Girl, Missing

by Sophie McKenzie

  Nothing. Just snow and trees on either side. It didn’t even look as if we were on a proper, made-up road.

  I slid along the leatherette seat and leaned my head against Jam’s shoulder. His whole body tensed.

  I flicked my eyes over to the central mirror. Suzanna was staring at me. She raised her eyebrows, then looked back at the road ahead. I tilted my head upward, towards Jam’s neck.

  I could feel him pulling away from me. ‘What are you . . . ?’

  ‘Sssh.’ My lips found Jam’s ear. ‘I think Suzanna took my phone,’ I whispered. ‘And I don’t think we’re anywhere near Logan Airport.’

  Jam’s breath was hot on my cheek. He drew back, fumbling in his own pocket. Then he leaned forward again and whispered. ‘Mine’s gone too. As soon as she stops the car, we get out, OK?’

  ‘Hey, lovebirds, cut it out,’ Suzanna said. ‘I don’t wanna get pulled over.’ She gave a hollow laugh.

  I moved back to the other side of the back seat. But I reached out my fingers and found Jam’s hand. Our fingers twisted round each other. My heart was hammering against my throat.

  ‘I don’t feel well,’ I said. ‘Can you stop the car?’

  Suzanna ignored me.

  Although the car was moving, it was slower now, rattling over the lumps and bumps of the unmade track. I reached for the door handle. I had some mad idea Jam and I could jump out of the car. But the door was locked. I could hear Jam fumbling with the handle on the other side.

  Suzanna twisted half round in her seat. ‘Cut it out.’

  ‘What are you doing?’ My voice rose with panic. ‘Where are you taking us?’

  Oh God, oh God. She’s a psycho. Like the sort who Mum says kills two kids a year. And Jam and I are this year’s two kids.

  Suzanna looked at me in her rearview mirror.

  ‘Don’t you recognise me, sweetie?’ She grinned nastily and put on a fake, sugar-sweet voice. ‘I’m Sonia Holtwood.’

  15

  No escape

  I stared stupidly at the back of her head, at her neat, set, brown hair. She was Sonia Holtwood?

  My mind was too dazed to make sense of it.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I said.

  ‘Taylor told me you’ve been asking questions. Trying to find me,’ the woman said, evenly. ‘I decided I’d better find you first.’

  I frowned, still struggling to get my head round what was happening. Taylor, again. Where had I heard that name recently? Then I remembered. It was Mr Tarsen’s first name.

  ‘Mr Tarsen called you?’ I said.

  ‘Correct.’ The woman flicked on the car floodlights. ‘He said it was obvious you knew more than you were saying. Not that he did anything. No, he just turned off the burglar alarm, hid your file – waited to see what you did. Typical freakin’ Taylor.’

  My mind seemed to have crashed like an overloaded computer. I stared out of the window. A dense pine forest was all around us. Snow was falling.

  ‘But you’re a police officer,’ Jam insisted. ‘We saw your badge.’

  ‘Costume rental.’ I could hear the smug grin in Sonia Holtwood’s voice. ‘That’s the great thing about tourists. They think they know what cops look like but they’ve only ever seen them on TV shows. If you hadn’t got in the car I’d have arrested you.’ She laughed. ‘So you guys feeling OK?’

  Suddenly it all fell into place. ‘You drugged us,’ I said. ‘The orange juice. You took our phones.’

  I caught Jam’s eye. His face was ghostly pale in the reflected light from the snow-covered trees outside.

  ‘What do you want?’ My voice trembled. ‘What are you going to do with us?’

  Sonia ignored me. She drove on for half a minute or so more, then pulled the car over to the side of the track. She switched off the ignition but kept the headlamps on.

  Fear flooded through me like ice water. I reached for the door handle and pulled. It was still locked.

  Sonia turned round and stared at us both.

  ‘You’ve got no idea what it’s like to have nothing,’ she said. ‘No money. No hope. No future.’

  I wrestled with the handle, panic twisting and slicing at my throat. ‘Let us out,’ I shouted.

  ‘You were a spoilt little princess when you were three as well,’ Sonia sneered. ‘Bright and white and worth a fortune.’

  I turned on her, fury suddenly swamping my fear. ‘You stole me from my family. You—’

  ‘I was in debt,’ Sonia spat. ‘I needed the money.’

  ‘You evil piece of—’

  ‘Shut up.’ Sonia reached out and slapped my face.

  ‘Hey!’ Jam yelled.

  I gasped at the sudden pain. My hand flew to my cheek. I slumped back into my seat.

  Jam reached out for my hand again.

  I stared at Sonia’s hard, angry face. Beyond her, through the windscreen, white snowflakes fluttered yellow in the light from the car’s headlamps.

  ‘When Taylor called,’ she said, ‘I could have just turned and run. Taken the risk that the Feds would never find me. And then I thought – why should I run? Why should I hide? So I followed you from that sleazy motel you were staying in.’

  Her eyes were like black holes. Dead. Empty.

  I suddenly realised why Mr Tarsen hadn’t come after us himself or called the police when we broke into the agency. He knew we could be traced to Marchfield. To him. He didn’t want anyone else looking for us. Only Sonia.

  ‘We won’t tell anyone what you did,’ I pleaded. ‘I promise.’

  Sonia raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh?’

  She pressed a button on the dashboard. With a click, both back doors unlocked. I wrenched my door open and hurled myself outside, slamming the door shut behind me. A whirl of icy wind whipped round me like a snake. I turned. Jam was outside the car too. Sonia was twisting round, reaching into the back of the car, pulling his door shut.

  The night air here was far colder than in Marchfield. It was like being inside a freezer.

  Sonia revved up the car engine. I realised with a jolt exactly what she was planning.

  ‘No!’ Jam shouted.

  I tugged at my door handle. Locked. ‘Wait,’ I cried. Sonia grinned. She wound down her window a couple of centimetres.

  ‘Thought you wanted out?’ she said.

  ‘Where are we?’ Jam yelled.

  ‘Middle of nowhere,’ she said. ‘Twenty miles from anywhere with a name.’

  My heart hammered as I stared at her. Snow whirled in my face. I was colder than I’d ever been in my life. I hugged my thin jacket round me. I might as well not have been wearing it.

  Sonia started edging the car backwards.

  ‘You can’t leave us here,’ Jam yelled, running alongside the car.

  Seeing the terror in his face was like a trigger. Instantly my whole body started shaking. ‘We’ll freeze to death,’ I cried.

  Sonia scowled up at us. ‘No shit.’ She turned the car across the track.

  ‘At least leave us our stuff,’ Jam shouted. ‘Our phones.’

  But Sonia simply closed the car window and spun the wheels round so she was facing back down the track.

  ‘She can’t do this,’ I said.

  But she had.

  The car crunched over the snow, then slowly disappeared into the darkness. Its two rear lights glowed in the distance, like the golden eyes of a giant cat. Then they, too, vanished into the night.

  The wind bit into my face. Snow was still falling. I hugged my frozen hands under my armpits and stared at the ground. Snow was already covering the tracks the car had made.

  In that moment I realised just how brilliant Sonia and Tarsen’s plan was. No one had seen us get into Sonia’s car. No one could link us being here to either of them. In fact no one even knew we were here. Which meant no one was even looking for us.

  I stared down at my trainers, aware that I couldn’t feel my feet. The tips of the white leather were stained dark from the snow.

  ‘We have to keep
moving,’ Jam said beside me. He was feeling in his pockets. ‘Have you got anything on you? Anything at all?’

  I shook my head. Jam pulled his PSP out of his jacket pocket. He looked at me, his eyes angry and hard.

  ‘Don’t suppose we can turn that into anything useful?’ I said, my teeth chattering.

  ‘Seeing as I’m not Alex Rider, no,’ Jam snapped.

  We set off down the track. Snowflakes fell on my nose and cheeks and hair. A drop on my neck melted and trickled coldly down my back.

  I was shivering uncontrollably now. I glanced sideways at Jam. ‘How far d’you think it is, back to the road?’

  He shrugged. ‘Miles. But the track bent round. I think we should go through the trees. It might cut off some of the track, save time.’

  ‘Suppose a car comes, though. Shouldn’t we stay on the track?’

  Jam stared at me. ‘There won’t be a car.’ His voice was scathing. ‘That’s why she left us here.’

  He turned and walked into the trees on the left.

  I hurried after him, my feet silent in the thick snow. My heart beat fast under my ribs. I could taste the fear in my throat. What was going to happen to us? Jam stomped beside me, not looking at me at all.

  Why was he acting like this was my fault? I watched my breath steaming out of my mouth in a thick white cloud.

  We walked on for what felt like miles. The pine trees grew closer together, the snow deeper and icier. My arms and legs were stiff and numb. Somewhere in the distance an animal howled.

  ‘D’you think there are wolves here?’ I said.

  ‘Yeah, and bears – but don’t worry, the cold will probably get us before the wild animals,’ Jam said, sarcastically. He tugged his PSP out of his pocket and ran his finger over the grooves on the back.

  I forced my frozen feet to move. My cotton jumper was soaked from the falling snow. It clung like a thick, damp skin against my body.

  ‘Come on,’ Jam snapped. ‘We need to go faster.’

  I bit my lip. ‘Why are you so angry with me?’ I said.

  Jam spun round. His face was suddenly contorted with rage. His voice echoed above the icy wind.

  ‘You are unbelievable, Lauren!’ he shouted. ‘It’s always, always, about you, isn’t it? You are the most self-obsessed person I’ve ever met.’

  My throat tightened. ‘What d’you mean?’

  Jam flung out his hand, knocking a line of snow off a branch.

  ‘Don’t you get it?’ He pointed towards the trees and the sky. ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere. We’re going to die from the cold. And you think I’m angry with you?’

  ‘I didn’t mean—’

  ‘No, course you didn’t. Just like you didn’t mean to drag me halfway round the world and force me into a car with a homicidal maniac.’

  ‘I didn’t force you—’

  ‘No you asked me, and I said yes, which makes me even more stupid than you are selfish,’ Jam spat.

  I stared at him, my whole body trembling with fear and cold and shock. ‘Jam—’ I started.

  ‘No.’ Jam turned and strode away into the trees. I tried to follow him, but my legs were shaking too much. I stumbled and fell onto the snow.

  I sat up, sobbing. ‘Jam,’ I called out. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Silence.

  I looked around me. The only light came from the cloudy sky and the white of the snow around me. I was surrounded by pine trees.

  There was no sign of Jam. Tears streamed down my face. I tried to push myself up, but my limbs ached too much. I felt lightheaded. My breath was coming in shallow gasps.

  I was alone. Fear swallowed me – a dark hole inside my heart where I was nothing. No one.

  I slid down onto the ground, expecting it to feel hard and cold. But it didn’t. The snow was soft and warm, like a blanket. I lay stretched out in it, overcome by a delicious feeling of drowsiness. Sleep was all I wanted.

  It would take me to the woman on the beach. It would take me home.

  I closed my eyes and sank down into the darkness.

  16

  Glane

  In the distance I could hear voices. Someone was calling my name. Something hot and wet seeped between my lips and trickled down my chin. Tea. Sweet tea.

  I spluttered. I hate sugar in my tea.

  ‘Is she all right?’ It was Jam’s voice. I struggled to open my eyes, but my eyelids were too heavy.

  A large, calloused hand pressed down on my forehead. ‘Let her sleep,’ said a gruff, gentle voice.

  I knew there was a question I wanted to ask, but I was too tired to think what it was, let alone open my mouth and speak. I turned over. Some kind of blanket – soft and furry – tickled at my chin. I arched my neck and nestled down again.

  I was running towards the big rock. I heard laughing on the other side. I crept up, stepping carefully across the sand. I peered round the rock. There she was, her back turned. Her long black hair tumbled down to her waist. It was shiny and soft. I reached up and stroked it.

  She turned around. She smiled. And, at last, I saw her face. She was young. Full of life, with the kindest, bluest eyes I’d ever seen. I gasped. She was beautiful – like an angel.

  ‘Little one,’ she said. ‘You found me.’

  Later, much later, I woke up disoriented. An orange light glowed through my closed eyelids. My face was warm. I moved my arms and legs. They felt weak, but not hurt.

  I opened my eyes.

  I was in some kind of wooden cabin. It was sparse, but scrubbed clean. A table and two chairs stood in one corner next to a large cupboard. A huge fire crackled in the fireplace opposite, next to a heap of roughly chopped logs.

  One wall was lined with shelves covered with books. Jam was curled up on a cushion on the floor beneath the shelves, reading. A strand of hair fell over his eyes, almost touching his nose.

  He must have sensed me looking at him because he looked up. His face broke into a huge smile.

  ‘Lauren,’ he said. ‘How d’you feel?’

  I struggled onto my elbows. ‘Hungry,’ I said. ‘Where are we?’

  ‘North Vermont – Cold Ridge National Forest.’ Jam darted over to the fire and tore at a loaf of bread laid out on a cloth beside the fireplace. ‘This is Glane’s place.’ Jam brought a chunk back for me, then fetched some water from a jug by the door.

  ‘Who’s Glane?’ As I sipped the water I looked round the room again. There was a row of beautiful wood carvings along the window ledge. Graceful ovals and wave-shapes and circles with holes in.

  ‘You’ll see,’ Jam said. ‘He’ll be back soon. He found us.’

  ‘Found us?’ I said.

  Jam nodded. ‘In the wood.’ His face coloured. ‘He found me first. I . . . Oh, Lauren, I’m so, so sorry I ran off . . .’

  I shrugged, unsure what to say. In the first few moments after waking I’d forgotten about Jam leaving me in the snow. Now it flooded back, along with everything else. Sonia Holtwood. Knowing for sure that she’d kidnapped me when I was a little girl. And my mother’s angel face.

  Jam’s blush deepened. ‘You gotta know, though. I didn’t really go anywhere. I mean, I just stomped off for a minute. I knew where you were . . .’

  The cabin door swung open, letting in a brilliant stream of cold air and sharp sunlight. For a second I could see blue sky and snow stretching away from the door, then a huge figure completely wrapped in furs and fleeces, a rifle slung over his shoulder, appeared in the doorway.

  The figure stamped its boots outside, then strode indoors.

  ‘This is Glane,’ Jam said. There was a note of pride in his voice, almost as if he was showing the man off to me.

  Glane pulled off his hat and gloves. Above a bushy beard, his face was lined and leathery. It was impossible to tell how old he was. His eyes twinkled deep and brown as he reached forward to shake my hand.

  ‘Hey, Lauren. How you doing?’ His accent was American but tinged with a slightly singsong twang.

  I swung my
legs off the bed, placing my feet on a faded rug on the floor. ‘I’m good,’ I said.

  It wasn’t rational to be nervous. The guy had saved our lives. But what was he doing here in the middle of nowhere? I mean, did he live out here like some kind of weirdo hermit?

  Glane looked at me. It made me feel uncomfortable, as if he could see what I was thinking.

  ‘Now Lauren’s up I guess we’ll have to go,’ Jam said. He sounded slightly reluctant.

  ‘How long was I asleep?’ I said.

  ‘All last night, Sunday, and most of the day today.’ Glane grinned. ‘It’s too late to go anywhere now. But if it is not snowing tomorrow morning, we will set off then.’

  I glanced at Jam. ‘Did you call Mum?’

  He shook his head. ‘There’s no phone here.’

  ‘You’re kidding?’ I said, shocked.

  Glane’s laugh was like a rumble of thunder. ‘No phone. No electricity. No modern conveniences of any kind.’

  I looked round the room again. It was certainly spartan. And yet there were soft touches too – the wood carvings, a tawny-coloured curtain at the window and a bowl of pine cones on the table. ‘But we need to get back,’ I said.

  I guess I should have been thinking about Mum and Dad and how worried they’d be now. And part of me was certainly worrying about Sonia Holtwood – scared she would somehow realise we had been rescued and come after us again.

  Yes. All those feelings were there, like background noise in my head. But they faded beside the image of my mother – the beautiful woman on the beach. Now I’d seen her face – now Sonia had admitted she stole me – nothing was going to stop me finding her as soon as I got out of these woods.

  ‘There is no problem.’ Glane sat down at the table. ‘The nearest town from here is Wells Canyon. About twenty miles away. We should be able to cover it in a day – but you’ll have to borrow my spare boots. Yours are split.’ I followed his glance over to the corner where my trainers lay on their sides. Even from the bed I could see the cracks in the soles.

  Glane stood up, his huge frame dominating the small room. I stared at his enormous feet.

  ‘I don’t think your boots will fit me,’ I stammered.

  Glane laughed – a rich, low, belly laugh. ‘No. So I will make a lining for you. Tonight.’ He turned to Jam. ‘I have killed a couple of rabbits outside. Will you help me skin them?’