I must have been dozing when Mackenzie took a call on my phone. I sat bolt upright in the chair in the living room when I heard his voice.
“We’re on our way, did you call the police?” he asked with a sense of urgency. He cut off the call straight away. “She’s at the club, that was Veronica,” he said.
“What?”
We rushed from the house and into my car. There was a debate about which was the fastest, his Aston or my Bentley but since his car was in a garage, I couldn’t be arsed to wait even the short time it would take to raise the garage doors. I sped down the streets and through London ignoring every red light and speed limit.
When we were on the motorway, Mackenzie took a call from Detective Burrows. “Yes, Veronica called, we’re on our way there now,” he said. “Not going to happen,” he added, and I suspected he was told we should stay away. “Let’s see who gets there first,” was his last comment before he shut down the call.
“Why the club?” I asked, confused.
“All Veronica said was they’d had a little trouble but Gabriella is safe.”
“They’d had a little trouble?” I stared at him with a brow so furrowed it hurt.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Coming from your cousin that could mean someone was rude, or someone is dead. Fuck knows what she meant, Alex.”
Veronica oftenhad a little troubleand I remembered one time having to deal with the family lawyers to get her released from a police cell somewhere after being, probably correctly, accused of smoking dope in a public place. Mackenzie was correct, of course, it could be very little or very large!
I punched in my code for the gates and they swung open. Gravel flew as my tyres spun on the driveway and we left the car running with the doors open when we arrived. The front door was locked and the house in darkness. In that moment, I wished our approach hadn’t been so loud.
“I know a way in,” I said, remembering a route from childhood.
Mackenzie followed me as we ran around the side of the house. There was an outbuilding and in the floor was a hatch. It was an escape route that led from the house when it was built centuries ago and an exciting playground for Veronica and me as children. I pulled back the rug to expose the hatch. Clearly it hadn’t been used in years and I waved my way through the spider webs as I climbed down. I had to crouch low and scuttle along the small corridor. When we reached the end, I put up my hand.
“We don’t know there isn’t still someone here, do we?” I asked. Although I couldn’t see clearly, I just caught Mackenzie shake his head.
A thought had run through my mind, Veronica could have been forced to call us. We could be walking into a trap.
“Where the fuck are the security guards?” he whispered.
“They have a room they use, cameras all over the place. I assume they’ve been incapacitated in some way,” I said, having no idea what had happened to them.
I gently turned the old metal doorknob and the door creaked open. It would lead us into the pantry, which was off the kitchen. What I didn’t anticipate was that racking had been placed in front of the door. It wobbled and a can fell to the floor. I pulled the door closed quickly in case the noise alerted anyone. We waited and, hearing nothing, I gently pushed the door open again. We squeezed our way out and waited for our eyes to adjust to the dim light coming from under the door leading to the kitchen.
I placed my ear to the door to listen, it was quiet and, although the club would cater for overnight stays, that side hadn’t opened up as yet. There was no staff preparing breakfast. Our problem was, once we left the kitchen we would be in the hallway with nowhere to hide.
Neither of us was prepared to wait, though. I opened the door and we made our way, as quietly as we could, through the kitchen and into the hall. No one was to be seen. The bar door was open and the room empty. It was as we stood at the bottom of the stairs that we heard a sound, the noise a piece of furniture would make as it was dragged across the floor. We raced up the carpeted stairs and followed the sound.
It appeared to come from one of the attic playrooms. One set aside mostly for Veronica. Just as we approached the door, it was pulled open.
“Fucking hell,” Mackenzie said.
Veronica stood in front of us. Her hair was knotted and messy. She had a black eye with her upper lid partially closed, bruises and cuts to her face, neck, and shoulders. Her shirt was torn and spotted with blood. She had been crying, clean tracks ran through her grubby, bloodied cheeks. Her lip was split, and dried blood had crusted. The gash opened when she tried to speak.
“We heard you come,” she said, her voice very hoarse and I guessed she had been choked.
Mackenzie wrapped her in his arms and pulled her to one side. I rushed into the room. Gabriella was curled up on a sofa, she wasn’t in as bad a condition as Veronica, but it was clear she had been attacked. She cried and held out her arms to me.
“Oh, baby, baby, I love you. My God, what happened? I love you,” I said, peppering her face with kisses.
She hiccuped as she tried to speak. When she couldn’t she looked over my shoulder. I turned to follow her gaze.
Tied to the wall was Stanton. He was clothed although it was clear he’d fought with someone and I began to suspect it was Veronica. He also sported cuts and bruises. He breathed hard, unable to speak because silver gaffer tape covered his mouth. His eyes were wide with fright and it was as I approached that I noticed something in his side. An arrowhead of some kind, it was attached to a wire. I followed the wire to a black object. When I picked it up, he shook his head from side to side violently, he screamed into the tape, I pushed the button and I held the fucking thing down. He convulsed, screaming, rattling the restraints that held him to the wall.
Mackenzie had rushed into the room and was holding both Gabriella and Veronica. When he saw what I’d done, he walked over to me. He reached for the taser and I gave it to him. I didn’t want Stanton fucking electrocuted, I wanted him able to answer in court. I did however, beat the fuck out of him.
It wasn’t satisfying, beating a man tied to a wall, but I couldn’t stop. I punched his face, broke his nose, felt his blood splatter over mine and drip down my knuckles. I was desperate to hurt him. I continued my assault until I heard Gabriella call me. Seconds later, the police barged into the room.
