Inga put one foot in front of the other and hoped for the best. The fear inside was gnawing away at her flesh. Everywhere she looked, people were staring at her. Every male she saw was either Will or Symes. Every shadow had been placed strategically to terrorise her.
The whole world was closing in. Her surroundings were a mass of right angles and dangerous shapes, ready to pounce at any second.
The last couple of days had been a lifetime. She couldn't recall the weeks, months and years that had come before. She couldn't remember a time when every cell of her being wasn't weighted down with fear.
Menace lived everywhere.
Although she'd been on the run for forty-eight hours, these last few moments felt the most hazardous.
Her target was no more than a hundred feet away. She could see it. All that lay between her and sanity was a surging lunchtime crowd, a pelican crossing and a busy crossroads.
She allowed the rushing throng to nudge and push her across the road.
Seventy feet; she didn't take her eyes from the building for fear it would disappear.
She would tell them everything. She would start with what she'd done and then take them to the girls. They would be safely home by tea time; back with their families and she would happily take her punishment.
Thirty feet away she stumbled over a raised kerbstone. She managed to right herself. A couple of males sniggered behind her.
She didn't care. Another twenty feet and she would laugh along with them.
The safety of a police cell called out to her. Whatever her punishment, she was ready to accept it. Nothing could be worse than this.
Five feet away from the entrance, her body began to relax.
The hand on the back of her neck was strong and forceful. It turned her away from the door to the police station that had been almost in touching distance.
‘Nice try, yer little bitch, but not quite.’
Inga felt herself being carried along by his grip. Her feet were barely touching the ground.
‘If you make one sound I'll slit your throat right here.’
Inga couldn't speak as she felt the muscly arm land around her shoulders. She tried to scream but the moisture had been sucked from her mouth.
Symes used her stunned silence to shepherd her into an alleyway behind the police station.
She had been so close.
To onlookers it would look like a loving embrace. Only they couldn’t feel the strength of the fingers crushing the bones in her shoulder or the fact her feet were barely touching the ground.
The noise of the high street died in her ears.
‘We're just gonna go and have a little chat; get yer head straight.’
‘No, no,’ she cried, trying to get her feet to land on the ground.
She summoned her last reserve of energy to flail her arms. His grip moved to her neck. The pain seared up into her head. She knew he was capable of breaking it with one move.
‘Please … don't … hurt …’
‘Yer shoulda thought about that before yer did what yer did.’
Inga wasn't too proud to beg. It was now her only chance to live.
‘Symes, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have … I just got … scared …’
He chuckled as he opened the door of the van. ‘Not as scared as you're gonna get.’
He slammed the door closed and sprinted to the other side. He pressed a button that locked both doors.
Inga fought the urge to cry. Suddenly the moments she had left were precious. She knew she was going to die and only one thing mattered now.
‘The girls?’
He turned to her. His eyes were alive with excitement, the anticipation was shaping his mouth. His gaze was almost trancelike. Every inch of him was in a heightened state, waiting to take her life.
‘The g-girls,’ she stammered.
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Because of you, they're dead.’