by Marnie Perry
Well it was now or never, get through this window or die. She heaved herself up and pushed her head through the gap. She could see the ground below and thanked God there were no stairs to this place and the ground was only five feet below the window. She was about to push her shoulders through when she remembered the water bottle, she would need that. She grabbed it and dropped it through the window then pushed her head through then her shoulders. That was good, if they went through then she should have no trouble with the rest of her body.
But she had forgotten about her ample breasts, they just about scrapped over the window ledge, stifling a grunt of pain she stayed still for a moment before pushing herself forward. Half her body was out of the window now and the ground was only three feet from her hands. With a mighty heave she pushed herself forward and that’s when she froze as her foot hit something then she heard a crashing noise from inside the bathroom. She knew she had caught the jar with the toothbrushes in and sent it crashing to the floor. The toothbrushes had freed her and now they might be the cause of her being caught, if her mind had not been blank with terror she might have seen the irony of that.
She thrust herself with all her might and her right hand hit the ground with a painful smack the gravel cutting into her already bloodied fingers. Her left hand landed on the bottle of water and slid forwards scraping her forearm across the gravel but she did not even feel it. Nor did she feel it when her knees hit the ground with such force that it tore her jeans leaving gravel embedded in her skin.
She just about had enough rational thought to pick up the bottle of water before she heard a shout behind her then cursing. She staggered to her feet but slipped on the gravel and went down again but was up in an instant. She had no idea where she was or where she was going she just reacted to the desperate need to get away, to run as far and as fast as possible.
He might hear her, he might see her, he might catch her, she might not make it, but she would die trying.
CHAPTER 33.
Adela heard Hennessey’s running footsteps on the gravel just as she ran into the cover of the trees that surrounded the house. She knew he could hear her but panic and terror left no room for stealth. She ran blindly on, heedless of where she was going and what might be ahead of her, her only conscious thought was to get as far away as possible as fast as possible.
The branches whipped her face as she ran pulling her hair from its confines and her sandaled feet slipped on the wet ground, but she ran on, spurred on by the sound of Hennessey’s footsteps crashing through the trees close behind her. She was so blinded by terror that she almost missed the gap in the trees ahead of her that led to a clearing. She hesitated, instinctively she knew that he would expect her to go that way into the clearing and out of the trees, she didn’t, instead she ploughed on straight ahead into the thick undergrowth.
She heard him calling out to her but from a distance now, so knew he had gone into the clearing. This spurred her on, she ran as fast as she could fighting her way through the low hanging branches that smacked at her legs and arms but she felt no pain only the overwhelming need to escape him.
She saw the branch lying across her path an instant too late and she was running too fast to stop. She tripped over it but instead of falling face down she kept on falling down a huge hole. She couldn’t prevent herself from crying out as she fell down and down until she thought she would keep falling forever into the abyss. But suddenly her fall came to an abrupt and painful end, she cried out again as her shoulder hit the ground first followed by the rest of her.
She lay there winded and in shock. She made an effort to get up, but with a small moan lay back down the agony in her shoulder intensifying. She steeled herself against the pain and tried once more to rise but dropped back down again as she heard a noise directly above her. She froze.
She could hear him breathing hard then she heard him curse savagely and the sound of something being thrown or kicked. Although it was day time the ravine into which she had fallen was deep and dark and she hoped would hide her from him. She knew that even without the injured shoulder she would not be able to fight him off or even to run from him.
She looked up and realised she must have fallen at least twenty feet and only the soft wood and grass she had landed on had prevented serious injury. She looked around at her surroundings, the ravine, or whatever it was; was like a small cave with no roof and the walls were made up of what looked like slimy tree bark.
She noticed a little niche a few feet to her right, small but just about big enough for her to squeeze into if she could get to it without making any noise. She gritted her teeth and slid sideways towards it, she had just about wedged herself in to it when she saw his head came into view at the top of the ravine, she stifled a gasp.
With the sun shining through the trees behind him she could not make out his face only the outline of his head leaning over the edge. She felt a scream rise up in her and put a hand over her mouth to stifle it. Keeping perfectly still she held her breath as she saw his head come closer and realised he was kneeling down
She almost jumped out of her skin as his voice came to her, ‘Miss. Faraday? Miss. Faraday, I know you’re around here somewhere and that you can hear me. Just listen, you’re in danger out here, I told you it isn’t safe in the swamps.’ She closed her eyes willing him to shut up and go away. He didn’t of course. ‘I know what you’re thinking, that you’re probably safer out here than back at the cabin with me but that’s not so.’
There was a silence in which she thought she would have a heart attack and die right there in this God forsaken place, her skeleton to be discovered years from now and no one ever knowing who she was. She heard him move but kept her eyes tight shut willing her thudding heart not to give her position away. But her eyes opened again quickly as his voice came again this time closer, he wasn’t climbing down so how was he getting closer to her? She could not see another way down here but there must be because his voice suddenly came from her right.
He said, ‘Miss. Faraday, I know what you think of me and I don’t blame you. I know you’re scared, make that terrified of me, and I don’t blame you for that either, you have no reason to trust me, none at all, and every reason to think I’m lying again. But please believe me when I tell you that I’m not going to hurt you, I never was. I wanted to frighten you yes, with the threat of Glissando, but I swear I never had any intention of handing you over to him. I’m many things but not sadistic, and that’s what I would be if I handed you over to a man like that.’
Adela listened to this and thought how sincere he sounded, how genuine in his concern. But she knew him now, knew what an accomplished liar he was and if he expected her to believe him and hand herself over to him then he didn’t know Adela Faraday, never again would she be taken in by him, or anyone else.
But she visibly jumped when his voice came again even closer this time. ‘I know I’ve hurt you but I never intended to, I know that doesn’t make you feel any better but it’s true. All I wanted was information about Desi but I would never have killed you. I planned to tell Glissando I had and buried your body in the swamp then sneak you out of the country, that’s why I brought your passport.
She felt like screaming, liar, stinking, rotten, dirty, evil, murdering liar. But she just lay there her hatred of him momentarily eclipsing her fear. But not for long because he spoke again this time only a few yards away from her head. ‘Miss. Faraday, I’m sorry for what I did, but please believe that I was not going to leave you bound like that all that time, I intended to give you an hour or so to think that’s all, then release you.’
She wondered what difference that made, he still wanted the information about Olivia, and he still wanted it from her. All this talk of not hurting her and letting her go was a ruse, a cruel, sadistic ruse to get her to reveal herself. She tried not to look in the direction of his voice, she had read somewhere that if you were hiding from someone you should never look directly at your pursuer, that they might sense
the intensity of your gaze and pick up on your position. One piece of information from her crime books that she could be grateful for anyway.
Suddenly his voice seemed further away as he said more impatiently now, ‘listen to me, Miss. Faraday, I didn’t lie before, we’re no longer in Mississippi and we’re fifteen miles from the nearest town, you’re hungry and thirsty already and the water around here is either full of gators or stagnant.’
She opened her eyes in alarm and saw the water bottle lying a few feet away from her hand.
He was speaking again, ‘and even if you find your way out of this place, which is highly unlikely, where will you go? Who can you trust? The police? The FBI? Glissando even had someone in Eden passing on information about you to him.’ Adela’s eyes opened wide, startled at this piece of information. ‘And what about your new friend Detective Leyton, how far could you trust him? Glissando has officials all over the south in his pocket, cops, government agents, lawyers, even politicians, once you’re in custody he’ll get to you, believe me. You won’t be safe anywhere. There’s much more to this than you realise. I want to help you, both of you.'
She frowned at this wondering what he meant by this last part. She didn’t want to believe what he had said about someone in Eden spying on her for Glissando, but she had sensed that he was telling the truth, about that at least. And Olivia herself had told her that he had all kinds of important and influential people in his employ. And those two men he called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were ex -FBI. She thought about everyone she had met in Eden and which one of them could have been spying on her? Dean? Bob the bartender? Or even Sheriff Taylor. Maybe even Detective Leyton as Hennessey had said.
But she knew she would be the fool of all fools if she trusted him now, he would just take her back to the cabin and do what he threatened, and this time he would make sure she did not escape. She came to the conclusion that she would rather take her chances with whatever possible dangers were out here than give in and go back to certain death. While she was free she had a chance, there was none with him.
She heard the sound of something being thrown and gritted her teeth against the scream that rose to her lips. She heard him curse then things being thrown again, and again and a rustling of leaves as he searched the undergrowth for her. Her lips moved in silent prayer that he would not come this way. She looked around for a weapon of some kind knowing she would be no match for him even if she found something, but it might give her a fighting chance at least.
She heard his voice again sounding desperate this time, ‘look, just show yourself, let me explain as I should have done at the start. Please, Miss. Faraday, please show yourself. You’ll never survive out here alone, you’ll die. Please come out and I swear I’ll take you somewhere safe, somewhere Glissando can’t get to you.'
The silence was like a dead weight surrounding her while she tried not to breathe too noisily. His voice was getting further away, she could hear him talking but couldn't catch the words, then she almost leapt out of her skin as he yelled, ‘MISS. FARADAY, MISS. FARADAY.’ Her name echoed around the woods.
There followed another eerie silence until she heard more rustling then he said something else that sounded like "hammer" but his voice was receding further and further away until she could no longer hear him. She lay holding her breath for as long as she could before letting it out with force. She didn’t immediately attempt to stand up in case he was trying to fool her by hiding until she showed herself.
She lay there in agony with her shoulder and the cuts and bruises she had accumulated in the fall, as well as by the trees that had seemed to beat her like whips as she had run from him. She saw the water bottle which had fallen amongst the leaves and very cautiously reached out and drew it towards her then gripped it to her chest as thought cradling a baby. She unscrewed the top and raised it to her parched lips, never had she been so thirsty but she knew she must conserve the water, if he had not lied she had a long walk ahead of her.
Suddenly the hopelessness of her predicament seemed to wash over her like a tidal wave leaving her breathless and trembling. She wanted to cry, just bury her head in the wood and grass beneath her head and cry until she could cry no more, with despair, with fear and pain. But she summoned up all her inner strength and strove to be hopeful, to be strong.
She steeled herself to rise, the sooner she got up and began her journey the sooner she would get there, wherever “there” was. She stood gripping her injured shoulder and looked around her; she couldn’t at first see where Hennessey had come into the ravine without climbing down, she knew she would never be able to climb out with her injured shoulder. Then her eye caught a small light coming through a gap in the slimy covered walls, she made her way towards it.
As she got closer she saw that this part of the “cave” was not walls but trees that had somehow sprung up between the rocks. She very cautiously put her head between the gap from where the light was coming and peered through. She could see nothing except more foliage and rock, but there was more light coming through.
The gap didn’t look large enough for her to squeeze through but he must have come through this way, unless there was another way she hadn’t yet discovered. She went all around the cave feeling the walls but there seemed no other way in or out. She ended up back by the light and edged her way sideways very slowly through the gap.
At one point she almost panicked when she thought she was stuck but soon realised the further she went the wider the gap. She wondered fleetingly how Hennessey had got through here and how he knew it was there, he must know this area pretty well. He had known about the shack, he had to have already been there to have brought all the stuff, the lamps, sleeping bag and the bathroom items etcetera
After five minutes or so it was with great relief that she emerged into the woods proper again. She soon realised that she had no idea where she was, the fall had disoriented her and she wasn’t sure from which direction she had come. But she couldn’t stand here all day he might come back.
She tried to recall what he had said about finding one’s way out of the woods, look for certain trees and plants that did not grow near the swamp, notice the position of the sun etcetera, but right now she didn’t think any of that would help her. She moved slowly and cautiously towards the trees ready to run back into the gap if she saw or heard anything, but it was very quiet, too quiet really for a place filled with wildlife, insects and birds. She took another swig of water being careful to drink only a mouthful then she began to walk in the direction she hoped would lead her away from the shack and Sterling Hennessey.
**********
Hennessey had made his was back to the shack and was packing his bag with his weapons, everything else he would leave. No one would find this place and if by some miracle she made her way to civilisation she would never be able to lead the police here. Not that it mattered if they did come, he would be long gone.
He was now standing in the small bedroom looking down at the sleeping bag cursing himself for being such an idiot as to let her escape. He noticed that the bottle of water he had left was gone; well at least she had some water, unless she had lost it when she ran from him, he hoped not. Though even if she still had it, it would not last her very long, but it would be something at least.
He sighed deeply and picked up the duct tape examining it closely; it had been cut with something but what? He had searched her carefully and thoroughly, although not quite thoroughly enough it seemed. How had she done it, what had she used? He threw the tape back onto the sleeping bag and was just about to turn when he noticed something pink on the black material of the bag. He bent down and picked it up and when he saw what it was he laughed, actually laughed out loud. Again she had surprised him, and his admiration for her ingenuity and her fighting spirit knew no bounds.
But his laughter abruptly ceased as he noticed something on the toothbrush, he bent down and studied the sleeping bag more closely. He ran his hand over it and his fingers came away red
. Blood. He closed his eyes and said aloud, ‘oh, Miss. Faraday, you stupid, idiotic, clever, brave, courageous, woman. Be safe.’
He stood and took one last look at the bed then put the broken piece of toothbrush in his pocket. He had one more thing left to try, to say it was a long shot would be an understatement, it would be nothing short of a miracle, but he had to try it. He turned, left the room and the shack got into his vehicle and drove away.
**********
Adela had been walking forever and getting nowhere or so it seemed. She could have sworn she had seen that particular tree before, she recognised the mark at its base. She frowned in consternation, she would swear she recognised this area, but that was impossible surely.
She stopped and stood still then very slowly turned 360 degrees then again and again. She thought she could see things, people and animals all standing in a circle around her and knew she was becoming delirious. She had run out of water hours ago, or maybe longer, time no longer meant anything, every minute was now an hour and every hour a day.
So it seemed days ago that she had seen the sun going down over the tree tops and now it was really quite dark.
She had once considered the thought of going back the way she had come hoping she could find the shack again. She had read once where a hostage had been released in the Columbian jungle but had become lost and so had made his way back to where he had been held and asked for directions. His former captors had laughed but had escorted him to safety. She didn’t think for one moment that Hennessey would see her safely home but she could hear his laughter loud and long echoing through the trees.
She sat down leaned her head against a tree and closed her eyes. She dozed but was awoken by a noise in her ear; she opened one eye cautiously then both, and screamed. It was hard to say who was fastest Adela or the snake, probably Adela. She scrambled to her feet and ran stumbling blindly into the trees until eventually sheer exhaustion caused her to stop. She dropped to her knees winded and breathless.
