So Logan had taken off! Straightening, he moved forward warily, then he saw the body of Hank Hollis, lying at the foot of the big tree.
Ross felt a cold, sick feeling of shock run through him. He moved quickly and knelt. He didn’t have to touch Hollis to know he had lost the best deputy he had ever had. “Oh, Hank!” Ross muttered. “I’ll get him if it’s the last thing I do!” Then he heard a sound that made him jump upright.
The front door of the lodge slammed open and Perry Weston came staggering out. He reeled, fell on hands and knees, then struggled to his feet. Moving like a drunken man, he staggered towards the garage.
Ross slammed his gun back into its holster and ran to Perry.
“Mr Weston!” Perry turned, reeled and caught hold of Ross’s shoulder for support.
“Jesus, Sheriff! The bastard’s gone, and he’s taken my wife as hostage!” In the moonlight Ross could see the black bruise on the side of Perry’s face.
“Take it easy, Mr Weston,” he said. “I’ll get back to my car and send an alert. How long has he been gone?”
“Fifteen minutes, a little more.” Perry moved away from Ross. “Where’s your car? Come on! He’s taken my wife as hostage!”
“Top of the road. I’ve got a bicycle.”
“We’ll go in my car. Come on.”
Still unsteady, Perry half ran, half staggered to the garage and flicked on the light, then he paused and cursed. He saw, before Brown had left, he had deflated both the rear tires and they were on their rims.
“You stay here,” Ross said. “I’ll get her up to the top of the road,” and he slid his bulk into the driving seat.
Perry snatched open the passenger door and got in beside Ross. “Get going!” he shouted.
Ross started the engine and backed out of the garage, the car juddering on its flat tires.
Then began a nightmare drive of two miles to the highway. The road had dried out, but there was still mud. Rattling and juddering, the car slid, with Ross using all his strength to keep the car straight.
“He told me he was heading for Jacksonville,” Perry said. He was now recovering from Brown’s punch. His jaw ached and he tasted blood in his mouth.
His only thought was of Sheila. The car slid and smashed into a tree. The offside wing of the car ripped off, but Ross swung out of the skid and kept on.
In less than ten minutes they reached the highway where the patrol car was parked. Switching off the engine, Ross scrambled out and ran to the patrol car.
He switched on the radio. Moving more steadily, but slowly, Perry joined him.
Ross was talking to Jenner.
“Take it easy, Jeff,” Jenner said. “Mary alerted me. I’ve got roadblocks set up. I’ve got twenty men who will be with you in fifteen minutes.”
“He’s got Mrs Weston as hostage!” Ross snapped. “He’s heading for Jacksonville.”
“Tricky, huh?” Jenner said. “I’ll handle it,” and he switched off.
As Sheila maneuvered the jeep up the mud road, with Brown at her side, her panic began to subside. The steel core in her began to assert itself. She knew she was in mortal danger. If she didn’t do something, she was as good as dead, and Sheila had no intention of dying. She was sure that Brown would eventually kill her when he had no further use for her as a hostage. She thought of the gun in her handbag in the map pocket, but how to divert his attention to give her time to grab the handbag and get the gun?
“Hurry it up!” Brown snarled. He was leaning forward, studying the mud covered road in the light of the headlights.
Sheila slightly increased speed. They were approaching the bad patch of mud where Perry had bogged down. Should she try to bog the jeep down? That wasn’t the answer. Brown would fly in a rage and hit her.
“Watch this!” Brown barked. “Get up to your right and take it slow.”
She did as she was told, and they crossed the drying quagmire without trouble.
“You know something?” Brown said, easing himself back in his seat. “For a chick, you drive all right.”
Sheila said nothing. She slightly increased the speed of the jeep. Within ten minutes, they reached the junction of the river road and the highway.
“Stop!” Brown snapped. “Turn your lights off.” She stopped and snapped off the lights. They sat side by side in complete darkness. She could hear his heavy breathing and smelt the sweat on him.
Here, perhaps, was her opportunity. She moved her right hand from the steering wheel and to the map pocket. A thought flashed through her mind.
Suppose this ape had checked the jeep and had found the gun? Her heart was hammering as her fingers moved further, and felt the hard outline of the gun.
Dare she risk pulling the bag from the map pocket, grope for the zip fastener, open the bag and get the gun in her hand?
Brown said, “Now take it easy. We’re going to cross the highway. There’s a dirt road opposite. We take that. As soon as the traffic gives us a break, you drive fast across the highway. Got it?”
“That’s not the way to Jacksonville,” Sheila said, snatching her hand from the map pocket.
Brown gave a soft, barking laugh.
“You know something, baby? I like your husband. He’s a great guy. I told him Jacksonville because I didn’t want to kill him. I hated hitting him, but I had to do it. Before long, the cops will arrive, and he’ll tell them Jacksonville.” He laughed again. “That way, the stupid bastards will set up roadblocks, but I’ll be away in the forest!”
Sheila felt a cold chill run through her. By telling her this, this ape was also telling her that before long he would kill her. She had to take a desperate risk if she was to save her life. While she was trying to think what to do, Brown was listening to the light traffic roaring along the highway.
“Get ready!” he snapped. “Start the engine.” She switched on.
Once across the highway and into the dense forest he would make her stop, smash her head in, throw her body out and drive away.
“Right. Now move forward, dead slow,” Brown ordered.
She engaged gear and drove the jeep slowly up to the entrance to the highway.
The sound of an approaching truck made him snap, “Stop!”
She could now see the highway. The truck’s lights made fast approaching pools on the road’s surface, It went thundering by. Brown was leaning out of the window. No car lights showed either to their right or left.
“Now!” he said. “Fast! Get across! Headlights!” As she switched on the headlights, she saw, across the highway, a narrow opening to a road back into the forest.
She aimed the jeep at the opening and trod down on the gas pedal.
With the engine roaring, the jeep surged across the highway and hit the forest road. She braked as soon as the jeep began to bounce on the uneven, dirt road.
“Very sharp,” Brown said. “Now take it easy. Keep going.”
Sheila didn’t hear him. Her mind was busy. She was remembering what Perry had told her Brown had said to him: We’ll share a double funeral. She remembered that Brown had said to her: To me, you’re like a mess a dog makes on the sidewalk.
Okay, you stinking ape, she thought, if I’m going to die, you’ll die with me!
She took a quick look at Brown who was sitting back apparently completely relaxed. He began his tuneless whistle.
She looked ahead, her eyes searching for a tree. The dirt road was bordered by dense flowering shrubs. Their scent came into the jeep’s cabin. Then, with her heartbeat quickening, she saw, in the headlights, a massive Cypress tree on the edge of the road, some hundred yards ahead.
Here it is, she thought. This is the end of both of us! They were now travelling at thirty miles an hour. Bracing herself, she swiftly changed into four-wheel drive and trod the gas pedal to the floor.
The jeep surged forward.