Текст книги "Wrong Time Wrong Place (Quick Reads 2013)"
Автор книги: Simon Kernick
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 5 страниц)
6
TRACY WENT DOWN hard, rolling over in the dirt. For a split second Ash thought her ankle was in fact broken, but it was worse than that. Much worse.
A mantrap, the type used by hunters, had slammed shut on one of her legs, its metal teeth digging deep into the flesh. Tracy wailed in pain as she sat up and tried to pull it off. Ash immediately crouched down and tried to help. But the damn thing wouldn’t budge. It was stuck fast.
‘Help me, Ash, please …’
‘Hush, Trace,’ whispered Ash, still pulling on the rusty clamps. ‘You’ve got to be quiet.’ But it was hard to keep the panic out of her voice. She knew that even if she did free Tracy, there was no way she was going to be able to run any further. Her leg looked in a bad way. Blood was seeping through her jeans in a dozen places.
Tracy knew it too. Ash could see the terrified hopelessness in her eyes.
‘Please don’t leave me.’
‘I won’t,’ Ash told her with a determination she didn’t feel. ‘You’ve just got to be quiet. They might hear us.’
She stopped what she was doing and listened to the silence, trying to work out how far they’d come from the lodge. She could no longer see its lights, and guessed they’d made a few hundred metres. The leaves here were thick, and there was a large knot of brambles a few feet away, which they could probably hide under without being seen. If she could just move Tracy and keep her quiet.
The mantrap was attached by a thick piece of rusty wire to a bolt sticking barely an inch out of the ground. Ash started to dig the bolt out using her bare hands, figuring it was quicker to move Tracy with the mantrap still attached to her than to keep trying to remove it from her leg.
‘Oh God,’ whispered Tracy. ‘It hurts so much.’
Ash gave her a reassuring smile, truly feeling for her then. ‘It’s going to be OK, I promise.’
As she lifted her head and listened again to the quietness of the forest, trying to pick up any sound of pursuit, she heard it.
The baying of dogs.
And it was coming closer.
Tracy and Ash exchanged glances. Tears began to stream down Tracy’s face now as the realisation that this was the end of the line took hold. ‘Oh God no. Please, Ash. Please don’t leave me. I don’t want to die.’ Her voice was rising, affected by the same panic that was also rising up in Ash like an unstoppable force, making her whole body shake, as if it was about to go into spasm.
‘I won’t,’ hissed Ash, redoubling her efforts to dig out the bolt, even though she knew it wouldn’t do any good. ‘I swear it. I won’t.’
The dogs, and there were at least two of them, were getting closer. Ash could hear their progress up the hill. She knew that they’d be on them at any moment. Ash had to make a decision. Did she stay here with Tracy and suffer the consequences, or did she try to save herself?
She looked at Tracy.
Tracy looked back, her face crumpled in the moonlight, because she knew what Ash was going to do. What she had no choice but to do.
Ash had always told herself that she wouldn’t be able to live without Nick. That if anything happened to him she’d want to die too, because life without him would be meaningless. But when it came down to it, that was bullshit. She wanted to live. To see the world. To watch the sun set. To smell the flowers. To make the most of everything out there that she’d previously taken for granted.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, and jumped to her feet. ‘Please forgive me.’
Tracy let out a howl of terror so intense and painful that for a moment it even silenced the dogs. Ash couldn’t bear to look at her. She knew that she was sentencing an innocent woman to death. But what else could she do?
Ash took off at a sprint, keeping hold of her emotions, focusing her mind and watching the ground closely for any sign of another trap. There’d be a time for mourning, and for guilt, later. Right now she had to do what it took to survive. She was hugely thankful that she’d invested so much time and effort in keeping herself in shape. There was no way she’d be able to outrun dogs, but they’d be delayed for a short time at least with Tracy, and there were ways and means of putting them off her scent. As she ran, she pulled off the fleece she’d been wearing all day. She kept it down by her side, looking out for a good place to drop it.
A scream pierced the cool night air, shrill and terrible as it echoed through the trees.
And then it abruptly stopped. Cut off in midstride.
Ash knew that it meant Tracy was dead, and that they’d be after her now.
She dropped the fleece and changed direction.
7
THEY KILLED THE girl quickly. Stuart picked her up from behind, held her steady, and then cut her throat in one swift movement, while Rory held the dogs and watched, shaking his head.
‘This is a big problem,’ he said. ‘We’re going to get a lot of shit for this. Eastern European whores are ten a penny, they don’t get missed. But these are tourists. The boss is going to be mighty pissed off.’
‘We’ve just got to make sure they disappear,’ said Stuart, stepping away from the girl as she twitched on the ground. The mantrap round her leg made a scratching sound against the soil.
That, thought Rory, was the problem with his younger brother. He didn’t realise that you couldn’t just kill your way out of trouble. You had to plan it. ‘You fucked up, Stuart. Don’t ever do that again.’
‘I won’t. The little bitch tricked me, but it was a one-off.’
Rory gave a curt nod. ‘It better be.’
In the five years they’d been guarding the whores who were delivered to the estate, they’d never once had a problem. The girls tended to be young and they were usually too scared and confused even to think of escape, which was just the way it should be. Rory prided himself on his ability to run things smoothly, but they’d grown far too complacent lately. He hadn’t even been there today when the girl got out. Then Stuart had totally messed up by delaying it a good ten minutes before he called him, which had given her the chance to cover some distance. Just their luck, she ran into what must have been the only bunch of tourists for twenty miles.
The tourists had to die in order to protect the secret. Rory had to make sure it didn’t get out into the wider world. If anyone else had made that kind of mistake, Rory wouldn’t have hesitated to put him in the ground with all the other bodies from the last five years. But Stuart was family, and you didn’t do that to family.
On the ground, the girl stopped twitching. Stuart gave her a kick just to check that she was dead, although with half her head hanging off she was always going to be.
Rory let out a deep breath, and looked into the wall of trees ahead. ‘Three down, one to go. Let’s find her and then we can go home for the night.’
He released the dogs, watching as they tore off into the darkness. Then he pulled out his knife, stepped over the girl’s corpse, and headed after them.
8
ONLY WHEN HER lungs felt close to bursting did Ash finally slow down to a walk.
It felt like she’d come a long way but she’d seen no break in the forest. It seemed to be going on for ever. Behind her, in the distance, she could still hear the dogs barking, but it sounded like they’d stopped. She guessed that they’d found her fleece. Since then she’d yanked off her bra from beneath her T-shirt and hung that from a branch, before changing direction again. She was doing everything she could think of to put the dogs off her trail.
But she couldn’t keep removing items of clothing. She didn’t have enough of them. And as soon as she stopped doing it, the dogs would be on her. Ash was going to have to come up with a different plan because the people hunting her were clearly determined.
The naked girl who’d run into them earlier was obviously connected to some kind of criminal activity. She was possibly even a criminal herself. Ash now regretted the fact that they’d stopped to help her. If they’d just sent her on her way and kept walking, like it was nothing to do with them (which it hadn’t been), none of this would have happened. They could have been sitting round a warm fire, enjoying a glass of wine and the cold meat and salad supper Ash had brought up with her from London. Guy could have wittered on about what a fantastic place Singapore was to do business in. Tracy could have bored them all talking about her massages and her tennis and her cocktail hours on the balcony of some sundrenched hotel. And she and Nick could have exchanged knowing glances and dreamed of ripping each other’s clothes off as soon as they hit the bedroom.
Oh God, Nick.
It was all gone. Everything. The most shocking thing was how quickly it had all happened. It couldn’t have been more much than an hour since they’d been walking along the ridge towards home, with just the wild scenery for company. Now the lives of the three people she’d shared the day with were over. The man she’d been married to for seven years had been snatched away from her in the blink of an eye by another man he’d never met before, and never done a thing to. There hadn’t even been a chance for her to hold him in her arms and say goodbye.
Ash felt the tears sting her cheeks. That murdering bastard. If only he knew what he’d done. But he didn’t. He didn’t know and he didn’t care. And it was certain that he, and whoever else he was with, wanted to do exactly the same thing to her too.
The barking was getting closer again, and by the sound of it the dogs were moving fast. They’d probably be heading for the abandoned bra, but Ash couldn’t rely on that fact. She needed to keep moving and hope that she came across a house, or farm, or anywhere she could summon help. It wasn’t much of a plan, but the alternative was climbing a tree, and that wasn’t going to work either.
Still panting from all the running she’d done already, she set off again, picking up speed, trying to work out whether she should get rid of her T-shirt next, or one of her socks.
The barking was still coming towards her, and it was getting closer.
She accelerated, going as fast as she could. The forest was beginning to open out now with more space between the trees and fewer bushes to hide behind. The treetops had thinned out too, making it lighter and easier for Ash to be spotted. She looked up, silently cursing the moon, then looked back down, watching out for traps.
One of the dogs howled, no more than fifty metres behind her. Fifty metres and closing.
Ash was flying now. She didn’t think she’d ever run this fast, not even when she was a thirteen-year-old girl and the champion sprinter in her year at school, capable of doing a hundred metres in just over twelve and a half seconds. Her long, gangly legs used to ‘eat up the track like spaghetti’, as her mum would say. But that didn’t matter now because she was never going to be able to go fast enough. The dogs were going to catch her. In a few minutes’ time it was all going to be over. Every experience she had ever had, every emotion she’d ever felt, was going to disappear for ever, wiped clean. It would be like she’d never existed.
The hole appeared without warning, and her foot went straight into it. She tripped and landed painfully on the hard ground.
Suddenly she was rolling down an incline, hitting stones and exposed tree roots before landing with an icy splash in water.
She was in a fast-moving stream about ten metres across. Rolling further into it, she allowed herself to be taken by the current, keeping all but the top half of her head underwater as she half-crawled and half-swam downstream. The water was freezing but she didn’t care. This was her chance of escape.
Behind her, Ash heard the dogs stop, barking wildly. She dipped her head below the surface, holding her breath, pushing herself into the middle where the water was three or four feet deep and she could swim properly. A minute passed and she came up, gasping for air.
The stream was running faster now, and she could hear a roaring, growing steadily louder, coming from further ahead. That was when she realised with a jolt of panic that she’d read in a brochure at the lodge that close by was a waterfall more than twenty metres high.
She must be heading straight for it.
Cursing, she fought her way across to the opposite side of the stream from the dogs, but she was soon out of her depth, and fully clothed and wearing shoes. It was suddenly a terrible struggle. The roar was getting louder, and she was being swept along faster. Currents of water were whirling and flowing around her, and the cold was beginning to have a real effect.
For a moment she thought about giving up. Just letting the water take her to where it would. If that meant death, then so be it. At least that way the effort was over.
But Ash was a fighter. She always had been. When she put her mind to something she didn’t give up.
An exposed rock appeared in front of her, and she grabbed hold of it. She took a couple of desperate, panting breaths before using the rock as a lever to push herself over to another rock closer to the bank. A huge sense of relief filled her as she felt solid ground beneath her feet. She waded out, glancing backwards. She could still hear the dogs but they sounded quite a long way back now, and because they were on the other side of the stream, she hoped they’d no longer have her scent.
Close to exhaustion now, and shivering with the cold, Ash crawled under a thick holly bush a few yards from the water’s edge, trying to get as far under it as possible. Finally, she lay still and let her breathing slow.
In those moments, she once again thought about death, about how a person’s world could change in the blink of an eye, or the deep slash of a knife. One minute she was a happily married woman living a problem-free life. The next her husband was lying dead in their holiday home, and she was alone and terrified in the woods while at least one killer hunted her down for a reason she simply couldn’t understand. Why could they possibly want to kill her? She didn’t even have any idea who they were.
Ash lay there for what felt like a long time. A minute? Two? Five? It was difficult to tell, and she didn’t dare look at her watch. However long it was, she heard no further sound from her pursuers or the dogs. Had they given up and gone? Or were they still out there waiting for her to make her move? God, she was so very, very cold. She couldn’t lie like this for ever. At some point she would have to find shelter. Otherwise she risked dying from exposure.
A twig snapped a few yards away, and Ash froze.
9
SILENCE FOLLOWED. ONE second. Two seconds. Three. Ash stopped breathing and fought to keep her shivering under control, because it was rustling the leaves under her. Every nerve ending in her body felt like it was on fire.
She heard a footstep nearby. Then another. Coming closer.
Oh God, no.
She didn’t want to die. The thought of a knife being plunged into her and slowly bleeding to death almost made her cry out in utter terror. But she forced herself to calm down, hold her breath and stay still. Without the dogs to help him there was a possibility he might miss her. No part of her body was exposed. He might not see her.
Please God, if you exist, help me now. Don’t let him see me. Please.
The man was right above her now. She could feel his presence. His boots crunched on the forest floor as he crept round the bush.
Don’t move. Don’t speak. Don’t breathe.
Slowly Ash forced her eyes open, and that was when she saw the bottom half of his legs. He was standing right there, his muddied boots only two feet from her head, pointing her way.
Jesus, he knows I’m here.
The whole thing felt like some horrible game of hide and seek. Ash could feel her lungs coming close to bursting. She had to breathe soon.
Then he was moving off again, down towards the edge of the stream. As he did so, more of him came into view. It was the same man from the lodge. The one who’d stabbed Nick. She was sure of it. He was still holding the bloodied knife he’d used down by his side.
Bastard.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ash could see a piece of jagged flint the size of a fist near to her right hand. Suddenly she felt an intense rage the like of which she’d never experienced before. Ash considered herself a nice girl who didn’t believe in the death penalty, but at that moment all she wanted to do was kill this bastard who’d come here and ruined her life. She allowed herself a long, silent breath before reaching out for the piece of flint and gripping it tightly.
The man in black crouched down and looked up and down the stream.
Then slowly he began to turn, and Ash realised that at the height he was at, he was going to see her.
Fear rushed back. It mixed with rage and desperation. All these different emotions tore around her body like the whirlpools in the stream. She had to make a decision. Fast.
He turned round completely. He was wearing night vision goggles and he was staring straight at her.
For a split second, he didn’t move.
But Ash did.
With a speed born of pure heart-pounding adrenalin, she leaped out of the bush, rose to her full height and let out a howl of anger as she threw the stone straight at his head.
It was her one chance of survival, and it worked. The stone hit him full in the face, knocking him backwards.
He kept his balance, and he still had the knife, but he was hurt. He clutched at his face with his free hand and grunted with pain.
Now that she’d drawn blood, the rage seemed to re-energise Ash. She flew forward, picked up the stone and, before her attacker had time to defend himself, smashed it into the side of his head with such force that he went down to his knees.
He swung his knife at her in a wild arc but he was way too slow and unsteady. Ash dodged out of the way and danced round the back of him, sensing victory as she struck him in the base of the skull with another big howl.
This time the knife dropped from his hand and he let out a painful groan as he fell forward.
Ash was on him like a shot, jumping on his back and forcing him into the dirt. She brought the stone down again and again on his head, using both hands for effect, ignoring the terrible sound of bone crunching and the blood and brain matter oozing out of his skull. She was lost in the absolute thrill of revenge.
Then, without warning, it was like a switch had been turned off. Ash stopped hitting him, let the stone fall from her hands, and began to sob. He’d stopped moving, and the top of his head was a white-flecked pulp of meat and shattered bone. The man who’d killed her husband was dead, and Ash was the one who’d killed him.
Filled with a black curiosity, needing to know what a murderer like him looked like, she reached down with a shaking hand and pulled off the goggles.
He was younger than her, probably no more than late twenties with pale, unlined features and plump cheeks with a heavy spray of freckles. His eyes were closed, and it looked like he was asleep. And that was the thing. He looked so bloody normal. There was no menace about him, no sign of the darkness that must have been in his heart. As she stared, a thick line of blood ran down his forehead and pooled in his eye.
‘Oh God,’ whispered Ash. ‘What have I done?’
Which was the moment when she heard an angry bark. She looked up and saw a second black-clad figure on the other side of the stream, running down towards her and pulling a rifle from his shoulder. The dogs, sleek-looking Dobermanns, were on either side of him.
‘Get her, boys!’ he roared.
The baying dogs charged into the stream while the man went down on one knee, taking a firing stance.
Calling up her last reserves of energy, Ash turned and bolted, hurtling through bushes, keeping low, trying to zigzag so she wouldn’t present him with a decent target. She knew she’d never outrun the dogs, but she had no choice but to try.
A shot rang out with a loud crack, and a bullet whistled through the branches so close to Ash that she could almost feel its heat.
Her legs ached. Her whole body felt like it was seizing up. Fit or not, there was no way she could last much longer.
Keep going. Your life depends on it. If you stop, you die.
A branch hit her in the face, cutting the skin just beneath her eye. She almost fell but somehow righted herself, hearing the dogs getting closer once again.
Then suddenly the ground disappeared in front of her and Ash was forced to make an emergency stop. She only just avoided falling over the edge of a high cliff that dropped down to a river flowing hard a long, long way below. Thirty metres to her left, the waterfall cascaded down to meet it. The water sparkled in the moonlight that flickered through the trees.
Ash turned as the dogs came bolting out of the trees straight at her, teeth bared, tongues lolling. She’d always been petrified of heights. She refused to travel in cable cars, and didn’t even like going up a stepladder at home. But people can overcome even their worst fears when confronted by two attack dogs, and the prospect of certain death.
As the first dog leaped for her she turned and jumped out into the unknown, eyes squeezed shut and legs flapping wildly. She was half-expecting the sensation of teeth sinking into her flesh, but nothing came. Instead she simply fell through space for what seemed like hours, her whole life flashing before her – visions of childhood parties, desert islands, romantic nights with Nick.
She hit the water with a huge crash, and felt herself being taken further and further downstream. Ash fought all the time to keep her head above water and avoid the warm embrace of unconsciousness.
The last thing she remembered was the current driving her into the shallows where she could feel the ground beneath her feet.
Then, finally, everything went black.
