A Chance Encounter by Rae Shaw (best ereader for academics .TXT) 📕

and crushed the fear to the back of her mind. Had anyone witnessed their abduction? The quiet backstreet served its purpose; not a car or person happened upon their assault, even the windows of the buildings were shuttered by blinds.

The men spoke in an unrecognisable language. Baseball cap man returned to the passenger seat and the other one occupied the driver’s seat. The car sped off.

Whimpering into her gag, Sophia was a frozen statue of white marble. Only her eyes seemed to respond. Taking deep breaths through her nose, Julianna pounded shock into a small ball in her stomach, where the pain was focused, and buried it there. There was no time for recriminations at her failure to fight off the men. Her friend needed her. She blinked, deliberately slowly, trying to reassure Sophia. They weren’t dead. Whatever these men wanted, it wasn’t an immediate death.

Still crammed into the footwell, she risked sticking her head between the seats, and caught a glimpse of the abductors. The man in the passenger seat in front of her was blocked from her view. The driver was in profile and the unflattering contours of his face triggered a vivid memory. The driver had two discerning features: a long black ponytail and a ragged scar on his neck. The last time they had met was in a hotel in Dublin where she had beaten him unconscious with her fists.

The annihilating impact of terror returned in abundance. For a few seconds, those images of his battered face consumed her. They carried with them anguish, hatred and fear, things that had no place when battling danger.

Sophia cried; the tears flooded her bewildered eyes.

The passenger in his baseball cap was speaking on the phone in English. Given the thickness of his accent, Julianna concluded they were an international gang. She also guessed who their boss might be; she didn’t need to hear his many names.

‘We’ve got her,’ he said. ‘And another.’

A pause.

‘Don’t fucking know.... Do you want her?’ He produced a thick throaty laugh. ‘Snuff flick. Sure, she would make good snuff flick. A, what say, a bonus.’

The men were laughing loudly and were distracted. Julianna eased herself up on to the seat but kept her head low. She slid toward the door release and tried to gently pull on it. The door refused to budge. A child lock. She nodded at Sophia.

Terrified, Sophia shrivelled further into the footwell. Julianna pleaded with her eyes. Time was running out. Although now and again they were stuck in traffic, soon they would hit the faster roads out of the city. Too fast to leap out of the car.

‘You’ve not found him?’ the baseball cap man asked the caller. ‘He is at work. Stazki, here, wants both. He'll sell them.’

Ponytail man, Stazki, nodded and said something in his native tongue. The man in the baseball cap relayed a translation.

‘She beat him. He wants them to beat each other. See who lives! He says she will. Weak man who hides behind woman. We speak later. Stazki wants Clewer. Get him. The boss will find out soon what he’s done.’ Baseball cap man hung up. The two kidnappers continued to talk in their own tongue.

The motive for their abduction was established, the likely outcome all too apparent, now was the time to act. However, throwing off the shackles of heavy traffic, the car accelerated hard and Julianna struggled to stay anchored to the smooth leather seat. She tried to encourage Sophia by jerking her head toward the other passenger door. Sophia’s legs slowly unfolded, she perched her elbows on the edge of the seat and pushed her bottom up. There, precariously balanced, she fumbled with the door handle until there was a small clunk. No child lock. Sophia’s widening eyes suddenly sparked with understanding.

The dashboard would light up with a warning light; it was a risk worth taking. Jump, Julianna pleaded soundlessly. Still keeping low, she lifted her legs onto the seat, knees bent to her chin, and there, foetal like, she held herself poised for the next stage. If Sophia made it out of the door, she would slide out and follow.

In the shadows, screwed into the corner by fear, the terror reflected in her glassy eyes, Sophia released the door catch. A little more weight was all that it needed.

The dashboard emitted a resonating beep. Sophia froze, childlike.

Julianna acted on instinct. Their captors within that millisecond started to turn, ignoring the road ahead. There was no knowing from her perspective what was behind the BMW, only the certainty that death was on the agenda if they stayed put, and opportunities unlikely for further escape. With the flat of her soles, she gave her friend one almighty jolt. Sophia tumbled backwards onto the street. Handcuffed, ankles taped together, and mouth sealed, the look of horror on Sophia’s face encapsulated what Julianna felt. She had probably just killed her friend; there was no way of knowing.

Stazki swerved the car. The door swung back. As Julianna made the decision to gamble her own life too, a clenched fist hurtled towards her, striking her cheek; the collision of brute knuckles and soft flesh was impossible to avoid. The explosion blinded her vision, blocking out the interior, the bright sunshine. The twinned sensations of pain coupled to fading consciousness were extraordinarily calming in their simplicity because together they were a salvation of sorts. She tasted blood in her mouth and the cool air rushing into the cabin, brushing her stinging face. It was too late for a revival; the final obliterating blackness accompanied the door slamming shut.

  38

Mark

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

The screwed-up piece of paper flew over the desk, missed the waste bin and joined the collection on the floor. Mark was unusually bored. His last project was resolved and, sadly, lacked any improprieties. Some people were simply bad at