26. Chapter 26
Lorenz
L orenz shook his head.
The movement sent a sharp, liquid slosh through his head. Everything in his skull scattered at once, like from the break shot in a pool game.
He lifted a hand. He wasn’t quite ready to let go of the door that was holding him upright, so he tightened his grip on the wood instead, forcing the world to steady.
He had to stay upright.
“Pelletier ran out the back door,” he said, swallowing down a wave of nausea. “He still has his revolver. We’re exposed out here.”
Failure tasted bitter in his mouth.
He’d underestimated Pelletier.
He’d let him get too many hits in.
Lorenz drew a breath and tasted metal. Two cracked ribs, at least. The left side of his head burned where a bullet had grazed him.
A bullet that could just as easily have hit Charlie or the boy.
He realized how lucky he was to be standing. A couple of inches further, and that bullet could have ended him, leaving Charlie and the boy unprotected.
He cut the thought off, hard.
Anger helped, giving him the strength to stand up straight, when his body threatened to fail.
“You’re hurt,” Charlie said softly.
“I’m functional,” he corrected. He had experience with pain, and none of his injuries were life-threatening. Staying out here, with Pelletier out there—that was the biggest danger.
Charlie’s look told him she didn’t believe him. She was too smart, and knew him too well. She slipped in under his left arm, supporting more of his weight than he would have liked.
“I’m here, Lorenz. Lean on me.”
“Inside,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Come with us, Théo,” Charlie said, sneaking a look behind them.
“ Mais mon père … ”
“He’s not inside,” Lorenz said. The boy’s features smoothed in relief. And determination. The boy climbed the porch steps and moved to Lorenz’s other side, slipping in under his shoulder as he’d seen Charlie do.
“I can help,” he said.
Something tightened in Lorenz’s chest.
He kept the pressure on the boy’s shoulders light as he and Charlie guided him through the doorway and into the hut, towards the table—what was left of it—and the single standing chair.
“The chair,” Charlie said.
“Lock the door first,” Lorenz replied, leaning one hand on the back of the chair for support.
Charlie nodded and raced back to the door, kicking it shut behind them and sliding the bolt into place with a sharp, decisive motion. The sound struck a nerve, and Lorenz had to force himself to breathe deeply. Now wasn’t the time to worry about small, enclosed spaces.
“It doesn’t look very solid,” she said, looking back at Lorenz, and he could see, in her eyes, the fear she was trying so hard to hold back.
“It’ll hold,” Lorenz said. At the very least, it would buy them some time. “Now the shutters.”
“Sit down first, so we don’t have to worry about picking you up off the floor. Théo and I will take care of the shutters, won’t we?”
Théo nodded quickly.
Lorenz lowered his weight onto the chair carefully. The room dipped as he did so, tilting dangerously to the left. He bit his lip, the new, sharp pain forcing the world back into place.
He had to stay alert.
“The shutters,” he insisted.
Charlie and Théo worked systematically through the room. When they were done, the room felt even smaller. Closed in.
“What about the back door?” Charlie asked, pointing at the back door. That was the door Pelletier had escaped through. Lorenz had already pushed a heavy armoire against it. Nobody was coming in that way.
“It’s okay. Sit on the couch, Théo. Stay away from the windows.”
His vision dimmed at the edges, then steadied as he forced fresh air into his lungs.
Charlie kneeled down next to him. “Lorenz, what can I do? Do you have any painkillers in your backpack?”
This time, Lorenz remembered not to shake his head. “No painkillers.” He needed to stay alert. “There should be a clean T-shirt, though.”
He hissed when Charlie used it to put pressure on the side of his head.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s better now.” He was telling the truth. She and Théo were safe, and standing right in front of him. That was all he needed.
Charlie settled on the couch next to Théo, wrapping the boy in her arms. Both of them looked at Lorenz.
“Ry will have made it back. The team will be here soon. We just need to wait until—
A sound.
From outside.
Just a soft crunching on the snow.
Lorenz’s spine straightened, his aches momentarily forgotten.
“Did you hear that?” Charlie whispered.
“Are those your friends?” Théo asked, his voice very young.
The sound came again, too soft. His friends would have no need to skulk around.
Lorenz was already on his feet before he consciously decided to stand. Pain crushed his ribs, but pain was good. Pain would keep him upright.
He crossed the room until he was standing beside the door.
It came again.
A crunch.
To the left, this time.
He’s circling .
He wished he hadn’t asked Charlie and Théo to close the shutters. He couldn’t see outside now, not without calling attention to his precise location.
Lorenz felt Charlie behind him before she touched his arm.
“What is he doing out there?” she whispered.
I wish I knew .
And then … then Lorenz smelled it.
Gasoline .
Every muscle in his body locked. He knew exactly where the gasoline came from. Most mountain huts had a stash of wood and fuel in the back—usually locked, but not hard to get to.
“No,” Charlie breathed. She’d smelled it, too.
Moments later, they heard a new—terrifying—sound. The crackling of fire on dry wood.
“We need to get out of here,” Lorenz said. But which way was safer? Front or back? He didn’t have any weapons, and Pelletier still had his revolver.
Théo made a frightened sound.
“Lorenz—“
The hut was old, dry timber. The walls would catch fire quickly. Then the roof. Once the roof caught, they would have minutes at most before it caved in on them.
Charlie brought Théo against her and held on tightly to the boy. Her fear was written plainly in her eyes.
“We’re going to die,” he whimpered.
“No,” Lorenz said firmly.
A lick of smoke drifted under the door.
“We can’t stay here,” Charlie said.
“No.”
“But if we go outside—“
“I’ll go out first,” Lorenz said.
“You’re weaving,” she said. “You can barely stand.”
“I’m standing.”
“For how long?” she snapped. Her hand rose to press against his cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just … I don’t want you to risk your life. We should stay together.”
“You have no idea how much your life is worth to me, Charlie.” Lorenz said.
“It’s not worth your life,” she said, her tone rising.
A hundred times over.
The thought hit him instantly, but he didn’t say that part out loud. If this was to be their last moment together, he didn’t want it to end in a fight.
“You stay with the boy. I will call you when it’s safe.”
He didn’t particularly want to die. But the thought of her and the boy dying—that was the truly unbearable thought.
Lorenz forced himself to think past the pounding in his skull. Pelletier was one man. Armed, but only one man.
He knows we’re inside.
What would he expect us to do?
“He will expect us to run out the front door. He’ll be waiting for us.”
Waiting for me, specifically. To take me out.
“What are you thinking?”
“I go out the back, circle around , and surprise him.”
The fire crackled louder. The smoke under the door grew.
“No.” Her voice shook. “I’m not going to let you gamble with your life.”
Lorenz looked at her—committed her beauty to memory.
Then he crouched beside Théo, his ribs and his head beating to the same painful rhythm.
“I want you to stay with Charlie, Théo. Take care of her until I tell you to move, okay?”
The boy nodded rapidly. “You can trust me.”
Lorenz forced himself upright again.
“You’re hurt,” Charlie said. “You can’t fight him like this.”
“Good thing I’m not planning to.”
Her small hand came to rest on his chest, and he wanted nothing more than to stay still—just like this—but the crackling above them warned him that time was running out.
Lorenz crossed to the back door. He wasn’t sure he could move the armoire. He’d barely been able to drag it into place in the first place.
He shouldn’t have worried. Charlie and Théo stood beside him, lending their weight to help.
“On three.”
One. Two. Three.
Together, they pushed until he could just about squeeze out.
“Are you sure about this?” Charlie asked. Her eyes were already watering from the smoke, which rolled thicker now, darkening the air.
Théo coughed hard against Charlie’s chest, kicking Lorenz into action.
“Stay down, both of you, until I call you.”
He slipped through the narrow gap beside the armoire. The cold evening air struck his face, sharp and brutal after the heat building inside the hut.
Snow crunched softly beneath his boots, the sound barely noticeable among the crackling of the fire. The hut was burning from three sides. He had mere minutes before it reached this door.
He stopped, listening for movement.
Could he risk getting them out now?
Lorenz crouched, one arm tight against his ribs as he moved along the side wall. Something slid down his face, blurring the vision in one eye. It took him a moment to realize it was blood. He wiped at it angrily.
He reached the corner and stopped.
Voices.
Or rather, a voice.
Pelletier was talking to himself.
Lorenz leaned just enough to see Pelletier, standing near the porch, facing the front door, revolver hanging loosely in one hand. Firelight flickered across his broad face.
Lorenz didn’t stay. He made his way quickly back the way he’d come, pushing the door open again.
Charlie stood near the door, her body in front of Théo.
“Let’s go,” he whispered, offering his hand. “He’s waiting for us to come out the front. We’ll go into the forest instead.”