Dangerous Liaisons

Where Am I?

She became aware of being in a moving car.  She lay quietly and tried to pay attention. The fight had taken a great deal out of her, the head injury even more.  It had been a hard fight.  She knew she'd been unconscious. What she didnt know was it had been four hours, aided by a sedative administered while she had been knocked out.

She'd been sitting watching some inane tv programme when there was a knock at the door.  She hadn't suspected a thing.  It was a wet Tuesday night in April. It was about as urbane at it came. She huffed and stood up.  Moving to the door, Silver had raised his head and sniffed.  

"What is it boy?" she asked, ruffling the Alsatian's head on the way past. He looked at her with his dark brown eyes, snuffled noisily and lay down again, head between his paws.

Reaching the door, she looked out of the peephole. Nothing and no-one to be seen.  She was instantly suspicious.  She might have been out of the service for a while, but her instincts were still sharp. She moved away from the door, leaning against the wall, listening. Silence.    Maybe she was just being paranoid.  Then the knock sounded again.  This time when she looked out, there was a young-ish man standing at the door, looking at his phone. It all seemed fairly normal.  Someone had the wrong address it seemed.

She opened the door on the chain, peering out into the hallway.  The young man looked up and smiled.

"Hi is this 23B? I'm looking for Claire - does she live here?" he leaned against the doorpost.

"No sorry this is 43B." she smiled and went to close the door.  She never managed it.  With a bang, the door almost burst off it's hinges, a metal bar inserted in the gap levering it open and ripping the chain from it's housing.

She sprang back, throwing herself to the side away from the figure that came barrelling into the flat.  She knew she still had a (legal but secret) weapon in her bedroom, she just had to get there.  The young man grabbed at her as she scrambled to her feet and tried to run.  Silver barked and slavered as he realised she was being attacked. 

"Get him boy!" she shouted and Silver leapt into action.  He attached himself to the attacker's arm, growling furiously.  The man roared and threw Silver to the side.  The dog landed on his feet and doubled back to attack.  As he leapt, three shots rang out and Kate heard his yelp and whine.

"NOOOOOO!" she screamed and lifted a vase, throwing it at the man.  It shattered on him but he shrugged it off.  

"No point Katherine" he said with a sneer "you're coming with us." She picked up a small side table and battered him with it.  He grabbed it and managed to throw it - and her - into the curtains by the window.  She lost her balance and fell, ripping the curtain from the rail. 

It was as she was disentangling herself she felt the first blow.  It seared into her shoulder, and she screamed.  He'd kicked her. Hard.  Now she knew this was more a fight for survival than a straightforward beating.  As she punched her way to stand, she looked about for a makeshift weapon.  She noticed the heavy iron poker next to the fire.  Lunging, she grabbed it and swung.  It made contact with his legs and he crumpled, screeching like a girl. He lay groaning, clutching his knee. 

"Fucking Bitch broke my fucking kneecap" he moaned to an unseen third party.

Taking advantage of the brief respite, she scrambled to the bedroom.  As she yanked the door open, she heard a voice and the click of a pistol being armed.

"I wouldnae dae that lass" her blood ran cold. She'd know that voice anywhere. Frisky. She dropped her hand from the door and turned to face him. The barrel of the gun was pointed straight at her, his smile as broad as it was evil.  "Come on, your gonnae come quietly aren't ye?" he waved her over with the gun.  She didn't reply, just moved slowly towards him.  She knew if she tried to run now, he would shoot her.  Not kill her, that wasn't the plan it seemed.  Kidnap.  That was the plan.  She had to bargain, stall him.

"Look, I don't know why you want me?  I'm not in any more.  I left.  After Spain.  I left, I'm nothing to them."

"Oh, we know that lassie.  It's not them we want. We need you to help us. We want you to "encourage" someone else to join us." he smiled and she had a sinking feeling she knew where this was going.

"He won't come." She stopped and looked at him steadily. "He made it perfectly clear how he felt about me."

"Oh come on, you dinnae seriously expect me to believe that dae ye?" Frisky smiled as he made her sit on the sofa.  "You two were, how can ah say this? Oh aye. Fuckin each other's brains out." His crudity made her both blush and angry. It demeaned what they'd had. Before it had gone south, they'd loved each other. Hell, truthfully, she still did. Despite the fact he was a complete bastard. 

"Well if you don't believe me, ask my Father. He knew all about us." She shrugged.

"Oh we did lass, we did." The way he said it made her blood turn to ice. "Don't worry, he won't be angry if you disagree with him, he'll never know." Frisky smirked. She looked at him in horror.

"What have you done?" She whispered, feeling the room spin.

"Well they say a picture paints a tbousand words..." Frisky tossed a polariod photo to her. She grabbed it and as she looked, she covered her mouth with her hand, a horrified cry escaping as she saw her father, lying dead.  A single shot to the head.

Looking back up, she started speak "You're a monst...." she never finished as a gun smashed into her head knocking her instantly unconscious. She fell to the floor and Frisky stepped forward picking up the photo.

"Get her into the car. Here.." he tossed a roll of ducktape to his hobbling assistant. "Get Jake to help. He's sat on his arse long enough. Roper wants her in situ today. Get moving. " he walked off pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Hi. Yes. It's me. We're done. Just the photo to take. Yes we'll be at the villa by tonight. Get the plane ready."