‘We need more petrol,’ she said to Ellie. ‘Keep your eyes peeled for a station.’
A couple of miles later, a slightly dilapidated service station loomed up ahead. Abby pulled in, noting the weeds encroaching around the edges of the darkening forecourt, the rusty old car abandoned at the back. They were in the middle of nowhere, driving miles between sparsely populated villages; she supposed it didn’t get much custom.
She got out and filled the car. Standing with the pump in her hand, she gazed around. There was one other vehicle on the forecourt, a decrepit pickup, being filled by an equally decrepit-looking man. He replaced his pump and went inside.
‘I might just go in the shop,’ said Ellie. ‘See if they’ve got any mints.’
Abby nodded and then, once the tank was full, followed her sister in.
It was bright inside and Abby made her way over to where Ellie was browsing the confectionery. As she crossed an aisle she didn’t see a man coming in the opposite direction and he accidentally caught her shoulder with his own. Both instantly went to apologize, just as her bag fell to the floor. It spilled open and with a tidy thud, the envelope of money fell out, notes fanning themselves as they escaped to the ground.
For a moment, everyone stared. The shop was silent, just the distant murmur of a radio playing, but the money appeared loud, shouty.Look at me!it seemed to say, grinning ostentatiously.
Abby looked up at the man who’d bumped into her. He was young, slight, with longish dark hair and low-slung jeans. He caught her gaze, backed away with an apologetic smile. ‘Perdón.’
Abby bent down and quickly retrieved the cash, stuffing it back in her bag. She exchanged a look with Ellie, then went to the till. The older man from the pickup was at the desk paying. The girls waited their turn, and when he was finished he turned and left the shop, the younger man following after him. Abby paid for their fuel and the mints.
As they headed back to the car, Abby noted that it was now completely dark and she wanted to be on her way, to get to the sanctuary of the hotel. She saw the tail lights of the pickup leave the forecourt and disappear from view.
‘That was a bit awkward,’ said Ellie as she got into the front seat.
Abby nodded. The garage had probably only seen a handful of customers all day – it was bad luck that they had arrived just as there were other people in the shop.
Ellie opened the map. ‘Right, back on the road, then there’s a left turn about three miles up.’
Abby pulled away from the petrol station. Within a couple of minutes they were back in the countryside, the street lighting gone. Her headlights picked up a rabbit bolting across the road and she was glad to have missed it. It vanished into the thick trees on the verge and was swallowed up into the woods.
The movement caught her eye at just about the same time Ellie screamed. Abby felt the car slide across the road and frantically swung the wheel back, while the hairs on the back of her neck tried to crawl into her scalp. She attempted to flick her head backwards, to see, but her eyes got no further than her sister in the seat next to her.
There was a knife at Ellie’s throat. Terror and confusion washed over Abby and she tried to turn, to understand, but—
‘Keep your fucking eyes on the road,’ snarled a man’s heavily accented voice from the back seat.
Petrified, Abby snapped her head back. She could hear Ellie whimpering next to her.
‘Don’t...don’t,’ stammered Abby.
‘Do as I say or I cut her.’
Ellie let out a sound, panic and terror mixed into one.
Abby fearfully flicked her eyes up to the mirror. In the shadows she saw long dark hair and a youthful face. It was the man from the petrol station.
FIFTY-TWO
‘I’ll give you the money,’ said Abby. Her voice didn’t sound like her own. It was weak, fearful.
‘Turn here,’ said the man, ignoring her.
Abby looked skittishly through the darkness, saw her headlights pick out a turning on the right. For a brief second she considered pulling the steering wheel so sharply it would fling him away but she realized the lean of the car and the position of the knife might kill Ellie instantly.
You have to keep calm! You have to think!Her mind was shouting instructions at her but she had no idea how to implement them. The turning got closer and she slowed the car. As she did, she felt a new sickening terror, that of her fight starting to leave her. She changed gear and with the slide of the stick, a penetrating disempowerment began to take hold.I’m doing what he wants.No, it was all wrong. Not again. A sense of urgency started up in the background of her mind:Stop! Don’t give up!
She turned into the road, sped the car up again. Ellie was statue-still on the seat beside her. Abby risked a glance across and saw her sister was white with terror. She was sitting rigid in the seat, her hands gripping the sides. The man’s arm was pinning back her right shoulder and his thumb knuckle pressed on her windpipe. The blade was resting on the skin of her neck. Ellie’s eyes were locked on some unknown place out of the windscreen; she didn’t look back at Abby.
Suddenly the man punched Abby in the face with his spare hand. She screamed and recoiled as far against the driver’s door as she could. She heard a mewling sound escape from her sister’s throat and understood that, in hitting her, the man had exerted more pressure on Ellie’s neck.
‘Keep driving,’ he snapped.
