31 Days of Autumn (32 page)

‘I miss Jo-Jo,’ he moaned.

‘I miss him, too. I miss them all.’ On top of
everything else, I was fretting about how Eva was coping without me, being
weaned suddenly from my breast and having to drink formula from a bottle
instead. I was finally starting to feel less engorged from the lack of nursing,
and I was devastated that I'd been forced to end breastfeeding my baby so
abruptly. I turned with my armful to find James holding out the jumper that
he’d knotted, and I fed all of the items through the neck hole.

‘Right, I’ll carry Master Oliver. Let’s move
out.’

‘I’m not coming,’ I replied, shaking my head.

‘What?’ he snapped.

‘I was never coming, James. Be realistic, I can
barely walk with my leg like this. I’ll slow you both down. You stand a better
chance just the two of you.’

‘I’m not leaving you behind, Ellie! We go
together, or we don’t go at all.’

‘You don’t have a choice, James. If we stay,
they’ll likely kill you or me for what we’ve done, possibly both of us. You
take Oliver and you go. If they don’t catch you, I’ll be perfectly safe as they
have no one to bargain with if they kill me.
Please
, the others could
come looking any minute, take my son and go.’ Tears formed in my eyes, but I
nodded firmly at him.

‘Ellie,’ James sighed. The look on his face
told me that he knew it was his only option, he was just trying to be gallant
by offering to stay.

‘If it was one of your children and you were in
my position, you’d do the same, I know it. You were prepared to sacrifice
yourself for us, and we’re not even blood. I’ll never be able to thank you
enough for that. Do this for me, for my son,
please.
Whatever happens to
me I can bear it, because I’ll know my baby is safe with you.’

‘I don’t like this,’ he nodded, ‘I don’t like
this at all.’ He blew out a hard, fast breath and turned and strode towards
Oliver.

‘Keep your eyes closed, Oliver, but there’s
nothing to be scared of, it’s Uncle James.’ I watched as James slung the
makeshift bag over his shoulder, then picked up Oliver, who quickly put his
arms around James’s neck. I bit my top lip as tears streamed down my face. I
knew there was a real possibility that I may never see him again. James carried
him to me and I stepped forward and put my arms around both of them, nuzzling
into Oliver’s neck, my heart breaking.

‘Mummy?’ he sniffed.

‘It’s me, darling. Now Uncle James is taking
you home, then he’ll come back and get me. I need you to do whatever he tells
you, ok? You imagine that Uncle James is Daddy and do as you’re told. Do you
promise me?’

‘Yes,’ he whispered, sniffing back his tears.

‘You’re going to play a game first. You have to
stay as quiet as a mouse, no matter what happens, until James gives you
permission to talk again. Can you do that?’

‘A game?’ he repeated.

‘Yes, and if you can keep quiet and do whatever
he tells you, there’ll be the biggest pepperoni pizza and a whole tub of Ben
and Jerry’s as a reward. Does that sound like a fair deal?’

‘Yes.’

‘Keep your eyes closed while Mummy kisses you
goodbye.’ I wiped my face on my grubby sleeve and clasped his face, taking one
last look at him, wishing I could see his lovely green eyes one last time. I
peppered his face with kisses, my heart breaking as he started to giggle. I
hadn’t heard that sound since Thursday morning as he and Jonas played on the
floor in the lounge. ‘Take him, before I change my mind,’ I sobbed, kissing
James on the cheek.

‘I will come back for you, you know,’ he
nodded, tears welling up in his eyes.

‘Don’t make promises you know you can’t keep,
James,’ I replied with a heavy heart. Odds were I wasn’t going to make it out
of here. ‘I love you, Oliver.’

‘I love you too, Mummy,’ he nodded, making my
chest rattle as I tried desperately to stem my tears.

‘The game starts now, no more talking,’ I
warned him.

‘Be safe, and be smart, Ellie Davenport. It’s
been an honour.’ James pressed something into my palm. I looked down to see
what it was through my tears. It was one of the pocket knives that our captors
used. I looked up to thank him and say one last goodbye, but he’d gone. I was
all alone, with two dead bodies for company. My legs gave way and I grasped at
the door frame to keep me up. Using the wall for support, I made it to the
toilet, dropped the lid, and lowered myself onto it as I started to howl. I’d
just handed over the only thing I had left of my family in the hope that it
would keep him safe. It was like the last of my heart had just been hacked out.
I just had to pray that James would get away undetected, that no matter what
happened to me, Oliver would make it home.

‘Delta, talk to me! Sit rep, now!’ yelled a
voice. I stopped crying in an instant and stiffened up as I trained my eyes on
the open door. It sounded like Charlie. Given he killed Jenny without even
batting an eyelid, I didn’t feel any safer knowing it was him and not Alfa about
to discover what we’d done. I quickly slid the pocket knife between the gap of
the toilet seat and porcelain, and cringed as I heard the plop as it hit the
water. If I put it anywhere on me, they were likely to search me and find it. I
just had to hope that they wouldn’t check the toilet. I kept my eyes on the
door. I could hear someone talking quietly. He was probably letting Alfa know
that there was a problem. I took my chance to ease myself up and hobble back
over to my mattress. I slid down the wall and wrapped my arms tightly around
myself, hoping they’d take their time. The longer it took them to come in, the
longer before they discovered James and Oliver had gone. They needed a good
head start.

I started shaking as I waited. I was hungry and
seriously dehydrated. The last ten minutes, and saying goodbye to Oliver, had
sapped the last of my strength. I heard the noise of metal bouncing, again and
again, getting closer and closer until something cylindrical rolled next to my
mattress. As soon as I saw smoke coming from it, I hauled my jumper up over my
nose and tried to hold my breath. A grey fog started filling the room until I
could barely make out anything at all. I started spluttering, going dizzy from
trying not to breathe it in. It stung my eyes and made them water even harder
than the tears I was still shedding. I had to gasp for air, sucking in the
smoke and choking. I was coughing so hard that I hadn’t even noticed I wasn’t
alone anymore. I squinted up and made out a face encased in a mask.

‘What did you do, you
stupid
bitch?’ he yelled,
as I felt his fist connect with my face. My head was flung backwards with the
force of his punch, and cracked on the wall behind me. Everything started
spinning as I choked and my vision blurred. I was grateful that I was about to
black out. Being unconscious was far more preferable to whatever punishment
they had in store for me.

Damien
Daniels

I pressed my ear up against the locked bedroom
door as I heard a door slam and boots on the wooden floorboards. Something was
happening, something that had seriously pissed off Alfa, judging by his mutters
and storming out of here a short while ago.

‘He’s an old guy carrying a kid. How far can he
have gone?’

‘That “old guy” just killed two of our fucking
mates, Charlie, unless you think the bloody woman did it?’

‘Fair point. On the bright side, our share of
the profits just increased.’

‘Show some goddamn respect,’ Alfa roared. I
heard a crack and the sound of Charlie hissing through his teeth. ‘They were
soldiers, damn fine ones at that.’

‘So, what do you want me to do? Go and dig
their graves while James makes his escape? Soldiers die in battle, Alfa, we
know that all too well. We still have a mission to complete.’

‘Pass me the bloody map.’

I held my breath as I heard footsteps coming
towards my door. I was in the smaller of the two bedrooms, which had a set of
bunk beds and a tiny window with bars on the outside. Those were presumably to
keep pilferers out, not hostages in. The team had been in the larger one. There
was a sideboard against the wall between our two doors where they had their
maps and some of their weapons. I heard the rustle of paper and feet moving
away again.

‘This is our location,’ Charlie stated.

‘Right. He’s ex-Marines too, so he’s going to follow
the track as a pointer out of here, but keep a distance back, out of sight. If
he hears the river, he’ll move to see if he can cross it, to throw us off
tracking him.’

‘But he knows that we know that, too. What if
he does the opposite of our training to try and out manoeuvre us?’ Charlie
asked.

‘Then he’d probably wade along the edge of the
water for a while, to make it look as if he’d crossed, then return to the track
and follow it out of the woods.’

‘Or, knowing we’d come to that conclusion, he
could stick to plan A, or not go anywhere, stay here, and let us go out looking
for him while he rescues the woman as well.’

‘Shut the fuck up, Charlie, and let me think,’ Alfa
muttered. I couldn’t help but smile. My odds of making it out of this were
looking a lot better if there were only two of them left and they were arguing.
I wondered what had happened to Ellie, if they’d killed her as well. I
swallowed hard and ran a hand through my hair. ‘No, if I was on my own, that’s
what I’d do, wait here to try and rescue her or take us out. He’s got the kid,
he was prepared to die to protect them, he’ll do whatever it takes to get him
out safely, including leaving the mother behind. He’s making a break for it and
the track is his best option.’

‘He’s going to run out of food and the nearest
house out of the woods is here, about two clicks from a main road. It’s going
to take him a maximum twenty-four hours on foot, with the kid weighing him
down.’

‘Don’t stand here looking at me then, take the
Navara and go. Kill him for Delta and Bravo.’

‘Got it, boss. What about the kid?’

‘Do I look like I give a fuck? If I haven’t heard
from you in thirty-six hours, I’m moving out and taking Daniels with me.’

‘Roger that. What about the woman?’

‘She’s no use to me if Davenport comes through.
I’m happy to leave her locked down there. Bitch deserves a slow death. Even if
he doesn’t, we have a pretty decent payout to split.’

I heard boots returning to the sideboard and
the sound of weapons being loaded. On the plus side, if Charlie left, I only
had Alfa to worry about, but if Charlie found James? I grimaced and silently
cursed. The kid had been part of my plan all along, but if I could only walk
away with the money, that was going to have to be good enough.

Wednesday
16
^th
September

Dan

I left my study after speaking to Detective Carter,
Ian, and Marv. I was sick of no progress. Every hour that went by was another
hour that Ellie, my boy, and James were suffering. If they were even alive. The
deadline for my payment was ten a.m. tomorrow. Lucas’s father, who dealt with
all of my investments, assured me that he’d have the money ready to transfer
before the deadline. I’d been incredibly touched. Lucas and Summer, his
parents, as well as my own, had sat down and looked at their own assets and had
offered me as much cash as they had instant access to, in the hope it would
help. The amount was no longer the issue though, given we’d missed the first
deadline and I could already have the balance ready and waiting by tomorrow,
but even if I did pay it, I had no guarantee it would secure their safety.

‘Jonas, slow down,’ I barked as he shot from the
kitchen with a scream as Brooke chased him, nearly running into me.

‘Go to bed early and get some sleep, you’re
being cranky with the children,’ Brooke scolded with a disapproving scowl. ‘I’ll
bath them and put them to bed. Don’t make me blackmail you into submission.’

‘How can you just laugh and play like there’s
nothing wrong?’ I asked, scrubbing my hands over my face, bewildered and
hurting. ‘Ellie, Oliver, and James could be dead.’

‘Because if I stop and think about what’s
happening, I’d never stop crying, and distracting these two from how much they
miss her is helping me. It’s what she’d want. We’ve been friends for so long, I
think we have some astral connection or something. I know she’s still alive, I
can feel it. Please go and get some sleep, you look like hell. You haven’t even
shaved for days, it’s like I’m living with Grizzly Adams, by name and by
nature.’

‘Thank you.’ I felt gratitude for her
demeanour, but I had to force the smile to acknowledge it.

‘That was an insult, not a compliment.’

‘You know what I meant,’ I nodded, holding her
gaze. I hadn’t thanked her for letting me sob like a baby the other night. I’d
been embarrassed when I’d woken up the next morning to find she was still
there, holding my hand tightly. But true to her word, she’d not said a thing.
She’d just kissed me on the forehead and disappeared.

‘Whatever, it’s no biggie,’ she shrugged, her
pale freckled cheeks colouring up.

‘It was to me,’ I said sincerely. Ellie and I
were so lucky to have such amazing friends. Lucas and his family were still staying
here, as were Brooke and Molly. My parents, Magda, John, and Edward kept
calling around. Magda brought food, convinced Summer was letting us starve as
I’d lost so much weight in a short period of time. I couldn’t face eating, not
until I had them back.

‘Dada,’ a little voice called. I turned and my
breath caught in my throat. Eva was sitting on the floor with baby Logan while Molly
read them a story. She waved at me with a huge dimpled smile. With her dark hair
covered by her pink knitted hat, I could almost be looking at Ellie as a child.
I strode over and hoisted her up, making her squeal and giggle.

‘I love you, Eva Davenport, do you know that?’
I whispered as I kissed her cheeks repeatedly. ‘Your mum is going to be so mad
that she missed you take your first few steps on your own.’ I hugged her,
resting my cheek on the top of her head as she lay hers on my shoulder. I went
to sit on the sofa, keeping her on my chest as I sat back and watched Brooke
and Jonas chasing each other.

‘We’ll find her,’ Molly said quietly, looking
up at me.

‘What makes you so sure?’ I asked. I was
running out of hope, I needed everyone else’s.

‘Because we have to. When I found out she’d
been taken, I could remember everything about our last conversation, except I
couldn’t remember if I told her that I loved her,’ she nodded. ‘Each time I run
through it in my head, everything becomes so confused and jumbled that now I’m
not sure what’s real or what’s imaginary. She has to come back, because I need
to tell her, Dan. She needs to know how much I love her.’

‘She knows. Trust me, Molly, she knows.’

‘It’s really upset me. I know it shouldn’t
matter, but it really does. I don’t think I ever told Jenny how I felt about
her either. It’s just three little words that everyone needs to hear.
I love
you
. It’s not hard to say, is it? But I never told Jenny. She died not
knowing how much Brooke and I loved her.’ Molly reached up to rub her face as
tears started to trickle down her cheeks.

‘Come here,’ I ordered, not daring to move as
Eva had dozed off with my shirt collar clenched in one of her tiny fists. I
held out my right arm and Molly scrambled up and tucked herself into my side as
she cried.

‘I love you as well, Dan. Not in love, love,
I’ll only ever love my firecracker Brooke like that, but I love you like a
brother. I’m sorry I’ve never told you that before,’ she stammered, gasping for
air between her tears.

‘And I love you like a sister, Molly Hanson,’ I
murmured as I kissed the top of her head. ‘You’re an amazing friend, not just
to Ellie, or my children, but to me. Let’s make a pact. We’re going to find
Ellie and it’s going to be the first thing we both tell her, ok?

‘Ok,’ she agreed with a sniff.

‘O, babe,’ Brooke sighed as she appeared in
front of us with her hands on her hips.

‘I’ve got her, Brooke,’ I nodded. ‘Someone told
me that it’s better to let it out than keep it in.’

‘I tell her that all the time when I fart, but
she still has a go at me,’ Brooke winked, making me chuckle.

‘Brooke, it’s really not the time for jokes,’
Molly admonished, wiping her face.

‘Hey, it’s the first time he’s cracked a smile
in days. It’s such a great sight that I may eat a garlic shrimp vindaloo if the
result can make him smile again.’

‘No, thank you!’ Molly and I shot back in
unison, making Brooke pout. I shook my head and closed my eyes as they debated
why garlic affected her so badly. Feeling Eva breathing against me comforted
me. I might not have my wife, but I had part of Ellie right here with me now.

I woke up with a start to find Andy shaking me.
It was dark, Eva wasn’t on my chest anymore, and someone had covered me in a blanket.
Fuck, I must have been asleep for hours. The house was completely silent.

‘What time is it?’ I yawned.

‘Nearly midnight. We have a location. The team is
assembling now and we’ll be moving out shortly.’

‘How, how do you have a location?’ I demanded as
I bolted upright, my heart racing with excitement.

‘Oliver’s tracker came online. His vitals are relatively
strong and he’s moving fast. Too fast for a four year old, but too slow for him
to be in a vehicle. I’d suggest he’s being carried, which implies that they’ve
escaped.’

‘Thank God,’ I groaned. ‘Where are they?’

‘Wales, the Snowdonia National Park. I suspect
they’ve been on the run for a while, but the dense forest was masking the
signal.’

‘Let me tell the others, I can’t go without
letting them know.’

‘Go? You’re
not
coming, Sir. I’ve no
idea what we’re about to face. Eyewitness reports from the abduction account
for four or five in the van, but that’s not to say that there may not be more
involved when we arrive.’

‘I don’t care if there’s a hundred fucking men,
Andy,’ I bit, as I rose off the sofa with renewed purpose. ‘I need to be there.
I’ll bring up the rear, wear bulletproof clothing if necessary, for once I’ll
do whatever the hell you tell me, but don’t think for a second I’ll let you go
without me. Half of my family and one of my friends are out there.’

‘You so much as put one foot out of line and
I’ll take you down myself and have you choppered back in an instant,’ he
warned.

‘Deal,’ I confirmed.

‘I’ll be outside in the car waiting. Don’t
bother changing, I’ll have some fatigues waiting for us at the airport.’

I nodded and bounded for the guest room, waking
up Molly and Brooke and filling them in. They were beside themselves, hugging
each other, as well as me, and crying their eyes out. I promised to call them
the minute I had news. I headed for the study next, which doubled as a second
guest room now that the children took all three rooms on the top floor. I
sincerely hoped Lucas and Summer weren’t having sex as I didn’t have time to
knock. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia as I found them fast asleep, barely a
millimetre between then, just like Ellie and I always slept. I woke them and filled
them in. Summer started crying with happiness and Lucas leapt out of bed,
making me avert my eyes. He slept in the nude too, just like I did.

‘I’m coming with you,’ he announced as he
pulled on his jeans.

‘No way,’ I retorted, shaking my head. ‘It
could be dangerous and I’m not putting you in that position.’

‘You’re not, I’m putting myself in it.’

‘You call me fucking stubborn?’ I bit. ‘I’m
telling you no.’

‘Not your decision to make, Dan,’ he glared.
‘You think my pain over Ellie, Oliver, and James means nothing compared to
yours? She’s my friend and the wife of my best friend, Oliver’s my godson, and
James was an employee of mine, as well as being one of my dearest friends. I’m
coming whether you like it or not.’

‘And I’m telling you that I’m not risking anyone
else! Think of Summer, for Christ’s sake, think of what you’re about to put her
through, not to mention little Logan,’ I shot back. ‘I might have already lost
Ellie, you still have each other,’ I yelled, full of frustration. How could I
ever forgive myself if someone else I cared about got hurt, or worse. Lucas
looked over at Summer and grimaced.

‘I’m sorry, but you know I have to do this,
angel. He’d do the same for me.’

‘I know.’ She nodded her head as she wiped some
tears from her face. Damn it, she was supposed to put her foot down. I could
tell she wasn’t happy, but she wasn’t prepared to tell him no. He grabbed a long-sleeved
jersey top and started pulling it over his head. I made an instant decision and
surprised him with an upper cut to the underside of his jaw. He went down onto
the bed like a sack of potatoes as I shook my fist. Shit, I’d forgotten it was
my already damaged and bandaged one.

‘When he’s back with it, tell him I’m sorry,’ I
shrugged as I looked back over at Summer. ‘I can’t risk him getting hurt.’

‘Thank you,’ she whispered, flashing me a
grateful smile, before reaching over to pull his top down and expose his face
to let him breathe. ‘Go quickly, before he comes around, and just make sure you
bring them back safely.’

I nodded and raced out, wondering if Andy would
have just left without me in an attempt to protect me, but as I flung open the
front door, he was waiting with the engine running. I jumped into the passenger
seat and seconds later, we were on our way, Andy firing instructions over the hands-free
kit to Chris. When he was done, we drove the rest of the journey in silence, me
bouncing my right leg up and down impatiently as I imagined the best scenario
and how happy Oliver and Ellie would be to see me.

‘We’re nearly at the airport, Sir. We need to
study a map of the area, form a battle plan, and load up weapons. You may feel
that we’re wasting valuable time, but we can’t rush in without being prepared.
Once we take off, the two choppers will take us as close as they can to
Oliver’s location, but if we want the element of surprise, we’ll have to stop
short and make our way on foot. The team moves fast, are you sure you’ll be
able to keep up?’

‘I’ll keep up,’ I said firmly. If I had my way,
I’d be leading the fucking charge, but Andy knew what he was doing. This was
his area of expertise, for once I was going to have to relinquish control,
something I wasn’t very good at. We pulled into the private airport that I used
to travel to and from Scotland and I was amazed to see how many men were
waiting for us. They lined up as Andy pulled to a halt and we got out of the
car. ‘Who are they all?’ I asked, shaking my head in amazement.

‘Some of mine and Chris’s old squadron, James's
and Jenny’s too. This is personal, to each and every one of us.’

‘It’s personal to me, too,’ came Dean’s voice
as he stepped out from behind them, already dressed in camouflage gear.

‘You have got to be fucking kidding me,’ Andy
muttered. ‘I’m not running a nursery here for untrained civilians. You’ll be
asking me to allow Jonas along next.’

‘I didn’t call him,’ I retorted when he turned
to scowl at me.

‘I did, he deserved to know,’ piped up Chris.

‘I’m a highly experienced pilot, Andy, and I’ll
warrant I’ve clocked in more flight time and that my skills are more up-to-date
than any of you. I’ll get us there fast and safe so the first team can hit the
ground running while the other helicopter catches up. One of those bastards
killed my girl. If you find him, I want to be the one to put him down.’