First Flora had to get Isla to calm down. “Isy? Isy? Nod if you’re listening,” Flora whispered.

Isla turned her head, and she nodded. Tears were rolling down her face.

“Okay. Do you see that open door at the far end?” Again, Isla nodded. “When Kevin comes back, I’m going to throw myself at him and knock him down. When I do that, I want you to run and don’t look back.”

Isla shook her head vigorously.

“Yes, Isy. You have the best chance. Keep running until you find someone, or get to a shop and ask them to phone the police. It’s the only way. Okay?”

Isla nodded this time.

Flora looked up at Kevin and listened in to the conversation. He was pacing while tapping her knife against his leg. He was clearly stressed.

“I got them for you, Mr. McDade. You said you’d send someone to finish them off, and my debt would be paid.”

He listened for a second and replied, “I know I messed up getting her daughter the last time, but Nikki and Mack will hunt me, and I’ll be dead by tomorrow morning.”

Kevin hung up and kicked the van. He paced around, probably considering the risks of what he was about to do. Then he began to walk over to them.

“Promise you’ll run and not look back, Isy,” Flora said in the quietest voice she could.

Isla nodded, still with tears in her eyes.

“Get ready.”

Kevin approached and said to Flora, “Get up.”

When he grabbed her, she used his momentum together with every ounce of muscle in her legs to briefly stand and throw herself into him. He was taken by surprise and knocked off his feet. She landed on him, and he brought up the knife to try to cut her, but Flora rolled to the side to dodge and get nearer to the plank of wood.

He came again for her. “You’re fucking dead.”

Flora was severely restricted by the tape on her wrist, but in her struggle, it had loosened slightly, giving her more room to play with. Flora reached over her head and got a grip on the wood. The pain in her ribs as she did that made her feel sick. He must have broken her ribs.

When Kevin was about to bring his razor down on her, Flora used as much force as she could and whacked the wood into the side of his face. He looked shocked as blood from the impaled nails ran down his face.

He then dropped the razor and fell on Flora. She cried out in agony as he fell on her broken ribs. Kevin was a dead weight, but she managed to turn to the side and vomit, and then everything went black.

* * *

“I wish Kevin Drury was alive every time I look at her,” Mack said as she paced around the hospital room.