The earth is moving as we kiss.
For a second I wonder if it’s one of those magical moments like in books and films – they really do exist! Then, as Charlie ends the kiss and grabs my hand, pulling me away from the ledge and across, back into safer territory, I realise it’s all real.
It wasn’t the kiss which made the earth move. It was something else entirely.
What on earth just happened? An illegal quarry blast? Another earth tremor? An explosion? A warning of danger from the ancient standing stones up above us? It sounded similar to the noise we heard that night at the guest wing but somehow quieter.
“Did the earth just move for you too?” I attempt to quip, catching my breath and glancing at Charlie.
He nods. “It did. It was a proper earth tremor but very low on the Richter Scale I’d say. The ground seems to be getting quite unstable around here. Anyway, we can safely say it wasn’t from you kissing me,” he pauses, then adds cheekily, “though that was pretty good.”
“Hang on, excuse me, did you just say from me kissing you? I’m fairly certain it was you who kissed me.” In truth I’m not certain at all but I can’t let him think I’ve accosted him.
“Actually I think it was you who kissed me first,” he insists.
“Do you always have to be right?” I challenge.
His face breaks into a smile which reaches all the way to his eyes and he nods. “Usually, yeah.”
In a split second he steps forward, slips a hand around my waist and slowly eases me back against the wall of rock behind us. His kiss is rich, deep, yet surprisingly gentle. I feel myself starting to respond in spite of where we are. Maybe it’s because I’m in shock after my near fall. That’s my excuse anyway. The kiss seems to go on forever and, at the same time, it seems to end all too soon.
When he eventually releases me, he whispers in my ear, “Now I’ve kissed you.”
I lift a hand to my lips. “Yes. You have.”
He steps away but still holds my hand. “Right, let’s get down to business.”
“What?” I gasp, startled. “Up here? In the quarry? You kiss me and then you think we’re going to…”
“I meant business as in finding this exact spot where we can see the quarry to get this surveillance stuff under way.”
I flush with embarrassment. “Oh, right, yes, of course. I knew that. Not that I would have, well, you know, with you, up here. I mean I hardly know you and…”
“No, of course not,” he replies, with a smile which tells me he suspects otherwise.
“What are you doing?”
Charlie looks at me over his shoulder and I desperately try not to fidget. “My bottom’s going numb. It feels like we’ve been here for hours and nothing has happened. Apart from me getting increasingly numb, cold and hungry.”
“We’ve been here less than half an hour,” Charlie says in an amiable tone. “You’re not the most patient of people are you?”
“Half an hour? Seriously? Is that all?”
Charlie nods and turns back to the quarry where precisely zilch has happened since we arrived. I should have been spending my time concentrating and peering into the darkness of the quarry doing my night watchwoman duties. In reality I have spent my time thinking about and overanalysing that kiss as well as trying to achieve the impossible by finding a comfortable position on the cold quarry ledge.
Silence falls as Charlie once again lifts his night vision binoculars to his eyes and scans the quarry for any signs of activity.
“Look!” Charlie hisses and points towards the quarry hole. It’s vast and it’s dark but even I can make out some pinpricks of light in the distance.
A vehicle is slowly making its way across the base of the quarry. We watch in silence as it starts to bump and rattle its way up one of the tracks on the other side. After a few moments it parks in front of an area with six-foot-high metal fences around it.
Charlie has his binoculars trained on the vehicle and hands me a pair too, pointing in the direction of the van. I look through and tweak the controls on the binoculars until I get a clear picture. I focus in and see in the beam from the headlights of the vehicle there are some words spray painted on the sides of the fences - DANGER LOOSE ROCKS.
“What are they doing?” I hiss at Charlie.
“I don’t know yet,” he hisses back.
From what I can make out two men are moving some of the metal fences out of the way to reveal a cave-like recess in the rocks behind them. Next they haul the back doors of the van open and start to unload numerous large boxes.
“Can you see what’s in them? Does it say anything on the boxes?” I ask.
“No!” Charlie whisper-shouts back.
I fall silent as we watch box after box being carried into the cave. By the time the men slam the van doors shut and climb inside to start their journey out of the quarry, it’s pretty clear we’re witnessing some kind of smuggling operation.
Charlie lowers his binoculars.
“Well,” I say. “I think we have our answer about what’s going on at the quarry. They’re stashing stolen goods or something aren’t they?”
“Possibly. Interesting there was only one of the brothers in that van. Ryan was there but what about Liam? Are they both involved, or doesn’t he know what his little brother is up to?”
“So what happens next?” Now that the excitement is over I’m aware of how uncomfortable I feel again. Maybe I’m not cut out for this surveillance lark. All I want to do right now is get out of here. A spot on the lovely comfy sofa back in my flat is beckoning. I could curl up with a hot water bottle and a huge glass of wine. And probably a bar or two of chocolate as well. Or a custard slice. “Are you going to call the police?”
“No,” Charlie replies. “For starters we don’t know what’s in the boxes. It could be something legal, totally harmless, though I highly doubt it.”
“So what do we do then?”
Charlie gets to his feet and slips the binoculars back into his rucksack. “We don’t do anything. I’m going over there to see what’s in the boxes. You are going to make your way back to the car. When you get there you check and note the time. You wait thirty minutes inside the car with the doors locked. If I’m not back after thirty minutes then you get out of here. Drive home.”
“What? No, I…”
Charlie holds up a hand to silence me. “I’m in charge, remember? We agreed, out here, you do as I say. Plus, I promised Ennis I’d keep you out of trouble.”
“I’d rather come with you and…”
“No. You shouldn’t even be here. It’s too risky. You go back to the car. I’ll make sure you get safely back across the narrow ledge bit and then you go straight to the car. Promise me.”
Reluctantly I nod. I’m not happy about the prospect of making my way back to the car in the dark, through the woods and fields, on my own. I’m also not happy about leaving Charlie here all alone.
“Say it.” He leads me towards the dreaded narrow ledge. “I want to hear you say it. You have to promise me.”
“I promise.”
He helps me across the ledge. “Good. Now go.”
“You will be careful, won’t you?”
He grins back at me. “Now where would be the fun in that?”
“What about the local police? Shouldn’t you call this in and let them know what’s going on?”
“I will when I know what’s in those boxes. First I need to see what Ryan and his sidekicks have unloaded.”
I wait for a moment as he makes his way in the opposite direction; soon he’s merged into the darkness. I feel alone. Fearful. The urge to follow Charlie is strong. I’d rather be with him, I’d feel safer then.
Plus I’d get to see what’s in those boxes as well.
I glare at the narrow ledge and know I don’t fancy my chances trying to negotiate it again but a part of me is tempted, just so I can follow Charlie. Then I remember the ground shaking from the earlier tremor and it makes up my mind for
me. I don’t particularly want to trudge alone through the darkness to get back to the car either but right now it seems like the lesser of two evils.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
I fiddle with the zip on my jacket for what must be about the twentieth time in a few minutes. The clock in the dashboard reveals it is now twenty eight minutes since I arrived back at Charlie’s car and locked the doors as instructed. Give it thirty minutes he’d said, then go if I’m not back.
I check the clock again. Twenty nine minutes. Can I do it? Can I really drive off and leave him to God knows what fate? What if he’s been captured by the smugglers? What if he’s fallen down a hundred foot deep quarry hole and is injured or…
No, I tell myself. I shiver. Stop thinking like that.
I check the clock again.
Thirty minutes.
The keys to his car jangle in my pocket. I don’t want to have to attempt to drive this monster of a 4x4 back to the village.
I don’t want to leave Charlie up here.
I have to go and find him.
If I end up in trouble in some way then he’ll no doubt shout at me - a lot - for ignoring his instructions.
If I end up rescuing him, then he’ll be glad I ignored his orders.
The walk from the edge of the quarry to the car only took me about ten minutes before and I’m pretty certain I can remember the way back. I was in the Girl Guides for a while when I was about eight years old and took the navigation or orienteering badge, or whatever it was called.
I can handle this.
As I’d made my way back to the car before I’d looked for landmarks. A fallen tree off to the right. A large rock off the pathway to the left. I could use those again to guide me back to the quarry.
I start to pick my way back through the woodlands, all the time giving myself a mental pep talk. I can do this. It’s just a wood.
In the dark.
With creepy noises.
I’m alone as far as I know but anybody could be out there, lurking in the bushes. Watching me. Don’t think like that, I chastise myself. Think positive thoughts instead.
A twig snaps under my feet and I pause, holding my breath. Then I hear it. Dogs. The unmistakable sound of barking, getting nearer. Now I hear voices too, they’re shouting. I turn my head from one side to the other, trying to gauge what direction the noises are coming from through the thick undergrowth. Are the dogs heading towards me or (my preferred option) away from me? It’s almost impossible to tell. The woods are playing tricks on me, the breeze making the voices flow towards me one second and then fade to nothing the next.
Before I can make up my mind a hand comes out of nowhere and clamps over my mouth.
Terrified I try to struggle but whoever the hand belongs to is holding me tight, one arm around my waist, pulling me close. I try to scream but the hand muffles my cry so I’m unable to make little more than a stifled gasp.
God help me, I silently pray.
Charlie was right.
I should have driven off and left him as he’d told me to.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
“It’s OK,” a voice whispers in my ear. “Amber, it’s me, Charlie.”
Relief surges through me.
“Don’t say a word,” he whispers, before slowly removing his hand.
I turn and meet his gaze. He gestures with his head in the direction behind us. Is that the way he wants us to go? Is it the way back to the car? In the darkness I feel disorientated, unsure which way is which.
Charlie takes my hand and leads me off through the woods, running in his case and stumbling along in mine, through the thick undergrowth. I hope and pray we’re moving away from the voices and the dogs, which part of me is convinced are getting closer and louder. A tangle of brambles catches around my ankle and I lose my footing but Charlie manages to somehow keep me upright.
Lights from the torches appears to be both ahead and behind us now and I remind myself Charlie knows what’s he’s doing. He is leading us in the right direction.
“Can you swim?” he asks, briefly glancing at me, before turning his attention back to the increasingly dense undergrowth we’re battling our way through.
“What? Why?” I ask, confused. Now is not the time for small talk about what I can and cannot do.
“Can you?” he says again, agitation now creeping into his voice.
“Yes. Quite well actually but I don’t see what…”
“Good. We can’t get back to the car this way. If I’m right we’re going to end up on the edge of the quarry, on a different side to where we were earlier. It’s a dead end. We’ll be cornered. The only way to get out of here will be to jump off the edge and into a flooded disused quarry hole.”
“Jump?” Terror engulfs me. My fear of heights rears its ugly head again. He wants me to jump off a quarry ledge into water? Is he completely insane?
Charlie clasps my hand more tightly. “It’s not a big drop. Only thirty foot or so I think. You’ll be fine.”
Far too soon we reach the edge of the woods and the edge of the quarry. A seven-foot high wire fence blocks our path.
“Charlie! Now what?” Behind us I’m convinced the voices and barks are growing ever nearer. “We can’t jump, not with the fence.” I scan left and right, trying to make out if we can get around the edge of the quarry somewhere.
A noise at my feet makes me look down and I see Charlie scrambling underneath the fence, courtesy of a loose section. He pushes his way through and then crouches, offering me his hand, ready to help me. On the other side of the fence there’s a rocky promontory and then nothing but the black of the quarry.
“Amber, come on,” Charlie urges me through the fence.
Scrambling through the mud and damp grass, I feel Charlie’s hands haul me unceremoniously to the other side.
“Right, we run from here on the count of three and just jump at the edge.”
He’s backing up against the fence giving us as much space as possible to, quite literally, take a running jump.
I shake my head and pull my hand free of his. “Charlie. I can’t.”
He grabs my hand back. “Yes. You can. You have to.”
“No,” I shake my head again, on the verge of crying now. “I can’t. Why are we running away? Can’t you just flash your CCIA badge at them and arrest them or something?”
He shakes his head. “These aren’t the type of people who stand around patiently whilst you show them your ID. These are the kind of people who act first and ask questions later. Possibly, if you’re still alive by then that is. And we’re running not just because of what they might do to you but also because of what they might do to me. CCIA badge or not. This is a case of personal safety first.”
“But you have a gun,” I continue to argue my case.
“So do they and they have ferocious attack dogs too. Now can we jump?”
I shake my head. “No. You go.”
I expect him to shout, to swear, to try to force me, somehow manhandle me over the edge of the quarry with him. Instead he steps towards me, gently tilting my chin up with one hand. “You’re not a coward, Amber. I know you’re not. You’re a fighter. Determined. Strong. You can do this. You know you can. You’re not going to give in.”
I waiver under his intense gaze, my flimsy confidence bolstered slightly by his words. “I don’t know.”
Charlie slips a hand into mine and shrugs. “Fine. If you stay, I stay. No way am I leaving you here.”
The voices are so close now I can make out what they’re saying. Panic rises up in me, a flood of fear and doubt. Shouts of ‘this way’ and ‘over here’ punch their way through the woods.
Can I do this? Jump into the black quarry hole to land in freezing cold water?
Do I have any choice?
I glance at Charlie, his face clouded with uncertainty. He’s prepared to stay with me, risk his own life, risk God knows what, if I refuse to jump.
“They have guns,” he reminds me, his voice
calm, gazing at me intently. “And dogs.”
Suddenly something clicks in my brain and the fear of guns and dogs overtakes the fear of throwing myself off a cliff into an abyss.
Just like he probably knew it would.
I take a deep breath and nod.
“Yes?” he checks, seeking my assurance before we start to run.
I’m shaking all over and my teeth won’t stop chattering but I just manage to say, “Yes.”
Charlie grips my hand more tightly and starts to count.
One.
Two.
Three.
Jump.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
I still can’t stop shivering. The jump was terrifying and exciting and exhilarating all at the same time. But we did it. When I’d hit the water I’d felt disorientated, shocked by the cold but within seconds I’d felt Charlie’s arm around me, hauling me to the edge of the pool and safety. Hiding under a small ledge out of sight he had asked if I was OK. No injuries? I’d confirmed I was shaken but uninjured.
Now, soaking wet and shaking uncontrollably, I’m crouching amongst the bushes on the edge of the woods next to Charlie. He’s pulled off his own coat - a black leather jacket - and wrapped it around me. Yes, it’s wet as well but it’s another layer against the cold night air and feels strangely comforting as I snuggle into it. We wait to make sure there are no more voices or barks before slowly starting to make our way across the side of the quarry. We’re careful to stay out of sight, until we can begin the climb up the path which leads back towards the lane where the car is parked.
When we do eventually get back Charlie insists on checking the car is safe on his own; making sure it hasn’t been discovered or is being watched, under covert surveillance, people waiting for our return.
A few moments later he waves across at me and I attempt to sprint towards the car, my legs still feeling wobbly and weak.
Charlie’s already started the car and leans across to open the passenger door for me. I clamber inside and clip the seatbelt into place, dripping water all over the leather seats. Charlie turns the heater up full blast as we set off down the lane towards the village.
Amber Reed Mysteries Volume One: Romantic Comedy Mystery Series Box Set (Amber Reed Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency Mystery Box Set Book 1) Page 15