Persuading Annie (22 page)

None of them stayed long enough to find out.

Sophie squealed with the excitement of a child being chased and ran back towards the others, followed swiftly by David and Jake.

‘That was so exciting!’ she squeaked to the anxious Charles, Victoria and Annie. ‘I’m all shaky!’

‘You can’t see in front of your hand in there,’ said David, pretending that he wasn’t ‘all shaky’.

Jake couldn’t bring himself to look at Annie.

‘Right. Let’s get home,’ he said, moving them all away from the alleyway. He felt almost as stupid for humouring Sophie as he did for shaking. And he didn’t like what he’d seen in the alleyway.

But they weren’t going home yet. There was comforting
of Sophie to do on the part of Charles and David, and dissecting and recounting on the part of Sophie. Sophie was in her element and she wasn’t going to have her spotlight dimmed by a spoilsport. An adventure had happened! She’d been frightened of the dark! There had been a nasty noise!

While everyone fussed loudly round Sophie the Adventuress, Jake and Annie momentarily glanced at each other. Annie looked away quickly. She knew that the ‘risks’ comment had been directed at her. She would have liked to congratulate him – walking four feet down a dark alleyway had really shown her how misguided she’d been in her life. But she knew her voice wouldn’t keep steady.

Meanwhile, Jake was utterly thrown by his feelings. Was this what he’d come to? Putting himself and others into danger just to annoy Annie? And why did he keep letting her affect him so much? In the pitch black of the alley, he’d suddenly seen things clearly.

The fuss round Sophie continued. Charles was genuinely worried for his sister – she was sensitive, she shouldn’t put herself into risky situations like that. Look how much she was shaking. David was able to use the opportunity to put a friendly arm around her shoulder as they laughed together over how silly they’d been. Victoria delighted in scolding them all.

Annie and Jake looked back to the now silent alleyway.

As Annie spotted something glinting on the floor, Sophie screamed.

‘My bag! I’ve lost my bag. My Chanel bag!’

Another adventure! Sophie in the Spotlight Again.

‘It’s all right,’ said Annie firmly. ‘I can see it.’

Partly to get away from the nonsense going on around her, partly to get away from Jake, Annie rushed towards
the gilt trim shining in the dark. It didn’t look too far away.

‘Don’t go back in there!’ yelled Jake, petrified.

Annie sped faster. She didn’t need him telling her what to do. He’d more than proved the criteria for his decision-making powers, thank you very much. She raced even faster when she realised he was coming after her.

Almost instantly she couldn’t see a thing. It really was pitch black in there. Only the sound of Jake’s breathing told her she wasn’t alone. At least, she hoped it was Jake’s.

‘Can you see it?’ asked Jake, his voice by her ear. She had to stop herself from grabbing hold of him for fear. Victoria was right. The alleyway was terrifying. She focused on the trim of the handbag glinting at her feet and bent down slowly towards it. She grabbed the bag.

Her skin turned to ice.

Instead of grabbing an incredibly expensive, tiny, chic purse, Annie had grabbed what was on top of it. Which could only be described as a hand. A very hairy hand. A giant, very hairy hand. The hand of a hairy giant. A monster, maybe.

Annie’s body prepared for fight or flight mode. Which meant she stopped breathing and thought she was going to faint.

‘What’s wrong?’ whispered Jake in her ear. She could feel his warm breath on her neck.

‘Is that you?’ she whispered back.

‘Of course it’s me.’

‘I mean … is that you holding the bag with me?’

Silence.

‘No.’

Silence.

‘I’m the one next to you who now has to change his trousers.’

Silence.

A small whimpering noise came from the direction of Jake.

‘That was me.’

‘Thank you.’

Before Annie could decide what to do next, Jake grabbed hold of her round the waist and tried valiantly to whisk her behind him.

Furious, Annie fought him off, her legs mid-air, her hand firmly on the hand. The hand wasn’t letting go of the bag.

‘Get off!’ she yelled.

‘You heard!’ shouted Jake. ‘Get off!’ He kept his grip on Annie as she kept her grip on the hand and the hand kept its grip on the purse.

‘No! You!’

‘What do you mean me?’ yelled Jake. ‘I’m helping!’

‘GET OFF!’

Jake and the hand leapt back in shock and Annie was thrown into the middle of them.

‘Oh God, Annie! Sorry! You frightened me! Move!’

Annie and Jake could just make out the enormous shadow of a man in front of them. He was big. Very big.

It was clear Annie couldn’t move.

‘Right … now … Annie,’ said Jake. ‘Just … stay calm …’

Annie stepped forward and kicked the shadow in the groin.

‘And then kick him in the groin. Perfect.’

They heard a moan in the dark. The shadow tried to punch her, but she blocked his arm with her right hand, attacked
him with a roundhouse kick – made all the more effective by her DM boots – followed by an elbow in the neck. He was down.

‘Jesus Christ,’ mumbled Jake. ‘Remind me never to attack you in a dark alleyway.’

Annie started jogging on the spot, exhilarated beyond belief.

‘Come on!’ she yelled into the darkness at the shadow writhing on the floor. ‘Call that a fight? Come and get me!’

Someone punched her in the face.

Damn. There were two of them.

The force of the hit walloped her backwards into Jake, and they both stumbled to the floor, Annie landing on Jake.

‘Some men don’t like being teased,’ Jake’s squashed voice came from underneath her.

Right. That was it. Livid at being so humiliated, Annie jumped up, yelled the karate attack, which terrified the attacker almost as much as it terrified Jake and, with her aggression suitably channelled, chopped the attacker in the face.

He staggered and fell but she knew it was only a momentary reprieve.

‘Quick! Run!’ yelled Jake, as he stood up, grabbed her hand and pulled her out.

‘The bag!’

‘Forget the bag!’

He practically scooped her off her feet again, and they raced towards the light. But the attacker was fast. They could hear him getting up and starting to run after them. Just before the end of the alley there was a sharp turn to the right. Once they made it past there, they should be safe. After that there was only about three yards before the light – and the attacker was
a good four yards behind them. Once they hit the light and people and traffic, they were home and dry. They just had to reach it before he reached them.

The pounding of his size thirteens got nearer and nearer.

It felt like he was right behind them now. Annie could almost imagine him reaching out and pulling her hair. She must get it cut.

They turned the corner.

The attacker was about one yard behind, still to turn the corner behind them.

They weren’t going to make it.

Then, to her astonishment, Jake pulled her sharply into an invisible alcove at the side of the alley and held her against the wall so tightly she was completely hidden and protected by him. She also couldn’t breathe. Her face was hidden in his neck and she tried to pull away but his hold was too tight. They stood, clamped together, their breathing jagged, their hearts pounding into each other’s ribcages.

She heard the attacker pass them and felt Jake release her slightly. They stared at each other in the dark as they listened to his footsteps. And for one pure moment, the world as she knew it stopped. There was only her and Jake.

The man reached the end of the street and, after a few moments, cursed dramatically.

They heard Victoria’s sharp voice.

‘I hardly think that was necessary.’

And then they heard him run away.

Jake and Annie both started to heave with suppressed giggles, holding on to each other tightly to stop the shaking. As the stifled noise of their laughter grew dangerously loud, Jake held her tighter again, burying his mouth in her hair. The shock of it stopped her laughing immediately. They both
knew there was another attacker in the alleyway – the one Annie had kneed in the groin. Had he run the other way? Was he still there? Was he dangerous?

The sound of Sophie’s high-pitched whine hit them at the same time.

‘Where’s my bag?’

‘Oh my God,’ muttered Jake. ‘She’s in the alleyway. You run while I get her.’

‘No—’

Jake held her firmly by the shoulders. His voice had lost all of its formal pride. It was the Jake she remembered who spoke to her now.

‘Please, Annie. Run.’

She ran.

Jake went the opposite way to Sophie in the alleyway and grabbed her by the hand.

‘Hello!’ she said happily. ‘Are you having fun without me? Did you find my bag?’

Jake looked on the floor. No bag. No shadow. It was time to leave.

‘No,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’

Suddenly, Sophie was swiped round the head with her bag, and the first attacker raced past them, into the light and away.

Sophie the Adventuress started wailing. Jake soothed her as he tried to drag her out of the alleyway. Once he hit the light and the others, he let go of her hand, numb with shock.

He didn’t notice the looks on everyone’s faces as he ran towards them. Nor did he notice that Sophie wasn’t keeping up with him. All he noticed was that Annie was mouthing something at him.

He slowed down and his body came to a halt as his brain
slowly tried to unravel some meaning from what his eyes saw. They were all staring past him at Sophie and shouting.

He turned round in slow motion. Sophie was stumbling towards him, her body wracked with sobbing. Before Jake had time to react, she slumped in an untidy heap on the pavement. And landed on her head.

* * * * *

The others sped towards Sophie, shocked at what they saw. By the time they reached her, Victoria and Fi were already sobbing in loud, ugly gasps.

Charles tried to speak, but the sight of his sister was too much for him.

‘Blood!’ he kept saying. ‘Blood!’

Typically useless, thought Victoria, who started screaming.

In a shaky voice, Annie started telling Tony to take Fi, Victoria and Charles away. He tried to, but Victoria was too busy screaming. A crowd was now forming round them.

Jake moved slowly towards the group, trembling all over. There was a look of such terror on his face that Annie thought she might start crying too. He looked down at Sophie, unconscious and white on the ground. Sure enough there was a horrifying red puddle by her head.

‘Oh God,’ whimpered Jake, ‘Oh God.’ He looked up at Annie. ‘What shall we do?’

‘We need an ambulance,’ said Annie urgently. ‘Do you think we can carry her? Or should we leave her for the ambulance men?’

She stared intently at Jake. He stared back.

‘Ambulance men,’ he repeated.

‘It probably looks worse than it is,’ insisted Annie before turning to Victoria.

‘Stop screaming!’ she yelled. ‘Tony! Take her and Fi away NOW.’

They obeyed. Charles started whimpering next to Annie.

‘We need an ambulance,’ said Annie to Jake. ‘Can I borrow your mobile?’

Jake fumbled in his jacket for his mobile and with an unsteady hand, gave it to Annie.

She looked at the phone.

‘How do you use it?’ she asked, perplexed, panic starting to clutch at her chest.

‘Um,’ began – and ended – Jake.

Annie looked up at him. They stared at each other, both growing dimly aware that the sound of a siren was getting closer.

16

IT WAS 2
am and Jake, Charles and Annie were sitting, muscles aching, in Jake and David’s drawing room. Jake had insisted on Sophie being brought here. He would look after her until she felt a hundred per cent better. Sophie lay sleeping soundly in his bed.

Sophie’s wound had, as Annie had predicted, looked far worse than it had been. She had knocked her temple on a sharp piece of bad paving and had only been unpleasantly concussed. In truth, the punch to Annie’s face had been worse and was only now turning into an ugly welt across her left eyebrow that was starting to throb. She held an ice pack to it in her left hand, which had gone numb from the cold.

The shock had left them all exhausted. Victoria was sleeping upstairs.

Charles, David and Jake now sat with Annie, trying to decide what to do next.

‘I must tell Mum and Dad,’ said Charles.

‘Of course,’ said David.

‘They’ll want her at home with them.’

‘No,’ said Jake firmly. ‘This is all my fault. I should have – I shouldn’t have—’

‘It’s OK, mate,’ soothed David. ‘She’s all right. Just a bit of concussion and a nasty shock. The doc said nothing a week of daytime telly wouldn’t cure.’

‘Are they saying her brain’s been damaged?’ asked Annie.

‘I’ll look after her here when I’m not working,’ Jake said firmly. ‘It’s the least I can do.’

‘I’ll help you out there, mate,’ joined David.

Annie started to nod, but stopped when she thought her head was going to explode from the pain. She was only slightly concerned that Jake and David’s attention might wander somewhat from saving Markhams’. She reprimanded herself quickly for such an ungenerous thought.

‘I’ll call Sophie’s office first thing tomorrow,’ she whispered. ‘Tell them what’s happened. Send in the doctor’s sick note.’

Jake looked up at her.

‘Thanks,’ he said quietly. ‘How are you feeling?’

She managed a small smile.

‘Like I’ve been in a fight,’ she whispered. ‘Cool.’

She stood up slowly. ‘I need a hot drink. Anyone want one?’

Three pairs of eyes looked up at her gratefully.

She walked heavily into the kitchen and turned on the kettle. Standing in the dark, she tutted aloud at Sophie for having caused this all. There was knowing one’s mind and then there was being a spoilt little madam. Feeling immediately guilty at her thoughts, and at her sudden intolerance of Sophie, Annie decided to help her. As soon as she’d phoned Samantha and got a few days off from the gallery, she’d spend her days just sitting with Sophie until Jake and David got home to be with her.