Thorn In My Side (21 page)

In the end, he
did it the only way he could. Taking a deep breath, he said
quietly, 'Alicia’s dead, Shelly. She was murdered in our bed. I’m
sorry… But no one knew if you knew about it. I thought that’s why
you might have run away…. If you knew, that is. But you…'

'What!'
Shelly’s eyes widened in shock. She slumped against Danny and slid
down his body, sobbing hysterically. Danny pulled her up. Half
carrying and half dragging her, he managed to get her into the car
and in the seat, belted her in then quickly ran round to the
driver’s side.

Slamming the
door behind him, he reached over and cuddled Shelly to his chest.
Her sobs were tearing at him, and tears filled his eyes. After a
few minutes he lifted her face, wiped her eyes with his fingers,
and said slowly, 'You’ve got to tell me what the hell’s going on,
Shelly. You know I love you to bits, and I’ll help no matter what
sort of trouble you’re in. But unless I know what we’re up against,
I can’t help, can I?'

'No,' she
sobbed. 'Please, Danny, I can’t tell you. Because if you know what
I do, then they’ll do to you what they did to Alicia. I couldn’t
cope with that. I can hardly bear this. Oh God, I can’t believe it.
Not Alicia.'

'Just tell me.
We’ll sort everything else out later.’

'How did they…
How was she…' Shelly gulped, then sniffed before going on. 'How…
how was she murdered?'

'I don’t know.
All I know is, there was blood all over the friggin’ place. I’ve
never seen so much of it.'

'But…'

'That’s all I
know, right?' Danny snapped, sick of her trying to wriggle her way
out of letting him know what he wanted. 'Now, for fuck’s sake, tell
me what the hell’s going on.'

She sighed, and
stared out of the window for a moment, before saying, 'OK. I’ll
tell you. But will you get my bag first, please? It’s behind the
wall.'

'You’ve got
your bag.' Danny frowned.

'No, no,
there’s another one, a blue carrier bag. It’s got food in it, a
couple of chocolate bars, other stuff.'

'Oh Shelly,
love. Sorry. Do you need something now?'

She nodded. 'I
will do shortly.' Sighing again, she leaned her head against the
headrest.

God, she
looks so pale,
Danny thought as he jumped out of the car. 'I’ll
be right back, love.'

He ran to the
wall, looked round and spotted the bag at once. 'Got it,' he
yelled, as he went to pick it up. His voice was drowned out by the
car starting and the sound of spitting gravel.

'Shit!' Danny
yelled, as he appeared from behind the wall. 'Shelly, what the hell
are you doing?'

He ran after
the car, but Shelly made it to the exit. Suddenly the full beams of
two cars blocked the way out, lighting everything up nearly as
bright as day.

'What the...?'
Danny stopped dead a moment later, as he felt what he imagined to
be a gun sticking in his back.

'Put your hands
behind your neck,' a deep, guttural voice with an American twang
said in his ear.

Danny froze,
though his heart was doing double-quick time, 'Is… is that a
gun?'

'What do you
think, dipstick?' Danny felt the gun grind deeper into his spine.
'Hands.'

Slowly, heart
pounding, Danny put his trembling hands behind his neck.

'Now move
towards the first car.' He did as he was bid. 'Not your car,
stupid.' The American dug the gun into Danny’s neck. Feeling the
cold steel, Danny shook with fear. Wondering
Who the hell
are these people? And what on earth can Shelly have done to
upset them?,
he reluctantly moved on to the first car.

Two other men
got out of the second car, and between them pulled a screaming
Shelly out of Evan’s car. Yelling and kicking, she fought them
every inch of the way. 'Get off me you slimy bastards,' she spat,
her fingers clawing at anything she made contact with. 'Get off me,
now. Go on, fuck off. Danny, help!' she screamed, trying her
hardest to break free. But in her weakened state, she was no match
for the men.

Danny was in no
state to help himself, but struggling, he yelled, 'Leave her
alone!' as one of them punched Shelly in the side of her head –
only to receive the same treatment himself, from the man with the
gun, a moment later.

'Bastard,' he
muttered, dying to take his hands off his neck to rub his head.
'Bastard.' he repeated. Defiantly glaring at the gunman, he took
his hand down and rubbed his head.

'Clever shit.'
He raised his fist to punch Danny again. 'Put them on your head,
and get in the car… Move.' The gunman shoved Danny so hard he
nearly fell. Recovering his balance, Danny got in the car and
watched, fists clenched, Shelly being pushed into the other car.
The man with the gun jumped in beside him. He waved the gun in
Danny’s face. 'One word, one fucking word and you won’t see past
midnight. Got it?'

Staring at the
man in horror, Danny nodded.
Just what the hell has Shelly got
herself into? Are these men the reason Alicia is dead?

Danny stared
out of the car window, his heart hammering. Although it was dark,
he guessed it was probably about two or maybe three in the morning.
But he didn’t have a clue as to where they were heading, north,
south, east or west. The fact that they hadn’t blindfolded him was
also more than worrying, his imagination running riot. He guessed
that if he saw them, it meant that they weren’t bothered, because
he wasn’t coming back.

Oh Shelly,
what the fuck is all this about?

There were
three men in the car with him.
Big buggers, an’ all,
Danny
thought, looking at the one by his side. He was staring straight
ahead, as if it were a foregone conclusion that Danny would behave
himself.

OK. So what
would Evan do?

We have
three heavies
. He was staring at the bull neck of the one in
front
. Good God, a bloody mell hammer wouldn’t take that fat sod
down.

What would
Evan do
? Danny sighed, getting a threatening look from the man
at his side.

Fuck you,
an’ all,
Danny thought, turning back to look at Bull Neck.

Really, the
question should be, what the fuck could anybody do?Goosed, that’s
what we are!

The car started
to slow down, and Danny cocked his head to the side to look over
the driver’s head. The man beside him snorted as they stopped
outside of a pair of heavy wrought-iron gates, as much as to say,
Look all you want – you ain’t coming back out.

Danny curled
his lip at him, and the man snorted again.

The men in the
front turned to look at them. 'Right cocky little twat we’ve got
here, guys,' the man beside him said. The other two shrugged,
showing complete uninterest as the gates started to open.

Slowly the car
drove up a long, gravelled drive. Halfway there, Danny turned to
the man at his side, and was about to open his mouth when the man
drew his finger across his throat. 'Keep it shut.'

That did it.
'You fucking well keep it shut!' Danny yelled in the man’s face, as
he brought his head back and nutted him. The sound of the man’s
nose snapping was loud in the confines of the car.

He soon found
out what a major mistake that had been. A moment later, he was
dragged from the car and repeatedly kicked and punched by the three
of them. The man with the broken nose seemed determined to kick him
to death.

Danny thought
he could hear Shelly screaming, as he rolled into a ball to protect
himself. Soon, as blow after vicious blow rained down on him,
everything started to go dim. A final kick behind his ear dripped
more blood onto the gravel and sent him spiralling helplessly into
the dark.

'Danny. Danny.'
Shelly’s voice echoed in his head, as his eyelids flickered and he
swam back up to the reality of his world.

Groaning
loudly, he sat up and clutched his right side. 'Ow! The bastards, I
think one of my ribs is broken.' He groaned again. 'Maybes all of
them.'

'Careful,'
Shelly urged, trying to get him to lie back down.

But Danny
stubbornly refused. Resting his back against the wall, he looked
around. 'Jesus Christ almighty, we’re in a bloody cell… What the
hell?'

Shelly nodded.
'We’re at the monastery near Holy Island.'

She looked at
his face and could see the pain he was going through, the struggle
to understand what was happening. She’d bathed his head with a
small towel beside the equally small sink in the corner, but there
was still blood trickling from behind his ear. She guessed that he
should have a couple of stitches in there. Most of the other cuts
were superficial. She thought,
he might be right about
the broken ribs,
t
he way the frenzied bastards went at
him.

She wasn’t
prepared when he grabbed her wrist and squeezed tightly. 'What’s
going on. Shelly? And I want the truth. Are these swine likely to
kill us?'

'Let go, Danny,
that hurts.'

But Danny had
crossed the line hours ago. This was the second cell he’d been in,
in the last twenty-four hours. He had been interrogated by a duo of
cops from Hell. A very good friend had been murdered, a murder that
he’d practically been accused of. He’d been threatened by Shelly’s
brothers with a fate worse than death if any harm had come to her,
whether he was responsible or not. And now he’d had the shit kicked
out of him by a bunch of bastard morons, and he had a very strong
hunch that he might well not get out of here alive.
Enough is
enough.

'Not until you
tell me exactly what’s going on. And I mean it, Shelly.' He glared
at her.

'OK. All
right.' She tried to pull her wrist back. Reluctantly Danny let go,
but instead of speaking, she stared at the stone floor.

'Shelly,' he
urged.

Finally she
looked at him, deciding to tell him half the truth, because all of
it, she knew, he wouldn’t be able to cope with. Taking a deep
breath, she said, 'This place is used as a storage place for kids.
Mostly teenagers who are gathered from cities and towns up and down
the A1 and sold world-wide. That is, the ones who are deemed
good-looking enough. The rest are kept here to work the drug
farms.'

'What?' Danny’s
jaw hung open for a moment, before he blurted, 'How the hell did
you find that out?'

'You know I’ve
always wanted to be an investigative journalist?'

'Friggin’ well
get on with it.'

'I am.' She
narrowed her eyes. 'Just listen, will you?'

Danny stared
stubbornly at the far wall, wondering what web of lies she’d
concocted for this escapade.

'Well, I heard
a story so crazy…' She shook her head. 'Didn’t believe it at first.
Anyhow, with Alicia’s help, well, we did what you might call a
little digging.'

'So these
people, and your meddling, are the reason Alicia is dead?' Danny
interrupted.

Tears filled
her eyes as she nodded. 'I didn’t know, honest, Danny. I heard they
were after me. That’s why I ran. I never dreamed Alicia was in any
danger.'

'So you think
they might have made a mistake…' He snapped his fingers. 'That’s
why she was found in my bed, isn’t? You do look a little like each
other, especially since you both dyed your hair black. So what’s
the story? ' He winced and gently massaged his right side,
muttering, 'Fucking murdering bastards.'

Shelly wiped
her eyes. She didn’t think she’d ever get over Alicia’s death. She
shuddered as a sob escaped. 'I’m sorry, Danny. I’m so sorry.'

Gently Danny
patted her arm. 'Just tell me what it's all about, and just what
the hell we’re up against here.' He touched her hair. 'And why? I
loved your hair the way it was.'

'That’s part of
it. He likes long black hair. He… he entices young girls, tells
them he’ll make them famous, star of their own show, all that crap.
Only he doesn’t tell them it’s a pornographic show. Then when he
gets them here he changes, dresses like a monk.'

'Christ, what
sort of creep is he? Dressing like a monk? Some sort of perve,
eh?'

She gave a
small hollow laugh. 'There’s more Danny… A whole lot more.
He----'

'Hang on,'
Danny interrupted her. 'Why did you have to dye your hair? Why did
Alicia? No.' He pushed her away. Suspicion in his eyes, he went on,
'Don’t tell me you slept with him… Please don’t tell me that, just
for a fucking newspaper story. No way.'

Unable to meet
his eyes, Shelly hung her head.

'You did,
didn’t you!' Danny shouted. Ignoring the pain in his ribs, he laid
his left hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin up with his right
hand.

She kept her
eyes closed and gave a barely perceptible nod. 'Sorry,' she
whispered.

'Sorry?' he
yelled, pushing her away. 'Sorry doesn’t cut it. Alicia
died
because of you and these fucking creeps… What about Evan, eh? What
do you think this’ll do to him when he finds out?'

Shaking her
head, she begged, 'Please don’t tell him Alicia was involved. It’ll
kill him.'

'You bet it
will.' He was quiet for a moment, watching her, his mind in a
whirl. 'I wont tell him,' he finally said, to Shelly’s immense
relief. 'He’ll ask, I know he will, but I’ll say that she wasn’t
involved and it was a case of mistaken identity. That’s if we ever
get out of here alive.'

She hung her
head. 'I’m sorry, Danny, I… I needed the story. It was the only
way.'

She reached for
him, but Danny pushed her away. 'You fucking selfish cow… Tell you
what, kiddo, it’s over.' He shook his head in disgust.

'Please, Danny,
I’m sorry. Please don’t say it’s over. Please,' Shelly begged,
reaching for him again.

Danny stood up.
Listing to one side and holding his ribs, he moved as far away from
her as he could. With his back against the wall, his voice barely
above a whisper as he tried to control his emotions, he stared at
the woman he had one day hoped to marry. 'You said there was
more?'