Suddenly MacKay’s grip grew impossibly strong and Kismet felt himself being pulled toward the machine. He struggled to find something to stop his plunge but MacKay’s hold was irresistible.
Then he heard a scream. It lasted only a second before being drowned out by an even more terrible sound.
The chipper engine changed pitch as something entered the maw and the blades made contact. The stranglehold abruptly relented, and through the dark haze, Kismet caught a glimpse of the hand that had held him vanishing beneath the chipper’s feeder roller. A spray of red erupted from the outflow chute and sprayed the pile of woodchips. The machine continued grinding a few seconds longer, and then returned to a quiet idle.
The man with chainsaw seemed paralyzed by the horror of what he had just witnessed. Kismet could only surmise that when he had made his desperate bid to escape, his captor had inadvertently been caught by the feeder wheel and pulled inside, but the phony carriage driver had witnessed everything. Kismet seized the opportunity and hurtled himself over the feeder chute, flattening the stunned man with two-footed kick. He pitched the chainsaw out of reach and then relieved the unconscious man of his pistol.
As the adrenaline surge began to recede, it was all he could do to keep from throwing up. He rocked back on his haunches with his head down, and tried to make sense of what had just happened. After a few seconds, he remembered that Higgins and Annie had probably been taken, but before his could even think about his next move, he heard a disembodied voice say: “Ian, report.”
It took him few seconds to find the walkie-talkie; its now-deceased owner had stashed it next to a tree. Despite the fact that he had heard only two slightly distorted words, Kismet had no trouble identifying the speaker. He considered taunting Leeds, but then thought of a better use for the radio. He keyed the talk button and did his best to mimic MacKay’s gravely brogue. “It’s done.”
EIGHT
Annie felt strangely disappointed by Dr. Leeds’ reaction to their decision. He had merely inclined his head, as if in surrender. “That is unfortunate.” He gestured to the carriage. “The driver will convey you to whatever destination you desire.”
And with that, the silver-haired occult expert had turned away. Elisabeth, who had remained just out of earshot, followed in his wake, but glanced over meaningfully over her shoulder. Annie didn’t know what to make of that. She shook her head and turned to her father. “What now? Should we go back to the museum and tell Nick what happened?”
Higgins expression was unreadable. “He’s probably already on his way to the hotel. We should get there as well.”
Annie noted that her father had not answered the second part of her question. She climbed into the carriage with him, but before she could repeat her inquiry, another man got in as well. Judging by his athletic build and short haircut, Annie immediately pegged the man as someone with military experience, but it was the way he held the pistol that really gave it away.
He kept the gun was low so as to be inconspicuous to passersby, but the barrel did not waver in the man’s grip; it was aimed at Annie’s abdomen. The man’s eyes however were locked on her father.
“Let’s not make a fuss,” the man said in a low voice.
The coach lurched into motion and by the time Annie was able to tear her eyes away from the gun, they were on the Transverse Road and heading east. Annie searched the faces of pedestrians walking along the roadside, hoping to spy a police officer, but their captor quickly divined her intent.
“Don’t even think about it. I’d prefer not shoot you, but I will if I have to.”
Annie swung her gaze back the man, matching his stare. “I think you’re planning to kill us anyway. Why should we make it easy for you?”
The man regarded her for a moment, as if sorting through possible replies, but then just snarled, “Shut the hell up.”
Higgins remained silent, but Annie knew her father was anything but paralyzed with fear. The former Gurkha had survived scrapes worse than this and she had no doubt he was just biding his time and waiting for the right opportunity to make his move.
They abruptly left the road and headed out across the manicured lawn at the edge of a large wooded area. There was no one around to witness the evident breach of park rules, no one to report the strange action to the authorities and perhaps summon help. After only about a minute, Annie saw a second carriage, waiting idle and evidently abandoned, on the edge of the woods. Their driver steered directly for the second coach and pulled up alongside it.
“Here’s how this is going to work.” The gunman gestured meaningfully with the gun, his eyes never leaving Higgins. “She’s going to get out first. You stay put until I tell you to move. We’re all alone out here, so I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger if you try something. You might get the jump on me, but not before she goes down. Got it?”
“I hear you.” Higgins voice was flat, betraying no emotion.
“Good.” The man’s gaze finally moved to Annie. “Now, out.”
It was the moment she had been waiting for, the moment when the man’s attention would have to leave Higgins. She felt certain that her father would act decisively as soon as she became the focus of their captor’s scrutiny. She turned in the bench seat, confident that salvation was only a heartbeat away, and extended her feet onto the step that extended from the underside of the carriage.
Higgins might have been planning something like what she imagined, but when salvation came, it wasn’t at her father’s instigation. There was a blur of motion in front of her as someone—Kismet! — darted out from behind the second carriage and leaped into theirs, pouncing on the gunman.
Despite the man’s stated readiness to kill Annie, his reflexes were too slow. Kismet went for the gun hand first, thrusting it up and out of the way so that, when the man squeezed the trigger, the pistol discharged harmlessly into the canopy. With his free hand, Kismet punched directly at his opponents jaw, instantly rendering him unconscious.
Higgins was jolted into action. He pushed Annie back into her seat with one hand, while the other wrapped around the senseless gunman’s fist to prevent him from pulling the trigger again. Before he could attempt to wrest control of the firearm however, everything went wrong.
Kismet’s decisive attack had removed the immediate threat, but the element of surprise had been his only advantage, and that was spent. Before he could do or say anything, the driver reached down from his perch and grabbed Kismet by the shoulders. With a single mighty heave, he hauled Kismet through the opening in the canopy and pitched him out ahead of the carriage. The driver then thrust a stubby object through the aperture; Annie recognized it immediately as a sawed-off double-barrel shot gun. “Sit down,” he snarled. “I don’t have to even aim this to splatter you to both to Kingdom Come.”
Higgins released his hold on the pistol and let the man’s hand drop to the floor of the carriage. The driver kept the shotgun trained in their general direction, but half-turned forward and coaxed the horse into motion.
Kismet hit the ground hard. His wind was knocked from him and for a moment, he could only writhe in agony. The violent throw had left him disoriented, unable for a moment to tell which way was up, but as the turmoil in his inner ear subsided and the world stopped spinning, he realized that he was face to face with one of the coach’s metal-shod wheels.
And then it started to move.