The Pleasures of Summer (43 page)

The second message was delivered by a helmeted courier to O’Sullivan Airlines HQ. Tim O’Sullivan was to carry the diamonds in a bag to St Pancras train station where he would receive further instructions. Once the diamonds were picked up and verified, Summer would be released.
If Tim was followed, or the police were involved, she would die.

Niall had tried to convince Tim to let the agency handle it. But he had refused. He was determined to do this alone. There was no way that he was risking his baby.

But Flynn couldn’t give up. They still had twenty-four hours to try to find a lead. Someone had to know something and he would start with Molly.

Her flat was a lot like her, a mixture of the weird and wonderful and impractical. There were mismatched scatter cushions, all in startling colours, a leather and horsehair sofa, an elegant mahogany table with rings bolted into the legs. A collection of old teddy bears occupied one armchair, and a rainbow of small fish darted around an aquarium filled with castles and model forests. Lavender oil was burning in a small incense burner.

Molly looked out of place, wearing a smart suit and dressed like a grown-up. She was nervous and agitated. ‘Please tell me you’ve found Summer.’ She clutched Flynn’s arm, ignoring Sinead.

He shook his head. ‘No sign of her yet.’

Molly gulped back a sob. ‘I knew there was something wrong. She was supposed to come and stay with me, but she never showed up.’

‘When was she supposed to arrive?’

‘On Tuesday. She said she had something important to tell me. I should have stayed home to meet her,’ Molly sobbed. ‘I just told her to let herself in, and I’d meet her after work.’

Tears leaked down her cheeks. ‘She never arrived. Now, I’ll never know what she wanted to tell me. It’s all my
fault.’ Flynn questioned her for a few minutes, but it was obvious she had nothing more to add.

‘Girl, girl.’ The voice seemed to come from very far away. ‘You eat now.’

Someone put an arm under her back and lifted her to a sitting position. She opened her eyes and closed them again quickly. The light was too bright and her face hurt like hell. Summer pressed a hand to her cheekbone. Her skin felt painful to the touch, but she didn’t think that anything was broken. That side of her face was stiff and swollen, but it was nothing compared to the knowledge that she’d lost her chance.

Her escape attempt had failed. The men would watch her like hawks now.

On a tin plate beside the bed was an apple, a small packet of crackers and a bottle of water. She took a mouthful of water before she pulled open the plastic wrapping and ate the crackers two at a time, licking the salty crumbs from her fingers. The apple, she approached like a feast, relishing its scent before she bit into the dark red skin.

A sudden vision of the croft came into her head, of Flynn licking honey from her skin while she squirmed helplessly under his seeking hands and hot mouth. Was this the last man with whom she would feel a lover’s touch? Despite everything that had happened afterwards, she was glad that it had been Flynn. She couldn’t imagine wanting to spend her last night of passion with any other man.

Summer smoothed the page of the newspaper. At least
they had left her that. She flicked through the pages, smiling wryly at the gossip column. Maya and Natasha were planning a double wedding. She wondered if they had even noticed that she was gone, or did they still think that she was in Scotland? She closed the newspaper and tossed it on the floor. ‘Stop being maudlin. You’re not dead yet.’

Summer drifted in and out of sleep, losing track of time. Raised voices came from outside and she heard a car driving away, but still no one came. Sometime during the night she reached for her water bottle to find that it was empty. She lay there shivering until she fell asleep again.

The sound of Andrei tearing down the blackout tape from her window brought her back to consciousness. He crammed it into a rubbish bag. Daylight flooded the room and she blinked.

He eyed the plastic bucket with distaste. ‘Go to bathroom and empty it. You look a mess.’

She struggled to her feet before staggering towards the corner. There was no sign of Gypsy and no familiar scent of morning coffee. Where was he?

Andrei dragged the quilt from the mattress and tossed it into the hallway. The tin plate and sheet were shoved into the black refuse sack. A sudden flare of hope made her ask, ‘Has the ransom been paid?’

‘Yes,’ he replied in a clipped tone as he scanned the room. He dragged the mattress from the floor and stood it against the wall behind the door before putting some of the cardboard boxes in front of it. ‘What are you waiting for? Move it.’

Summer grabbed the bucket and fled down the corridor. It was over. They were going to free her. She wanted
to jump in the air and scream her delight but Flynn’s words about the stages of kidnapping flashed into her head. Release was a dangerous time. They would be on edge. She emptied the contents of the bucket into the toilet and flushed it.

Andrei came up behind her and pointed at the stairs. She went up obediently, keeping an anxious eye out so that she could tell where she was. He gestured her into a room off a bare corridor. It was a utilitarian bathroom, complete with towel, shampoo and soap.

Why would they care what she looked like when she was free? She didn’t care. It had been almost a week without washing; it was too good an opportunity to miss. She started to strip off her sweat-stained clothing until a chuckle reminded her that Andrei was still there.

‘I guard you,’ he said, grinning. ‘You wash or I do it for you.’

With horror, she realized that he intended to watch her shower. She shuddered as she stepped out of her jeans and into the shower. She determinedly kept her back to Andrei while she scrubbed her hair and body as quickly as possible. As soon as she was clean, she wrapped herself in a towel. He made a disapproving noise but didn’t move from his position lounging against the door. His eyes made her feel dirty.

Summer dragged her fingers through her hair, trying to untangle it. In the tiny scrap of mirror over the sink, she stared at her face. A pale, hollow-eyed reflection stared back at her. She was bruised where Andrei had struck her, but she was alive and determined to stay that way.

She reached for her clothes, but Andrei was there first.
He pulled her T-shirt out of her hands and his eyes raked her body. ‘Pretty little
pizdǎ.
How ’bout we make sex pictures together? You like that. Yes?’

‘N-n-no,’ she stammered. ‘I would not like. My father has paid the ransom. You have to let me go.’ She said the last words with more confidence than she felt.

Andrei flashed her a look of impatience. ‘Uri is very angry. He told them no tricks, but your father put tracker in diamonds.’

He dropped his hand to his cock and stroked it slowly through the fabric of his jeans. ‘Now, you be nice and maybe I will make it quick for you. Yes?’

A boiling rage swept over her. Andrei was going to kill her. They never had any intention of doing otherwise. They had beaten her, starved her, and lied to her. But she was damned if she was going to let Andrei touch her. The rage disappeared as quickly as it had arrived and a cold calmness descended on her as she drew on her memories of Flynn’s lessons in self-defence.

He was bigger than she was. He was probably armed, but Andrei was thinking with his dick and that was the only advantage she had. With more confidence than she felt, Summer let her towel drop to the floor and forced herself to smile at him.

She only had one shot at this and had to make it count. Smiling, she stepped towards him, conscious of his eyes on her breasts, the cold-hardened nipples simulating an arousal she didn’t feel.

‘Why don’t you let me help you with that?’ she purred in her best imitation of a sex kitten.

Taking advantage of his distraction, she punched
upwards, palm flat into the underside of his nose. It made a sickening crunch as her blow broke his nose.

She had practised the move with Flynn dozens of times, but nothing could have prepared her for the reality. The sudden spurt of blood and the crack of Andrei’s head as he fell against the shower cubicle and slumped to the floor. Oh my god, it worked. She had actually knocked someone out.

Summer stared down at him, shivering from shock, mixed with exhilaration. Her hand ached from the blow. The stinging warmth reminding her that she had to escape in case one of the others returned. She grabbed her T-shirt and pulled it over her head, before dragging on her blood-flecked jeans. Barefoot, she raced up the corridor towards the stairs.

The kitchen door swung open. ‘Andrei, is it done –’

It was Robert. Her heart leapt. Somehow they had found her. Summer looked over his shoulder expecting to see others behind him but he was alone. Cold dread squeezed her gut. How had Robert known where to find her? How did he know the kidnapper’s name? The shock of realization must have shown on her face.

‘Summer, I … look, I never intended to … a deal went bad and I needed to raise some money. After the house party I realized that you were the solution. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.’

Robert had been involved all along. He must have known that she would be at Molly’s flat that day. He had been part of it. Uri and Gypsy were gone. The ransom had been paid. She was the final loose end. ‘Then don’t. Just let me go. I swear that I will never breathe a word to anyone –’

Robert shoved his hand into his hair and she saw that it was shaking. ‘I can’t do that. I’m sorry.’

Summer walked towards him, hands outstretched. ‘I know you’re a lot of things, but you’re not a killer. Please listen to me. This won’t be over just because I’m dead. How can you face Molly, knowing that you killed her best friend?’

Robert hesitated and the doubt in his eyes gave her hope. She pointed down the hallway to where Andrei’s body lay slumped in the doorway. ‘There’s nothing to link you to this. I promise you I will never tell a living soul.’

She knew that she was babbling but she didn’t care. She was too close to freedom to give up now.

‘Stop,’ he snapped. ‘I need to think.’

Sweat trickled down her spine as she watched Robert approach Andrei’s body and nudge it with the toe of his shoe. Satisfied that he was still unconscious, he turned to face her. ‘Damn it. He’ll be out for hours. I can’t leave him here. I’ve got someone coming to view this place tomorrow.’

‘I’ll help you. I swear on my life I will never tell anyone.’

‘You’ll co-operate? Do whatever I say? And there will be no prosecution?’

Her heart thudded like a bass drum as she waited for him to make his decision.

Robert nodded. ‘Then grab that quilt, we need to get him out of here.’

Flynn slumped in his chair. His knee hurt like hell and he hadn’t slept in more than twenty-four hours. He couldn’t.
Not while she was still missing. He stared at the computer screen again. The frozen image of Summer continued to haunt him. This was the reason why he didn’t get involved. The reason all of his relationships were short term. He was afraid that someone else would have to face the pain and uncertainty of knowing that the one they loved was in pain, or maybe dead.