Page 76 of Sanctuary at MacLeod's Cove
Jen suddenly realised that it must have been only their house that didn’t have electricity. Here, the lights were already on in some shops as dawn approached.
‘What are you guys doing here?’ asked Lucy, pulling her coat more tightly around her.
‘Liam,’ said Jen. It was the only word that emerged.
‘Alistair took him,’ said Kate. ‘Sam followed.’
Lucy gasped and put her hand over her mouth before slowly turning to look up the hill.
The escarpment rose steeply beyond the road, still blocked off to the south. But it wasn’t the main road that Lucy was looking at. She was looking in horror at the broken barrier on Hill Road, beyond which the fire truck was parked, lights blazing as men in high-visibility coats ran around.
‘Stay here,’ said Lucy, ‘I’ll ask.’
Jen flopped back in the seat and watched as Lucy went from one group to another before she suddenly turned, stared at Jen, and came running back.
‘Someone saw Sam. He drove up the road, apparently.’
‘Was Liam with him?’
Kate shrugged. ‘No one knows. All I know is that Sam was seen running up Hill Road after a car smashed through the road-closure barrier.’
Jen groaned and then, ignoring the others, ran past the shops towards the railway lines.
All she could think of was Liam, hurt and needing her. She cried out his name but didn’t let up the pace even when the incline became steep. The pain in her chest was overwhelming, but she couldn’t have said whether it was from the exertion or terror that something had happened to her little boy.
She passed the broken barrier arm and continued until she reached the hairpin bend at the end of the first uphill stretch of the road where the fire trucks were parked. She tried to carry on, but a firefighter stopped her.
‘Don’t go any further!’ he shouted. ‘There’s been an accident.’
‘Liam!’ shouted Jen.
Lucy suddenly appeared behind her, doubling over to catch her breath.
‘My sister thinks her son is involved in the accident,’ said Lucy.
The man shrugged. ‘I can’t give out any details as yet. But it’s too dangerous to go any closer. There are slips, and the cliffs are crumbling with all the rain.’
Ignoring the man, Jen walked over to the edge of the cliff and saw the fire engine lights and other searchlights trained down the almost vertical side of the cliff. She followed the beam of light and looked down into the gully below. A car, its lights still blazing, its motor still running, lay at the foot, crumpled like a toy.
Men were everywhere, calling to each other over the noise of the running engines. Using ropes, they were traversing the steep, rocky terrain to get to the car, which had plummeted to the bottom of the cliff.
Lucy put her arm around Jen and held her tight. Jen sobbed into her shoulder.
‘They’re bringing him up,’ someone with a two-way radio said.
‘Who is it? One person or two?’ asked Jen, looking around.
Lucy dashed across and asked a firefighter.
‘Only one for now. Not sure of the details yet,’ the person answered. ‘You lot shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.’
‘I think my son’s down there,’ Jen said bleakly, looking into the slowly lightening hillside.
He didn’t tell her to leave again.
Two men emerged from the side of the cliff carrying someone tied to a stretcher. The person’s face was hidden from her, but she could see it was an adult, and she stood there frozen, unable to move.
When she tried to find out who it was, someone turned her away.
