Contents (94)
- Villain
- Caro Savage
- Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- Acknowledgments
- More from Caro Savage
- About the Author
- About Boldwood Books
She jerked her head again. The hairgrip moved once more. She could now feel it hanging from her head by just a thin strand of hair.
Contorting her arms and stretching out her fingers to catch it, she gave her head one more jerk.
The hairgrip came loose completely. Flexing her fingers, she managed to catch it. But only just. She was gripping it by the very tip of the nose of the fish between her thumb and forefinger.
She held her breath. If she dropped it now she was done for. She felt it slipping out of her fingers, but then very slowly… very gently… she eased it into a more secure position until she was holding it firmly in her bound hands.
Whew! That was close. But she didn’t have much time. Archie would soon be finished and ready to start on her. She could not afford to mess this up. Her life, Frank’s life, his daughter’s life – all of their fates hinged upon her very next actions.
Trying to keep her hands from trembling, she bent her right wrist to insert the tip of the tail into the lock of the cable tie of her left hand. It was an incredibly awkward manoeuvre and she had to try several times before she felt the narrow tip of the fish tail enter the mouth of the cable tie. Slowly working it inwards, she probed for the tiny ratchet that locked it shut.
She glanced up. Archie appeared to have finished sharpening the knife and he was now holding it up and admiring it, turning it one way and then the other, watching the light shine off the blade, entranced by the silvery sparkle of the steel. Please let him stay in that world of his own, she thought. Just for a few seconds more. That was all she needed…
Pressing down with the hairgrip, Bailey felt the ratchet give way. Gently, she pulled her wrists apart, feeling the cable tie feeding back through the lock. As soon as there was enough room, she eased her hand from the plastic loop.
Again she looked at Archie. He still had his back to her and he was still peering intently at the blade. Now he was testing the edge of it with his thumb.
Not taking her eyes off him for a second, she leant down and used the hairgrip to release the cable ties attaching each of her ankles to the legs of the chair.
She was just in the process of slipping her left ankle out of the final cable tie when she noticed Archie looking at her in the reflection of the blade. A pale blue eye occupying the mirrored surface of the steel… looking directly at her. The eye widened in alarm and Archie whipped around to face her.
He immediately hurled himself at her, bringing the knife down in a deadly arc towards her neck. She boosted herself to her feet, going into automatic jiu-jitsu mode, throwing her left arm up just in time to parry the blow, the vicious point of the blade halting just a few centimetres from her face. Already she knew the next move to make…