Again Amanda heard the distant opening of a car door, heard gravel crunching underfoot as someone approached the boot. It popped open and a blast of cold air blew in. It swept across Amanda’s bloodied face, carrying with it the scent of the sea.
‘I want her on her feet and over there.’ McAllister was giving his orders. A guard whose face had become familiar pulled Amanda from the boot. She shivered in her shirt dress and lingerie. A fierce wind billowed around them.
‘I don’t have all night. Let’s get this wrapped up so I can get back home.’ The orange tip of a freshly lit cigarette illuminated McAllister’s features.
The guard put his hands on Amanda’s shoulders and pushed her forwards. She had no idea where she was going. She deliberately stumbled her footsteps to give her a chance to look around. They were at the side of a narrow road and, from the sparse bracken and the power of the wind, Amanda sensed they were up high.
‘Keep going,’ the guard increased the force pressing against her shoulders. ‘Some of us want to be back in bed before dawn.’
Amanda kept moving through the darkness. Then she saw it. The entire world fell away and she was looking at the ocean. Its rough surface distorted the moon’s reflection. Waves powered towards the cliff she was standing upon and roared up at her in greeting. She stopped moving. Her legs locked.
‘I said let’s keep going,’ the guard smacked her squarely in the centre of her back, knocking the air out of her lungs.
‘I imagine she’s scared.’ McAllister came and stood beside Amanda. As he lowered his cigarette from his lips, he pushed a plume of smoke out from behind his teeth. ‘Isn’t that right, sweetheart?’
Even in the darkness she could see the sinister smirk that he directed at her. ‘You’ve figured out how your story is going to end and I imagine you’re not liking it all that much.’
Amanda heard the waves thrashing at the rocks below. She had to make her entire body rigid to stop her knees knocking together.
‘But I thought there was something rather poetic about it,’ McAllister extended his arms, gesturing grandly at the cliff edge which he boldly walked towards. The guard smacked Amanda’s back again, signalling that she was to follow. But she couldn’t? How could she? McAllister was looking to recreate the death she’d so narrowly escaped all those years ago. He was breathing life in to the nightmare that had haunted her for so long.
‘I would say you inspired me,’ he continued, never turning his back against the sheer drop behind him. He looked down, plucked a fresh cigarette from his pocket and then looked back at Amanda. ‘But in truth, we often send discontents to their watery grave this way. The authorities always attribute it to suicide.’
A flame flickered madly in the wind as McAllister went to light his cigarette. He cupped his hands near his mouth, shielding it. Then, after taking a long drag, he looked at Amanda and laughed.
‘And you couldn’t be a more perfect candidate. Your husband left you and went missing. You never found him and in your grief you flung yourself off the top of this here cliff. It’s drama. It’s Shakespeare.’
Amanda protested but her sounds were just murmurs against the duct tape.
McAllister nodded at his guard and Amanda was thrown forwards. Her body dropped against the ground as she fell at McAllister’s feet. The earth beneath her smelt damp, still holding the moisture from a previous rainstorm. She drank it in, focusing on how real it was. Her senses clung to the odour, reminding her that for the moment she was still alive.
‘Damn, lad, keep her on her feet.’
The guard grabbed Amanda’s hair and pulled. He kept pulling until she’d frantically managed to scramble back onto her feet, which wasn’t easy when she didn’t have the use of her hands. She was now so close to the edge that she could see the dramatic drop, the jagged rock face which plummeted down into the dark waters below.
‘If only you’d had the sense not to repeat your fake husband’s mistakes.’ McAllister shook his head ruefully and then flicked his cigarette over the side of the cliff. Amanda held her breath as she watched it fall and keep falling. And then it was unceremoniously eaten up by the waves which continually beat against the rock face, like hands hammering on a door that would never open.
‘So here’s what we’re going to do.’ McAllister pulled something from his pocket and Amanda saw the moonlight shine off its smooth surface. She tried to stagger backwards but the guard was holding onto her shoulders, keeping her rooted to the spot. McAllister stepped towards her, brandishing the small blade in one hand. ‘First,’ he leaned around her, grabbing her wrists. The knife disappeared from view and she felt the pressure around her hands ease. He’d cut away the plastic tie. But before she could even think about claiming back the use of her hands, the guard’s thick palms replaced the tie, keeping her arms pinned behind her back. ‘I don’t need your body washing up on some beach still bound and gagged. Can’t have anyone suspecting foul play now, can we?’ McAllister stepped in front of her and ripped the duct tape off her mouth in one swift motion. Amanda gasped, both from the pain and the sudden new ability to be able to breathe properly again. She sucked in deep gulps of sea air. ‘Well, now we get to see if you can float.’
‘Wait,’ Amanda surged towards him, held back by the guard. Her words felt raw in her mouth. ‘Please. Please don’t do this.’
‘You came here to ruin me.’ McAllister sounded like he was more than just offended. He was outraged. ‘What did you think would happen when you poked the bear, Mrs Thorn?’
‘You killed Will. You killed my husband.’ Amanda was screaming, using her words like bullets in the hope that one of them would connect with McAllister’s chest and knock him down.
‘I did no such thing.’ He held his hands up defensively, smiling. Mocking her. ‘If Jake Burton got shot up on some hillside then it’s just because his shady past caught up with him. He and that fool friend of his tried to pull a fast one on me. I never give someone a second chance to cross me.’
‘He was a good man.’
Amanda clung to her memories of Will. In the dead of night if a strange sound woke them up he’d be straight out of bed to investigate it, showing no regard for his own well-being. He was brave and kind. Amanda realised she was sobbing. Her shoulders shook with every mournful howl.
‘Jake got what he deserved,’ McAllister seethed. ‘Just as you will. Did you really think you could come into my home and deceive me?’
‘I know it’s not all made up, the data on the file,’ Amanda raged. ‘You trade people like you trade drugs. You’re a fucking animal that needs to be put down.’
McAllister grabbed her neck. He squeezed as his thumb grazed the centre of her throat. ‘There’s still fight in you yet.’ He pressed his body against hers. ‘I like that.’
If Amanda had possession of her hands she’d have punched him right in the face. Instead all she could do was squirm in protest, unable to shake off the guard’s powerful grasp.
‘And yes, the data on the file is all true. I make my money in ways other people might deem distasteful. But it’s my life, my money. My conscience.’
His other hand slipped between Amanda’s thighs and she froze. She felt his fingers creep along her garter. McAllister’s body eased closer into hers and Amanda jerked forward. Their foreheads connected with a dull thud, causing him to stagger back. Her head pounded but she didn’t care. She’d tear the flesh from his bones with her teeth if she had to – anything in order to stay alive.
McAllister cursed as he massaged his temple. ‘Fucking bitch.’ He paced away from her, regaining his composure. ‘Did you think I wanted to have you? Don’t fucking flatter yourself. I’m used to bedding women a lot younger than you. A lot more beautiful. I do not need to resort to raping some desperate slag out on a cliff edge.’ He looked at her and the hate burning behind his eyes mellowed as a satisfied smile pulled on his lips, causing his scar to lift up his cheeks. ‘What I wanted was this.’ He produced the USB stick Amanda had stored away.
She fought against the guard’s grasp, desperate to reclaim the only leverage she had on McAllister.
‘You want this?’ he dangled the slim piece of plastic in front of her like she was a playful puppy. ‘Then go fetch.’ McAllister slung the stick over the side of the cliff. Amanda kept her eyes on it as long as she could, until it was eaten up by the ocean. ‘I hope it was waterproof,’ McAllister remarked as his gathered guards sniggered. ‘Now it’s your turn.’
With a nod from his master the guard pushed Amanda forward so that she was standing directly on the edge of the cliff. As she wavered, trying to stagger back, she sent stones skittering down into the watery depths. She tasted something metallic. It wasn’t blood. It was her own fear. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine she was somewhere else. Anywhere else.
The last time she’d faced such a drop into angry waves her father had reached down and grabbed her at the last second. Like a real life Superman he’d appeared above her, the sunlight creating a halo around his head. He’d pulled his little daughter back from oblivion.
Amanda continued to fight against the guard, hoping and praying that Shane had somehow miraculously found her and that any moment she’d hear the squeal of his car braking before he ran over, knocked the guard to his feet and grabbed Amanda in the split second before she toppled over the edge.
‘It pains me to do this, Amanda. Truly.’ McAllister was standing close to the edge, shouting to be heard over the hungry roar of the waves.
‘Then don’t!’ Amanda yelled. ‘Be the man I met in the club. Be the man who your daughters would be proud of.’
McAllister thrust his hands deep into his pockets. ‘Do you know that I heard them screaming?’
He wasn’t looking at Amanda, he was looking out to sea.
‘The fire, it moved like it was alive. And it was fast. Too fast. I couldn’t get to them in time. But I got to hear them scream as their bedroom burnt down around them. Have you ever heard someone scream as they’re burned to death?’
‘No.’
‘It’s a sound that sets into your bones like a rot. A sound that haunts you in the dead of night. I’ll never forget having to listen to my daughters die. Going through something like that it changes you, hardens you.’
‘You’re the reason they died.’
‘True.’ McAllister gave a slow nod. ‘I angered a man who I shouldn’t have underestimated. The next day, I went to his home and gutted him, stomach to sternum.’
‘But it didn’t bring your girls back, did it? You don’t have to be a monster.’
‘It was never about bringing them back,’ McAllister chortled. ‘It was about revenge. I mean, isn’t that the reason we’re both stood here? Why I’m currently freezing my bollocks off? Revenge, even more than love, is a potent motivator. We can pretend to be civilised, with all our politics and laws, but ultimately people still want an eye for an eye. And you sought me out as revenge for Jake.’
‘Because you killed him!’
‘No,’ McAllister countered coolly. ‘Because he lied. Because he left. And since he’s dead you can’t take your anger out on him. But me, I’m the perfect target. Or so you thought.’
‘I’m not mad at Will,’ Amanda shrieked her declaration into the wind. ‘He did what he felt he had to do. And I loved him. Despite it all, I loved him until the end.’
‘Well aren’t you a worthy recipient for wife of the year?’ McAllister deadpanned. ‘Hold on to that thought on the way down.’ He nodded at his guard and Amanda screamed. She wasn’t ready. This couldn’t be it. She flailed against the guard behind her, sending more loose rocks down the sheer face of the cliff. Her heart had settled in the pit of her stomach as she teetered on the precipice.
‘Don’t do this.’ She was pleading for her life. She needed to be sick. She needed to scream.
The guard pushed her forward and then snapped her back into place. Amanda lost control of her bladder. She felt warmth pouring down her inner thighs and she started to shake. Was McAllister actually planning on killing her or just toying with her? She couldn’t tell anymore.
‘I hear that from this height, when you land in the water it’s like crashing into cement,’ McAllister bowed his head and looked down. The sheer drop into the waves was just a few inches away from the tips of his polished shoes.
‘My cousin broke his back when he got drunk and jumped off a bridge,’ the guard holding Amanda offered unhelpfully.
‘Was that Andrew?’
‘Aye.’
‘So is he in a wheelchair now?’
‘Aye. But he can still get about well enough. He’s got his own flat and a girlfriend.’
‘Good for him.’
The dark sky was weakening, turning from black to grey. The wind pressed against Amanda and her captors, as if trying to knock her off the edge.
‘Boss, the weather’s really picking up,’ the guard commented.
A light drizzle started to silently fall around them. Amanda turned her head skyward, hoping it would wash away some of her blood and tears.
‘Okay then, let’s wrap this up.’ McAllister gave another curt nod.
The guard pushed Amanda forwards. Her feet left the rocky edge and she was held in mid-air, suspended above the rocks below. She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t even breathe. Her heartbeat pounding in her ears like a war drum. And then she was snatched back, her feet once again grazing the rocky ground. The guard released her and Amanda crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She hugged her knees to her chest and sat there, shaking.
‘Ach, come now, Amanda,’ McAllister came and stood before her, stooping down to offer her his hand. Amanda looked up at it through strands of her hair which gathered in her eyes. ‘You didn’t really think I’d let one of my guys throw you over the edge of this here cliff, did you?’
Amanda still couldn’t speak. She remained huddled in a ball like a beaten animal. Was that what this all had been – a mind game? Punishment for daring to try and ensnare McAllister in a digital net? Was he now going to spare her life after toying with it?
‘Don’t be proud now, girl. Let’s have you back on your feet.’
Looking beyond McAllister, Amanda could see his men climbing back into the waiting Phantom. It was actually over.
‘Take my hand and let’s forget about all this, okay?’
His hand was still extended towards her like an olive branch. Reluctantly she took it. Her bloodied wrists burned with fresh pain as he hauled her up onto her feet. Amanda looked down at her legs uncertainly. Only moments ago she’d been held in mid-air. The ground beneath her feet almost didn’t seem real, like it was all still an illusion and Amanda didn’t know what to trust.
‘Don’t look so scared.’
McAllister had returned to being the man in the club. His grey eyes crinkled in the corners as he offered her an apologetic smile. ‘You were the one playing me the whole time. You can’t be all that surprised that we ended up here.’
Amanda tried to pull her hand away from his, to wipe at her eyes, but she couldn’t. He locked his hand around her wounded wrist and then reached for her other arm before her mind could catch up with what he was doing.
‘Like I said,’ his words were soft but his touch was hard. His hands dug into Amanda’s wrists, causing her to yelp. ‘I wasn’t about to let one of my guys throw you off this cliff.’
The roar of the waves grew louder and Amanda realised he was pushing her back towards the edge. She was once again a fly in his web, too weak from shock to fight back.
McAllister smiled wickedly at her. ‘Not when I could have the satisfaction of killing you myself.’
‘No—’ Amanda’s eyes widened as he released her wrists and pressed his palms into her chest. She fell back as the wind tangled itself in her hair. She was still looking at McAllister, at his twisted smile, as she continued to fall. There was nothing behind her. No ground to drop against. And a saviour didn’t come. No hand appeared over the edge to grab her, to haul her back up. Even the wind wasn’t powerful enough to sweep her back to safety. Amanda just kept falling.