Page 124 of Hold On

“I was able to see a little when they took me downstairs. Three floors. There’s a covered porch at the front. The light looked different through the windows at the side of the door.”

“Does that matter?”

“The porch does, yes, because we’re going to escape. We’ll get out of the dormer window, climb up not down, crawl over the roof and drop onto the window sill on the landing and down to the porch.”

Dominic gave a quiet moan. “I can’t.”

“Yeah, you can. We’re outnumbered. We have to run. There’s no other way.”

“I’m pretty sure my leg’s broken. I can’t walk, let alone crawl over a roof and drop down on the other side.”

“Oh fuck.” Ren’s heart hit his feet.

Dominic stared at him. “If you can get free, you have to go.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Yes, you are. You have to. Levan’s going to kill you when he gets here.”

“They’ll kill you,” Ren whispered.

“You have to run.”

Ren glanced at the small doors into the eaves. Could Dominic hide in there? There was nowhere he couldn’t be found, but if it looked as if he’d got away?

“Where am I going to hide that they won’t look?” Dominic said quietly. “You have to run.”

Ren couldn’t just leave him. But if he stayed, they’d both die.

“Cessna, Ren,” Dominic whispered.

Ren stared at him, his eyes wide. “No.”

“You have a chance and that gives me a chance. You have to go. Get help and come back. If you’re too late, then you know you tried. I want you to run.”

If he could escape once the guys downstairs were asleep…But one would keep watch. Even with them tied up, they wouldn’t take the risk. Though they wouldn’t be expecting him to go over the roof. They wouldn’t be expecting anything to happen. He didn’t have to wait until it was dark.

“You have a plan?” Dominic asked.

Of sorts, though a lot depended on a series of things working out. “Maybe. What time do you think it is?”

“Around seven, I’d guess.”

“Play along. I’m going to get them to bring us something to eat and drink. Don’t let on that you can’t walk.” He lifted his feet and banged on the floor. Not too hard at first, then getting louder, trying to figure out what level of sound would carry to the ground floor. Though he was aware that Tengiz would take delight in ignoring him despite what Levan had said.

When banging on the floor didn’t bring anyone, Ren yelled, “Fuckface! Get up here.”

“They’ll come up smiling now.”

“Asking nicely wasn’t going to work.”

Tengiz turned up. “What do you want?”

“Something to eat and drink. Levan said we were to be looked after. You don’t want to upset him. You saw downstairs what he did to me. Nineteen stab wounds.”

He shrugged and left. Ren just had to hope now.

“I don’t think I can eat anything,” Dominic said.

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