‘We need to get to the park.’
Astrid sprinted to the car. Searing pain sped up her arm, jumping from her shoulder and straight between her eyes. Inside her head, it split into a thousand sharpened pieces and eviscerated the rescue map she’d devised for Olivia. Blood was in her mouth as she bit her tongue, the warm liquid dripping down her throat, but unable to fill the emptiness consuming her.
Laurel shouted something to Astrid as she threw the door open and jumped into the car. Fear surged through her as she strapped herself into the passenger seat, and Laurel got behind the wheel. Cara was one step ahead of them again.
‘I’m sure she’s fine,’ Laurel said.
The traffic was as slow getting to the park as it had been to the nursery. Astrid gripped the seat all the way there, her fingers turning a dark shade of apple red as a journey which should have taken ten minutes ended up lasting thirty. It was an eternity for her. A million terrible permutations swam through her head as a multitude of kids ran around outside.
She stared hard at the children’s faces; so intent was her gaze that each one of the kids transformed into the image of Olivia, real-life shimmering into Astrid’s worst nightmare until dozens of duplicates of her niece ran on either side of the car. They tormented her with their wide mouths, expressive eyes and cheeky grins absorbed in laughter. She could take no more, closing her eyes in search of the comfort of the dark, but instead finding her internal gloom saturated with the vision of Cara Delaney placing a plastic bag over Olivia’s head.
‘This is my fault.’
Astrid whispered into the hands scratching at her face. She snapped out of her nightmare as Laurel pulled the car up to the entrance to the park. Astrid was unmoving, eyes glued to the topiary which greeted them.
Was it only a couple of weeks ago when I was here last?
It appeared like another lifetime and another world away. She held on to the pain in her wrist and focused her mind.
‘You can’t blame yourself for this, Astrid.’
But she did. ‘Only one thing matters, and that’s Olivia’s safety.’
‘Of course.’
They stepped from the vehicle and moved through the park. Astrid flexed her fingers as she walked, ignoring the throbbing in her hand, kicking at stray lumps of grass and petrifying a Chihuahua which got too close. They strode past the pack of dog walkers congregating at the entrance and beyond the pair of ice cream vans competing for the families enjoying the last haze of summer. They kept going along the path running parallel to the lake until the suffragette statues and the playground appeared. The sky was overcast with the promise of rain, dark clouds lingering above and scaring most of the visitors away, leaving the area short of people. Discarded branches crunched underfoot as they entered the playground.
‘I thought you’d have been here sooner.’
She heard the voice before she saw Cara, sitting in the middle of the swings as if she’d returned to a childhood she never had. Astrid ignored her and scanned the rest of the area. Olivia was nowhere in sight.
‘Where’s my niece?’
‘Don’t worry, Astrid, she’s safe. I brought some friends along to play with her.’
Astrid held her breath when Olivia stepped from the shadows behind Cara. But she wasn’t alone. Holding on to her shoulders was someone she’d seen before in the same surroundings: the tattooed neo-Nazi she’d warned off so long ago. And he wasn’t alone, joined by four figures she didn’t recognise. They weren’t the lumbering drug addicts from before.
On the right was a large man with an immense afro haircut obscuring the sun. His physique was impressive, like he couldn’t find any clothes to fit him, his shirt ready to burst if he moved too soon. On the left were two bald blokes who must have been twins considering they had the same piercing blue eyes and sculpted cheekbones. Between their laughter, they insulted her in German. The last of the quartet was a heavy-set man with outlandish eyebrows, manicured and cultivated to the point they were extra appendages on his body, stretching up and out from his forehead like mandibles on a peculiar insect.
The fingers on her bad hand twitched. The pain was there, but the mobility had returned. Astrid knew there was no way for her to get to Olivia before the tattooed man could harm the kid.
Laurel stood beside her. ‘Are these the ones you told me about?’
Astrid never removed her focus from her niece as she spoke. ‘Just the one with Olivia; the others are new. How are your fighting skills?’
‘Don’t worry. I can handle myself.’
The four thugs split into two pairs; one set moving towards Astrid, the others heading for Laurel. The tattooed man stood behind his minions. He grinned as he ran his fingers through Olivia’s hair. Astrid’s face turned red. Her eyes moved beyond him to see Cara pushing on the swings without a care in the world. One of the goons moved to Astrid’s side while the other headed straight for her, trying to outflank her and catch her in a pincer movement. Flexibility returned to her damaged wrist at the right time.
‘We have no interest in you,’ Laurel said behind her.
Astrid admired her optimism while understanding the futility of it. She returned her focus to her situation, calculating when they’d move together. The one in front of her couldn’t help himself, smiling at her with a full set of orange teeth. He was the decoy, the distraction, so the one to her left could move first, just a few seconds before orange teeth lunged at her. Aching jolts of electricity worked their way through her wrist and fingers. There was fear in the air. She was scared, but not for herself.
His grin expanded as he crunched through dead wood, his arms reaching towards her as orange teeth sprang forward a split second later. She twisted her shoulder, so she faced the goon on her left, bringing her right arm up to grab him by his shirt and throw him into those grinning orange teeth. The pain in her wrist zipped up her arm as her two attackers smashed together. They hit the ground with a thud as Laurel punched one of her assailants in the face before the other one pushed her down and into the leaves. Astrid’s mind raced through her options: deal with her thugs; help Laurel; or run towards Olivia. The tattooed man held on to the kid’s shoulders. He could snap Olivia’s neck before she could get anywhere near him.
Her choice was made for her when the afro man grabbed her leg, pulling Astrid towards him as he struggled to get upright. She shifted her body to kick him in the face with her free foot, crushing his jaw. The man with orange teeth was on the ground, holding on to his head when she stepped over to bring her foot into his groin and send his screams around the playground. She put him out of her mind, turning to see Laurel’s assailants out cold on the floor.
Laurel stared at Cara Delaney.
Astrid strode towards the rookie. Laurel was breathing hard, a fresh bruise on her right cheek, as Astrid spoke. ‘I guess you finished your training after all.’
‘What do we do about your niece?’
Astrid switched her gaze from Cara and back to the tattooed man. She calculated on his wounded pride forcing him from Olivia and towards her.
He was emotionless as he spoke.
‘Come here and kneel at my feet.’ His tone mocked her.
‘Your voice appears to have dropped since the last time we met. Is that because of the gentle kiss I gave you the other day?’
‘You’re going to pay for that, puta.’ He spat on the floor as he spoke.
‘Never underestimate the stupidity of the ignorant,’ Astrid said to Laurel as she did as he commanded.
Cara stopped moving on the swings, watching as Astrid stepped towards Olivia. The kid seemed more confused than frightened. Astrid scanned the area, searching for the nanny, seeing a body on the ground behind the tattooed thug.
‘She was just for practice.’ He reached down to his side and brought up a cricket bat Astrid recognised. ‘Do you remember this?’ A smile crept across his face like a slug slithering through mud. ‘Now get on your knees.’
She strode towards him, concentrating only on her niece. She ignored the tattooed man and dropped to her knees, close to Olivia; she resisted the temptation to reach out and touch her.
‘Hi, Olivia. It’ll all be over soon, and you’ll be back with your parents.’
‘You got that right, bitch.’
The tattooed fascist grunted the words through his twisted mouth, raising the bat high before bringing it down towards her skull. It whooshed through the air, mixed in with Laurel’s scream and the tattooed man’s triumphant laugh. His movement was fast, dropping his arm at a hundred miles an hour, but Astrid was quicker, raising her arm so the temporary cast blocked his attempt to crush her head.
The wood cracked against the cast, which protected her wrist as she pushed her other hand into the ground for stability, fighting back against the vibrations rippling through her body. She used her momentum to move upwards, forcing him back and away from Olivia. They crashed into a tree, tumbling to the ground as she shouted to Laurel.
‘Get Olivia out of here!’
His hands struggled for her throat; her knee pushed up against his chest to keep him off balance, the bat lying half in the shadows and out of their grasps. His fingers gave up trying to reach her neck, looking for her eyes instead. Her arm throbbed with tremors from the blow as she brought her hand into his Adam’s apple, jagging into his throat with her nails. He gurgled, spitting blood and phlegm as she rolled from him.
A gust of wind brought leaves swirling up from the ground as Astrid stood and kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious with one blow. She held on to her aching arm as she sought out Laurel and Olivia, finding them only a few feet from her. She ignored her natural urge to hide her emotions, stumbling forward to throw her good arm around her niece.
‘Are you okay?’ Olivia said to Astrid.
‘I’m fine, kid.’
Astrid ruffled her niece’s hair, grinning as Olivia smiled at her. All she wanted was to scoop the girl up and get out of the park, but she knew she couldn’t leave yet.
She let go of Olivia.
One side of Astrid’s body ached as if cast in iron, while the rest of her was on the verge of exhaustion. Olivia’s smile sparked her into action, dampening how every muscle screamed out for rest. She imagined the inevitable meeting with her sister, but she pushed that to the back of her mind and strode towards another unwanted reunion.
‘Is this what you wanted, Cara?’
Delaney was motionless on the swing, her gaze focused on the woman who approached her.
‘What sort of welcome is this for the love of your life?’ Cara said with curled lips and flickering eyelashes.
‘I never loved you.’ Astrid said it with enough venom to feed a thousand snakes.
‘I wasn’t talking to you, Snow.’
Astrid froze for an instant before the cricket bat collided with the side of her head, and everything turned dark.