Page 25 of Savage Reckoning

I open my eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Gabe is exiting the car but pauses to yell over his shoulder, “There’s a kid back there.”

A kid? What kid?

I unfasten my seatbelt and follow him out onto the hard shoulder.

Gabe is jogging back the way we just came, and at first, I can’t see anything. Then, there’s a movement a few yards ahead of him. I shade my eyes and see it clearly. Not ‘it’. Him.

A small boy, perhaps five or six years old, is sitting on the side of the road.

Jesus Christ, did we hit him?

I grab my medical bag from the boot and set off after Gabe. We’re on the A9, a dual carriageway in the middle of nowhere. We must have been travelling at sixty or seventy miles an hour. If we hit a child…

By the time I get there, Gabe is on his haunches speaking to the little boy.

“Did you get lost, buddy?”

He shakes his head. “My mummy…”

“Okay. If you tell us your name and where you live, we can help you find your mummy again.”

The boy just stares at Gabe, his mouth working but no sound coming out.

“You’re scaring him,” I snap. “Let me have a go.”

Gabe makes to move over, but the child suddenly reaches for him, grabs his hand, and hangs on tight.

“My mummy,” he repeats, beginning to sob. “My mummy…”

“Shall I call the police? An ambulance…?” I reach for my phone.

“Do you know where your mummy is, bud?”

The child nods and points to somewhere over Gabe’s shoulder. He gets to his feet and starts to cross the road, towing Gabe behind him.

“Whoa. Steady. You can’t just wander about in the road,” I begin, but Gabe and the lad are already halfway across the carriageway. Luckily, there’s nothing coming either way. I trot after them. “Where are you going?”

“Search me,” Gabe tosses back. “He seems to know— Holy fuck!”

He scoops the boy up in his arms and jogs the remaining few feet to the other side of the road where the edge drops away sharply. Gabe is staring down into the valley below us. I come up alongside him and see what he’s seeing.

A car, about twenty metres below us, on its side. “Oh no…”

“Is that your mummy’s car, son?” Gabe is gentle with the trembling child, but firm. He sets him down on the ground and crouches in front of him. “Is Mummy still in there?”

He nods.

“You stay here, with this lady. I’ll go and see if your mummy’s all right.” He’s already scrambling over the edge when he yells back to me, “Did you phone the police and ambulance?”

“Doing it now.” I make the call, then crouch to hug the child who is sobbing beside me. “Can you tell me your name, love?”

“N-Noah,” he gulps. “I’m five.”

“Well, Noah, you’re a very brave and clever boy, and your mummy will be so proud of you. Did you climb all the way up here on your own?”

He nods. “Mummy was asleep. She wouldn’t wake up.”

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