By Any Other Name

by Jarratt, Laura

  How did they find us? How? And why get Katie involved? Surely it was harder to lure her away than just to snatch me off the street again? Why did they take her? There has to be some reason.

  But then there are footsteps coming back to the van. I collapse into a pretend faint just before they open the door.

  They haul me out. I try to stay limp, but another ringing slap to the swollen side of my face makes me gasp in pain. I open my eyes to see the man who kidnapped Katya – Zach, they called him – standing over me, his hand raised again. He grins and lets me fall to the ground.

  ‘You owe me payment on account, bitch. Time to settle it.’

  The rope tying my ankles together is cut and I’m kicked hard. I pull myself on to my knees. He bends over me.

  ‘Up!’ he yells into my ear.

  I wobble to my feet, struggling to balance with my hands still tied behind my back, legs stiff from being cramped up in the van.

  He shoves me in the direction of the barn. ‘In there, move it.’

  His men follow behind, laughing at my attempts to walk on the uneven ground. Their boss sticks his foot out to try to trip me. I stagger but stay on my feet, just.

  I hope they didn’t do this to Katie. I can’t stand to think about how terrified she must feel right now, wherever she is. Bad enough for a normal child, but for her . . .

  Zach gives me a last shove as we enter the barn through a narrow side door and I go sprawling on the earth floor.

  ‘I could just shoot her like that,’ he says above me. ‘Or we could untie her and get some practice on a moving target. Pump a few bullets at random and see who gets most hits. Then time how long she takes to die.’ He laughs. ‘Hey, I could turn my back and do it – that’s how good I am.’

  The bile rises in my throat. I swear if I had a gun now I’d shoot him myself.

  I roll over and face them, on the ground, yes, but I still face them.

  ‘How did you find us?’

  He ignores me and nods to one of his men. ‘Give me my gun.’

  The man passes him a handgun. He points it at my head.

  ‘Where’s Katie?’ I scream. ‘What have you done with her?’ I realise I am going to die without knowing what’s happened to her. He’s going to shoot me right here.

  There’s nothing I can do . . . nothing . . .

  Will he kill her after he’s killed me?

  He smiles, and I know this is it.

  CRACK!!!

  But that’s not his gun. The noise came from outside. I open my eyes.

  The men are staring at the large sliding doors at the front of the barn. The noise came from beyond them.

  ‘Check it!’ Zach barks. ‘And deal with it.’ He raises the gun to my head again. ‘I don’t want interruptions.’

  ‘Too late,’ a voice says from our left.

  They spin around and I scramble on to my knees. It’s Matt . . .

  Matt? What . . .?

  . . . and he’s standing . . . standing . . . in the doorway of the barn, leaning on the door frame with a shotgun pointed right at my kidnapper’s head.

  ‘Who the hell are you?’ the man growls.

  Matt’s face is expressionless. ‘Drop the gun.’

  Zach’s hand remains in position, aiming right at my skull. ‘You don’t know who you’re dealing with here, son. You’ve got two cartridges in that shotgun and there are four of us.’

  ‘I’ve seen about five seconds of you,’ Matt says in a flat, cold voice, ‘and you don’t strike me as the type men would die for. Two’ll be enough. So drop the gun – last chance.’

  ‘Do him!’ Zach yells at the man nearest, throwing himself to the side.

  It doesn’t happen in slo-mo like in the films. It’s a flash of action from so many directions that I’m not sure I’ve seen it straight until . . .

  . . . a shot rings out, a loud crack, but it comes from the back of the barn not from Matt, and the revolver the man is raising in his hand goes clattering across the ground. There’s another shot a fraction of a second later, like a stutter effect after the first, and Zach yells out in pain. Matt’s ahead of me with the shotgun smoking . . . and at the back of the barn . . . it’s Joe with a matching shotgun. I get unsteadily to my feet.

  ‘Get out!’ Matt yells and I run for cover behind the hay bales at the rear. Joe grabs me as I pass him and throws me behind him. He dives back as a revolver bullet smacks into the metal post where his head was.

  ‘Four cartridges, dickhead, not two!’ Joe shouts in response. Then he takes my hand and pulls me towards another door at the back, hidden behind the hay bales. ‘Land Rover, now!’

  As I run through it, I hear a voice from inside, ‘You stupid fuck, you let her get away!’

  Another shot rings out from the revolver . . . there’s a dull thud. I look at Joe.

  ‘Shit, he just shot his own man.’ He shoves me hard. ‘Move!’

  We run for the Land Rover parked a few metres from the back door.

  Matt’s backing up towards it, covering us and himself. ‘Get in and stay in,’ he barks. ‘He’s a lunatic.’

  I scramble into the Land Rover, remembering how Zach shouted at the men trying to move the tractor that night, shouting how he’d blow their heads off.

  Matt gets into the jeep as Joe scrambles into the driver’s seat. ‘Floor it,’ Matt yells as a bullet smacks into the door near Joe. ‘Now!’

  Joe starts it up and slams his foot on the accelerator. We shoot off down the steep bank back towards the lane.

  Behind us, the men are making for a car parked further up the track. Zach’s clutching his gun arm and there’s blood all over him, but the revolver’s still in his hand. The man he shot is limping badly at the back, but still following.

  ‘They’re going to come after us,’ I cry out.

  Matt’s focusing on the track in front and barking instructions at Joe. ‘Police are on their way,’ he says, eyes on the road. ‘I called them as soon as Joe told me what was happening, but I knew they wouldn’t get here in time to get you out of there. Armed response takes forever.’

  My head’s almost shaken off my body as the jeep passes on to the tarmacked lane with a violent lurch and Joe speeds up.

  Matt leans over the seats. ‘Turn around.’ With a penknife he cuts through the cords still anchoring my wrists. I shake my head as I wiggle my fingers to get the blood flowing again.

  ‘How did Joe know what was happening?’

  ‘Tell you later – it’s complicated. He saw you get in the van and we worked out where they were headed and came after you.’

  ‘They’ve got Katie.’

  ‘Yeah, I figured.’

  The car’s gaining on us, but Joe’s speeding back down to the main road. Can he get there before they catch us up? And what do we do about Katie? I open my mouth to ask when Matt interrupts with a, ‘Keep your foot down!’

  His eyes are fixed on the car getting closer and closer, getting within range where they could easily take us out with bullets one by one.

  Joe keeps his foot stamped on the accelerator. Just as we’re nearly at the main road, the hitmen’s car pulls up by the open gate to a field and I see the boot pop.

  ‘What the . . .?’ Matt’s looking too, leaning over the seat. ‘Joe, slow down.’

  One of the men gets out and goes around to the back of the car. I hear Matt’s sharp intake of breath before the man pulls something . . . no, someone out of the boot. Matt guesses what’s happening before I do. He’s reloading the shotgun.

  They take my sister out of the boot and stand her in the middle of the lane. They cut the ropes on her hands and feet, but the gag’s still over her mouth.

  ‘K-K-K . . .’ I try to say her name but the word won’t come out. I’m opening and closing my mouth like a stupid drowning fish. Joe stops the car, leaning back to see.

  ‘Reload,’ Matt snaps at him.

  I expect the men to shoot Katie. I only realise that when they don’t, and instead push her thr
ough into the gateway of the field, I can hardly breathe with relief.

  They shove her hard. Tears roll down my face as she stands and looks at them in confusion. Her face is streaked with salt and snot like she’s been crying for hours and I’m surprised she hasn’t choked herself on that gag. Zach shoots at the ground next to her feet and her mouth strains to shriek out, but she can’t. Matt swears violently. I . . . I can’t move . . .

  Katie!

  It’s a silent scream like hers.

  ‘Run, little girl,’ Zach yells at her, and Katie finally understands. As she turns away, they shoot into the ground beside her. She breaks into a trot.

  They get back into the car and for a crazy moment I think Zach’s had a moment of compassion, that he’s leaving her behind to come after us.

  ‘Spin us round,’ Matt shouts. He’s there before me, guessing again, and Joe is already turning the wheel.

  Even after everything I’ve seen Zach do, I still can’t quite believe my eyes at what he does next. This time when he gets into the car, it’s into the driver’s seat. The others pile in the back, squashed up. It’s only afterwards I wonder if it was because they didn’t have the stomach for what he was going to do.

  He drives the car into the field and he aims it straight at Katie. She runs faster as she realises the car is coming towards her, as fast as I’ve ever seen her go, but it won’t be fast enough. Joe spins us round and then speeds towards them while they play with her like a cat after a mouse.

  Zach revs up and zooms at her, then veers and slows just before he hits her. And I know, I just know, he’s just waiting for us to catch up so we can see properly. See her die.

  ‘What do we do?’ Joe shouts.

  My stomach is retching as I watch my sister run down the field like a hunted animal.

  ‘Get out,’ Matt replies grimly as Katie turns, running down the field parallel to us, herded by the car.

  This time it nearly doesn’t stop and almost catches her before Zach slams the brakes on.

  I scream.

  The boys are out of the jeep and Katie’s hurtling in a diagonal down the field. Zach’s whooping from the car window as he pursues her. Matt steadies himself and Joe props the second shotgun against his brother’s legs. They say something to each other, but I can’t take it in because I’m still rooted to the back seat watching as Katie almost falls under the wheels of the car.

  Matt fires a shot at the car, while Joe sprints forward, yelling to Katie to turn towards him.

  She sees him and at first I think she’s too scared and confused to obey. But he’s yelling, ‘Katie, come here now,’ so loud that it must get through to her and it makes her change direction.

  Zach turns the car round and stops it for a second, revving the engine again loudly, and then, with a screech of the wheels, he puts his foot down and heads the car straight towards Katie.

  Faster and faster, speeding towards her.

  There’s no way Joe can get there. And nothing he can do if he does.

  Katie’s running as fast as she can.

  Joe’s at full speed down the field towards her. I remember what Gemma said about how he runs. She’s right – he’s fast, very fast. But he’s not as fast as a car.

  The tears are flowing down my face because I’m about to see my sister die in front of me and there’s nothing I can do. I get out of the jeep without knowing I’m doing it, and I can hear myself screaming . . .

  And then Matt shoots.

  One shot.

  Into the wheel of the car. The driver’s side.

  The car veers wildly and Zach fights to keep control. His foot comes off the accelerator – I see the car slow – and the tyre hangs flabby around the wheel, falling apart, blown out by Matt’s shot.

  Zach’s arm is injured, I remember, and I see one of the men struggling to reach over from the back seat to get control of the wheel.

  They’re still speeding towards Katie under their own momentum.

  Matt fires again, through the window of the car, and then he grabs the second shotgun and fires a third round at the back wheel. He misses but the car careers so violently I know he’s hit the driver. His fourth round buries itself in the rear wheel.

  Joe puts on a last burst of speed. I can’t believe how fast he sprints, except that I see him do it right here in front of me.

  He dives at Katie . . .

  . . . taking her down . . .

  . . . and the car rockets forward out of control . . . straight at them.

  The car hurtles past the spot where I saw their bodies hit the ground and I scream again – one long, frantic note.

  For a moment I think they’re dead, but then I see Joe’s rolled Katie out of the way. He lies over my sister and holds her on the ground as the car spins past to slam head first into a tree in the hedge. I watch it rebound and flip. It goes clear over the hedge to crash into the field beyond. Finally it comes to rest upside down, the shot-out wheels still spinning.

  I stare and stare . . . at Katie on the ground, with Joe slowly unpeeling himself and getting up . . . at the car broken and smashed in the field of corn . . . at Matt, standing there with the shotgun, another by his feet. His face is ashen and he wipes his sweaty forehead.

  ‘My brother can’t half run when he wants,’ he says, his voice shaking, and I sink to my knees on the grass.

  Later we’re sitting round my kitchen table drinking hot tea and I’m wrapped up in a sweatshirt and pyjama bottoms. The doctor said I’m feeling cold because of the shock. He’s sedated Katie and she’s asleep upstairs. No lasting damage, he said. A bit dehydrated, but she’ll do better at home than in hospital after all she’s been through, so he leaves us with the instructions to wake her for drinks, but otherwise to let her sleep through. Dad sits with her. He’ll be there all night.

  Tim W-P has been scrambled out to see us and we’re waiting for him to arrive while the local witness protection are covering our backs with extra security and a total media blackout of the incident so news doesn’t get out. The crash killed the men in the car. One of them was alive when the ambulance got there, but they pronounced him dead when he arrived at the hospital. Zach had been shot in the head and died instantly.

  The police were all over Matt until the witness protection information got through to them and then their attitude changed. Full investigation under way and all that business, but they didn’t arrest him. Joe’s still here with me and he explains to one of the officers how they found me.

  ‘My Aunty Jenny rang my mum to tell her to keep a lookout. They were searching in the village for a little girl who’d gone missing from the special school, and she might have wandered off on to farm land. When she told Mum the girl’s name was Katie, I went straight out to go round to Holly’s to see if I could help. You know, looking for Katie or something. Matt wanted to come too but,’ – and he grins ruefully here – ‘he’d only just come home today, only been back a few hours, and I didn’t think he was up to it, so I told him I’d call him if we needed him. Dad was out at a cattle auction or I’d have got him to help look too.’

  ‘Did you know Matt was coming back today? You never said.’ I interrupt.

  ‘No, typical Matt – he never told us. Just turned up on the doorstep in a taxi, grinning his head off and showing off how well he could walk on his new legs. We all thought he was going to be at the rehab centre for at least a few more weeks, but he’d been leading us on so he could surprise us.’ He laughs and goes on with his story. ‘When I went out to head over to Holly’s, I saw her going up our top field to the lane. I shouted at her, but she was too far away and couldn’t see me, so I sent her a text and when she didn’t answer I ran up there after her. I thought she might have seen Katie or something at first, but then I saw her get into the back of a white van. And I saw her face as she did. That’s when I guessed what was going on.’

  Tears sting in my eyes because if he hadn’t been so smart neither Katie nor I would be here now.

  ‘I saw
the van driver too, you see, and his hood was up so you couldn’t see his face. I hid behind the hedge and watched the direction the van took and I called Matt. He got Dad’s shotguns out of storage and made the 999 call while I ran back to the farm. We were lucky – from the lane they turned up, I had an idea where they might be going and the ground was wet after the rain so they left tracks when they went off-road. It’s been dry for days before today so theirs were the only tracks up on the hill.’

  ‘Your father’s shotguns –’ the officer begins.

  ‘He’s licensed. They’re for game shooting, but he doesn’t use them much, though he taught both me and Matt to shoot when we were kids. Obviously Matt learned properly in the army so he’s a way better shot than me.’

  They ask me if I have any idea how the hitmen found us. I tell them about the Camilla Facebook hate page and wonder if they could have seen that, even though it seems like a remote possibility. Then they ask me if I’ve had contact with anyone. I go red and I know I can’t hide it. I tell them about Tasha and they take my laptop away to look at it.

  Just when I think I’ll fall asleep with exhaustion at the table, Tim W-P arrives. He’s already been briefed on what happened. He tells me I’m brave again, and I tell him I wasn’t. At crunch time, when it came to saving Katie, I stood there screaming and crying. But he says I was brave when it counted and nobody could watch their autistic little sister go through what Katie did and stay as focused as somebody who isn’t related to her. Especially as focused as someone who’s fought in a war zone. And then Tim says something strange. He says, ‘It’s the same attitude as those hitmen really. Same thing – trained to kill. But your friend there is operating for the right side.’ His words keep repeating in my head. They feel horrible and wrong. To think of Matt and those men as being the same in any way . . . no . . . that’s just wrong! But then a tiny part of me sees how it’s right too. And I want to close my mind off to that part.

  One thing I still don’t understand is why they took Katie, not just me. And Tim says very gently, ‘Your kidnapper was a sick man. He’d do that to make you suffer more. Even his own men – the ones from the Chernokov incident – turned on him as soon as they got the chance. Even they were afraid of him.’