“You get a vote,” Cole agreed. “We all get a vote. But this is going to be a majority rule.”
Needles looked like he was on the verge of panicking. “Why can’t we just split the money up now? We each hold on to our own share. We each do whatever we want with it.”
“You know we don’t split the money up until we’re ready to go our separate ways,” Cole said. It was something they had always agreed on. Until they were in a safe place where they could all leave, they didn’t split the money up. It was too easy and tempting for one person to take his share and leave. With the money all in one place and with all of their eyes on it, it gave the group safety.
“You’re such a pussy,” Jose said to Needles.
“Enough, Jose,” Cole said. “Let’s take a vote. We know what your votes are Jose and Needles.” Cole turned to Trevor. “What about you?”
Trevor thought it over for a moment. He looked at the two cases of money on the fireplace hearth, and then he looked back at Cole. “I think someone out there is after this money. They don’t want to charge in here and take it so they sent Frank back. I say we call their bluff and see what they do. I say we find a way to get to them, a way to get Frank back.”
They were silent for a moment, and then Jose looked at Cole.
“And what about you, Cole?”
Cole sighed. “I agree. We keep the money and find out who’s out there.”
“There’s an easier way of finding out who’s out there doing this,” Jose said as he rushed towards Stella and David. “Who the fuck’s out there?!” Jose screamed at Stella.
Jose pulled his gun out and aimed it at Stella. He stared at her with cold, dark eyes.
Cole crossed the room in a hurry. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Getting some answers from this bitch,” Jose said. “Once and for all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Stella stared up at Jose as David clung to her; but she didn’t flinch. She was afraid, but she couldn’t show fear of him, she needed to be strong. David inhaled sharply when Jose jabbed his gun at them; he ducked his head underneath Stella’s arm and hid behind her.
Stella knew she needed to be strong for David, but a small voice whispered at her from somewhere in the back of her mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, the voice whispered. Just let him shoot, and it would all be over for her. She wouldn’t have to go through this anymore. She wouldn’t have to go through this again.
But she knew what would happen to her body even after she was dead.
She sat very still as she stared at the barrel of Jose’s gun pointed at her. She had seen things far worse than anything Jose could do to her, so she showed no fear of him. Let him shoot you, that small voice whispered again. And then all of this will be over.
But she had to protect David. She still had him to think about; it was the only thing that kept her going.
“I don’t know what’s out there,” Stella answered Jose. “And that’s the truth.”
Cole moved closer to Jose, trying to calm him down, talking to him in a soothing voice. “What are you going to do, kill the only person who might know anything about what’s going on out there?”
“Not unless she tells me what’s going on here,” Jose growled.
It was like this before at the dig site, Stella thought. But those people were scientists; they were reasonable – at least they were reasonable in the beginning before things got too bad. But these men in the cabin were bank robbers. They were criminals. And they had murdered at least one person that she knew about; the old man in the bank that they kept talking about. She couldn’t risk it much longer. She had to tell them something, but she knew she couldn’t tell them everything.
“What do you mean, you don’t know what’s out there?” Jose asked Stella.
“It’s not people out there,” Stella told Jose.
“I told you,” Needles said and jumped to his feet, a strange smile of victory on his face – a lunatic smile. “I told you the devil’s out there.”
Jose glanced quickly at Needles, and then he looked back at Stella.
“Is that what you’re trying to say?” Jose asked her. “The devil’s out there? The devil’s the one that’s following you?”
“I don’t know what it is.”
Jose was about to explode with anger. Stella could see his finger tightening around the trigger.
“I swear, that’s the truth!” Stella yelled at Jose. “Something’s out there, but I don’t know what it is!”
“Let her talk,” Cole said, trying to keep Jose calm. “Let her explain.”
“The dig site where we came from,” Stella continued quickly. “Something like this happened there. People were taken. One by one. I took David and we managed to get to my truck and get away.”
Jose stared at her.
“That’s the truth.”
Stella could see a movement out of the corner of her eye, Trevor sneaking up behind Jose, but she made herself look back at Jose.
Cole stared at Needles who seemed like he was about to alert Jose about Trevor, but after the look from Cole, Needles slumped back down in the recliner and didn’t say anything.
Cole turned and looked at Stella with compassion. He’s trying a different approach, she thought.
“Stella, we need your help,” Cole said. “Whatever you know about what’s going on out there could help us. I wish you would tell us.”
“You need my help?” Stella asked sarcastically and she couldn’t help the bark of a laugh that came out of her. “You run us off the road, carjack us, bring us to the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm, point guns at our faces, threaten to torture and kill us, and then you want my help?”
Cole sighed.
Stella could see Trevor creeping up right behind Jose, but she wouldn’t give him away.
“I’m not helping you,” Stella went on, trying to distract Jose from Trevor sneaking up behind him. “Not until you stop pointing your guns at me and threatening us.”
Trevor aimed his gun at the back of Jose’s head, the barrel touching his head. “She’s right,” he told Jose. “Lower your gun.”
“What the fuck, man?” Jose said, and a nervous laugh escaped him. “You’re going to shoot me over this woman?”
“And that kid,” Trevor said. “You heard Cole. We’re not going to kill anyone else. Especially not a woman and a child.”
“But they know something.”
“I don’t care.”
Jose sighed and dropped his gun hand. He shoved his gun into the waistband of his pants, and then he walked away. He shook his head as he stared at Cole and Trevor. “You guys are making a big mistake.”
“We’re going to wait here for the next four hours and see what happens,” Trevor told Jose, his eyes dead on him, his gun still in his hand. “We’re going to call their bluff, just like we all agreed.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Five hours later the afternoon shadows grew longer, stretching across the snow as the sun dipped lower behind the trees.
Inside the cabin, Trevor sat at the dining room table with another hand of solitaire laid out in front of him. His gun was close by, and he was ready to grab it if he needed to.
Everyone was tense as they waited.
Needles looked even more nervous now that their four hours were up. He glanced over at the two metal cases of money on the fireplace hearth like he was ready to grab them and bolt for the door, throw them outside in the hopes that it wasn’t too late. But he didn’t get out of his recliner. He just looked at the front door, and then he looked back down at the rug on the floor. The rug was colorful, full of patterns that seemed to change shape after a while. The more Needles stared at the colors and patterns, the more they seemed to change and move, morphing into something unworldly.