by Penny Grubb
Vince’s rasping breaths had turned to patchy snores. Annie looked at him. It would be pretty pointless to kill Vitoria if Vince was missing.
CHAPTER 27
Annie weighed the options. She could lift Vince bodily and carry him away. He was so shrivelled, that she could manage him easily, except that he wouldn’t come quietly. If she knew what she was doing, she might force-feed him some of the tablets she’d scattered across the floor whilst looking in that bag, but she daren’t. He was too frail, too close to death, and she wouldn’t be the one to finish him off. Tying him in the chair would cut down any route by which she could slip away unnoticed. If he stayed asleep, she might hide him behind the boxes and leave the door swinging open. Could she lay a false trail, the way she’d been going to do with Christa? If the door were open wide the constant rush of the breeze might mask the sound of his breathing, which was shallow enough anyway.
As a plan, it hung by a thread. She tried to imagine what might happen if they came along and Vince was missing. They’d search, but they’d know he couldn’t have gone far. She couldn’t rely on another lucky break like Reg’s car. Unless she could engineer one, but how? Everywhere was bathed in early-morning light. No dark corners to rely on. If the chance came, if they were all distracted at this end of the lorry park, she’d sprint back to the low building, back along its length, round the corner and to the stable block and her phone.
And Pat. What had happened to Pat? Either she’d been found or she’d fallen asleep unnoticed in that out-of-the-way room.
The rusty tin of hoof oil lay on the floor beside Vitoria. Annie’s gaze zoomed in on it. She moved swiftly behind Vince, grasped the handles of the chair and manoeuved him backwards, past Vitoria, to the far corner. She shoved the chair bit by bit, pulling boxes from behind and stacking them in front. Vince’s clawlike hands gripped the chair arms convulsively, but he said nothing. He wouldn’t waste his breath whilst there was no one to come to his rescue. Annie couldn’t bring herself to silence him with violence. He was too close to the edge. But he could barely stay awake; his voice wasn’t strong. She remembered the uproar back at the house when Christa had gone. If his disappearance generated the same volume of sound, his weak voice hadn’t a hope of being heard.
She snatched up the hoof oil and pulled the old bicycle wheel free of the debris in the corner. There wasn’t much left in the tin, but what there was pooled nicely on the floor so she could run the wheel through it and make a track towards the door. The window showed everything quiet outside, so she risked easing the door open and reaching out to continue the track in the dirt. She pulled in a breath to make sure she put sufficient effort behind the move and, hurled the wheel out along the side of the building towards the grass edge. It spun across the ground and disappeared from sight. ‘Vitoria,’ she whispered. ‘I’m going back outside. When I get the chance, I’ll make a break for it. I’ll bring help.’
She wasn’t sure how much the woman understood, but as she reached for the door, she heard running footsteps and raised voices, so she crept back, eased herself behind the stack of boxes, and stood close to Vince, who looked to be asleep again. Words floated in as the footsteps raced nearer…. from over here … quick … sounded like a window breaking….
They’d heard something. She froze, holding her breath as the door clicked open.
A shocked intake of breath and then pandemonium … voices shouting … Cutting through it all in hesitant tones came Vitoria’s voice, ‘Woman came. Take him away.’
Annie’s heart flipped over. Why was Vitoria giving her away? But even as the thought formed, she knew it was the right thing to do. If they thought Vince had gone under his own steam, they’d look near by. If they thought he’d been taken, they’d rush off to give chase. The fly in the ointment was the poisonous old man in the wheelchair at her side. She swivelled her eyes down to look at him. He couldn’t have stayed asleep through all the racket. Was he aware of her close beside him, scared of what she’d do? But Vince Sleeman wasn’t scared of anyone, certainly not people like her. All she could do was remain still and hope.
‘When … where?’ someone shouted.
‘After you leave me,’ Vitoria said. Annie applauded silently. Vitoria’s act was perfect.
‘Why didn’t you shout out?’
‘Shout for who? You tie me here. Where Leah?’
‘Come on! She took him this way. She can’t get far.’
‘If they got over the rise she could have had a car there.’
The door slammed and Vitoria’s voice murmured, ‘They gone.’
Annie eased herself out and looked towards the window, not taking the risk of getting too close. She caught a glimpse of people running. If she only had a weapon or knew how many of them there were and where they were, but she didn’t and must improvise. Now that it was light Jean’s car was no good for cover. She’d have to make it from here right to the corner in one go. But if they’d gone over the rise towards where Carl had hijacked her, they would be out of sight of the lorry park. As she crept closer, she saw another group: hard to tell how many as she watched from an acute angle through the dirty glass. They didn’t come her way, but she needed them gone before she could get out without being seen.
A burst of shouting and a cry, cut off abruptly. As Annie stared, someone broke off from the group and moved out of her line of sight. The others came into better view. Two heavies and a young girl, twelve or thirteen, Annie judged, and they were dragging her towards the trailer. What on earth…? Was this some early-morning dog walker grabbed off the scrubland? What part could a young girl have to play in this charade?
‘Get me water,’ rasped a voice from behind the heap of boxes.
She spun round. ‘There,’ Vitoria pointed at a bottle of spring water on the floor.
With another glance at the two men and the girl struggling between them, Annie snatched up the bottle, unscrewed the top and pushed it at Vince - a kind of thank offering that he’d remained too comatose to give her away. He had difficulty raising it to his lips, but slurped at it thirstily, dribbling liquid down his front. As soon as the two men had the young girl inside the trailer, she would make her move.
The shadow across the window came out of nowhere, the soft crunch of footsteps just outside giving Annie barely time to leap back behind the boxes. The door clicked open again.
‘Leah!’ cried Vitoria. ‘OK. Is OK. Is Leah.’
Reluctantly, Annie moved forward. She couldn’t remain hidden in the face of Vitoria’s enthusiastic urging. She faced Leah across the small space. Vitoria saw the woman as her saviour. Annie saw a long-standing member of the Sleeman clan. Even if Leah was prepared to save Vitoria, what chance did she stand against the army ranged out there?
‘We meet at last,’ Leah said.
Annie nodded, her gaze never leaving the woman’s face.
‘Leah, please,’ Vitoria begged. ‘Find key. This thing hurt—’
‘Quiet!’ Leah snapped, cutting across her. ‘Where have you taken him?’
Annie swallowed. Logic told her she should be able to rush this woman and overpower her, but she took in the solidity of Leah’s stance, her hand hidden in the folds of her skirt. What did she have? A gun … a blade …?
‘Leah, please. We have agreed.’ Vitoria spoke again, an undertone of indignation behind her words.
Leah turned to look at Vitoria, putting on a smile that chilled Annie’s soul, and with panther-like speed covered the ground between them in a stride. ‘I told you to be quiet,’ she snapped as her small foot landed deliberately on Vitoria’s free hand, twisting it into the floor.
Vitoria cried out in pain. Instinctively, Annie moved forward, only to stop as Leah swung back to her. ‘Where is he?’
Annie pulled in a breath. At any second Vince would wake. She was surprised his rasping breaths weren’t audible already in the quiet of the annexe. Only Leah between her and the door. Distract her with Vince. Make a run for it. Everyone else must be in the
trailer or out looking for her and Vince, but they’d be back soon. As thoughts flashed through her mind, the fog cleared.
Vince isn’t scared of people like me … I told you to give that job to Annie.
And she realized that Carl Sleeman had told her the truth, knowing she wouldn’t believe him. Vince hadn’t kept quiet because he was asleep, and Reg Brocklesby hadn’t been outraged that she wasn’t Christa; he’d been outraged because she wasn’t Vitoria. It was the job that Vince had brought her here to do.
‘Uh … Pat has him,’ she said to Leah. ‘We came together. We had a car over the rise. I stayed to help Vitoria. I’ll show you.’ She made a move towards the door, but Leah flicked her right wrist, showing a glint of steel.
With her other hand Leah reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. Annie stared longingly. In her peripheral vision she could see Vitoria, curled over her injured hand.
She had to get Leah out of here or find some way to cover the sounds of Vince’s laboured breathing. Already she could hear him. He was doing his best to keep quiet, just as he had when the heavies had burst in, but he was too ill to keep it up. She started to breathe loudly herself as though beginning to hyperventilate.
Leah shot her a suspicious glance as she spoke into her phone. ‘Thompson had a car here. Her own car?’ She looked the question at Annie, taking a step closer to Vitoria as she did so. Vitoria cringed. The message was clear. Annie shook her head. ‘No.’ It was the only safe answer. Pat’s car hadn’t been at the farmhouse, so one of them must have taken it. ‘It’s my car.’
‘Registration number,’ snapped Leah.
Annie gave it.
‘Oh, that one’s yours, is it? Might have guessed.’ Leah spoke into the phone, then back to Annie. ‘Where’s she taking him?’
‘To the nearest hospital, I should think,’ said Annie, as Vitoria suddenly cried out again. Both Annie and Leah jumped at the sound. Vitoria subsided but not before shooting a look at Annie, who immediately feigned a coughing fit to cover the sounds from behind the boxes. Vince was struggling to keep quiet.
Leah glared from one to the other of them. ‘Nothing,’ Leah snapped into the phone. ‘She’s likely to head for Hull Royal. Get to her before she does.’
As Leah cut the call Annie saw a shadow outside and moved swiftly across to stand beside Vitoria. At once Leah’s hand flew into view and Annie saw the blade. Annie backed further, crowding Vitoria who hugged the wall. Leah circled round, forcing Annie further over. It was a bad move, crowding herself close to Vitoria, but Annie needed Leah to turn her back to the window and door. But Leah was quick, too quick. Annie needed another diversion.
‘He’s been here all along,’ Annie said. ‘He’s there behind the boxes.’
Her speech shocked Vitoria into silence and Vince’s rasping breaths filled the air. As if on cue, one of the unstable mound of boxes broke free and tumbled down, showing the corner of the wheelchair and one of Vince’s wizened legs. Leah gaped and swung round to Annie in such a fury that she was a microsecond behind the curve in swinging back again as the door crashed open behind her. She turned just enough to meet the metal wrench square on the temple and went down without a murmur.
‘You took your time,’ said Annie to Pat.
Vitoria turned her head away as Annie used the wrench to smash the water pipe at the nearest joint. Water gushed out, soaking them all as they wrestled to slide the handcuff free. Pat cleared the boxes away from in front of Vince.
‘They wouldn’t have persuaded the surgeon, anyway,’ he rasped, as he watched them struggle to free Vitoria. ‘It’s not the sort of thing folks do for any amount of money if they’re not minded.’
‘They would,’ said Pat, picking up the wrench as Annie pulled Vitoria to her feet. ‘Leah went for his daughter. He’d have carved up Vitoria rather than watch them carve his child. Anyway, we’ll ring people, soon as we’re clear. You can get on to the proper list again.’
‘Pah …’ He looked disgusted and waved them away.
‘My God!’ Annie swung round on Pat. ‘Haven’t you rung anyone yet?’
‘I don’t want the hassle. Nor does she. We’ll ring as soon as we can get a phone that can’t be traced back to us.’
Annie dived to Leah’s comatose form and scrabbled through her pockets. ‘Come on!’ she urged them. ‘We need to go. We’ll ring from Leah’s phone.’
The three of them ran as fast as they could down the sides of the buildings. At the sound of a car engine, they dived inside the grooms’ block.
Annie took out Leah’s phone and made the emergency call, salient facts only, refusing to give her name, knowing that someone was already on their trail, but making sure to say that Hassan and his daughter had been brought here and that Jean was unconscious in the grooms’ block.
Listening to a vehicle screaming up the track somewhere behind them, Annie toyed with the idea of searching for Jean’s car keys, taking her car, maybe even taking Jean. They were on the lookout for her car, now. But no, Jean’s car would be missed at once; it was hard to imagine starting it up without it being heard from the trailer. Her car was tucked away where they wouldn’t have thought to look. Would they?
‘Did anyone see you?’ she hissed at Pat as the sounds grew closer.
‘Course not,’ said Pat. ‘Well … that is, I bashed one of them, but I put him out of the way.’
‘Will they have found the car? Was he inside the stable block?’
Pat shook her head. ‘I fell asleep after you left. When I woke and you weren’t back I knew there was trouble, so I found a wrench and went out to look. I heard them talking. They were waiting for Leah to come back with Hassan’s daughter. Hassan wasn’t playing ball. Two of them went with Leah when she got back, but they left one on guard.’
Annie risked a glance at Vitoria, whose expression hardened as she listened.
Instinctively they all pulled back from the window as a car skidded round the corner on to the lorry park. It roared past the block and on down to the dip towards the trailer.
‘Now,’ Annie told them. This was not the time to hang around for an invitation or even to wonder who was in the car. This was their last chance to get clear.
Vitoria outstripped them both, arriving at the far corner, pressing herself to the wall and peering round, then beckoning them on. Like a true professional, thought Annie, as she guided Vitoria to the stable block, made a dash for the tiny bedroom to grab her coat and fumble for the keys. As she re-emerged Pat came panting along to join them and they raced for the back lane to Annie’s stashed car.
CHAPTER 28
As they swung out of the lane Annie felt a surge of triumph to see a clear road ahead of her, but knew they were far from safe. And a part of her was convinced they should stay and wait for the next set of flashing blue lights to arrive. If they tried to get clear, they might yet be caught in Sleeman’s web. If they stayed and handed themselves in, they were in for varying levels of trouble, but they’d be safe. Or would they?
Pat groaned from the back seat. ‘Christ, I feel lousy.’
‘Put your seatbelt on,’ Annie snapped.
‘Why? You planning to run us off the road?’
Annie pursed her lips and said nothing. This mini adrenaline rush might help to keep her focused for a while, but she hadn’t slept for twenty-four hours and had barely eaten anything. She was in no fit state to drive as fast as she felt compelled to do, putting distance between them and the horrors they’d left behind. Concentrate, she told herself. Get back to the city. It would be waking up now. It wasn’t that far. They could lose themselves in the city.
‘That was a café back there.’ Pat’s voice radiated indignation.
Annie kept quiet. It would be madness to stop this close. Pat knew it. She was grumpy because Annie had ordered her into the back. Pat saw the sense in it, but it hadn’t stopped her muttering. Annie wasn’t having Vitoria behind them both. They knew too little about her. Vitoria twisted in her seat, looking b
ehind. ‘We’ve got a start on them,’ Annie reassured her absently as her mind spun through the options. ‘We’ll keep you safe.’
‘For tonight maybe,’ said Pat tactlessly. ‘Then what? You’re illegal, I suppose?’
Annie caught Vitoria throwing a distrustful glance over her shoulder. This was a marked car, now. No time to effect a change. She had to get them somewhere safe and get the car hidden. As she thought through the places they could go, Pat quizzed Vitoria. ‘How did you end up coming in the way you did, landed on some beach somewhere?’
‘Family here but I not allowed visa. Rules change. Quotas.’
Annie’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw it was Christa. A shiver ran through her. The office and Pat’s flat would be the first places the heavies would stake out. Not trusting herself to concentrate on the twists of the road, she passed the handset back over her shoulder. ‘Speaker phone,’ she told Pat. ‘And keep quiet. I’m on my own, OK?’
‘Annie, is that you?’ said Christa’s voice, clipped and alert.
‘Uh … yeah. Everything OK?’
‘Yeah, yeah, no problem. Just wanted to let you know a couple of guys got in touch, pretended they had a meeting with you, wanted to know where you were.’
Annie swallowed. ‘Who were they? What did they say?’
‘Nothing much. I took a number, said I’d get back to them when I found you. I assume you don’t want me to.’
‘No, you haven’t heard from me. Uh … are you OK?’
‘Fine. You don’t need me to do anything, do you? Only I’m in the middle of something.’
‘No, no. I’ll be in touch.’
Annie looked in the mirror. She and Pat exchanged a glance. Pat spoke to Vitoria as she clicked off the phone. ‘Sorry, what were you saying, Vitoria? Quotas?’
Vitoria told Pat how she’d looked at alternative routes into the UK once her application to come legitimately had been turned down. ‘Too much money,’ she said with a small laugh, ‘until I hear of scheme.’ She told how word had reached her of a need for people with specific skills, which might offer another chance to cross borders legitimately.
