by Jacqui Rose
He turned to run again but he knew it was pointless, even before Huang said, ‘There’s nowhere to go, Mr Sadler, you’re surrounded. There’s no way out of here for you. This is it, Mr Sadler, this is your goodbye.’
As Huang talked, he walked towards the concrete stairs and a couple of Huang’s men grabbed Vaughn, dragging him along behind.
On the next floor up, Huang strode towards the far end of another passageway and entered a large room. The wind had got up and was driving the rain through the smashed-out windows. Huang pointed to one of his men carrying the large rectangular bag.
‘Put it over there.’
Vaughn, with his heart pounding, watched wide-eyed as the man unzipped a collapsible, portable table from the bag and it took only a matter of seconds for Huang’s henchman to unfold the aluminium legs and place it by the far end of the room.
Huang smiled, watching his men tie Vaughn to the table and, panicking, Vaughn blurted out his words. ‘What are you going to do? What the fuck are you going to do?’
Before replying, Huang turned to his men. ‘You can leave us now …’ He then walked across to where Vaughn was tied and looked down on him. ‘What am I going to do? Like I told Mr Jennings just now, I’m going to have lots of fun.’
Vaughn lay tied up on the bed with the ropes cutting into his wrists, making it hard for him to adjust himself and causing searing pain to shoot through his body every time he moved. He watched Huang open a black briefcase and take out a scalpel.
Vaughn could hear his own breathing as he watched Huang walk over to him holding the sharp, pointed blade in the air.
At the table, Huang held the ends of Vaughn’s hair in between his fingers. ‘I should warn you, Mr Sadler, this isn’t going to be a swift execution. That’s not what I was paid to do and I’m a man of my word.’
Huang smiled and placed the scalpel against Vaughn’s face and with a swift movement, Huang slashed the blade up, cutting from the inner corner of Vaughn’s mouth right into his cheekbone, the scalpel slicing the flesh with delicate aggression.
Vaughn screamed in agony as the pain stabbed through him and Huang brought the scalpel down onto Vaughn’s chest, dragging it along the skin, laughing as he did so. But suddenly Huang stopped and his eyes started to roll into the back of his head; he swayed on the spot before falling forward onto Vaughn and then sliding onto the hard concrete ground.
Vaughn, his face covered in blood, looked up and saw Shannon standing there. He glanced down at Huang and saw a knife stuck in the back of his head. Despite the excruciating pain, he spoke.
‘Shannon! Shannon! What the fuck are you doing here?’
As she shook with fear, she whispered her words quickly and began to untie Vaughn. ‘I heard Franny planning it, and I tried to warn you. But I couldn’t find you and then …’
Vaughn glanced across to the door as he sat up, swinging his legs onto the floor. ‘So you came to save me? You made your way here all by yourself?’
Shannon nodded.
‘Oh Jesus Christ, Shan, I don’t deserve you.’
‘I’ve been so scared.’
‘And so brave, but I always knew that, Shan … Look, we can’t talk here. We’ve got to get out.’
‘All of Huang’s men are down by the front. I thought they were going to see me, so I ran around the back and came in that way. I found an entrance; there’s a door just by the corner of this corridor. It leads out to the back. We can go back the way I came in.’
Vaughn nodded. ‘I owe you, darlin’ … and I’m sorry, I’m sorry for throwing you out. I fucked up, I let you down … Look, we’ll talk later, but I did try to come and find you afterwards, I swear … Come on, we can’t hang about.’
Shannon pulled back as she said, ‘I need to tell you something first … I … I killed Charlie.’
Vaughn stopped in his tracks. ‘What?’
Crying and staring at Huang’s body, Shannon whispered, ‘I killed Charlie. He just wouldn’t leave me alone, I couldn’t take it anymore.’
With his eyes still half on the door, Vaughn pulled Shannon into an embrace, covering her with blood. ‘It should’ve been me who did that. I should’ve done that a long time ago.’
‘What’s going to happen to me?’
‘Nothing, because I’m going to look after you. Nobody’s going to hurt you or take you away, you hear me? But it’s going to be a hard road – they’ll be after us: Huang’s men, the police, Franny, Alfie. They’ll be looking for us. Can you handle that?’
Shannon nodded. ‘I can face anything as long as it’s with you.’
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he kissed her on her head as he pulled her gently towards the door. ‘Well let’s hope you still think that when the walls come tumbling down and we have to lay low. But we’ll be back, Shan, once we get ourselves sorted, we’re coming back for payback from them all, because this is war …’
Acknowledgements
A big thank you to Avon books for your continual support, but especially to the fabulous two-band gang, Katie and Molly, who helped put this book together. Great thanks as well goes to Helena Newton, a fantastic copyeditor who keeps it all sharp. A great big shout out to Darley and his team who always have my back. And of course, to friends, family and readers alike: thank you so much.
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About the Author
Jacqui Rose is a novelist who hails from South Yorkshire. She first came to appreciate the power of the written word when as a child she charged her classmates a packet of sherbet dips to write their essays for them. Adopted at a young age and always a daydreamer, she felt isolated growing up in a small mining village and it was her writing which kept her company. Jacqui has always written for pleasure, whether it be screenplays or stand-up, and she is the author of eight bestselling novels as well as the author of two political thrillers written under a male pseudonym. She is a keen equestrian and the owner of two horses and spends most days riding.
Also by Jacqui Rose
Taken
Trapped
Dishonour
Betrayed
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