Page 42 of Dead Man's Hand

Butch started over to the chair and Sadie saw another man standing just outside. He also carried an AK.

“Could you move any slower?” Keira demanded of the thug.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sadie watched Butch walk over to the woman. “Where’s the money?”

“I’ll get it for you as soon as you untie me,” she snapped.

He pulled a knife and began cutting the strips of dish towel from her ankles and wrists.

“Hey, watch it with the knife, you big dumb—”

He raised the butt of the rifle and brought it down hard on her head. The sound reverberated through the small cabin. Sadie’s gaze shot to DJ. His eyes were closed; he was gripping the edge of the counter.

“Your sister’s taking a nap,” Butch said from behind them. “Now where’s the money?”

DJ’s fingers loosened on the counter. His blue eyes flashed open. “Don’t you want breakfast first?” he asked without turning around. His voice sounded strained as he took the ham she’d sliced from her and dumped it into the hot skillet, where it quickly began to sizzle and brown. The skillet was smoking hot. “Toast? What do you think?” he asked Sadie.

Her mouth felt dry. She didn’t know what to say, let alone think. DJ was making her nervous. These two thugs were armed with weapons that could saw them in half and he was cooking breakfast?

She heard Butch come up behind them. “I’m sure you’re one hell of a chef, but I didn’t come here for breakfast, and you know it. Where’s the money?” Butch swung the gun toward the front of the cabin and pulled the trigger on the AK, turning the front door into kindling. “Unless you want some of this, you’d better get me my money.”

BUCKSTOPPEDINthe shelter of the trees and shut down his sled. He couldn’t hear the two on the snowmobiles in front of him. He figured he must be close to Charley Diamond’s cabin because the machines hadn’t been silent for long. He could see the trail the two had left to a spot high on the side of the mountain.

As he followed its path, he saw a huge cornice that the blizzard had sculpted high on the peak above the cabin. The cornice hung over this side. He felt a chill.

He’d been caught in a small avalanche as a teenager on a backcountry ski trip. He’d been terrified and fascinated by the power of snow when it started moving. New snow was 90 percent air, yet one foot of it covering an acre weighed more than 250,000 pounds.

In an instant, that cornice could break off and slide. Thousands of tons of snow could come roaring down that mountain at the speed of a locomotive and with the same impact.

He could see the old avalanche chute where trees and rocks had been wiped out next to Charley Diamond’s cabin. It wouldn’t be the first time a cornice high on the peak had avalanched down. But this time, the cabin might not be so lucky.

The sound of gunfire inside the cabin made him jump as he swung off the snowmachine, lunging through the deep snow. While the snowmobiles had busted a trail, there was still a good two feet of snow below their tracks he had to break through as the gunshots echoed across the mountainside.

Reaching the cabin, he saw three snowmobiles parked outside. Two belonged to Grandville’s muscle; the other must belong to Keira since he didn’t think DJ and Sadie had brought any.

He moved toward the back door where the machines were parked, weapon drawn, knowing he would be outgunned. Just as he reached the door, all hell broke loose inside.

Chapter Eighteen

The contractions were coming only a few minutes apart when Tommy walked into the hospital room. Ansley felt her heart float up at the sight of him. He went straight to the bed to take his wife’s hand. “Heard our girl is coming early,” Tommy said, and smiled at Bella, who, in the middle of a contraction, growled at him.

“Buck?” Ansley asked hopefully.

“He’s still up on the mountain,” Tommy said, his smile fading. “I had to bring James down.”

She felt a start. “What happened to James? Is he all right?”

“He’s going to live, the doc said.” He turned back to his wife. “Lori was on her way up here to check on Bella when I brought James in. She’s in the waiting room while he’s in surgery. The bullet went straight through. Doc said that was good.”

Bella was oblivious to their conversation as she panted through yet another contraction.

“I’ll just be down the hall,” Ansley told her friend, and hurried out. James had been shot? Buck was still up on the mountain? She found Lori in the waiting room on the surgical floor.

“What happened?” she cried as she rushed to her.

“James was shot.”

“But he’s going to be all right?”

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