The Fury of Rachel Monette (43 page)

Authors: Peter Abrahams

BOOK: The Fury of Rachel Monette

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“Come when I call you,” Monette said sharply.

Adam came. Monette took him by the arm as they went to the car. Mademoiselle Hoff opened the passenger door. Monette and Adam approached the other side, closer to Rachel. Monette reached for the door handle.

Rachel jumped to her feet and pointed the gun at Monette. “Stop.” Three heads jerked up to look at her. Two with fear and the other with wonder.

“It's her.” Mademoiselle Hoff spoke with hatred. “The bitch who killed Rudi.”

Monette's arm snapped out as quickly as a snake; he grabbed Adam and raised him up as a shield. Mademoiselle Hoff slowly closed the door and put her hands in the pockets of her coat.

“I've come for my son. Put him down.”

Monette smiled reasonably. “He's not yours. He is mine.”

“You madman. You killed your son. You stuck a God-damned letter opener into his chest.”

Monette's smile ebbed from his face, leaving it for an instant without expression. Then as if a tidal wave had surged up from his heart, Monette's face turned red and swollen. The pressure made a muscle in his cheek twitch.

“Imbecile,” he shouted. “There are more important things than human life. Much more important.” He was squeezing Adam's arms so hard that his knuckles went as white as dried bones. “But why should I explain myself to a Jew?”

Adam began to cry. Rachel felt a rage more powerful than any she had ever imagined sweep over her; every cell in her body seemed to quiver with it.

Monette noticed and it brought a smile once more to his face, a mocking smile. “You want to kill me, don't you?” He held Adam higher. “Then shoot.”

Rachel thought of aiming low, at his legs which were not covered by Adam's body. It wouldn't kill him, but he might drop Adam. She aimed the gun at his knees. But her hand was shaking so badly she did not dare fire. “Give him to me.”

Monette laughed a short barking laugh. It almost kept her from catching the brief flicker of his eyes. She glanced quickly at Mademoiselle Hoff on the far side of the car.

The woman was drawing a black gun from her coat pocket. Rachel aimed at her and pulled the trigger. The explosion almost kicked the gun from her hand. Pinchas had warned her, but she had forgotten. There was a sharp whining sound, and a ragged silver tear appeared in the black roof of the car. She lifted her gaze beyond the car, right into the barrel of Mademoiselle Hoff's gun.

Rachel dropped face down and rolled. She heard the crack of another shot and felt the tiny breeze an insect might make, close to her neck. She kept rolling until she reached the edge of the roof. There was nowhere else to go.

She raised her head and looked down. Mademoiselle Hoff swung the gun in a short arc. Point, don't aim, Pinchas had said. Rachel pointed and squeezed. This time she was ready for the explosion.

Mademoiselle Hoff fell backward with a hoarse grunt. Her gun went off as she hit the ground, a last shot at the bright blue sky.

The car door slammed. Rachel saw that Monette had jumped into the front seat, pushing Adam ahead of him. Before she could react he had started the engine and wheeled the car around in the lane. The tires fired gravel in the air as it sped away.

Rachel leaped off the roof, fell, rolled to her feet and ran. She could catch him at the gate. It was locked, and he would have trouble opening it because of the dog. She ran along the lane, through the peach orchard and toward the gate. She ran with all her heart.

The car was already there. Quickly Monette got out, opened the lock and slid back the bolt. One side of the gate he threw open easily, but she could see he was having difficulty with the other. The animal, whining in fear, had dug its paws into the ground. Monette drew back his leg and kicked it in the head. Then he pushed the door open.

Rachel was very close, but not close enough. Monette scrambled back into the car. In a moment they would be gone. Don't fire while moving, Pinchas had told her. She forced herself to stop and kneel.

Through the rear window she saw the back of Monette's head. He had no shield now. She pointed the gun. Suddenly her hand was very steady, steadier than it had ever been or than a human hand could be; as steady as something old and immovable, like the earth itself. She pulled the trigger.

The black car rolled through the gate, across the road, and stopped against the trunk of an olive tree. The passenger door opened. Adam stepped down to the ground. He looked toward the house.

“Adam.”

Rachel dropped the gun. She ran to him, lifted him up and held him in her arms. His fine hair touched the skin of her face and slowly grew damp with her tears.

“Mummy,” he said very softly, almost to himself. As she rocked him to and fro she felt the tension ebb gradually from his little body until at last he was at peace. In that moment Rachel was aware of a faint quickening of pride within her, pride in what she had done.

It died stillborn. Adam's lips moved against her breast, “Where's Daddy?”

She opened her mouth to tell him, but the sounds that came out were beyond her control. Sobbing she clung to him, and Adam sobbed too.

“But Daddy said he wouldn't die for ages and ages.”

“My brave little boy. My brave little boy.”

It was no good. Rachel felt completely helpless. She could not begin to make his pain go away. And for a long time after, what she had done meant nothing to her at all.

About the Author

Peter Abrahams is the author of thirty-three novels. Among his acclaimed crime thrillers are
Hard Rain
,
Pressure Drop
,
The Fury of Rachel Monette
,
Tongues of Fire
, Edgar Award finalist
Lights Out
,
Oblivion
,
End of Story
, and
The Fan
, which was adapted into a film starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. Under the name Spencer Quinn, he writes the
New York Times
âbestselling Chet and Bernie Mystery series, which debuted with
Dog on It
. Abrahams's young adult novel
Reality Check
won the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery in 2010, and
Down the Rabbit Hole
, the first novel in his Echo Falls Mystery series, won the Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Novel in 2005.

Abrahams lives on Cape Cod with his family. Visit his website:
www.spencequinn.com

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design by Barbara Brown

ISBN: 978-1-5040-1631-5

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com