31 Days of Autumn

by Fallowfield, C. J.

  ‘Too scared,’ he moaned.

  ‘You don’t need to be scared. Bravo here hasn’t hurt us, has he? He’s going to let Mummy give you the biggest kiss and cuddle in the whole wide world if you do as I say.’

  ‘Promise?’ he sniffed.

  ‘I promise, darling. You’re such a brave boy, you need to share some of that bravery with James and Jenny, they need some too, as well as some love. Go for me now.’ I smiled when I felt his little hands squeeze my fingers. I squeezed back as hard as I could, then let him go. He bolted out like an Olympic runner and threw himself into Jenny’s lap, wrapping his arms around her waist.

  ‘Hello gorgeous, have I ever told you that you give the best cuddles?’ she asked, dipping her head to kiss him.

  ‘Yes,’ he nodded.

  ‘Then keep cuddling. James can wait for his, I need plenty.’ She nodded at me and I smiled back until I saw Bravo pull a pocket knife from his trousers.

  ‘Relax, it’s for cutting the cable ties,’ he advised, pushing my shoulder to make me bend forward. Jenny and I had our hands tied behind our backs, James’s were in front. They seemed to trust that they could handle Jenny or I one-on-one, but James’s hands were kept tied all the time. He could go for a pee himself when they undid his feet, but if he needed to do more, they’d pull his trousers down. I didn’t ask how he was cleaned up, it was humiliating enough as it was. I sighed with relief as the tight band was released and I flexed my fingers and rotated my wrists to get some life back into them. Bravo quickly headed for the exit and the door was slammed shut, the sound of the external locks being put into place.

  ‘Darling, come to Mummy,’ I called, holding out my arms.

  ‘But I haven’t cuddled James yet,’ he said, making us all laugh for the first time.

  ‘You can cuddle me later, go to your mum,’ James told him. Oliver looked over at me and saw me holding my hands out to him. He smiled and ran over, throwing himself against me and I started sobbing as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him so tightly. I hadn’t been able to hold him since he was pulled out of my arms the day they took us.

  ‘I love you, so much,’ I whispered in his hair.

  ‘I love you too, Mummy.’

  ‘Let me look at you.’ He sat up in my lap and I clasped his face, rubbing my thumbs over his cheeks and checking he didn’t have any bruises or damage. Other than being extremely dirty, like we probably all were from being in this dank, musty, and moss-infected hole with no proper washing facilities, he looked ok.

  ‘Is everyone ok, all things considered?’ James asked.

  ‘I’m good,’ replied Jenny.

  ‘Me too, especially now. Thank you so much, both of you,’ I called, pulling Oliver down onto my lap and giving him another hug. I never wanted to let him go again. ‘What’s going to happen if Dan can’t come up with all of that money within their timeframe?’ I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

  ‘A threat against one of us with an extended deadline would be my best guess,’ James answered.

  ‘Pretty standard,’ agreed Jenny.

  ‘How are you both so calm? I’m so close to breaking here, I can’t begin to tell you.’ I looked down as I felt Oliver’s body go softer in my arms. At last, he was relaxing a little bit. Hopefully he’d fall asleep in no time.

  ‘Trust me, I’ve been in worse situations than this,’ Jenny replied.

  ‘Me too,’ James added.

  ‘Seriously?’ I couldn’t imagine anything worse than this. I’d never been so scared in my life. I missed my babies, I missed Dan, and I dreaded what this was doing to him. He didn’t handle stress well, not when it came to his family.

  They tried to take my mind off our dilemma by telling me some of their best war stories and competing with their list of scars from combat. I felt my eyes starting to droop, my head rolling back to the damp wall behind me. Oliver was fast asleep in my arms. If you could call this happy, it was the happiest I’d been since I’d come around from the tranquiliser.

  My sleep seemed short-lived when I was startled awake again by the sound of the bolts on the door being opened. Oliver was still asleep, but I tightened my grip on him as Alfa strode in and made a beeline for us. It was hard to make out their emotions with only their eyes and lips showing, but I could feel the anger radiating off him.

  ‘Give me the kid,’ he growled.

  ‘No,’ I shot back. ‘If you want him for something, I go with him.’

  ‘Fine with me,’ he bit, pulling his gun out and aiming it at us.

  ‘Stop,’ ordered James, sounding an awful lot calmer than I was right now. I could feel nausea clawing at my throat, bile swirling in my stomach. ‘What’s the problem? Maybe we can talk this out. There’s no need to threaten the woman and child.’

  ‘No need? No fucking need! Do you have any idea what this bitch’s husband has done?’ he hissed, glaring over at James. ‘Charlie, set it up,’ he bellowed. Oliver woke up at the noise and his little body went tense in my arms when he realised Alfa was standing so close to us.

  ‘It’s ok, baby,’ I soothed.

  ‘Ok?’ Alfa shot back at me, his eyes narrowing with anger. ‘It’s so far from ok. Well, he’s about to learn a valuable lesson.’

  ‘You have a problem with my husband, then you deal with me, but I’ll be damned if you take it out on my son,’ I bit. He laughed and started pacing the room. When I was satisfied he was leaving us alone for now, I looked over to the door to see what Charlie was doing. I felt like I’d just fallen into the freezing loch again. He’d covered the floor by the door with plastic sheeting. I’d watched enough action movies with Dan to know why. I flipped my eyes over to Jenny and James, not at all reassured to see the worry on their faces as well.

  ‘Ready, boss,’ Charlie called.

  ‘Undo their feet and move them,’ Alfa replied. ‘Either of you don’t do as you’re told and I take it out on the bitch and her brat.’

  ‘What’s … what’s happening?’ I stuttered as Charlie marched over to James and Jenny.

  ‘What’s happening? I gave your husband twenty-four hours and his time is up.’

  ‘He didn’t pay you anything?’ I gasped, stroking Oliver’s hair, rocking him, doing my best to keep him from antagonising this lunatic any more than was necessary with his sobs.

  ‘O he paid. Twenty million, exactly a quarter of what he was supposed to.’

  ‘He told you that he needed more time, I heard him tell you that. His assets are in property, bonds, stocks, and shares. You can’t just get a sum like that together in such a short period of time. Trust me, I know him, he’ll do whatever you ask to make sure we’re all safe and unharmed. He’s a good man, he’s the … he’s the best man,’ I pleaded, looking over to see Charlie had undone James's and Jenny’s foot restraints and was dragging them over to the plastic sheeting. ‘Whatever you’re thinking of doing, please don’t. Just give him more time!’

  ‘I gave him time, not my problem that he didn’t honour his end of the deal.’

  ‘Ready, boss,’ Charlie called, tossing a video camera over to Alfa. He caught it with his free hand and secured it with the elastic strap around his palm. The red LED started blinking as he pointed it at me.

  ‘Ok, tough girl, you wanted me to deal with you, I’ll deal with you. I got a quarter of what was owed to me and my team, it seems only fair that he loses a quarter of what I owe him, wouldn’t you say?’

  ‘I don’t understand, what are you asking me?’ Charlie had pulled out his gun and had moved behind Jenny and James, who were kneeling on the sheet. I wanted to wake up. This was a horrible nightmare, the sort of thing you only saw in films. This couldn’t be happening.

  ‘You get to choose which quarter he doesn’t get back alive, sweetheart. Jenny or James, pick one and I’ll deliver their body to him by morning to show him just how seriously I take my job.’

  ‘No,’ I cried, gasping for air. Salt stung my eyes, as if a hundred red-hot needles were prickin
g them as I looked over at my friends, Charlie grinning as he pointed the gun at the back of each of their heads in turn. James had his firm, serious face on, while Jenny was looking less confident as our eyes locked. ‘No, you can’t do this.’

  ‘Until you’re the one pointing a gun in my face, I can do whatever the hell I want, sweetheart. Make a choice, now.’

  ‘I can’t, I won’t.’ I shook my head, losing my battle to contain my tears.

  ‘You can and you will, otherwise Charlie here will put a bullet in both of them and you’ll have to live with the fact that you were responsible for killing two people.’

  ‘They’re my friends, they’re my family, I love both of them dearly. How do you expect me to make a choice like that?’ I cried, anguish saturating my body, not just my voice. My heart was banging against my ribs, my mouth was going dry, and I was fighting the urge to be sick. He couldn’t be serious, surely this was a bluff?

  ‘I’ll give them sixty seconds each to give you their best impassioned plea, to convince you why you should save them over the other, but if I don’t have your answer ten seconds after they’re done, Charlie will put them both down.’ I blinked up at him, horrified to see he was smiling. He was getting off on this.

  ‘You sick, twisted bastard,’ I spat. Oliver was now bawling his head off, and no matter how hard I rocked and shushed him, he wouldn’t stop. The tension in the room was palpable. Even if he couldn’t feel it, he’d sense it radiating off me.

  ‘It’s been said before,’ Alfa nodded, with a sickening smile of pride. He swung the camcorder around to focus on Jenny and James. ‘Ladies first. Set the clock, Charlie.’

  ‘I’m not doing this,’ Jenny said defiantly, thrusting her chin up to eyeball him. ‘I’m not going to make my best friend choose who you’re going to kill. She’s the most loving, nurturing person I’ve ever met in my life, and it would destroy her to know she’d played any part in this.’

  ‘There’s no need for either of you to make a choice,’ James added, in an eerily calm tone. ‘I won’t make Mrs. Davenport choose either. Jenny, you’re a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. You’re in love and just starting out on the adventure of a lifetime with Dean. You deserve to have as many years of love and laughter as I’ve had with my wife. To have children of your own, to see your grandchildren grow up. I’ve had a good life, let this be my last mission, to protect you both.’

  ‘James, no!’ I cried, my chest rattling as I sobbed.

  ‘They’re not going to shoot one of us, James,’ Jenny replied, shaking her head. ‘It’s all for show, for the camera, to scare Dan into moving faster.’

  ‘Jenny, you’ve been hanging around Mrs. Davenport too much, you’ve inherited her stubborn streak. Look around you, look where we are. He’s got enough money to live off already and they haven’t let us go. We’re expendable. If you don’t let me do this, we both die. Let me protect you, let me go with honour.’

  ‘No,’ she whispered, shaking her head as tears finally started to roll down her face. ‘I don’t believe it.’

  ‘Believe it, sweetheart,’ Alfa laughed. ‘Time’s nearly up.’

  ‘Then it should be me,’ Jenny cried. ‘I don’t have a family, not like you do, James. How will all of them feel if it was you?’

  ‘No different to how Dean will feel if it’s you, you stubborn bloody mare,’ he shouted, making me sob even harder. James never yelled, he was the calmest man I knew. He was serious, he really believed it was going to happen, which had me fighting to contain my nausea. ‘He got a bloody ring, I helped him pick it. He was going to propose on your weekend away. Even if you’ve missed it, you’re going to get out of here and see him again so that you can say yes, do you hear me?’

  ‘Last few words,’ chuckled Charlie. I just stared in disbelief, not sure if I believed this was actually going to happen. Kidnap was one thing, but murder? Were people really that twisted? James turned to look at me and nodded firmly.

  ‘You tell my wife that I love her, that I was thinking of her, of my children and grandchildren, at the end. You make sure to tell her that I died fast and I didn’t suffer. And I want you both to hear me right now. If I had the chance to do it all again, I would. I’m a soldier, Ellie, it’s in my blood. I always knew I’d go out like this, I just thought it would be a lot sooner than now. I’ve had an amazing life, so none of you are going to blame yourselves, you hear me? You’re going to grow old with your loved ones, just like I’ve had the chance to do. It’s been an honour and a privilege serving you, Ellie. Do it, Charlie,’ he ordered, gritting his teeth and clenching his jaw tightly.

  ‘No,’ Jenny screamed as the sound of his safety was clicked off.

  ‘Don’t, please don’t,’ I cried, registering that he’d just called me Ellie, for the first time ever. He really was saying goodbye because he truly believed that this wasn’t a hoax. ‘Oliver, close your eyes for me right now and don’t open them until I tell you, ok?’ I ordered between gasps for air that shook my already trembling body. I’d never been so scared in my life. Not in the loch, weighed down by all of that water, nor when I fell down those stairs. I felt like the walls of this already tiny space were closing in on me.

  ‘Not so fast, Charlie. I told Mrs. Davenport she had to make the choice, or lose both of them,’ Alfa confirmed, swinging the camera back onto me. ‘Ten seconds, sweetheart. Who’s it to be,’ he asked. I shook my head. What was I supposed to do? If he was serious, I could be responsible for both of their deaths. I looked from Jenny, who was now crying as hard as I was, to James, who nodded his head, his eyes pleading with me to do as he asked. He was right. Jenny was a baby in comparison to him, she’d hardly had a life, she deserved a life as happy as his had been. ‘Five seconds,’ chuckled Alfa.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ I sobbed, my eyes and nose streaming. ‘I love you, James.’

  ‘I love you too, Ellie,’ he called, swallowing hard as he closed his eyes and braced his shoulders.

  ‘I think I’ve just thrown up a little. Answer,’ snapped Alfa.

  ‘James, I choose James,’ I howled, my whole body shaking violently. The loud crack of the gun firing was still a surprise, even though I’d expected to hear it, sure beyond a shadow of a doubt now that they really weren’t bluffing. It was almost deafening, but what was even louder was the sound of Oliver and I screaming at the same time. The sight of all of that deep red blood and fragments of bone and brain matter spraying onto the plastic sheet replaced the tears filling my eyes as I leaned over and threw up, the acidic bile burning my throat.

  ‘Remember who’s in charge here, sweetheart. I’m always in charge. I set the rules, I choose the outcomes,’ Alfa laughed as I retched again.

  Day Twenty Two

  Monday 14th September

  Dan

  ‘Stuart?’ I answered the phone before the first ring tone ended.

  ‘Damien Daniels, does the name ring any bells?’

  ‘Who the fu … hell is Damien Daniels?’ I asked, stopping myself from swearing just in time. I had Jonas on my lap as I was reading him a story, and he was more than happy to repeat everything he’d heard, if he could get his tongue around the words. Eva was having her hair done by Brooke, while Molly was talking to Lucas. Summer and Magda were battling for supremacy in the kitchen, cooking breakfast for everyone. My parents were away, my mother having booked a last-minute Far Eastern cruise. Since receiving the call from the police, as my emergency contact, they were trying to get the ship to pull into the nearest port so they could get an immediate flight home. Sometimes I just wanted to be alone, sometimes I just wanted to cry, but most of the time I was grateful to have them all to distract my mind from imagining the worst. There hadn’t been any contact after I made the first payment, which Andy told me to do when they’d got no closer to unearthing any more data. I’d been beginning to lose hope, but at last it seemed we were onto something.

  ‘Jessica cracked this morning when Chris and HR called her in. She’d been having an
affair with this Mr. Daniels and he asked her to download some pictures on a memory stick. He was supposed to be waiting for her outside to take her for lunch, but he’d vanished and she’s not heard from him since. His mobile line is dead, his email’s been deactivated, and the landlord said he’s cleared out. Seems we’ve found someone of interest.’

  ‘Have you asked Ian to run identity checks?’ I asked, a tiny glimmer of hope finally sparking inside me.

  ‘It was the first call I made before you. The second was to Marv. He’s working on the email and mobile accounts to see what he can extract. Chris is interrogating Jessica now, we’re hoping she’ll have pictures. Once we have his, Ian can hack into London’s security camera server and run facial recognition. He’ll be able to track this guy’s movements and hopefully see him meeting any of his accomplices.’

  ‘What can I do?’

  ‘Nothing, Sir. I’m in complete control co-ordinating all efforts from here. Nothing you do will make anything happen any faster. You need to focus on Jonas and Eva, they’ll be missing Ellie terribly.’

  ‘They are,’ I sighed heavily. ‘And they’re not alone.’ I felt empty, like someone had unplugged me from life, from feeling any kind of happiness or emotion other than despair and anguish. I remembered the feeling from when Ellie and I had been separated those two times. It wasn’t something I’d ever expected to feel again once we got married. I thought she’d always be by my side. I looked down and cursed under my breath when I saw another incoming call. ‘Stuart, I’m sorry, it’s the police. They might have news.’

  ‘I’ll call with any updates as soon as I can, Sir. Good luck.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I replied, cutting his call and accepting the other.

  ‘I’m not letting you go in alone,’ Lucas snapped, shoving my chest as he blocked the door. ‘You shouldn’t have to do this at all. Let me.’

  ‘No, I need to see for myself.’

  ‘I agree, Sir. This isn’t something you should do. Let Mr. Steel go in for you, or me?’ suggested Andy, standing by Lucas’s side. I respected both of them, but right now I was ready to punch them and take them both down if they didn’t get out of my way.