Ice Read Free

Gabriel being career army and his grandfather a sheriff, in his short life he’d heard a lot about responsibility, and seen it in action. He might not like it, but he understood it. “Is she hurt?”
    “I don’t think so, but your grandpa wants me to get her before the ice storm leaves her stranded.”
    Sam gave a solemn nod. “Okay,” he finally said. “If you have to. But be careful.”
    “I will,” Gabriel promised, wanting to grin but keeping his expression grave. His little guy was learning how to step up to the plate himself.
    Valerie returned, and he stood to take the two big thermos bottles from her. “Be careful,” she said needlessly, echoing Sam, but now that he was a parent himselfhe understood that the worry never stopped, no matter how old or how capable he was.
    “Aren’t I always?” he asked, knowing that would make her roll her eyes, which it did. He kissed her cheek, then knelt to give Sam another, extra-big hug. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Can you take care of Gran until then?”
    Sam nodded solemnly, and he squared his thin shoulders. “I’ll do my best,” he replied, though the look he gave his grandmother said that he doubted he could control her. Gabriel bit the inside of his cheek to hold back a grin.
    “Bring Lolly here,” Valerie said briskly. “Don’t try to take her into town and then make it back. We have plenty of room and plenty of food, so there’s no point in pushing your luck with this weather.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” he said obediently, but inside he was thinking:
Oh, shit, I’ll be stranded with Lolly Helton
.
    Maybe she wouldn’t be there. Maybe she was somewhere safe in town, and had simply turned off her cell phone. Maybe he’d slide off the road and have to walk back, and wouldn’t be able to make it up the mountain to the Helton place. Maybe, even if she was there, she’d refuse to go anywhere with him. Yeah, he could see that.
    Then that weird sense of anticipation rose in him again, the antsy feeling he got when he knew he was going to be in a fight and was actually looking forward to it. He’d been in a lot worse situations than this, hethought. He’d waded into brawls with nothing but his fists, kicking ass and breaking heads, and come out of it okay. Lolly had a tongue like a scorpion, but that was about it. He could handle her and anything she dished out. “Thanks,” he said to his mother. “I’ll see you in about an hour.” Then he dashed back out into the cold rain and the deepening gloom, off to fetch the spoiled princess from her mountain.

Chapter Two
    Earlier that afternoon
    The old white Blazer, crusted with grime and salt, turned into the small parking lot of the local grocery store. A skinny, ill-kempt man with straggly, dirty-blond hair pulled the Blazer so it was facing the road and put the gear in park. “Ready,” he said, drumming his fingers rapidly on the steering wheel. “I’m ready. Ready to go.” The words were fast and abrupt. “You got the gun?”
    “Right here,” the woman beside him said, shoving a pistol into her stained, red canvas tote bag. She was as skinny and straggly as he was, her eyes and cheeks sunken, her long, dark hair plastered to her head so that her ears stuck out through the strands. Her gaze roved restlessly around the parking lot, darted to the front of the grocery store, back to the parking lot. Sheput her hand on the door handle and shoved the door open, then quickly closed it again when another vehicle turned into the parking lot and drove past. She watched as a black Mercedes SUV, driven by a lone woman, went past them with tires hissing on the wet pavement and parked in a slot close to the store door.
    “What’re you waiting for?” the man asked, still drumming his fingers. He shifted restlessly in the seat. His name was Darwin Girard, and he hadn’t slept in three or four days, maybe even longer. Despite that, he felt as if he might explode with energy, and just sitting there was