Lost Souls

33

Jimmy was led back through the house. Every time his pace slowed he was given a sharp push on the back. The two men behind him weren't going to be messed about, and neither were their dogs, who'd barked constantly since leaving the study.

​As they walked downstairs, Jimmy weighed up his few options. He could just let them lock him up, although he knew that really wasn't a choice for him, or he could try and take on his present company. The two large snarling beasts who's hot breath he could feel burning into his hamstrings made this a very bad idea also.

​Jimmy knew his only way out of this mess, was to try and take the men, and dogs by surprise.

If force became involved, there'd only be one winner, and clearly it wasn't going to be him.

​Risking the odd hard palm in the centre of his back, Jimmy slowed as much as he dared, to give himself more time to think.

Mentally, he pulled up the map Mrs. MacDonald had drawn him of Galbraith Lodge. He focused on the stairway, and the windows that led off it.

​As they reached the bottom three steps and came up level with probably the smallest window in the house, Jimmy seized the only opportunity he believed was open to him.
​Taking a deep breath, closing his eyes tight, and shielding the rest of his face with his hands, he threw himself at the glass.

​Momentarily time seemed to stop. He couldn't hear the men shouting after him, the dogs were reduced to nothingness, but worse, the glass didn't shatter instantly as his body impacted against it.

​Then chaos rained.

​The dogs jumped after him, one managed to get hold of his ankle just as he felt the window finally giving way. The two men rushed forward, and made a grab at his legs, but he was already through the shattered window, and falling to the ground, four or five feet below.

As he fell the dog biting into his foot had to let go or follow him out. Jimmy managed a smile as he heard the two men swearing after him, and the dogs barking dementedly at having lost their prey.

​His smile was short lived however, as he hit the wet grass with a hard thump. Crying out in pain, he tried to use his forward momentum to roll away from the window, but found the effort to painful.

​Quickly he scanned his ankle, and groaned loudly at the two large bite marks left by the dog, which were bleeding badly, and a thin trickle of blood was running down over his sock, and pooling on his training shoe.

​Jimmy stood up and winced. He'd hurt his back in the fall, but he had to get away before the men and dogs came out of the house to give chase.

​The gunshot reverberated over his head, and briefly he thought his heart had stopped. In blind panic he made his way  back towards his climbing rope and what he hoped would be the safety of the road at the other side of the wall.
​Shouts came from an upstairs window, and he risked taking a look over his shoulder as he hobbled towards the wall.

Hanging out of an upstairs window was Douglas Galbraith. Jimmy couldn't believe the man had a rifle and was trying to shoot him!

​As he reached the wall, he grabbed his hook and lobbed it over. He knew now that Galbraith must have the evidence needed to unlock the riddle of Katie's new home, otherwise why was he trying to kill him?

​The climb was the most painful thing he'd ever done. Every muscle ached, and his foot screamed with each contact with the wall, but somehow he managed to reach the top before the dogs reached him!

​Jimmy half jumped, half fell over to the other side. He landed in a twisted heap, scraping his elbow down the brickwork as he did so.

Quickly, he got up, and made his way across the road and into the safety of the trees opposite the Lodge, and the darkness they provided.

​He could feel the blood rushing through his veins, and his head throbbed like never before.

He opened his mouth a little to quieten his breathing, it was a little tip he'd once read in an SAS survival handbook. His eyes focused on the gateway to the premises. Would the two henchmen risk following him outside? Would Galbraith come running out with his gun blasting?

Perhaps, and this is what Jimmy hoped for, they'd let him get away, knowing he couldn't go to the police anyway, as he'd broken into the Lodge in the first place.

​After five long minutes, during which Jimmy managed to calm down a little, the gate remained closed. Moving further into the trees, he slowly limped away, thinking maybe it was time to bring the Rusk family, and especially Katie into his plans?