by J. A. Kalis
‘I can’t move. I need your help.’
The torch beam slicing through the darkness told her where Lorenzo was even before his weak voice did. Slowly, she headed in his direction.
‘Can you shine the torch my way? I can’t see where I’m putting my feet.’
It wasn’t easy to meander through the forest of stalagmites. And yet she closed the distance separating her from Lorenzo in almost no time. She felt proud of her accomplishment. A smile crept onto her lips as she spotted Lorenzo’s body lying behind a tall, cone-shaped structure.
‘How’re you feeling?’ A note of concern tainted her voice.
He just stared at her, wincing, not bothering to respond.
One quick glance at his face was enough to know the answer.
He wasn’t well. Pain showed plainly on his features, distorting them. Blood dripped from his lip and nose, oozing down his chin. Both his upper lip and left eye looked bruised and swollen.
Worst of all, there was an icicle-shaped stalactite protruding from his thigh, pinning it to the ground. The trouser leg around it was soaked with blood. Corinne had seen it happen. After they had spotted the fugitives, a struggle ensued. Determined to kill the girl’s father, Lorenzo pulled out his gun and started shooting at him. One of the bullets got embedded in a stalactite without dislodging it right away. The long spike, tipped-like-a-dagger, detached itself from the cave ceiling only a few seconds later. Exactly when Lorenzo, engaged in a wild chase, tripped and fell. It pierced his thigh.
‘They got away?’ The way he asked it, the question sounded more like a statement.
‘Yeah.’ She saw no reason for a lie. ‘But all is not lost. You wounded the guy. In his leg. I saw him limping. They mustn’t have gone far. I’m going after them but I need a torch and a gun. Be patient and wait for me here. I swear, this time I’ll get them.’
‘Okay, I’ll wait. When you are finished with those two, you should look for the other guy. We still don’t know where he is. But before you leave, be a nice girl and help me to a more comfortable position. My leg hurts like hell.’
She shifted his body, placing his back against the cone-shaped stalagmite.
‘Oh, that’s better. Now go, get them! Don’t hesitate to pull the trigger if you see any of them. Take good aim! Then, come back and take me away from here.’
‘I will, I promise. Don’t worry, it will all be over sooner than you think.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, you’ve got my word.’
She bent down to pick up the gun and the torch.
With her words still hanging in the air in muffled echoes, she turned around and headed for the tunnel’s opening.
She had barely advanced two steps when she stopped and turned around to face him.
‘You know, I changed my mind.’ She stared straight at him, a steely glint in her eyes.
‘What do you mean, you—?’
Without a split-second of hesitation, she pulled the trigger of the gun she was holding in her right hand. Instantly, a small hole appeared in the middle of Lorenzo’s forehead and he fell back, his body becoming limp, his eyes wide-open, staring emptily ahead.
He was dead. She didn’t need to check. It was plain to see.
She remained still for a full minute, gazing at the inert form.
Then, she turned on her heel and headed for the exit. A sense of calmness descended upon her. There was not a shred of regret for what she had done. He deserved it. For quite some time she had been tired of all his dirty games, his betrayals. She didn’t need him anymore. There was no danger that anyone would find his body in that cave. It wasn’t as if anyone was going to miss him. There was no one to worry or look for him.
Within minutes, she emerged into the forest. Bright daylight greeted her. She felt the last of her knotted muscles relax. The corners of her mouth curled upwards. A glow lit her eyes. Her fingers closed tightly around a pair of keys. These were the keys to Lorenzo’s flat in Cahors. She’d stay there for a few days before fleeing somewhere abroad. She knew it was too risky to go back to her own flat.
Quickening her pace, she pushed her way through the underbrush, heading towards the clearing where she’d parked her car.
***
‘I think he got badly injured. In his leg. From what I could see, a stalactite speared it. He won’t be able to run. And he’ll need medical assistance. The police might find him if they check the local hospitals.’ Patrick paused. ‘There was a moment … I almost lost control … I felt so much hate that I sought to kill him. All I could think of was Sandy’s face. Pale, swollen, bruised … lifeless … the way she was in the morgue … and Mike, injured and tied-up. But then, some small voice told me to stop … what I wanted to do was wrong. I guess it would make me as bad as him. And I didn’t want to become like him. I am not a killer. So I just punched him a couple of times. Hard. I couldn’t do much more. The struggle for survival in the lake sapped more of my strength than I thought. I had barely any left. I wasn’t prepared for a fight. He was. He had a gun. When I saw her grab you … I got mad with worry. I realized then that bringing you to safety was what mattered most.’ He said this more to himself than to Carol, sounding as if he was trying to justify what he did.
Carol let him speak without interrupting.
When he finished talking, she glanced his way. She saw the blood on his trouser leg and the limp in his walk.
‘Oh, what’s that blood? So much of it! You’re injured. It must hurt a lot. Why didn’t you say anything? What happened?’
‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing. A bullet grazed the top of my thigh. It didn’t enter it. I don’t think it did much harm … just a small flesh wound but it bleeds a lot.’
‘Let me see it.’
‘Don’t bother. You can’t do much now. Better keep moving or we won’t get out of this forest today.’
It had already been more than an hour since they left the cave.
The forest seemed to stretch on forever, with no road in sight. The long walk had drained their last reserves of energy. They were both on the brink of exhaustion. When, ten minutes later, they saw a log lying across their path in a shade of a gnarled oak tree, they decided to have a short break and sit down on it.
A gentle breeze blew, ruffling their hair. Its refreshing touch was a welcome change from the stifling heat. The only advantage of the sunny weather was that – exposed to the high temperature – their wet clothes had dried in no time.
‘Are we going in the right direction? We’ve been walking for so long and there’s been no change of scenery whatsoever. By now we should have come to a road.’ Carol expressed her doubts as soon as they sat down.
‘I don’t know. It seemed to me in the beginning like the right direction, judging by the position of the sun. But now I’m not so sure. I suggest we continue for a bit before we decide to change direction.’
As the fatigue refused to leave their bodies, they stayed seated longer than they had initially intended.
When they finally set off, the sun had already started its descent towards the horizon. The deeper they advanced into the forest the denser it became. Nothing but the sporadic chirping of birds disturbed the silence.
But, after barely two hundred metres, a low humming sound reached their ears. It sounded like a car approaching.
They stopped in their tracks, listening.
In the distance ahead they saw what appeared to be a clearing. At the same instant, a blue car emerged from behind the shadowy tangle of greenery, raising a cloud of dust in its wake.
Acting on impulse, Patrick hid behind a tree trunk, motioning Carol to do the same. He was right, it was better to remain cautious. Within seconds, the vehicle pulled up at the edge of the open space.
Carol watched it through a gap between the branches. Gently pushing the leaves aside, she moved closer, trying to get a better look. But she still couldn’t see the driver.
The car door opened and a figure stepped out. It was a young sle
nder woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail. From the way she was dressed, she appeared to be ready for a long walk in the forest. She had on lightweight hiking trousers, sturdy boots and a T-shirt. In one hand she was holding a small backpack and in the other what looked like a map.
She stopped by the driver’s side of the car, checking the map, as if she was unsure which direction to take. No one else stepped out of the vehicle. She was alone.
‘She doesn’t look like someone we should be afraid of. We must grab our chance and ask for help. Let’s go before she leaves,’ Patrick whispered.
With rapid strides, they walked towards the young woman who stood, frozen, watching them approach.
‘You know, you had a real stroke of luck meeting me,’ she said after they had briefly explained how they’d ended up there, and she agreed to take them to a police station, then the hospital. ‘Rarely anybody ventures into this part of the forest. It’s such an isolated area. And the tarmac road is still quite a walk away. There are many caves in this region, scattered around, some as yet unexplored. They are the reason I came here. I want to see them. By the way, my name is Véronique. I’m a geology student. My aunt lives in Cahors so I’m staying with her during the holiday break.’
By the time they’d left the dirt lane and turned onto the tarmac road, the bottom of the sun had already dipped below the horizon, giving the blue of the sky an orange-red tinge.
Before long, the forest ended, giving way to vast stretches of undulating grasslands dotted with trees and occasional farmhouses. Then, the landscape changed again as they emerged into a river valley. The road – bordered on one side by a light grey rock face – wound its way around the serpentine waterway. Up ahead, it curved out of sight to the left in what appeared to be a sharp bend.
Véronique slowed down to take it.
Looking out the window halfway around the bend, Carol spotted a red car partially submerged in the river, the setting sun reflected in its windows, tinting them blood-red.
Véronique noticed it too, and after rounding the bend, she pulled over.
‘We must check if anyone’s inside. They might be injured.’ She turned towards Carol and Patrick.
Even before they reached the wrecked vehicle, they made out a person in the front seat.
Up close, Carol discovered it was a woman, her limp body half submerged in water.
There was no one else inside.
Her eyes wandered over to the crumpled metal and shattered glass. Seeing the full extent of the damage left her speechless. It was bigger than she had at first imagined. The vehicle must have hit not only the guardrail but also one of the boulders hidden behind the bushes lining the riverbank.
Meanwhile, Véronique and Patrick had forced the driver side door open. Véronique leaned inside to check the woman’s pulse.
‘It’s too late. We can’t do anything for her. She’s dead.’
Carol came closer. She hadn’t looked closely before, but now she could see the dead woman’s face. She stifled a cry of surprise.
Corinne’s glassy eyes were staring back at her.
Véronique flipped her mobile open and dialled the emergency number.
‘The police will be here soon. There’s no need for us to stay and wait for them,’ she said matter-of-factly, as soon as she’d finished talking on the phone. Then she turned towards Patrick. ‘Judging by the blood stains on your trousers, your injuries are serious and require prompt medical care. I must take you to the emergency room without delay.’
Each lost in their own thoughts, the three of them went back to the blue, battered car.
Véronique fired up the engine and stepped on the accelerator. The car picked up speed and soon disappeared into the distance.
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You might also like my other adventure thriller When The Jaguar Sleeps
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