Chapters (56)
- Cover
- Dedication
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINETEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
- CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
- CHAPTER THIRTY
- CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
- CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
- CHAPTER FORTY
- CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
- CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
- CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
- CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
- CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
- Acknowledgements
- ‘The Survivors’ Ad
- ‘The Betrayal’ Ad
- ‘The Liberation’ Ad
- Copyright
Fact 3: he was driving at high speed, too fast on flooded road surfaces. At night. In rain. In bad visibility. He was asking for trouble.
Fact 4: he hadn’t pulled over to the side of the road and shot me.
Fact 5: he hadn’t dumped my body in the marshes.
Fact 6: the guards at Dumoulin Air Base knew I drove in to meet him. My car was still there.
Fact 7: he now had no choice but to kill me.
My mind jammed on Fact 7. No choice but to kill me.
I smacked my thoughts back into action and the obvious question reared up: where was he taking me?
Where?
I didn’t know. I was blind in a box.
I felt around but there was only the cardboard carton with papers in it. Nothing else. My fingers found the boot lock and I cursed Major Dirke for having the sense to snatch my bag from me. To snatch my gun.
I lay as still as I could despite the jolting, with the rain hammering down on the boot lid. I had lost.
*
The car halted. Dimly I heard male voices. My heart was racing, fear playing tricks on me, jumbling my thoughts, but I readied myself. I had twisted round so that I was lying on my back with my knees scrunched up to my chin and my feet by the boot lock. It would be dark outside, so Dirke wouldn’t be able to see clearly when he opened the boot.
If he opened the boot. My mind circled round and round that if and my breath got all caught up on it, coming in gasps. He might drive the car into the water on the coast and leave me to drown in it. Because that would be my guess, that we’d driven half an hour south to the sea. If I were him, that’s what I’d do.
But the voices?
I tensed my muscles. The boot lifted up. The moment I saw Joel Dirke I lashed out with my feet like a jack-in-the-box springing up. Yes, I felt my feet connect. With his face. I knocked him backwards into the rain, and he lost his footing on the muddy ground with a scream. I scrambled out to run but I was seized by strong arms on both sides and swung off my feet, hanging there like a ragdoll.
‘Don’t give us trouble, bitch,’ a deep voice shouted in Russian.
‘Get her on board,’ urged another Russian on my other side. ‘Bystro.’