Pitch Black (Romantic Thriller, Completed)

Chapter 36

The far end of Luke's driveway looked like the forecourt of a car dealership. Matching black SUVs formed a row, presumably belonging to Nick's crew, and just for variety, a couple of police cars and an ambulance were lined up opposite. All very neat and tidy. But between them, a white van blocked the driveway, more abandoned than parked.

"Looks like Mr. Howard found us instead," Nick said.

Howard? That was the second time Luke had heard the name.

"Who the hell is Mr. Howard?"

"Our kidnapper."

Luke reached for the door handle as anger flared in his belly. The man who'd taken his sister had dared to come here? To his house? He itched to get his hands on the bastard, but Nick held him back.

"Stay put, would you? We'll deal with it."

"It wasn't your sister he took."

Luke tried to open the door, but the handle didn't work. What was wrong with the bloody thing?

Nick grinned at him. "I put the kiddie lock on."

Suddenly, the kidnapper wasn't the only man Luke wanted to hurt.

But then Nick motioned out of the window, and Luke took a closer look at the scene outside. In the shadow of an old oak tree, a man dressed all in black held a policewoman at gunpoint. He shouted something, but the glass muffled his words.

"Would you wind the window down?" he asked Nick, fresh fear blossoming in his chest.

Nick shrugged and opened it a few inches, and Luke caught the tail end of what the man was yelling.

"...the girl back, or I'll shoot the cop."

His jerky movements, his high-pitched voice, they both suggested the man's self-control hung by a hair. Where was Tia? Did she know what was going on? That she was being used as a bargaining chip by a madman?

"Don't worry," Nick said. "Not going to happen. No way is she gonna give up Tia."

"Do you think he'll really shoot that policewoman?"

The woman's face shimmered white in the glare from the van's headlights, and she stumbled as the man dragged her backwards.

"Who knows? He looks like he's lost his mind. If he ever had it in the first place."

"Somebody's got to do something! We can't sit here and wait for her head to get blown off."

"Don't panic. Somebody will."

Nick gestured to the front door, and Luke watched, heart thumping, as Ash walked calmly towards the kidnapper. She stopped ten metres away and her lips moved as she spoke. What was she saying? Luke strained to hear, but he couldn't make the words out.

The kidnapper nodded in agreement then jerked his head towards his van, where the sliding side door gaped open like the entrance to the underworld.

What was going on?

Ash took her phone out of her pocket and placed it on the ground, then walked in the direction indicated. When she got to the van, she reached inside and emerged with a pair of handcuffs and a length of rope.

"What's she doing?" Luke asked. "What's Ash doing?"

"Going with him."

"Stop her! We've got to stop her." Luke tried the handle again, but it rattled uselessly. The window wouldn't open any further either.

"Nobody can stop her. Sit still, would you?"

"No, I won't sit still! That's my girlfriend facing a man with a gun."