Marko helped Fisher bring Fabian downstairs to the entrance hall. Sunlight streamed through the open doors.
Marko asked, ‘Do you think the house is really going to let us leave?’
Fabian grimaced as he clutched the bloody towel to his chest. ‘Can’t you feel it? The atmosphere – the ambience – it’s different.’ He grimaced. ‘Easy, boys. I feel like I’ve just been turned into a walking shish-kebab.’
Josanne followed them with Jak at her side. She said, ‘Before we leave we should wreck that damn clock once and for all.’
Fabian managed a grim smile. ‘We’d be damn fools if we did. We’ve fought to win a ceasefire with the place. That’s enough. We don’t need any more.’
Marko looked back into the shadowed vault of the tower. ‘But is it going to let us go?’
Fisher grunted, ‘There’s only one way to find out.’
After easing Fabian into the back of the van, Josanne and Jak climbed in there with him. Marko leapt in behind the wheel to fire up the motor. Fisher chose to sit in the back, too. He nursed his injured hand on his lap as it started to throb. Missing from the vehicle were four of their number: Kym, Belle, Adam and Sterling. Fisher longed to search for the missing, but that would require the services of professionals now.
‘Here goes.’ Marko crossed himself. Then he drove them away from The Tower.
They crossed the river without incident. The ferry had been on time. Despite the rain the height of the river was falling. As they drove along one of the narrow roads that had brought them to this remote corner of England just a few days ago, Jak stood up in the back of the van and ran to its back doors. He scratched furiously at them as he made a whining noise.
‘I guess someone needs a rest stop,’ Fabian observed through a grimace of pain. The towel he pressed to the wound was slickly bloody. It was Fabian’s opinion that the wound wasn’t life-threatening but then again no one wanted to delay in getting the guy medical help.
There was no other traffic as Marko pulled over to the side of the road. The moment Josanne opened the door Jak shot out of the vehicle to sit on the grass.
Fisher’s skin tingled as the realization crept over him. ‘You know something? This is where we picked Jak up on the way down here.’
Marko opened his door so he could lean out and call to the dog. ‘Hurry up, Jak. Do what needs to be done. We can’t hang around.’
As Jak sat there in the morning sunlight he regarded them with those calm, amber eyes.
‘Jak?’ Marko whistled.
Josanne called him, too. Fisher heard an anxiety creep into her voice. But in the end it was the still bleeding Fabian who had to state the obvious.
‘Jak’s not coming with us.’
Marko shook his head. ‘We can’t just leave him here.’
‘Don’t you get it?’ Fabian gave a tired smile. ‘Jak’s waiting for the next sorry bunch of human strays to come along that are in need of his protection.’
Josanne clenched her fist. ‘You can’t know that.’
‘Listen to what your hearts tell you … Go on, look at Jak then hear your intuition. It’s over, people. The Tower’s letting us go. We know it. Jak knows it. We don’t need him anymore.’
Fisher found himself wishing that Jak would jump back into the van but he found himself saying, ‘Fabian’s right. Jak wants to stay here.’
Marko’s eyes glittered. ‘I’ve got room for Jak at home. He’d like it there.’
‘No. Jak’s made up his mind.’ Fabian grimaced as the pain bit into his punctured ribs. ‘If you don’t mind, guys I don’t want to debate this right now. Just get me to a hospital … please.’
Without another word Marko pulled away. They left the back doors of the van open in case Jak should change his mind and come racing after them to leap into the back of the vehicle. Jak, however, sat there and let them go. He remained watchful, his ears pricked. Fisher lifted his good hand in farewell. For some reason that was impossible for him to explain, he couldn’t manage to release the word that fixed itself deep inside of him. Only as they rounded a corner and Jak’s bright eyes vanished from sight did it reach his lips.
‘Goodbye.’