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He gave her an all too familiar look, one she’d never been able to refuse in the past. Until he’d broken her heart, she’d never felt safer than when she was with Alex. With a silent prayer, Sarah stepped into his linked hands and pulled herself over the fence, landing on her feet in her elderly neighbors’ yard. The foliage crushing beneath her sounded like trees being felled. Before her eyes could adjust, Alex was beside her again. He reached for her hand as they stood, silently gauging if their actions had roused the curiosity of potential witnesses, or assailants.
The wailing of the ambulance grew closer and the cold seeped into her bones. Alex’s hand around hers felt foreign as he gently tugged it, signaling the coast was clear. They made their way along the fence line to the front of the property. They crouched inside the neighbors’ low front fence that backed onto Sarah’s flat. A faint glow from the kitchen window suggested her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Crawley, had retired to the sitting room to watch television. Sarah had gotten to know them a little over the back fence. Both were keen gardeners and enjoyed answering Sarah’s questions about the beautiful assortment of bushes and blooms that ensured their garden was always full of color, regardless of the season. It reminded her of her grandmother’s garden back home, before she’d passed away. Thankfully, the front garden consisted of potted plants so nothing was getting crushed under Alex and Sarah as they surveyed the street.
‘Come on.’ Alex stood and moved onto the pavement, pulling Sarah by the hand he still held. They walked quickly down the block, then Alex dropped her hand in order to start jiggling the doors of cars parked along the road as she followed meekly beside him. One part of her wanted to run in the other direction but she kept thinking of what he had said. She was safer with him. Was that really true?
Three cars in, Alex found an unlocked door on an older looking car, dark in color and unassuming in shape. He held the door open for her and she got in.
An ambulance screamed around the corner. Alex motioned for her to scoot down in the seat while it passed. He fiddled with the undercarriage of the steering wheel for a minute and then the car sprang to life, startling her momentarily. As the car pulled away from the curb, she peered back down the road. A few of the neighbors had gathered outside her flat, illuminated by the flashing lights of the ambulance. At least Heather was safe.
ChapterSix
The night sky blanketed the car as Alex sped through back-streets he had committed to memory… just in case.
He could feel her gaze on him, sensed her anxiety and fear. Shame kept him from looking her in the eye. Eventually, when the panic settled, the anger would return. Not that he could blame her. She had every right to be furious with him, to hate him. He was furious with himself.
Fuck!
How had they found him so quickly? He thought he’d bided his time, covered his tracks. He must have been so focused on extricating himself from The Devils that he’d failed to notice their subtle interest in his movements. What else had he missed? He resisted the urge to smack the steering wheel with his hands, not wanting to scare Sarah any more than he already had.
Disgust curdled in his gut, threatening to erupt. There was no time for that. He forced himself to breathe in even draughts of air and wait for the nausea that heated his skin from his belly to his scalp to dissipate. His heart was beating hard and fast, his own fear almost winning out. He ached to pull the car over and explain everything to Sarah.
If they were going to survive, he had to keep a clear mind. A mind he’d spent a lifetime cultivating. Emotions were something Alex could not afford. He needed to focus and take care of the here and now. Cunning, calculated - that’s what he needed to be. That’s what Sarah needed from him now, even if she didn’t know it. It was up to him to keep them alive.
‘Where are we going?’ Her voice was barely a whisper over the whine of the engine.
‘Alex,’ she began again, forcing volume into her speech. ‘Where are we going?’
‘Somewhere safe.’
‘How long have you been here?’
The change in topic threw him. ‘What?’
‘In London, how long have you been here?’
‘Not long, a couple of days.’ He slowed the car, seeing traffic backed up at a red light ahead. An alley appeared on his left and he turned the wheel abruptly to avoid stopping.
‘Did you come with those men, the ones that were at my flat?’
This time he did look at her. ‘No, Sarah. How could you think that?’
‘How could I think that? I don’t know what to think. I haven’t known what to think since you dumped me last year.’ A kaleidoscope of fear, anger and exasperation contorted in her eyes.
‘I’m sorry.’ He raised a conciliatory hand from the steering wheel. ‘I didn’t know they’d followed me.’
‘Why did they follow you?’
He shook his head, and turned his eyes back to the road. This wasn’t the time or place to have this conversation.
‘That man, Brodie, what did he mean when he said no patch-outs?’
He sped up to make a green light ahead. The silence stretched between them. How was he supposed to answer that? How could he not?
‘It means no one leaves.’
‘No one leaves?’ She scrunched her face up.
‘The club. You can’t just decide you don’t want to be a part of it anymore.’
