The Man Who Hated Ned O'Leary (Dig Two Graves 2)

He turned toward the only window, but hope ignited by staying ahead of the lawmen died the moment he saw it led into the street, offering no way out. Yet as visions of broken bones passed through his mind, one of the three doors sharing the gray hallway cracked open, and he shoved it back without thinking.

Three children close to Tom’s age stepped back into the small room cluttered by old furniture. They were thin, and their clothes, while clean, had seen more use than they'd been designed to take, but this wasn’t the time for coddling. Cole locked the door the moment Ned followed him inside.

“It’s all right,” he whispered, looking at the oldest girl, who stood in front of her siblings with a face so pale he worried she might faint. “I’m with the police, and there’s bad people after us. We just need a way out.”

Judging by the three beds, and considering the children would have fit into one, they had to live with their parents, and perhaps older siblings, who worked during the day. A pot that smelled of gruel and carrot gurgled on the stove, but despite it steaming up the window behind it, Cole could have sworn there was something beyond the glass.

One of the smaller children pointed to the door they’d just walked through.

“Any other way?” Ned urged, agitated by the voices echoing in the staircase.

Cole didn’t wait for an answer. He stepped past a chair blocking his way and reached the cooking area. One swipe of his hand removed enough steam from the window to reveal a sturdy fire escape. With his heart lighting with hope once more, he pulled up the window and rolled out into the metal landing as if he were escaping gunfire.

Ned followed in a moment oddly reminiscent of the day they’d met. Back then, Ned had led Cole, Pearl, and Adam Wild to a wooden staircase at the back of the Beaver Springs saloon. The rest was history.

Cole was about to shut the window behind them when he met the children’s eyes.

“You better tell them you haven’t seen us, even if they say they’re also from the police,” he barked before slamming the sash down.

As soon as he looked out onto the street, it became obvious by the growing numbers of dark uniforms swarming below that they couldn’t simply descend the stairs.

“Up,” he told Ned and jumped to grab the edge of the roof, but Ned stood by the wall and offered his entwined hands for Cole to climb.

They’d held each other close and fucked so much in the past months, but nothing made Cole as desperate for Ned’s touch as the gentle grip Ned steadied him with once Cole stood on his shoulders. The reassuring hold was brief, but fueled Cole’s desire to go on.

He rolled onto the flat roof and dug both knees against the raised trim at the edge as he reached down. His lover’s green eyes reflected the sun like the emerald pool they’d made love by so many years ago. Cole still remembered the touch of Ned’s hands on his scalp when Cole had taken him into his mouth that first time.

Memories flashed through his mind at breakneck speed, but then Ned hung his weight on him, and Cole pulled, dragging him all the way up.

Ned looked around, pushing his fingers into the red hair as he took in the roofs stretching endlessly in all directions. “We’re fucked. Where are we supposed to go, huh?”

Cole wanted to argue that whatever happened, they’d at least go together, but that wasn’t what Ned wanted to hear. He swallowed, trying to think, but when his gaze was drawn to the church tower with a steep black roof, he rose with renewed spirits. Their destination was closer than he’d thought. The question still remaining was: how to get there? Cole’s earlier plan had included riding a horse through the streets, so having to improvise an alternative route through a landscape he was so unfamiliar with made his brains overheat.

He knew Ned wouldn’t like his idea before he even voiced it. “It’s not that far, we can follow the roofs, the buildings are close enough. And then we wait out the commotion.”

Ned spread his arms. “Sure. I might as well fall to my death. Why not?”

He was imposing with the wind combing through his hair, but Cole couldn’t stand the hostility anymore and raised his voice. “Better that than have them hang us, is it not?” he asked, rushing across the roof, to where it was closest to the next one over.

“I don’t know what this change of heart is about, but I don’t like it!” Ned raised his voice when the wind became stronger, and sped past Cole, leaping off the edge as if he no longer cared whether he lived or died. The wind carried him all the way across the gap, but as Cole lost momentum, distracted by Ned’s jump, he found himself facing the abyss under his feet and stalled, raising both hands to his head.