Chapter 52: Chapter 52

There's a crackle on the radio. “Hey, Des, you at Blessingmoors yet?”

“No, I’m just pulling up there now. Looks like there’s something going on. Every light in the place is on.”

“Hold on that kid, would you. Bring him back to the station.”

“Yeah, sure if you want, but why?”

“I'll tell you when you get back. And on your way, call by a takeaway if you can find one open, and pick up a couple of dozen pizzas.”

*****

James None of us speaks through our journey. We know what we’re doing, what our intentions are.

And this time, it is almost certainly a question of rescue. What are the chances of Charlotte escaping again? Resourceful though she is….

A worry nags at me. I lean back to Richard in the rear seat. “We are sure this is the right place we’re going?”

“Will said that the gunman was anxious to ‘be helpful’,” he replies. “He knows he’s up for twenty to life.

It’s a question of how comfortable he’s going to be for most of the rest of his future. He insisted apparently, that if the underground hideouts are off the menu, this is where they would take the women.”

I suppose I have to be satisfied with that for now. In any case, we’ll soon know.

Would Charlotte and Beth’s abductors choose something so close out of bravado? To throw us off by misdirection? Thumbing their noses at us? A last ‘fuck-you’ parting shot? Could the gunman taken from the hotel fire have even been sure that….

I’m over-thinking it.

Perhaps we simply got lucky. Richard chose our particular hotel as a hideaway because it is out in the wilds. Perhaps Klempner would choose our destination for the same reason….

We take only a few minutes to make the journey. I navigate using a satellite view of the area, taking us up a back-trail where we should be able to approach unseen.

“Okay, this should do.”

Michael grunts and pulls in.

“How long a walk have we got?” asks Richard.

“Just a few hundred yards as the crow flies, but we’ll be working our way through the trees in the dark, so watch your footing.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve done this, James,” mutters Michael.

“True, but then you were running. This time we’re going to take them.”

And he shows his teeth in the smile of a predator.

*****

“Let me get another look at that layout.”

“Alright, but it’s the last time. I don’t think we can risk the light of the screen any closer than this.”

We gather over the three-inch screen of the phone, zooming in on the satellite view of the area.

Richard extends a finger. “That looks like a derelict building. Unless it’s been bricked up, we should be able to go through. If we go in there, we’ll be able to get into the farmyard itself and be under cover all the way.”

The farm looks standard enough, a large rambling old house with sheds, barns and shippons outside set around a central yard.

The main building isn’t derelict but has an unloved look about it with some windows boarded over. It’s hard to see detail in the dark but the front door is closed and male figures, several of them, can be seen through a ground floor window.

Yup…. Looks like we’re at the right place….

“At least we don’t have to climb walls,” murmurs Michael. “I’ll see if I can see the women and get a head count. You two stay here.”

But as he makes to go, I lay a hand on his arm. “No, I’ll go,” I say.

“Why you? I’m younger. Faster”

“And bright blond. You’ll be much more visible if the light catches you. I can …. lurk… more easily….”

Richard is fighting a smile. Michael scowls but nods. “Guess we’ll just go and lurk back there then.” He tosses his head back to the concealment of a barn, full of friendly shadows.

“You do that.”

Listening carefully for outside movement, and hearing none, keeping well into more shadows, as stealthily as I can, I approach the house. Regardless of my words to Michael, I am acutely conscious that a face can highlight just as easily as blond hair, and so far as I can, I keep my face turned away from the light.

But I reach the window without incident, sliding an eye over the edge to see inside….

…. No sign of the women….

Damn…

Where are they?

What I can see is a group of four men….

Corby?

No….

…. None of whom I recognise.

When one takes his jacket off, I see a gun holster underneath and my blood runs cold….

How many of them are there?

All armed?

They seem relaxed, laughing and joking. Some drink from cans of beer. One, tall, fair-haired, moves into view, looking to be in charge….

Klempner?

I fixed that face in my memory from Stanton’s photo.

Yes, Klempner I’m going to finish you, you bastard….

He simply stands, leaning back against a table edge, apparently waiting for something.

The room is large, seemingly taking up most of the ground floor, probably originally the kitchen to the farmhouse. A door goes off to one side, another to the back.

I’ve seen as much as I can.

Time to go….

I turn, but as I’m about to return to the others, the front door, only feet away from me clicks open….

Christ…

The banging behind my ribs sends the blood pounding through my skull, my own heartbeat loud in my ears.

…. and a man, also wearing a gun holster, steps out, his back to me, walking in the opposite direction to a shed. He enters the shed and as he vanishes behind the door I sprint for the shelter of the barn.

Two pairs of hands reach out, hauling me under cover just as the gunman exits the shed again and returns to the house.

I take a moment to catch my breath and for the thumping in my chest to die down.

“Enjoy your lurking?” asks Richard, a gleam in his eye.

“Not much, no,” I admit.

“Did you see them?” asks Michael.

“The girls? No. I counted five men in the room, including Klempner. They’re armed with guns and there are doors off the room, so there could be more.”

I’m still panting.

“You okay?” asks Michael, concern in his voice.

“Never better. Let’s get a look through the other windows. See if we can find the women….”

But my words are cut off.

The front door slams open and Charlotte bursts out, running pell-mell, scanning around her as she moves.

And my first reaction is amazement.

She’s escaped again?

How the fuck does she do it…?

Making a twisting turn, she skids on her heels, bolting into the shadow of the same barn we are in, backing into the cover, silently watching the door as two, three, four of the gunmen erupt out, yelling and shouting as they give chase.

Richard’s eyes, a mere gleam in the dark, flash to mine….

She could simply run….

They’d have trouble finding her in the dark….

…. but she stays….

…. for Beth….

And despite the danger of the situation and the pulse throbbing at my temple, I smile as I creep up behind her….

Time to give you a scare….

…. A little bit of payback, Madam….

…. and snaking one arm around her waist, pulling her back, I clamp a hand tightly over her mouth….

I feel the slam of her heart inside her chest and a scream tries, and fails, to escape her throat.

“It’s me. Shhh…” I hiss.

“Master?” She spins in my hold, her dark-lit eyes incredulous, but I warm as she touches my face.

“Yes, we’re all here.”

“Michael?” she asks.

I pull her deeper into the shadows where the other two are waiting, and away from the now searching gunmen. “Yes, and Richard. The police are on their way.”

In the deep gloom, her face is all but invisible, only the reflected glisten of her eyes, but I hear the disquiet in her words. “Just the three of you? How soon before the police get here?

“Maybe thirty minutes….” says Richard, and I hear her sharp intake of breath.

“…. They’re coming from the City. That hotel we were staying in; it’s not far. When the police found out where you’d been taken, we were closer than they are.”

She pulls away from me, her voice urgent. “We don’t have thirty minutes. They’ve got Beth in there, and Klempner wants to gang-rape her, and me. And they’re looking for me.”

She flings her arm out, wildly where out in the yard, figures can be seen, searching. “We can’t all stay here for thirty minutes and not be found. I’ll distract them….”

Like fuck!

I snap out a hand, catching her wrist. “Like hell you will.…”

She doesn’t resist, but there’s a plea in her voice. “If they don’t find me quickly, they’ll keep looking, and they’re bound to find all of you. Better if I distract them, and then you’re free to act…. There’s too many of them for you, without having surprise on your side…”

“How many?” asks Michael.

“I’ve counted eight, including Klempner. And I think they’re expecting Corby.”

Eight….