Nick had no choice. She and the others were about to be slaughtered like cattle. She had to try, as futile as it might be. Ivins was closest to her. She’d leave Karen to Barlow. She didn’t think that Tyler was of much use.
But before she could launch herself at him, the doctor rammed her pistol against lvins’s head.
“Drop the rifle,” she ordered.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked in disbelief.
“There’s been a change of plan.” Ivins started to turn toward the doctor as if trying to bring his rifle to bear. Before the muzzle had completed the arc, Barlow lunged at him, grabbed the rifle, and twisted it so violently bones cracked in lvins’s fingers. He opened his mouth to scream just as Barlow rammed the rifle against his chest and fired. The concussion flung lvins’s body backward into the open grave, where it lay twitching meaninglessly.
Barlow retrieved the dead man’s pistol and then turned toward the doctor without taking his eyes from Nick and Tyler. “Karen, you can leave the tidying up to me. Pack your gear. We’re getting out of here pronto.”
Karen glared at Ivins’s body. “The bastard didn’t care if I’d caught the virus or not.”
“The fool didn’t recognize me, even though we’d been in the same meeting. I guess clothes really do make the man.” Barlow’s tone was mocking.
He adjusted a lever on the rifle. “I’ve switched to full automatic. One squeeze of the trigger and you both splatter.”
He stepped back another pace before gesturing at the open grave. “Now, clean up that mess. I want that hole covered up and everything in it.”
“I’m a personal friend of Mister McKenna,” Tyler wailed. “I’ve filmed documentaries and commercials for him all over the world.”
“McKenna ain’t here, in case you hadn’t noticed. But when I see him, I’ll give him your regards. I work for him, too. Actually, I just resigned.”
“Who are you?” Nick asked. “And what happened to Mike Barlow?” Nick had a sinking feeling that she already knew.
“The Spanish lady killed him, I’m afraid, with me standing proxy for her. As for me personally, Barlow’s as good a name as any.” He smiled. “The new Mike Barlow, Karen, and a friend of ours in Washington are going to hold an auction once we’ve got ourselves a vaccine. The highest bidder wins.” He winked at Tyler. “Who knows? Maybe our Mister McKenna will be lucky, after all. Now police up those bodies. And stack them in carefully. I don’t want anything showing aboveground.”
Nick swallowed repeatedly to keep from being sick. Even so, her mouth tasted of bile as they wrestled with Ivins, whose life’s blood was already frozen to his parka. As careful as she and Tyler were, the dead man barely fit into the shallow grave.
“Tamp them down,” Barlow ordered.
When Nick looked at him, dumbfounded, he waved his rifle impatiently. “Jump up and down on them, for God’s sake.”
Nick shook her head.
“If I shoot you now, you don’t have a chance. But you never know with guinea pigs. They might survive.”
Nick didn’t move. Either way, she figured, she was dead already, she and Tyler both. There was no time for testing, not with the doctor already exposed and in a panic to reach Anchorage.
“You don’t need us,” she said, wishing he’d drop his guard for even a moment and give her an opening. “You’ve already got your guinea pig, the doctor.”
Barlow chuckled. “Karen wouldn’t like the sound of that.” He turned the rifle on Tyler. “What about you? Are you a hero, too?”
Tyler jumped into the grave and went to work.
“That’s the way,” Barlow urged, “pack them down good.”
Nick couldn’t bear to look. She tried to block out the sounds that Tyler’s boots made punctuated by his sobs. She winced with every snap of bone. Instead, she kept her eyes on Barlow, wondering how close she’d get before he killed her.
He smiled back at her. “I can read your mind, lady.” Nick took a step toward him.
“Too late. Our filmmaker’s done his job. Check it out. The man’s a human compactor.”
In spite of herself Nick looked at the mess in the grave. “You see,” Barlow said. “There’s room for one more.”
Tyler had one foot out of the grave when Barlow shot him through the head, timing the act so perfectly that Tyler toppled into the opening he’d just created.
Nick couldn’t breathe. Her knees trembled as she waited for the next shot.
Barlow snorted. “Relax. Like I said, there’s only room for one. Now let’s go back to the cabin and grab ourselves a couple of gas cans, so we can have ourselves a nice cremation.”
“Then what?” she managed in a fear-strangled voice.
“Like you said, Karen’s the guinea pig, but it’s a long hike back over the mountain to the cars. If she gets sick, I’ll need you to tote her gear.” He looked her up and down and smiled suggestively. “And maybe keep me warm.”
She forced herself to breathe deeply. Barlow had just made a mistake. He’d kept her alive because he considered a woman less of a threat than a man.
She returned to the cabin, taking stock along the way. She had energy bars in her pocket. The rest of the stores had gone up in flames, thanks to her. Just how well stocked that left Barlow and the doctor she didn’t know. Maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe Barlow would drop his guard just long enough for her to douse him with the gasoline meant for the corpses.
She ground her teeth. The matches she’d need to set him ablaze were in her backpack, and that was still inside the cabin. She retrieved the gallon cans and started back, with Barlow following close behind her, but not close enough to swing a can at his head.
Calm down, she told herself. Like the man said, it was a long haul over the Hammersmiths. She glanced their way, but they were hidden by the falling snow.
By the time Nick reached the grave, her arms ached, more from tension than from the weight of the one-gallon cans.
“Douse them good,” Barlow said. “Every drop. We don’t want to leave any meat for those bears, do we?”
As she poured, Nick kept reminding herself that Tyler was past caring, as were the long-dead pilots. Ivins, she hoped, would burn all the way to hell.
Once she emptied both cans, Barlow said, “Will you do the honors, or should I?”
Nick patted her pocket theatrically, reassuring herself in the process that the energy bars were still in place. “Sorry, no matches. I guess we’ll have to leave them for the bears.”
“You shouldn’t underestimate me.” His hand snaked beneath his parka and came up with lvins’s Glock, which he cocked before dropping the assault rifle on top of Tyler’s body. Only then did Barlow dig into another pocket for a disposable lighter.
It lit instantly, producing a long flame. “Stand back,” he said.
Nick turned to see the doctor running toward them. “We have a mourner,” Nick said sarcastically.
“Stop!” the doctor shouted.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nick saw the flaming lighter arcing through the air. Intense fire erupted from the grave.
The doctor arrived out of breath. “You idiot,” she wheezed. “Ivins had the car keys in his pocket.”
“Put him out, then.” Barlow gestured at Nick to comply.
Halfheartedly, Nick grabbed a shovel and scooped snow onto the flames. When that had no effect, Karen pitched in. But by the time they’d smothered the fire and waited for the bodies to cool, there was nothing left of the keys but misshapen metal. Nick smiled. She had a chance now, with a little luck. And with a little more luck, she’d teach Barlow never to underestimate a woman. Practically her mother’s words.
Nick laughed out loud as one of Elaine’s favorite mantras came back to her. Men always underestimate us. Remember that. A woman doesn’t have to be physically strong to get her way, only devious.