No. No! He couldn’t be back already! It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t. Paralysed with horror, I was frozen to the spot for an instant, caught full in the glare of the headlights. But in the next moment, I was stumbling after Daniel as he plunged without hesitation into the roadside bushes, yelling at Gabriel to put his head down, so his face wouldn’t get scratched. Poor Gabriel was yelling too, in fear rather than pain. I tried to comfort him, to say it was all right, but my breath was too ragged and the words came out as a croak. And up the road the car was still belting towards us. The bushes wouldn’t provide much protection for long. He must have seen us. Must have seen me, especially, standing like a startled rabbit in the middle of the road.
A startled rabbit trying desperately to bolt now through a bushy jungle. It was dark in there, darker than on the moonlit road. Twigs and thorns whipped at my face and my hands, but I tried to see where I was going. Ahead of me Daniel powered through with Gabriel huddled up against him, hiding his face as he’d been told.
Where did we think we were fleeing to? Who knows? I certainly don’t because at that moment I heard the car stop on the road beside us and I knew he was coming to get us. I tried to run faster but forgot about looking where I was going, tripped over a root or a vine or something of the sort and fell headlong, awkwardly, twisting my ankle as I crashed down. And then I knew it was all over. I couldn’t get away. I had come to the end of the line. I screamed, ‘Run, Daniel! Run as fast as you can!’
Behind me, a crash in the bushes, a panting breath, and then – then I had the shock of my life. ‘What the hell? Sylvie, is that you?’
‘Mick?’ I said, weakly, hardly believing it.
‘Yep.’ He crouched down by me, pushing his glasses up his nose. ‘Are you okay? What’s happened?’
I grimaced and tried to stand up. But it hurt. ‘My ankle. I think I’ve twisted it.’ I looked at him. ‘I’m so pleased to see you, Mick.’
‘So am I,’ he said. ‘I thought you were a goner.’
‘And I thought you were.’
‘What?’
‘I thought he’d hit you over the head.’
‘Oh no. I didn’t get there in time. He had gone by the time I–’
At that moment, Daniel burst through the bushes. He didn’t have Gabriel on his back. But he had a ferocious look on his face, and a sizeable tree branch in his hand. He said, ‘Let her go!’ He raised the branch.
‘No, Daniel!’ I shouted. ‘It’s okay. It’s Mick. He’s okay.’
Daniel stared at Mick. He kept a tight hold on the tree branch. He said, harshly, ‘What are you doing here?’
Mick scrubbed nervously at his hair. ‘I was looking for her, mate,’ he said. He fished in his pocket and pulled out an old-fashioned card of matches, you know the sort, with a picture on the front and matches on a kind of tear-off tab inside. ‘I was about to tell you – I found this near the busted window. He must have dropped it.’
We looked at the match-card. It had a name, Chateau Espinous, Hotel – Restaurant,on it, and a silhouette of a building. I recognised it at once. It was the big house, back down the driveway. I said, ‘Mick, when you came into the house, did you see Freddy or Claire? My aunt and my sister,’ I explained.
He looked confused. ‘No, they must have slept through it all.’ He looked at the match-card. ‘Anyway, I didn’t understand what it meant, at first,’ he went on. But then I heard a car start up further in the village, and I thought it must be him. I ran like crazy but he’d already gone when I got there. And I know I should have alerted the police at once. But I was so angry. So fired up. I ran for my car and I went after him – but I lost him and I had no idea what to do – then I remembered the match-card and I thought, maybe. I put in the name on my GPS – you know the one on my phone – and it came up – so I just drove hell for leather – it was a fair bit of a trot from St-Bertrand and I missed the turn-off back down the road – and then I realised from the way the signpost looked that the place was hardly a going concern any more and I thought I must have made a mistake, but decided I’d have a look anyway – and well, here I am.’ His glasses fell down his nose again and he pushed them back up. He smiled nervously. ‘When I saw you standing in the road, Sylvie, I couldn’t believe it–’
‘I thought it was him,’ I said. ‘Thank God you went looking, Mick. Thank God.’
‘Yes,’ said Daniel. He’d lowered the tree branch and he didn’t look quite so ferocious any more but his eyes still didn’t look very friendly. I thought, surely he hasn’t still got a grudge against Mick? I mean, he’s just rescued us – he’s got a car, we can get away – no time now to rehash stupid old things! I said, ‘Where’s Gabriel?’
‘Just over the other side. Waiting. I’ll go get him.’ Without another word, he plunged back through the bushes.
Mick whispered, ‘Are they okay?’
‘Sure. I’m sorry he’s being a bit brusque. He’s been through a lot. That Radic guy – he’s a fruitloop.’
He looked at me. ‘What?’
‘Radic. That’s the guy’s name. Look, don’t worry, I’ll explain it later, we need to get away.’ I looked at Mick. ‘I think we better go to the police station this time.’
‘Oh, yeah. Sure.’ He shook his head. ‘My God, Sylvie, you’ve had a time of it, haven’t you?’
I sighed. ‘Yeah. And it ain’t over yet. Not till we’ve told the police everything and they can stop Udo from going to that rendezvous with Radic. Look, I’ll explain that later, too,’ I added, seeing a bewildered expression in Mick’s eyes. ‘You won’t believe it, it’s all so full-on.’
Daniel emerged from the bushes, holding Gabriel in his arms. The little boy turned his head to look at us. His eyes were huge, exhausted. Mick said, ‘Hello.’
Gabriel didn’t answer, but buried his head in his brother’s chest. Daniel said, in a more friendly voice than before, ‘I’m sorry. He’s just so tired.’
‘No worries,’ said Mick cheerfully. ‘He can have a snooze in the car. Come on, let’s get going before our friend turns up.’
How wonderful Mick’s old rattletrap seemed to me! How wonderful to sit back on the lumpy seat! I sat in the front with Mick – Gabriel didn’t let go of his brother – and as we pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road, I began to give him a precis of what had happened. He listened to me without interruption, his attention on the road, his jaw tightening as I described Radic’s background and the crazy plot he’d devised to take revenge on the man who he blamed for his nephew’s death. But his eyes widened with astonishment and he almost veered off the road when I told him how I’d been at Wedding Heaven that day. He said, ‘My God, how weird. How too bloody weird. It must’ve been awful. Do you remember much about it? I mean, about the guy – Thomas, was it? Could you tell, when you looked in his eyes, what he was about to do?’
‘No,’ I said, quickly then, more slowly, ‘Well, I don’t know. I’m not sure. There was something – or at least there was nothing – if you know what I mean. When I looked into his eyes, it was like a wall. Like there was no-one there. No expression.’ I swallowed. ‘Radic, his uncle, has the same look. It’s like he doesn’t see other people.’
‘And you think that guy was like that?’
‘Oh. I don’t know, Mick. I didn’t know him, really. I am sorry that he felt that way, but it wasn’t my fault – it wasn’t our fault.’
‘No,’ said Mick gently, ‘I don’t suppose most people would think it was anyone’s fault. Not even Udo’s. You certainly couldn’t bring a prosecution against him, could you? I suppose Radic knows that. So he’s taken another way. An old way. Blood for blood, eye for an eye.’
‘That’s crap, though,’ I said angrily.
‘Eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind, eh?’ quoted Mick lightly. ‘Sure. Problem is, that lets the guilty off scot-free. At least that’s what people like Radic think.’
‘Yeah, but they’re wrong. It’s not Udo he’s hurt so far – and me and Daniel – well, we’re pretty pissed off but we’re okay, but Gabriel, look at what he’s doing to Gabriel.’ I could see in the rear-vision mirror that Gabriel seemed to be asleep again, but I was whispering, just in case. ‘The poor little kid is probably going to be marked for life – he’s so sweet and trusting and gentle and now he’s so scared he’ll probably have nightmares for ages.’
‘Kids can be tougher than you think,’ whispered back Mick. ‘I know, it wasn’t like the best idea, but I reckon he’ll get over it quicker than you think.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ I said, soberly.
We had reached a crossroads. Mick took the one that was signposted for Toulouse. ‘We’ll stop along the way,’ he said, ‘just to call the cops and tell them to expect us. I think it’s a good idea, don’t you?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘We’ll have to use a payphone – I think I’ve got a phone card somewhere in my pocket – I dropped my mobile back at the house. I don’t suppose you’ve got yours with you? Or Daniel?’
I flung a glance into the rear-vision mirror. Daniel was being very quiet too. In fact I thought he might be asleep as well. I whispered, ‘No. I have no idea where it is. Radic got them both, I suppose.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. First payphone you see, tell me.’
It was about ten minutes later that I spotted it, standing lit up all by itself on the side of the road just after some village or other. I pointed it out to Mick, and he pulled up. He said, ‘I won’t be long,’ and headed for the booth. I saw him go in, and start making the call. I saw him begin talking. Then he looked towards me, and frowned. He talked a bit more, and then I saw him put the phone down on the bench and come out of the booth. He came to my window. ‘I spoke to the Captain. He wants to come and get us,’ he said. ‘At least, to send the St-Gaudens police to come and get us. They’re not far from here. The Captain wants to get a team together to go to Chateau Espinous, nab Radic and his mate there. I said I’d speak to you, see if it’s okay.’
‘Would we have to wait long?’ I said, a little fearfully, looking behind us in the dark night. But there were no headlights behind us, the road was empty and very quiet.
‘No more than fifteen minutes,’ he said. ‘Probably less. And they know where we are now.’ He looked at Daniel, who had just opened his eyes. ‘Is that okay with you, mate?’
Daniel shrugged. ‘I suppose so.’
‘I’ll tell him it’s okay, then.’ He went back to the booth and talked some more. Then he smiled, and put the phone down. He said, ‘All set. We’ve just got to wait now. Tell you what, I’ve got a flask of hot coffee in the boot, almost forgot it was there. Brewed it up when I thought I’d have a long night looking for you. Anyone fancy any?’
‘Sure,’ I said, suddenly feeling how dry my throat was. ‘That’d be great.’
Daniel said he’d like some too so Mick went round to the boot and rummaged around in there, coming out a few moments later with two tin cups full of coffee. ‘I tasted it, it’s not that hot any more but it’s not too bad,’ he said, as he handed us the cups and went to get himself some too.
It was true that it wasn’t exactly piping hot but it was still warm and it smelled nice. I gulped it down, and felt it shoot pleasantly down my throat. Daniel sipped his and then Mick came back with his own cup and we sat there drinking, not talking much, but waiting for the arrival of the St-Gaudens cops.