Cut and Run

Chapter Two-1

Chapter Two

Kim Medhurst

Kim’s heart skipped another beat, then began racing. Adrenaline whizzed through her veins, obliterating the drowsy remnants of sleep. “Wha—?” She swallowed, then wrinkled her nose as she realised just how dry her mouth was. “What the hell do you mean, Chastain’s gone? Gone where?”

Joshua, dressed only in a pair of boxers, slumped onto the mattress by hers and Taylor’s feet, then scraped his free hand through his hair, making it look even more bedraggled than it already was. “I…” He shook his head and turned to look at them, his expression so bewildered that the blood leached from her cheeks. Something’s really wrong here. “I dinnae ken how else tae explain it.” He wafted his mobile phone at them. “Smith phoned. It’s only by chance I even heard it ring—I was downstairs tae get some water when it went off. Anyway, I answered soon as I saw his name on the screen, and now part o’ me wishes I hadnae bothered.”

He sighed, shook his head again. “Apparently, Smith had sent a couple o’ text messages tae Chastain, which he didnae answer. At first, he didnae think much of it—ye ken what Chastain can be like sometimes, especially if he’s busy wi’ work. Then he phoned. Nae answer, left a voice message. Nae response. By this time, Smith’s getting a wee bit… antsy. So he sends another text message, letting him ken if he doesnae receive a response by a certain time, he’s coming over tae Chastain’s place tae check on him.” He shrugged. “I think ye can guess what happened next.”

Kim frowned. “Well, partly yes, I suppose. Chastain obviously wasn’t there. But what about that fact worried Smith? Chastain’s a man with a job which often takes him away from home, right? And often for considerable periods of time, I’m guessing.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure Joshua or herself by this point. Her heart rate was still way above normal, even if she was putting on a brave face.

“Aye. He’s often off gallivanting somewhere or other, far as I can tell. But although Taylor and I sometimes dinnae hear from him fer weeks, months even, he and Smith check in a lot more frequently. And…” His expression turned wry, and he shot a glance at his twin before looking back at Kim. “Since, ye ken, all this happened wi’ the ygrene, they agreed they’d touch base more often, and let each other ken if they were going out of town. Just fer safety reasons.”

Kim scrunched her eyes closed and pinched the column of flesh between them, trying to wrap her head around what was going on. After a moment, she lowered her hand and opened her eyes. “Is it possible Chastain just forgot? Especially if this is quite a new thing between them. He’s a grown man—I’m sure he’s not used to letting people know his movements.”

“Aye, o’ course it’s possible,” Joshua replied, discomfort still etched into his handsome features. “But if Chastain had gone out of town, ye think he’d have taken his truck, right? Not tae mention some clothes, equipment. From what Smith can tell, it’s like he just walked out tae go tae the local shop fer a loaf o’ bread or something. His phone and wallet on the table, his key in the wee safe next tae his front door.”

“If Smith thinks something is wrong,” Taylor put in seriously, a rarity for him, “then I’m inclined tae think there is. He’s the calmest, most collected out of all of us. He’s not exactly known fer overreacting, is he?”

The reminder of Smith’s pragmatism only served to make Kim’s heart race again. Sweat broke out on her palms. Because of course Taylor was right—if Smith believed there was something going on, then there probably was. But what? Her stomach churned uncomfortably as she formulated words and forced them out of her mouth. “So what are we going to do? Head down there, figure out where he went, if he went of his own volition? Maybe he ran into trouble while he was out. It certainly doesn’t look as if he planned not to come home, not if he didn’t take anything with him—”

She stopped when Taylor laid a hand on her arm. “Hey,” he said, squeezing gently. “Calm down, lass. Yer forgetting something. Even before the ygrene did its thing, Chastain was a rock hard, badass wee shite. Now, there’s little he cannae do. If, and it’s a big if, he ran intae trouble, as ye say, and someone’s thrown him intae a locked room somewhere, well, he can get out, cannae he? Piece o’ pish. Even Fort Knox couldnae hold him.”

“Yes. But not if he’s dead. He’s not speedy, like you, or bulletproof, like Smith. If someone caught him unaware and shot or stabbed him…” Fear wrapped a strong hand around her throat, making her voice take on a strangled sound. “Oh God, this is all my fault.”

Taylor scooted closer and pulled her into his arms. Unfortunately, even the sensation of his warm skin and hard muscles did nothing to soothe her, or assuage her rising panic. “Dinnae think like that. He’s been thrown intae dangerous situations almost constantly since I’ve known him. You havenae known him very long, but ye did yer research, didnae ye? Ye hired the best money could buy, remember? There’s no’ many who could catch him unawares, much less put a bullet or a knife in him. As fer it being yer fault, that’s bollocks. What makes ye think this is anything tae do wi’ ye at all? He’s been making enemies as long—probably longer—as he’s been thrown intae those dangerous situations I just mentioned. And, there’s a chance we’re all worrying about nothing. His phone could’ve broken, which is why he hasnae responded tae Smith, and maybe Smith went round at just the wrong time—Chastain could be out fer a run, or at the gym. He wouldnae take his car then, would he?”

Joshua shook his head. “I forgot tae say—Smith emailed him as well. So the broken phone theory doesnae stack up. Even if it was f****d—and Smith reckons it seems fine—he’d have been able tae respond tae an email from his computer. And while there’s a chance he’s out fer a run or at the gym, it’s unlikely,” he pressed a button on his phone and showed them the illuminated screen, “at this time o’ the morning. Or night. Whatever ye want tae call it. Plus, wouldnae he have taken his phone? Fer music or a podcast? And besides,” he jumped to his feet and began pacing, “Smith’s no’ a dumbass. He’d have thought of all this before he even phoned us. He wouldnae have worried us, especially not at this hour, fer no reason. While I dinnae think fer a minute Chastain’s been shot or stabbed, I do think something’s afoot. Like ye say, bro, there’s no’ a place on earth that could hold him against his will, which tells me he’s probably wherever the f**k he is, deliberately. Which means…”

The three of them exchanged glances and, judging by the twins’ simultaneous change of body language, Kim guessed they’d all reached the same conclusion at the same time. She groaned. “He’s gone to them, hasn’t he? Whoever was watching me, he’s now watching them. See, I told you this was all my f*****g fault!” The churning in her stomach morphed into a maelstrom of dread, and she dropped her head into her hands.

Why couldn’t he have just left things well alone? If something’s happened to him, I’ll… She straightened and shook her head, wouldn’t even let herself finish the thought. As much as the ygrene would eventually be a massive win for the planet, it was sure causing a whole lot of short-term pain.

“Did Smith just phone tae tell us what happened, or does he want us tae go down there?” Taylor asked.

Still pacing, Joshua replied, “He wasnae that specific, bro. He’s obviously rattled, though, which is what’s rattling me. I dinnae ken exactly what we should do, but we have tae do something. We cannae just sit here and pretend nothing’s going on. Especially since we clearly all have the same idea about where he’s gone. Though I dinnae ken if Smith’s reached that conclusion. If he’s reached any conclusion. He’s probably still wandering around Chastain’s place like the world’s worst burglar. I hope he knows how tae turn the security system off, otherwise we’ll have tae add bailing him out of jail tae our tae do list.”

Joshua’s words sparked something inside Kim’s brain. Her initial sense of panic was waning now, being rapidly replaced by the need to take action. Burglar. Security system. She could almost feel the light bulb pinging into life above her head. “Of course we can’t just sit here. We have to figure out what’s going on, and what to do about it. And I know just where to start.”

She scrambled out of bed, too wired to be conscious of her nudity, and hunted for her pyjamas. She found them, put them on, then pointed at Joshua. “You, go and get some coffee on. Strong. And you,” she spun to face Taylor, “put something on, then go and boot up the computer.”

Two “aye”s, perfectly in sync, rang out. Then Taylor was gone with his synonymous whoosh, his boxers and T-shirt having disappeared from the myriad of discarded clothing littered about the floor. Joshua slipped on his own T-shirt and followed at a much more human pace, leaving Kim to take up the rear.

She made a detour to the nearest bathroom, trying not to wince at the chill of the tiles on her bare feet as she entered. Hopefully the slippers she’d ordered would show up today. God, how had it come to this? Twenty minutes ago she’d been snuggled up in a warm, comfortable bed, happily slumbering, and now…

Now her feet were freezing—actually, so was the rest of her, since the big house was pretty chilly at this hour, the heating system not having kicked in—and she was on the verge of what she sensed was going to be another shitstorm of drama. f**k’s sake. Just as she’d thought things were settling down after what had happened on the island, everything was getting whipped up into a frenzy again.

Guess I’m not destined for a quiet life. Not right now, at least.

She finished in the bathroom, washed her hands, and headed for the twins’ business office, which held their computer—currently her only source of access to the internet, and one which she’d loaded with a bunch of extra security and cloaking since getting her hands on it.

When she arrived, the light was on, and someone had plugged in a little fan heater and directed it towards the swivel chair. On the desk stood a large mug of black coffee. The bitter scent reached her nostrils, waking up her salivary glands in the process. She smiled and dropped into the seat, enjoying the tiny pocket of warmer air the heater was pumping out, then tapped her fingernails impatiently on the desk as she waited for the machine to finish firing up. It wasn’t all that slow, really, but compared to the state-of-the-art hardware she usually used, it was glacial. She’d have to get used to it, though, since even when her brand-new laptop showed up later that day, she wouldn’t be connecting it to the internet. It was the only way to ensure her research on the ygrene remained safe. If her machine wasn’t online, no one could hack it.

She picked up the mug and blew on the hot coffee as she waited, mulling through her plan with the hum of the fan heater as her soundtrack. She still felt utterly sick at the thought of Chastain running off and doing something so stupid as going after her mysterious stalkers by himself, but knowing she was about to take action had calmed her nerves somewhat. Given her something to focus on.

A couple of minutes later, with a blare of idiotic music, the computer’s desktop display appeared on the screen. Another minute later and it was ready to go. Kim opened the internet browser, took another sip of coffee, then put the mug down. Once the software had loaded up, she took a deep breath, put her hands to the keyboard and let her fingers fly. Muscle memory meant they had no problem keeping up with her brain—in fact, the only thing slowing her down was the computer itself. In spite of its limitations, though, she was soon pulling up tab after tab and typing in web and IP addresses, hacking through firewalls, cracking passwords. Even putting in some passwords she actually knew.