The Final Minute (16 page)

It sounded like Dr Bronson had arrived to try to move things along. Combover had just left the room to go and meet him, leaving Blackbeard staring at me sullenly from a few feet away. He didn’t say anything. In fact, he looked quite bored. He’d enjoyed hurting me earlier, there was no doubt about that. He’d worn a tight bully’s smile as he’d beaten me, and later, when he’d shown me the bloody tooth he’d removed with the pliers, holding it in front of me in the palm of his hand, he’d looked genuinely happy, as if he’d been showing me a trophy one of his kids had won. But it seemed that for now his sadism had been sated.

The hole where the tooth had been so rudely yanked out was still bleeding a little, but less so now. I spat out a mix of blood and saliva then felt round my mouth with my tongue, touching the hole gingerly, before exploring the other teeth, wondering, with less fear than I would have expected, which one they might go for next.

That was when I felt it. A filling in one of my back teeth that seemed to stick out just a little too much from the cavity. The texture didn’t feel right either. I wondered why I’d never noticed it before. I also wondered what it was, because if it wasn’t a filling, then it was something that had been placed in there artificially.

Like a tracking device.

‘What are you doing?’ demanded Blackbeard.

‘Nothing,’ I said, noticing the barn door opening ever so slightly behind him and a female figure slip inside. Even though I was concentrating on looking at Blackbeard rather than her, I knew it was Tina, and I had to work to keep a lid on the burst of hope and excitement that suddenly shot through me. ‘Just checking the damage you did to me. You’d better hope the situation’s never reversed, because if it is, I’ll take you to pieces.’

He took a step forward, his face contorting into an angry sneer. ‘They’re never going to be reversed. Because you’re not walking out of here.’

‘We’ll see,’ I said, looking him right in the eye.

He raised a hand to hit me but at the last second he must have heard movement behind him because he turned round suddenly.

But it was too late. I heard what sounded like a crackle of electricity and Blackbeard grunted and fell to the floor, writhing and shaking wildly. And then Tina was standing over me, looking concerned.

‘Shit, Sean. You look bad.’

‘Quick,’ I snapped. ‘The keys are in his left pocket. It’s a small silver one, does all of them.’

Tina crouched down, rummaged round and quickly produced a set of keys.

‘That one, that one,’ I said as she looked through them.

Tina didn’t hesitate. Like me, she knew we hardly had any time, but her hands weren’t shaking as she reached over and undid the wrist restraints. As she repeated the process with the ones securing my ankles, I reached down and grabbed the bloody pliers from the bucket, before turning my attention to the barn door, knowing that if Combover walked through we were finished.

I heard a car pull up directly outside the barn, which meant that they were going to be coming back in any second.

‘Right, go!’ hissed Tina, jumping to her feet.

There was no time for subtlety now. Nor any point in telling her that Combover had a gun. The only important thing was getting the hell out of there. I was on my feet in a second, stumbling at first from the stiffness in my legs, but quickly overcoming it. With Tina leading the way, we ran out of the doors and sprinted across the yard into the darkness.

I heard an angry shout not far behind us, followed by Combover’s angry command of ‘Stop or I’ll shoot!’

But there was no way I was stopping now. And nor, it seemed, was Tina as she sprinted towards the cover of the nearest building, with me racing to keep up with her.

A shot rang out. I wasn’t sure how close it came to me but the bullet ricocheted off the wall in front of me before zinging off into the darkness somewhere.

‘Next shot’s in your back, Sean!’ screamed Combover, but there was desperation in his voice now and I was already ducking down as I ran round the back of the empty building and out of his line of fire.

We kept running. Up ahead, Tina jumped a small fence that popped up out of nowhere. I did the same, but stumbled and fell, hitting something hard. I rolled over, grunting in pain, but was on my feet in a second, feeling a wave of exhilaration at the fact I was suddenly free. Even as I ran I was already swearing to myself that I wouldn’t get caught like this again. From now on I was going to stay free.

I followed Tina as she ran into a line of woodland that bordered the last of the buildings, risking a quick glance over my shoulder. There was no one coming but I knew they weren’t going to let us go this easily. And I was almost certain that I was still wearing some kind of device they could use to track me. I pulled off my watch and threw it into some brambles. I remember being given it by Jane, which meant there was every chance it could contain the tracker. Even now, with everything else going on, I felt a sting of betrayal at what she’d done to me. For two long months she’d let me believe she was my sister, lying to me about our supposed upbringing, deliberately trying to keep me in a zombie-like state. Heartless bitch.

We emerged from the trees on to a narrow country road. Twenty yards further up a Ford Focus was parked on the bank. Tina ran up and unlocked it, and the two of us jumped inside.

‘You’re wearing a tracker, Sean,’ she said urgently, switching on the engine.

‘I know. It’s the only way they could have found me. I think it might be my watch. I’ve thrown it away.’

‘Good. Are you OK?’

‘I’ve been better. You?’

‘Well, I wasn’t expecting to be shot at today,’ she said, pulling away and accelerating fast, without putting her lights on.

‘At least you didn’t get hit.’

‘That really isn’t much consolation.’

After a couple of minutes, we came to a junction and Tina flicked on the headlights before pulling out on to a main road and putting her foot down, quickly catching up the car in front of us.

She glanced over at my hand. ‘Why have you got those pliers?’

I was reluctant to tell her but knew I had to. ‘Because the tracker might not be in my watch. I was just feeling round in the back of my mouth with my tongue and there’s a filling back there that doesn’t feel right.’

She cursed. ‘That’s all we need. I can’t afford to have people after me. We’ll have to stop and take a look.’

A parking lane appeared up ahead with two stationary lorries in it and Tina pulled up behind them, switching on the car’s interior light and producing a small torch from her jacket. I had to admit I liked her professionalism. There was no indecision where she was concerned. She just did what she had to do, and best of all, she did it fast.

‘Open your mouth wide.’

I did as I was told and she leaned in and shone the light inside. She was so close that I could smell her hair and her natural scent, and I felt the stirrings of attraction as I breathed them in. She was a good-looking woman. Her coolness under pressure was just an added turn-on.

‘Jesus, they made a mess in here. Did the bastards pull one of your teeth?’

I made a noise to signify yes but that was about all I could manage.

‘OK, there’s something in here that doesn’t look right …’ she murmured. Then: ‘Oh shit, yeah. I think that might be it. It’s going to have to come out. I’m sorry.’ She pulled back from my mouth and looked me in the eye, still very close. ‘Do you want me to do it?’

I handed her the pliers and took a deep breath, suddenly not so interested in what she looked like. ‘Go for it,’ I said.

Credit to Tina, she didn’t bother saying anything along the lines of ‘this is going to hurt’ or ‘I’m sorry I have to do this to you’. Instead, she got me to open my mouth wide again and used the torch to orientate herself before clamping the pliers round the offending tooth and pulling me into a headlock.

I shut my eyes, knowing this was necessary, and tried to move my mind to another, gentler place. I thought of my brother John and tried to picture us together fishing on a summer’s day many years ago. And as I thought this, another vision drifted into my consciousness. John and me in the local park. I was very young, maybe six years old, and he was teaching me how to ride a bike. He gave me a big push and I wobbled on the bike before finally balancing on my own for the first time. When I didn’t fall off, the confidence seemed to bloom in me, and I could hear John’s shouts of encouragement as I began to pedal—

The pain tore through me in a single sharp burst and I had to use all my self-discipline not to pull out of Tina’s grip until the tooth came free.

When it did, I fell back in my seat, groped for the electric window controls, and spat a mouthful of blood through the opening gap.

‘Here, have some water,’ said Tina, handing me a plastic bottle.

I spat out some more blood then took a series of huge gulps, ignoring the fact that I was swallowing blood as well as water. I was too thirsty. I finished the bottle, wiped my mouth, and looked at the tooth in Tina’s hand. It didn’t look much out of the ordinary, but what was supposed to be the white filling was jutting out a couple of millimetres from the tooth as if it didn’t quite fit properly, and the material appeared to be plastic rather than enamel.

‘I think this is our tracker,’ said Tina, poking the end of it with a nicely shaped fingernail. ‘I’d love to take a closer look at it, but …’ She threw it out of the window, and pulled back out on to the road. ‘I don’t think it would be such a good idea.’

I spat more blood into the water bottle before checking out the new hole at the back of my mouth. It was directly opposite to the tooth Blackbeard had yanked out, so at least it was symmetrical, although chewing wasn’t going to be a lot of fun for a while yet.

But you know what? I didn’t care. I was alive. I had hope. And I was having more memories.

I settled back in the seat, trying not to think about the pain that was coming in hot, intense waves and concentrating instead on thinking about Tina. Attractive, sexy, determined, and hard.

Jesus. She was definitely my kind of woman.

Twenty-one

After a long roundabout drive lasting a good half an hour, we pulled into a village which was little more than a street with a mix of modern and traditional houses on either side, and a pub.

‘Is this where you live?’ I asked as she slowed down in front of a row of quaint terraced cottages that looked like they’d been built when no one was taller than five foot three.

She gave me a stern look. ‘That’s right. And don’t get any ideas, Sean. You’re not staying.’

‘Come on, Tina. Where else am I going to go? I’m hurt. And I’ve got no money. Well, not much.’

She switched off the engine and motioned for me to follow her inside. ‘Whatever you might think, you’re still a convicted rapist,’ she said when she’d shut the door behind us and switched on the lights.

The words hit me a lot harder than the attack I’d been subjected to earlier, and immediately darkened my mood. ‘But you know me,’ I said, with more desperation in my voice than I would have liked.

‘No, I don’t know you,’ she countered, walking into the kitchen and turning to face me. ‘
You
don’t even know you.’

‘I saved your life once.’

‘And I’ve just saved yours, so that makes us quits. Now I’m going to clean you up, then book you into a hotel.’ She searched in one of the cupboards before coming up with a bag of cotton-wool buds and some antiseptic. ‘Sit down.’

I sat down at the small kitchen table and waited while she gently applied the antiseptic to the injuries on my face. It hurt, but then so did everything else, and I was beginning to get used to it. What I found harder was resisting the urge to lean forward and kiss Tina on the lips. Our faces were only a foot or two apart, and it was difficult not to look into her bright eyes and think of all the things we could be doing right now … Yet in her eyes I was a rapist, and for the moment I couldn’t prove otherwise.

‘How do I look?’ I asked, with the beginnings of a smile.

‘Not your best. They did a number on you back there. Is the inside of your mouth still bleeding?’

‘Not enough to worry me. They were after the same information the people last night were after. The location of the bodies that I’m meant to know about. I’m still wondering if it has anything to do with my recurring dream.’

‘And do you remember anything else about the dream?’

‘Not at the moment, but my memory’s beginning to come back. I’m getting flashbacks all the time. It’s just a matter of piecing them all together. The stuff you printed out for me helped, but the guys who took me got hold of it before I finished reading.’

Tina’s eyes narrowed. ‘You didn’t tell them where you got it from, did you?’

‘No. That’s why they were knocking me around. They didn’t believe me when I told them that I’d found the information myself. I didn’t give you up, Tina. I wouldn’t do that.’

Her expression softened. ‘Thanks. I appreciate that.’ She picked up a tube of bonjela from the table. ‘I don’t know if this’ll help but you might want to rub some round the area where the tooth was.’

‘Teeth,’ I corrected her, taking the bonjela and applying it to the affected areas, which just made everything hurt more.

‘Jesus. They weren’t messing about, were they? This whole thing’s getting out of control, Sean. You need to speak to the police.’

‘I can’t. They
were
the police. Or at least they were carrying authentic police ID. That’s how they managed to lift me from A and E. They even got hospital security to help.’

‘I know a senior cop you can speak to who’s incorruptible.’

I wasn’t keen but I could see her point. ‘OK, let’s set up a meeting tomorrow. I can’t face talking to anyone else tonight, and at least those guys can’t find me any more.’

‘I need to put a plaster on that cut above your eye,’ she said, and came in close again as she cut off a thin strip and placed it over the wound.

This time I could smell the sweetness on her breath and, worryingly, felt myself getting aroused.