Page 65 of Captive Hearts
The group exchanged looks. They were definitely not ready.
Pete stepped toward the door. ‘OK, Gina, come here.’
Gina walked past Ashley, avoiding her eye. If she had to make eye contact with Ashley right now, she was going to fall to bits. And this was the moment to be strong. The strongest she’d ever been. Truth be told, she really didn’t know if she had it in her. Her legs were shaking, her throat was dry. But it didn’t matter. She would have to fake strength for now and hope it showed up later.
She stepped towards Pete, who placed her between him and the door, both of them facing it. ‘Rest of you, link arms with Gina, form a circle round me.’
They all did as they were told. Gina found herself arm in arm with Ashley.
‘You fucking maniac,’ Ashley hissed at her. ‘You shouldn’t have done this!’
Gina grinned and shrugged. ‘Better it’s me. You’re about to get a lot of job offers, and I want you around to pick the best,’ she told her, trying to sound nonchalant.
‘Don’t say that,’ Ashley said, shakily. ‘Please. Don’t say things like that.’
Gina felt hard steel pressed into her spine. ‘Open the door,’ Pete said tremulously. Gina put her hand out and gripped the handle. She took a deep breath and yanked it open.
She was immediately smashed in the eyes with the high-intensity glare of several floodlights. Once her vision had recovered from the shock, she saw that the lights were all trained on the path from the door to the plane. It was the first time she’d seen the thing. She looked over to Ashley. ‘Shit. It’s an actual plane!’ Somehow, she’d never really believed it existed. But there it was, in the mechanical winged flesh. A light aircraft, ready to go.
‘Either that or DI Conway’s spent today putting together a hell of a papier-mache project,’ Ashley muttered darkly out of the side of her mouth. ‘Which would explain what the bloody hell she’s been doing all day.’
‘Oi, shush!’ Pete snapped, and Gina peered over her shoulder to see him, down on his haunches within the circle, as low as he could go. In all senses. ‘Conway!’ he screamed, making Gina’s ears ring. ‘You got my money on that bad boy?!’
‘Yes, Mr Ennis. I have. One hundred thousand, as agreed,’ the bullhorn voice replied.
Pete snickered nervously to himself. ‘Yeah, damn straight.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Gina, tell ‘em you’ve got this gun in your back. And sound scared.’
The last point didn’t need saying. Gina was terrified. ‘He’s got a gun in my back.’
‘We understand,’ DI Conway called back.
Pete’s voice went back up to a shout. ‘Is Kara Malone out there?’
‘I’m here, Mr Ennis,’ replied the velvet tones of Kara Malone. Gina could practically hear Pete quiver with excitement as he replied, ‘Call me Pete.’
‘OK, Pete,’ Kara said, and Gina could hear a smile in her voice. She was loving this as much as he was, though for very different reasons. She was in it now, at the heart of the story. Gina felt a bit peeved on Ashley’s behalf.
‘Hey, I was thinking, if you wanted to get on the plane and wait for me, I’ll be down there in a minute, and we could do an interview before I take off?’ Pete called. He waited for an answer for a moment. When he didn’t hear anything, he added, ‘What do ya reckon, Kara?’
Gina could see Kara behind the bulletproof shield. Though she couldn’t see her facial features with any detail, she knew that smile had fallen from her face. ‘Err, well, I don’t think that would be allowed,’ she said, her voice much less buoyant. ‘Would it, DI Conway?’ Kara asked quickly. Gina could have sworn she heard Ashley snicker.
‘No, Mr Ennis,’ the detective replied quickly. ‘Itwouldn’t. You’ve got a plane and your money. I’m afraid that’s going to have to be the limit of what we can provide you with today.’
Pete let out a huff, trying to deal with his disappointment the only way he knew how. Shouting. ‘Fine, whatever! I don’t give a fuck. I’m blowing this popcorn stand, anyway! Everyone! Start walking!’
No one moved for a second. ‘Did I stutter?’ Pete said angrily.
Gina thought it wasn’t as easy as all that. If everyone in this little circle started walking at different speeds, the whole thing was gonna go to pieces pretty quickly. ‘Everyone, on my count,’ Gina said. ‘One,’ she said, putting a foot in front of the other. She felt the group shuffle forward. ‘Two,’ she said, taking another step. Everyone else did the same. ‘One, two, one, two, one, two,’ she said with each step, and they were moving in sync, away from the door.
But then they reached the top of the stairs. ‘Hey, careful everyone. We’re at the top of the steps. Watch your feet,’ Gina told them.
‘Yeah,’ Pete added darkly. ‘If anyone trips, I’m not gonna be happy.’
‘Just take it slow,’ Gina told everyone. ‘I’ll keep counting.’
She began to step and count in half time, letting everyone catch up before she counted the next step forward. Little by little, they made it halfway down the stairs.
‘Wait, hang about,’ a voice said. Gina was unsurprised to recognize it as Leanne. She’d been silent since the incident with the bra underwire, but now she was back to her usual annoying, brazen self. ‘You’re going too fast, and I’m walking sideways. I’m gonna break my neck if I fall.’
