Chapter 3

I was leaving my vehicle and locking the car doors. I was walking through a old nature path, I had managed to close the distance separating me and Richard Mason. He had run for Romania and now I was tracking him through the wilderness that was spread out through the entire region. About an hour ago I found the car he had hijacked, abandoned in a grove of trees. The poor man he had stolen the car from was in hospital with three knife wounds and a broken leg. That had earned me the countries aide in his hunt, they also wanted him behind bars now.

He had also gone through Poland, Ukraine and Hungary leaving a mess behind of bodies and people on life support. I was so getting annoyed, I needed to catch him and I couldn't believe he was still evading capture. I was the best, but at this rate my reputation would be in trashes, even worse though was that in my failure to capture him more people got hurt, more people died.

I crouched down by a boulder and ran my hand across the long strands of grass. Looking for the one thing that had caught my eye as I drove by. My hand felt the lightest touch of a feather wrap around my hand in a thin line. I brought my hand up and tilted my hat back so I could look at it more clearly. The thin line of fabric fluttered in the breeze. It was like a thread of a jumper had been caught and pulled off. It was a light blue, dimly I recalled the last reported sighting of Richard Mason.

Hiking boots, jeans, a light and dark blue striped hunting shirt and a baseball cap. The blue thread danced in the wind again, my gut instinct told me it was definitely from the shirt he was wearing. I eyed the mountain range on my right, to my left there was a raging forest, trees sprouted up everywhere and wild animals howled as they hunted the night.

I stalked to my range rover and grabbed the map on my backseat. Spreading it out on the hood of my car I looked at how far the forest reached and how long the mountain range stretched. Considering the information I had on Richard Mason, he had spent his youth as a rock climber and as a wilderness ranger. A fool would climb the mountains, especially with what looked like a storm crouching over the sky in the night. In the woods though, tracks were more easily left behind and I was adept at finding them. Knowing Mason, he would take the risk to try and shake me off his tail.

I fished in my pack for my satellite phone. I flipped it open and dialled.

"Hello, this is the abode of sex on legs, how can I help you sweetness?" I rolled my eyes at Diego as he answered with a sexy drawl.

"Put it away you fiend, I'm checking in. I found a trail and I have a feeling he's heading for the mountains. The range is called the Carpathian mountains and he's heading in from the south eastern side."

"And you aren't thinking about following him of course are you?"

My silence was answer enough. He sighed heavily. "Trinity! Don't you dare, that's an order and I don't feel like filling in a post mortem form and phoning your parents to say your idiocy got you killed after I promised them I wouldn't let that happen."

Now it was my turn to sigh, I leaned against the car and eyed the peak of the mountains. "So what brilliant plan of attack would you suggest.""According to his direction he's heading straight across the mountains, I'm guessing it'll take him around eighteen hours to clear it. He moves fast and he's an experienced climber. If you stick to the road, it will take you a few hours but you'll come out the other side of the mountains. My guess is he's heading for the small settlements, you've been so close up his ass he's had no time to restock, he's going to need supplies and that little place is his only option. If you head to the inn, Sam and Cooper can meet you there, they've got the blood hound. You can easily pick up this guys trail and the hound will just lead you to him."

"Yeah yeah, fine. But if I'm as close as you say I am, I could easily catch him and take him down. You know I have no problem surviving the wilds.""Trinity, for once in your life shut up and do as you're told. Head to the inn and be patient. You'll catch him."

I glared at the moon as it slowly peeked out from behind the clouds. "I should have caught him sooner Diego, then some people would be alive and unharmed."

I could practically hear him rubbing the frown lines on his forehead. "We can only do so much Trinity. Just bring this guy in, remember dead or alive, if you need to kill him do it. Forget we try to not kill, this guy isn't worth it. And we cant change the past, no matter how much we wish it.""And isn't that a shame." I climbed into the drivers side and slammed the door shut.

"Sure thing warrior woman. Just get your skinny ass to that inn within the next six hours or I'm sending Cooper and Sam to go looking for you instead."I chuckled as I started the car back up, throwing one more wistful glance at the mountains that rose up from the earth like majestic soldiers.

I loved the wild, the nature, there was something about it that just pulled me in, as though I was closer to it than most people. I still hated it that Katie referred to me as the Woman Tarzan on occasion, mostly because she was implying I was raised by apes. But just because I spent two weeks lost in Yellowstone forest and survived off the land, did not mean I swung from vines and screamed my joy in a deep voice.

But still, that was Katie for you. She was spontaneous, random and very sweet and lovable. She was what made my day brighten, I could get depressed doing my job, seeing nothing but the bad, and maybe I'd hit the bottle again, even though I was meant to be a reformed alcoholic, but a simple phone call from my persistent, nagging and annoying cousin, and you could guarantee she'd make me laugh and see hope again. She was a truly extraordinary woman, she deserved the best life she could get.

I smiled as I set the car in gear and set off for the inn where I would hopefully meet up with Sam and Cooper. I would have to treat my cousin when I saw her next, get her something nice, or do something extra special. I would think of it by the time I saw her, I was lucky if I saw my family once a few months. This job always had me on the move.

I was in love, love, love. The type of love that songs were about, I could hear that cheesy music playing in the back of my head. It must be love, love, love. It's gotta be loooovve.

The last four weeks had been amazing, I practically spent every day with Jubal, we were inseparable at times. Even his sister liked me, heck I liked his other sister too, Gabrielle. It was my family I was concerned about. If Jubal thought he had a hard time winning over Uncle Leo and his two sons Alec and Mark, then he'd have a hell of a shock when he met Trinity.

Speaking of which I hadn't called her in nearly a day. Maybe this time she would answer. I flipped open my phone and dialled her number, I walked up to the glass windows in the hallway and stared out at the night, hmmm, looked like there was a storm heading our way.

I started tapping my foot on the eighth ring. Finally I heard it click to answer machine. Typical Trinity, she never left a message to say 'hey folks I'm busy, but if you leave a message after the beep I'll get back to ya'll. Beep!' No either you left her a message and if it was important enough for her, then she'd think about getting back to you. That gave me an idea.

"Hey Trinity," I began in a normal calm voice. "It's just me, you know little old Katie, your cousin. I think we're related down the line but you can never be too sure. I was just calling to see if you wanted to meet up and get coffee sometime, you know that's if your not too busy living your awesome life without me." I added a sniffle for affect. I could see Alec and Mark walk over to me from the restaurant section, grinning as they waved. I waved back and took a deep breath for the next part. "So how's- OH MY GOD! TRINITY THAT MAN IS GOING TO KILL ME! HE'S TRYING TO SLAUGHTER EVERYONE WITH A SPORK! TRINITY HELP!" I hung up and puffed my hair out of my face.

I grinned at Mark and Alec as they just looked at me with an odd look. Peeking around the room I realised that most of the patrons at the inn had stopped what they were doing to look at me oddly.

"What?" I asked and shrugged.

Alec chuckled. "I'm guessing you called Trinity."

"Si." I said as I let them walk me over to the bar. I was just about to order a Margarita when Jubal came running in from the back. People had started talking again but as he burst through the crowd towards me they stopped to watch, probably hoping for another show.

"Katie what happened? I heard you scream." He wasn't even panting though I'm sure he must've run for quite a bit. Impressive, he was in great shape.

"Relax Jubal." Mark said as he placed a bronzed hand on Jubal's shoulder. "That was just Katie trying to get my baby sisters attention on the phone. You'll find Katie screams a lot around her."

"Half the time none of it makes any sense." Alec added as he picked up his pint.

Jubal wrapped his arm around me and immediately my drink was forgotten. I pecked a kiss to his lips. "Sorry if I worried you."

He chuckled as he rubbed his strong hands in my back. "It's okay love, I'm just relieved. I heard you scream and my heart nearly stopped."I pouted and he raised a questioning eyebrow. "Nearly stopped?" I groused. "It should have stopped, evidently you weren't worried enough, I'll have to try harder next time."

Jubal laughed harder and pulled me in for a deeper kiss. If he wasn't holding me up I would have gladly slid to the floor like melted jelly. My toes curled as his tongue danced with mine. Wait till I got him upstairs. One of his hands reached up to circle my jaw, so he could tilt my head back and-

"And what do you think you're doing to my baby cousin?" Mark asked casually as he pulled Jubal back with a firm hand on his shoulder.

"If you want to keep your crowning glory you might want to stick to just kissing. If we find out you've done anything more than that, well I'm sure we can get Jimmy to lend us his goat emasculator."

Jubal stared at me. "They're not serious are they?"

I nodded my head and glared at my overbearing cousins, they acted like the older brothers I didn't need. "Jimmy said you could only use it for an emergency, like if I was getting hit on and the guy couldn't get the message of a swift kick between the legs."

"Katie, Katie, Katie…" Alec wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. "You are just like a lil' sister to us, to us more than a kiss is crossing the line. Unless of course he was gentleman enough to tie the knot with you, then by all means carry on behind closed doors. But until then, suck it up princess."

I stamped on his instep and was about to start screaming and shouting at the two blunder headed idiots. How dare they say things like that in front of Jubal, I didn't want him scared off, I really liked him, no I loved him. I didn't care if it was too soon for love, it was how strongly I felt about him and the thought of him walking away from me, or hobbling because the two dumb-ass's, made my heart ache and my chest restrict. Only my attention was caught by a bone rattling cough.

My eyes snapped over to Uncle Leo who was sat on a settee in front of a fire with Mom and her boyfriend Andrew. Mom was gently patting his back as he dry heaved and coughed up a lung nearly. His body shook with the force of it and his skin seemed grey with sickness.

"Must be a bad day." Mark muttered as he watched his father with sad eyes.

Concerned I rushed over to my uncle, knocking into people in my haste. I fell to my knees at his side and rested a hand on his knee. His face was purple and his breath was wheezing as he tried to get a breath between the insistent coughing. "It's okay Uncle Leo, I'll get your medicine for you."

Mentally slapping myself for not getting his medicine in the first place I sprinted up the stairs to his room in the inn. People were starting to look at him with pity, I hated pity, just because he was ill, really ill, didn't mean people needed to look at him with sad eyes as though he had already died. I knew now why Trinity never wanted people to pity her, she hated it when people looked at Uncle Leo like he was less of a man.

His room door was open and I found his medicine bottle on the bedside dresser. I took note of the mess of clothes on the floor for later, I would berate him for not tidying up when he could breath normally. In my mad dash back to Uncle Leo I paused at the bar to grab a cup of water from Slavica. Back at my uncles side two more men had gathered around him and were murmuring comforting things. One of them, I think his name was Gregori had a hand resting on Uncle Leo's shoulder as he gasped for air, it seemed to be helping because he coughed less than before and he could breath more easily.

"Here this'll make it better." I thrust the cup in his hands and popped the cap on the bottle, I tapped out three shiny pink tablets into my hand and handed them to Uncle Leo, he downed them in one gulp with the water. Wincing he sat back into the sofa cushions and rubbed a hand over his tired face, croaking a thank you to everyone as he tried to compose himself.

I stood up and faced Mark with a stoic face. While I was upstairs Jubal, Alec and Mark had joined Uncle Leo by the fire. They probably weren't aware of it but most of the people looking at Uncle Leo, well as I said it was always pity. It wasn't a bad emotion to feel for someone, but when you were always the other person on the receiving end of it….well, that was when pity became a disgusting word to you.

Mark pulled me into a hug. "Hey now, wipe that sad look off your face, you look like someone just ran over a puppy."

"That's a cruel thought." I muttered.

Gregori sat down on a chair in front of Uncle Leo, I hadn't told anyone yet, but I had my suspicions about him, he always had this strange atmosphere around him, strong, demanding, and something about him was very compelling, plus he smelled like herbs, nice herbs I might add. I was still betting he was a witch doctor, that would be so cool if it turned out he was.

"That was a nasty cough, I take it you've been diagnosed. Would you mind telling me what's wrong?"

Even his voice was like black magic, his words set us all on edge though.

Uncle Leo shifted, winced, then settled back into the chair. "It's nothing, only a minor illness. I should be fine in a few weeks."

Lies, it was all lies. But Gregori wasn't family, and if you weren't family you didn't need to know our business. Because if you pushed your nose into our life, you'd guarantee someone would cut it off. Probably Trinity in the pitch black of the night.

"Are you sure? Because I can always-"

I felt something in me snap, anger, frustration, denial and sadness, all of the yucky emotions that I normally pushed away, they made me catty and I knew that Gregori would be my target.

I surged to my feet and glared at Gregori, Mikhail, their wives who were lounging next to the chairs, I even glared at Jubal. "It's none of your business. So why the hell are you interested. Just leave us alone, we're nice to you, we respect your privacy, so leave us alone. We just want to be left alone." My voice was beginning to sound shrill as it raised in pitch.

Tears gathered on my lashes and my hands shook, their shocked and confused faces blurred. Uncle Leo got to his feet with strength and swiftness we all thought he'd never had. He grabbed me by my upper arms and started turning me to the door.

"Calm down Katie, it's okay, they're just concerned." His voice was reassuring and gentle, I recognised that voice. It was the one he used to calm Trinity down and convince her not to get into a fight and get arrested. It always worked. Because I took a deep breath and followed him out onto the porch. I braced my arms on the wooden slats of the porch fence and took deep breaths. Uncle Leo just rubbed his hand on my shoulders.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong or should I go get Helen?"

I shook my head. "Mom doesn't understand, she says I shouldn't worry, but, I do. Uncle Leo, I'm sorry I shouldn't be fussing like this but I have a bad feeling. I want Trinity here, if this is how it affects you, I, I hope, its not like this for her."

He pulled me into a hug and I wiped my slow tears into his shirt collar. "Hush now Katie, it's all okay. I'm only like this 'cause I meddled with things I shouldn't. Trinity is fine, and your mum's right, you don't need to worry. Now have you put your catty claws away for now?"

I smiled and poked him. "That's not funny."

"You told Jubal yet?" He held the door open for me.

I looked down at the floor guilty. "No, but I have feeling I might not have to."

He lifted my chin and raised an eyebrow at me. "Is it serious between you two?"

I looked across the inn at Jubal who was talking with my mom, she looked like she was apologising for my harsh words. "I think it is. But there's no point, it wont work out. Love's a fairy tale after all."

He pinches my arm and I slap at him. He acts as though he's not ill, as though an unknown illness isn't ravaging his body from the inside out. He was so strong, yet this made him so weak at times.

"You've been hanging around with my daughter for too long. Speaking of which, where is she?"

"For all I know Atlántico."

I stood in front of our group and lowered my eyes. "I'm sorry I snapped at you Gregori, everyone. I guess I was just stressed and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have and I'm sorry."

Mom smiled at me and brushed her salt and pepper locks back off her face. "Its okay sweetie, I spoke to them." I looked at them to assure myself, they smiled back at me and I knew they forgave me. Even Gregori smiled softly, though I'm sure his wife had to encourage him to do it.

"Did you get a hold of Trinity in the end?" Uncle Leo asked as he settled back down.

I sat next to Jubal and tentatively took his hand. "Not quite, I left a message on her phone saying I was about to be massacred by a maniac wielding a spork. So she'll either call me worried, or just to tell me off." Raven giggled and threw Mikhail a glance. I ignored it and smiled.

"Probably the latter." Alec said as he placed his empty pint glass on the coffee table.

"Well maybe if you went into the family business, maybe it would have been a lot easier to have you drag her here." I poked my tongue out at the two dummies.

"It's not a family business." Mark muttered.

"What is the business?" Mikhail asked.

I smirked. "Bounty hunting, mostly after murderers and people who are wanted in at least two or three countries. Trinity's the best."

Uncle Leo chuckled as Mark and Alec burst out in protest at the same time.

"ITS NOT A FAMILY BUSINESS!"

I rolled my eyes. "Well it might as well be, both of you and Uncle Leo were chasing down people who were wanted. You practically kept our streets clean growing up. The only difference is Trinity has a license to do it."

"So you're saying your cousin…..hunts down…. People?" Raven asked eagerly as she leaned against Mikhail's arm.

"Not just people, the most wanted, vicious people, last year she went after a man who was ex SAS, went mad after a fight and completely snapped. He was at the top of his game and he was so good he managed to take out his unit and escape. He went on a rampage for the next five months and Trinity voluntarily took the job. He was wanted for fifty three murders. He was just killing anyone, he even killed his entire family. It took Trinity four months to find him, once she tracked him she managed to haul him back to County State, he broke out after three months of therapy. Trinity paid for it all, but once the therapists certified he was beyond help and would have to be submitted for life….well she said he was too much of a threat for society…she then paid for his coffin and funeral service. She was the only person who attended."

My mouth finally snapped shut and I realised everyone was staring..staring,staring….and still staring. Maybe I had said something wrong, maybe I'd rambled on again. I went through my words in my head and clicked. Ah, I hadn't really had a normal conversation had I?

"Damn woman, you make my baby sister sound like psychopath." Mark grumbled as he got to his feet.

"She's not the psychopath you are. Besides I'm sure everyone can see how she is such a deep person. Deep in her soul, she had compassion enough to stop the man hurting people, he wasn't in his right mind and she helped him find rest when they realised there was no hope. Kind of like when we all wanted to teach you vanity is ugly in people, so we stuck Nair in your leave in conditioner. You soon learned to smile with no hair."I shot to my feet as he tried to grab me. Alec and Uncle Leo started laughing.

"THAT WAS YOU!" Mark roared as he chased me around the sofa. We ran parallel to each other and I kept jerking to the side trying to get past him.

"Hey now, its about high time that you calmed down, I wouldn't even think about trying to catch me."

Jerking from side to side I made a dash to one of the dining tables and leapt on top of it, just in time to miss his hand as it skimmed past my ankle. Mark tripped and spun to catch himself. I took the opportunity to jump on his back, tightening my arms in an attempt to perform the headlock Trinity had taught me a few years back.

"Katie, get your skinny butt off me! I am so going to get you for this."

He spun in a circle and I tightened my hold, it didn't seem to faze him. We were both laughing like little kids, probably setting a terrible example for the kids in the place, and judging by the looks from all of the inns patrons, they were either amused or annoyed. Either way all I cared about was the fact that Mom was charging towards me, smoke nearly steaming from her nostrils she looked that mad.

I gripped Mark's ears and tugged on them like reins, I kicked my legs frantically. "Go, go! She's going to kill me!"