Lost Girls (33 page)

T
he darkness was beginning
to fall around Kim as she stopped at the first building. It was a windowless structure with no features. She guessed it would have been used as a cow shed.

The doors were metal and rusted, a padlock securing them.

She skirted the side of the building and came alongside a white van parked beneath a roof structure without walls.

Kim entered the main farmhouse, the doors having been left open by Subject One after chasing Amy. The smell of damp hit her immediately.

The door to her left was a two-panel stable door that led into the kitchen. She stepped inside, careful not to make a sound.

The cupboard doors that remained were all hanging off. Spaces gaped where appliances had once lived. Cobwebs hung from every corner. Rodent droppings sat in piles.

The walls were a mural of black and green damp patches.

Kim edged out and headed into the next room. She guessed this would once have been a small lounge but had more recently been used as a control room.

The window had been covered with a single navy curtain nailed into the wall above.

The area held a table on the left housing a row of mobile phones. On the window wall was a desk with three computer monitors. A sofa took the rest of the available space.

Kim took a step closer to the desk. All three screens were showing white noise. Damn, the cameras had been smashed so she couldn't see exactly where he was. She was going in completely blind.

She stepped out of the room. Next was another wooden door. Kim opened it carefully but the metal handle clattered as it left the latch.

She was immediately confronted by stone steps that led down into darkness.

She placed a hand on each side of the wall and felt the elevation of each step with the back of her heel.

When she felt no more steps she took her mobile phone from her pocket and hit the screen. It provided a small shaft of light against the total blackness.

She pointed it to the left and then to the right.

She was halfway down a corridor that appeared to run the length of the house. To her left was a brick wall but to her right the corridor appeared to turn a corner.

Kim turned to her right and shone the phone at the floor.

She gingerly stepped over the glass that had been smashed from the light bulb above and turned as she heard a sound from the left. The light from the phone found nothing. Kim suspected it was a rat.

She stepped past an open door. She shone the light around. The space was barely bigger than a prison cell.

One corner held a collection of juice cartons and sandwich packets. The other held a mattress and a bucket. The stench reached her out in the corridor.

She moved two steps forward and aimed the phone ahead of her. Two feet more and she'd be round the corner.

‘One more step and I'll slit her fucking throat.'

Kim stilled. A small cry escaped from the lips of the child. Kim closed her eyes. Thank God, Charlie was still alive.

Although she'd never met him, Kim knew what this man was capable of.

Trying to appeal to an empathetic streak wouldn't work. He no longer possessed one.

This man was not a psychopath. He was a product; moulded and programmed to kill. The war had taken advantage of a man with a propensity for violence and enhanced it, destroying any last traces of humanity.

Kim considered her options. At the moment he didn't know he was dealing with a woman.

‘I can smell you, bitch,' he said.

Great. But his voice was only a couple of feet away and he sounded amused. That was good. Anything that distracted him from hurting Charlie was good.

His own arrogance prevented her making a decision as he stepped into the light. Kim was instantly struck by his size. She guessed he was carrying eighteen stone of muscle in his six-foot-four height.

Charlie was clutched in front of him, a knife at her throat.

Her left eye was swollen shut and her bottom lip was split.

Her other eye was wide with terror.

Symes laughed out loud. ‘They send a slag to get me. It's a fucking joke.'

Although his voice was filled with mirth, Kim could tell he was insulted.

She lowered her gaze. ‘It's okay, Charlie. We got Amy and I'm gonna get you out of here.'

He laughed again. ‘No, she fucking ain't, kid,' he said to Charlie. ‘I'm gonna slit your throat like I was promised and then I'm gonna kill her, so she's talking shit.'

He took another step towards her. His right leg was stiff. Kim guessed that was where Charlie had bitten him. A trail of blood travelled along his forearm.

Despite his size, if they had been one on one, Kim knew she could have taken him. If there hadn't been a child and a knife between them.

‘I'm not alone,' she said.

He looked past her.

‘Brought your imaginary friends?'

Kim tried to keep her voice low and calm.

‘The place is crawling by now. It's only a matter of time before they're down here.'

Symes looked unconcerned. ‘I don't need long.'

She was keeping her thumb on the phone screen to prevent the area from going dark. She wanted to try to make eye contact but his gaze was fluttering around.

Kim assessed the distance between them. Without any kind of distraction she couldn't chance lunging for Charlie. His hand was poised and steady. Ready to cut the child's throat.

‘What do you hope to gain?' she asked.

She knew she was not going to talk him into handing over the child but she had to play for time.

‘You know it's over. We've got the other one; the planner.'

‘How the fuck you know he was the planner?' Symes asked, pulling Charlie against him.

He didn't like her assumption that he was not the mastermind behind the operation.

‘Give us the information and we'll do a deal,' she offered. ‘He's going to prison for the rest of his life but you don't need to. We can—'

‘Fuck off, slag. You think I give a fuck about doing time? Gimme a fucking break.'

‘But what are you—'

‘A promise is a promise. Don'cha get it, yer dumb bitch? I
wanna
kill her. I'm
gonna
kill her and—'

‘Guv, you down there?'

Symes's eyes travelled to the direction of Bryant's voice. It was all that she needed.

Kim held up the phone, shining it right into his eyes as she lunged forward and grabbed Charlie by the arm.

She threw the child behind her and reached forward for the knife. As her hand made contact with the handle Symes pulled up the blade.

The flesh of her right hand tore open. The light on her phone died.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

She felt herself being pushed backwards and stumbled over Charlie.

In the darkness, Kim had no clue what was happening.

Until Symes put the key in the door and locked it.

S
ymes threw
Charlie into the far corner. She whimpered and curled into a ball.

‘What your friends gonna do now?' he asked.

The phone was still in Kim's hand. She touched it and the screen lit up again.

She could hear Bryant hammering on the steel door. He would need specialist equipment to get through it. By then they'd all be dead.

And the man standing in front of her knew it.

He looked from her to Charlie and back again.

‘Eeny, meeny, miney, mo … who's first?'

‘Was it ever about the money?' Kim asked, desperately. She had to get his attention away from Charlie. She could feel the blood dripping from her gashed hand onto her jeans.

He paced the area between them to make sure she and Charlie stayed apart.

‘Nah. You gotta get it, slag. I like to kill. I enjoy it. The more violence the better. And now I've made my decision.'

He came to stand in front of her. She could hear Bryant banging on the door and shouting but her colleague had no way to close the ten-foot gap between them.

So near and yet so far, she thought, as Symes raised his foot and stamped down on her injured hand.

The pain shot up through her arm. The darkness swam before her eyes.

His next blow caught her in the ribs and she fell sideways, the phone sliding from her hand.

His foot caught her square in the jaw. Pain exploded into her head.

‘I'm gonna leave you alive, just so you can listen to the show.'

He kicked again and hit her left elbow.

‘Stop it,' Charlie screamed.

‘Don't worry, your turn is coming, little girl.'

In the darkness Kim tried to crawl out of reach. She knew what he was doing. He was disabling her from all angles so she would be unable to move. Just as he had with Inga.

His next blow caught the top of her left thigh. A slight roll had prevented his foot from shattering her knee.

She fought to think through the pain that was consuming her from every direction.

Another blow landed on her right ankle.

By the light of her phone she could see the pleasure in his eyes. He was just getting warmed up.

Kim thought of the people who were now crawling all over the property. And not one of them could help her.

She felt like the appetiser before the main meal. When he was done with Charlie, he'd return to her for dessert.

He stood back and admired his handiwork. Kim couldn't identify one body part she could move with ease.

She was powerless to fight. The agony flooded her body but she would not cry out. Only the sound of Charlie's soft whimpering from the corner forced her to hold on to consciousness.

The nausea rose in her throat. She coughed it down and her whole body reacted to the movement.

She had no weapons. He had the knife and she could barely move an inch.

Symes turned his attention to the far corner. A growl of anticipation sounded from his throat.

Kim blinked the threat of darkness from her eyes. If she succumbed to the pain for even a minute the child would be dead.

Symes started moving away and Kim could not follow.

He moved towards his prize; his payment for a job well done. Kim was powerless to stop him.

And then the phone light went out.

K
im could hear
voices on the other side of the door but they couldn't get through. Charlie cried out from the corner.

Kim tried to focus as a thought tried to form, something Alison had said.

She put every ounce of strength into the one thing she could move. Her mouth.

‘Soldier, what the fuck do you think you're doing?'

She sensed the stillness that fell in the room.

‘You think we got time for this, soldier?'

‘B-but …'

Kim seized the advantage. A sudden hope infused her and dulled the pain.

‘Is this what you trained for, soldier?'

She moved a few inches across the floor. Her body screamed for her to stop but she refused to listen.

‘Since when did we hurt little girls, soldier?'

Another few inches.

‘I'm … I'm …'

‘When did we train you to do this, soldier?' she shouted to hide the slow movement of her body along the floor. The pain travelled all the way to her voice but she fought to keep it firm. She hoped the repetition of the title, ‘soldier', would confuse him just long enough.

‘You think your squad would accept you now?'

‘But … I'm not … not any …'

‘You're always a soldier,' Kim barked.

‘I don't … see …'

‘Of course you see me, soldier,' Kim shouted. In the darkness her eyes could just make out his stance. He stood, legs apart, two feet away from Charlie.

Just another few inches.

‘Stand down, soldier, and return to your barracks.'

‘But … you're not … real …'

Kim pulled her left leg back and shot one good kick to his right calf. He toppled to the ground, falling forward.

Kim heard Charlie shuffle out of the way.

The fall brought him back to his senses and his focus was back on Kim.

‘You fucking bitch,' he screamed. She could hear the anger in his voice as well as the pain. But she knew the blow wouldn't incapacitate him for long.

Kim tried to crawl away, heard him crawl right behind her. Her knees crunched on the broken glass from the smashed light bulb.

His hands lunged for her ankles. She fell forward onto the ground, face first.

Within a second his knees were astride her. He threw her onto her back.

Kim tried to wriggle beneath him but his weight forced her down. She bucked again and he laughed.

She felt the cold metal rest at her throat.

‘I'm gonna enjoy every second of this – and then the kid gets it.'

Kim could feel the puddle of blood beneath the palm of her right hand.

She lifted her hand from the floor and opened the palm wide, splaying her fingers, stretching the gash.

She smacked her hand down to the ground and felt the glass shards from the light bulb embed in her wound. The nausea was strong and immediate. A hundred knives danced in her palm.

She swallowed frantically as the pain tried to take control.

Fireworks exploded in her eyes as his face suddenly lit up. Charlie was holding the phone, blinding him with sudden light.

Symes's eyes were wide open, trying to adjust.

Kim raised her right hand from the ground and smashed her palm into his eye. The glass shards sticking out of her palm pierced his eyeball.

He screamed like a wounded animal. The knife clattered to the ground as his hands rose to his eyes.

Charlie was quicker than Kim and grabbed the knife from the floor.

Kim scooted over and grabbed her, forming her body around the child like a shell.

Symes rolled on the floor, screaming.

Suddenly, the metal door swung open. And in that moment Kim could have cried.

‘Jesus Christ, Guv,' Bryant said, shining a torch right at her. A spare key hung from the lock.

She held up her hand against the light to shield her eyes.

Nuggets of glass fell from the wound.

Bryant stepped back into the corridor.

‘Paramedic, down here now,' he screamed. Blood continued to drip from her hand.

Dawson was the first body to appear. He immediately hauled Symes to his feet. Bryant offered her a hand, but she ignored it and pushed herself to a standing position.

Symes tried to lunge towards her but Dawson held him firm.

She staggered one step towards him. ‘And all they sent was a bitch, eh?'

‘You fucking wait,' he spat as a mixture of blood and intraocular fluid rolled over this cheek. ‘I'll fucking get you.'

She took a last look at his one good eye.

‘Kev, get him out of my sight.'

Dawson shoved him roughly against the wall. Symes cried out in pain.

‘Oops,' said Dawson, pushing him into the corridor.

Kim turned to Charlie who sat shivering against the wall.

‘Charlie, it's okay. He's not coming back. I promise.'

The little girl nodded, the disbelief showing in her eyes. There was little Kim could do to reassure her right now but over time she would come to believe it.

‘You were so brave just then. Your parents will be very proud.'

‘Guv, can we call?' Bryant asked.

Kim shook her head as a paramedic entered the room. Not until they had Subject Three.

‘See to her foot,' Kim said, pointing at Charlie.

Bryant passed the torch to the second paramedic who shone it down towards the child.

Bryant stepped forward and picked up Charlie like she was nothing. ‘There are ambulances upstairs. He needs to take a look at your hand.'

Bryant carried the child up the stairs.

The paramedic took her hand gently. The other shone the torch onto the wound.

‘I'm gonna need to get you to the hospital. There might be nerve damage.'

Kim shook her head. ‘Take out the glass and wrap it up.'

‘No, you need X-rays. You've taken quite a beating.'

Kim pulled her hand away. ‘Do it, or I'll do it myself.'

There were still unanswered questions.

He offered her a look of disapproval.

‘You'll have to sign a disclaimer.'

She looked down at her hand and raised one eyebrow.

He smiled. ‘Yeah, okay, fair enough.'

Kim stared at the wall while he used tweezers to prise out the glass. Most of the pieces had embedded themselves in Symes's eye.

‘Can you go quicker?' she asked. The feeling was returning to parts of her body and she still had work to do.

‘I'm trying to do it gently,' he snapped.

‘Well, don't. Just get it out and clean it up,' she snapped back.

By the time Bryant returned, her hand was covered in gauze and bandage and was three times the size.

‘You have to get to hospital as soon—'

‘Yeah, yeah; are we done?'

The medic closed his case and shook his head. ‘She's all yours,' he said to Bryant.

‘Cheers, mate,' Bryant responded.

Kim eased herself slowly to her feet. The pain sent a dozen reminders around her body.

‘You look a bit banged up, Guv.'

‘I'll live,' she said, heading for the corridor.

‘Err … do you want any help up the stairs?'

‘Oh, Bryant, please ask me that question again.'

‘Got it. I'll go first.'

She silently thanked him. If he was ahead of her, he would not see her struggle.

Kim knew she had to get back to the Timmins' house, but there was a final piece of the puzzle that had to be resolved.

She reached the third step up and paused.

‘I can't,' she said.

‘I told you to—'

‘Not that,' she said, shaking her head. ‘I can't just leave.'

The remains of another child were here somewhere and out there was a mother who dreamed of their return.

She stepped back down into the corridor. Bryant followed and lit the area with the torch he'd taken back from the medic.

‘Guv, what are you hoping to find?'

‘Get the keys,' she said, pointing to where they still hung from the open door.

Bryant removed the keys and Kim headed to the left and the dead end. There was a second metal door.

‘Open it,' Kim said. Her gut churned in response as the key turned in the lock.

She took the torch in her left hand and shone it around the silent room.

The shaft of light rested at the top right-hand corner.

Kim closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds and sighed heavily. There was a mother who was about to get her wish.

They had found the body of a little girl.

Jenny Cotton would be able to bury her daughter.