The Passenger by Daniel Hurst (great book club books TXT) 📕

seat and into the aisle, effectively blocking the man who is chasing me down and giving me back the precious few seconds I lost when I fell. Now I’m closing in on the toilet door, and thanks to the dithering passenger, I’m certain I’m going to make it in time.

The green light above the toilet door tells me that it is unoccupied, and it’s a relief to get inside and slam the door. But I only feel safe when I turn the lock.

He can’t get me now.

I lean against the back of the door and take several deep breaths, but my moment of calm is shattered by the sound of heavy banging behind me.

I move away from the door as I hear the calls from outside.

‘Open up! Now!’

It’s him.

‘I’m serious, Amanda! Open this door, or you’ll regret it!’

That might be true, but I’ll definitely regret it if I do open it, so I stay away from the door and look down at the phone in my hands.

It requires a four-digit access code to open it. But unlike the owner of this phone who is so desperate to know my code, I believe I already have the digits that I need.

I type in the code from memory based on what I watched him typing in every time he unlocked his device during our conversations. It’s a little tricky because from where I was sitting, the phone was upside down, but I think I can figure it out.

2846.

The screen unlocks. I’m in. Now I can see the messages from James. But that’s not all.

I can also see the photo of my daughter tied up to my bed.

My stomach lurches as I see the look of fear in Louise’s eyes, and I get the same feeling of anger welling up inside me that I felt the first time I was shown the photo back at the table. But unlike then, I can actually do something about the situation now. I can try to bring an end to it without Louise getting hurt or without me having to open that safe.

I type out a message and read it through a couple of times to make sure it is okay before I hit send.

“Plan is cancelled. Leave the flat and meet me at the station.”

I’m not sure if it’s going to work, but I press Send anyway. I’m hoping that James will believe the message to be true and leave my daughter at the flat. Considering the text came from his partner’s phone, it shouldn’t raise too much suspicion. But I need to know that he has complied with the order and left so I can then call the police. I don’t want them turning up when he is still there because if they do, he will know something has gone wrong and he might hurt Louise. But I won’t know that unless he replies with confirmation.

I stare at the phone, waiting and hoping to see a message come back from James. As I do, his partner continues to hammer on the toilet door, and I’m starting to worry that he might come through. He must know that I’m never going to open it while he is out there. If I can, I’m going to stay in here all the way to the end of the line now.

Suddenly, the shouting and banging stop, and I can hear low voices talking on the other side of the door.

I’m not sure who he is talking to. Another passenger? A train employee? Security? Somebody must have heard all the noise he was making and come to investigate. Maybe they’ll arrest him for causing a disturbance. That would be a big help to me. As long as I have his phone, he can’t tell James to hurt Louise.

But where is James? Why hasn’t he replied? Has he even seen my message?

Or am I already too late?

31

JAMES

I think I’ve managed to stop most of the bleeding after Louise kicked me in the face. I dab the tissue against my nose a couple more times to check, and there are a few splotches of red, but nowhere near as much as ten minutes ago. The bleeding has stopped. But I suspect it will be a while until the pain does.

I toss the tissue into the toilet and flush it away before leaving the bathroom and heading back into the bedroom where my prisoner is currently tied up. My head was spinning after the initial kick, and it took all of my restraint not to hurt Louise in the immediate aftermath, but I kept my cool. I’d rather not have to hurt her. I’d much rather her mother just gives up that code, and I can get out of this flat as soon as possible. But time is running out, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes, and if that means drawing blood from Louise, then so be it, particularly after she just drew blood from me.

I walk back into the bedroom, and I’m just about to take out my phone to see if there are any updates from the train when I freeze.

The bed is empty.

The bedpost is snapped.

Louise has gone.

I look around the room for any sign of her, but I can’t see her anywhere. Panicking, I turn back to the door, worrying that she has already left the flat while I was in the bathroom. But I would have heard her leave, and I definitely would have seen her. She couldn’t have got to the door without passing the bathroom first.

That’s when I hear the creak of the wardrobe door to my left and turn around just in time to see Louise bringing the broken piece of bedpost down at my head.

I raise my hands to protect myself, but I’m too late to stop it striking me across my forearms.

The bedpost cracks against my bone, and I let out a cry of pain as I fall back against the wall.

I see Louise run from the bedroom,