The decision to run had been little more than instinctive. Sheena Pearson assumed that they would catch up with her within a few yards. She was an accomplished runner, and had been a sprinter in her younger days. Now, she did relatively frequent marathons for various local charities, and she could still achieve a good balance of speed and stamina. Even so, she’d only had the shortest of head starts, and she didn’t expect to elude the men for more than a few minutes.
She just kept her head down and ran, trying to navigate the rough terrain in the darkness. The last thing she wanted was to trip and damage an ankle.
There was some kind of commotion behind her. She could hear shouting but had no intention of looking back to see what had happened. All she knew was that the expected hand on her shoulder or rugby-tackle to the ground had not yet materialised.
She was running downhill across the moorland. As far as she could judge, her route would intersect with the road eventually, but she wanted to keep to the open country in case any of the group returned to the car with the intention of cutting off her escape. She altered her direction slightly, heading for a patch of woodland that she hoped might provide her with some shelter.
As she reached the edge of the trees, she finally slowed and glanced back. To her surprise, there was no one behind her. She slipped between the trees, trying to move as quietly as possible through the undergrowth. When she was certain that she would be invisible from outside the trees, she stopped.
She had almost forgotten the mobile phone, but by some miracle it had remained firmly lodged in the rear waistband of her jeans. By another miracle, given the remoteness of the location, there was even a signal.
Sheena whispered a prayer of thanks to any gods who might be listening and began to dial.
Rowan Wiseman stood for a moment, surveying the scene. She had always had her doubts about this, and had expressed them to Robin. But she’d never expected it to end quite like this.
The only option was to clean up as best she could. Nolan was dead, and for the moment Clive Bamford was lying unconscious at her feet. She’d been tempted simply to finish him off, but she knew she needed to think this through properly. Landing herself with a pile of dead bodies wasn’t going to improve anything. As it was, they’d have to find a way of dealing with the bodies of Nolan and Charlie.
As for the other two, Wardle was little more than a mess, curled up on the ground without the will either to flee or fight. Mo Henley had backed away along the path, and she’d thought for a moment that he was simply intending to bugger off and leave her with this shambles. She suspected the thought had crossed his mind, but in the end he’d had second thoughts and had returned to help her.
The question was what next?
Their first priority was to catch up with Sheena Pearson. If she managed somehow to escape, they really would be screwed. She couldn’t have got too far. Wiseman had made a point of scoping out the area in daylight and knew there was a patch of woodland further down the valley in the direction Pearson had been heading. The best guess was that she had hidden herself in that. Beyond the woods there was only the road, and further open moorland where she’d be much more exposed. She had assumed Nolan would have had the nous to check Pearson didn’t have a mobile with her, but she was recognising now that competence was in shorter supply here than she’d realised.
She turned to Henley. ‘We’ve got to get this sorted. First thing is to catch up with Pearson.’ She pointed across the moorland. ‘If we drive down there, we’ve more chance of heading her off.’
‘What about these two?’
‘I’ll get Robin to come up with the van. We’ll have to lock them in the back for the moment. They’ll be secure enough till we work out what’s best to do with them.’
‘And what about Eric and Charlie?’
‘They’re going nowhere,’ Rowan said bluntly. ‘We can decide how to deal with them later. Speaking of which…’ She pulled out her mobile and dialled Kennedy’s number. The call was answered almost immediately.
‘Success?’ Kennedy said.
‘In your dreams, Robin. It’s all gone completely fucking tits-up here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I want you out here now to help us get it sorted.’
‘I don’t think—’
‘I know you like to keep above the fray, Robin, and let your minions take the hit. But we’re past all that now. If you come and help, we’ve a chance of salvaging it. If you don’t, we’re all screwed. And I swear to God, if I go down, I’m taking you with me.’
There was a long silence. ‘What do you need me to do?’
‘Get your arse out here now in the van. First thing is to get Pearson back.’
‘Shit. You mean you’ve lost her.’
‘It was your precious neophyte who lost her, Robin. Now get out here and help us get her back. She’s somewhere in the woodland at the lower end of the moor. Bring the van up here first so we can secure Bamford and Wardle. Then if you take the van down to the road and I head her off in this direction, she’s not going to get far.’ She ended the call without giving Kennedy a chance to argue. ‘Okay,’ she said to Henley, ‘let’s deal with these two and then get after Pearson.’
Annie had answered on the first ring. ‘Sheena? Thank Christ. Are you okay?’
Sheena had lowered herself to the ground and was sitting with her back to a tree, peering into the darkness for any sign of movement. ‘Not exactly,’ she whispered into the phone, ‘but I’m still alive. And healthy for the moment.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Up on the moorland. Near where you found that first body. Wait…’ She removed the phone from her ear and switched to a mapping application that showed her position in relation to the road. ‘I’ll use the “share location” thing on my phone. That’ll tell you exactly where I am.’ She fumbled awkwardly with the phone, conscious of the trembling in her hands. ‘There.’
‘Okay, got it,’ Annie responded.
Sheena was staring into the darkness, trying to control her rising panic long enough to give Annie a coherent account. ‘I’ve managed to get away from them for the moment. I’m hidden here but the woodland’s not huge, and the landscape around is pretty exposed. I don’t know what they’ll do but, given I can identify them, they won’t be too keen for me to get away. They don’t know I’ve got the phone, so they probably think they’ve a window to track me down before they’re likely to be disturbed by anyone.’ She knew she was gabbling and tried to force herself to be calm.
‘We’re on our way, Shee,’ Annie said. ‘Just hang in there. Ops have already been alerted, so we should be able to get people up there quickly now we know where you are. Leave the line open, so we can keep in contact if you need to move.’
‘Will do.’
‘Keep strong, Shee. We’ll be there.’
Sheena slipped the phone back into her pocket. The wind was still blowing strongly across the moorland, rattling the trees around her. In the darkness, it was easy to imagine movement, someone slipping silently towards her. She tensed, listening intently, staring into the blackness.
For what seemed like an eternity, she saw and heard nothing beyond the movement of the branches. Then, somewhere beyond the trees, she saw a flash of headlights. She pushed herself back into the undergrowth, on her knees now, watching for any further developments. A moment later, a second set of headlights flickered through the trees. Another vehicle, heading from the opposite direction. As she watched, the lights ceased moving as the vehicle drew to a halt. The lights grew brighter as the vehicle manoeuvred to shine the full beam into the trees.
She moved further back into the woodland, trying to ensure she wasn’t visible. She could see a figure moving now, silhouetted against the headlights. Then she saw a second figure join the first. She could hear some kind of shouted verbal exchange but could discern none of the words.
She pulled out her phone. ‘They’re here,’ she whispered. ‘I’m going to try to stay in the wood, but there’s at least two of them. I don’t know if I can stay hidden for long.’
‘We’re about ten minutes away.’ It was Zoe’s voice. ‘And we were told that there’d be uniforms arriving even sooner.’
‘I’ll try to keep my head down, but I don’t know for how long.’
She could now see two figures moving through the trees in her direction. Both vehicles had been parked so that their lights were shining full into the woods. The two figures had diverged but were both heading steadily towards her, shining flashlights ahead of them. She moved back into the darkness, trying to see if there was any way she could outflank the two approaching figures.
Even if she could somehow slip past them, there was only the road and further open moorland beyond. Behind her, the boundary of the woods was rapidly approaching. She needed to evade capture just for a few more minutes, but it was already feeling hopeless.
She continued to move backwards, hoping to buy herself more time. Her ears were straining to hear the sound of approaching police sirens, in the hope that that would deter her pursuers, but she could hear nothing. The two figures were still approaching, now only fifty or so metres away from her.
She took another step back and then, too late, realised another figure was waiting behind her. As she half-turned, she again felt a cold steel blade pressed against her throat and heard a woman’s voice whisper in her ear.
‘Hello, again.’