The Secret Kiss of Darkness (27 page)

‘Please, Nell, don’t cry. I’m awake now and I will help you, I promise. But you have to be brave for a little longer. I’m going to get that thing off your mouth, but it’s going to take a while because my hands are tied behind my back. Are yours?’ Nell nodded. ‘Okay, but please, no more crying, understand? There’s a good girl. If you stop crying you can help me and together we’ll get it off much faster, do you see?’ With relief she noticed that Nell’s hiccoughing sobs lessened, and the little girl nodded her head again to show she had understood.

‘All right, here’s what we’ll do. I’m going to turn around and I want you to lie down behind me with the back of your head near my hands so I can reach the knot. Do you think you can do that?’

‘Uh-hmm.’

‘Good. My hands are only tied at the wrist, so I can still use my fingers. Let’s try it then, shall we?’

Shuffling on her bottom, Kayla turned around and she heard Nell do the same. She stretched out her fingers as far as possible, and shortly afterwards she could feel Nell’s hair.

‘Great, Nell. I can almost reach. I’ve got the top of your head. Can you come a little bit closer, sweetie?’

Nell scooted round some more, and Kayla’s fingers finally encountered the gag and the knot that tied it. It took her a few minutes to undo it, as it had been tied quite hard. She murmured encouragement to Nell all the while to stop her from panicking.

‘It’s getting looser now, I can feel it. Almost there. Almost … Yes!’ At last the knot slipped open and she pulled the gag off. She turned her head to see Nell taking deep breaths, before bursting into tears again. ‘Shhhh, it’s okay now,’ she soothed. ‘You’re all right. Just take a few more deep breaths, that’s it.’

‘Oh Kayla, I c-couldn’t breathe,’ Nell hiccoughed, leaning her head against Kayla’s shoulder. ‘I was sleeping and when I woke up that thing was tied on me.’

‘That sounds horrid, but it’s gone now and if we can keep quiet, hopefully no one will come back and put it on again. Lucky I woke up, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. I-I thought you were d-dead, but Uncle Alex promised Mummy wouldn’t hit you again.’

‘Uncle Alex? Is he here too?’ Nell nodded. ‘I see.’

Kayla mulled this over for a moment. She wondered if Wes knew his brother was involved in something illegal, but she didn’t think so, although he might have had his suspicions judging by the hostility she’d sensed between the brothers.

She turned back to Nell. ‘You know, my head is very hard. A little knock on the back isn’t going to kill me.’ Even if it felt like it at the moment, Kayla added silently to herself. ‘I tell you what, if we sit with our backs to each other we should be able to undo the ropes at our wrists too. What do you think? Do you want to have first go?’

‘Oh, yes. Let’s try.’

Ten minutes later they were both free and Kayla hugged Nell for a while until the child had stopped crying. Then she set her down next to her.

‘Listen to me. We have to be clever now, Nell. We don’t want anyone to know that we’re free, so if you hear someone coming you have to put your hands behind your back again. Then wind the rope around your wrists and pretend it’s still tied. Do you see what I mean?’

‘Yes, I can do that. I’m good at pretending.’ Nell’s eyes were huge in her little face, and Kayla’s heart went out to her.
Oh God,
she prayed,
please don’t let anything happen to her. She’s so small, please protect her.
If only she knew what their captors meant to do with them. Surely Caroline wouldn’t harm her own daughter though? It was only Kayla who was in real danger.

‘Okay. I’m going to tie the gag around your neck so it looks like you managed to spit it out, then maybe they won’t get suspicious.’

Not long afterwards someone came down the steps and switched on an overhead light. Kayla and Nell blinked and huddled together, their hands behind their backs.

‘So you’re awake finally. Well, thank God for that at least.’ It was Alex, wearing an almost identical scowl to that of his big brother. ‘I thought for a while the stupid woman had killed you.’

‘Not yet, although she was probably hoping she had.’ Kayla glared at him defiantly. ‘But you almost killed your niece here. Honestly, gagging a child is a dangerous thing to do. She nearly choked to death, you know.’

‘Gagging? I didn’t gag her.’

‘Well someone did. I managed to get it off her just in time. See, there it is.’ Kayla nodded at the bright pink scarf around Nell’s neck.

Alex clenched his fists and looked, if possible, even more furious. ‘I swear to God, I’m going to wring her neck. Of all the idiotic, hare-brained …’ Words failed him.

Nell began to cry again. ‘No, Uncle Alex. P-please don’t kill Kayla. I-I love her.’

‘What? Oh no, princess, I’m not going to hurt Kayla. I was talking about someone else and it was just a figure of speech. I promise.’

The boat shuddered as if it was coming to a halt, and soon after it bumped into something. Kayla held her breath, wondering whether they had arrived at their destination, but Alex sat down on his haunches in front of his niece and said, ‘Are you all right there for a little while longer? You have to stay down here while I finish some business and then I promise I’ll take you back home.’

Nell nodded. ‘And Kayla too?’

Alex stood up and glanced at Kayla, indecision clearly written on his face. ‘Of course, princess,’ he finally said. ‘I’ll do what I can.’ He looked tired and weary and Kayla almost felt sorry for him. Almost, but not quite. This was partly his fault and he was obviously up to no good.

He turned to climb back up on deck and disappeared through the hatch. All was quiet, and there was no sound other than the waves swishing gently round the hull. Kayla could still feel the rocking motion, but tried to ignore it. She didn’t want to be sick on top of everything else. She wondered how far out to sea they were and whether it would be possible to swim to safety, but decided it would be too risky with Nell in tow.

She was just wondering what else she could do when suddenly a commotion broke out on deck.

They heard someone say something through a loudspeaker, then voices shouting and footsteps running in all directions. The shrill voice of a woman – Caroline? – mixed with the deeper tones of several men. What was happening? Had someone come to rescue them? A faint hope stirred inside Kayla, but then she realised whoever it was might not know they were on board. She was pretty sure they had stopped the boat for some other reason.

Kayla had just decided to make their presence known when someone came hurtling down the steps. This time it was Caroline and she rushed over and grabbed up Nell in a single fluid motion. Before Kayla had time to even blink, the woman was halfway up the steps again, carrying the struggling, screaming child. Kayla sat frozen to the spot and Caroline disappeared through the hatch.

‘Shit.’ What was the crazy woman up to now? Kayla had to find out. Her recalcitrant legs finally obeyed her and she staggered to her feet. Cautiously she climbed the steps and peered out onto the deck, where a strange scene was being played out in the floodlight from two police or coastguard boats. Kayla shielded her eyes with one hand to see better.

‘I know my ex-husband is behind this,’ shrieked Caroline, holding on to Nell with the strength born of desperation. ‘You can tell him if he doesn’t call you off, I’ll drop his precious daughter into the sea and he’ll never see her again.’

‘Caroline, for Christ’s sake, what’s got into you?’ Alex came rushing along the deck, an even deeper frown settled on his features.

‘Don’t come any closer, Alex, or I’ll kill you.’ Caroline pulled out a knife from somewhere and brandished it in front of her. Nell screamed, then went still. Kayla thought the poor child must be in a state of shock from the recent events. She felt decidedly shaky herself, so God only knew how this would affect a seven-year-old.

Alex stared at the knife in disbelief. It was long and sharp, and quite lethal. ‘Where the hell did you get that?’ He shook his head. ‘Caro, be reasonable,’ he tried, speaking in a cajoling voice. ‘Come on, darling, don’t do anything silly now. This is your daughter we’re talking about. You know you’ll regret it.’

‘The only thing I regret is not hurting Wes when I had the chance. I could have killed him in his sleep so many times, or set his precious house alight, but I didn’t. I was a fool,’ Caroline hissed. ‘Wes!’ she hollered. ‘Are you out there?’

‘Yes, Caroline, I’m here,’ came a voice from across the water, just out of range of the lights.

‘Hah! I knew it. You couldn’t resist gloating, could you? Well, this time I’ll have the final word. That damned judge can’t help you now.’ She inched towards the railing and Kayla readied herself for a sprint across the deck. If the madwoman was going to throw her own daughter overboard, Kayla would dive in after her. She had to save Wes’s child. She just had to. Unless Wes got to her first – she was sure he’d dive in as well.

For a long while everyone just stared at each other, weighing up their options. It was a stand-off and no one could win without Nell getting hurt in the process. Kayla could see that Caroline was off her head on some substance or other. She had that wild look in her eyes that showed she was high as a kite and not in possession of her usual faculties. This made her doubly dangerous, of course, and totally unpredictable.

But she couldn’t look everywhere at once.

Kayla saw Alex glance in the direction from which his brother’s voice had come and then further along the railing. When she followed his gaze, she noticed a shadowy figure pulling himself up onto the deck.
Wes, thank goodness!
Alex made a sudden move, presumably in order to divert Caroline and stop her looking towards Wes. Then he stopped, keeping a wary eye on the sharp knife in Caroline’s hand. He took another look around and must have noticed Kayla before she could duck down, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he nodded ever so slightly in Caroline’s direction and Kayla nodded back. He was going to try something and she’d be ready to help. As was Wes, who had moved to crouch behind a large pile of boxes that were stacked on deck.

‘Are you going to call them off, Wes?’ Caroline was shouting into the darkness, her voice shaking now.

There was no reply. Obviously he couldn’t answer or he’d give his position away. Kayla wondered if Caroline would suspect something, but apparently not as her next words proved.

‘Wes? Oh, I get it. You’re sulking now.’ With a hysterical laugh Caroline went closer to the railing anyway. Kayla thought for a horrible moment that Nell’s mother was going to throw her terrified child into the water no matter what happened, and she had to stifle a cry of anguish.

With perfect timing, Alex and Wes chose that moment to make their move. They rushed forward, one from either side.

‘Caro!’ they both called out. She swivelled towards Wes first and Alex took the chance to snatch his niece from Caroline’s death-grip, then jumped to the side when Caroline realised what he was doing and slashed at him with the knife. It caught him on the upper arm, but he only let out a grunt of pain and continued towards the railing, still holding Nell. With the child in his arms, he jumped into the water.

Kayla saw him surface a few yards away and, with Nell in tow, he swam into the darkness. She registered the fact that he was swimming towards the coastguard and breathed a sigh of relief. Nell would be safe.

Meanwhile, Caroline was trying to stick the knife into Wes, who unfortunately hadn’t been able to grab hold of her. The woman was screeching at the top of her voice the foulest of curses, railing against Wes in particular and fate in general. The two of them jumped around in a macabre dance, with Wes keeping just out of range as the knife, gleaming in the light, came down again and again. There seemed to be no way he could get hold of her without being hurt and Caroline was working herself into a murderous frenzy. She was like a one-woman dervish, at one with the lethal weapon in her hand. Kayla felt rage boiling up inside her against this woman who seemed about to seriously hurt the man Kayla loved. It was an anger so pure, so hot, so overwhelming, she had never experienced anything like it. There was only one way to assuage it and she acted without thought.

She surged out of the hatch and ran towards Caroline, throwing herself at the other woman from behind and hitting her with her fists. ‘Shut up! For God’s sake, shut up.’

‘Kayla, no!’ She vaguely registered Wes’s voice, but she was too furious to stop now. She forgot about the knife, forgot about the fact that Caroline was much bigger than herself, and more importantly, forgot they were on a boat. The deck rolled suddenly and the three of them lurched sideways. Kayla lost her footing and grabbed at Caroline to stop from falling, but it was too late.

They all went sprawling onto the deck and Kayla quickly rolled out of reach, looking to see if Wes was hurt. He too had moved out of the way, but in the event, it proved unnecessary. Caroline only made a strange gurgling sound and then she went limp. Her eyes stared up into the sky, but she didn’t blink. Kayla looked down and saw the red stain spreading rapidly across the shiny white deck. Caroline had fallen onto her knife.

‘Oh my God. What have I done?’ Numb with shock, Kayla sat stock still and just stared at the expression of surprise on Caroline’s face. She was incapable of moving. Once more the Gypsy’s words echoed round her brain. ‘
I see water and pain, a red stain spreading over white …’
She had been right. Kayla tried to remember the rest of what the woman had said, but the effort was beyond her.

‘Kayla? Are you okay?’ Wes crawled over to put a hand on her shoulder, shaking it slightly. She managed to nod, but closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look at him. He must be so angry at her for not listening to him. And now she’d caused Caroline’s death …

‘Kayla, I’ve got to go and see to Nell, but I’ll be back, all right? Just stay here.’

She nodded again and then he was gone. Soon after there were voices, and hands helping her to her feet, but she was oblivious to them. Someone draped a blanket over her shoulders. And then she started to cry. Huge, hiccoughing sobs racked her body, and she couldn’t control them.