Nothing Left But Fear

by Russell, Adrian

  Joshua approached the vehicle from behind, and within seconds of the man jumping into the driver’s seat, he had jumped back out again and was holding his rifle. He immediately turned to face Joshua, who by now was only feet away from the vehicle, and just as he was bringing his rifle up to point it at Joshua, Joshua pulled his trigger and shot him.

  The large man was flung back after the impact of the bullet hit him square in the chest. As he fell backwards, his rifle dropped to the ground. Joshua walked over to the man and leaned over him to see if he was still alive, which he was, so Joshua knelt down and said, ‘Who else is out there?’

  The man looked up at him, coughed and brought up some blood, and replied in a weak, croaky voice, ‘you fucker, why did you shoot me?’

  ‘I shot you before you could shoot me, as you were bringing your rifle up,’ Joshua said, as he stared the man out and repeated, ‘who else is out there; are you alone?’

  ‘I have a tourist game hunter with me, and he’s by the kill in the bush,’ the man said slowly, and then, ‘you’ve fucking killed me.’

  ‘It’s called self-defence, and you are a poacher, as you are on our land,’ Joshua said without feeling. ‘What did you shoot?’

  The man was struggling to keep his eyes open, and as he stared up at Joshua he said, ‘It was a lion, he…’ The man didn’t finish his sentence, and Joshua confirmed by checking his carotid artery that he had died.

  ‘Fucking poachers,’ Joshua thought, as he stood up and switched weapons. He was now carrying the rifle that contained the tranquilisers.

  He was certain that he’d be able to creep up on this tourist quite easily, and he was sure the guy would have heard the shot, but he was still convinced he’d be able to find him and tranquilise him without too much of a problem.

  He set off in the direction the dead man had come from, whilst at the same time looking down and checking for obvious signs of his exact direction. Before very long, he came to a small clearing, and there in the middle of it was a large male lion, which was lying on its side next to a man dressed in khaki trousers and top, and wearing a cowboy-style hat. As Joshua broke through the cover of the trees, the man was looking in his direction, but he wasn’t holding a rifle, as this was perched on the lion’s head.

  The man addressed Joshua: ‘Who are you? I heard a gunshot.’

  Before the man could say any more and without saying a word himself, Joshua shot the man in the stomach with a tranquiliser dart.

  ‘What the fuck?’ The man said, as he stared at Joshua before quickly dropping to the ground with a loud thud.

  Joshua walked over and saw the tranquiliser drug taking effect on the man, who said again, ‘Who are you?’ And then he drifted off.

  Joshua looked at the lion that he’d obviously shot as a trophy. He was sure it was the largest lion of the group of three that Joshua had been aware of and was hoping to see today. He was a magnificent creature and probably stood in at nearly 500 pounds, but now he lay there in the dirt with a large hole in his heart.

  ‘Bastards,’ Joshua said under his breath, as he turned and headed back to collect his Land Rover.

  Before long, Joshua had both men in the back of his vehicle and was heading back to base. He couldn’t wait for his boss to return and to tell him about his catch.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Druker left his office at around 5:10, having managed to cover most of the phone calls he needed to, and he also managed to go through all the matters that Felicity had for him to deal with. After he’d had the interview with Carly Prow, Felicity had behaved differently. He decided not to say anything at this stage, as he didn’t have time for arguments which might lead to him having to start interviewing for a new assistant.

  To appease her mood further, he decided to give her a pay raise, which was a complete surprise to her. She was already on a very good salary for what she did, and the raise had changed her mood completely. Druker even heard her singing in the reception area whilst he was packing up to leave, which he knew was a good sign.

  The drive from his office to the hotel was just over 10 minutes by car at this time of day, as there was quite a bit of traffic about, with people leaving work. He arrived at the hotel and called Scott from the car. He asked him to come down, as he saw no sense in going into the hotel, as this would waste time.

  Scott came out right away, as he must have been in the lobby. He jumped into the passenger seat of the hire car, which was an Audi A4. When Scott got in, Druker was playing some classical music, which he wasn’t too keen on himself, but he knew that his boss liked listening to it, so he wasn’t about to say anything.

  ‘So how was it at your office today?’ Scott asked.

  ‘It was good and I managed to get most things done, which I’m pleased about.’

  ‘That’s always good when you get things done.’

  ‘So what have you done today, Scott?’

  ‘Not much, really. I went to the gym as usual and then went for a walk into town and had lunch. I then came back to the hotel and watched some TV.’

  ‘Never really been a big TV fan myself.’

  ‘Me neither, I’d much rather be out on the African plain myself, but I ended up watching a day-time movie, which was okay.’

  By now it was already dark and whilst they spoke, Druker had plugged Carly’s address details into the satnav, which had indicated a journey time of six minutes from where they were. Druker followed the instructions of the lady’s voice on the navigation system and they were soon pulling up outside her flat.

  ‘Here we are. She lives in that converted house over there,’ Druker said.

  ‘Okay,’ Scott replied. ‘It shouldn’t be too difficult to get her out of there. What floor is she on?’’

  ‘She’s on the ground floor, which will make things even easier for us.’

  ‘That’s good. When do you plan to come and get her then?’

  ‘I suggest tomorrow night, as I have a few things I need to do tomorrow morning. We should then be able to fly home first thing the following morning,’ Druker said.

  ‘It’s good to be going home early. I miss Africa when I’m not there,’ Scott replied.

  ‘Yes, me too, I feel it is my home now, even though I’ve not been there for that long. I’m excited about my project, too,’ Druker said.

  After they’d done the reconnaissance on Carly’s home, they set off back to the hotel.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  Carly had fallen asleep on the sofa and had awoken to the sound of someone ringing her intercom. She wasn’t used to having visitors and it seemed very strange, as she couldn’t think who it might be. She leant over and switched the lamp on, which was set on a small table next to her sofa.

  She was still lying there, half awake, wondering whether the noise she’d heard was part of a dream, and then she heard the ring once more. ‘Who the hell is ringing my intercom?’ she thought. ‘I bet it’s someone that’s rung the wrong one.’ She was irritated that someone had interrupted her sleep and kept lying on her sofa, not wanting to move. Then the third ring made it certain that they weren’t going away, and whoever they were, they were keen to get her attention.

  She got up off the sofa and walked towards her front door and the intercom, but before she had even reached them, the fourth ring resounded. This time it seemed even louder. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, but to her it felt like the middle of the night, especially as it was dark outside.

  She pressed the answer button on her intercom to speak to the person who was ringing her buzzer and said, ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I’m a plumber and I’ve been asked to come and check your boiler,’ a man’s voice said at the other end. ‘Your landlord contacted me and said there seemed to be a problem with a couple of the boilers in the building and we want to make sure yours is OK.’

  The man had a strange English accent, which sounded a bit posh and one she wouldn’t normally associate with a plumber.

  ‘
But I don’t know anything about this,’ she replied.

  ‘Yes, I know, and your landlord asked me to apologise on his behalf for not contacting you himself, but it is important we check your boiler to make sure it’s safe,’ the man continued.

  She could now hear something else in this English accent, and continued to question him. ‘Is it unsafe, then?’ she probed, becoming more agitated.

  ‘It could be. The boiler you have in your flat is the same as the one in flat three and we had to change a part on that one only yesterday. We did knock on your door then, but you were out,’ the voice said.

  ‘That must have been when I was at the interview yesterday,’ she thought. ‘This man must be genuine, if he knew I was out and has been to flat three.’

  The accent this man had was still bugging her, and yet despite this she pressed the button to release the latch on the main door to the building and told him to come to her flat, explaining that she was on the ground floor.

  She undid the latch, but just as she began to open the door, and before she could open it fully, it was pushed hard by whoever was on the other side. She briefly caught sight of two masked people, as they rushed in, grabbed her and wrestled her to the floor.

  Before she could properly work out what was happening, and just as she was about to let out an almighty scream, her mouth was covered by what felt like a gloved hand. Her scream came out as a very muffled sound. She tried in vain to make all the noise she could muster, but as she did, the hand around her lips tightened still further. All she could think was that the sounds wouldn’t be heard by anyone. She then heard her front door being closed, as the two intruders pinned her to the floor of her flat.

  As she struggled to set herself free, she felt something sting on her arm, and then she felt herself starting to drift off.

  ‘Have I just been injected?’ she thought as panic began to set in, but there was no more fight left in her.

  Whatever had just been pushed into her bloodstream was having an immediate effect and rendering her useless against her attackers. But just before she passed out, whilst she was still conscious and aware of what was going on, she realised there was something familiar about one of the invaders — it was a familiar fragrance. Then she faded away.

  When Carly awakened, she felt a bit groggy, and when she opened her eyes fully, she found that she was in some kind of a strange, dark room.

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  As Carly tried to make out where she was, she felt the whole room move. It was as if it were floating somehow, but then all of a sudden dropped for what felt like a metre or so and stopped with a thud. Trying to steady herself with her hands, she realised that she couldn’t move them. They were bound to her sides. Panic began to set in, as she remembered what had happened to her in her flat, where two intruders had pushed in and given her what felt like an injection.

  She tried to move her legs, but like her arms, she could feel that her ankles were also tied together. She then tried to draw her legs towards her chest, but her knees hit something. Her panic increased, as she began to realise the darkened room she was in was really quite small and was more like a coffin.

  It then struck her like a ten-ton lorry careering out of control and smacking into her head: ’I’m in a coffin!’

  The realisation that she might be in such a place increased her panic levels even higher.

  ‘Have I been buried alive?’ she thought, adding, ‘But why is the coffin moving?’

  Then it happened again — the whole box moving, as if it was floating in the air. ‘Maybe I’m on the way to be buried or to be cremated,’ she worried, not knowing which would be worse, and then began to think about oxygen levels and how long she had been in this box and how long before the air ran out.

  She tried to sit up, but her forehead hit the low ceiling, which confirmed that she was in a very confined space. Then she tried to roll onto her side to see if she could explore the container further, but again found there was little room to manoeuvre.

  Her head was in a spin as she tried to pull her arms free. She pulled against the binding, but it was no good. As her wrists were also tethered to her body and her arms were by her sides, she had no leverage to pull herself away. Her heart was racing and she was now beginning to hyperventilate.

  Her mind went back to her kidnappers, and how they’d forced their way into her flat. She then remembered the familiar smell; it was the aftershave she’d smelt when she went for the interview. It was so distinctive, and she remembered the man, Blake, being somewhat aggressive and it being a very different interview to any she’d ever experienced.

  ‘Surely, this can’t be a coincidence, but then, why would he go to all the bother of interviewing me first?’ she questioned. ‘What a strange, sadistic thing to do!’

  The prison box shuddered again, which brought her out of her thoughts about Blake and back into the present.

  ‘Where the hell am I and what’s going on?’ she thought.

  The shuddering that she had felt suddenly became more violent, after which came a hard thud, accompanied by what sounded like a small screech, almost like a tyre squealing on a road. She then felt herself being forced forward, as if there’d be a sharp deceleration, which would mean that she had been travelling in some form of transport. The vibrations she felt were now different; it was definitely as if she were moving across rough ground or an uneven road.

  She began to scream and then shouted, ‘Help! Help!’

  As she shouted, and despite her being enclosed in a dark chamber, she felt a change in direction. It was almost as if her other senses had been enhanced somehow, with her ability to see having been taken away.

  ‘I must be in a hearse,’ she worried again. ‘I’m about to be buried alive or, worse still, cremated.’

  She was then aware that the vehicle had come to a complete stop. Then she heard the opening of doors and the sound of voices. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she was now aware they were getting closer. Soon she heard another door open, which was much closer to where she lay. Her coffin then moved, but this time it was more violent. She realised it was now being shifted.

  Her heart rate rose again, as she began to panic about what was going on, which was completely out of her control. It then felt like she was being lifted and carried away from whatever the vehicle was that she had been transported in. ‘But where to?’ she thought.

  She had begun to shout ‘Help me!’ again just at the point where it felt like the coffin had been put down, when all of a sudden the lid was opened and a flood of light came rushing in. It was so bright she had to close her eyes to protect them from the sudden glare.

  Despite being bound, she still tried to struggle to break loose from her bindings, but realised this was to no avail. Gradually, she opened her eyes again and found two men staring down at her. The first face she saw was not someone she recognised, but the second was very familiar — the tanned skin and the piercing blue eyes she couldn’t forget. It was Blake.

  Carly began to shout at the two men. ‘What are you doing to me?

  No answer.

  ‘Where have you brought me and why am I here?’

  The men ignored her, and before she knew it, she saw one of them lean in to her box with a needle. She shifted as much as she could and tried to resist the inevitable, but it was futile. The needle was pushed into her left arm and she then felt the same feeling of drifting away begin again, the same that had happened only a short time before in her flat. Then she slept.

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  As Graham sat on the floor of his cage eating dog food, he heard the bolts of the main door opening again.

  Light flooded in and the same two men came in. They were carrying what looked like another person, who seemed to be either dead or asleep, as the body of this person was totally motionless. They placed the obvious victim into a cage adjacent to Graham’s, but at this point he couldn’t make out whether they were male or female.

 
He watched in silence as the two men first unlocked the padlock and then unbolted the door before opening it, with a metal-on-metal sound, as the un-oiled hinges squealed in protest. They were being extremely rough and took no real care over how they handled this poor person, who, like him, was naked. He then realised it was in fact a woman, as he could make out the soft curve of her breasts and the curved shape of a woman’s pelvic area.

  ‘My god, a woman,’ he thought.

  They almost threw the lady into the cage, then locked it and didn’t even give her a second glance as they disappeared outside, closing the door behind them once more.

  It was too dark and too gloomy for him to make out who this new person might be. He sat there and willed her to wake up, as this would give him someone to talk to and between them they could perhaps work out what was happening, maybe together find a way to escape.

  He decided to try and rouse his new cell-mate. ‘Hey you, hey you, over there,’ he said in as loud a voice as he dared for fear of being heard outside.

  There was neither sound nor movement from her, so he tried again, raising his voice a little higher. ‘Hey, hey, wake up, wake up!’ he demanded, still keeping his voice to more than a loud whisper.

  There was still no sign of any life coming from the lady, despite his calls to her, so he sat back in his own cage to contemplate what to do next. As he lay there he suddenly felt the urge to go to the toilet, so he thought this would be a good opportunity to shout for help from the two men outside, and perhaps the shouting might awaken his fellow prisoner in the process.

  ‘Help, hey, help, please! I need to go to the toilet!’ Graham shouted, hoping that his kidnappers would actually hear him.

  He sat there for a few moments. When he heard no footsteps and no sound of the door opening, he shouted again, but this time a little bit louder. He was getting desperate now, so he rocked from side to side in an attempt to make his desperation go away.