WILL TIME WAIT: Boxed set of 3 bestselling 'ticking clock' thrillers (80 page)

Spectacle guy bit his lip.  “Things just got out of
hand.  Dale, he...”

“Exactly!”  Frustration seared through my body. 
“Dale.  The guy who’s on his way up.”

CHRISTA

A
fter
throwing us into Sarah’s bedroom, two men followed Dale across the landing.

One man yelled through the closed door, “Dale wants us to
rip the cameras out first.  Don’t be long.”

“Be out in a minute,” Scab-man said.  He hurriedly
slapped tape across my mouth before tugging the tape tighter around my wrists,
checking his handiwork.

Nicola whimpered behind me.

Scab-man stalked to Sarah’s desk and pulled the phone cord
out of the wall.  After throwing the phone across the room, he raised a
boot-clad foot and kicked the phone socket.  With a crack, the faceplate
split down the middle.  “Don’t cause any trouble or Dale’ll totally lose
it.” 

No kidding.
  I pleaded with my eyes,
help us,
we helped you.

“Look, I...”  He clenched his jaw, then left and closed
the door.

Bastard.
 

Sitting back to back with Nicola on the carpet, our wrists bound
together with tape, I jerked and pulled, trying to wrench us apart.  No
use.  Struggling to breathe through my nose, I pushed my tongue against
the tape that covered my mouth.  It wasn’t stuck properly on account of
the tears on my face.  After a frustrating moment of pushing with my
tongue and stretching my lips apart, the tape flapped loose on one side. 
I inhaled deeply, the air welcome as it whooshed into my lungs.

“Nicola,” I whispered, turning my head.

A muffled cry came from her tape-covered mouth.

“Lean closer.  I’ll try to pull it off with my
teeth.” 

She nodded and turned her cheek my way.

Pressing back against her shoulder, I craned my neck to its
limit.  It hurt, but I managed to squash my nose into her cheek and feel
for the tape with my tongue and teeth.  Finally, I had the corner of the
tape pinched between my teeth and whipped it off.

“Ouch,” she said, then slumped and took deep breaths.

“You okay?”

“No.”

“Are you injured?”

“Well, I ache from head to toe, and I’ve scraped my... I’m
okay.”

I wiggled my fingers against hers.  “Look around for
something to cut this tape off our wrists.”  I scanned the floor, spotted
a tennis racket, fluffy slippers, clothes and books strewn around.  Sarah
wasn’t the tidiest of teenagers so there had to be something of use within
reach.

“We’re out of time,” Nicola said.  “We’re not leaving
here alive.”

“Don’t say that.  Don’t... hush.”  I nudged her on
hearing voices on the landing.  I closed my eyes and tried to pick out
their words.

“Done the bedrooms.”

“Let’s help Rick remove the cameras downstairs... tried to
trick us... sneaky little...”

“Dale, you really gonna-“

“It’s not up for debate.”  Footsteps tapped across the
landing and descended the stairs. 
Phew.

“They’re terrified.  I don’t think they’d say
anything.”

“Too late.”

“Just hear me out...”  The voices faded.

Jesus.
  We had probably five minutes before that
asshole Dale steamed back upstairs and murdered us.

“Oh God.”  Nicola broke into tears.  “I can’t
fight anymore.  I’m so tired.”

“Don’t say that.  Just help me look.”

“We’re stuck here.  It’s useless.”  Deep, choking
sobs burst out of her.  “Oh, maybe I’d be better off dead.”

“What?  Why would you say such a thing?”

She sniffed.  “I’m a joke.  My life’s
pointless.  Can’t afford my own place.  Single
yet
again.  If the only thing I’m good for is entertaining men on a sleazy
website...”

Oh, no.  There could not have been a worse moment to
break down.  I had to perk her up.  “Your work colleagues like you,
and Dave’s certainly got a smile for ya.  A panty-dropping one as I
recall,” I said, trying anything to lift her mood.

“Until he realises what a loser I am.”

I turned my neck, trying to lock eyes.  “What do you
mean?”

“I got fired.”  She looked over her shoulder. 
Reddened eyes stared at me from under glistening lashes.  “The world won’t
be any worse off if I’m not in it.”

I wanted to hug her.  “Now you listen to me! 
You’re worth fifty of those men!  You’re not useless.”

“I am,” she said, her tone disbelieving.

“Stop this!  Look at everything you’ve done to help me
and... and...” 
Oh, we don’t have time for this.

“Yeah, but...”

“You’re great with Sarah, and you’re the only person in this
world who keeps me sane.  That’s not an easy job!  And no matter
what, I know you have a good heart.  D’ya think I don’t know you’ve been
trying to drum up new business for me?”

“You know about that?”

“One of my customers told me that a charming and sexy
brunette handed him a flyer in town last week.”

Her shoulders bobbed. 

Was that a laugh?  A smile?  “There aren’t many
folk who’d stand in town in winter helping a friend for free.  And
that
isn’t the sign of someone who’s ready to give up.”

She sniffed.  “I’ve maxed my credit cards, used up my
overdraft...  They’ll repossess my car soon.”  All hope and
confidence had left her voice. 

Oh, no.  What was this, the last confession?

I knew she’d been through hell but I couldn’t let her give
up, I loved her and couldn’t handle these men alone.  “Okay, so you’re
jobless, penniless, single and might lose your car... so bloody what? 
Success and status aren’t the only things that define you.”   I
angled my head, trying to work out where the men were.  “If you’ve hit
rock bottom, there’s no where left to fall, right?” 

She cried again, accelerating my frustration and drowning
out all sound from below.  “We’ll never make it.  We’ll not get out
of here alive.”

“Shush, shush.”  I battled the urge to yell at her,
instead, I searched for words to bring forth the fighting spirit these men had
stolen.  “You’re a fighter, Nicola.  Look what you’ve been through
since last night... You could have jumped into your car and taken off, left me
and Sarah in this house, but you didn’t.  You stayed to protect us and
fight, and you can do it again.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” she mumbled.

“Yes.  You did.  To me, loyalty and love is a
currency worth so much more than money.”

“B-but...”

“No buts.  You’re welcome in my house for as long as
you want.  In fact, stay forever!”  I flinched on hearing deep,
angered voices downstairs.

“I knew you’d go too far, Dale,” one of them said. 
“You’re a hothead and you’ve had too much to drink.  Don’t wave that at
me!”

“You didn’t have a problem earlier,” Dale hollered. 
“We’re gonna kill ‘em, clean up and get outta here.”

“You’ve lost it.  She’s got a child.”

“Cool it, you two,” another man said.  “Let’s just get
Henry on the phone and settle it.”

“Already tried,” a fourth man said.  “Phone’s switched
off.”

I whispered to Nicola over my shoulder, “There’s someone
else in charge.  He’s called Henry, but he’s not here.” 

“And that helps us how?” Nicola mumbled.

I couldn’t answer. 

Heat stung my cheeks as I sat listening.  My anxiety
level spiked with every angry shout from the men downstairs debating our
fate. 

“That man Dale,” I whispered.  “He’s a walking volcano. 
He could be the one who killed John.  I think he’s a rogue.” 

“Rogue?”

“Yes.”  This made sense.  The other men seemed to
be gunning for just frightening us into silence.  “We have to make a run
for it now before he talks them into it.”  I scanned the floor again,
seeking a cutting tool.  “What’s it to be, Nicola?”

Her shoulders bobbed against mine.  She was still
crying.

“Fine then.  Sit here.  But if you give up, I die
too.”  I wiggled my bound hands against hers.  “I can’t exactly leave
without you.” 

“I don’t want to... I-I just want...”

“Then live!”  I nudged her elbow with mine.  “If
they wanna kill us, I’ll be damned if I make it easy for them.  The Nicola
I knew would fight ‘til the last breath and then laugh in their faces. 
Think of Sarah, think of... ”

“Yes.  Sarah needs you,” she said no louder than a
whisper.

“Actually, she needs
both
of us.  Please help
me.”

Her shoulders rose against mine.  “Tell me what to do.”

“Let’s shuffle across the room,” I said.

“My feet are taped to the bed.”

Damn.  “If we lean to one side d’ya think you’ll be
able to see under the bed?  God knows what horrors are under there, but
hopefully-“

“I doubt Sarah has a knife.”

“Just try, will you?”  I leaned to the left until my
arm was resting on the floor.  “Anything?”

“Wait a sec.  Ouch, my elbow, and something’s sticking
in my...”  She groaned then gasped.  “Sit up, sit up.”

“What is it?”  I raised myself up.

“Can you feel my back pocket?”

“What’s in it?”

“My lighter.”

I brightened.  This was the only time I was thankful
she’d started smoking again.  “Shift your arms to the side.”  I felt
for her pocket, stuffed two fingers in and gripped the lighter.  “Keep
still.”  I pulled it out and spun it in my fingers until my thumb sat on
the striking wheel.  “This might hurt.”  I flicked the wheel to
strike a flame, pressed the gas button and blindly angled the lighter at
Nicola’s wrists to burn the tape.

“Shit, ouch,” she cried.  “Careful.”

“Sorry.”  My nervous thumb slipped off the gas button. 
I struck it again.

Nicola pulled at the tape and wriggled behind me. 
“Ooh... that’s hot,” she said, then her wrists pulled apart, but were still
attached to mine.  “Let me try.”  Nicola took the lighter. 

Heat stung my wrists.  “Ouch.  Jeez.” 

“Sorry, sorry.”

I gritted my teeth.  “Keep going.”  Some seconds
later, we were free. 

I twisted around and rubbed my sore wrists.  “Good job.
 Hurry.”  We untied our feet, and I scuttled across the room to
Sarah’s chest of drawers.  “Help me?” 

Nicola raced over and we pushed it up behind the door. 
“What now?” Nicola asked.  “The window?”

I grabbed the phone, scrambled across the room and knelt in
front of the phone socket.

“It’s broken,” Nicola whispered.  “Leave it.”

I plugged the phone into the cracked socket.  No dial
tone.  “Find me a...”  I rooted through Sarah’s basket of niknaks on
her desk while Nicola pushed the sash window up and stared out. 

“Oh God,” she groaned.  “Think we can make those
bushes?”

“Aha.”  I found a flat metal hairclip. 
This
will do.
  Back on my knees and with shaking hands, I unscrewed the
plastic faceplate from the wall socket using the slim end of the hairclip.

“Christa, we’re wasting time.  Let’s go.”

I shook my head.  “That’s concrete down there!”

“Then let’s... run to my room.  We could climb down the
trellis outside.”

“They’ll hear us on the landing.”  With a final turn,
the faceplate came off. 

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Saving us.”  If my internet had not died earlier in
the year, causing me to phone my provider and complain, I would not have known
about the second phone point concealed behind the faceplate, used by engineers
to test the line. 

And there it was. 

I plugged in the phone and held the receiver to my
ear.  “It’s working.”  I smiled up at Nicola and dialled 999. 
“Police, please,” I said, then turned on hearing a rumbling sound in the
walk-in wardrobe.  I dipped down behind the desk and waved at
Nicola.  “Hide.”

While I whispered on the phone, Nicola picked up a tennis
racket and flattened her back against the wall behind the wardrobe door.

I covered the mouthpiece to whisper to Nicola. 
“Nic!  Be careful.”  I turned my attention back to the phone. 
“We’re being held hostage.  Four or five men.  They killed my husband
and...”  A light thud came from inside the wardrobe and something
rattled.  My pulse quickened. 

“What should I do?” Nicola asked.

I got to my feet, still talking on the phone, and tried to
push the desk up to the wardrobe.  Something stopped it moving. 
“Yes... yes.   Willow Lane.  We’re in a bedroom. 
Hurry.”  I hung up, grabbed a heavy book and steeled myself for attack.

Nicola, wielding the tennis racket high, fumbled with the
nob and yanked the wardrobe door open.  “Jeez.”  She jumped back and
pressed a hand to her chest.

My eyes flew wide open as my daughter stepped out of the
wardrobe.  “S... Sarah?”  Oh, crap.

“Mum?”  She frowned.  “What are you doing in my
room?  What’s all the noise downstairs?”

I ran over and enfolded her in my arms.

The stairs creaked.  “No!  Don’t do it,” a man
yelled.  “If we get caught...”  Grunts, thumps and scuffling noises
indicated a fight had broken out.

Sarah flinched in my arms.

“Oh hell.”  Nicola raised the racket and faced the
door.  “We have to hurry.”

A volley of footsteps pounded up the stairs.

I gripped Sarah’s shoulders and looked at her.  “Keep
your voice down.  There are some bad men in the house and we have to
leave.” 

She gaped at me.  Horror entered her eyes. 

I nodded to the wardrobe.  “How did you get in?”

Her voice wavered.  “Th-the...”

I shook her.  “Tell me.  Now.”

“L-loft hatch.  John boarded it out so I could...”

Of course!
  “Excellent.”  I shooed her into
the wardrobe.  There was a chair beneath an open hatch in the
ceiling.  “And then?”

“The skylight,” she said, clutching my arm.  Her eyes
pooled, threatening to spill over.  “There’s trellis and... roof on-“

“The utility room,” I finished for her.  I kissed her
head.  “Step up.”  I helped her onto the chair and raised her up to
the hatch.  “Nicola,” I beckoned.  “Come on.  You’re next.”