Behind him, the hillside soared up towards low tumbling clouds that were darkening in the late afternoon light, low enough to conceal the peaks of the hills. The terrain was rough but it was at least a hundred yard climb to reach the cloud line and the safety of the fog, and he knew that they would not be able to make it without being spotted.
Ethan peered around the corner of the cottage and saw two men standing with automatic weapons pointed at the front of the cottage, both of them wearing masks and both of them apparently waiting for the smoke grenades to take effect.
Whoever they were and whatever they wanted, they did not want either Ethan or Lucy dead or they would not have bothered using smoke grenades — they would have tossed live ones inside. Ethan peered at the weapons they were holding and recognised instantly the ubiquitous shape of the AK-47. A tough, simple and hardy weapon, it suffered from one fatal flaw: its huge inaccuracy. It was a widely known feature of the weapon that a man could stand fifty yards from a barn door, open fire on full automatic and not have a single bullet hit the door due to the violent flexing of the rifle’s barrel that sent rounds flying everywhere but at the target.
Ethan hurried back to the kitchen door and opened it as he reached out for Lucy’s hand.
‘I hope to hell you can run fast,’ he said as he pulled to her feet and pointed up the hillside behind them.
‘We’ll be seen,’ Lucy protested.
‘That’s what I’m hoping,’ Ethan replied as he propelled Lucy up the hill. ‘Let’s go!’
Lucy, still grasping the bone cylinder in one hand, hit the hillside at a pace that surprised Ethan as he began sprinting in pursuit. He had quite forgotten that Lucy was probably ten years his junior, and likely not shy of running given her slim physique. Ethan pumped his arms and leaped with surprising agility for his age as he followed her up the hillside, but almost immediately his muscles began to burn and his lungs began to ache as they climbed away from the cottage.
Ethan risked a glance over his shoulder and saw smoke billowing from the interior of the cottage windows, the smoke inadvertently veiling their escape from the two men watching the front of the cottage. But the smoke only lasted as long as the wind was in a favourable direction, and moments later he heard a shout and one of the men pointed up at him.
‘They’re on to us,’ he called to Lucy. ‘Keep moving!’
Lucy did not look back as she kept running toward the top of the hills, their peaks lost in thick cloud. Ethan powered along behind her and risked another glance behind him to see the two masked gunmen already climbing the hill. Ethan turned and dropped to one knee as he aimed down the hill and fired two shots, the rumbling wind snatching the sound of the gunfire away and making them seem feeble and mute compared to the destructive symphony of the AK-47s.
Their pursuers hurled themselves flat onto the ground of the hillside as the shots rang out, but Ethan had purposefully aimed high. He had no idea who the men were but Ethan was not in the business of killing in cold blood and he had every intention of catching both of their pursuers alive. Ethan turned again and ran hard, surprised to see Lucy already reaching the cloud line as she scrambled up the hillside.
A rattle of gunfire pursued Ethan up the hill and he flinched, but he kept moving. Ethan’s lungs and throat felt rough from the exertion of climbing the hill and his thighs felt numb as he struggled through the damp grass and over wet rocks as the clouds began to close around him.
The gunfire from behind ceased and Ethan took one last look back down the hillside to see the two men standing and watching him. In an instant they both raised their rifles and with a start Ethan realized that this time they were aiming directly at him. He saw the two weapons’ muzzle flash flare brightly and he hurled himself to one side as a series of deep thumps impacted the soft soil around him.
Ethan scrambled to his feet and sprinted as fast as his wearying lungs would allow up the hillside as he plunged into the fog and cried out breathlessly.
‘Lucy?!’
He heard his name called out distantly from somewhere above and he kept moving, a little slower now as the gunfire behind him ceased and he began trying to conserve his energy.
‘Keep calling until we see each other!’
Lucy, her own voice breathless, called several times over until he saw her emerge from the gloom ahead, her hands resting on her knees as she sucked in air. Ethan struggled his way to her side, his own breath sawing in his throat as he rested one hand on her shoulder and pulled her gently along with him.
‘We have to keep moving,’ he insisted. ‘They’ve got vehicles and they’re not going to give up easily.’
Lucy struggled on alongside him and he could hear the concern in her voice. ‘We can’t survive out here without jackets and protection.’
‘I know, we just have to keep moving a little longer.’
Ethan crested the ridge and despite his exhaustion he began jogging gently down the opposite side and encouraged Lucy to follow him at the same speed. Lucy recovered more quickly from her exertions than he did and she followed him down the steep hillside toward the valley below. The damp and foggy air clogged their eyes and hair with globules of moisture that clung to their clothes and skin, a faint drizzle falling all around them and the dense fog deadening all sound.
Ethan moved as quickly as he dared on the slippery, dangerous hillside, conscious of the risk of breaking a leg or ankle. He reached the valley floor and emerged from the fog with Lucy close behind, and instantly he dropped to one knee and controlled his breathing as he tried to focus all of his attention on the muted sounds around them.
The rumbling wind that had alerted him to Lucy’s vehicle was now likely concealing the approach of the gunmen’s vehicle from the east, which was where he felt certain they would attempt to intercept him. There were a number of farmer’s tracks that wound up the hillside and descended into this valley perhaps a mile to the east, tracks that the vehicle could easily negotiate.
‘We should have taken the car,’ Lucy said.
‘We would never have got to it.’
‘I can’t believe they found me here,’ Lucy shook her head. ‘I was so careful.’
‘We don’t know that they’re Russian yet. They did have AK-47s but so does just about every other criminal gang in the world. It’s entirely possible they may have anticipated this move on your part and instead been looking for me for some time.’
Lucy managed an unconvincing smile of gratitude. ‘What do we do now?’
‘We get caught,’ Ethan replied. ‘Follow me.’
Ethan ignored Lucy’s quizzical look as he set off across the valley, hoping that he could reach the next hilltop and the cover of the fog before the gunmen’s car could reach the valley and spot them. He walked hard, getting into his stride and hoping that Lucy would dig in behind him and keep moving. After a couple of minutes he looked behind and saw her keeping pace, her head down and her breath puffing in dense clouds as she focused on nothing more than keeping up. Suitably impressed, Ethan began climbing the next hillside.
He was halfway up when he heard the sound of an engine and turned to see the gunmen’s vehicle careering down a hillside less than a mile away behind them, the driver evidently struggling to maintain control on the rough terrain as he turned onto the valley floor and accelerated.
‘Get into the fog cover as fast as you can!’ Ethan shouted at Lucy.
Lucy climbed past him and kept moving as Ethan watched the jeep approaching the foot of the mountain side on which he stood. It was probably a hundred yards below him, too far to use a pistol to take out the tires or even the engine. Such small weapons were simply not capable of that kind of accuracy. But with both men inside the vehicle he realized he could delay them a little longer.