Hostage by Emlyn Rees Read Free Book Online Page B

fight you can’t finish. They should have thought about that, before they’d decided to destroy Mary’s life.
    It wouldn’t take Crane long to get here. He was only a few miles away, waiting for news with Ricky Watts. He had a clean-up team with him. The fact that there were no survivors meant a lot less hassle for everyone involved. It meant there was no need to involve the police. All they needed to do was dispose of the bodies. The Winnebago would be burned. It would be like none of this had happened.
    Except for Mary. For her the last three days might never end.
    Danny went back inside to tend to her. He noticed the smells now. Cheap cigarettes. Spilt beer. Pizza. He pulled a blanket off one of the bunks as he passed.
    He found Mary in the toilet cubicle. Bruised. Filthy. Her eyes were glazed. She stared through him as he knelt down beside her and gently covered her with the blanket.
    â€˜You’re safe now,’ he said as he took off her restraints. ‘It’s over.’ Her wrists were black and bloody. Three of her fingers were broken. He was still full of adrenaline, but he forced his voice to be calm. ‘I work for your husband,’ he said. ‘He sent me to find you. I’m here to take you home.’
    Her eyes registered nothing. She didn’t even blink. Danny checked her pulse. It was regular. She might have been at home watching TV. It was obvious to him that something inside her had switched off. Had been snapped.
    â€˜You need to come with me now,’ he said, slipping his hands beneath her arms and raising her up.
    She didn’t resist. Didn’t do anything. Didn’t even try to support herself. He lifted her out of the cubicle and up onto him, her chin resting on his shoulder, looking back. She didn’t move. She was dead weight. A casualty.
    But when he walked towards the open front door through which Spartak had entered, her body went rigid. It was as if she’d been electrocuted. Then she started screaming. She tore herself free.
    Danny looked back and saw Dalio. Raised up high the way she’d been, Mary had seen his body behind them. Out through the open back door. Lying there in the dirt.
    Now she ran at it and threw herself upon it. She started screeching, cursing, beating it, clawing, ripping at Dalio’s warm dead flesh with her jagged nails and teeth.
    Danny didn’t try to stop her. He understood. He looked away and waited for her to burn herself out.
    He went to her then. He wrapped the blanket around her once more and held her in his arms. Mucus encrusted her lips. Her eyes were slits. Her breathing slowed. Within seconds, he knew, she’d be asleep.
    â€˜Can you hear me, Mary?’
    When she didn’t respond at the second time of asking, he lifted her onto his shoulder and walked with her into the dark. He’d carry her to the Transit. Into the warmth. He’d keep her safe until her husband came to take her away.

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