Page 41 of The Mission

“No! Don’t want to do that.”

“I’m coming to get you. Stay on the line.”

Conrad couldn’t talk any more. He was having enough problems breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. He was cold. His stomach ached, so did his head and his face. He couldn’t believe Mark had behaved like that. The guy hadn’t known the shove would end up with him cutting his cheek but…Stop it! He shouldn’t have shoved me! Or stamped on me. Or…put his hands on me.

“Keep talking,” Arlo said.

“I’m okay.” But he wasn’t.My head!He was really cold now. Where were his gloves and his hat? He felt as if he was moving backwards.

When he saw headlights coming towards him, Conrad really hoped it was Arlo because he couldn’t walk any further. His knees buckled as the car pulled up beside him. Arlo leapt out followed by Rurik, and they both caught hold of him.

“What the fuck?” Arlo gasped.

“What the hell’s happened?” Rurik helped Conrad into the car.

Arlo climbed in the back with him, pulled him close and clung to his hand. “You’re freezing. Where’s your hat? Your gloves? You were in your room…”

“Do you need the hospital?” Rurik asked.

“No. I think…I’m in shock.” But he was safe now.

“You didn’t fall, did you?” Arlo whispered.

Conrad wouldn’t lie. Mark would find a way to hurt him whether he told the truth or not.

“I thought David was asleep in his bed. It was Mark.”

“Warner?” Rurik asked sharply.

“Yes. He’d had a row with his boyfriend…and swapped rooms. He tried to… He was drunk. And high.” Conrad shivered. “He pushed me and I hit the wardrobe. Cut my cheek. He hit me… He stamped on me. I hit my head on the bed surround. He fled to the bathroom to throw up and I grabbed what I could and left.” The effort to say all that had exhausted him.

“Was he trying to…rape you?” Arlo clutched his fingers.

Oh God.“Going to be sick.”

Rurik pulled the car to a halt. Conrad stumbled out and threw up in the gutter. When he’d emptied his stomach, with Arlo rubbing his hand over his back, he stood upright.

“This snow is clean.” Arlo offered him a handful and Conrad pressed it into his mouth, then spat it out.

“Okay?” Rurik asked.

Conrad nodded and got back in the car.

There was silence for a moment.

“Being drunk and high is not an excuse for assault,” Rurik said. “You should report him to the police.”

“He’d make it look like my fault, say that I attacked him or tried to get into bed with him. It’s only my word against his.”

“Conrad, I really think you need to speak to the police and go to the hospital,” Arlo said. “Please. He’s a monster. He needs to be stopped.”

Conrad felt too out of it to protest. Arlo was right. Mark needed stopping. “All right.”

9

Arlo was torn between being frantically worried about Conrad and furiously angry with Mark Warner. The nearest hospital open at this time of the morning was St Johann in Tirol, just over ten kilometres away. Conrad didn’t appear to be seriously injured though the head injury was concerning and his face looked bruised. At least he’d stopped bleeding.

“Sorry,” Conrad mumbled.

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