Part 26 (1/2)

56.

Maggie twisted her head from side to side, searching for an escape route.

'Josh,' she said quietly and calmly, 'we're going to turn to the right now and head towards that hollow. The main road crosses there, so when I say run, we are going to run as fast as we can until we reach the road. Okay?'

She could feel her child's body start to shake. 'Okay,' he whispered.

They veered off to the right, walking calmly. They had, by her reckoning, about four hundred metres on these guys. She didn't think they would be able to catch them before they reached the main road.

Still walking calmly but quickly, she cast a glance over her shoulder. The men had started to walk towards her. As she looked, the taller of the two broke into a jog.

'Run, Jos.h.!.+'

Josh was a fit little boy and he could move, but these guys were tall with long legs. Beyond the rugby field and before the road there was a small wooded area, but the wood wasn't dense enough to hide them. They were nearly at the road, though, and the men were still some distance behind, but to Maggie's dismay she realised they were heading downhill, and the road was above them, higher up. They were going to have to scramble up a bank, and she knew she would be useless at that.

They ran on until finally there was nowhere else to go. The bank was a sheer climb with a fence at the bottom. It was a dead end. There were a few bushes, but nothing that would keep them hidden for long.

Josh grabbed her hand. 'Come on, Mum this way.' Up ahead Maggie could see an opening under the road. It was a culvert a wide circular pipe, some sort of drainage pipe, she presumed.

'We can crawl through here,' Josh said.

Maggie looked and knew she couldn't do it. She might be able to get in, but she would have to go through on her belly. There was no s.p.a.ce to turn, and if she got stuck... Just looking at it freaked her out.

'Josh, you go. I'll stay here get rid of them. When you get to the other side, find somebody to help. Ask them to ring Auntie Suzy.' Then another thought struck her. 'Ask them to ring a policeman. He's called Tom Douglas. Tom like your friend from your old school, and Douglas like the road we used to live on. Go, darling. Go.'

Josh gave her a terrified stare, but he could hear the men cras.h.i.+ng through the undergrowth, trying to find them. They wouldn't be long. He turned and dived into the pipe, his elbows out, pus.h.i.+ng him through. The men were close, but Josh was out of sight.

At the last minute Maggie had an idea. She took one of her shoes and threw it into the culvert then retreated behind a thick bush and crouched as low as possible just in time.

'Where the f.u.c.k have they gone? Search the bushes.'

'No, look. There's a culvert.'

Maggie couldn't see what they were doing without revealing herself, but she imagined them looking into the open end of the pipe.

's.h.i.+t! There's one of her shoes in there. They must have gone this way. I'm going after them.'

Maggie stifled an audible gasp. Surely if she had had doubts about getting through the pipe, they would have no chance. But what if they did get through? Josh was on his own.

'Don't be f.u.c.king stupid. You won't get your a.r.s.e through there. I've got a better idea. Her car's here, and they would have worked out we would never get through that pipe. They might wait until we've gone and come back. So you wait here.'

'Where are you going?'

'We can't afford to screw this up. Michael's been handed to us on a plate. Invictus won't be happy if we don't capitalise on what he's given us.'

With that the man turned and started to jog back the way he had come, leaving the second man standing only feet away from where Maggie was hiding.

There was that name again: Invictus. He must still be involved. But what did they mean about Michael being handed to them on a plate? Was that when William set up the bogus meeting? Thank G.o.d Duncan was safe and she hadn't persuaded him to come home with her.

For now, though, she had to wait. Maggie couldn't outrun the man left to guard the culvert. All she could do was pray that Josh had made it safely to the nearest house and that right now somebody was calling the police.

Josh wanted to cry but knew he mustn't. What was it Mummy sometimes said? 'Crying isn't going to help anybody'? Well in this case she was right. He could sit down and cry, but then there would be n.o.body to help his mummy.

He was trying to remember what she had said about the man he had to call. His first name was the same as one of his old friends, but he'd had lots of friends. And the name of the road they lived on. That was a bit easier. That was Douglas, but he needed to remember the first name.

When he had pushed his way out of the pipe under the road he had found himself in a field. He saw a few rabbits but nothing else. The road was high above him, so he didn't think he could get up there, and anyway the cars were going really fast.

At the far end of the field there were some new houses, but there were no lights on even though it was dark. Maybe n.o.body lived in them. They looked ghostly in what little light there was, their windows black and empty. There were piles of bricks everywhere and some big diggers. Josh didn't like what he could see, but it seemed the best place to head for. Even if the houses were empty he could follow the road until he found somebody. He wished he had a torch.

He trudged across the field, thinking maybe he should run, but after the football and the running he wasn't sure he could. Dragging his feet, he finally reached the place where the houses spilled into the field, and he could see what looked like a road. It wasn't black like most roads; it was just rough bits of stone. The houses didn't have doors or gla.s.s in the windows, and Josh heard himself whimper. It felt as if the houses were suddenly going to spring to life and move towards him, sucking his body into one of the gaping black doorways to eat him whole.

He wanted to run, but it was either back through the field or along this winding road past more empty houses. He had to do what Mummy asked, though. Find a person and tell them to phone Auntie Suzy or the policeman. Josh still couldn't remember his first name.

He walked past the first house, glancing warily into the empty doorway.

Josh sighed with relief. A man was standing there, tall and straight, hands in his pockets. He was safe from the houses they wouldn't get him now. This man would help him, he was sure.

The man walked towards Josh, smiling. When he got close, he reached out an arm and placed it on his shoulder.

'h.e.l.lo, Josh. My name's Sam.'

57.

Maggie didn't like to think of the time she had wasted, waiting for the man to decide she and Josh weren't going to come back through the culvert, but she hadn't had any choice. Even if she could have found a way to sneak away through the trees she didn't know if the first man was coming back. She might have b.u.mped right into him.

She hadn't been able to see her watch in the dark, but she guessed it had taken the man about twenty minutes to give up on them and head back to the car park. She gave him another five minutes to get well clear, but nevertheless she was very cautious on her way back to the car. Thank goodness she had taken her car keys and locked the door.

Josh, darling, be safe. The thought was spinning in her head. Had she done the right thing, letting him go through the pipe?

But he was out of danger out of the reach of the two men. It was only early evening. Surely some kind person would have found him?

As she approached the car park, she couldn't see anybody. She pirouetted on her bare toes to have a good look. There was n.o.body. She ran to the car, not noticing the gravel cutting into the naked skin of her feet.

If only her phone hadn't been completely dead, she could have called the police no matter how that impacted on Duncan. There were ways in which she could protect her children from the inevitable consequences, if only she could keep them safe right now.

Trying to stop her hands from shaking, Maggie put the key in the ignition and turned it. She was only ten minutes from home, but first she wanted to drive to where she thought Josh would have ended up. She would go there first, just in case he was still wandering about on his own, frightened. She navigated her way to the other side of the busy main road and found that all that lay beyond was a new housing estate, with only the houses at the very edge occupied. Poor Josh, he would have been terrified.

Maggie sobbed. She shouldn't have let him go. She drove down the unmade roads slowly, searching for the small figure of her son.

She was so focused on scouring the dark, empty houses on either side, that she didn't realise what was happening until it was too late. She hadn't been looking in her rear-view mirror, and the van couldn't have had any lights on. The first she knew it was there was when she heard the revving of its engine as it raced past her and pulled up, half across the road, blocking her way.

Maggie instinctively thought, Duncan thank G.o.d, and flung the door open. And then the full force of her stupidity struck her. She thrust the car into reverse with the door still open. She had to get away. That was when she heard the shout.

'Mummy!'