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BEN'S HIRE CAR again struggled over the uneven surface of the foresters' track. Though easier now most of the mud had dried out, the journey was far from comfortable. Because the car lights could be seen for miles on the high open hillside―the last thing they wanted was to attract attention to what they were doing―he drove with them switched off. Luckily, the full moon cast enough light to drive by and avoid driving over the steep cliffs that in places were lined the edge of the track. Ben steered the car around another hairpin corner and saw Doyle's body in the middle of the track where he'd died. Ben stopped the car.
Ben and Creed climbed out and walked over to the body.
“You grab his legs, and I'll grab his shoulders, and we'll toss him over the edge.”
Ben did as Creed ordered and grabbed Doyle's ankles.
They carried the body over to the edge of the steep drop, swung it over the side of the cliff and let go. Twigs snapped, and undergrowth rustled when the body hit the ground and rolled down the slope towards the river at its bottom.
“What about Nicolas?” Creed asked, looking back at the car “Shall we do him now?”
Ben glanced over at the small car. “No! Let's do it on the way back. I still have to come to terms with the deed yet, but I will. It needs to be done, unfortunately.”
Creed didn't argue. He was willing to give Ben a little more time, but Nicolas would have to be disposed of tonight. “Okay, let's go and empty the cave.”
They climbed back into the car and drove on until they arrived at the side track where Creed had concealed his Landrover. Ben waited until Creed had reversed onto the main track and then followed him to the Cave. They turned around on a patch of ground a short distance past the cave and parked directly underneath it to make loading the Landrover easier. They switched off their engines, climbed out of their vehicles and listened to the silence that descended on the hill.
“Seems like we're all alone,” Creed said.
“Let's hope it remains that way.” Ben gazed up at the entrance. “I'll pass the stuff down, and you can load it.”
Ben climbed up to the cave and disappeared inside. After switching on a couple of the battery-powered lamps, he glanced around. Everything was just as they had left it. Working quickly, it wasn't long before the cave was empty. After Ben passed the last item down to Creed, he used a spade to shovel some of the excavated soil into the tunnel entrance until it was full. He spread the remainder over the cave floor but left the wall of rocks by the entrance. He then used a leafy branch gathered from outside to sweep the floor. When he was satisfied all evidence of their excavation and presence had been removed, he switched off the lamps, and after one last look around the cave where so much had happened over the previous few days, he climbed down onto the track. He knew he would never return.
Creed waited for him. “All done?” Creed took the spade and lamps and placed them in the back of his vehicle.
“Yep, I left nothing behind to incriminate us. Even Sherlock Holmes would have trouble finding a clue leading to us now.”
“Good, soon we'll be able to relax.” Creed closed the rear door of the Landrover. “Follow me, and we'll dispose of our chum in your boot along the track by the drop-off.”
Ben nodded, reluctantly. The thought of killing someone in cold blood was something he was still finding hard to come to terms with, even though the man would have killed them and would undoubtedly attempt to again if he was set free. Perhaps Creed would have to carry out the deed himself.
Creed climbed into his vehicle as Ben walked around to the back of his car, took the gun from his pocket just in case their prisoner had managed to untie himself, and opened the boot. Nicolas was still securely bound, gagged and alive. He hadn't suffocated as Ben had hoped but struggling in an attempt to free his hands. He stared at Ben with pleading eyes, but when his eyes flicked to the side, his expression briefly changed from despair to hope.
Ben turned his head and looked up at the hillside where Nicolas had glanced; there was nothing there. He closed the boot lid, slipped the gun back in his pocket and approached the driver's door.
Creed wound down his window and leaned his head out. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything's fine. He's still alive.”
“Not for much longer.” Creed pulled his head back inside the car and started the engine.
A few moments before, David had opened his eyes to see the night sky still above him. He wondered how long he had slept before something had woken him. He lay there and listened. A car door slammed shut. He climbed to his feet to investigate. Though his whole body ached, he felt a little refreshed from the sleep. He moved toward the sound and peered over the edge of the outcrop above the cave, surprised to see Creed's Landrover and Harper's hire car. Confused, he looked both ways along the track for any sign of the van but saw none. Something must have gone wrong. Where are Doyle and the boss?
When he instinctively reached for his gun, David remembered he was practically naked, and his weapon lost. He continued to watch while he tried to fathom what had happened. He saw Creed in the Landrover and Harper walking over to his car, but instead of getting in he went to the back and opened the boot. David was stunned to see his boss bound and gagged inside. The man's movements indicated he was still alive. When he stared into the boot, Nicolas glanced at him. He dodged out of sight when Harper turned. He remained hidden and listened to Ben and Creed talking.
“Is everything okay?” Creed asked.
“Yeah, everything's fine. He's still alive.” Ben replied.
“Not for much longer.”
From Creed's words it was obvious they planned to kill his boss. He also knew if he rescued him he would be well rewarded. The slamming of Harper's car door signaled they were about to leave. He turned away from the edge and ignoring the pain from his cruelly treated body, David ran. He passed the dead boar and sprinted along an all but overgrown track barely visible in the moonlight. Ignoring the brambles and branches ripping at his already torn skin, he continually glanced down at the track as he ran. Creed's Landrover drew level with him and then pulled ahead. David ignored it; the car following was the one that interested him. Harper's car drew level. David looked ahead. The Landrover's brake lights lit up the darkness when Creed slowed to negotiate around a sharp bend in the track. He glanced back at Harper's car and then back at the sharp bend ahead, this was his chance.
When Harper slowed to negotiate the car around the corner, David didn't stay on the path that curved to follow the contour of the track, but veered off and continued in a straight line. Bushes tore at his skin as he crashed through them. The ground suddenly disappeared. He fell onto a steep grassy incline. After sliding down the grassy bank on his back, he arrived on a small rocky outcrop. Using the speed of the fast ride down the slope to his advantage, he rose to his feet and without losing momentum leaped into the air.
The last few days had taken their toll on Ben, and he wasn't looking forward to what was about to occur. He desperately thought of some other way to handle the Nicolas situation, which didn't involve murder, when suddenly, something heavy landed on the bonnet and the windscreen cracked with the impact. Ben swerved and almost drove over the edge of the track. He slammed on his breaks. Whatever it was he had crashed into, slid off the car. He peered out of the cracked screen. His first thought was he had collided with a deer or some other animal, maybe even a wild boar, he knew they lived in this area, though he'd rarely seen one. Whatever it was it had left a large dent in the bonnet. Ben wondered how he would explain the damage to the hire company. Creed's brake lights disappeared around a corner; with no lights on their vehicles, he hadn't noticed Ben had stopped. Reluctant to leave the safety of the car in case it was a wild boar, and was still alive and angry, he was about to reverse so he could get a look at what he had hit when something moved in front of the car. A hand appeared on the bonnet; it wasn't an animal, but a man.
Ben switched on the headlights and was about to get out and help but froze when the figure rose to his feet and stood there bathed in the bright light from the car's twin beams.
“It can't be!” Ben uttered in stunned surprise. He was unable to believe what his eyes were staring at; the nearly naked David, his body battered and bloody.
How the hell did he get out of the tunnel? And where are his clothes?
The smile that appeared on David's face contained no hint of merriment. The message was clear; Ben was in trouble.
Ben wasn't going to wait around to receive whatever sadistic punishment the man intended to inflict upon him. He rammed the car into first gear and slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. The car shot forward.
David reacted quickly. He leaped onto the car, glided across the bonnet and crashed into the windscreen, adding a few more cracks to the already damaged glass, and grabbed hold of a wiper. He made a fist with his free hand and smashed it through the glass, punching out a neat hole.
Ben ignored the glass flying into the car; he was busy trying to avoid the large bloody fingers that groped for his neck while at the same time attempting to prevent the car from plummeting into the ravine alongside the narrow track. He slammed on the brakes in an attempt to throw his attacker off; it had worked last time. The car skidded on a patch of mud and unable to find a purchase on the slippery surface, it skewed towards the edge of the track and the steep slope that ended in a drop almost seventy meters below. The car skidded to a stop with one front wheel hanging over the edge and free of any friction spun freely.
Ignoring the pain from the glass ripping his skin when it dragged over the sharp edges of the hole, David pulled his arm back through the screen.
Ben fumbled with the gears, trying to put it in reverse as he watched his attacker raise both fists and slam them down onto the windscreen. The glass had suffered too much damage to be able to resist this new onslaught and shattered, leaving nothing but air between them.
Operating on rage and adrenalin, David lunged through the empty space and clamped his hands around Ben's throat, their faces only inches apart. Unable to breathe, Ben stared at the madness in the man's eyes as he tried to break the vice-like grip around his throat. When that failed, he tried a different tactic and punched David repeatedly in the face, but his feeble punches had no effect on the enraged madman. David was beyond feeling pain. Only seconds away from death, Ben did the only thing he could, his last slim chance to survive, he knocked the car into gear and pressed down on the gas pedal.
David knew he had won, in a matter of seconds Harper would be dead. He would free his boss, and then they could go and find Doyle and dispose of Creed. It would be good to get back to a normal routine again. He hadn't enjoyed the past few days at all. When the engine revved, David smiled. Harper's trying to reverse, but it won't save him, I'm not letting go until he's breathed his final breath.
When the car moved, David sensed something was wrong. A glance to the side at the moving ground revealed precisely what that something was; it was traveling in the wrong direction. He looked back at his victim and saw the grimaced smile on Ben's blue face.
“No!” David shouted in frustration when the car tipped over the edge and at an acute angle sped down the steep slope. Thrown about by the steep, bumpy ride it was all he could do to keep his death grip around Harper's throat, but he was determined to do so. Before they hit the bottom, he would see this man die. To prevent himself from becoming dislodged, he spread his legs across the bonnet to try and get some grip. One of his legs jolted over the edge when the car bounced over a rock. A foot caught under a wheel arch, the friction of the fast revolving tire burnt and peeled away his skin. This time David felt the pain. He screamed in agony, spraying Ben with spittle, but his grip around Ben's throat never slackened. Ben still couldn't breathe.
The car lurched over another bump, freeing David's foot when the front wheels left the ground. He momentarily flailed wildly in the air until the front of the car struck the ground and bounced, slamming him into the bonnet. He slid to the side. A foot caught in-between the spokes of the sporty mag-wheels, snapping his ankle. He screamed in agony and then in frustration when his hands released their grip around Harper's neck when he was yanked off the bonnet and briefly whipped around in circles, matching the revolutions of the wheel his foot was caught in until his leg tore off at the ankle. While his foot remained firmly wedged in the wheel, the rest of David was flung out into space and plummeted into the ravine below. An arc of spraying blood followed his progress.
Ben had been on the verge of blacking out when suddenly he was freed from David's deadly grip and gulped down a lungful of air.
The bottom of the ravine and his imminent death sped ever closer. Ben tried to open the door but found it jammed shut. Instinct took over. He climbed out onto the bonnet and with the wind whistling past him, he clambered onto the car roof, ran across the top and jumped onto the boot that buckled under his weight. Just as the car reached the drop-off and flew out into the void, Ben leaped. He hit solid ground and frantically grabbed out for anything to stop his rapid slide down the steep slope. He snatched hold of a bush flattened by the speeding car. It felt like his arm was being pulled from its socket when his progress suddenly ended with him hanging half over the edge. He twisted his head and watched the car plummet until it struck the bottom of the gorge. The sound of metal twisting and crunching reached him a split second later. That's one car that would never be hired again. Now he had definitely lost his damage deposit, whatever Creed might say.
“Ben!” Creed called out.
Ben looked up. Creed was standing on the track far above.
“I'm okay,” he shouted. “Can you throw down a rope?”
“Okay, hold on.”
Ben dared not move and did precisely that, he held on while he waited for Creed to fetch a rope from his car.
“Here it comes,” Creed called out a few moments later.
It swished through the air toward him. Whether it was luck or Creed was a good shot, the rope landed right beside him. Ben grabbed hold and wrapped it around his wrist.
“Okay, pull me up.”
Creed took the strain and pulled him over the edge of the drop-off. When his feet touched solid ground, he stood and climbed up the slope while Creed pulled from above. Halfway up, he noticed something and called out, “Stop pulling for a moment.”
Creed did as instructed and held the rope tautly. “What's wrong, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, hold for a minute,” Ben replied as he maneuvered over to the object he had spied a short distance away. He bent down and picked it up. Not knowing that it had fallen out of David's boxer shorts when the man was spun by the wheel, he stared at the parchment he recognized from the tomb and wondered how it had gotten there. He stiffed it and wrinkled his nose, it smelt old and musty. He placed it under his shirt and called up to Creed. “Pull me up.”
When Ben's head appeared above the edge, Creed grabbed his hand and helped him onto the track.
Ben glanced down the slope. For the second time that day he had escaped death.
“What happened?” Creed asked.
“David escaped from the tunnel somehow,” Ben explained. “I was following you when he ambushed me. The crazy bastard jumped onto the car. He was mad with fury. He smashed the windscreen with his fists and grabbed me around the throat. He meant to kill me. The only thing I could do to stop him was to drive over the edge.”
“You did that deliberately?” Creed glanced dumbfounded down the steep slope.
“It was the only thing I could do.”
“Well at least we don't have to worry about disposing of Nicolas anymore, you've already done it.”
“I'd forgotten he was in the boot,” Ben looked down the slope for any sign of life. “Do you think he could have survived?”
A loud whoosh drifted up from the ravine, and the orange glow of fire reflected off the trees far below when the leaking petrol from the fuel tank connected with the hot engine and exploded.
“I think that answers your question. If he survived the crash, which I very much doubt, he wouldn't survive that. Come on, let's get back to my place, I have a desperate urge for whiskey and a bath.”
Ben scanned the slope one more time before climbing into the Landrover. Creed started the engine and drove off along the track.