Chloe saw he had been admiring the view. He pointed at her skirt.
He pointed at the fifty or so zips that ran vertically around the entire skirt, there didn’t appear to be any material, just the tiny metal teeth of numerous zips, ‘What are they all about?’ He asked.
‘I made it myself by stitching the zips to the thin waistband, it’s entirely zips, look,’ Chloe unzipped two of them; one on either hip. She spun around on the spot; showing thigh all the way up, ‘I can unzip them all and it looks like a metal hula-skirt.’
‘Very funky, so you design clothes?’
‘It’s only a hobby, I work in London; temping for an advertising agency, its shit but pays the mortgage.’
Dan moved close to her and put his arms around her waist. Chloe linked her hands behind his neck and looked up at him. Dan was easily six inches taller than her, and she saw some of the tiny scars barely visible on his exposed forearms. He was a handsome man and she was intrigued as to his history.
Dan must have been thinking similar thoughts, ‘There’s a lot we don’t know about each other Chloe, everything has been moving so fast, and I’m finding it hard to understand what’s going on between us.’ He looked at her closely, her eyes a perfect tropical-sea blue, and said, ‘Are you sure you really want to be involved in this?’
Chloe reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He could taste the cherry flavour of her lipstick.
‘You’re not on your own in this; besides I couldn’t be apart from you now, and if you were to be honest you wouldn’t want to be on your own, separate to me.’
‘That’s true,’ Dan said.
This is unbelievable. What had made him run? Fate? He could have taken that psycho back at the club, and probably with ease, there were things he needed to tell her, about him, his past. Why had he run? Had fate really meant for them to meet? Crazy! So many thoughts fighting to be heard, he opened his mouth to voice some of those thoughts but he was stopped from doing so by what happened next.
The beer bottle dropped to the wooden floor and shattered making them both jump. They turned to the door and saw that the brass knob was turning left and right; someone was trying to get in.
‘Concerned neighbour?’ Dan said, not even convincing himself.
Chloe offered him a sardonic smile, ‘No, it’s him.’
She grabbed her bag and started for the bedroom.
‘Are you sure?’ Dan asked but he knew the answer.
Chloe laughed, ‘Who else would it be? Let’s go.’
Dan followed Chloe into the bedroom and she pushed the window up on its runners. Dan poked his head out the window; to his left was a metal ladder secured to the side of the building, it was about a foot along from the window. He turned his face upwards and he could see that the ladder appeared to go all the way to the roof, just like Chloe had said it would. Dan turned back to Chloe; she had slipped her bag over her shoulders, the string cords tight against her chest, the canvas bag low on her back.
‘You first,’ he said.
‘Perhaps you should go first,’ Chloe replied; she looked a little sheepish but there was no time for Dan to think about it. A loud thud came from the front door as it was hit hard from the outside.
‘No Chloe, you’re going first so go, go, go!’
‘Okay, alright,’ she cried. Dan held her hips as she climbed out of the window and onto the ladder, she started to climb and Dan quickly followed her. His hands were on the metal rungs of the ladder as another tremendous crash came from the front, the noise echoed through the small flat. Pinging noises followed a split second later as the security chains were ripped from their fastenings.
Dan swung out onto the ladder and he started to climb as fast as he could, Chloe was about six feet up from him.
From within the flat he heard the psycho shout out, ‘Dan? Chloe? Where are you?’ The last word was stretched out for several seconds making Dan think of a child playing hide-and-seek.
Dan’s insides turned to ice, how did the psycho know Chloe’s name? He couldn’t have known, there were no post boxes on the ground floor, no markers, how did he know about Chloe?
Dan was breathing hard as he quickly caught up with Chloe. He glanced down; expecting to see the psycho in hot pursuit, but there was no sign of him.
The day was brightening, dawn almost on them and Dan looked up; straight up Chloe’s short skirt and her glistening wet cunt was only a few feet from his face. He lost his footing and yelled out; he hadn’t expected to see that. He quickly regained his footing. Chloe stopped climbing and looked down at him.
‘I told you to go first!’
‘Christ Chloe; don’t you believe in knickers?’
‘Sorry, I thought I’d surprise you later, I wasn’t anticipating climbing any damn ladders.’ Chloe continued to climb towards the roof. Dan shook his head and followed her.
Dan cast another glance back down the building; they’d easily climbed a good 150 feet. Chloe as if confirming this said, ‘We’re almost at the roof.’ Her voice sounded relaxed and not at all out of breath.
Dan looked back up at her and said, ‘Good, because he’s just climbed out on to the ladder,’ and unlike Chloe he did sound out of breath; he hadn’t exercised properly for months and he was regretting it now.
Despite everything Dan couldn’t help but admire the view beneath Chloe’s zip-skirt; the early morning light made the wetness of her pussy shimmer and he could see the faint outline of her lips, and the curve of her buttocks as she climbed and he felt stirrings in his groin. Ashamed he averted his eyes and kept them focused on the rungs directly in front of him.
‘Six feet,’ Chloe told him.
‘Great.’
A spark flew from the ladder just to his left and he realised that he’d just been shot at. Then a piece of concrete splintered just to the right side of Chloe and she yelped as a small piece of masonry ricocheted off her skin.
‘Why can’t I hear any shots?’ she shouted as she climbed faster.
‘Silencer. Keep going!’
Chloe disappeared over the lip of the roof and out of the line of fire.
‘Thank fuck for that,’ Dan said. Two seconds later and he was also on the roof. Dan took one last glance back down the side of the tower block. The psycho was about 100 feet below them working his way up the ladder. Even in the poor light Dan could see that the man was grinning viciously up at him.
Chloe pulled Dan back by his collar; it proved to be a life-saving gesture as a bullet buzzed by Dan’s face with only inches to spare.
‘Christ Dan! Come on.’
‘Where to?’ he replied panting.
Chloe grabbed his hand and together they sprinted across the flat surface of the roof.
‘We’ll jump across to the next building.’
‘Jump?’ Dan yelled, ‘Are you nuts?’
‘We can’t stay here.’
Dan could see the end of the roof; there was a slightly raised lip running the perimeter of the roof, he could see the next building and there was a gap between the tenement buildings. It was a long way down to the concrete pavement; but mercifully it appeared to be level with this roof.
‘Can we make that?’ Dan shouted
Chloe grinned, ‘Let’s see.’
Hand-in-hand they jumped out over the gap; for a split second Dan feared they wouldn’t make it, and then they were across and landing safely on to the next roof. Chloe hand landed perfectly but Dan landed a little heavy and he let out a grunt of discomfort.
‘Are you okay?’ Chloe asked.
‘Yeah, go, don’t stop.’
Chloe ran on and Dan was right behind her; across the flatness of the roof they raced. Chloe was slightly in front and she reached the next edge first; she launched herself out over the expanse between buildings, her skirt flapped about her; her ass momentarily revealed to Dan.
He quickly cast a glance over his shoulder; there was no sign of the psycho against the rapidly brightening eastern skyline.
; Chloe landed safely on the next roof and Dan told her to keep running. Dan jumped the gap safely and landed securely; he was soon on Chloe’s heels as they sprinted across the flat roof.
‘How many more?’
‘Three,’ Chloe said, ‘and then we’ll climb down to the street, you’ve got the car keys right?’
Dan felt his keys in the front left pocket of his jeans and nodded at her. They quickly moved on to the next roof and then the next; it was scary but exhilarating too and Dan could feel the adrenalin coursing through his bloodstream.
Dan looked back the way they’d come and this time he did see the outline of the psycho; he was moving across the first roof. The psycho must have spotted them because Dan could see the man raise his gun-hand.
‘Chloe; start zigzagging.’
Immediately they began to run in a zigzag fashion across the third roof and Dan heard a round whizz by his ear like an angry bee; this was followed by a second. Their zigzagging would make it nigh on impossible for the psycho to hit them. The psycho must have come to the same conclusion because Dan didn’t hear any more bees.
Chloe jumped the final gap and stumbled on her landing; Dan landed with her and he was able to grab her right arm thus preventing her from falling flat on to her face.
‘Thanks honey,’ she breathed, ‘this way.’
They moved quickly across the roof to the fire escape that Chloe knew to be there and Dan grinned at her, ‘This time you go first.’
Chloe climbed down on to the ladder; before starting her descent she smiled at him and said, ‘I love you.’
‘Ah fuck it; I love you too, now go!’
Crazy!
Chloe laughed and Dan couldn’t believe it when he found himself laughing too; this really wasn’t the place to be laughing but he was just glad to still be alive.
‘Go!’ Dan said again and Chloe started down the ladder and Dan followed her as fast as he could. As Dan’s head disappeared below the level of the roof he saw the psycho again; fate had to be smiling down at them as it looked to Dan like the psycho was limping across the rooftop.
‘As fast as you can Chloe; we may just get out of this yet.’
They climbed down the ladder as fast as they could. Five minutes later; and with no more incidents Chloe said, ‘We’re at the bottom, there’s a six foot drop to the ground so be careful.’
She dropped to the tarmac; bending her knees as she landed. Dan dropped after her and landed safely beside her.
‘What a rush,’ Chloe said with a huge grin on her face, her eyes were alight and Dan laughed.
‘That’s one way of putting it,’ Dan replied; resting his hands on his knees, bent over he took several deep breaths.
‘Aren’t you out of breath?’ Dan had noticed that Chloe didn’t appear to be suffering like him after their rooftop sprint.
‘I run eight miles every morning; that was a breeze.’
‘Where are we?’ Dan asked as he straightened up, ‘which way to the car, we don’t have much of a head start.’
‘We’re at the car,’ Chloe pointed over his shoulder. Dan turned to see the Astin Martin parked at the curb ten feet away.
‘Brilliant, you’re a genius.’
‘I know.’
They walked over to the car and Chloe said, ‘Ah shit, look.’
Dan followed her lead and saw that the front right tyre had been blown out. He crouched by the wheel and then noticed the same thing had been done to the right rear tyre, ‘Ah fuck it,’ he said.
‘It gets worse,’ Chloe said as she indicated the smashed driver’s side window. ‘My purse is gone; I left it in the side pocket of the door. All my money, my cards, ID, and this place is normally so safe, there are never any vandals around here.’
‘It wasn’t vandals. That explains it.’
‘Explains what?’
‘I’ll tell you in the car.’
‘You’re going to drive it like this; and you call me crazy.’
‘It’ll do for now, I have a spare in the boot, and we need to get out of here right now,’ Dan replied.
Dan ushered Chloe into the passenger seat and climbed into the driver’s seat; brushing the shattered pieces of safety glass from the leather upholstery as he did.
When they were both in the car Dan started the ignition; fearing that the psycho had somehow disabled the car whilst he had been in Chloe’s flat, Dan was relieved when the engine purred to life. He pulled out from the curb; it was hard to drive, the steering kept pulling to the right but Dan compensated. The noise from the ruined wheels was immense with the side window shattered and Dan had to shout to be heard. ‘When I was climbing up the ladder I heard the psycho shout out our names, both of us, I couldn’t figure out how he knew who you were or even how he found us so easily; for a moment I was thinking all kinds of things.’
‘I didn’t think about my purse, it has my address in it, I’m so sorry Dan,’ Chloe shouted back.
‘It’s okay. At least now we know it’s the car that’s bugged and not me.’
Dan tried to make the car go faster but with two flats he couldn’t push it past thirty without the car slewing all over the road. He took streets in a haphazard way, not knowing where he was going; just wanting to put some distance between them and the psycho. He needed to park up and change the front tyre as soon as he could. Three wheels would be better than two.
Chloe leaned between their seats and looked out the back window, ‘Nobody’s behind us yet.’
‘Good, let’s keep it that way.’
He drove for ten minutes, neither of them talking; both conscious of the fact that Dan really needed all his concentration to keep the car moving.
‘Here will have to do, the front wheel is on its rim,’ he pulled over to the side of the road and quickly jumped out of the car.
Chloe helped him to change the wheel and then they were back in the car and he pulled back out onto the road. With three functioning wheels he was able to go faster and the noise wasn’t quite as abrasive. Dan kept the speed at 30mph until they reached a dual carriageway and he gunned the engine; at 60mph sparks from the rear blown tyre started to shoot high into the air.
‘Damn it, we can’t keep going like this.’
He slowed the car to 30mph but the damage had been done and the sparks were now looking like fire crackers.
‘There’s not much traffic at the moment but that won’t last for long, sooner or later we’ll end up attracting the wrong sort of attention and we’ll be done for.’
He pulled over to the side of the road and came to a stop on the hard shoulder; the sudden silence was disconcerting, and he switched the engine off.
Chloe looked at Dan. ‘We’ve managed fifteen miles, when was the last time you saw Colin?’
‘Who’s Colin?’
‘Well, we can’t keep calling him the psycho.’
Dan laughed, ‘But why Colin?’
‘I went out with a Colin once and he was a complete fuckwit, so Colin will have to do; so when did you last see him?’
‘He was up on the second roof; limping.’
‘Good, so say it took him ten minutes to get down to the street, then track us on whatever system he’s got I’d say we’ve got about a fifteen minute lead on him. What do you want to do?’ Chloe asked.
‘We can’t stay here, do you know this area?’
‘Sure, this is Waterlooville road, there’s fields on my side of the car and a housing estate out your window; a train station is over that way too.’
‘Okay then, that’s the way we’ll go, we’ll get a train and work out what we’re going to do after that; okay?’
Chloe nodded in agreement, ‘No credit cards though, that will leave a trail; cash only for now, I have some in my bag.’
‘Yeah so do I, we’ll be okay money-wise.’
If only she knew. Dan thought. There’s so much she needs to know.
The theme tune to Star Wars filled the car making Dan jump, ‘What the hell’s that?’
<
br /> ‘My mobile,’ Chloe said as she fished it out of her bag. She checked the caller ID on the tiny screen.
‘It’s my home number.’
‘The psycho?’
Chloe nodded, ‘Colin; it has to be.’
‘Don’t answer it,’ Dan said, but it was too late, the ring tune stopped as Chloe held the phone to her ear.
‘Ah Chloe,’ Colin said in s soft, refined voice; it surprised her. Chloe had expected him to sound like some kind of demon; she had expected his voice to sound dark and sinister.
‘What an absolutely delightful collection of underwear you possess. Do you know what I’m doing right this very minute?’
Chloe remained silent; watching Dan watching her. Dan whispered, ‘What?’ Chloe shook her head to silence Dan; her insides had turned to ice as she imagined what Colin might be doing on the other end of the phone.
‘Cat got your tongue sweetheart? Never mind, I’ll tell you; I’m looking at your picture, the one of you in a bikini taken on a beach somewhere tropical. You’re very attractive Chloe but I’m sure you already know that; don’t you. Well, I’m sat on your bed with your picture in front of me and a pair of your lacy black panties wrapped around my cock. It feels wonderful,’ there was a brief pause, ‘well; aren’t you going to say something Chloe?’
Chloe coughed gently and said, ‘Pervert.’
‘Oh Chloe my darling, you have such a melodious voice, I think you’re about to make me come.’
‘Yeah, well you better enjoy it; it’s the closest you’ll ever get to the real thing.’
‘Quite, quite. Look Chloe I’ll make a deal with you; leave Dan now and I’ll not come after you. Stay with him and I’ll set fire to this pit you call home, and once I’ve finished him off I’ll take my time with you. I’ll do things to you that you never knew existed.’
He stopped talking and all Chloe could hear was the sound of his heavy breathing followed by a very loud sigh. She shuddered as she realised what he had just done; she thought of her flat, the underwear he was using, and she felt violated.
Dan made eye contact with her and whispered to be given the phone. Once more Chloe waved him away and held her hand up motioning for him to be quiet.
Rage Against The Machine: Special Edition (Dan & Chloe Book 1) Page 4
