Page 164 of In the Pursuit of Haven
One anxious glance Divine’s way, and I saw she had herself well in hand. She ducked behind the shelter of rocks. The little homewrecker must’ve graduated from “Escape Psycho Murderers 101” because the very next instant, she easily slipped out what was left of the door.
We’d lost three of us, and Luther only had himself to blame.
Hunter stared at him, open mouthed. The maniac providing his paycheck had escaped his control. “Well, that just happened,” he muttered.
Luther let out a disgruntled huff. “Can we block that door?”
“Oh, you think I’ll try to escape next?” Hunter asked. “Or are you afraid little Abby here will get second thoughts after you tried to BLOW OFF DIVINE’S HEAD!” That ended in a shout. “Don’t we need nine of us to get out of here?”
“We’ll wing it.”
“Yeah… because that’s worked really well for us so far!”
Luther and Hunter went at it while I worked on trying to find my footing through the netting. If we needed nine of us to complete these treasures in heaven, then that meant we were stuck up here… unless maybe some of us could go again?
“Just keep going,” Luther shouted. “We’ll find a way out!”Easy for him to say when he wasn’t suspended in the air like this.He gestured to the rug, pushing his face in front of Hunter’s nose. “How about it, buddy? You go next.”
“After you, My Liege,” Hunter said. The sarcasm in his voice would wilt anyone with any self-awareness. “I can’t say I trust that trigger finger of yours.”
“And I don’t trust you not to leave me stranded up there.”
“Why? Is that what you’re planning to do with us?” Hunter wasn’t backing down. “You go first or we’re not doing this at all.”
“Who do we got up there?” Luther shouted. “Jessie? Roxy? Brecker? They’ll turn on us the first second they can. Let’s just cut our losses and figure out another way to get at that treasure!”
What a worm! I shouted out my displeasure, hearing the echoes of Jessie’s grunts above me as he tried to get free. Nothing was budging these knots. We’d die slow painful deaths if we couldn’t loosen these bonds.
Brecker kicked at the rigging. “Don’t do this, Hunter. You know there’s only one way to get this treasure.”
Abby let out a cry. “You’re not leaving my brother and sister up there!”
“Nobody asked you!” Luther caught her arm and wrenched her back against him. His gun rammed into her side. “Now go, man,” he told Hunter.
“Are you really that crazy?” Hunter shouted. “You can’t shoot her. We need her!”
“Does it really matter anymore?” Luther asked. “There are only six of us, and we take it down to five? Big deal! We’re not going to beat this playing by the rules.”
Jessie’s struggles against the ropes grew more frantic. “You do anything to her, and I’ll kill you, Luther. You’re not taking another part of my family.”
My hands were tied. They were literally tied. If they weren’t, I’d try to drop something on Luther’s head, like a sail. Trying to work through my fear, I dug my nails into the knot in front of me. “So you’ll leave Hunter to his death when your next plan fails?” I shouted down. “You can’t tell me you’ve got any good ideas in that thick head of yours. That’s why you needed us.”
“Shut up!” Luther shook Abby. “I’ve got all the cards here. You’ve got nothing!”
“Hunter!” I called out. He, at least, had some sense of self-preservation… I hoped. “You know we need Abby to get out of here. Stop him from hurting her!”
Hunter tugged out a knife.Not quite what I’d expected.“Hold on, Luther. How about we see what happens if we send up these heavenly treasures on their own?” He kicked at the suspended rug. The trap activated with the falling net. A strange pop noise followed and seconds later, when the slip rope caught at nothing, the planks rumbled under Luther, Hunter,andAbby.
She let out a scream of terror as the rug solidly hit the deck. The wood ripped open beneath it, eating up every bit of treasure nearby.
Apparently, we’d angered the pulley system. Abby fell against Luther, which actually saved him because he stumbled back away from the hole.
Hunter lunged out of the way of the splintering planks. His chin whipped up so he could glare at Luther. “You want more of that? Work with me or we won’t have any treasure left.”
Luther stilled, breathing heavily. He’d been beaten and he knew it. “What do you suggest?”
“We do this together, idiot, like the fussy librarian says.”
Luther made a sound of disdain. “We don’t have the numbers.”
