The Fortress by Catherine Holland (english reading book TXT) 📕

page on the battle for HighCliffe Castle.
Ryan scrolled down the page until he found what he was looking for and swore out loud. “Damn! Why didn’t I think of this sooner, or even realise sooner?” Then remembering that Max was also in the room with him he said “Max, come and look at this.” Ryan stood up and moved to the side, allowing Max to see the bottom of the page, the words read;

Of all the people involved in the battle for HighCliffe Castle, the five negotiators (named and pictured below) took the brunt of the accusations for the documentation forgery; although it was never proved that the claims were true the negotiators were forced to resign once the battle had been won-.

The words carried on to another page but Ryan pointed Max’s attention to the black and white photograph of five normal looking men standing outside HighCliffe Castle; the plaque behind them on the wall. “Look at the names Max; I can’t believe I missed this before.”
Ryan saw Max look and then curse, below the picture of the men were two sentences, the words read;

(Pictured left to right) Anthony Hartsbridge; Michael holding; Edward Adams; William Holt and Samuel Mansfield.

Max and Ryan were staring at each other in horror; these kidnappings were personal and ryan dreaded to think of what would happen once the final descendant had been found and taken to wherever the girls were being kept. They had one advantage to work with; the fifth descendant was still out there somewhere and most probably still in town.
Ryan moved back in front of the computer and closed the page down, then opened a fresh page and looked up the local telephone directory for the town, after searching for a few minutes he found what he was looking for; the last descendant did indeed live in the town and she lived on the outskirts with her family.
Ellen had been marked and the poor girl didn’t even know it. Ryan vowed to try and protect this girl as best as he could; he knew that the police were busy with the double kidnapping and had focused all of their energy on those cases. “Max this girl is in danger; she doesn’t have a clue who or what is coming for her, but then neither do we.
“She’s roughly in the same age group as Dana; I’m going to do my best to protect her but I’ll need your help to do it.” Ryan looked at Max and saw his jaw set, “Whatever needs to be done just say the word and I’ll do it.” Ryan nodded and then looked out of the window at the sky; the storm seemed to increase in its intensity as if it could mirror the storms raging inside of the teenagers.
Ryan turned off the computer and then left the room with Max following him; they headed downstairs and into Ryan’s private study where he pulled a fresh map of the town from a drawer. Ryan carried it back into the living room and then tacked it to a wall; he pointed out Ellen’s house to Max, and together they thought of how to protect her best without arousing too much suspicion.
Once the plan was set, Ryan made more coffee and ordered in dinner for them both. Shortly after eating they both got an early night in preparation for the following morning when the safety of one girl would be on their shoulders.


Chapter Six


Ahmed and Bastien walked slowly down the steep stone stairs to the old prison cells with their burdens; they would be glad when the two hirls were bound so that they could concentrate on more important matters. As they opened the door to the prison room they quickly put their burdens on separate beds and quickly bound them.
They then turned their attentions to their first two captives, Clara and Dana had fallen silent relatively quickly; they knew that screaming and shouting would lead to a beating, sometimes spurts of defiance rose up in them and they were forced to hit the girls. It wasn’t something that Bastien liked to do but he knew that his brother Ahmed enjoyed it.
Bastien walked over to Clara’s prison bed, looking down at her bruised and swollen face he said “I will allow you a bathroom break as long as you don’t struggle against your bonds again. You will remain blindfolded and will not attempt to remove it; do you understand?” He watched Clara nod her head in submission and then blindfolded her and untied her from the bed.
He guided her from the room and up the stairs; he then pushed her into the bathroom and turned his head whilst she tended to her needs. Bastien gave her all of three minutes, he knew it was enough time and then once he’d pulled her from the bathroom he sat her on a chair and pulled a cold microwavable dinner from the fridge and began to fee her small increments.
He watched her gag at the taste but then force herself to chew and swallow the food; on the next bite she spat it out on the floor. Bastien dropped the meal on the floor and hit her hard across the face; she cried out and fell from the chair. Ahmed chose that moment to come into the room and saw Clara on the floor, she attempted to get up even though she was bound and he kicked her back to the floor.
Ahmed took a home-made whip from his belt, it was really just a thick piece of bamboo but it was good enough. Ahmed didn’t bother to lift her shirt up, instead he issued five lashes to her back; hearing her scream all the while, relishing in her pain and terror. He then dragged her from the floor and roughly guided her down the stairs and back into her prison.
He re-tied her to the bed pressing her back into the dirty sheets; then as her back arched and she screamed in pain once again he hit her harder than before and rendered her unconscious. Ahmed then turned his attention on Dana; no doubt she’d heard the other girl’s screams, and he’d certainly seen the way he’d hit her. Ahmed didn’t care.
He took the blindfold from Clara’s face and put it over Dana’s eyes, he then untied her and pulled her roughly from the bed, pushing her hard when the girl resisted; he knew that she wanted to check on the younger girl but he wouldn’t allow it. Instead he pushed her from the room and up the stairs into the bathroom; he gave her three minutes to tend to her needs then pulled her from the room and roughly pushed her into the same chair that Clara had sat in.
He watched his brother Bastien feed Dana the same cold food he’d fed Clara with, watched the girl try to push it down her throat and then hit her off the chair when she spat out the second bite onto the floor; he waited for her to try and get up but the girl just lay there on the floor. Bastien prodded her with the toe of his shoe but she remained unresponsive.
Ahmed bent over the apparently unconscious girl and lifted up her head; she opened her eyes and spat in his face with the small amount of saliva she had left in her mouth. Ahmed dropped her and wiped the spit from his face, then took his crude whip out and beat her unconscious with it; he then turned to his brother “Get that thing out of my sight before I kill her.”
Bastien watched his brother stalk into the bathroom and slam the door, he then picked Dana up and carried her back downstairs to her prison; re-tying her to the bed and removing the blindfold. They had one more traitor to take captive and then they would begin the interrogation over what had happened a century before and discover exactly who had forged the documents.
Bastien left the room closing and locking the door behind him, he made his way up the stairs and saw his twin pacing the small space in agitation. Ahmed looked at his brother and said, “One more brother, then we will have the truth; our country will have the truth and all of these traitors will be put to shame and punished.” Bastien said nothing; he knew his brother was in a towering rage and remained silent.
Once Ahmed had clamed down considerably he said, “With this last one, we shall take her from her home; the police are on high alert after we took these last two traitors. Besides, when we take this girl from her home the town will shake in its boots at the thought of not being safe in their own homes; what do you think brother?” Bastien nodded his head in agreement, thinking it was pointless to argue with his twin.
The brothers ate a hot decent meal then left for their van; twenty minutes later they were parked outside an empty house across the road from their next victims home, they had to plan this very carefully and decided to monitor the house; recording every move the small family inside made.
It soon became apparent that the family inside the house were very vigilant and within the hour a police cruiser had pulled up behind the van. The twins watched as an officer got out of the patrol car and walked up to the drivers’ side window, he tapped on the glass and Bastien rolled the window down; “Is there a problem officer?”
The officer looked at him and said “I’ve received a complaint of you being parked here for over an hour unmoving, do you mind telling me what your intentions are son?” Bastien smiled warmly, “Certainly officer, I’ve been driving around for about eight hours and I stopped here for a small rest.” Bastien yawned and then stretched as if to prove his point.
He knew the officer had watched his display of ‘fatigue’ and then said; “Why doesn’t your brother drive for a while, giving you time to rest?” Ahmed leaned over his brother facing the officer. “I’m sorry officer, but at the moment that isn’t a possibility; I don’t own a drivers licence.” The officer nodded and then said, “There’s a hotel about five miles away from here; if you head into town you can’t miss it.”
Bastien nodded; “OK thank you officer I’ll do just that; is there a gas station on the way so I can buy a map of the area?” The officer smiled “Yes there is, if you go back on yourself out of this road and turn right it’ll take you onto the main road leading into town, the gas station is on the left hand side.” “OK thank you very much officer and I do apologise for causing any discomfort.”
The officer waved the apology off and replied grimly, “You can never be too careful these days son; especially what with the recent events. Enjoy your evening now.” Bastien smiled one last time; “Thank you again officer, I couldn’t agree more; and have a nice evening yourself.” Bastien started up the engine and then turned around heading back into town; in his rear view mirror he saw the officer shake his head and get back into the patrol car, he then turned to his brother and said.
“It isn’t safe for us to take the girl from her home, not with the police on such