Huntress Read online

  “That’s someone parking on the driveway,” Kerry whispered.

  “It’s midnight,” Amy whispered back. She hopped on the spot as she pulled her boot on.

  Kerry crossed the room and stood with her back to the wall. Without moving the curtain, she looked through a tiny gap out of the window. “Black car, posh looking. We should run. Now.”

  22

  First Contact

  Claudia looked at the large cottage as she pulled onto the Chapman’s driveway. To each side of the house was a large brick wall and wrought iron gates. Getting around the property to the back would be impossible without the help of the owners.

  Stealth wouldn’t work here. She needed speed. She exited the car and walked towards the front door. She rang the doorbell and then knocked loudly a second later for good measure. The lights in the hallway turned on, and she heard someone rushing down the stairs.

  She unfolded the poster and held it up ready. The door opened, and a man in a dressing gown looked at her in confusion.

  “I believe these two girls are in your property,” she said quickly. She knew she had to use the element of surprise. “They are known terrorists, and they are linked to a substantial terror plot. It’s essential that they are arrested as soon as possible.”

  “Michael, who is it?” A voice called from upstairs.

  Michael looked speechlessly from her to the stairs and then back again.

  “Mr Chapman, I know they seem innocent, but the truth is these girls are dangerous. If you know anything about their location—”

  Michael opened the door fully and silently pointed towards a closed door. Claudia stepped into the house and opened the door. She rushed into the living; it looked like whoever was here had just left. The back door into the garden was open, and the curtains blew in the wind.

  “They must have just left,” Michael said.

  “Michael, what’s going on? Is she the police?” David had come downstairs. His disappointed tone was clear.

  “Amy and Kerry are terrorists, David,” Michael explained to his husband. “All the bull about being innocent, they are bloody terrorists. Involved in some plot.”

  She heard David gasp at the information. She’d question the couple later; with any luck she was moments behind the girls. As she walked towards the door, something caught her eye. She looked under the coffee table, which had been moved to one side to make room for a bed. She saw something black and reached for it. She turned the walkie-talkie over in her hand.

  “Is this theirs?”

  “Yes,” Michael said.

  Claudia pulled a small torch out from her jacket pocket and headed through the back door into the garden. She shone the light and started to run. A large perimeter wall surrounded the garden. Towards the back were some high trees which could be used to climb. She ran towards them and could see a fresh muddy footprint on one of the branches.

  She clipped the walkie-talkie to her belt and reached up to haul herself onto a secure-looking branch. She climbed high enough to safely get to the wall and stepped onto it. The garden backed onto a large area of parkland. Everything was pitch black. She surveyed as much of the area as she could while she was at this vantage point.

  With care, she lowered herself to the ground. She unclipped the walkie-talkie. “Amy Hewitt, my name is Claudia McAllister. I need you to give yourself up and let me take you in.”

  She took a few steps away from the wall into the darkened area. She looked at the walkie-talkie, barely illuminated by the full moon. I wonder if it even works? Would they bother to carry it around if it didn’t? Maybe that’s why they left it?

  “We’re innocent,” a voice came through the speaker.

  “Amy?” Claudia asked.

  “Yeah. And we haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “No? Then come and talk to me about it, and we’ll get it all sorted out.”

  There was a pause until, “Do you think I was born yesterday?”

  Claudia smirked. “No, but you can’t run forever. If you come and talk to me, this will all be over.”

  “I’m not coming back. You’ll arrest us.” This time Amy sounded breathy, and Claudia concluded that she was running.

  “Then let’s talk,” Claudia suggested. She looked out into the darkness and waited for a reply. She knew the girls were out there, running away, but she had no idea of the direction.

  “No way,” Amy replied. “You probably have dogs coming after us. And drones.”

  Well, the paranoia has certainly kicked in.

  “It’s just me here, Amy. I promise you that. No dogs, no drones.”

  The silence stretched on. “But that won’t last forever,” Claudia spoke again. “You can’t keep running. You’re being monitored, we know your tactics, we’re in communication with your network. I’ve found you once, and I’ll find you again. Or maybe someone else will find you, someone less forgiving than me.”

  “I don’t have a network,” Amy replied bitterly. “See? You think we’re guilty, don’t you? You have no intention of helping us. What did you say your name was?”

  “Claudia McAllister.”

  “Well, I have one thing left to say to you, Claudia,” Amy said.

  Claudia waited, but nothing came.

  “What do you want to say, Amy?” Claudia finally asked.

  She cocked her head closer to the device. Suddenly a loud raspberry sound crackled through the speaker. Claudia blanched backwards.

  “Really,” she mumbled to herself. She held down the button. “Received, loud and clear. But I’ll keep this walkie-talkie on me. When we’re close enough, we can speak. So, if you change your mind the next time I come for you, just let me know.”

  “Yeah, wha—” Static filled the speaker.

  They were out of range.

  23

  Run

  “Amy, wait!” Kerry shouted.

  Amy didn’t wait. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest and all she could hear was the rushing of blood. Even though she felt like she might pass out, she kept running.

  It had been a close call. Too close. She’d never climbed a tree in her life, she was sure that Kerry hadn’t either. But through sheer adrenaline, both launched themselves into the tree and were over the wall, crashing down into the mud below. They had both picked themselves up and kept running.

  Amy didn’t dare turn around. In her mind, they were right behind her. If she turned around then she’d see them, panic, and it would be game over.

  “Amy!” Kerry tried again.

  Amy slowed down and turned around. No one was behind her but Kerry. But she didn’t want to give them the chance to catch up. “Come on!”

  “I can’t,” Kerry admitted. She slowed to a jog.

  Amy looked at the road behind them. It was lit with street lamps for as far as she could see. They were alone. She let out a long sigh and leaned forward to put her hands on her knees as she gasped for breath.

  “We can’t hang around here,” Amy said. She stood up again. “She’s coming.”

  “She who?” Kerry said between panted breaths.

  “Claudia. Come on,” Amy urged.

  “Who’s Claudia?”

  “The woman who’s chasing us, come on.” Amy turned around and started to walk quickly. It was real now. They were being chased by a person who had a name.

  “How do you know her name is Claudia?”

  Amy thrust her walkie-talkie into the air. “She spoke to me.”

  “Shit, she has my walkie-talkie,” Kerry said. “Can she track us by that?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “But you spoke to her?”

  “Yeah.”

  Amy heard Kerry take a deep breath and jog a little to catch up to her. “And? What did she say?”

  “Give yourselves up, you’re terrorists, I’ll find you, blah blah.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah.” Amy pointed towards the end of the road. “There’s the main road, we need to
get out of here.”

  “What if she’s there?” Kerry asked.

  Amy stopped and spun around to glare at Kerry. “What if she’s following us? We don’t know. We don’t know anything. She’s a professional man-hunter, she’s probably got all kind of tricks and... and robot things that are looking for us. She could be anywhere. But I think we need to get in the first car that we see and get the hell out of here.”

  Kerry looked at her nervously. It was the first time that Amy had really panicked since they had been on the run. She’s been paranoid, over-cautious, but this was pure panic. Amy could tell from the look on Kerry’s face that she was just as scared.

  Kerry was always the practical one, the one with the plan. Amy was the happy-go-lucky one, the one that always said everything was okay. Except for now. Amy really knew that everything wasn’t okay now.

  “We need to get out of here, right now,” Amy demanded.

  “Okay, you’re right,” Kerry said. “We’ll get out of here. We’ll go down to that road, and we’ll get in the first car we can. But I need you to take a few breaths and chill. No one is going to give us a lift if you look as panicked as you do now, okay?”

  Amy couldn’t calm down. All she could hear was Claudia’s voice. The calm, sensible tones of a woman who had been sent to find them. And had somehow managed to do it. Amy’s mind swam with theories on how Claudia had found them. She wondered if it was technology, if they had been found by camera. Or if someone had given them up.

  “Amy,” Kerry said harshly. “Focus. Take some deep breaths. Give yourself thirty seconds now so you can get us out of here.”

  Amy slowly nodded her head and focused on taking a few breaths. She looked over her shoulder and peered into the darkness. She didn’t think she could see anyone, but she couldn’t really be sure. Her senses were playing tricks on her. Everything sounded louder, noises she usually ignored were suddenly like a brass band in her ears.

  “I’m okay,” Amy whispered.

  “Sure, babe?”

  “Yeah, let’s go.”

  The two of them jogged towards the main road. As soon as they got to the road, Amy started to wave her hands about to flag down cars. One car went by, followed by another. But a third stopped, and a middle-aged woman opened the window.

  “Are you okay?”

  Amy rushed over, Kerry closely behind her.

  “Hi,” Amy said, a friendly smile on her face. “I’m so sorry about this, but is there any chance you could give us a lift?”

  The woman looked unsure.

  Amy continued quickly. “Anywhere is fine, I just have this nasty boyfriend—well, ex-boyfriend—and we want to just get away. We won’t be any bother. I know it’s late and we probably look a bit of a state, but we’re good people, honestly—”

  The woman held up her hand to stop Amy’s speech. She nodded. “Okay, get in the back. I’m only going to Musselburgh.”

  “Musselburgh is fine,” Kerry said as she opened the back door.

  “I love Musselburgh, always wanted to visit,” Amy said as she got in the car.

  24

  Upping The Pressure

  Claudia quickly realised that she needed to get back to the car and continue the search from there. She ran towards the wall and launched herself upwards, grasping the top and easily pulling herself over. She dropped to the ground and raced back towards the house.

  The Chapmans were still standing around in the living room, looking dumbstruck and useless.

  “I’m going to go and look for them,” she announced. She handed her business card to Michael as she walked towards the front door. “If they come back, call me immediately. I’ll be back shortly to question you.”

  She opened the front door and ran to her car, throwing it into reverse and speeding off the driveway and into the street. The satnav system pinged to life, and she looked for the quickest route around the parkland, hoping to head them off.

  Once she was in the right area, she drove up and down every street. She meticulously checked the residential streets for any sign of the girls. After fifteen long minutes, she realised they had either found a hiding place or they had managed to get away.

  “Call Mark,” she instructed tersely.

  “Hey,” Mark greeted.

  “They were there, I was right behind them, but they got away. There’s a park behind the Chapmans’ house and I lost them in the dark.”

  “I’ll map potential escape routes, but they are close to the city which means it will be a wide area.”

  “I know. I spoke to Amy; it seems they were communicating with each other via walkie-talkie. But one got left behind in their hurry to leave.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She said she was innocent, she thought we were coming after her with dogs and drones. Really paranoid.”

  “Did she say anything else?”

  “That she didn’t have a network backing her up. And she blew a raspberry down the line.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes.” Claudia frowned. This just wasn’t adding up.

  “Sounds weird,” Mark commented.

  “Yes. Something’s not right. Can you use this walkie-talkie to track them?” Claudia asked, she knew she was grasping at straws.

  “Probably not. Send me a picture of it, and I’ll see what brand it is. But it’s probably not going to be possible.”

  “Fine, I assumed as much.” She pulled the car over and took a deep breath. “Listen, we need to stop making this so damn easy for them. Call Andrew, tell him that I nearly had eyes on them but they have escaped. Last seen in the Edinburgh area.”

  “You want to give him that information?” Mark sounded surprised.

  “Yes, if these girls are as dangerous as we’ve been led to believe, then it’s high time we started working together and getting serious. Tell him that we need to leaflet the local area, preferably the whole county. We need posters of them, stills of them in their disguises and without. The local communities are hiding them, and they seem to have the gift of the gab so people are trusting whatever they say. We need to get their pictures out there; flyer drops and even local news. The sooner we cut off their support network, the sooner we can flush them out.”

  “It will take them a day or two to get that kind of campaign together,” Mark said.

  “I know. But we need to start now. They are always one step ahead, and that needs to stop. Now.”

  “So, you saw them in the pub?” Claudia asked. As interviews for this case went, this was by far the nicest. When she had returned to the Chapmans’ house, she had been greeted and offered a hot drink. Now she sat on a sinfully comfortable sofa and held a cup of coffee in her hands. She looked at the two nervous-looking men sat on the sofa opposite her.

  “Yes, we were drumming up some interest in a new gay bar in town,” the short one, David, said. “I spotted them and thought they were a couple.”

  Michael rolled his eyes. “He sees two women together, and they’re a couple. Every time.”

  “Oh, now, come on, you agreed!” David turned to Michael.

  Michael ignored him and continued to address Claudia. “They had these fake wigs on. Clearly had never worn wigs before in their lives. They stood out like a sore thumb.”

  Claudia cursed her timing. She had been hunting for the girls for ages, and these two just stumbled across them in the local pub.

  “Anyway, we got talking,” David continued the story. “They asked if we knew any cheap places to stay.”

  “They told us they were on the run,” Michael said. “Just like that, blurted it out.”

  David hooked a thumb towards Michael. “So, this one offers them to stay here.”

  “They had just said they’d been hitchhiking,” Michael explained. “Which I thought was dangerous. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to them just after we left.”

  “Anyway, they agreed to come back here, and we had coffee. The girls wanted to use the shower and then th
ey set up in here to go to bed,” David said.

  “What else did they talk about?” Claudia asked. She sipped at her coffee, relishing its bitter aftertaste.

  Michael leaned back on the sofa and scrunched up his face. “It’s hard to remember. I think we talked about television mainly. Amy spoke a bit about coffee, she works in a coffee shop. And some of the stories she told me means I’m never setting foot in another one ever again.”

  “Which will save us about a thousand pounds a year,” David added.

  Michael gently elbowed him.

  “They were just nice, ordinary people,” David said seriously. “They said they were on the run, but they didn’t go into any details. I suppose we thought it was a bit of a joke. They were down-to-earth and funny, and we didn’t think anything of it.”

  “You said they are terrorists?” Michael asked.

  Claudia inclined her head. “I’m not permitted to give you specific details, but they have been linked to terrorist activity, yes.”

  “Are we in trouble? Do I need to contact my solicitor?” Michael asked.

  “Not unless you are withholding information which could assist in their timely arrest.” Claudia swallowed down the rest of her coffee. It was clear that the men weren’t in possession of any useful information. Not that they were aware of now anyway.

  She placed the coffee mug on the table in front of her.

  “It’s late and you’re both tired and have had a shock. If anything comes to mind later, then please call me, no matter what the time. Any further information you have, whether or not you think it might be relevant, could help bring these girls in.”

  “Of course, absolutely,” Michael agreed. He stood up and walked with her towards the front door. “We’re just sorry we weren’t more use. I can’t believe we got caught up in all this.”

  “You’re not the only ones who have been taken in by them,” Claudia reassured him.