Kat screamed, a sound that spoke of far more than fear. “That was Shaun,” she sobbed to Amy. “His eyes...I’ve never seen such cold fury.”
To Amy, who’d already experienced Shaun’s scary side, it was horribly believable. “We must call the police,” she urged.
Kat stared at her. “We can run to safety. I know how.”
“What about Erik? He’s out there with Shaun and Jeb. They’ll stop at nothing.” Amy was appalled that Kat would abandon her brother to his fate. She would have pressed the point, had Ross not chosen that moment to burst through the front door.
“Kat, I heard you scream. Are you all right?” he asked, enveloping her in a hug.
Kat made no effort to extricate herself from his embrace. “We have to run away, Ross,” she said, her eyes refilling with tears. She had the presence of mind to kick the door shut, though, Amy noted.
Beautiful despite her reddened eyes, Kat seemed to mesmerise Ross. He simply nodded.
“Erik told me we can escape through the cellar,” Kat said. “There are tunnels below that can take us miles away.” She led Ross by the hand to a door to the right of the stairs. “Amy – you’re coming with us, aren’t you? I want to be sure you’re safe.”
Kat’s plea to Amy’s loyalty succeeded. Amy followed the pair, helping them locate the light switch just inside the door. A single naked light bulb above revealed brick steps stretching downwards as the cellar door slammed shut behind the three of them.
There was no switch inside the cellar itself, though. Only the dimming rays of the bulb above the stairs gave illumination to the racking at the rear of the room.
“How do we get behind that?” she asked.
“Wriggle through,” Ross said. “I’m serious. Amy – you first, then Kat. Use your smartphone as a torch. We have to get away from those thugs, and we’re on our own. We can’t even call the police now.”
Kat’s eyes glittered. “Good.”
Ross raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got nothing to fear,” he said loyally. “Whatever that killer made you do, it was under duress. They’ll never prosecute you.”
Amy knelt down in the dust and scrambled into the racking. It was easier than it looked. Ross was still explaining to Kat she could have faith in British justice, his lawyer friends would easily win a case even if it were brought to trial, which he doubted. Kat made protesting noises. Couldn’t Ross see why Kat didn’t trust the law? The poor girl’s parents had died in a foreign gaol. “Help Kat get through the door,” she called.
Behind the door, a rush of cool air hit Amy’s cheeks; pleasant after the stickiness of the summer’s day above. A spiral metal ladder descended into gloom. Holding her precious torch carefully, Amy made her way down. While the rungs were evenly spaced, the final step onto solid earth was not. Amy landed awkwardly.
The jarring impact loosened her grip on the phone. It fell to the ground and the light from it disappeared. Worse, pain shot through her left foot. “I’ve sprained my ankle,” Amy gasped.
Ross’ voice, above her, was remarkably free from panic. “You’ve probably just twisted it. Try putting some weight on it. Hold the ladder just in case.”
“It’ll hurt,” Amy protested.
“What do you think those thugs intend? I assure you that will hurt more,” Ross said coldly. “I speak from personal experience.”
Gingerly, she stepped from side to side. “I can hobble,” she reported.
“It’s nothing serious then,” Ross said. “Do you think you can find that phone before one of us treads on it? Kat and I will wait on the ladder until you do.”
“We must get moving,” Kat pleaded.
“We need light for that,” Ross reminded her. “I don’t want you to trip. Has your phone got a flashlight, Kat?”
“It’s upstairs.”
Amy shuffled cautiously from side to side, her ankle throbbing, until the tip of her left foot struck a small object. Reaching down, she found her phone, thankfully intact.
Its light revealed an imposing metal door, a circular combination lock inset opposite the hinges.
“One, two, three,” Kat hissed.
Amy turned the dial to the numbers, just in time, for the door at the top of the shaft creaked open again. Her heart stopped. If it had been Erik, if by some miracle he had fought off the two brutes, he would have shouted the news. Most of all, he’d want to reassure his sister. The silence meant Shaun and Jeb were inside the flat, and Erik was no longer fighting them. Amy could imagine the implications. She tried not to.
The huge grey block of metal swung open as soon as she’d entered the sequence. “Quick,” she said, pushing Ross and Kat through, before slamming the door shut.
“We’re safe now,” Kat said.
Amy wasn’t sure. Disorientated, she looked around. She’d feared the worst, expecting a descent into sewers, or a dank culvert for one of the canals that criss-crossed the city. Nothing had prepared her for the brightly-lit space in which she found herself. It was like a white-painted railway arch, with industrial cabling and lights strung at its apex. It wasn’t so much a room as a huge corridor, easily wide enough for the trio to stand abreast. At one end was a brick wall, punctuated by the door through which she’d arrived. At the other end, the arch opened into a larger area.
The fluorescent lighting threw Ross’ bruises and scratches into stark relief. Kat traced a finger across them, her face a picture of concern. “What did they do to you?” she murmured.
“Nothing much,” Ross said.
“I thought Jeb was my friend,” she said.
“I hope you know better now,” he replied. His eyes flicked about the room. “I wonder what we’ve stumbled into. Look, this place is in impeccable order. It’s clean and well-lit. If you listen,” he cocked his ear, “you can hear machinery in the background. There must be other people around, and definitely another way out.”
“Erik says this is a telecoms network,” Kat told him. “There are several entrances.”
“I knew it,” Ross said. “No one else would crawl through a dusty cellar in the middle of nowhere. Now we’ve got away, let’s find help – or at least, another exit.” He took Kat’s hand and began marching.
Amy hobbled behind as best she could, using the wall for support. Her ankle felt worse with every step. “Hang on,” she called, seeing the pair turn left at the end of the room, “I can’t keep up.”
“We’ll wait,” Ross’ disembodied voice said. As she turned the corner, he added, “I’ll take your right shoulder and Kat can take the left. We’re in this together.”
Amy was grateful for his strength. He practically lifted her off the ground single-handed, so Kat and indeed Amy herself were bearing very little weight. There was no doubt that their combined pace was slower than his would have been alone, though.
They approached a fork in the corridor. “Listen,” Ross said. “Those are voices in the distance, aren’t they? Help is at hand.”
“Far from it,” Kat said, sudden terror in her eyes. “It’s Jeb and Shaun.”
Amy shared her fear. Shaun’s visit to the flat had been frightening enough, but nothing compared with Lizzie’s ordeal at Jeb’s hands. Whatever they had in mind now, Ross was right. The pain searing through her ankle would seem as blissful as the aromatherapy massage she’d enjoyed at the Malmaison. She shivered.
“We can’t outrun them,” Ross said. “We’ve got to find a hiding place.”
“There,” Amy pointed to the right hand fork.
Like a beacon, a grey metal door was inset into the wall a mere twenty metres away. Kat detached herself from Amy and ran to it. “It’s open,” she reported.
They heard footsteps at a running pace.
“It’s our only chance,” Ross said. Half-carrying Amy, he dragged her to the door.
They’d found a small chamber, roughly square, empty save for a few boxes. “We need to lock ourselves in,” Ross said, “or make a barricade, or even set an ambush.”
Amy put her finger to her lips. They all heard Shaun’s voice, loud, clear and near, as Amy gently pushed the door fully shut.