Deadly Journey by Declan Conner Read Free Book Online

there
would be more, but Sunday morning wasn’t the best of days to be hoping for
heavy traffic.
    Curling into the foetal position gave me
respite from the pain and made me wonder if having started life in that
position, that was how they were going to find me if I expired. Mary and the
kids drifted into my mind. If it wasn’t for thoughts of returning to my family
spurring me on, it would have been easier to put the gun barrel to my chin and
pull the trigger; such was the pain I was enduring. Warmth from the morning sun
was my only comfort and with heavy eyelids, I drifted asleep again.
    ***
    I awoke to the sound of rustling in the
bushes, followed by a twig breaking. My heart went into ticking time bomb mode
and I grabbed the rifle. Taking aim in the direction of the sound, I scrambled
to my knees. To have gotten this far, if I was to be discovered and returned to
the cell, I would be dead anyway. A picture of Miguel’s severed head stuck in
my mind’s eye. My sense of urgency turned to frustration. Sweat ran from my
brow, dripping into my eyes. My vision blurred, adding to the panic. Swiping
the back of my hand across my eyes, I cracked open first one eye, then the
other and decided to fight my way out. I called out a warning.
    ‘Stop and show yourself, or I’ll blow your
freakin’ brains out.’
    All composure had deserted me, and I
trembled from head to toe. My lips had parched in the sun. Uttering those few
words had ripped a split in my top lip like an overripe tomato bursting. The
drainage ditch gave me some cover, but whoever was out there continued to move
in on my position. I was sure I heard a click, as if someone was locking and
loading a round in the chamber of a shotgun and I squeezed the trigger of my
AK-47 to fire off a warning shot.
    Nothing happened. I rolled over onto my
back to change position and for me to inspect the AK. It was fitted with a
damned safety. Frustration turned to anger. By the time that I’d figured it out
and rolled back onto my belly to aim, my eye-line came face-to-face with a
goat’s head. Damn thing bleated at me through a gap in the bushes. Tears and
laughter flowed at the same time. The animal flicked its head and trundled
away.
    Scanning the area, I relaxed, satisfied the
goat didn’t have a herder in tow. My sight fixed on a small lizard gathering
heat on an exposed stone. Its head bobbed rapidly up and down in a ritual that
was beyond me. In the blink of an eye, the creature darted forward, gathered an
insect in its mouth, and began chomping. Fascinating as it was and though I was
pleased at the distraction, it reminded me that there could be other predators
around, looking for me. Feverishly, I checked my immediate surroundings for
snakes. Every twig became a suspect as paranoia took hold.
    In an effort to curb my fear, I began to
think about the incident that had led to my incarceration. It seemed idiotic to
me for the suppliers of the crack house to have planned to have me kidnapped.
Surely they would know that the agency would round up all the occupants of the
crack house, and someone would talk at the onset of cold turkey, before being
cut a deal for release. I began to think that our position had been
compromised. Whoever had done this to me must have known we were there all
along and had watched Rob scuttle off around the back of our position. Then
again, maybe none of that had been planned and they just saw him leaving me
alone as an opportunity to take me hostage as a warning, without thinking it
through. I quickly discounted that idea. My kidnapping had definitely been
planned. The who, why and what of it scrambled my brain, especially at the
possibility it had nothing to do with the crack house and it was payback for my
having arrested someone in the past. Trying to work it out brought on a
thumping headache.
    I knew I couldn’t stay in that position. I
needed to put more distance between the farmhouse and me. I crawled to peer
through the hedgerow, just in