Where There's A Will

Chapter Fifty-Four

Crash ended the call with a satisfied smile, pleased with the news he had just been given. He jammed the phone into a pocket, turned to Lewis, and declared eagerly, "Payday." He then left the living room and strode briskly down the passage to the kitchen, where he threw open the back door so he could cross the yard to the barn.

Lewis felt relief surge through him like a tidal wave crashing down on an isolated beach. It wouldn't be long now until Crash left to go and collect the ransom, then he could save himself and Alice, He had decided earlier in the evening what he was going to do; his plan was simple - put Alice into the van, drive it into town and park it, and then head to his place so he could grab some things and make his escape in his car. He would call the police and let them know where they could find Alice when he was safely out of town.

Anxiously, he waited to hear the throaty roar of Crash's motorbike as he left the farm, he didn't want to waste a moment. When several minutes passed without any engine noises, Lewis started down the passage so he could find out what was going on.

Crash made his way round to the rear of the already unlocked van once he reached the barn. He collected a long plank of wood that sat at the side of the barn, angled it against the floor of the van and then manoeuvred his motorbike up it. His leathers and helmet followed his bike into the back of the van, and with that done he climbed behind the wheel.

He stopped the van a short distance from the front door of the farmhouse and got out.

Lewis was bewildered when his partner left the barn in the van, rather than astride his bike; not sure what it meant, he hurried back along the passage to the living room, reaching it just before Crash strode through the front door. His bewilderment turned to alarm when Crash started up the stairs. He couldn't think why Crash was doing that, and the surprise of it worried him so much that he felt compelled to follow.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his alarm magnifying significantly when he saw Crash unbolt and unlock the door to Alice's makeshift prison. "I thought you were going to collect the ransom."

"I am," Crash said, turning from the door, though he kept hold of the handle. "I'm taking her with me."

Standing a couple of steps below Crash, Lewis' eye-line was just about level with his partner's waist, which gave him an excellent view of the handle of the pistol, only partially concealed by his leather jacket, he had tucked into the waistband of his trousers. The sight of the weapon, which he hadn't known Crash possessed, made Lewis' alarm tip over into full-blown panic – it was clear to him that Crash was taking Alice with him, because he intended killing her once he had the money from her father, rather than collecting the money and then coming back to kill her.

As much as he disliked violence, and had no faith in his ability to beat his partner in a purely physical contest, Lewis knew he had to stop Crash before he could take Alice away and hurt her. Unsure how he could stop the bigger man, he did the first thing that popped into his mind, he leaped onto Crash's back as he swung the door open and entered the room.

The momentum of his attack carried them both across the room, and almost into the wall opposite the door.

"Get out, run!" Lewis shouted at Alice, who was, as usual, huddled against the wall near the lamp, a look of fear and confusion on her face as she watched the two men. As he called out to her, he fought with Crash, who had twisted round and thrown himself against the wall to crush him and make him loosen his grip; the move worked and Lewis found himself winded and sliding to the floor.

Lewis didn't stay on the floor, he reacted instantly to Crash's movement towards Alice, who hadn't yet stirred from the wall. Pushing himself up he wrapped an arm around his partner's legs in an effort to slow him, or, better still, stop him; at the same time, he reached up to grab Crash's right hand so he couldn't draw his gun. He clung on with all his strength, and called out again for Alice to run as Crash tried to wrench himself free.

Alice didn't move in response to the first call, she remained huddled against the wall and watched the fight between her kidnappers, wondering fearfully what it meant for her, and what had caused it. The sight of the weapon in the waistband of the rough-looking figure closest to her, combined with the second shout from the man who had been nice to her over the last two days, galvanised her into action. Surging to her feet, she darted for the door, which stood open. She hesitated when she reached it so she could look back into the room.

Both men were on the floor, rolling around and wrestling for control of the gun, which she could see in the hands of the man whose very appearance frightened her. Seeing that, she turned away and left the room so she could hurry down the stairs in her bare feet. She was almost at the bottom of the stairs when a loud, though strangely muffled, bang sounded from the room where she had been held prisoner; it was not a noise she had ever heard for real before, but her mind recognised it immediately from the films and television shows she had watched – it was a gunshot.

The gunshot pushed her to move even quicker, and she jumped the last few steps before darting through the partially open front door. As she did, she wondered which of her two kidnappers had been shot, if either of them had. Despite her natural curiosity, she didn't stop, she didn't even slow, not even when she felt the small stones that littered the yard digging into the soles of her feet.

Crash and Lewis remained unmoving, one on top of the other, for several long moments. Finally, Crash shifted under the weight of his partner; one of his hands was trapped between the two of them, but with an effort, which involved much heaving of his body and hauling with his free hand, he managed to get out from beneath Lewis' body. He looked down on Lewis, who remained unmoving, as he pushed himself to his feet; he was about to shoot him for a second time, having managed to keep hold of the gun, to make sure he was dead, when he remembered Alice Keating – he couldn't afford to let her get away.

Forgetting about Lewis, and ignoring the blood that stained his Pink Floyd t-shirt, Crash hurried from the room. He descended the stairs two and three at a time, almost falling a couple of times, and then raced out through the still open front door. The moment he reached the yard, he saw Alice running down the dirt drive towards the road.

Automatically, his arm came up so he could fire his gun. Alice flinched, and Crash thought he had hit her, though from the way she continued, with only a slight slowing in her pace, he suspected that whatever injury he had inflicted wasn't serious. His finger tightened on the trigger again, but he stopped himself before he fired – he doubted his ability to hit her from that distance, he was not that good a shot.

Lowering the gun, he started after the girl, knowing that the only thing in his favour just then was the fact that the road the farm was on was quiet at the best of times, and at that time of the day – gone ten in the evening – there was very little chance of anyone passing by.

Alice heard the second gunshot, louder than the first and un-muffled, in the same instant she felt a stab of pain in her right arm. Her mind had no problem connecting the bang with the pain, and she stumbled for a moment, before regaining her footing and continuing down the dirt drive. A quick glance at her arm revealed an ugly red wound, and twin lines of bright blood that ran down her arm. She went cold, and the blood drained from her face, leaving her white, as though she had seen a ghost, but she pushed on, ignoring the blood, and the pain in her arm, as well as that in her unprotected feet – she knew she had to keep going, if she didn't she would be killed.

She was limping by the time she reached the end of the drive, and she could hear the heavy footsteps of her kidnapper as he pounded after her, closing the gap between them. The rhythmic noise encouraged her to neither stop nor pause as the drive terminated and she arrived at the road.