‘I owe you an apology.’
Cooper spoke as they stood outside Father O’Malley’s brick hut.
‘You need to do nothing of the sort.’
‘No, I was wrong. I misjudged you. I’m sorry.’
The priest took hold of Cooper’s hand and said, ‘Thomas, you’re a good man, and the only reason why you behaved as you did was because you thought I was betraying the people. Isn’t that right, Rosedale?’
Rosedale leant on the wall under the roof which sheltered him from the rain. ‘Our Thomas here, he likes to beat up on himself, feels like he owes the world. Feels like he’s got a debt to pay back.’
Father O’Malley stared at Cooper with great concern, as if he were one of his parishioners.
‘Is that right, Thomas? And why is that?’
Cooper gave a cold stare to Rosedale. He wasn’t about to give a confession; he’d already done that with Jackson. ‘It’s a long story, Father, but I’ve got my reasons.’
‘Then that’s all that matters, Thomas. If you believe in something, never give up, no matter how great the challenge is. Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath. Do you remember? David didn’t stop or even hesitate, no matter what other people around him said. Everyone else cowered and backed away in fear, but David ran and went forward into battle. He knew what needed to be done and he did the right thing in spite of dissuasion and threats.’
Cooper cocked the priest a half smile. He said, ‘Thank you. I appreciate your words.’
As usual Cooper felt uncomfortable with the focus on him, so he changed the subject back to Emmanuel. ‘So do you think he’s going to make it?’
‘No,’ said O’Malley. ‘No I don’t. I’m surprised he lasted this long, but perhaps he knew he had to hold on because he knew you were coming.’
‘It’s a…’
Cooper stopped, hearing a noise coming from the other side of the hut. He signalled to Rosedale to go round the other way.
Slowly, Cooper moved along the wall. He could still hear the noise. His gun was at the ready and, squatting down, he surveyed the area but it was too dark to see anything. He could feel it, though. He knew there was somebody there.
Cautiously, he made his way across to the edge of the forest and the adrenalin rushed through his body as the rain pelted down, and he ran quickly across to one of the trees and pushed his body against it. Craning round, he saw a flicker of a shadow and watched intently and yes, it was there. He could see it. A tiny movement, followed by another.
Gradually he moved.
Sideward.
Wanting to get directly behind whoever it was.
He was meters away from the person now, but he waited for a moment before making his move.
Then he ran.
Dashed towards the tree and whirling his gun round from the side, he brought them down to the ground, jamming his knee into their back, gun pressed into their head as they lay face down.
‘Ne bouge pas ou je te tue. You hear me? Don’t move, otherwise I’ll kill.’
‘Get off me! Get off me!’
‘Levi…? What the hell…? Jesus, Levi, I’m sorry, I had no idea. But more to the point, what the hell are you doing here?’
Quickly jumping off Levi Walker’s back, Cooper pulled him up.
Annoyed, and brushing off the wet leaves and undergrowth which had stuck to him, Levi said, ‘Oh I don’t know, I did a wrong turn on Route 66, and found myself here…’ He gave Cooper a hard shove, which he accepted, and then he added, ‘What the hell do you think I’m doing, Coop? Making sure your sorry butt is okay, like all the other times. What were Maddie and I supposed to do? Just sit back and wait? Hope that you’d come back alive rather than in a body bag? As usual you gave us no choice. And as usual it was Maddie who led the way. She was worried when we couldn’t get in contact with you, but once we got here and got through the worst of the weather we were able to find you via your GPS signal.’
Rosedale walked up behind them. He stretched out his hand. ‘Levi, I never thought I’d say this, but it’s good to see you.’
‘Yeah, well, I was just saying to Coop here, he never gives us a choice.’
Cooper said, ‘Where’s Maddie?’
‘Over there behind that outhouse. Come on. And let me give you an FYI: she’s not best pleased.’
Rosedale and Cooper followed Levi across to the outhouse, oblivious and now accustomed to the heavy rain.
‘Hey Maddie, we found them. Or rather, Coop found me… Maddie…? She was just here.’
A noise made them turn around. It was the Commer truck.
‘Quick!’ shouted Rosedale.
The men raced across the couple of meters to the road, and in the distance Cooper could see the rear flap of the blue tarpaulin cover being rolled and lowered down on the truck. But not before he saw Maddie bundled inside it.