Hikers - The Collection (Complete Box Set of 5 Books)

by Lauren Algeo

  Ellen felt sick with dread. What was the boy going to make Adders do?

  Daniel lifted his head and stared straight past her. ‘Faster, faster,’ he urged.

  The moment his gaze shifted, Ellen threw her body to the side. She landed hard on her right shoulder as her arms failed to respond in time to break her fall. Daniel’s cruel laughter echoed in her mind as she clawed her way along the grass with limbs that felt like lead. She had to regain control.

  Brewer listened to the exchange up ahead with increasing panic. The boy didn’t know that he could hear everything he was whispering to Ellen’s mind. Brewer needed to get to them before Adders reached him.

  He was close enough to see Daniel’s face in detail and Ellen’s ponytail blowing in the wind. The boy suddenly looked straight at him and Ellen’s body dropped to the side. Over the thudding of his heart, he could hear a car engine growing increasingly louder behind him.

  His breath wheezed out in gasps and his lungs burned. He wasn’t as fit as he used to be and his body wouldn’t push any harder. The car engine rapidly closed in and he saw Daniel’s lips curve into a grin as he let out a loud laugh.

  Brewer risked a glance over his shoulder and saw how close the Range Rover was. Adders was behind the wheel, staring ahead and gripping on tightly. The car bumped and rattled over the uneven ground, coming directly towards him. He’d never make it to Ellen in time.

  ‘Adders, stop!’ he shouted desperately.

  Adders’ vacant expression didn’t falter. The car was only fifty feet away now and would hit him dead on in a matter of seconds. Brewer turned to face it then launched his body to the left at the last moment. He almost made it clear but the bumper of the car struck his trailing leg, sending him rolling to the grass. Pain shot up to his hip and he bit back a cry as his body jolted to a stop. He was sure nothing was broken but he’d have some severe bruising.

  The car screeched to a halt beside him and the driver’s door flung open before he could get to his feet.

  ‘He’s trying to hurt Ellen,’ Daniel told Adders. ‘You have to stop him.’

  Brewer made it on to his knees as Adders leapt from the car with a growl. His face was twisted with rage and his cheeks were flushed.

  ‘Adders, no.’ Brewer held up a hand in protest. ‘You can’t listen to him.’

  Adders stormed towards him without replying and hoisted him up by the back of his jumper. Fresh pain raced down his leg as he staggered to the side. He tried to twist out of Adders’ grasp only the man was too strong. He was a couple of inches shorter than Brewer but he was carrying a few extra stone of muscle.

  ‘Wait!’ Brewer shouted, struggling to get free.

  ‘You keep away from her,’ Adders roared.

  He yanked Brewer round to face him and punched him hard on the cheek. Brewer’s head snapped to the right and fire spread across his face. The fist had connected solidly and the world spun in his vision for a moment. He shoved Adders with as much force as he could muster then started to limp backwards.

  ‘You have to fight him!’ he yelled at the advancing man.

  ‘Turn around,’ Daniel whispered. ‘You should see this.’

  Brewer knew the boy was talking to Ellen this time. He couldn’t let her see him like this. He had basic combat training but a physical brawl with Adders would be no contest. His burly colleague had the extra power of Daniel behind him too. There had to be some other way to stop him. If he could appeal to his mind through Daniel’s hold then Adders might be able to release himself. Surely the boy couldn’t be in too deep with hardly any build up?

  Adders swung another punch but Brewer ducked away and his fist glanced harmlessly off the side of his head. The only plus Brewer could see in this situation was that he had successfully persuaded Adders to leave his gun at Downing Street that morning, on the lie that it might frighten the boy. If there had been a gun involved, this would already have been over.

  The two men danced around each other and Brewer braced himself to dodge another hit. Adders took him by surprise and charged forward to rugby tackle him to the ground instead.

  ‘That’s it,’ Daniel urged. ‘Get him pinned. Stop him from hurting her.’

  Brewer squirmed from his grasp and managed to roll away. Adders struck him on the back of the head and they wrestled with each other in the damp grass. Grunts of effort filled the quiet air. Brewer lashed out with his own fist and caught Adders on the temple but the other man barely flinched. Daniel had Adders too focussed on immobilising him.

  Adders managed to snake an arm around his neck and he pulled his head back in a chokehold. He twisted Brewer’s body until he was face down on the ground and pushed a knee into his back to keep him still.

  ‘There we go.’ There was no denying the glee in Daniel’s tone. ‘Squeeze.’

  ‘Don’t listen… to him,’ Brewer choked out only the forearm pressed harder against his throat.

  Brewer’s arms flailed uselessly against his attacker. Daniel had too much control; he wasn’t going to be able to fight him off. Tears sprang up in his eyes and his vision blurred as it became harder to breathe.

  Please don’t let Ellen be watching, Brewer begged. Please let her get away.

  Their plan had been so perfect and now it had fallen apart. Daniel’s curiosity had gotten the better of them and the boy’s power was too great. He hadn’t even been inside Brewer’s head but he didn’t need to – once he’d used Adders to kill him, then disposed of the man, he could get all the answers he wanted from a broken Ellen.

  Brewer moaned with effort as he tried harder to free himself from the unrelenting, strangling arm. His mind was starting to feel fuzzy with the lack of oxygen.

  Adders moved his knee higher and Brewer felt something shift in his back pocket. The insulin syringe! He strained his right arm to bring it behind him and stretched his hand to access his pocket. He didn’t have much time left. His trembling fingers closed around the syringe and he yanked it out. With his thumb, he managed to knock off the safety cap and he plunged the needle upwards, aiming for the jugular vein in Adders’ neck. It was the only way to knock him out quickly enough. Brewer was careful to only press down a small amount – he didn’t want to intentionally kill the man.

  Adders gave a yelp as the insulin was injected into his blood stream. He snatched at the syringe dangling from his neck and threw it to the side as he rocked backwards in surprise. His choking hold released.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ he asked in a high voice that sounded more like himself.

  Brewer didn’t waste time in turning around to see if the shock had allowed Adders to regain control of his mind. He lurched upwards, knocking Adders from his back, and staggered to his feet. He wheezed deeply, forcing air back into his starved lungs. His body was trembling violently with adrenaline and he concentrated on getting his wobbly legs moving.

  Adders was no longer a threat, even with Daniel’s power. That much insulin in his system would do some serious damage. He was likely to be unconscious within moments. A dose that high could kill him without medical help but Brewer didn’t stop to think about it. Adders had tried to murder him, regardless of whether he’d been in control or not. Brewer had to stop him in any way he could – he couldn’t allow the guilt to come flooding through.

  Ellen. He focussed his gaze on her. She was just ahead and staring towards him with tears in her eyes. She was on her hands and knees on the grass with her neck craned at an awkward angle to look at him. Daniel still had hold of her.

  Ellen moaned softly as she watched Scott struggle beneath Adders. The other man was so strong and he had Daniel’s rage behind him. She didn’t want to look but Daniel had forced her to turn around.

  She’d only managed to drag herself a few feet before he’d asserted his power again and stopped her. She wanted to run over to help Scott but she couldn’t move. She could only watch in horror as Adders strangled her husband.

  There was a moment of confusion as Scott quit struggling an
d she feared that he’d passed out, but then she saw his hand plunge upwards. She recognised the shape of the syringe in his fingers – he was injecting Adders with the insulin. As relieved as she was that Scott had found a way to stop the attack, her heart still constricted painfully at the sight of it. Their back-up syringe was gone. They only had one shot left now. One syringe tucked in her pocket that she wasn’t able to reach.

  Daniel turned to face her with narrowed eyes. ‘What was in there?’ he demanded out loud.

  Ellen shook her head. Nothing, she replied in her mind. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Lucy’s first grade teacher was called Mrs Carter. They had a class rabbit called Hoppy.

  Daniel growled in her head as she chanted through meaningless information again. ‘Tell me!’ he roared, digging deeper.

  He was aggressively ransacking through her memories and her head felt as if it would explode. She clenched her jaw and repeated details about Lucy’s childhood. It seemed to be an effective way of confusing his hunt.

  Her eyes darted back towards Scott and she saw him stagger to his feet, knocking Adders to the ground behind him. Adders would be no further threat to them and she hoped the poor man wouldn’t die from the insulin overdose. It wasn’t his fault that Daniel had tried to use him to kill Scott.

  Daniel slammed against her mind in frustration then suddenly the unpleasant sensation stopped. She realised that he was looking at Scott now too as he limped in their direction.

  ‘Get up,’ Daniel commanded.

  Ellen got slowly to her feet. Her limbs felt as though they had a life of their own. Daniel edged forward so he was standing between her and Scott.

  She felt his grip on her body ease as he reached out to Scott’s mind and she seized the opportunity. Her right hand inched down to her pocket and she tugged out her syringe painfully slowly. Every movement took so much effort and her fingers felt numb.

  Daniel retreated from Scott’s head faster than she was expecting and he regained full control of her before she had a tight enough grip on the syringe. A whimper of anguish sighed from her lips as the precious insulin fell from her fingertips and tumbled soundlessly to the grass.

  Daniel raised a hand in front of him. ‘Stop right there.’

  Chapter 47

  Brewer skidded to a halt but it was only partly due to Daniel’s demand. His eyes had been trained on Ellen as he ran and he’d seen her fumble with the syringe then drop it as Daniel overwhelmed her again.

  Despair filled his heart. He’d been praying that she’d be able to find a way to inject Daniel while he distracted him. Now that his syringe was gone, their only hope of killing the boy was lying on the ground, out of reach of both of them.

  ‘Your wife is very close to the edge,’ Daniel taunted him. ‘It would be a shame to see her fall.’

  The boy was standing in front of Ellen but Brewer could see her head and shoulders clearly above him. Her eyes were wide and her face was blotchy from the wind and tears. She was only twenty feet or so away from the edge of the cliffs and he was about that far away from Daniel. He didn’t think he’d be able to get to the syringe and inject the boy before he managed to force her over the drop. The risk was too great.

  ‘Ok, ok,’ he said, holding up both his palms in surrender. ‘I’m staying still.’

  Daniel gave a curt nod. ‘I want answers.’

  ‘You can have them.’

  Brewer’s mind raced through scenarios to get them out of this. Saving Ellen was his top priority; he couldn’t watch her plummet to her death. He couldn’t see another woman he loved die; it would break him.

  There was a chance that if he drew Daniel into his mind, Ellen would be able to run to safety. The boy had briefly tried to search his thoughts on his way towards them and Ellen had managed to reach into her pocket while his focus on her lapsed. He met her eyes again and tried to silently convey what he wanted.

  Save yourself, he pleaded. Get away as soon as you can.

  She only blinked in response.

  ‘Why would you hide your marriage?’ Daniel asked him out loud.

  Brewer could feel the faint scratch as the boy hovered at the edge of his mind. Brewer had been able to block him so far but he’d need to subtly give in soon in order to free Ellen.

  ‘We didn’t want to bring our relationship to the work place,’ Brewer lied. ‘People would think she’d only been given the job because she’s my wife.’

  ‘I don’t believe you. Your behaviour suggests there is something far bigger going on here.’ The boy shifted his weight to glance behind at Ellen then faced Brewer again. ‘I’m very curious about your reaction to this situation.’ He gestured towards Adders’ motionless body near the car. ‘Your colleague tried to kill you, completely unprovoked, yet you didn’t once question why. You merely produced a mystery drug to inject him with.’

  Daniel’s fingers pointed behind him. ‘Your wife is paralysed there and you don’t want to know how. I’m just a boy, yet you aren’t trying to reprimand or question me. You know too much.’

  Brewer nodded. ‘I know what you are.’

  Daniel raised his left eyebrow a fraction. ‘And what is that?’

  ‘You’re a hiker.’ Brewer took a small step forward. ‘Your father was a hiker, and his father before him, all the way back to the Grand.’

  He could see from Daniel’s taut facial muscles that he’d never heard that name before. The boy had thought he was the only one. That he was unique in his abilities.

  ‘You’re nothing special,’ Brewer glared at him. ‘I’ve killed dozens like you before. Even ones more powerful.’

  His words had the desired effect and Daniel tried to burst into his mind to find out what he was talking about. He believed what Brewer was saying and needed to find out who he was. Brewer’s gaze flitted to Ellen and he saw her shoulders slump as Daniel retreated from her mind to redirect his efforts at him. He let Daniel in part way then physically rushed towards him.

  ‘Ellen, run!’ he yelled as he slammed into Daniel’s small body. ‘Get to the car!’

  She hesitated for a moment then he saw her sprinting for the car as he and Daniel landed heavily on the ground. Pain bloomed in his side as he jarred his hip again and he heard the crunch of bone as Daniel’s arm was crushed beneath his weight. The boy growled low in his throat like an animal and they came to a halt in a tangled heap.

  The boy would be able to heal his injuries so Brewer needed to take advantage before that could happen. He grabbed Daniel’s broken left arm and twisted it behind his back. Daniel bucked and struggled against him but this time Brewer had the weight advantage.

  ‘Let me go!’ Daniel shouted in his mind.

  His presence was far more powerful than it had been – anger only fuelled his gift. He ransacked through memories aggressively and Brewer gritted his teeth to focus on blocking him out as random visions flashed in front of his eyes.

  There were Marcus and Trudy, laughing at his birthday dinner. He saw their neighbour, James, chatting over the garden fence. Ellen smiling at him across the breakfast table. Daniel was rapidly speeding back in time to find the place that housed the memories of hikers. His desire to find out what Brewer had been talking about only made him stronger.

  Brewer’s grip on Daniel’s squirming body began to lessen as he fought against him mentally. He had to hold on to him until Ellen got away safely. He checked her progress and saw that she had almost reached the car. As soon as she drove away, he could go for the fallen syringe and try to inject Daniel. Failing that, he would have to attempt to throw the boy over the cliff edge and hope that he drowned. He had no idea if that would actually kill a hiker.

  ‘Ah, so she wasn’t your first wife,’ Daniel giggled with glee as he finally latched onto something of use to him.

  Oh god. Brewer’s stomach convulsed as a vision of Karen filled his mind. How had Daniel managed to locate her so fast? He’d always tried to keep her so well hidden. He saw the blurry tinge of time on the image of her face and
realised that Daniel hadn’t made it back that far yet, the boy had found her memory in more recent thoughts.

  On the day he’d married Ellen, Karen had been on his mind a lot. A small part of him had still felt as though he was betraying her, even though he’d been widowed for years and she would have wanted him to be happy. That was where Daniel had found her – while he’d been prying into his marriage to Ellen.

  Something about seeing his first wife’s face so clearly froze Brewer’s body. His numb fingers no longer seemed to be able to hold on to Daniel and the boy began to wriggle free. Finding Karen was the key to unlocking other painful memories and Brewer forced himself to let go of Daniel’s body completely in order to protect the secrets in his head. He didn’t want the evil boy to get any of the answers he was so desperately seeking.

  Daniel crawled away, with his broken arm dangling uselessly beside him, then he jumped to his feet. ‘Stop the car,’ he commanded.

  Shit. Brewer had registered the purr of the car engine and hoped Ellen would be able to drive away. He’d been expecting the boy to remain occupied with his thoughts however he had immediately sought her out.

  Brewer started to stand up on his shaky legs but Daniel was already sprinting to the car.

  ‘Ellen, go!’ he shouted hoarsely – his throat still swollen from the force of Adders’ chokehold.

  He could see her shadow hunched behind the wheel but the car didn’t move. Why wasn’t she driving? Out of pure instinct, he turned back and retrieved the fallen syringe from the grass before racing for the car.

  ‘You’ve never thought you could live up to her,’ Daniel’s taunting voice echoed through his mind second-hand. ‘You always thought you were inferior to his beloved Karen. No one can compete with a ghost.’

  ‘Stop it!’ Brewer cried. He propelled his body forward, ignoring the numerous aches and pains in his bones.

  Daniel seemed to be moving faster than humanly possible on his short legs and he reached the front passenger door before Brewer was even halfway across to the car.