The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (100 page)

She felt like screaming, liar, stinking, rotten, dirty, evil, murdering liar. But she just lay there her hatred of him momentarily eclipsing her fear. But not for long because he spoke again this time only a few yards away from her head. ‘Miss. Faraday, I’m sorry for what I did, but please believe that I was not going to leave you bound like that all that time, I intended to give you an hour or so to think that’s all, then release you.’

She wondered what difference that made, he still wanted the information about Olivia, and he still wanted it from her. All this talk of not hurting her and letting her go was a ruse, a cruel, sadistic ruse to get her to reveal herself. She tried not to look in the direction of his voice, she had read somewhere that if you were hiding from someone you should never look directly at your pursuer, that they might sense the intensity of your gaze and pick up on your position. One piece of information from her crime books that she could be grateful for anyway.

Suddenly his voice seemed further away as he said more impatiently now, ‘listen to me, Miss. Faraday, I didn’t lie before, we’re no longer in Mississippi and we’re fifteen miles from the nearest town, you’re hungry and thirsty already and the water around here is either full of gators or stagnant.’

She opened her eyes in alarm and saw the water bottle lying a few feet away from her hand.

He was speaking again, ‘and even if you find your way out of this place, which is highly unlikely, where will you go? Who can you trust? The police? The FBI? Glissando even had someone in
Eden passing on information about you to him.’ Adela’s eyes opened wide, startled at this piece of information. ‘And what about your new friend Detective Leyton, how far could you trust him? Glissando has officials all over the south in his pocket, cops, government agents, lawyers, even politicians, once you’re in custody he’ll get to you, believe me. You won’t be safe anywhere. There’s much more to this than you realise. I want to help you, both of you.'

She frowned at this wondering what he meant by this last part. She didn’t want to believe what he had said about someone in
Eden spying on her for Glissando, but she had sensed that he was telling the truth, about that at least. And Olivia herself had told her that he had all kinds of important and influential people in his employ. And those two men he called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were ex -FBI. She thought about everyone she had met in Eden and which one of them could have been spying on her? Dean? Bob the bartender? Or even Sheriff Taylor. Maybe even Detective Leyton as Hennessey had said.

But she knew she would be the fool of all fools if she trusted him now, he would just take her back to the cabin and do what he threatened, and this time he would make sure she did not escape. She came to the conclusion that she would rather take her chances with whatever possible dangers were out here than give in and go back to certain death. While she was free she had a chance, there was none with him.

She heard the sound of something being thrown and gritted her teeth against the scream that rose to her lips. She heard him curse then things being thrown again, and again and a rustling of leaves as he searched the undergrowth for her. Her lips moved in silent prayer that he would not come this way. She looked around for a weapon of some kind knowing she would be no match for him even if she found something, but it might give her a fighting chance at least.

She heard his voice again sounding desperate this time, ‘look, just show yourself, let me explain as I should have done at the start. Please,
Miss. Faraday,
please
show yourself. You’ll never survive out here alone, you’ll
die
. Please come out and I swear I’ll take you somewhere safe, somewhere Glissando can’t get to you.'

The silence was like a dead weight surrounding her while she tried not to breathe too noisily. His voice was getting further away, she could hear him talking but couldn't catch the words, then she almost leapt out of her skin as he yelled, ‘MISS. FARADAY, MISS. FARADAY.
’
Her name echoed around the woods.

There followed another eerie silence until she heard more rustling then he said something else that sounded like "hammer" but his voice was receding further and further away until she could no longer hear him. She lay holding her breath for as long as she could before letting it out with force. She didn’t immediately attempt to stand up in case he was trying to fool her by hidin
g until she showed herself.

She lay there in agony with her shoulder and the cuts and bruises she had accumulated in the fall, as well as by the trees that had seemed to beat her like whips as she had run from him. She saw the water bottle which had fallen amongst the leaves and very cautiously reached out and drew it towards her then gripped it to her chest as thought cradling a baby. She unscrewed the top and raised it to her parched lips, never had she been so thirsty but she knew she must conserve the water, if he had not lied she had a long walk ahead of her.

Suddenly the hopelessness of her predicament seemed to wash over her like a tidal wave leaving her breathless and trembling. She wanted to cry, just bury her head in the wood and grass beneath her head and cry until she could cry no more, with despair, with fear and pain. But she summoned up all her inner strength and strove to be hopeful, to be strong.

She steeled herself to rise, the sooner she got up and began her journey the sooner she would get there, wherever “there” was. She stood gripping her injured shoulder and looked around her; she couldn’t at first see where Hennessey had come into the ravine without climbing down, she knew she would never be able to climb out with her injured shoulder. Then her eye caught a small light coming through a gap in the slimy covered walls, she made her way towards it.

As she got closer she saw that this part of the “cave” was not walls but trees that had somehow sprung up between the rocks. She very cautiously put her head between the gap from where the light was coming and peered through. She could see nothing except more foliage and rock, but there was more light coming through.

The gap didn’t look large enough for her to squeeze through but he must have come through this way, unless there was another way she hadn’t yet discovered. She went all around the cave feeling the walls but there seemed no other way in or out. She ended up back by the light and edged her way sideways very slowly through the gap.

At one point she almost panicked when she thought she was stuck but soon realised the further she went the wider the gap. She wondered fleetingly how Hennessey had got through here and how he knew it was there, he must know this area pretty well. He had known about the shack, he had to have already been there to have brought all the stuff, the lamps, sleeping bag and the bathroom items etcetera

After five minutes or so it was with great relief that she emerged into the woods proper again. She soon realised that she had no idea where she was, the fall had disoriented her and she wasn’t sure from which direction she had come. But she couldn’t stand here all day he might come back.

She tried to recall what he had said about finding one’s way out of the woods, look for certain trees and plants that did not grow near the swamp, notice the position of the sun etcetera, but right now she didn’t think any of that would help her. She moved slowly and cautiously towards the trees ready to run back into the gap if she saw or heard anything, but it was very quiet, too quiet really for a place filled with wildlife, insects and birds. She took another swig of water being careful to drink only a mouthful then she began to walk in the direction she hoped would lead her away from the shack and Sterling Hennessey.

                                                         **********

Hennessey had made his was back to the shack and was packing his bag with his weapons, everything else he would leave. No one would find this place and if by some miracle she made her way to civilisation she would never be able to lead the police here. Not that it mattered if they did come, he would be long gone.

He was now standing in the small bedroom looking down at the sleeping bag cursing himself for being such an idiot as to let her escape. He noticed that the bottle of water he had left was gone; well at least she had some water, unless she had lost it when she ran from him, he hoped not. Though even if she still had it, it would not last her very long, but it would be something at least.

He sighed deeply and picked up the duct tape examining it closely; it had been cut with something but what? He had searched her carefully and thoroughly, although not quite thoroughly enough it seemed. How had she done it, what had she used? He threw the tape back onto the sleeping bag and was just about to turn when he noticed something pink on the black material of the bag. He bent down and picked it up and when he saw what it was he laughed, actually laughed out loud. Again she had surprised him, and his admiration for her ingenuity and her fighting spirit knew no bounds.

But his laughter abruptly ceased as he noticed something on the toothbrush, he bent down and studied the sleeping bag more closely. He ran his hand over it and his fingers came away red. Blood. He closed his eyes and said aloud, ‘oh, Miss. Faraday, you stupid, idiotic, clever, brave, courageous, woman. Be safe.’

He stood and took one last look at the bed then put the broken piece of toothbrush in his pocket. He had one more thing left to try, to say it was a long shot would be an understatement, it would be nothing short of a miracle, but he had to try it. He turned, left the room and the shack got into his vehicle and drove away.

                                                           **********

Adela had been walking forever and getting nowhere or so it seemed. She could have sworn she had seen that particular tree before, she recognised the mark at its base. She frowned in consternation, she would swear she recognised this area, but that was impossible surely.

She stopped and stood still then very slowly turned 360 degrees then again and again. She thought she could see things, people and animals all standing in a circle around her and knew she was becoming delirious. She had run out of water hours ago, or maybe longer, time no longer meant anything, every minute was now an hour and every hour a day.

So it seemed days ago that she had seen the sun going down over the tree tops and now it was really quite dark.

She had once considered the thought of going back the way she had come hoping she could find the shack again. She had read once where a hostage had been released in the Columbian jungle but had become lost and so had made his way back to where he had been held and asked for directions. His former captors had laughed but had escorted him to safety. She didn’t think for one moment that Hennessey would see her safely home but she could hear his laughter loud and long echoing through the trees.

She sat down leaned her head against a tree and closed her eyes. She dozed but was awoken by a noise in her ear; she opened one eye cautiously then both, and screamed. It was hard to say who was fastest Adela or the snake, probably Adela. She scrambled to her feet and ran stumbling blindly into the trees until eventually sheer exhaustion caused her to stop. She dropped to her knees winded and breathless.

She lay on the ground amongst the leaves and insects and moaned with the pain in her shoulder which had become worse in the hours since she had left the cave. Her sandals had holes in the bottoms and one of the straps was broken, she knew it wouldn’t last much longer then she would have only one shoe and her feet were already blistered and bleeding. Her hands were so cut and bloody that she could barely see skin any more. Her hair hung in disarray around her shoulders and down her back, it was filthy and full of leaves and twigs.

She was hopelessly lost, before all she knew she could be walking further and further into the swamp and further and further away from civilisation. She buried her face in the leaves and wept, with frustration and pain, with fear and despair.

It was inevitable that her mother’s voice would come to her.
“Here you are again, in trouble. But then you’ve been trouble all your life. You thought you were so clever with the toothbrush thing and escaping that man’s clutches, but here you are lying there dying, which kind of defeats the object of escaping really doesn’t it. You’d have been better off back in that dirty old shack with the killer; at least he would have made it quick and painless. But no, once again you had to prove how smart you are; well you don’t look so smart now, Dela, you look dead to me.”

Then suddenly the voice was no longer her mother’s but Hennessey’s and he to sounded infuriated but amused.
“I told you you’d never make it, you should have listened to me, you should have listened to everyone, Daniel, David, Sally, old Deanie. You’re just not capable of living on your own, but you’re sure as hell capable of dying alone, and that’s what’s gonna happen to you, Miss. Faraday. God, you even thought of coming back to me, to ask me to put you out of your misery. But fact is, you’re already dead, you just don’t know it. Shame.”

She listened to all of this and agreed with all of it, every word. They were right, she was stupid and weak, she always had been. If she wasn’t she would have left her mother to fend for herself years ago. She would have studied harder, gone to college, maybe even university; she would have had a good job with good prospects. She would have had friends, someone to talk to, to confide in, but because she hadn’t she had let herself be taken in by Sterling Hennessey. She had fallen for the first man to take notice of her and look where it had got her.