by Mark Ayre
Adam had killed many men and women but claimed he would never harm a child. Maybe this was true. Grendel had no such hang-up. Age, gender, race—the monster was an equal opportunity slaughterer.
Despite their animosity, in recognition of the new, greater threat, Adam crossed the room and stood shoulder to shoulder with Omi. The handgun he had holstered, drawing the far more powerful shotgun from his back. Omi’s gun was on the floor. His priority remained to keep Delilah safe. If he had to throw Adam to the wolf to get Hattie and her daughter out, he would.
“Where’s my sister?” Adam asked the beast.
Closing the distance between him and his victims, Grendel pointed at Adam and gestured to the wall. As though, by power of telekinesis, he hoped to cast Adam aside.
Unmoving, Adam said, “Is my sister alive?”
Going for a yes-no question was smart. Grendel nodded.
“Are you working with her?”
Another nod.
“And you won’t hurt me?”
A third nod.
“I need you not to hurt these people either.”
A shake. Another step. Omi would be the first to go. Ideally, Adam would, from point-blank range, put a shotgun slug into Grendel’s face. Instead, the twin tossed the gun onto his back and stepped forward and to the side, partially shielding Omi.
The shotgun was in front of Omi now, within arm’s reach. His hands twitched. He would need to be quick.
“I guess you’re helping my sister and me because we’re all the same in being different, and those differences have made us victims of their torment.” Adam pointed at Delilah. “She’s a victim too. The same way. Don’t hurt these people.”
Omi’s hand rose as Adam pointed to Delilah. Expecting the twin to sell out the child, he prepared to take the shotgun and kill his enemies. Upon seeing Adam’s true intentions, knowing it might work, he swung his raised hand and placed it upon his angel’s shoulder.
“Delilah, sweetie, lift your head.”
More than anything, Delilah hated for strangers to see her. It was a sign of her total trust in Omi that she did as asked, lifting her head towards Grendel. She could not see him; her trembling frame showed she sensed the danger well enough.
“She’s like us,” Adam said. “We need to stick together.”
Even hampered by expressionless eyes, Grendel managed to convey internal conflict, his need to kill butting heads with his desire to support those who suffered as did he.
Compassion won. Omi saw the moment the beast decided Delilah would not die today.
All was not well. Grendel’s attention turned to Hattie.
“Don’t,” said Adam. But it was no use. Grendel prepared to pounce.
The door bashed open. Omi was unaware Carter had left the room until a stranger directed her back inside.
Grendel turned, assessing this new meal option. Carter whispered something inaudible.
Adam approached Hattie. Omi bent low and grabbed his gun before taking Delilah’s hand. He said nothing, knowing she would come when he told her to move.
“For Francis,” said the new man. “For my uncle.”
He cast Carter forward; Grendel wasted no time.
Nor did Omi.
Diving across the room, trailing Delilah, he slammed his shoulder into Adam, sending the twin sprawling. With his free hand, he yanked Hattie to feet.
“Follow.”
Sweeping Delilah into his arms, he jumped Adam and rushed for the door.
He no longer worked for the company, nor for anyone. He had to get his angel to safety.
Nothing else mattered.
Omi fled, Adam gave chase.
In the hall, he almost collided with Doc, who had collided with Hattie. Before she could rise and flee, Adam grabbed her arm, held tight to the trembling teen.
“Adam,” said Doc. “Eve’s downstairs, in the cellar.”
“Great,” said Adam. “That a stun gun?”
“Yeah.”
“Put it to her head.” He pushed the girl to Doc. “Then follow.”
Holstering Francis’ pistol, Adam grabbed his shotgun and began to descend.
“Omi, we have the teenager. You flee, she dies.”
Adam supposed there was a chance Omi would sacrifice the teen to save the child. When he heard the little girl cry for her mother, he knew the guard would return.
Opposite the foot of the stairs lay an open entry. Through here, a storage room containing packed boxes and another door, this one heavy. Only ajar, Adam could discern nothing of this further room but guessed it was a garage, within which would be housed a car. If not for Hattie’s collision with Doc, the three of them would be revving up and preparing to fly. Adam doubted he would have caught them.
The garage door swung wide; Omi appeared. At his back, holding his hand, was Delilah. In his free hand was a gun. Despite being outnumbered, despite it seeming the teen’s life was in danger, he did not lower his weapon.
“I’ll never let you hurt her.”
Adam knew he did not mean the teen.
“I don’t kill children,” he said. “Only scum like you.”
By a couple of centimetres, Omi lowered his gun. Like his arm, his head drooped, and Adam wondered if this were a trap. After creating a false sense of security, he might raise both head and gun and blow away his enemies. Then defeat broke his face. Never loosening his grip on Delilah’s hand, he not only lowered the weapon but vanished it into his jacket.
“Please,” he said to Adam. “Let us go. You’ll never see us again. I promise. I want nothing to do with the organisation. Only to keep the girls safe.”
Behind Omi, Delilah shook with fear. On the stairs, the barrel of Doc’s gun pressed to her temple, the teen sobbed. Even Omi, employee of the agency Adam so despised, drew his sympathy. For the girls, his heart broke. He did not doubt Omi wanted nothing more than to protect Delilah and her mother. He wished that made a difference.
But it didn’t.
“They’ll come for you,” said Adam. “I’m sorry. I won’t kill Delilah, but while she’s a threat, I can’t let her out of my sight.”
This was the scenario Omi dreaded. Knowing there was nothing he could say to dissuade Adam, he only hung his head.
“We don’t have long,” said Adam. Drawing Francis’ gun, he moved to Doc, presenting the doctor his uncle’s weapon. “Keep them here, please. I’m going for Eve.”
“Yeah, man. No worries.”
Shotgun leading the way, he moved to the open cellar door. Unsure stairs descended into gloom. From this position, he could see nothing of the space below. Though there was little to distract the ears, no sound reached him from beneath.
“Eve,” Adam called. “Are you down there?”
“Adam? Adam is that you? Oh, thank God. Please, help us.”
At the voice, Adam’s fear and fury spiked in tandem. Were there no depths to which this organisation would not sink in their pursuit of the twins?
“Bethany? What’s happened?”
“Your sister saved me,” Bethany called. “Then, a bookshelf fell. She put one of those shields around us, but then she fainted. I’m sorry, Adam. This is all my fault.”
Hoping the stairs would bear his weight, Adam wasted no time in descending. Wary of a trap even in his anxiety to save Bethany and his sister, he swept the room as he took the stairs, confirming the cellar was empty but for the two he hoped to find.
Eve lay with her head in Bethany’s lap. His sister was unconscious, Bethany covered in the bruises and marks that so often signalled the organisation’s hospitality.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.”
Crossing the room, he fell beside his sister and the night receptionist. Though he hated to see Eve unconscious and feared for her health, he could not help but be overwhelmed with happiness and relief at their reuniting.
“Can you walk?” he asked Bethany.
“I think so.”
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“Upstairs, we have allies and a car waiting. Go, I’ll follow with Eve.”
Nodding, sobbing, Bethany rose. After four steps, she paused, rushed back to Adam. As he made to lift his sister, she threw her arms around him.
“I knew you’d come.”
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “I promise it’s all going to be okay.”
Overhead, the whipping blades of at least one helicopter became audible, the sound growing louder as the new enemy grew every second closer.
Closer and closer, the helicopters came.
“Reinforcements,” said Omi. “We can’t wait any longer.”
Still holding Hattie, Doc twisted to the end of the hall down which Adam had disappeared. For reasons he could not explain, he felt an affinity for the twins. To himself, his attachment was greater. He did not want to lose his life.
“Adam,” he shouted. “We have to go. Now.”
Up those creaking stairs, footsteps. Across the hall from each other, Omi and Doc waited with Hattie and Delilah. With the enemy growing ever closer, someone burst from the cellar door and entered the hall. She was not Adam nor Eve.
She had the former’s shotgun.
“No,” shouted Omi. A shotgun slug smashed the wall as Omi threw himself into the room between hallway and garage. To Doc, he shouted, “Come on.”
Another shotgun blast shattered the head of the bannister post. The girl moved down the corridor. If Doc and Hattie tried to cross to Omi and Delilah, she would shred at least one of them, possibly both.
“Meet us,” Doc said, and pointed to the front door, hoping their enemy would not see.
Turning, he grabbed Hattie’s hand and fled upstairs. Behind, Omi rushed into the garage and threw closed the door.
At the top of the stairs, Doc went for the first room on the right, knowing the risk he was taking.
Grendel was gone. The remains of Carter no longer appeared human. Trying not to look, Doc rushed across the room, Hattie’s hand still in his, and threw open the window which overlooked the porch roof, their only possible route to safety.
A shotgun slug fired up the stairs, followed by pounding feet. Fifty metres from the house front, the helicopter began its slow descent, feet dangling from its open side, preparing to drop. A car engine revved into life.
“Got to jump,” said Doc.
Hattie was staring at the Carter remains. Exasperated, Doc grabbed her hand and dragged her to the window. Knowing she would struggle, he lifted her legs over the sill, positioning her to drop.
Displeased with the speed at which the garage door opened; Omi smashed the accelerator and tore the door from its hinges. Hattie was sobbing. Watching the helicopter descend, Doc grabbed her under the arms.
“Time to go,” he said.
Without waiting for confirmation, he pushed. Holding under her arms, he managed to lower her a couple of feet before releasing. The drop was small; still, she screamed as she fell and as she landed and toppled onto the roof. Doc did not hesitate to follow.
Landing well, he was able to spring to his feet, even as Hattie lay sobbing beneath him. Fifty metres away, black-clad agents dropped from the helicopter. Armed, they began running for the farmhouse, their eyes on Doc and Hattie.
A car skidded around the corner, screeching to a halt four metres from the porch. As Omi jumped out, Doc raised a hand.
And the porch roof collapsed.
Hattie screamed again. Shockwaves flashed through Doc’s legs into his lower back. Despite the pain, he forced himself to stand, the front door behind him, potential escape in front. The agents drew nearer but were not so close that all hope was lost.
As Doc turned to help Hattie, the frosted glass of the front window shattered; something punched his side.
Doc was aware of no pain; only of being thrown from the porch into the grass, rolling into the dirt and stopping beside a dead girl’s body. Driven by adrenaline, he rose, stepped towards Hattie.
From the farmhouse appeared the woman who had stolen Adam’s shotgun. Doc had but a second to ponder the twins’ fate before the gun was swinging his way.
The shooter stood over Hattie. Doc would not survive a second blast. Might not survive the first.
He fled to the car, into which Omi was already jumping. Left running, the engine purred, ready to go. As Doc threw open the back door, Omi hit the accelerator, and the shooter fired.
Doc jumped. Via some miracle, he landed half in the car as the bullet sailed overhead. Though his strength fast failed him, he found the energy to drag himself in and slam the door. The round which would have killed him had smashed the window opposite the door through which he had dived. He expected a barrage of shots to follow, to set the tank aflame. Demise would follow in a ball of fire.
The bullets never came. In the front, Delilah was screaming for her mother and trying to grab the wheel. Powering towards the road, Omi held the wheel with one hand, held off Delilah with the other.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
On they drove. Through the window, Doc observed the clear blue sky. As delirium crawled in, he saw his mother in the clouds, looking down on him as she had promised she always would.
“It’s a beautiful day,” he noted.
Seconds later, he collapsed into unconsciousness.
Want more?
The twins return in LOCK AND KEY, the fourth Adam and Eve thriller. Available now on Amazon via the link below, or save when you buy the complete Adam and Eve boxset, containing all six thrillers.
Buy Lock and Key on Amazon:
mybook.to/lockkeyadameve
Buy the complete Adam and Eve boxset on Amazon:
mybook.to/adamevebox
Grab Your Free Thriller Novel
To sign up for the Mark Ayre Reader’s Group and get your free copy of Hide and Seek, book one in a trilogy of gripping supernatural suspense novels, visit: markay.re/freehideandseek
Author’s Note
Back in the early months of 2020, I wrote Hide and Seek and Count to Ten, the first two novels in my Hide and Seek trilogy.
I released both within a couple of weeks of each other in May. They were well received, and I was excited to write the final novel.
But not right away. I love writing, but it’s always hard work. Even more so when writing several volumes of the same series in a row. I knew if the third volume was to hit the standards I wanted it to, I needed to take a break before I began.
For me, a break means not lying on a beach, but starting something new. For some time, I’d had an idea for a story two siblings bearing great power, the use of which would cause them to suffer great consequence, on the run. Thus, in the aftermath of publishing Count to Ten, Adam and Eve were born.
These would be shorter works, novellas rather than novels. Therefore, I decided I would write not one but three before embarking upon the third Hide and Seek novel.
Then I got started. In a flash I had written the first two, and was captivated by the trials and tribulations Adam and Eve were facing. Rather than three, I decided I would write four, then get on to the final Hide and Seek novel.
Now, here we are. As I sit at my desk, writing this introduction, I am part way through the sixth Adam and Eve thriller.
This introduction will appear in all six books, as well as in the boxset.
I don’t know at what point you may have decided to read this authors note but, whenever it is, I can only say thank you for being here, and I hope you have enjoyed reading about Adam and Eve’s troubles as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
For now, I’m off to finish writing the sixth thriller, which you may have just finished reading. Then it’s on to completing the Hide and Seek trilogy.
I hope you enjoy that one too.
Mark Ayre
24/07/2020
Have You Read?
The Adam and Eve Thrillers
Cursed from birth with supernatural abilities, Adam and Eve have spent their lives on the run, using the
tips their mother taught them to keep one step ahead of the ruthless organisation that pursues them.
But when their enemy develops a new device that can locate the twins, any time, anywhere, running is no longer an option. To secure their freedom, they must turn and fight.
Do Adam and Eve, even with their extraordinary abilities, stand any chance of destroying an organisation with infinite resources and no compunction about killing countless innocents to achieve their goals, or are they merely hand-delivering themselves to the tortuous life of experimentation from which their mother tried to save them?
Follow the twins as they fight to overcome insurmountable odds in pursuit of the one thing they have never been allowed: a normal life; with all six thrillers available separately or in a single digital collection..
Book One: Fire and Smoke
Book Two: Lost and Found
Book Three: Cat and Mouse
Book Four: Lock and Key
Book Five: Cloak and Shield
Book Six: Hope in Hell
The Complete Boxset: Adam and Eve Books 1-6
The Hide and Seek Trilogy
A Trilogy of Supernatural Thrillers
Book one:
A stroll in the woods almost killed her. Her survival puts everyone she loves in danger…
After Mercury stumbles upon an unconscious man on a mysterious symbol in the woods, her safe place almost becomes her final resting place.
Lucky to survive, Mercury tracks the man she almost died trying to help, only for him to claim he was home when she believes he was attacked.
Sure he is lying, Mercury sets about discovering the truth, and finds evidence of a terrifying ritual involving the symbol she saw that night. But her interference brings her survival to the attention of those who tried to kill her, and as they seek to perform the ritual again, Mercury must fight to stop them not to save her own life - but the lives of everyone she loves...
