by H. Y. Hanna
Leah slumped back in her seat. She felt despair rise up and threaten to overwhelm her, and she had to fight to keep taking deep breaths, clenching her hands in her lap to stop their shaking. Then she felt the motion of the car slow. She looked up, hope fluttering again in her breast. She peered out the window. They were in some kind of traffic jam, caused by all the cars being funelled into a bottleneck by the traffic policeman. Each car had slowed to a crawl, as they all tried to navigate through the side street used for the detour. Leah’s fingers dug into the edge of her seat. This was her only chance, before the car sped up again and possibly joined the highway. She had to find a way to get out now.
Her eyes fell on the partition in front of her which divided the rear passenger compartment from the front driver area. Like all London taxi cabs, this one had those rear-facing, tip-up seats, to accommodate extra passengers. Leah leaned forwards and pulled down the seat in front of her. It revealed a shallow alcove in the partition where the seat normally fitted in, right behind the driver’s back. Leah prodded it with her fingers. The backing in the alcove felt a bit thinner, flimsier, than the rest of the partition. Bracing herself against the side of the taxi, she lifted her foot and gave the area a hard kick.
“Hey!” came an angry cry from the front of the taxi.
Leah felt a surge of triumph. She kicked again, with more vigour, then continued kicking in a ceaseless rhythm. The driver shouted again, then turned resolutely away to face forwards. She could see the muscles of his jaw spasm as he clenched his teeth and tried to ignore her. But she knew how annoying it was to have a child constantly kick the back of your seat during a flight—this was like the supersized version.
She kicked harder. The driver’s knuckles went white on the steering wheel, and his ears were red now, but he continued driving, trying to ignore her. Leah let out a loud jeering laugh and kicked again, drumming her feet against the partition, where she knew it would be against the small of his back.
He lost it and whirled around in his seat to yell curses in Chinese. His face was beetroot red now and spittle was coming from his mouth. Leah leaned forwards and pressed her face against the glass divider, giving him a mocking smile, then she lifted her other foot and started kicking again, jabbing her heel in as hard as she could.
The taxi was moving in jerky stops and starts now as the man tried to continue driving, whilst squirming in his seat and yelling at Leah. She glanced through the windscreen again and her heart sank. They were coming to the end of the side road and, once out, they would soon be joining the highway. She redoubled her efforts, bracing her back against the rear seat and battering with both feet now at the partition.
The car lurched wildly, nearly flinging Leah across the compartment. She gripped the door support and held on as the taxi pulled out of the side road and turned away from the line of cars. He drove rapidly, making a few turns, taking them farther and farther away from the lights and the other traffic. Leah looked fearfully out of the window. They seemed to be in a more industrial area now—the streets were dark and deserted, the buildings sat in shadow—and there were no other cars on the road. The man let out another vicious curse and pulled over with a jerk. Then he turned around in his seat, yanked the glass divider open and reached a hand through.
Leah shrank back. She hadn’t really planned things out when she started kicking the partition—it had been an impulsive act just to try and distract the driver. Now she scooted back, groping for a weapon. Her hand encountered her handbag and she pushed inside it desperately. Tissues, hair bands, wallet, lip balm… all useless. Then her fingers closed around something—something smooth and cylindrical—and she pulled it out. It was the mini-deodorant that Julia had given her that day in Whitechapel. She had shoved it in her handbag and completely forgotten about it.
Leah swung the deodorant up and pressed hard on the depressor, aiming it straight at the driver’s eyes.
“Aaaaahhh!”
He reeled back, clawing at his eyes, leaving the gap in the divider empty. Leah saw her chance. She jumped up and pushed herself through the opening. She couldn’t get all the way through, but she could reach with her fingers. Lunging, she stretched out her right hand and reached towards the master switches by the driver’s seat. Her eyes were focused on one button: the one for the central locking. Her fingers splayed out as she strained… closer… closer…
Something grabbed her, dealt her a blow that sent her sideways, knocking her head hard against the side of the car. Leah felt her arms clamped in a cruel grip that made her gasp out loud in pain. It was the driver, his eyes bloodshot and streaming, trying to shove her through the opening back into the passenger area. Leah screamed and tried to wrestle out of his grasp. She got her right arm free and strained forwards again.
Her fingers reached… stretched… strained closer…
Then she felt it. The smooth plastic of the button beneath her fingers. She pressed hard, heard the faint click of the central lock deactivating, and instantly retreated, trying to wriggle back into the passenger compartment.
Now the driver wouldn’t let her go and Leah felt like her arms were being pulled out of their sockets. She screamed again, then spat in the man’s face. It was a pathetic attempt, but perhaps because of the recent assault on his eyes, he reacted instinctively, dropping her arm and raising one hand in front of his face in a protective gesture. Leah jerked back, pulling her remaining arm free with a painful wrench and falling back into the passenger area. She scrambled to her feet and yanked on the door handle, nearly falling out of the car as the door suddenly swung open.
“Ta ma-duh!” the driver cursed and opened his own door.
Leah paused only long enough to snatch her bag out of the back seat, then she turned and ran.
CHAPTER 29
She ran, gasping and panting, with no thought of where she was going—just putting one foot in front of the other. Everything passed by in a grey blur. Leah reached the end of the road and paused to look wildly around. She seemed to be surrounded by construction sites and wide multi-lane roads, all eerily empty. Half-completed buildings, strung with scaffolding and cranes, loomed around her, and everywhere were those rows of plastic red and white blocks known as Jersey barriers, lining the sides of the roads.
She had thought that she was running in the direction of the detour, back to the stream of cars and the safety of other people, but now, faced with this deserted landscape, Leah felt real panic begin to take hold. She realised where she was—in the industrial zone behind Marina Bay, where roads were still being constructed and the area developed.
Leah glanced back. He was coming. She couldn’t linger—she had to keep moving. She took off again, pelting down the empty street. Halfway down, she saw a faint haze of light on the other side of a large parking lot, and without thinking, she swerved and scrambled over the plastic barriers, stumbling to her feet again and taking off across the open space. She heard a shout, the shuffling sounds of a body climbing the barriers, then the echo of footsteps pounding on the cement after her. Leah risked another glance back. He was gaining on her, his face twisted in an ugly snarl.
She ran faster, reaching the other side of the parking lot and bursting out into a wider street. It wasn’t the busy road she had hoped for—it seemed to be equally deserted, other than a few parked trucks and a porta cabin—but she thought she could hear the sounds of traffic a bit more loudly now. She took off with renewed hope, heading in the direction of the sound. Across the road, left turn, a side road, crossing another wide lot, right turn, down a back lane between dark buildings… throwing fearful glances over her shoulder all the while. The only thing she had was a head start and so far she was maintaining the distance between them.
But there was a stitch in her side now, burning painfully with each step she took, and her breath was coming in short gasps. She could feel herself beginning to tire—a sluggish heaviness taking over her legs, making each step feel like more and more of an effort. Leah pressed on, but
she knew that she couldn’t keep running like this much longer.
But the sounds were getting louder too—not just traffic but people talking, shouting, laughing. Crowds. Large crowds. Leah ran desperately towards the noise, clutching a hand to her ribs, her breath coming in choking gasps.
Then she was stumbling out of the side road and into a wide, multi-lane street filled with people. The sudden change from the empty streets to a sea of bodies was a shock and Leah staggered, disorientated, into the crowd. She let herself be swept along with their movements while she tried to catch her breath and get her bearings.
This was Marina Boulevard, she realised—the wide road that ran along the west side of Marina Bay. It was normally busy with traffic, but had been closed off tonight. She remembered that the road was being closed for the Singapore Celebration Parade. There was no parade on the road now—perhaps it had gone through earlier—but it was still full of people milling excitedly around. It felt like most of the city had turned up here to celebrate.
Leah thought of the man and turned quickly to look back through the crowd. The sea of faces surged together, then parted again and she saw him, standing at the mouth of the side road that she had just come out of. Their eyes met through the crowd. He bared his teeth and came after her.
Leah whirled around and flung herself into the throng of people, murmuring excuses as she pushed through the bodies. She didn’t dare look back again—it would only slow her down—but her eyes darted desperately around for some kind of help. Then she saw him, standing there at the side of the road, watching the crowds with a bored expression on his face. A policeman.
Leah ran up to him. “You have to… You have to… There’s a man…” she gasped.
“Miss?” The policeman looked at her askance. “Are you okay, miss?”
Leah nodded wordlessly, still trying to catch her breath. Turning, she jabbed a finger back the way she had come. “There’s a man… He’s following me…”
The policeman looked at her sharply, then followed the direction of her pointing finger. “Where is he?”
“He’s…” Leah stood on tiptoe, straining to see. “Oh. He’s gone now… but he was there just a moment ago! He was!” she insisted, seeing the policeman’s sceptical look. “He was following me… He… He was trying to catch me… I was in his car and he…”
“May I ask why you were in his car, if you were concerned for your safety?” said the policeman.
“I was kidnapped!” said Leah. “It looked like a taxi… but then when I got in, he locked all the doors and I couldn’t get out… and then I asked him to stop, but he wouldn’t listen… and I had to kick him… I had to find a way to get out…”
The policeman was looking at her even more sceptically now. “I’m sorry, miss? Are you saying that a man tried to abduct you in his car?”
“Yes!” said Leah impatiently. “Only it wasn’t a normal car—it was a taxi—and the man was pretending to be a taxi driver, but then I realised he wasn’t… He was the man who followed me before, in London… and he wants to get me now. He was there!” she insisted again, jabbing her finger at the crowd. “He was behind me and he’s trying to catch me again! He—”
Leah faltered to a stop as she saw the policeman looking at her oddly. She realised suddenly how she must look, with her hair in a wild tangle, her clothes in disarray, her face blotchy from fear and sweaty from the running. She saw him lean towards her and sniff surreptitiously, and wondered if he thought she was drunk. She realised that she certainly sounded like it: running up, barely coherent, and babbling about abductions and fake taxis and a man following her in London.
She took a deep breath and said in a calmer voice, “I want to make a report. This isn’t a joke. There really is a man trying to harm me.”
The policeman gave her another uncertain look, then pointed farther down the road. “My partner is down there. Go and find him—he’ll take you to the nearest police post where you can file your report.”
“But—” Leah looked uncomfortably at the sea of people surging past her. “Can’t you come with me?”
The policeman shook his head. “No, I have to stay here. But he’s not far, my partner. Just keep moving with these people and you will come to him. He will be standing at the side of the road as well.”
Leah bit her lip. She had no choice. She couldn’t stand here next to this policeman forever anyway. She squared her shoulders and joined the crowd again, walking as fast as she could through the throng. The driver must have seen her walk up to the policeman—it was probably what had caused him to melt out of sight—and it might be enough to put him off coming after her again. She didn’t relax her guard though and, after a while, she began to feel her nerves tightening again. She searched in vain for another familiar figure in uniform. Surely she should have reached the other policeman by now?
Then something made her glance over her shoulder and her stomach tightened with fear.
Her pursuer was behind her again.
Coming fast through the crowd, his eyes on her. He must have simply been laying low, waiting for her to leave the vicinity of the policeman, before he made his move once more. Now he was coming after her and there was no mistaking the murderous intent in his black eyes.
CHAPTER 30
Leah whirled and pushed blindly into the crowd, weaving erratically through the bodies. She hunched her shoulders and tried to walk half crouching, hoping that this way she would be less visible. He would be expecting her to continue down this road, she thought, so she changed directions and cut through the crowd at right angles, making for the opposite side of the road instead. She stumbled out on the opposite side, onto a wide pavement.
This was the side of the road by Marina Bay. Beyond the wide expanse of grass by the pavement, she could see the dark waters of the bay, shimmering with the reflected lights of the city. Impulsively, she went towards it, crossing the grassed area which seemed to be filled with dark shapes: various tents, trailers, piles of costumes, props, and assorted floats. Leah walked hurriedly between them. The parade must have passed by here earlier and this was where equipment and props had been dumped for collecting later.
Leah threw a glance over her shoulder. She saw the man also emerge from the crowd and stand there looking around in frustration. He must have seen her coming in this direction but wasn’t sure where she was. She could see him scowling as he stood on tiptoes and peered over people’s heads in the crowd, obviously trying to find her.
Leah felt a sense of elation. If she could shake him off, then she could get away. She wasn’t going to waste any more time trying to find another policeman here—she just wanted to get back to Toran now. Once she was with Toran, she knew she would be safe.
Then her elation drained away as she saw the man suddenly turn and come purposefully across the grass towards her. Had he seen her? The light from the street didn’t penetrate this far, so most of this area was in shadow. Leah knew that she was standing in the dark next to a trailer and she didn’t think she was visible from the road, but she wasn’t hanging around to find out.
She turned and darted behind the next nearest structure—a large parade float with a giantpapier-mâché goldfish frolicking amongst cardboard waves, placed so that it was parallel to the road. She ran along its length, keeping well behind the body of the goldfish, her heart thumping in her throat. She realised now that it was a mistake to leave the safety of the crowds. Even if he could see her, he couldn’t do anything to her there, whereas here…
Leah reached the other end of the float and jerked to a stop. There was a gap of open space between here and the next structure: a half-collapsed tent. If she broke cover and ran across to the tent, the man would see her immediately and come straight for her. At the moment, he might suspect that she had come this way, but he still wasn’t sure. Leah peeked around the edge of the float. She could see him now, approaching steadily, but with his head down, casting from side to side, like a hound trying to pick up a scent.
No, she couldn’t run out into the open. But she couldn’t just stand here either. In a minute, he would come around the other end of the float and see her. Leah looked around in a panic, then scrambled up onto the float, crawling between the cardboard cut-out waves until she reached the side of the giant goldfish. She flattened herself to the base of the float, tucking her body into the shadows next to the enormous tail. Then she waited.
He came by in a second. She could hear the sounds of his harsh breathing, but she didn’t dare raise her head to look. Instead, she closed her eyes and strained her ears, trying to picture his movements from the sounds he was making. He was moving slowly along the length of the float like she had done earlier. Pausing. Turning around. Walking back a few steps. Pausing again.
What was he doing? Why had he stopped? Had he seen her? Was he planning to climb up onto the float as well?
Leah’s whole body tensed. Every fibre of her being wanted to jump up and run, not lie here waiting to be discovered, and she had to curl her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms to fight the urge.
Finally, just when she thought she couldn’t bear it any longer, she heard him moving again. He was moving away, retreating.
Then there was silence. Just the faint sounds of noise and laughter coming from the crowds in the street.
Leah counted to twenty before allowing herself to rise cautiously to her knees. She peered at the darkness around her. A flash of movement in the distance caught her eye. He had gone farther across the grass lawn and was now down by the water, standing at the rail and looking around. Leah crawled back to the edge of the float and—keeping her eye on the figure by the water—slithered down to the ground. Then she turned and ran back towards the street, heading for the safety of the crowds again.