This, I decided was my fate, I had survived the crash but now, my time had played out and it was time to take a bow, I’d had a good life.
The last hour passed with me struggling to find my way through the busy streets of London, then worrying about finding a parking place before laughing, I was more worried about a parking ticket than my potential death.
I looked down the road, I had parked outside what had once been the stables and was now a building site. There was the boarded-up remains of Raj’s shop and just down the road was the Blue Moon. I took a deep breath and started to walk.
It was early evening, the club was quiet as I walked in, I walked to the bar. “You’re expecting me… I want my friend back.” Before I could finish my sentence a person was standing behind me.
“Come with me.” He gave me no choice as he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the office behind the bar area. He forced me into a chair.
“Ah. You did come, I wasn’t sure you would.” The man smiled coldly. “You are clearly more stupid than I was told you would be. Now sadly the person you really want to see is not here, and my boss wants to see you also so you are going to be our guest for a short time. I would rather if you didn’t make a fuss.” I was about to say something when I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I looked down in shock as I saw the man behind me had stabbed me with a needle. I tried to stand up but found my limbs defying me, leaning on the desk I struggled to my feet but only managed to collapse to the floor.
***
I groaned, my head woolly, my arms and legs aching. Trying to sit up just brought waves of nausea and throbbing pain in my head so I remained on the floor for a few more minutes. Eventually, I dragged myself up to a sitting position, blinking to try and see in the half-light. I gasped as I saw the redhead sat in a chair opposite, bound with large quantities of rope. I staggered to my feet and approached her. “Kate…” I fumbled with her gag, my fingers still resisting my minds instructions, but I was eventually able to loosen it. The wad of material fell from her mouth and she moved her jaw, gasping.
“'manda…” Her voice was croaky and quiet. Her eyes flitted towards me. It took longer than I hoped to untie her, however she was soon free of the rope, she rubbed her wrists, trying to stand, however was unable to do so.
We were in an empty room, the walls made from plain concrete, there were no windows and a heavy steel door blocked our exit. I knew it would be pointless to try to escape, but it didn’t stop me trying to pull the door and slam my fists worthlessly onto the steel.
I sat down heavily opposite Kate. “I am so sorry you got dragged into this.” I looked up, she was staring at me silently. After some time the door opened, we both looked up as a man walked in.
“So you’re both awake now. My name is Patrick, I was Edwin’s, right-hand man. I always said you were wrong for him, a distraction. He became obsessed with you and lost his edge, which is why he is in prison now and I’m in charge of operations.” He turned to Kate. “I’m afraid you are totally innocent, however, a mistake has happened and it will need to be rectified. So, Amanda, I am going to ask you one question. Where is my money? You see I know that Edwin had a large sum in Bitcoin, I know that he had this stored in a digital wallet and now, looking at the tracking systems I know that those funds are no longer there. So, I am hoping you will tell me that you have my money.”
“Then you’ll let me go?” Kate stuttered.
“No, I am so sorry. You’ll be killed.” It was so ‘matter of fact’, it took a moment for Kate to register, but she then broke down.
“No!” I yelled, staggering to my feet. I approached him, ready to strike him. I was dragged down by one of the men who had been waiting outside the room. “You promised, you take me and let her free.”
“Oh, I am sorry… I understand what you demanded, but that will not be possible. You will give me what you owe me and then both of you will be dealt with.” He stepped towards Kate touching her hair. “She’s pretty, perhaps she can go where your other colleague went. There are people in the Middle East who would love to have a pretty redhead she may be worth something.” Kate pulled away from him.
“No…” I gasped. “Let her go, she knows nothing…”
“She knows enough to be dangerous to our organisation. So, where is our money? You can’t imagine how hard we had to look for you, how many people we had to hurt. All you do is create a trail of pain and destruction. We can destroy everyone you’ve ever known if we have to. Please, do not underestimate the scale of our organisation.” There was a knock at the door, one of the heavies stepped out before coming back in and saying something to Patrick. “Oh…” He smiled. “Now this is a surprise. A family reunion.”
I gasped as I saw Adam dragged into the room.
“He was asking questions at the club. I thought you might want to have him here.”
“Ah… Your brother?” Patrick gestured toward me.
I was infuriated. I found strength and stood up, leaping at Adam. “You stupid idiot!” I slapped him hard. “I left you for a reason! Oh for Christ’s sake, I told you I was going to try to get Kate but no, you have to follow me. You stupid, stupid man…” I broke down in tears as I realised what was about to happen. I had inadvertently doomed my brother as well as Kate and I. Trust him to travel the length of the country to try to save me, I was, to be honest, somewhat proud of what he had done for me, however, knew we would have only a short time to savour the feeling.
“Oh…” Patrick smiled. “Would you like to finish him off, save me the job?” He laughed. “Right, my money.”
“So, I’m going to die?” I sighed. “Kate and Adam also?”
“Yes… I wish I could be sorry, but I have wanted to have you killed ever since you took him away from me.”
I looked up, shocked.
“Edwin, I…” He paused, glancing down. “I loved him, I wanted him to notice me for more than what I was, I wanted him to love me. But no, you nasty little slut! You turned his head, you made him love you. You cannot imagine how much I hated you, how much I wanted to punish you. So yes, bitch! You are going to die. You are going to watch your brother and his friend get tortured, and killed then you will die. It’s all you deserve.”
“Edwin would never have loved you. He loved me, hell I loved him. To be honest, I’m glad the money’s gone. It was stolen from me…” I smiled, hell I was goading him but I couldn’t resist. “So, screw you!” I was too slow to deflect the back-handed slap which caught me hard and knocked me from my feet, I fell just as Adam leapt towards Patrick hitting him hard on the jaw, he was wrestled to the ground and lay next to me.
“Oh God, I am going to enjoy punishing all of you…” Patrick rubbed his jaw. “Get rid of them.”
I was dragged to my feet, I saw Kate and Adam being taken also. We were taken from the room and out towards a waiting vehicle. The boot was opened and Kate was manhandled inside, I was roughly picked up and forced beside her, crammed into the small space. The boot lid was slammed shut. I could hear muffled voices, it was clear that Adam had been thrown into the footwell across the back seat. Patrick was telling them to ‘deal with us’.
The car started and we rumbled out of the building site, Kate and I were bounced together in the confined space of the boot, my head slamming into the bodywork as the car hit a pothole. I reached out and put my arm around her, she reached up and clutched me tightly. I could feel her shaking with fear.
30
Enroute to Fate
In the darkness, the passage of time became no more than bumps and swerves as we travelled away from London. The journey became smoother and I guessed by the sound we must have picked up speed on a motorway, the drone of the tyres was almost soporific and, despite everything I was almost dozing, hugged close to Kate.
***
The man in the passenger seat pulled out a pistol, turning in his seat, he pointed it at one of the men in the rear seat. “Bang!”
“For Fuck’s sake, put that away! What, is it
‘bring a Twat to work day?’ today and I just didn’t get the memo.”
“He’s Big Larry’s kid, just leave him be.” The driver shook his head.
“Yeah! Larry told me I could do the hit.”
“Look, this is not some Fucking game…” The man in the rear seat glanced at his companion, who shrugged. “Okay… Okay, you do the hit. But the boss wants it done right.”
“I know… I’m not a total idiot!”
“Maybe not… But, he wants the man and woman done first, we have to torture them and then hit them while the older one watches. He was clear on that. Now, do you think you can do that? You’re not going to Fuck it up?”
“I can do it!” He waved the gun again.
“Look put that Fucking gun away before there’s an accident…-”
The explosion temporarily deafened the passengers in the vehicle. With the safety catch disengaged, knocking the trigger caused the gun to go off. The bullet struck the driver first in his left shoulder, shattering the bones before embedding in his heart, killing him in an instant. Without the driver’s control, the steering wheel turned sharply, causing the driver’s side tyre to hit the Armco crash barrier in the central reservation at a little over eighty miles per hour. The car scraped along the steel barrier before the impact caused it to catapult, the first impact on the tarmac road surface fatally injured Larry’s son who was not wearing a seat belt. As the vehicle flipped again, hitting the edge of the embankment, the rear passengers sustained massive head injuries with the man on the passenger-side dying before the car could flip again and his companion passing away as the vehicle violently came to a rest at the bottom of the embankment.
***
My senses awakened suddenly, there was a loud bang, the vehicle lurched to the right, there was a sudden impact and we were spinning in free fall. Terrible thoughts of the accident came through my mind as after what seemed like hours but must have been a second or two the vehicle slammed to a stop and all was still. The engine was screaming, wheels spinning in the air. Kate was crying, I could see light. I reached up, the boot lid was loose, crumpled. I struck out hard and it came open, we were blinded by the light for a moment. Gripping the sharp metal of the side of the car I pulled myself out, slithering over the rear bumper and onto the grass. Shakily standing up I reached down and pulled Kate free from the boot of the car.
“Are you okay?” She nodded. I stood back and surveyed our position, terror striking me as we were at the bottom of an embankment. “No…no… no…” The road was above us, the car had been smashed and crumpled, the roof collapsed. I looked into the body of the car and it was a scene of carnage, I turned and vomited unable to take in the scene. I desperately tried to pull the door open, Kate grabbed the steel with me and we were able to wrench it free. The two men in the back seat had been crushed, looking down I saw Adam’s body crammed in the foot-well. Kate screamed. There was movement. “Kate… Please, help me…”
We reached in and took Adam’s arms pulling him free of the car. We were all bruised and bloody but seemingly in one piece despite the carnage. I turned Kate and Adam away from the scene inside the car. In the distance there were sirens. “Can you move?” They nodded, clearly in shock. “Let’s get out of here, there are too many questions to answer.”
***
We stumbled our way from the car before the police and fire brigade arrived, pushing through thick woodland in the half-light. Eventually, we came to a fence which we climbed over. There was a small stable yard, we agreed that we needed to rest before we went on so went into a small open barn and sat on some bales of hay intending to regroup and catch our breath.
***
“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”
My eyes snapped open. The woman stood in front of me, a pitchfork raised at my eye level. The day was bright and the birds singing. “Shit!” I sat up slowly as the woman stepped back. “Please, don’t hurt me.”
“Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my barn? And why are you wearing breeches?”
They were likely the first three questions I would have asked also. Who was I? What was I doing here and possibly ‘where’s your horse?’ I had of course been dressed for work when I’d found Adam and had’t changed before going to London. I hoped a fellow equestrian would understand.
“Hello… I am very sorry. I’m Amanda, this is my brother Adam and Kate, one of my working pupils. We were involved in an accident.” The woman lowered the pitchfork, considering us carefully. “I’m really sorry, we were pretty much in shock and tried to get away from the accident and, well sort of ended up here. We can go.” I tried to stand up but fell back down.
“No…” The woman sat down in front of me. “I’m sorry, you need help. It was just a shock finding you here. I’m Ruth, are you okay? I’ll call an ambulance for you.”
I raised my hand. “No, please.” I smiled. “We’re a bit bruised and battered but we’ll be okay. Please don’t trouble anyone, just tell me where we are.”
“Well, you are near Rayleigh in Essex.”
“Okay. We just need a taxi to the nearest station, we can get back home.”
“Oh no…” She looked shocked. “I can’t just let you go like this. Please, let me take you to my place, you can get cleaned up and I can dress your wounds. I’ll take you to a station then if you want.”
“That would be really great Ruth… Thank you.”
***
Ruth was amazing, we discovered she was a nurse who kept her horse at the small private yard off the main road near where the car had crashed. She had tried to probe us for information but gave up when it was clear that we were not in the mood for that type of small talk. We had soon arrived at her house where she very kindly allowed us to shower and even offered us clothes which she refused to accept money for.
I had explained as little as possible when Ruth had asked what had happened to us. She was concerned we may have had a concussion, but I told her we would be fine. She was not comfortable, but was true to her word and dropped us off at the local railway station.
“Thank you, Ruth… I owe you massively.” I had showered and stripped off my blood-stained breeches and blouse and was wearing leggings and a t-shirt which had been kindly donated by her. I waved as she drove away, turning to Adam and Kate who were standing beside me looking similarly shell-shocked.
“What now?” Adam had his arm around Kate who was shaking.
“I need to go back to Cumbria.”
“But they know that’s where you’ll go?”
“Adam, they know everything about me, they pretty much know everywhere I would go.”
“So escape, go abroad, somewhere far away. You’ll just be a sitting duck there.”
“I have the horses, the girls.
“We can close it down. Sell up.” I shook my head. Adam sighed. “Okay, then we have to be prepared.”
“No…” Kate’s voice was quiet. “No, I’m not going back.” She took Adam’s hand. “Come with me, let’s get out of here.”
“But Kate?”
“But what?” There was an anger in her eyes. “Go with her and just wait for them to come and kill you or getaway, this is not a difficult decision. Please, Adam, you’re not that stupid, you said so yourself.”
“She’s my sister…” I looked up as I heard the sound of a train arriving at the station.
“Okay, you make your decision, but I’ll be on that train and it’s up to you if you want to be with me, or stay with her.” Kate started walking down the platform, the train was approaching in the distance.
Adam turned to me. “Go… No, really. I wanted you and her to be safe. I’ll find a way to survive this.” I hugged him. “Right, don’t miss her.”
My heart was torn as he walked away, calling after Kate and approaching the train which was standing on the platform. They both stepped on-board, I could see Adam and Kate speaking, the train started beeping as the doors started to close. Adam kissed Kate and squeezed t
hrough the closing doors.
He stood on the platform mouthing ‘sorry’ to Kate, she caught my eye giving me a look which seemed to be a combination of anger and sorrow.
“Why did you do that?”
“Sis, I need to protect you. When I have done that. I’ll find Kate, I know she’ll hate me but I need to do this.”
“I’m never going to get you to listen to me am I?” I sighed. There was more I wanted to say, how I wanted to tell him I was both proud and cross with him. “Come on, we have a long journey ahead of us.”
31
Calling The Cavalry
Our two working pupils were ecstatic to see us when we arrived back at the yard, despite the late hour. When we had vanished without warning, they had looked after the horses and kept the stables running as best they could, however, you could see how relieved they were to have us back, in charge.
We had travelled by train into London and nervously collected my car, glad I had parked it some distance from the club. The long drive had given me time to speak with Adam, I had to admit I didn’t have a clear plan. We needed to try to protect ourselves as best as we could. I would not think it would be long before Patrick and his cronies came after us again. The accident was a miraculous escape, however we were unlikely to get a second miracle.
Adam had told me to go to the police, so we had driven that night to the local police station. As we sat waiting, I wondered what I should say.
“Good evening. My name is DI Anderson, the desk sergeant tells me that you have been involved in a kidnapping?”
The disbelief in his voice was telling. We had arrived in a local Cumbria police station, late at night, beaten up and exhausted, saying we had been involved with serious criminals. I could understand why he must have thought we were mad. I started to slowly tell my story as he took notes and asked questions.
County Lines Rider Page 15
