Page 84 of The Question of Us
Freddie grunted and the flashlight went dark, leaving just the headlights illuminating the dirt road ahead. He started back for the Jeep. “Get one of the others down here to take a look. I don’t like it.”
The Jeep door slammed and the vehicle continued up the road. The minute it was clear, I leaped to my feet and ran before anyone else arrived. But getting caught wasn’t my only concern.The Land Rover hadn’t returned with the Jeep. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I didn’t like it.
At the bottom of the field, I scaled the fence and took the sweeping curve left toward the stables, all the while cursing the grey light of the half-moon painting the space like a bad black-and-white movie. At the first opportunity, I abandoned the road and made my way along the back of the buildings instead. A few second-floor windows still glowed a soft yellow, their inhabitants not yet asleep. And at the far end of one of the stable blocks, laughter bled from a brightly lit kitchen. I passed in careful silence and no one came out.
But with no sign of the Land Rover, I started to panic. Had I been wrong about the Jeep returning from this direction? Were Gazza and Nick already gone? Having no other option, I kept following the rough road, past the kitchen and into the open field beyond.
The second I was free of the stable buildings, I saw it. Another barn. It sat a couple of hundred metres further down the road, its roof lit in a strange halo effect from numerous skylights. I dropped to a crouch and scanned the structure and its surrounds. A yellow glow spilled through a small door at the front highlighting a familiar Land Rover parked outside but otherwise the area was clear. No people and no other vehicles.
I stopped just long enough to catch my breath and decide on the best course of action. The breathing part was barely sufficient to keep my legs moving in the same direction. The plan of action aspect was a complete bust. Which left following the time-honoured code of simply rolling up with no plan and making the most of whatever opportunities were thrown my way. Admittedly a tad riskier, but hey, reckless and irresponsible were my middle name, right? Don’t answer that.
I thought of my safe and comfortable studio back in New Zealand, the quiet life I’d taken such pains to build, and I sighed.There was no going back even if I wanted to. And I didn’t. I knew that now.
Life was messy. People were messy. Love was messy.
Bring it on.
But also, Samuel was gonna kill me. A fact that barely rated on my current-things-likely-to-cause-stress-in-Madigan’s-life meter. And with that in mind, I gritted my teeth against the pain of my ageing, protesting hips and headed left across the field to approach the barn from the rear.
Dammit, Nick Fisher. You better be in there.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Nick
Freddie and Clarence took off,leaving Jack and Ronnie standing sentry. Not that any of us were going anywhere fast with both feet and hands zip-tied and our mouths taped. The guards argued over what to do about Gazza, caught between obeying Freddie’s instructions and obvious concern about Gazza vomiting and choking on their watch. Since I was definitely not a fan of the latter, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when they opted to leave Gazza cable-tied but untaped. That done, they disappeared outside for a smoke, leaving the door open to keep an eye on us.
Gazza faced me with his back to the open door. He hadn’t moved a muscle since they’d first laid him down, and that worried me more than anything. A crusty line of dry drool tracked from the corner of his mouth to the concrete floor and he looked paler than when I’d first seen him in the games room. I worried that whatever they’d given him might be fucking with his diabetes, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
I was still watching when Gazza’s eyes opened and met mine.Holy shit. I almost leaped out of my skin.
Gazza shot me a slow wink and whispered, “Surpriiiise.”
What the fuck?I blinked and blinked again, my gaze shooting over his shoulder to where the guards were still talking and smoking their cigarettes. My attention flipped back to Gazza, now smiling at Lee, who looked anything but surprised by Gazza’s sudden recovery, his blue eyes all but twinkling.
What the hell was going on?
Had Gazza been awake the whole time? No. It wasn’t possible. He’d definitely been under the influence of something when he’d been led inside, but maybe not as much as I’d thought at the time. Had part of it been an act? I hadn’t been watching him the whole time, after all. Once Lee arrived, I’d barely glanced at Gazza, too consumed by the ensuing argument, just like everyone else. Had Gazza realised what was happening and used that distraction to ditch some of his drink? Or had his bouts of vomiting helped clear his system? Regardless, whatever had happened with Gazza, Lee was clearly in on it, which meant they must’ve talked while alone in the games room.
I remembered that intense look Lee gave me before we were herded out of there, like he was trying to tell me something. He’d definitely known Gazza was more awake than he was letting on and they’d cooked up this plan between them. My brain was still struggling to catch up when I saw Lee and Gazza begin wriggling toward each other.Shit.My gaze shot again to the open door, but the guards remained unaware.
Aaron whimpered. With his terrified eyes intent on his brother, he made a vain attempt to kick Lee on the shin, presumably to stop him. Lee silenced Aaron with a look, which I followed with a grunted warning. Whatever Lee and Gazza had in mind, it had to be better than just sitting there waiting for our fate to be decided by Marty fucking Klein. These two men had become our one shining hope. I just prayed they knew what they were doing.
I flicked my head at Aaron, indicating he should shimmy sideways to cover the gaping hole left by Gazza, and he did his best. That left Aaron and me the only ones in full view of the guards, with Gazza and Lee slightly off to one side, their legs exposed but their torsos hopefully out of sight. Whatever they were planning, it needed to happen fast before the guards clocked the change or simply decided to check on us.
I watched Gazza and Lee draw closer to each other until they were almost face to face. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn’t Gazza putting his mouth on Lee’s neck, or more specifically, around his choker.What the hell?
He jerked his head back a couple of times and I caught the glint of silver in his mouth.What the fuck was he doing?It looked like he’d removed one of the large decorative pieces dangling from Lee’s leather choker. One final tug and Gazza pulled away, a small blade flashing between his teeth, it’s silver cover still attached to Lee’s choker.
Sweet Jesus.
Gazza spat the blade onto the floor. “You’re a goddammed miracle,” he whispered to Lee, his gaze curiously soft.
Lee waggled his eyebrows, blue eyes dancing. Then, to my astonishment, he leaned forward and pressed his taped mouth to Gazza’s lips, shocking him into a furious blush, no mean feat with all that glorious olive skin. I’d never seen Gazza so befuddled, and I might’ve found it funny if we weren’t playing with fire. Any moment, Jack or Ronnie could decide to check on us and we’d be screwed. One hidden razor blade did not an escape make.
I grunted my disapproval and gave them my best cut-it-the-fuck-out glare. Gazza quickly nodded but Lee simply looked amused. With the guards still leaning on the Land Rover chatting, I indicated for Gazza to get on with getting us free. Herolled to his other side and shuffled up the floor until his fingers brushed the discarded blade and he picked it up.
Then it was Lee’s turn to roll and get in a position where Gazza could work on Lee’s cable ties. It took longer than expected and Lee jumped more than once as the blade nicked his skin. By the time his hands were finally free, a trail of blood ran down one of them to the concrete floor and I was shitting bricks. The process had taken far too long and we were really pushing our luck.
