Buying the Virgin novel Chapter 128

CHARLOTTE

My blood pounds a single pulse, so hard inside me, that it makes my fingertips tingle. My heart racing, I try to scream, but….

“It’s me. Shhh…”

“Master?”

“Yes, we’re all here.”

“Michael?”

“Yes, and Richard. The police are on their way.”

“Just the three of you? How soon before the police get here?

Richard’s voice from the shadows behind me. “Maybe thirty minutes. They’re coming from the City. That hotel we were staying in; it’s not far. When the police found out where you’d been taken, we were closer than they are.”

I swivel out of my Master’s grasp. “We don’t have thirty minutes. They’ve got Beth in there, and Klempner wants to gang-rape her, and me. And they’re looking for me.” I gesture wildly around the yard where, bit by bit, all the hiding places are being checked. “We can’t all stay here for thirty minutes and not be found. I’ll distract them….”

My Master’s hand whips out, gripping my wrist. “Like Hell you will…”

“If they don’t find me quickly, they’ll keep looking, and they’re bound to find all of you. Better if I distract them, and then you’re free to act…. There’s too many of them for you, without having surprise on your side…”

“How many?” asks Michael.

“I’ve counted eight, including Klempner. “And I think they’re expecting Corby.”

And with that, I twist my hand from my Master’s, and run out into the open, deliberately making enough noise, that the two thugs close by, hear me. As I dash across the courtyard, they yell, raising the alarm, and all of them give chase, following me into the darkness, and away from my would-be-rescuers.

*****

MICHAEL

Charlotte slips James’ grip, racing out into the courtyard, and away from us. James curses, reaching to catch her, but she dodges his grip and goes. “Charlotte!” he hisses. But she ignores him and keeps running.

He stands, holding his hands mid-air, in frustration, as though trying to shake her by non-existent shoulders. “When I catch her again, she is not going to sit down for a fucking week!”

I say nothing. I agree with him and can add nothing. After a silent pause, Richard says, “She had a point though.”

James turns on him, finger raised, then halts. “Yes, she did. Let’s….”

There is a yell from the darkness beyond the yard. “We’ve got her.”

Flanked on both sides, pinned at the arms, Charlotte is marched back to the farmhouse.

Klempner leans against the side of the door as she is brought in, picking his teeth. “Back inside with her.” he drawls. “It’s party-time.”

All the gang-members vanish inside, closing the door behind them. When it seems clear that all is quiet, James mutters “How many of them did you count?”

“Five out here chasing, plus I think I saw a couple more moving inside, plus Klempner.”

“Okay, so we’re agreeing with Charlotte’s eight.”

“Hold on, the door’s opening again,” says Richard.

A man exits, wandering over to large, wooden doors, an out-building or garage perhaps. As the doors swing open to a dark interior, dimly, cars can be seen inside.

“Back in a minute,” I mutter, moving quietly through the gloom, to wait just outside the door.

The man opens the boot of one of the cars, searching for something, then re-emerges, some object in his hands.

As he moves past the door, I step out of the darkness, the man’s eyes widening as he sees me at the last moment; far too late to prevent the crack, as my forehead meets with his nose.

Dazed, but not unconscious, he struggles, so I head-butt him again, and he falls.

James appears at my side. “Any rope in the back of that car?”

“Better than that,” I say, holding up what the man was carrying. “Tape.”

As we gag and bind the unconscious man, James murmurs, “It’s probably what they used on the women.”

“Or were going to.…” mutters Richard. “You’re a dirty fighter, Michael. That’s not a fighting style from polite circles.”

“I’m not interested in fighting. Just in taking them out.”

He nods, then, “Looks like they’re all safely inside now. Shall we take a look?”

We cross the yard, working our way quietly around, until, standing right outside a brightly lit window, just beside the entrance, we can see in.

Inside, there is a very large room. Klempner and his men are there, with Charlotte and Beth. Beth looks to be almost in a state of collapse, terror-stricken and weeping.

But Charlotte….

*****

CHARLOTTE

Propelled back inside by my captors to the large central room, a gun is trained on me, and my arms gripped at either side, before they release me, to stand in the centre of the room. Klempner nods at one of his hoods. “Get the other one.”