Storm and Stone (33 page)

‘But … ’

‘Raven, remember how long it took me to figure out how to dance. Driving is going to be the same. We don’t have a month for me to read the manuals and do the maths. This is not yet in my skill set.’

She was already sliding into the driver’s seat. ‘OK, OK, I can do this.’

‘Thank you.’ He got in beside her. ‘As fast as you can please.’

‘Shut up. I will not do this if you start on the backseat driver thing.’

Kieran bit his tongue. She found the ignition without any help and rattled the gear stick to check it was in neutral.

‘We’ll need to go quickly once you start as the people in the house might hear.’

‘Kieran Storm, put a sock in it.’

‘Sorry.’

She turned the engine over and it rumbled into life. The clutch grated as she hadn’t depressed it enough but then she stepped down fully and got the stick into first. ‘Say your prayers. I’m going for take-off.’

The minibus lurched along in first until she managed the transition to second. They circled and left the car park, heading for the main drive.

‘I’ll look out for any sign of the team,’ Kieran said, nobly making no comment as the engine over-revved and went into third with another judder.

Raven didn’t reply, lower lip gripped by her teeth in concentration.

‘You’re doing really well.’

‘No, I’m bad at this. But what do you expect?’

‘You’re doing much better than I would,’ clarified Kieran.

She gave a choked laugh at that and put her foot down. ‘If we want to catch up we’d better not do this by halves.’ The minibus shot down the drive, taking the speed bumps as a challenge to go faster.

Kieran gripped the seat belt across his chest. ‘You’re magnificent, Raven. You’ll get us there safely. I have every faith in you.’

‘Wish I did,’ she muttered.

Raven pulled the minibus over to the verge just out of sight of the lay-by. ‘What now?’

Kieran got out and peered over the barrier at the side of the road. ‘Does it get even steeper further on?’

‘Yes.’ She came round the vehicle to join him.

‘They must be planning to make the car go over the edge.’

‘So how do we stop them? Drive past and block the road with the bus?’ She started back to the bus.

‘Then we get a head-on collision. Come on—I’ve another idea.’ Kieran began running down the carriageway. Raven followed, having to push herself to keep up. They came in view of the lay-by and saw two cars parked up—the SUV and …

‘Joe’s car,’ muttered Kieran. ‘So much for thinking it’d gone unnoticed.’ They jumped over the barrier at the side of the road and crawled the remaining distance in the rough vegetation of the verge.

As they watched, Mrs Bain got out of the driver’s side. A much better plan to have the accident happen in a vehicle belonging to one of the young victims, Raven acknowledged.

‘They’ll have to transfer the others,’ Kieran whispered. ‘That gives us a brief window. Can you get inside, do you think?’ Kieran had his eyes on the men hauling Siobhan out of the back of the SUV.

‘Yes.’ The rear door of Joe’s car was open in front of them, with a sizeable footwell for her to hide in. She seized his sleeve. ‘But I’m not sure what you want me to do—your brain is several steps ahead of mine.’

‘Take the controls. My guess is they are going to tow it down the hill, release the rope and fix the steering so it goes over. They can’t just push it or it will never get the right speed for crash investigators.’

‘You want me to get in a car that’s going over the embankment?’

He caressed her cheek. ‘I want you to stop it doing so. Can you do that? I’d try but you stand a better chance of hiding.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Me? I’m going to catch the bad guys.’

‘How?’

‘Later.’ He kissed her. ‘Get going.’

The man carrying Siobhan opened the door on the opposite side and strapped her in the rear seat. From the wide-eyed expression over her gag, she was awake and terrified. Her cuffs had been replaced by strips of cloth at her wrist and ankles. The man patted her head and closed the far door on her. Raven felt boiling anger on Siobhan’s behalf—bad enough being set up to die, even worse to be patronized while it was happening.

‘Put the boys in the front,’ called Mrs Bain. ‘The bigger one is the driver.’

Raven had only seconds to get in the back unseen. She slid over the road barrier and into the car. Siobhan jolted in surprise but quickly realized this was their last chance of help. She lifted her legs slightly so Raven could fold herself up in the dark gap. Fortunately the man dragging Johnny round to the front passenger seat was in a hurry; he slammed the rear door on the verge side without looking in. Raven started untying Siobhan’s legs, which were right by her hands. From the bouncing and swearing, the boys were making life difficult for the men pushing them in the front. Johnny was grunting and shouting through his gag. Raven winced as she heard the dull thud of a body blow.

‘Tie the driver to the seat. I don’t want him messing with the controls,’ ordered Mrs Bain.

Raven had to hunker down as small as possible as a thin nylon rope was thrown round the seat at chest height. Another rope secured Joe’s ankles to the seat adjustment lever. Then something wet splashed over all of them. A drop ran into Raven’s mouth. A strong spirit. Vodka maybe.

‘Should we remove the ropes after?’ asked one of the men.

After they’d all gone over the edge.

‘I think the fire should take care of them but we’ll stay around and check. Have you got the blow torch ready? If the petrol tank doesn’t explode by itself, you’ll have to help it along.’ Mrs Bain sounded impatient. ‘Come on, let’s get this done. It will be dawn soon. The farmers who use this road will be up and about in an hour.’

‘Tow rope secured,’ called another from somewhere in front of the car.

The doors slammed, shutting them all together with the reek of vodka in the air. Johnny gave a frustrated howl of protest. Joe was eerily silent. Raven wondered if he had passed out.

The car lurched as the SUV picked up the slack on the tow rope. Raven almost moved but she realized one of the men was leaning in the driver’s window to steer Joe’s car out on to the carriageway. He then straightened it up so it was pointing directly downhill.

‘It won’t take long. You probably won’t feel a thing,’ the man said, glancing towards Siobhan.

The Irish girl screamed at him through her gag. He ran to catch up with the SUV, moment of pity soon over.

The instant he was gone, Raven pushed out from under Siobhan’s legs and squeezed through the gap between the front seats. The car was picking up speed, following the tail lights of the SUV.

‘Crap, crap, crap,’ she cursed. There was no time to get Joe out of her way. The car bounced and she cracked her head on the roof. Johnny had stopped grunting and was looking at her in desperate hope. ‘I’m going to take control. Work with me here, guys.’

Siobhan and Johnny groaned their approval. Joe gave a nod. Good, not passed out—just silenced by the horror of what was happening.

Raven had no choice but to sit on to Joe’s lap and grope under the seat to shift it back. He helped by pushing down with his heels to move the seat and made a gap for her by spreading his knees. He couldn’t do any more, trussed up as he was. He had more ropes on him than the others—a sign he’d given his captors quite a time subduing him.

Raven took the steering wheel, not liking the speed. She knew this road, having cycled down it but a few hours before. The corner was coming up. She found the brake with her foot. She couldn’t tap on it to test until the tow ended or the people in front would know something was wrong. Hardest of all was knowing that everyone around her was counting on her to save their necks.

‘Say your prayers, guys: this might be a bit close.’

Just then the minibus zoomed by on the wrong side of the road; Raven caught a glimpse of Kieran at the controls. What was he doing? He couldn’t drive! She had no time to figure that out as the connection to the car in front was released and Joe’s car was left heading for the corner with enough velocity to plough through the barrier. She stamped on the brake, adjusting the steering to skim round the corner. Beside her, Johnny had managed to get his bound wrists on the hand brake and he pulled hard on that. This proved too much—the car slewed round into a spin under the sudden braking. Siobhan gave a muffled scream, Raven a piercing one. The world whirled as the car rocked and bumped into the high verge on the opposite side from the drop. Raven, not wearing a seat belt, was thrown so she sprawled across the gear stick, head-butting Johnny’s stomach. When she pushed up, she saw they had ended their mad spin facing uphill.

But they had survived.

What was the next thing she had to do? The ropes.

Raven untied Joe’s hands and the binding around his chest, then turned to Johnny. Joe got free of the remaining bonds, squirmed out from under her and opened his door. He hurried round to complete the job Raven had started on Siobhan.

‘Where’s Kieran?’ Joe asked Raven.

‘He was in the minibus.’ She had a really bad feeling about what Kieran had planned. ‘Said he was going to catch the bad guys.’

Joe swore. ‘Get back in, everyone.’

Raven climbed in the rear next to Siobhan as Joe started the car engine. It sounded very loud after the silent freewheeling adventure down the slope. He turned it to face the right way with a sharply executed three-point turn and headed off in pursuit of the minibus.

Kieran gripped the steering wheel with an overwhelming sense that he had bitten off more than he could chew. He had watched Raven carefully, knew the basics about accelerator and gears, but he was trying to do something more than drive the bus—he was attempting to use it as a precision weapon. His brain played out the scenario he had planned. Black car at fifty miles per hour. White minibus reaching sixty. Bend curving at fifty degrees to the right with an incline of twenty per cent. He would need to strike at just the right moment to force them off the road and put them permanently out of the picture.

There was a good chance he would kill himself in the process.

He quickly ran the odds. Acceptable. What was unacceptable was for Raven, Joe and the others to escape death in a fake accident only to have the occupants of the SUV come back and turn their guns on them. He stepped on the pedal and braced himself for the collision.

Joe didn’t have far to drive. At the next corner they found the gap in the barrier.

‘Oh God.’ Raven’s blood ran like iced water through her veins.

Joe pulled over and they leapt out, running to the edge. Further down the embankment, having torn up the undergrowth and crashed through saplings until it met with a big tree, was the SUV. It lay on its roof, one headlight still shining crazily back towards them. But far worse for Raven was the sight just below their spot. There was the minibus, nose planted in the brambles.

‘He rammed them off the road.’ Joe’s voice sounded very distant.

You can’t pass out now. That’s just not happening
, Raven told herself.

She slid down the bank and yanked open the driver’s door of the minibus. The airbag had engaged. ‘Kieran, Kieran?’ She was frantic—he wasn’t there. She looked around, wondering if somehow he had been thrown clear. ‘Kieran?’ she shouted. ‘Joe, I can’t find him. Oh God, oh God.’ Tears streaming down her cheeks, she began tearing at the bag in case he was trapped under it somewhere.

‘Raven, stop!’ Joe pulled her away and turned her shoulders towards the SUV. ‘Look!’

She came out of her panic long enough to see someone climbing up the slope towards them—a lanky, familiar shape silhouetted in the headlight. ‘Kieran! Oh my God, Kieran—you’re alive!’

He waved at her. ‘Raven, it’s OK. I’m OK.’

She plunged down the slope to collide with him. ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again!’ She hit him in furious relief.

He embraced her, squeezing her tightly, partly to stop her making further attacks on his chest but also to remind them both that they had survived. ‘I’m unhurt. I was just checking on the guys in the car.’

She buried her head in his shirt. ‘Dead?’

‘No, but pretty bashed up. They’re hanging upside down in their seat belts so I didn’t want to touch them in case it made their injuries worse. I got a phone from Mrs Bain—concussion doesn’t make her any more polite—and I’ve called for an ambulance. Joe, I threw their guns out of reach. Can you get them? I chucked them near the bonnet.’

‘Sure. Good driving, pal.’ Joe slapped Kieran on the back as he jogged past.

Kieran rubbed the tears off Raven’s cheeks. ‘I got the calculation a little wrong. Ended up potting myself, like the white ball following the black into a pocket in snooker. Fortunately, most of my momentum had been lost in the collision so I just dropped over the edge. Touch of whiplash though.’ He massaged the back of his neck.

Raven wanted to hit him some more—the idiot had played the angles and almost killed himself. ‘You are not allowed in the driving seat ever again, Kieran Storm.’

He nuzzled the top of her head. ‘And what about you? You must have done some pretty impressive moves to keep the car on the road.’