by Anna Jacobs
She wished the house had double glazing, because that made it harder to break the window glass. If the house was hers, she’d have it put in. It must get very cold out here on the edge of the moors in winter.
When she went to bed, she took with her the phone, a heavy walking stick from the hall stand for self-defence and a chair to wedge behind the door. OK, there was a bolt on the door, but she’d feel better with a chair jammed under its handle as well. No one need know how timid she’d been, not even Dan. She didn’t want him to think she was a coward.
She didn’t switch on the bedroom light at first, but went to look out of the window, trying to work out whether she could escape that way. If she had a rope, she might manage it. It wasn’t a sheer wall: it had windows with wide stone sills and there were solid lintels above the windows on the ground floor, but only Spider-Man could have got up there without a ladder.
She was tired after her busy day. She’d soon get to sleep.
Only she couldn’t, just couldn’t. There were so many noises in the night that she hadn’t noticed before.
And she was more afraid than she’d been last night. As if trouble were coming nearer.
Could you sense such things?
Seventeen
Stu sat in his car, tapping his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. He toyed with the idea of capturing Gabi and telling her he’d been behind the theft of her furniture and money – and was about to steal her things again. He’d love to see her face when she found that out.
No, that was only a fantasy. She’d be able to tell the police who her attacker was if he did that. He’d have to send Josef and Nada in first to grab her quickly, before she could phone for help. Then they could tie her up, blindfold her and get on with stealing the furniture. He was quite sure Josef could handle that.
He wasn’t sure how they’d put the drugs into the furniture, but no doubt they had experience. He shivered. What if they got caught getting it through customs?
No, Radka’s people were too experienced. It’d be all right.
As daylight faded, Stu waited for the others to join him. He was starting to feel in control of his life again, now that he was away from Radka.
When Josef joined him at last, Nada was with him, but there was no sign of the removal truck.
He got out of the car to join them. ‘Where’s the truck?’
‘Change of plan,’ Nada said. ‘Radka’s decided she wants the woman taking out and never mind the furniture.’
Stu was so shocked by this casual announcement that he couldn’t form a single word, just stood there with his mouth open. Never, even in his wildest nightmares, would he have thought he’d get tangled up in murder.
‘No,’ he managed at last. ‘She has no reason to kill Gabi.’
‘If she thinks she has a reason, that’s what she’ll do. She’s a very jealous woman, so you must have made her think you cared for your ex.’
‘Well, I don’t. Not at all. But I won’t allow you to murder her. That’s going too far.’
Nada smiled and took out a small handgun. ‘If you cause any trouble, you’ll go too. Today you must show you’re loyal to Radka. This is your real test, and if you fail it, we’ll take you out.’
Stu froze, staring from the gun to Nada’s face, then to Josef’s. No sign of emotion, no sign of caring on either of those faces.
‘Well?’ Nada prompted.
He shuddered, still finding it hard to speak.
‘He’s weak,’ Josef said. ‘He should be taken out anyway.’
Stu rushed into speech. ‘No. No, I’m not weak. I was just … surprised. I wasn’t prepared for that.’
They exchanged glances, then continued to study him.
‘You will kill her, then, as Radka wishes?’ Josef asked.
‘Me kill her?’
‘You know how to fire a gun. You told Radka you’d been a member of a gun club for a while.’
‘Yes, but—’
Nada raised her weapon and pointed it at him, smiling.
He rushed into speech. ‘I’ll do it! I’ll kill her, if that’s what it takes!’
Nada smiled grimly. ‘What do you think, Josef?’
‘I don’t think he can do such a thing. He is weak.’
Stu interrupted them. ‘You don’t have to worry about me doing it. If it’s my life or hers, then of course she’ll have to go.’
‘Very well. We will give you the gun when we get into the house. Radka wants your ex to know that you’re the one killing her.’
Nada took over again. ‘Afterwards, we leave quickly. You can leave your car here. You won’t be coming back to England.’
‘How are we going to manage it?’ Stu asked, his voice sounding thin and strained to his own ears.
‘I will climb into her bedroom and capture the woman. You will wait downstairs with Nada. I will bring this Gabi downstairs. Then you will kill her.’
‘Let’s go, then.’ Stu didn’t let himself be sick. Somehow he controlled the nausea. This was a nightmare, the worst he’d ever had. Surely he’d wake up and find it was all a product of his imagination?
But he knew it wasn’t.
He knew he’d have to do it.
Through his night glasses, Dan watched the two strangers talking to Stu. He saw the horror on Stu’s face and the way he argued, then saw the woman threaten him. After some earnest talking, Stu nodded, then all three climbed into his car and drove slowly up the hill, not switching on the lights. That didn’t bode well.
He listened carefully. There was no sound from inside the house. The faint light was still on in the bedroom, though. Couldn’t she sleep? Could she too sense that trouble was brewing?
The hell with it! he decided suddenly. He was too far away up here to help her. He didn’t care what anyone told him: he was going closer. He’d be careful – of course he would – but he was moving in on them.
He was relieved that he’d retrieved his gun and that Leon’s operative was armed. He’d no doubt Radka’s people would be carrying weapons.
When he kicked a stone, it gave him an idea, and he bent to pick it up and slipped it in his pocket. It might be useful to have something to toss to one side, to draw attention away from himself.
He stopped running and began to move quietly as the car stopped outside the house. Had Gabrielle noticed them? She might have heard the car, but they were on the other side of the building from her, so she’d not be able to see who it was.
He was sure she’d have locked herself in the bedroom, which would delay the intruders a little, at least.
He was beginning to feel sick with anxiety about her safety. He couldn’t just run forward and tackle three people – two of them experienced thugs by the sound of things. He had to wait till he saw an opening.
Gabrielle heard a car coming up the lane. It didn’t stop at the other houses, but came right up to hers. And it didn’t sound like Dan’s car, not at all.
She slipped out of bed and went to stand by the window, opening it to listen, her heart thumping in her chest. No one knocked on the front door.
She rang the police and told them she had intruders and was scared. They said someone would be with her in half an hour.
She told them she could be raped or dead by then.
It made no difference.
Feeling shaky, she rang Leon’s number. Waiting for someone to call back was agony, because she could hear the intruders moving about but couldn’t see what they were doing.
Whatever they threatened, she wasn’t coming out of her bedroom. They’d have to break down the door to get to her.
How long would it take for help to arrive?
Her phone buzzed faintly and she answered at once, telling Leon what was going on.
‘Stay on the line and talk us through it. We have an operative nearby and Dan is out there too. Have you any idea how many people there are?’
‘No idea whatsoever. I’m at the other side of the house.’
She nearly
jumped out of her skin as someone hammered on the front door. Pressing against the bedroom door, she tried to listen to and analyze every sound.
They must feel very confident, to make so much noise. But why wouldn’t they be? The nearest house was a couple of hundred metres away and the rising wind would mask most of the sounds they made.
Dear heaven, what was going on?
There was the sound of a window smashing downstairs, then she heard the front door open. She saw by the line of brightness underneath her door that they’d switched on the lights downstairs.
‘Keep talking to us, Gabrielle,’ Leon urged.
But before she could say anything, there was a gunshot and the bedroom window smashed into pieces that were flung across the bedroom.
‘They’ve shot out my bedroom window!’ she yelled.
She picked up the walking stick as a dark figure smashed the shards of glass away from the bottom of the window frame and clambered into the room.
‘He’s climbed into the bedroom!’ She began screaming for help.
She lashed out with the walking stick, but the intruder laughed and grabbed it, yanking it out of her hand, nearly twisting her shoulder out of its socket as he did so.
Then he grabbed her, holding her easily as he covered her mouth with one hand.
She’d dropped the phone, didn’t know whether Leon could hear enough to know what was going on.
‘Shut up, or I’ll kill you now,’ her captor said.
Nada smiled at Stu as the screaming upstairs stopped abruptly. ‘He’s got her. He’s a good climber, Josef. He’s good at many things, can kill a person in a blink of an eye with his bare hands.’
Stu hoped his terror wasn’t showing.
There were a couple of bumps upstairs, then a door opened and heavy footsteps came down the stairs.
Josef came in, carrying Gabi, who had a gag in her mouth and a thin cord binding her hands together. He threw her to the floor and she lay there, staring round.
From across the room, Stu could see the pulse beating rapidly at her temple. He wanted to vomit, but he didn’t dare. He wanted to turn and flee, but then they’d kill him too.
So he stood there, waiting, waiting for their next orders, unable to bear the thought of what they wanted him to do, but determined to do what he had to in order not to be killed himself.
It’s self-defence, he told himself.
Nada moved a chair forward and dragged Gabi on to it by her hair.
Gabi somehow managed to wriggle off the chair before they could bind her to it. Nada kicked her hard in the ribs, causing her to whimper with pain. Again, she picked Gabi up and this time held her in place while Josef tied her to the chair.
Then they turned the chair round to face Stu, who’d been standing as far back as he could.
He saw the shock on Gabi’s face. He didn’t know what to do.
Josef moved across the room to stand beside him. He smiled as he came to a halt and handed over the gun, jerking his head towards the bound woman. ‘Don’t kill her yet. Radka will want a photo of it.’
‘What if I miss?’
He laughed. ‘It isn’t hard to kill at such close quarters. The gun’s ready to go. Just point it and fire. Fire as many times as necessary.’
Stu took the gun, making sure it was pointed down. He held it tightly but not too tightly, as he’d been taught.
Josef watched him carefully. ‘You seem to know how to hold it, at least. Have you ever killed anyone before?’
Stu shook his head.
‘Then this will be your first. But not your last, if you stay with Radka.’
The horror on Gabi’s face, the pleading look she was giving him, made Stu feel even worse, if that was possible. He shook his head slightly, trying to let her know that he couldn’t do anything to help her.
Best to concentrate on the gun. Only he couldn’t get the image of Gabi out of his mind as he waited: Gabi in bed with him, Gabi making love with him, Gabi cooking meals for him.
He watched numbly as Nada got out a mobile phone to take the photo.
He was beyond thinking, beyond anything but holding the gun steady.
Dan heard Gabrielle screaming but didn’t make the mistake of rushing blindly to her aid. He moved round the side of the house, since he could see Dixon and a woman standing in the kitchen.
Where was Gabrielle?
The front door was open. As he approached it, he had to duck back because a big man came down the stairs holding Gabrielle in his arms. She was bound and gagged. The man walked through to the rear of the house and Dan slipped inside, following him.
It didn’t seem to occur to the man that anyone else would be around, but he did kick the kitchen door shut with one foot.
Damn!
Dan moved back and crept through the house the other way, going into the unused sitting room and from it into the dining room, which led to the kitchen.
What he saw there made him freeze in shock. Gabrielle was tied to a kitchen chair and Stu was holding a semi-automatic, holding it as if he knew how to fire it.
‘Aim for the forehead,’ Josef instructed.
Where the hell was Leon’s operative?
Dan pulled out his gun and a stone as well. Could he distract them for long enough to save Gabrielle?
Stu raised the gun and aimed it carefully at Gabi, as he’d been taught.
She was moaning behind the gag, trying to speak, and he was glad he couldn’t make out the words; if she said anything intelligible, he might not be able to do this.
‘Come on!’ Josef snapped. ‘Don’t take all day about it. We have a long way to go tonight.’
Then Stu saw a tear track down Gabi’s cheek and he had to gulp down more vomit. He knew then that he couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t. Only if he didn’t, they’d kill him.
Suddenly, there was a clatter to one side of the kitchen and Nada spun round, gun at the ready.
A man appeared in the doorway and Nada blocked his way to Gabi. ‘Do it now!’ she yelled, adding something in her own language.
As the newcomer threw himself to one side, out of the line of fire, Stu realized he had one chance to avoid killing Gabi. He turned the gun on Josef and fired.
His hand was shaking so much he missed, but he fired again as the big man launched himself across the room, roaring in anger.
Josef fell to his knees, blood pouring from his chest, a look of astonishment on his face.
The woman was crouching, trying to get a clear shot at the newcomer.
When she saw Josef fall, she aimed her gun at Stu instead.
Another shot rang out from the back door and the woman fell to the ground. She scrabbled for the gun with her uninjured hand.
Since Dixon was standing, shivering like a leaf and sobbing, Dan rushed round the big table and kicked the gun away from her. She lay very still as he raised his own weapon.
‘Lie face down!’ he yelled.
She glared at him, but did so, looking more like a heap of dark-coloured clothing than a person.
Dan moved across to Dixon and snatched the gun from his hands, because it was wavering about wildly now and he was afraid someone would be shot by accident.
Leon’s man was framed in the back doorway. ‘There were only three,’ he said. He walked across to look at Josef. ‘This one’s dead. Good shot.’
‘He did it.’ Dan indicated Dixon as he moved to pull the gag from Gabrielle’s mouth. He used the kitchen scissors to cut the cord that bound her to the chair and secured her wrists. Then he pulled her into his arms, shaking with reaction now, leaving it to Leon’s man to secure the scene.
Gabrielle clung to him like a leech, not saying a word, shaking violently.
As he held her close, Dan checked to make sure that there was no further danger.
Leon’s man had handcuffed the woman. ‘You all right here?’ he asked.
‘You don’t think I’m frightened of him?’ He gestured to Dixon, who had collapsed into a chair and
was weeping hysterically.
‘I’ll take Gabrielle into the other room, give her time to recover.’
The man nodded, his eyes not leaving Dixon as he pulled out his mobile phone. ‘I’ll tell them what’s happened.’
‘I hope nothing ever scares me as much as that did,’ Dan said as he helped Gabrielle to walk out, hoping it’d help her if he talked to her gently. ‘When I saw what they were intending, I died a thousand deaths.’
He sat down on the sofa, pulling her on to his knee and into his arms. ‘You’ll be all right now, my darling.’
He could feel her nodding against his chest, but she hadn’t yet said a word.
‘Would you like a brandy?’
‘No.’
‘Anything?’
‘You, Dan. Just … hold me.’
There was the sound of a car outside. He was up immediately, pushing her quickly aside and going to stare out of the window. But the blue flashing light was a giveaway. ‘The police,’ he said unnecessarily.
Leon’s man came into the room, looking at the shaking woman. ‘I’ll let the police in and explain what’s been happening.’
Dan gathered Gabrielle to him again. ‘You don’t need to speak to them till you’re ready.’
‘I’m starting to feel human again. I thought … I thought I was going to die.’ She looked at him. ‘Stu saved my life. I can’t believe that.’
‘Surprised me, too.’
‘What will happen to him now?’
‘He’ll assist the police till he goes on trial, only it’ll be Leon and Interpol he’s helping, and if I’m any judge, he’ll sing loudly.’
‘Why did that Radka want me killed?’
‘Who knows? Perhaps she was jealous of you.’
‘Jealous of me? Impossible. She’s utterly gorgeous.’
‘She could be jealous because you’re normal and she must know she isn’t. Getting Dixon to kill you might also have been a way of testing how useful he’d be to her in a crisis. Who knows what really drives such twisted people?’
A police officer came to stand in the doorway. ‘Are you all right, Ms Newman? Anything I can get you?’