booksnew/build/bane/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
    <title>1</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href="page-template.xpgt"/>
</head>
<body>
<div id="text">
<div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
<h1>24</h1>

<p>I walked out of Holly's bar into the sunlight that slipped through the grey clouds and all around me was bedlam.</p>

<p>There was noise everywhere and movement, blurred at first as my eyes tried to focus. When everything sprang into clarity, I almost fell back inside the bar again.</p>

<p>The main street was like a rodeo. Somebody had let the horses loose from the riding school up on the hill and they were stampeding through the town, clattering along the main street, like a scene from a bad western.</p>

<p>A woman cowered against a wall on the far side while the horses galloped by, neighing and whinnying and arching their necks, As one big roan shot past, it kicked out viciously. It's hoof missed by scant inches. If it had connected, it would have taken her head clean off. An iron shoe clattered on the wall and sent up sparks.</p>

<p>Further down the street, a teenager came round the corner and saw the animals streaming towards him and he took off. Instead of ducking back the way he had come, he ran in the opposite direction. He got about ten yards and a grey mare in the lead stamped him down. I could hear the sickening thud, even at that distance. There was a brief scream that was instantly cut off and I didn't want to see any more. There must have been more than a dozen horses milling around at breakneck speed. The sound of their passing was like thunder. I braced myself against the door and then flung myself out, gauging the distance between me and the nearest horse.</p>

<p>With luck and good timing, I made it with seconds to spare and rounded the corner.</p>

<p>And I got the fright of my life.</p>

<p>A big black horse was rearing up on its hind legs and smashing its front hooves down on the jeep's engine cover. By the time I reached the corner, it must have been going at it for a while, because the bodywork was covered in dents and half the windscreen was starred all over. But that wasn't all.</p>

<p>A dog had climbed up on the roof, scrabbling at the paintwork and howling dementedly, and there were two others, one a big Doberman type that jumped up and smacked against the passenger window where I could see Paddy cringing back, terror slashed across her face. Another squat dog was snarling at the front tyre. It looked like one of those fighting pit-bulls the guys down at the shacks on Milligs shore-side used to breed.</p>

<p>I took a deep breath, then sprinted down the alley towards the jeep and took a dive past the haunches of the stallion that was trying to pound it into the road. Just at the door, I slipped and almost skittered right under the wheels on my ass on the cobbles.</p>

<p>On the roof, the snarling animal whirled and took a snap at me as soon as I regained my feet and jerked on the door-handle. I backhanded it with a satisfying swipe that made its teeth click together.</p>

<p>I got the door open. The look on Paddy's face made the risk worth-while.</p>

<p>The door was what saved me from getting my spine broken in two, for I was just about to haul into the driving seat that horse lashed out at me and got me a sickener right on my shoulder. I'd been too busy watching the dog line up for another bite and watching at my heels in case the other two came round for more of the same, that I'd been unable to guard my front.</p>

<p>The blow almost knocked me down, but I had one hand on the steering wheel and the top rim of the door took most of the force, warping out of shape. But for that, I'd have been typing this one-handed, or most likely, not writing at all. The pain was huge, so intense that the grip of the dog's teeth on my thigh went almost un-noticed. I hit it a hard-knuckle jab and it tumbled backwards. The horse reared for another stamp. Foam flicked out of its open mouth, splatting the windscreen.</p>

<p>I leapt inside and slammed the door shut.</p>

<p>My hands were shaking and my right arm almost paralysed, but I managed to get the key in the ignition and start the engine. All the time I was yelling at Paddy to get down and stay down. Looking back, I must have only added to her terror.</p>

<p>The engine roared and I slammed into gear, gunned the accelerator and shot the clutch. The jeep jumped forward with a squeal of four wheel drive and I hit that big black fucker suck a slam that I must have broken both its legs and caved in its ribs. I heard the crunch of the impact and despite its weight, the stallion was thrown back on its haunches and slammed against the wall. I don't suppose the animal-huggers will give me bonus points but I swear I let out a whoop of glee and I wished that crazy horse in a hot hell.</p>

<p>On the passenger side, the big black-and-tan dog slammed at the glass a couple of times, leaving smears of blood and saliva, but I shot out of that alley like a cork from a bottle and hauled right to get away from the rest of the rodeo madhouse.</p>

<p>There was a blur on the left as another dog flee up near the front wheel in a tumbling arc. The jeep lurched and there was a judder that twisted the steering wheel so hard I had to pull it to keep going straight.</p>

<p>It wasn't until I managed to get to the relative safety of the road to old Mr Bennett's smallholding that I unsnapped Paddy's seat-belt and eased myself out, painfully and gingerly. I went round and helped her out and again felt her shiver against me, and then I was flooded with a hot wave of guilt for leaving her alone in the car and going upstairs with Helen Hollinger, no matter who was pulling
    <em>those</em> strings.</p>

<p>But Paddy didn't cry, and she didn't look accusingly at me. She just held on tight until the shudders stopped.</p>

<p>Then I looked down at the nearside tyre and found why the steering had gone. The tread was ripped to shreds and the jagged hole in the rubber was matted with blood and hair and bits of bone. That little bastard had stayed gripped on tight until its head was crushed.</p>

<p>By this time, my nerves were would up tight enough to play tunes on, and Paddy was still in shock. I stood her by the fence at the side of the road and pulled the car into the verge. I opened the tailgate and rummaged around for the jack and hauled out what I'd need. But I couldn't find the wheel-brace and without that, I couldn't take off the chewed tyre. If I couldn't change the wheel, we were going nowhere, and I did not relish the idea of hanging around in nightmare central for a minute more than I had to.</p>

<p>We were quite close to Duncan Bennett's cottage, so I grabbed Paddy's hand and made to go along the road. She came without a word.</p>

<p>The old man wasn't in when I rapped on the door. His storm-doors were wide open, and when I tried the handle on the inside, the door opened, which meant he was around somewhere. I checked in his lean-to garage. The place was littered with tools and there were a few big spanners, so I thought I'd have something to get the wheel-nuts off.</p>

<p>I called out a couple of times, then we went round to the back garden. He wasn't in sight, and I was about to turn back when I thought I saw smoke rising at the far end of his field, in against the trees where the old man kept his hives. We climbed the rickety stile and through the wet grass in the direction of the smoke plume. I thought seeing the old fellow harvest honey might distract Paddy while I fixed up the wheel.</p>

<p>The closer we got to the corner of the field, the louder came the buzzing of the bees. Right in under the big oak, we could see a grey haze of insects and we moved towards them. I was telling Paddy about the hives when I stopped very suddenly. Paddy looked up at me.</p>

<p>The smoke canister was lying on the grass, about ten yards from the end hive, trailing fumes into the air. The old man was nowhere to be seen. I scanned along the row of white box-hives while the bees droned in a milling crowd under the big oak.</p>

<p>Then I saw a splash of red on the ground at the far hive and moved closer. I walked about fifteen steps and stopped dead in my tracks. I must have gripped Paddy's hand tight, for she have a little yelp.</p>

<p>The red splash was Duncan Bennett's shirt.</p>

<p>The old man was lying face-up on the short grass that surrounded his hives. At first I thought he might have fainted, or worse, had a heart attack and I started forward, but already my instinct was telling me something was wrong. Something wrong with his
    <em>&shy;face.</em></p>

<p>I edged a bit closer and halted again. Paddy started to say something and I hushed her to silence. Bees were crawling all over the old man, but that wasn't what froze me. His whole face was purple and swollen up like a Halloween mask, so lumpenly inflated that his neck had expanded to with width of his head and those little wire-frame glasses he wore were embedded so deeply into the skin they were hardly visible. I stood there, frozen for what seemed a long time, until it dawned on me what had happened.</p>

<p>By the time I did, it was almost to late.</p>

<p>The buzzing was louder now, and much closer; a fierce hum, like electrical wires arcing. Paddy noticed it first.</p>

<p>
    'Nick' she called. 'Look Look over there!'</p>

<p>Panic was rising in her voice.</p>

<p>I looked up and my muscle all went slack. The dark corner of the field, right under the shade of that oak tree, was a
    <em>mass</em> of bees, an immense swarm that must have contained every worker, drone and queen in all the hives. There were mounds of insects hanging in brown clumps from the trunk and branches, so many that the thinner twigs bent down with their weight. All around them was a thick, fast-moving cloud of insects. As I stared at them, whole wedges of the clumps came dropping off and taking to the air to join the cloud. The air darkened and the buzz grew angry.
</p>

<p>'Paddy, walk back slowly,' I hissed. I couldn't remember of loud noise antagonised bees, but I was in no mood to experiment. Waving my hand behind me, I motioned her away and gingerly tip-toed backwards, away from the huge swarm and away from the poor old guy who was surely dead. I remember hoping to god that he
    <em>was</em> dead. With every step I took, more and more of the cluster shaled off the oak tree until the air was thick. The noise grew so loud it was like a vibration in my bones. When I reached the furthest hive, I turned. Paddy hadn't got for and she was standing still, staring at the swarm.
</p>

<p>'Come on. Let's move,' I said and started walking fast across the field. She came at my side, but the noise, if anything, just got louder and when we were half-way to the stile I stopped to look back and my poor heart, which should have been used to it by now (but wasn't) gave a hard lurch.</p>

<p>For the cloud suddenly billowed out in a dark explosion from the shade into the light and came rolling across the grass directly towards us.</p>

<p>In my mind flashed a picture of gentle old Duncan Bennett , and what had clearly happened to him.</p>

<p>That gave me a big enough jolt of adrenalin to scoop Paddy right off the ground and, without breaking stride, I sprinted for the stile.</p>

<p>There was none of the dreamscape stuff about my retreat. My feet did not become tangled in the grass and I did not slip back in the mud. I was not, as was normal for me, rooted to the spot. This was for real.</p>

<p>Paddy was a feather in my arms and my strides felt ten feet long, and if there had been a clock on me I swear I would have broken any record for that hundred metres or so. And when I got to the fence, I was in too much of a hurry to use the wooden steps. I went over it like a champion hurdler. Me and Paddy landed clean as a whistle on the path on the far side with not a slip or a stumble. I scooted up the path, through the garage and round the front where I barged straight into the cottage and slammed the door with a flick of my free hand.</p>

<p>Then I let my breath out in one long whoop, dumped Paddy on the floor and straightened up. Then the adrenalin reaction hit me like a kick from that horse and I spun round so that when I threw up she wouldn't be splattered. I did so, quickly and in great heaves. It all missed her.</p>

<p>I stumbled through to the kitchen, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and gasping for air. When I finally got my breath back enough to speak, I called from the hallway.</p>

<p>
    'C'mon Paddy.' My voice sounded like an old man's.</p>

<p>She came through the doorway, waking backwards. 'They're at the front door. I can hear them,' she said.</p>

<p>I could hear them too, over the pounding in my ears. 'Yeah, but it's all right. They can't get in.'</p>

<p>I wasn't entirely sure of that and wondered what I would do about it if they
    <em>did</em> all come swarming inside, but I was reasonably sure that no more than a few would manage to find whatever cracks and vents might exist, and I could handle that. I've been stung before.
</p>

<p>The bees continued to batter themselves to death on the door and windows, a constant drumming that went on and on. After a while, it began to lessen and when I thought it might be safer, I opened the door just a crack, ready to slam it shut in the event of an ambush.</p>

<p>On the sill and underneath the windows, thousands of dead bees formed mounds.</p>

<p>Paddy and I sat in the kitchen, letting the tension ebb. What with Helen Hollinger and the crazy horses and mad dogs, and my race from the swarm, I'd had an energetic day.</p>

<p>There was nothing for it but to light the gas stove. Old Mr Bennett's iron kettle was full and I would have murdered for a cup of coffee. As it happened, he only had tea, the British cure for all ills. I made it strong for me and weak for Paddy, but with plenty of sugar and we both sipped gratefully.</p>

<p>Sitting across the table from her I couldn't help but feel she'd had the really raw any of any deal. Her mother broken and badly hurt up in emergency care, and then the crazy scary drive on the back roads trying to find a way of getting to her. Then she'd been attacked by the horses and dogs. And the bees.</p>

<p>I thanked every god I could think of for the fact that I'd been able to get us out of that field ahead of the swarm. If I'd stumbled once, or twisted my ankle whilst leaping that fence, we would both be still out there. And it might have taken us a long time to die in agony. The thought made me shudder.</p>

<p>
    'Paddy?'</p>

<p>She looked up.</p>

<p>
    'How're you doing?' I tried an encouraging smile.</p>

<p>'How are <em>you</em> doing?'</p>

<p>'Good and bad.'</p>

<p>'Is that good, or is that bad?'</p>

<p>'Well, we're still in one piece, aren't we?'</p>

<p>She nodded. 'I s'pose so.'</p>

<p>She looked straight into my eyes. 'What's happening? Why has everything gone so horrible?'</p>

<p>'I don't know, sweetheart. But I'm going to do my very best to get you away from it.'</p>

<p>She kept looking at me, and fingering the torc around her neck. Maybe there
    <em>was</em> something special about that simple cold necklet.</p>

<p>'I don't think we can get away,' she said. 'It wants us. It wants to kill us.'</p>

<p>'What makes you think that.</p>

<p>'I don't know. I just
    <em>do.</em> I can feel it. It's like there's something that hates us, waiting in the dark. I just know it, the way I know my Mom's going to be all right.'
</p>

<p>'This thing, whatever it is, what does it look like?'</p>

<p>'I see it in my dreams. But I can't see it properly because it's all shadowy and it keeps
    <em>changing.</em> It's got big white eyes and it's really horrible.'</p>

<p>'We see lots of horrible stuff in dreams. And lots of nice things too.'</p>

<p>'But this thing. I've seen it before, but I don't know when.'</p>

<p>'How do you mean. You and your Mum just arrived here.'</p>

<p>'I don't know. But I saw it a long time ago. Maybe when I was small. And the old lady was there, the one who gave me the flowers.'</p>

<p>How could she know about the flowers her mother was given when she herself was a child?</p>

<p>'What flowers were these?</p>

<p>'The flowers in the field. The lady comes in other dreams and puts the flowers around my neck, and she smiles and I know the flowers are
    <em>good</em> just like that thing with the white eyes is <em>bad.'</em></p>

<p>'When the old lady gives you flowers, where are you?'</p>

<p>'Down at the stream. I'm with other people, but I can't see them.'</p>

<p>'And you're sure it's an old lady. Not a young one with golden hair?'</p>

<p>
    'She's got golden hair, with some silver in it. But she's not young. She's
    <em>old</em>. But she smiles and she's got twinkly eyes and I know she wants to help me.'</p>

<p>I sat back amazed. Paddy was having a recurring dream that was at least twenty years older than she was, a dream her mother had had long ago when we'd taken the mushrooms and smoked the saxifrage mixture. How the hell could that be possible?</p>

<p>What the hell, I thought. After the past couple of days, when my whole world had turned itself inside out, what was as little touch of ESP compared to roads that took you back to where you started and seabirds that speared people to death and trees that grabbed at four-wheel-drives?</p>

<p>A couple of days more of this and I would take levitation as par for the course.</p>

<p>Paddy interrupted my train of thought.</p>

<p>
    'What'll we do now?'</p>

<p>'I don't know, for sure. I'm trying to think about it. But we should stay here for a while, until they go away.'</p>

<p>I felt bad about leaving old Mr Bennett out there beside the beehives, but he was dead and there was nothing I could do about it. He wouldn't have minded us using his place as a haven. 'Maybe we should stay the night.'</p>

<p>Paddy quickly agreed.</p>

<p>'I don't want to go out there again, until we know they're really gone.'</p>

<p>'Me neither.'</p>

<p>We did stay the night. It rained heavily and any bees that were left would have headed for shelter, so I hoped. I lit the log fire and Paddy sat on my knee, leaning against my chest while I sat and looked into the embers, thinking about what the morning would bring. She fell asleep after darkness fell and I carried her in to bed. I pulled the blanket over both of us and wrapped an arm round her shoulder, listening to her soft, child's breathing in the night. I must have fallen asleep soon after and I don't remember any dreams.</p>

<p>Paddy woke before me and shook me until I came swimming up out of it. I was stiff, and my shoulder was telegraphing messages I tried hard to ignore. I had felt a lot better on plenty of other mornings, but it could have been worse. I could have been lying out there with a face like a rotting plum, and worse, the little girl I was supposed to be looking after, could have been lying there with me.</p>

<p>
    'Nick!' Paddy spoke right into my ear. I shook my head groggily.</p>

<p>'Yeah. I'm awake. What's up?'</p>

<p>'Do you want me to make breakfast?' her voice sounded bright. It was a new day, and I suppose, through the drizzle outside, the sun was making a go of it.</p>

<p>'Coffee if you can find any,' I said. 'Tea if you can't.'</p>

<p>
    'Sure.' She bounded out of bed. I felt a bit tacky and my jeans had rucked up and creased behind my knees, digging into the skin. There was a sour taste in my mouth.</p>

<p>'I don't know how to light the stove', she called from the kitchen. 'I've never seen one like this before.'</p>

<p>I ended up making tea. I got the stove lit and stoked up the fire, remembering from childhood how to push the damper to heat the back boiler.</p>

<p>I put on some porridge oats to boil in a saucepan.. It was hot and thick and drowned in milk. Paddy had never tasted it before and was a bit put off by the grey gloopy look, but after the first spoonful she wolfed it and scraped the pot and ladle clean.</p>

<p>Both of us felt better after a warm bellyful and we sat at the table working out our next move.</p>

<p>I decided I should go out and check the bees, but before I did, I searched around until I found a piece of muslin that had probably been used for straining fruit for jam, and in an old wardrobe, I dug out a large blue hat with a wide brim. The little posy of silk flowers on the outside band told me it had probably been the old woman's best Sunday hat when she was alive.</p>

<p>It didn't fit and I didn't care. I stuck it on my head and spread the muslin over it, gathering the corners together and tucking them into my shirt collar. Paddy laughed when she saw me, a delighted, healthy laugh that made me smile for the first time in a while. I wrapped dishcloths round my neck and used two tea-towels around my hands for protection.</p>

<p>Then I cautioned Paddy to wait inside, with all the doors shut, and went out, warily peering beyond the lintel. Everything was fogged by the muslin, but the only sound was the pattering of rain.</p>

<p>I closed the door quickly behind me and carefully went along the path, ready at any moment to dash back inside.</p>

<p>But there was no swarm. The bees seemed to have left. If they had gone back to the hives, then they were far down in the corner of the field and I was content to leave them there. Under no circumstances, I was sure, could I repeat yesterday's athletic feat.</p>

<p>The big spanner in Duncan Bennett's lean-to fitted the wheel nuts and after much effort, they came loose. Paddy watched from the window as I worked, leaning on the sill, cupping her chin with her hands. I knew she was watching out for the bees.</p>

<p>The wheel came off and I dumped it on the verge. The tyre was a ruin. I unshipped the spare and heaved it into position. The job didn't take long, though I was sweating a bit by the time I spun the jack lever and the jeep settled back down. I threw the jack in the back along with the spanner, next to my waterproof jacket and my grandfather's old walking stick and that worn canvas-covered bottle that Father Cronin had given me.</p>

<p>I motioned to Paddy and she came out. I made sure she was strapped in and went round making sure all the windows were shut tight, just in case, and something made me check that all the doors were locked from the inside too. Maybe survival instinct was taking over, or maybe it was just paranoia, but by then I didn't really care to analyse myself.</p>

<p>We went back along the main street, past Ronnie Scott's garage - or Alan's garage now - and out to the far end of town to the blown-up bridge. I had half hoped that the four wheel drive could have got us across the stream, but there was no way it could negotiate the steep banks. Even in low gear and all wheels turning the jeep started to slew dangerously and dig itself in. I back-tracked a bit and went down by the shacks on the shore side where there was a cattle ford, but after the rains, the stream was in spate and that way too was blocked. I reversed out and went back up the track and turned right at the old dog-runs.</p>

<p>Then I had to stamp hard on the brake.</p>

<p>Four people stood on the path in front of me. A few others lounged against a grey-weathered shack.</p>

<p>When I braked, the car slithered forward and the four figures jumped out of the way, and as I passed, I recognised Billy Ruine and the rest of his pals who had been giving Colin Blackwood a hard time at the festival. He recognised me in the same instant, as the jeep lurched past.</p>

<p>Over the whine of the engine, I heard him yell something and then a beer-bottle came from nowhere and landed smack on the roof just above my head and skittered off. I twisted round and saw Ruine pick something up. I thought it was branch or a piece of two by four and I swung back round to watch the path.</p>

<p>'Bloody cretins,' I hissed under my breath, ramming down on the pedal and dropping a gear. I flicked a glance at the rear-view and saw him stand in the middle of the track, pointing the thing at me and in the same instant that sudden comprehension slammed into my brain, there was one almighty roar and a thumping clatter on the back of the jeep that fogged the window to a white blanket.</p>

<p>Paddy squealed and my hands jerked so violently I almost went off the path into a scrubby hedge. That was a stroke of luck, because the second shot hit the side panel, instead of the rear window which would have caved in and showered us with glass and hy-max goose shot.</p>

<p>I swung the jeep onto the straight with one hand and shoved Paddy's head between her knees with the other and took off up that track like a ferret up a roan-pipe. At the main road I turned hard left, feeling the rear wheels fish-tail on the slick tarmac, but there was no traffic to worry about and when I was headed back into town, I began to calm down.</p>

<p>
    'It's all right now,' I said. 'You can get up now.'</p>

<p>She lifted hear head wary and squirmed to look behind her.</p>

<p>'What happened?'</p>

<p>'Somebody threw something.'</p>

<p>She looked straight at me and shook her head. 'That was a gun. I know what one sounds like.'</p>

<p>'Okay. It was a gun. Some idiot shot at the car, but they're far behind now.'</p>

<p>By this time my heart had settled down to a mere racing thud and I slowed the jeep as we rolled through Milligs.</p>

<p>'Why did they shoot at us?' she wanted to know.</p>

<p>'Drunk, or crazy. Or maybe both. There's a lot of crazy stuff happening.'</p>

<p>'They want to kill us.'</p>

<p>'No. they're just drunk. They'll shoot at anything. Anyway, we're all right, aren't we?'</p>

<p>'I guess so,' Paddy said dubiously.</p>

<p>I was beginning to settle down when I caught a movement in the wing mirror. A car had come belting out of the side road and swung out behind us. A cloud of blue smoke belched from under the chassis and the car swayed from side to side.</p>

<p>
    'Shit,' I said, and it should have been under my breath, but wasn't. Paddy heard, and she must have seen me glance in the mirror for she looked in the nearside one.</p>

<p>
    'It's them. They're coming after us.'</p>

<p>I boosted the pedal and the jeep lurched ahead, accelerating fast. The beat-up old car behind was packed with people and there was something sticking out of the side window, which I was damned sure
    <em>wasn't</em> a piece of wood.</p>

<p>We hammered along the road with the old car following in its cloud of exhaust. Somebody leaned out and I started swerving from one side to the other when there was a flash and a patter like hailstones again, followed by another roar.</p>

<p>I told Paddy to get down and speeded up. I had to keep well ahead of them, because if Ruine and his mad team got closer, they could blow a whole clean through the bodywork. I preferred to avoid that scenario.</p>

<p>The team behind let off a couple more shots that didn't do much more than chip the paint and I decided to get out of the firing line. As we neared the field where the festival had been held, I jerked the wheel and slewed up the side road that would take us past Duncan Bennett's place again. I was going too fast and my attention was diverted, but when I looked in the rear view again I saw that beat-up old saloon swerve in behind us. One of our wheels caught the verge and the jeep jumped about a yard into the air and we went nose-first into a hedge. The engine coughed and then stopped. I was cursing non-stop as I fumbled with the key and slammed into reverse. The wheels dug in and we came back a foot or so and then the engine died again. I didn't have time for another try, for right behind me the pursuit came charging up the road and there was a screech of brakes as it slithered to a halt.</p>

<p>I hit Paddy's release and in the same motion I grabbed her arm and hauled her over to my side and flung the door open. We rolled out on the lee side.</p>

<p>Paddy landed on top of me and my hip hit something hard. The hedge was full of thorns but there was enough space between the stems for me to shove her through to the other side and for me to scramble after her, all the time expecting to get my backside shot to mincemeat.</p>

<p>But I must have been quick, for no shot came.</p>

<p>Out on the other side was a wide garden, then a row of cottages ahead and I got to my feet and took off at full pelt, not bothering to lift Paddy. Instead I grabbed her collar like a cop making an arrest and literally ran her right across the flower beds to the fence at the far side. I supposed I could have choked her to death, but I never even thought about that, and I don't think her feet even touched the ground.</p>

<p>There was a whole string of curses and plenty of shouting from the other side of the hedge and then a crashing sound as the gang realised where I'd gone and began to follow us. I reached the fence and lifted Paddy over and vaulted it, landing with a thump in somebody's cabbage patch. It didn't hurt. Paddy grabbed my hand and helped me to my feet and I got a glimpse of her face, white and shocked. By this time, two figures clambered through the hedge and although I didn't see the gun, I didn't wait to find out. We raced through the row of gardens like marines on an assault course. Every time I came to a wall or wicker fence, I just boosted her over like a rucksack, trusting to her reflexes to land on her feet. Bruises were infinitely preferable to what Ruin's crazy gang were intending, but I have to say that Paddy was going like a cat and landed like one every time, on her feet and moving fast.</p>

<p>At the second to last garden we faced a six-foot lattice. I hoisted her to the top and shoved her over, but in doing so, I lost momentum and when I tried to climb it, my feet slipped and scrabbled on the wood. I took a dozen steps back and took a run at it and jumped, grabbed the top and swung my legs up. Just as I did so there was another roar of gunfire and the fence simply disintegrated underneath me. The shot blasted a two-foot hole just where my spine had been only a second before and the thump rattled the fence so hard it threw me off and down the other side.</p>

<p>I caught up with Paddy and instead of going across the wall at the end house, I swung her round the gable end and round to the front, doubling back out of sight of our pursuers. I reckoned they'd run straight on, and if I got back to the jeep before they realised their mistake, we could be miles away before they got back to their wheels.</p>

<p>What I didn't realise, for I hadn't spent much time looking over my shoulder, is that not all of Ruine's gang had followed us through the hedge.</p>

<p>I was almost doubled over from breathlessness and had an appalling stitch in my side by the time we reached the first cottage and angled across a lawn, heading for the hedge. We reached a wooden gate and I hung on the bars for a moment, whooping air into my lungs. The gate swung open when I pushed it and I took Paddy's hand, turning towards where the jeep was still angled into the verge.</p>

<p>Paddy stopped suddenly. I looked down. She was rigid, staring past me. I followed her gaze and froze.</p>

<p>That was when I discovered that only two of them had come through the hedge after us.</p>

<p>Billy Ruine was standing five yards away, with a big grin all over his weasely face and a twelve-bore over-and-under shotgun in the crook of his arm. Paddy let out a little whimper and I gripped her hand tight.</p>

<p>'Well, well. Clark fucking Kent.' Ruin said. 'And nobody to back him up this time.'</p>

<p>There was a crazy look of hate and glee in his eyes.</p>

<p>I took a step backwards, thinking of making a dash back through the gate, but Ruine swung the gun up and aimed it right at my belly, which cringed in anticipation.</p>

<p>
    'Don't even think about it. I've got you right where I want you,'</p>

<p>He grinned again and looked round at his cronies. Ruine was the only one with a gun, but the others had thick sticks and somebody had an angle-iron fence bar. They all sniggered.</p>

<p>'Kill him, Billy,' somebody said. 'Take his fuckin' head off.'</p>

<p>'I want the girl,' said a big heavy boy with a sparse gingery beard. 'Let's have some fun.'</p>

<p>When I heard that, my stomach did lurch hard, and I didn't know what I was going to do. Instinctively I pulled Paddy behind me and Ruine kept the gun steady, right on my belly.</p>

<p>'Two for the price of one, eh?' he said softly, but with deadly threat. 'This'll go right through you and blow her to bits.'</p>

<p>'Do it Billy. Give it to 'em.'</p>

<p>I couldn't take my eyes off the two black holes at the end of the barrels.</p>

<p>Just at that moment, the gate swung open and two men burst out. Billy Ruine's gun swung away from us. One of the men had a gun and was whirling round when there was a blast from Ruine's gun and an instantaneous ripping sound right behind my ear. I whirled and saw a red mist billow out behind the man who was standing only a few beet distant.</p>

<p>It seemed to take an age, although it must have been less than a second, to figure out what was wrong with him as he stood swaying for a moment.</p>

<p>He had no head.</p>

<p>The blast of both barrels had exploded it into a rain of red fragments that painted the side of the hedgerow.</p>

<p>For that one second we were all frozen. Billy Ruine stared at the toppling, headless man and for an instant the madness in his eyes changed to disbelief. There was a thud as the falling body hit the grass and everybody stared, wide-eyed, as its legs jittered, as if it were trying to run.</p>

<p>I started out of shock first and my mind went into hyperdrive. I snatched Paddy's arm and took off along the road to Mr Bennett's place me before anybody had a chance to move.</p>

<p>From behind, I heard somebody shout: 'It's Tommy. You've killed Tommy!' And then there was a whole lot of screaming and yelling and I was dragging Paddy along like a rag doll, in a blind panic to get to safety before anybody had the sense to pick up the second shotgun. All the way, I was kicking myself for not thinking of it first.</p>

<p>Billy Ruine had shot off his brother's head.</p>

<p>Paddy and I made it to the cottage wall when the gun went off again, maybe sixty yards behind, but Billy Ruine wasn't as accurate at that range as he had been at point blank with his brother. The shot rapped off the wall and ricocheted into the back of my leg, smacking into the wet jeans like a paddle. My right foot shot away from me and I went down in a heap, almost dragging Paddy with me. My calf shrieked with sudden pain, but even then I yelled at her.</p>

<p>'Run, Paddy. Get into the trees and keep going.'</p>

<p>She hesitated for a second, and looked at me,. Her face wide with fright, then she was off and up the garden path and through the open lean-to and gone from sight. I hauled to my feet and limped round by the wall. My leg was hurting and the muscle had gone numb and there was no way I'd make any speed until it settled down, but I hoped to get inside the cottage and bar the door and hold them off for a while, at least until Paddy got clear. I was sure Duncan had an old four-ten somewhere, which, while not as powerful as Ruin's cannon, would be just as effective at close range. It was a possible chance of getting out of this.</p>

<p>I almost made it to the door when Ruine's voice made me spin. He was standing at the gate.</p>

<p>'You fuckin' cunt. You made me kill Tommy. You made me shoot my own fuckin' brother.' His voice had risen to a hoarse screech.</p>

<p>That was when the second miracle happened.</p>

<p>Billy Ruine slowly and deliberately raised the gun and pointed it at my head. He began to laugh, high-pitched, almost hysterical, but not enough to make the gun barrel waver at all. I had nowhere to run.</p>

<p>At that moment, there was a loud buzzing roar and a black streak caught the corner of my eye. Billy Ruine turned again, just in time to see the motorbike that was almost upon him. In that same instant, he pulled the trigger and the widow of the cottage caved in with a crash.</p>

<p>Just then father Gerry swung a golden sword over his head and hit Ruine such a massive blow that it felled him where he stood.</p>

<p>The priest was like a black knight on a black charger, his visor gleaming. And in his hand, what I thought was a sword, was the big crucifix that had stood on top of the tabernacle in the seminary chapel.</p>

<p>The priest wielded it just like a great sword. As he held it up, the precious stone inlays caught the sunlight, making it look like an exquisite Excalibur.</p>

<p>Over the throb of the engine, I could hear him roaring out a chant, although I couldn't make out the words.</p>

<p>He charged down that road and into the bunch of men who still stood across it, near where Tommy Ruine's body was still twitching, and the priest's arm swung high in the air and the golden cross crashed into the beefy boy's head. Even at that distance I saw blood fly and the man who had wanted to have fun with Paddy dropped like a sack.</p>

<p>Gerry went right through them, still swinging that crucifix. He turned at the bend and came back again.</p>

<p>This time the men scattered and although I should have taken advantage of his intervention, that second miracle, I couldn't move. The cross went up again and came sweeping down on the slowest of them. His skill caved in. The faces of the other two were white with fear as the priest chased them up the road.</p>

<p>Suddenly I could move again. Gerry was shouting something about the soldiers of the lord and I left him to fight the good fight.</p>

<p>I went through the lean-to and into the back garden. The pain in my leg was still burning, but there was no blood and the numbness was wearing off.</p>

<p>I got over the fence and went straight across the field and into the trees, avoiding the corner where the bees had ambushed us. I hoped Paddy had remembered to do just that. I hadn't thought to warn her, although something told me she was too damned smart to have gone near the hives, no matter how scared she was.</p>

</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>