at her unbelievably fast. The roar was getting louder in her ears.

She had no idea how deep it was, but how deep could a small stream like that be? Two feet? Maybe four feet? Ten feet deep if these were the luckiest few seconds of her life, which she sincerely doubted.

”Kate!” She heard his screams from high above. ”You're dead! dead!'

She saw tiny whitecaps-which meant rocks beneath the rippling water. Oh, dear G.o.d, I don't want to die. Oh, dear G.o.d, I don't want to die.

Kate hit a wall of freezing cold water-hard.

She hit bottom so quickly it was as if there hadn't been any any water in the fast-running stream. Kate felt shooting pain, terrible pain, everywhere. She swallowed water. She realized she going to drown. She was going to die, anyway. She had no strength left- water in the fast-running stream. Kate felt shooting pain, terrible pain, everywhere. She swallowed water. She realized she going to drown. She was going to die, anyway. She had no strength left-G.o.d's will be done.

Chapter 46.

DURHAM HOMICIDE detective Nick Ruskin called and informed me that they had just found another woman, and that it wasn't Naomi. A thirty-one-year-old intern from Chapel Hill had been fished out of the Wykagil River by two young boys playing hooky for the day and caught by cruel fate instead.

Ruskin's flashy green Saab Turbo picked me up in front of the Was.h.i.+ngton Duke Inn. He and Davey Sikes were trying to be more cooperative lately. Sikes was taking a day off, his first in a month, according to his detective partner.

Ruskin actually seemed glad to see me. He hopped out of the car in front of the hotel and pumped my hand as if we were friends. As always, Ruskin was dressed for success. Black Armani rip-off sportcoat. Black pocket T-s.h.i.+rt.

Things were picking up a little for me in the new South. I got the feeling that Ruskin knew I had connections with the FBI, and that he wanted to use them, too. Detective Nick Ruskin was definitely a mover and shaker. This was a career-making case for him.