Page 134 of Hold On

He had to make a decision and fast. Bump his way downstairs and hope he could get past any fire, or try to get onto the roof and exit the way Ren had, except he’d have to drop down onto the flat roof of the extension Ren had talked about.With my legs tied together?

Really, there wasn’t much of a choice. If he went down and met fire, he’d have trouble getting back up again. As he pulled himself past…Oh shit, it’s Herb… he felt the guy’s pockets to see if there was a phone.Yes!9-9-9 was the only number he’d be able to call, so he called it. If only Ren had told him where they were.

He kept shifting backwards towards the window as he spoke to the operator. She told him the emergency services could find him through the phone signal and Dominic felt hopeful, though not hopeful enough to just sit there and wait as the air thickened with smoke. He was starting to cough. He pulled himself over to the window and managed to haul himself up by gripping the window sill.

“I’m going to try and get out of the window,” he told the operator.

“Help’s on its way.”

It might be but Dominic didn’t want to burn to death. He went out headfirst and slithered onto the tiles. He managed to halt his slide and turned so that his legs were below him. He didn’t have time to think too much about this. He had a bullet in his leg and it was already broken. How much worse could he make it? He slithered down until his legs hung over the guttering, then rolled over and tried to lower himself down.

As he hung there, he could feel heat coming from a window below. He had to go as far as he could, then just drop and hope. As he clung by his fingertips, he could see into the bedroom and it was ablaze, flames licking at the window.Shit!He dropped, tried to put his weight on his good leg, but fell sideways onto the flat roof and cried out in pain.The fucking roof is hot!

Dominic dragged himself over to the side, looked down and saw a wheelie bin. He swivelled round, lowered his legs onto it and knew there was no way he’d stay upright, not with his legs fastened together. There was no choice. He dropped, the bin tipped and as his head collided with the ground, he stopped feeling anything.

Ren saw the tractor at the same time as Badri. As the guy slammed on the brakes, Ren wished that everyone apart from him would crash through the windscreen, but they didn’t.

“What the fuck?” Levan bellowed.

“Turn round,” Tengiz said.

Badri did an impressive handbrake turn and accelerated back the way they’d come.

“That tractor wasn’t there by accident,” Tengiz said.

Levan grabbed hold of Ren by the throat and pushed him back into the seat. “What have you done?”

“Nothing. I told you he got away,” Ren choked out.

Levan thrust him aside. “And I saw your face when I shot into that wall.”

“I was thinking of your Airbnb deposit.”

Levan gave a cold laugh. “Maybe he’s lucky and dies before the flames reach him.”

Fucking monster.Ren wanted to kill him. If Dominic… He had to stop himself going down that path. All that mattered now was that Levan paid for what he’d done.

“Get us out of here,” Levan told Badri. “Find us a route.”

Ren really hoped Foster was going to stop that happening.

“Go across a field,” Tengiz said. “One coming up on the left. No gate. Good. Go! Go!”

While the three of them were occupied with what was happening outside the car, Ren slipped free of his seat belt and managed to reach the switch that unlocked the doors. He had his belt back on before anyone had noticed. The car was bumping along the stubble and Levan put his seat belt on.

Ren could get out of the car now but it was pointless while they were in the field. He couldn’t run fast enough, particularly when there was nowhere to go, no way to hide.

“This is like the road to your farm, Badri,” Levan said and Badri laughed.

Fuck them all.

Badri crashed through a gate to get back onto a two-lane road. There were no other cars around and Ren hoped that was because Foster’s team were in control of traffic. Then a vehicle moved up behind them and the way it was keeping up with their crazy speed made Ren think it was the police. They were going too fast for Ren to risk throwing himself out.

“We’re being followed.” Tengiz opened the window and shot at the car.

“Look out!” Levan yelled.

The road was blocked ahead and Badri tried to turn but the car skidded, and as he lost control, they collided with a wall on Levan’s side and slammed to a halt. Ren unclipped his belt, pushed open the door and threw himself out. As he crawled to the back of the vehicle, he heard shots being fired. It was chaos then, with people yelling and shooting, and lights flashing. He decided he was better off where he was, though he hurt so much he wasn’t sure he could have moved anyway, right until Levan appeared next to him and pressed a gun against his head.

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