The car park was enclosed by a brick wall about six feet high. There was a strip of grass with trees and bushes in front of it, and this was beyond the reach of what little lighting there was.
Chloe was hiding behind one of the bushes that lay directly opposite the entrance, which also served as the exit. It was from there that she was watching through the branches as the two men in hooded coats stood talking to each other beneath one of the lampposts.
Instinct told her they were up to no good. Why else would they have followed her onto an empty car park?
She’d had a bad feeling about the pair since spotting them outside the convenience store on the corner. It was creepy the way one of them had pointed at her, which had prompted the other one to grin.
They were close enough for her to see their faces. Both were white, and one of them had a beard. She always found it hard to judge a person’s age, but she reckoned they were at least twice as old as she was, which put them in their twenties.
The one with the beard was tall, with wide shoulders. His mate was shorter and fatter, and wearing glasses.
Chloe’s bottom lip quivered as the fear spiralled through her. Just because she was only twelve it didn’t mean she was naïve. She knew how easy it was for a girl to fall prey to rapists and perverts. It was something her friends at school had talked about a lot and there were always horrible stories on the news and the internet.
She’d already had her own close shave with Bruno Perez, who had threatened to harm her. But it turned out that he’d never actually intended to and had kidnapped her only to get to Sophie. Chloe feared that if these two men got their hands on her she wouldn’t be so lucky.
She could see them looking around, peering into the shadows while exchanging words. Suddenly the tall one pulled down his hood, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, ‘There’s no need to be scared, little lady. We saw you come in here so we’re worried that you might be lost and all this violence is freaking you out. Let us help you. Come out from wherever you’re hiding and we’ll make sure you get home safely.’
There was a moment, just a moment, when she was tempted to believe him. It would have been so easy to do so. But one thing she had learned in the past few months was never to trust anybody, not even those closest to you.
The problem was she was trapped. To get out of the car park she would have to break cover and run towards the road. And there was a good chance they would catch her.
It was also highly likely they would spot her if she stayed put. The bushes and trees were spread out and not very thick. If she moved, even a short distance, she’d be sure to draw their attention.
She knew that screaming for help would be a waste of time. Nobody except the two men would hear her. There was so much noise still: burglar alarms were going off in nearby streets, sirens were blaring, dogs were barking, and it seemed as though thousands of people were yelling at the same time.
Silent tears drained from her eyes and acid burned in her stomach. The swelling on her forehead was throbbing so much it was forcing her eyes into narrow slits. She felt as though some invisible being had grabbed hold of her body and was shaking it.
As warm liquid ran down her legs, Chloe realised she’d wet herself. It seemed like her bladder was shedding gallons of pee. She had never lost control like that before and it served to heighten her sense of helplessness.
She started mouthing a silent prayer, begging God to come to her rescue. But it was cut short when the bearded man shouted again, and this time the tone of his voice was nasty rather than nice.
‘Listen to me, little lady. We’re only trying to help so we don’t appreciate being fucked around. If you don’t want our help then come out from behind whichever tree or bush you’re hiding behind and tell us. Otherwise you’re really gonna piss us off and that won’t be good for you.’
So she’d been right to trust her instincts. These men did not have good intentions. While other people were taking advantage of the riots to steal things and cause damage, these two wanted to seize the opportunity to commit a different type of crime, with her as the victim.
The icy fear was now flooding her entire body and making her flesh tingle. She held her breath and closed her eyes as she pleaded again for God’s help. She felt desperation crashing over her like waves and struggled to control her thoughts. When she opened her eyes again, she was shocked to see that the car park was now empty. And there was no sign of her two stalkers.
Chloe couldn’t believe it. God had answered her prayers, and while her eyes were closed had made the men go away. It was nothing short of a miracle.
She breathed a huge sigh of relief and slowly stood up behind the bush to get a better view of the car park.
The pair were nowhere to be seen. They must have dashed out through the exit and were probably already stalking another victim.
Her thoughts turned to what she should do now. It no longer seemed like such a good idea to stay hidden behind the bush. She was a safe distance from the violence all right, but she couldn’t be sure that the two men wouldn’t come back. Plus, the cold was already penetrating her body, and if she didn’t keep moving it would soon become unbearable.
She looked out beyond the car park. The road was empty, but in the distance she could see flames reaching into the sky from a burning building. And there was no let-up in the level of noise. The sound of sirens persisted and she could hear what she took to be the thumping of a helicopter flying above the city.
She made up her mind to leave the car park and go in search of someone who could help her, preferably a police officer who’d be able to contact her mum either by phone or police radio.
She wondered if her mum was even aware that she wasn’t at Tom’s house, and that Tom had been beaten up and might well be dead. Or did she think they were both safe because what took place outside the house hadn’t been reported to the police?
The vision of how Tom was bundled onto the bonnet of his car and driven away raged in Chloe’s mind. It wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t come over to take care of her. For that reason she felt partly responsible, and also guilty for having harboured negative feelings about him during the past month. She told herself she would be nice to him from now on, assuming they both got through this.
She put thoughts of Tom and her mum on hold and stepped out from behind the bush. She felt physically weak and drained of energy, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her moving as quickly as she could, and she broke into a sprint across the car park.
But just as she was approaching the road, the two men appeared again. They burst out from behind trees on either side of the exit and came running towards her.
Chloe stopped dead and screamed, her body going stiff with shock.
The pair were on her before she could get away. The tall one caught her left wrist and pulled her roughly towards him, then wrapped an arm around her chest. She tried to scream but he pressed a hand over her mouth.
‘Don’t bother to struggle you stupid little bitch,’ he snarled. ‘You’re going nowhere.’
The other man, the shorter one, stood in front of her and shook his head.
‘I’m surprised you fell for our little ruse,’ he said. ‘Did you actually believe we were going to pass up the chance to have some fun with a horny little mite like you?’
His lips curled into a thin smile, and Chloe saw that one of his front teeth was missing.
‘How fucking old are you, anyway?’ he said.
The other man removed his hand from her mouth and she told them that she was twelve in the hope that they would think she was too young to harm. But the man in front of her licked his lips and his grin widened.
‘It’s our lucky night then,’ he said. ‘You must be a virgin so it’ll be a first for both of us. And a first for you too when we take you back into the bushes and you get to feel our cocks inside you.’
Chloe tried to break free but the man holding her tightened his grip and she found she couldn’t move. Her heart drummed frantically and her knees started to shake.
As they began to drag her over towards the trees, she carried on screaming. And they didn’t bother to stop her because they knew that no one could hear.
But Chloe was determined to put up a fight as long as she was able to and managed to yank her arm free of the shorter man’s grip. Then she threw herself onto the ground, causing the taller man to stumble and almost fall on top of her. She rolled onto her side, expecting to be wrenched back onto her feet.
But instead something extraordinary happened. The sky appeared to open up and a bright shaft of light poured down on her.
‘It’s a copper chopper,’ the bearded man yelled. ‘I don’t fucking believe it.’
Chloe did not need his words to be translated. It was a police helicopter directly above them, probably the same one she’d heard hovering nearby. And all three of them were caught in the beam of its powerful searchlight.
It was so bright that Chloe had to cover her eyes as she heard someone say something through a loudspeaker. She couldn’t make out the words, but they prompted her two attackers to lose interest in her immediately and run away as though their lives depended on it.
Chloe thought the helicopter would follow them, but instead it moved away from her and started to descend towards the ground on the far side of the car park.
Her heart leapt into her mouth because she knew that it meant she was about to be rescued. God hadn’t abandoned her, after all. She didn’t believe for one second that it was through sheer luck that the helicopter crew had spotted her being attacked. God must have made sure they would fly over the car park so the wicked men would be scared off.
She started to walk towards it while waving her arms so the crew would see her. But she stopped after taking only a few steps when she saw that the helicopter had started going back up again.
The reason became clear when Chloe heard voices behind her. She spun round to see a large mob of rioters pouring onto the car park. Some were already throwing objects at the helicopter even though they were too far away to reach it. The closer they got the further the helicopter rose into the sky, and as it did Chloe’s hopes of being rescued faded.
Soon the car park was filled with a crowd of people jostling and jeering and sounding really pleased with themselves.
Once again Chloe found herself in the middle of the madness. And despite the fact she was obviously the only child there, nobody seemed to notice her.