No Mercy by Colin Forbes Read Free Book Online Page B

modern bathroom with a loo. Opening a heavy glass door, she peered into a shower room. She'd have given anything to have a shower but she was dropping.
    She washed at the marble basin and cleaned her teeth. Going back into the bedroom, she stared at the huge high bed. 'Need a bloody ladder to get into it,' she said to herself.
    Hauling herself aboard, she pulled back the eiderdown and sheets. A large rubber hot-water bottle radiated heat. She tested it with a finger. Boiling hot. She eased it down to the bottom of the bed, took off her clothes, folded them and draped them on a chair beside the bed. Exhausted, she reached up to a dangling switch cord and pulled it. The room was pitch black. Her head flopped on the soft pillow. She fell into a deep sleep.

    *

    She was standing on the ice-cold moor near where the skull had been found. A strange figure was stooped over the skull, its head hooded.
    The nightmare deepened. The hooded figure was wielding the serrated edge of a large blade, scraping flesh from the side of the skull. She opened her mouth to scream as a hand from behind her grasped her shoulder. The hand was skeletal.
    She tried to back away. Her feet wouldn't move. As though glued to the moor. Trails of white mist floated across her face. The hooded figure had ceased its foul work on the skull. Now it was turning slowly towards her, the knife in its gloved hand turned so the blade with the serrated edge was held towards her. She vaguely recalled something about the skeleton's throat being cut to the spine. She still couldn't see the figure's face.
    She heard what sounded like some monstrous bird hovering above her, slapping its wings. The figure behind her was peering round to see her. It was Mrs Brogan's face, also hooded. She was smiling evilly, her small sharp teeth exposed. Paula tried to lift her arm to strike at Brogan, found she couldn't move her arm. She opened her mouth to scream. No sound emerged. She remembered Mrs Brogan telling her about the cult. Were the hoods their bestial 'uniform'? She was terrified by her powerlessness. Heard a thump.
    She jerked herself upwards, found she was in bed. Then she heard several stealthy creaks. The hall outside. The floor had creaked when she and Tweed had approached the bedrooms earlier.
    She reached up, desperately trying to locate the hanging cord which switched on the lights. Her hand closed round it. She was alert enough now not to jerk it, to break it. She pulled the cord and the lights came on. No one in the room.
    She rolled carefully out of bed. Grabbing the Beretta she had placed on the bedside table, she tiptoed across to the door. She saw immediately the door was open an inch. Someone had tried to enter, had been defeated even after pushing hard at the wedges. She heard more creaks on the floorboards outside. She kicked away the wedges and opened the door with the hand not holding the automatic.
    Tweed, fully dressed, stood outside, gazing at her with concern. She beckoned him inside. He closed the door quietly.
    'What's the matter, Paula? You've lost your usual colour.'
    'Had a nightmare. Doesn't matter. What are you doing?'
    'The police arrived a while ago. I heard the chopperlanding. I'm going down to see Buchanan - I'm sure he'll be there. So get back to bed.'
    'Not in a million years. I'm coming with you.'
    In the deserted hall where lights were still on Tweed scooped up the door key from under the carpet. He explained he'd warned Larry he might go out when the team arrived. Larry had shown him where the key was hidden, reminded him of the combination to the numbered keypad.
    Despite the fact that they'd put on their overcoats, which they had taken from the cupboard near the door, the cold hit them as soon as they reached the terrace. Tweed handed her a torch like the one he held.
    'Be very careful to keep to that track.'
    'Looks like a lot of activity down there,' she said as they made their way down the moor.
    Over the area where the skeleton had been