by Lauren Algeo
Brewer shrank down as far as he could in the shadows and prayed they were far enough along the wall to avoid being seen. The beams bounced off the wall barely five feet from where Georgie was laying. She’d buried her face in her hands, as if that could make her invisible.
Neither of them breathed until they heard the car drive through the gates and the clink of it closing behind them. The front door shut and the house fell silent again.
Georgie turned to Brewer with a relieved sigh, however he was staring wide-eyed across the suddenly very bright garden. The maze was lit up like a Christmas tree.
Chapter 47
The Grand stood in the hallway and watched as Celiah closed the front door. Two of his sons, Louis and Michael, were gathered behind him. He had sent the children who usually resided in the house out in the car and kept the three from his elite team there.
‘They’ve seen the garden and maze lights.’ Celiah informed them.
The Grand had given them orders to only communicate verbally from now on. He knew those two people were somehow able to read their thoughts but they couldn’t hear anything that was said physically from this distance.
Celiah had picked them up as they crossed the neighbouring field at dusk. She’d relayed their progress as they had scaled the wall into the grounds of the house. The Grand had listened with mounting rage. They had the audacity to come into his territory and think he wouldn’t know. They had successfully avoided the spikes and camera in their wall climb, however they had not anticipated the motion sensors along the wall or his greatest weapon, Celiah.
The sensors had been tripped moments after she confirmed they had reached the top of the wall. The children had assembled to await his instructions. Celiah could only pick up their surface thoughts but she told him they had the tranquiliser gun and the disease they’d used to kill Matildah.
The Grand had been contemplating a course of action for most of the day. He’d decided that he wanted to heighten their sense of achievement before he crushed them. One of his sons, Louis, wanted to go and bring them in only he wouldn’t allow it. Instead, he had made the four children who worked on the contracts with him leave in the car. They had been told to come back within the hour but the two people outside wouldn’t know that. They would now think they had fewer enemies in the house to go up against – that the odds had been evened out somewhat. Only two against four.
Celiah had heard of their intention to hide in the maze until the following morning but that was easily thwarted with the flick of a switch. The Grand had several lights installed in the flowerbeds and paths for when he wanted to take walks at night. There were some in the fountain by the pond to illuminate the water feature, and spotlights along the maze hedges. No hiding places left. They would be forced to come inside the house.
‘I will be… upstairs,’ he told the waiting children. ‘Celiah, come with me. The rest of you… are to let them past.’
Louis’s face darkened instantly. ‘Father, I will not…’
‘Silence,’ the Grand said forcefully. ‘You will… let them past. They must think they have not been detected.’
He gave a sinister smile. ‘I want them… to come to me.’
Chapter 48
Brewer’s heart sank at the sight of the illuminated maze. There was no way he and Georgie would be able to get in there to hide without risking being seen by the hikers in the house. The period they would be exposed for in the bright garden was too great.
‘What should we do?’ He could hear the panic in Georgie’s hushed voice.
There were still some dark areas in the garden that they could use to move around but nowhere safe enough to stay for the night. The porch had lights on either side of the door so they couldn’t go there and he couldn’t see any way in through the downstairs windows. He really didn’t want to go inside the house however they didn’t have much choice; the wall was too high to climb back over without the ladder. Short of standing in plain view in front of the main gate and trying to override the security system, they were trapped.
There had been a back door to the house on the plans they’d seen, maybe that would be a better way in. With several of the hikers gone now, there was a chance they could hide in one of the rooms of the house for a while, before attempting to find the Grand. Brewer doubted they bothered with bedrooms but some of the hikers in the house might sleep.
‘How many are left?’ he asked Georgie.
‘I think only the Grand and three others.’
He gave a brief nod. Only four of them left. They had three rounds of the rabies darts so it was almost enough. As long as they took out the Grand as early as possible, they could kill them all.
‘We’re going round the back,’ Brewer whispered. ‘Remember to keep your mind blank. Like white noise if you can.’
They started to crawl along the length of the wall, which thankfully was still in darkness. Brewer felt Georgie tug his ankle a few moments later and she pointed to the house. A light had just come on in one of the front, upstairs rooms. They saw the silhouette of a man cross the window, a hunched over, slow-moving man.
He glanced back at Georgie and knew instantly from her expression that it was the Grand. Even in the gloom, her face looked deathly pale and her lips were clamped together in a grimace of pain. They watched the window for a while and didn’t see any more movement, yet the light stayed on.
The room was two along from the one with the balcony but scaling the drainpipe to get up there was even less appealing than going in through the back door.
They set off on their slow shadow crawl again. There were a few tense moments along the eastern wall, where they were briefly exposed, however they made it to the back of the house without incident. The appearance of a shed along the northern wall sent Brewer’s heart soaring, only to crash back down when he saw it was secured with a heavy-duty padlock and sat flush against the wall, so they couldn’t hide in or behind it.
Georgie shuffled silently to the rear of him. Her eyes kept darting towards the house and every muscle in her body was clenched tightly, waiting for the moment they would be spotted.
The back door to the house was shrouded in shadows. There were no lights on in the neighbouring windows either. Brewer assessed the path they would need to take across the garden to the door. It was about forty metres away so if they sprinted, they would be in the open for several seconds. He squinted up at the first floor windows; they were all dark and still too. He looked at Georgie and she gave him a nod. They would make a break for it.
‘Go,’ he whispered.
Georgie got a tight grip on the gun case and bolted for the door. Brewer was right on her heels, with his head down and arms pumping.
One… two…
The seconds seemed endless in his head and he battled to keep his footing on the slippery grass.
Three… four…
The wall of the house was racing nearer. He held his breath and ran as fast as he could.
Five… six…
Georgie slammed against the wall and he pulled up next to her a second later with his hands braced for the impact with the house. They stood panting and waited for any sign they had been seen. Brewer’s heart was pounding so hard he could feel it trying to burst out of his chest. Georgie leant forward with her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath.
The back of the house remained dark. It was time to go in. The rear door was solid wood with a small, glass panel at head height. Brewer kept to the side and reached out for the handle, trying not to think about what they’d do if it was locked. The cool metal turned easily in his hand and he inched the door open. There was a low creak, which he hoped wouldn’t be heard inside. He poked his head cautiously round the door. The room beyond was a huge kitchen with a dining table in the middle. It was dark, and he couldn’t see any movement.
Georgie followed him inside. She had taken the tranquiliser gun out of the case while he was checking the coast was clear. She kept it at her side but she was
braced to lift it to her shoulder the second they saw a hiker.
They paused just inside and Brewer eased the door closed behind them. It settled back in the frame with a gentle click. They listened and couldn’t hear any noises in the house. There hadn’t been any voices or intrusions in their heads yet either.
Brewer lifted his palms to Georgie in a silent question. Where? She pointed left towards the door on the other side of the kitchen and then upwards. The Grand was still upstairs. Brewer took his knife out of his pocket and felt comforted by the weight of the weapon in his hand, even though it wouldn’t have much affect on these beasts.
He nodded at Georgie and they crept across the kitchen floor and stood by the door. He pressed his ear against it but couldn’t hear any movement on the other side. He nudged it open a crack and put his eye to the slit of light.
The door opened out into a hallway. There were a few lamps lighting the sides but no hikers in sight. From the outside of the house, a couple of the rooms on the ground floor had been lit yet only one upstairs. If they could get up there unnoticed then there were bound to be unoccupied rooms they could hide in. He beckoned to Georgie and they tiptoed out into the hallway. It was long and narrow, with large paintings of landscapes lining the walls. The stairs were at the front of the house. The hallway widened into a large foyer in the distance and they could make out the banisters of a grand staircase.
There was a loud bang as a door near the front shut and they heard footsteps echoing in the foyer. Brewer yanked Georgie into the nearest room and swiftly closed the door.
They huddled against the wall and watched the crack of light at the base of the door. The footsteps were heading in their direction, fast.
Georgie hoisted the gun to her shoulder, poised to fire the loaded rabies dart if the hiker came in. She tried to keep her mind blank like Brewer had told her. She pictured black and white snowy static on a solitary TV.
The footsteps passed by the room without slowing down and they saw only a brief shadow in the light under the door. The hiker hadn’t detected their presence. Georgie slowly lowered the gun and let out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding.
Brewer turned around to assess the room they were in. In the dimness, he could make out a couple of huge bookcases and cabinets.
‘It’s the study,’ he murmured.
There was a faint pulsing light, partially blocked from view, on the other side of the room. It cast a weird red glow over a desk by the window.
Brewer led the way over to it. He stopped sharply when he saw what was omitting the light. There was a large, digital map of the UK on the wall, with dozens of illuminated red dots. The dots were flashing on and off continuously but there was one static light in the south and a cluster of dots in the southeast. He sucked in a painful breath when he realised what the map represented.
‘What’s that?’ Georgie asked, confused.
She was frowning at the map, her face bathed in the eerie red glow.
‘It’s all the hikers in the country,’ he replied with a dry mouth. ‘It’s how he tracks them.’
Georgie moved closer to the map. ‘There are so many,’ she whispered in awe.
She reached out and touched the one static dot. ‘This is the one we killed yesterday, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. The Grand knew where we were when she died.’
Georgie took in the hiker cluster around the area of the base camp flat and shuddered. ‘Can we get out of here? This map gives me the creeps.’
She started walking back to the door they’d come in through but Brewer stopped her.
‘There’s a back staircase from this room. It was on those plans so hopefully it’s still here.’
They scouted around the edge of the study, feeling along the walls in the semi-darkness. Near the map there was a small door, half obscured by a bookcase. It took Brewer several hard tugs to open the stiff door. The musky smell that wafted out, and the cobwebs hanging from the frame, didn’t give the impression that it was used very often. Brewer tried to remember where the staircase led from the floor plan.
‘I think it comes out in the closet of a back bedroom,’ he said in a hushed voice, picturing the small walk-in space in his head. With any luck, the bedroom would be vacant when they got up there.
The first step creaked horribly when Brewer stepped on to it.
‘Keep to the sides,’ he instructed.
The staircase was narrow and rickety, and it was pitch black once the door closed behind them. They trod carefully, feeling their way up slowly, but the floorboards still groaned under their weight.
Georgie felt the dust tickling her nose and throat, and tried to stifle a cough. She twitched her nose in an attempt to dispel the urge to sneeze. Any noise in the cramped passage would be magnified and echo up to any waiting hikers.
They managed to make it to the top of the staircase without plummeting through the weak floorboards. Brewer checked out the closet and it was quiet and dark, as was the bedroom beyond it. They crept to the bedroom door and peeked out onto the landing. The light was glowing up from the top of the stairs and they could see another light on under the closed door of one of the rooms at the front of the house. The room where the Grand was.
Brewer gave Georgie a questioning look. She nodded with wide eyes and held up two fingers. There was another hiker in there with the Grand.
He felt a knot of nervousness settle in his stomach. This was it. They had enough darts for the Grand and the other hiker but Georgie would need time to reload in between. They would have to shoot the Grand first, as he was the most powerful, but their original plan to hide until the rabies took effect was out of the question now. There wouldn’t be an opportunity like this again.
Brewer gave a sidelong glance at Georgie. She looked petrified and he could see the tranquiliser gun trembling in her small hands. He held out his own hand.
‘Give me the gun,’ he said softly.
She peered up at him, her eyes glinting in the semi-darkness. ‘What? Why?’
‘There’s no way for us to shoot him and stay hidden any more. I want you to go back down and hide somewhere. I’m going in alone.’
‘No.’ She shook her head vigorously. ‘You’re not a good enough shot. I can do it.’
‘I don’t want you going in there. I don’t want anything to happen to…’ He felt a hard lump form in his throat. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’
‘No. I’m not leaving you to face them alone. We can do it together,’ she whispered stubbornly. ‘Whatever happens, I will kill the Grand.’
Her face was so fiercely determined that Brewer believed what she said. He got a firmer grip on his knife.
‘Fine. You can shoot the Grand then run, while I attack with my knife and keep them occupied. I don’t want you in that room.’
She nodded half-heartedly but he knew she would disobey him; she was too strong-willed. They couldn’t waste any more time arguing about it though. Every second they stayed in the house; they risked being discovered. He made a vow to himself to try and keep her safe. He could take the brunt of the Grand’s force if Georgie didn’t flee.
‘I just want you to know,’ she murmured gently. ‘I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I can’t thank you enough for saving me that day.’
‘I’m glad I did,’ he said and affectionately ruffled her hair. ‘I love you as if you were my own kid.’
She grinned up at him. ‘Love you too, dad.’
‘Now let’s go and kill this bastard.’
Chapter 49
Brewer led the way along the landing with his knife held out in front of him. Georgie followed with the gun braced on her shoulder.
They walked slowly to the door that had the light burning underneath. There was no sound from the rest of the house. The room the Grand was in was located to the left of the staircase summit. Brewer kept glancing towards it but no hikers were coming up the stairs, or appearing in the foyer below.
They reached t
he door and paused outside. Brewer took a deep breath and tensed his right hand around the base of the knife. He met Georgie’s eyes and she gave a brief tilt of her head. She was ready.
She rested her finger on the trigger of the tranquiliser gun and moved closer to the door, ready to spring inside and shoot when Brewer opened it. The adrenaline was pumping so hard around her body that it was making her light-headed. The desire to kill the Grand was overwhelming.
Brewer stood to the side and reached out with his left hand to open the door. His fingers curled towards the black doorknob.
‘Welcome.’
The Grand’s voice suddenly burst into their heads.
Brewer’s hand froze millimetres from the door and there was a loud clatter as the gun fell to the floor from Georgie’s grasp. He tried to turn his head to look at her but found he couldn’t move. His own knife dropped to the floor from his now-splayed right hand.
‘Come in… I’ve been expecting you.’
Brewer watched in horror as the doorknob he’d been reaching for twisted and the door swung inwards. There was a female hiker on the other side and the Grand was standing beyond, facing the window with his back to them.
He pivoted slowly with a small smile teasing the corners of his mouth. Up close, he looked even older. There were deep wrinkles in the skin on his face and he had to be at least eighty years old.
Brewer felt his body lurch forward into the room against his will. He couldn’t seem to stop his legs moving; they carried on lifting jerkily, like a puppet. Georgie was brought in behind him and they were positioned side-by-side, facing the Grand. He could control them both at once, with ease. Brewer felt a lead weight settle in the pit of his stomach – he was even stronger than they had anticipated.
The Grand stood in front of them with his hands behind his back and studied their faces. The female hiker came to stand in their eye line. She was wearing a navy, velvet dress and black stockings. Her black hair hung in waves around her pale face.