Chapter Forty
Adam
Idrove down every street, aimlessly looking for any signs of where they could be. A pointless endeavour, but what else could I do? The soldiers were trying to track them down, I’d tried every fucker in my phone list who might get wind of something shady going on to see if they’d heard anything, but I’d come up with nothing. My next stop was Cheslin’s other brothers to beat the crap out of them and get to the truth, but then my phone rang, and I saw Devon’s name appear on the screen.
“What?” I snapped, my heart beating in my throat with pure fucking dread at what he’d say.
“Number plate recognition has a trace.” Every part of me was on red alert, desperate to hear the verdict. “The van was last seen in Queen Street. That was about ten minutes ago.”
I didn’t wait to hear anything else; I’d heard all I needed to. My brain and body were switching to autopilot, and I knew what I had to do. I ended the call, threw my phone down onto the seat next to me, and put my foot down, racing to get there.
Queen Street.
Was it just a coincidence that that was the same street that the Brinton Community Centre was on? The same building we’d thrown Harvey off all those months ago.
It looked like things in my life were coming full circle.
I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white with tension, and when I swerved into the street in question, I leant forward, scanning the road for a white van. Then I saw it, parked to the side of the Community Centre. They had to be here, and I was praying that I wasn’t too late. If he’d hurt her, I’d never forgive myself.
I pulled up next to the van and shot out of my vehicle. A quick scan of the interior told me there was no one inside, and so I held my knife ready and ran over to the entrance to the centre, ready to rain hell. The building was derelict, but the locks were broken, and anyone could access it. The perfect location for a crime, we knew that, and so it would seem did Cheslin.
Once inside, I tried to listen, to hear any signs that Olivia was here, but all I could hear were the occasional creaks of an old building, shuffling from mice or rats scurrying away from my approaching presence, and the wind as it whistled through the broken, boarded-up windows and rafters of the roof. I stalked down empty corridors, up the stairs, checking the other floors, but there was nothing. I felt hopeless and furious all at once. But then, suddenly, a creak above me caught my attention. I jerked my head to look up and heard the sound of footsteps moving above me.
They were here.
That had to be them.
I sprinted towards the stairs and up to the roof, ready to unleash the beast begging to be freed inside me and take on another sicko from this town. Bring him to justice on a roof that on numerous occasions had seen what I was capable of and what would happen if you were on the soldiers’ radar. Live by the sword, die by the sword, and this guy was about to do just that. He’d touched what was mine, taken her, and now he needed to pay the price.
I flung open the door that led onto the roof, charging out like a wild animal, ready to rip my enemy to shreds. But then, I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart beating frantically out of my chest as I took in the scene before me.
I’d found her.
I’d found him too.
And in that moment, my whole world tilted on its axis.
He had her in his arms, a gun pointed to her head, and he was staring right at me, grinning as he squeezed her waist, hugging her tightly to him and revelling in what he thought was his triumph. Every instinct, every bone in my body told me to fight, but I couldn’t, because that killer instinct, the very fucking nature of who I was… it was struggling under something else.
Emotions.
I couldn’t give a fuck what he did to me. But her? She came first, always. I had to play this differently if I was going to save her. I had to think smarter.
“Noble.” He cackled. “I see you brought a knife to a gun fight.” Then he shook his head, giving a fake fucking laugh. “Well prepared as always.”
I stood, staring at them both, my mind trying to calculate ways I could over-power him and get her away from him. Anything to turn the tables which were not in my fucking favour right now.
“Adam, don’t,” Olivia begged, her eyes pleading with me not to storm ahead and make things worse.
She knew me so well. She knew that I was seconds away from barrelling into this fucker and sending us both off the roof to perish on the ground below. But seeing her held against her will, not being able to get to her, it was killing me. The splinters of pain I’d felt back at her house were nothing compared to the sheer agony of this. He’d done his research back in prison all right, and he’d found my kryptonite, my Achilles heel. It was her. It would always be her. My greatest strength and my biggest weakness.
Karl glanced at her and then the fucker kissed her on the side of the head, making my blood boil and my hand grip tighter around the handle of my knife. He was going to pay for that.
“She’s beautiful.” He smiled. “I can see why you like her.”
“Get your fucking hands off her,” I growled, stepping forward, but he moved the gun to point it at me, and then held it back against Olivia’s head, pushing it hard into her temple where he’d just left his dirty fucking kiss.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands here, do you?” Cheslin snarled and then leant closer to Olivia, licking her cheek and laughing at me as I stood there, my breath coming in sharp pants as I tried to control my fury.
Those bloody instincts and emotions were toying inside me, fighting in a battle for control. I willed my instincts to take over and shut down any other thoughts in my brain so I could pounce on him, tear him apart with my bare hands and to hell with the consequences, but I couldn’t. He had her. And if he pulled that trigger, it was game over for all of us. I couldn’t lose her. Not like this. The instincts I’d honed for years were drowned out by my emotions. My life wasn’t worth living if she wasn’t in it, and I’d burn the world to ashes if she was ever taken from me.
“I have a dilemma here,” Cheslin carried on, running the barrel of his handgun up and down the side of Olivia’s face. She tried not to show any emotion, keeping her head held high for my benefit, but I knew her. I knew everything about her, and I could tell she was scared.
“See, I would really love to fuck her in front of you. Make you watch every minute of it and then blow your brains out, or…”
I couldn’t help it, those words ignited a fire inside of me that I couldn’t control, and I stalked over to him, but when Olivia started shouting–“Don’t, Adam. Please. Don’t listen to him”–I stopped. Hearing the desperation in her voice pulled me back into the moment.
Think smarter, Noble.
Don’t let him goad you.
Get her to safety first.
“You’re gonna fucking pay for this,” I shouted. “You’re a fucking dead man, Cheslin.”
“Says the guy without a gun,” he sneered at me, rubbing his filthy hands all over her as he continued to press the gun against her head. “Interrupt me again, and I’ll choose whatever fucking option I want,” he said, spit flying from his mouth as he sneered and snarled at me.
“Let me make this easy for you,” I said, pointing my knife at him as I spoke. “You let her go and you take me. I’m the one you want, right? She’s just the bait you used to get me here.”
“She’s more than bait.” He leant down to speak into Olivia’s ear, saying, “Don’t listen to him. You’re so much more than that.” Then his eyes glazed over with evil intent, and he stared right back at me. “Throw the knife over here,” he demanded, and I shook my head. “Throw me the knife or I’ll throw her over the edge. Don’t fucking test me.” His eyes were manic as he stared at me, and in that moment, I knew. Crazy recognises crazy, and he was capable of anything. He was as fucked up as I was.
“Adam, please,” Olivia pleaded. “Just do it.”
I didn’t want to, but I had to do something to keep her safe. Trying to get into his mind-set and make him think that he was winning was one way to play this. So, I held my knife up in the air and then threw if off the roof of the building. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I’d throw it over to him. If I did, he’d have probably used it on her.
“Not what I wanted, but I suppose it’ll do.” He smirked. “I have to admit, when I found out all about you…” He pointed the gun at me as he spoke and my eyes bored into Olivia’s, willing her to pull away and run, but she just shook her head and mouthed, ‘No,’ to me as he carried on with his pointless ramblings. “There was nothing I wanted more than to be the one to blow your brains out. You think you’re so smart. Thought you could terrorise me in prison, treating me like a fucking puppet.”
“Like you terrorised that little girl?” I snarled back at him.
“No one’s perfect, are they, Adam? I bet your body count far exceeds mine. When we both get to the gates of hell, you’ll be getting a fast-track pass to the main event. Let’s not pretend here. None of us are innocent, are we?”
“She is,” I said, nodding to my Olivia. “So let her go and we can finish this. This is between me and you.”
He laughed then his face turned manic again, his eyes glinting and wide like he was on something.
“She’s not going anywhere, and I’ll have a bullet lodged in her brain before you even get near us, so don’t get any smart ideas. Let’s remember who’s in control here.” He spoke calmly, like this was an everyday transaction and he was letting us all know how it was going to go. Or how he hoped it’d go. But I knew how his mind worked. He wanted to enjoy this, drag it out and revel in every detail. Only thing was, his stalling tactics worked to my advantage. The longer he stood there talking, the more time the other soldiers had to get here. And when they stormed the roof, he’d be totally fucking annihilated.
Soldiers worked together.
We were a team.
They knew where I was, and it was only a matter of time before the odds were back in my favour.
“You want to be in control, fine,” I said, speaking slowly. “You have two options here. You either kill her, and then we kill each other, game over, no one wins. Or…”
“Or?” He cocked his head, waiting for my response.
“Or you let her go. Do whatever the fuck it is you want to do to me, but she walks away.”
“No,” Olivia said through gritted teeth, but it was my turn to shake my head. She needed to do as she was told, trust me and give me the time I needed in this situation to turn things around.
“I do like both options, but I have a third.” Cheslin smiled. “I shoot you,” he pointed the gun at me, and as he did, Olivia tried to struggle out of his grasp, but he was too strong and he just laughed, pulling her back against him and putting the gun back against her temple. “And she watches you get your brains blown out. Then I get to fuck her before I kill her too. Can’t leave any lose ends behind, can I?”
“You’re not gonna touch her.” I stepped forward, speaking calmly, and her eyes went wide with fear as he cocked the gun, ready to shoot. So, I stopped and held my hands up, trying to buy us both some time. “How about we compromise? Take the gun off her, do whatever you’ve gotta do to me, but let her go.”
“I’m never gonna let her go.” He laughed and then a sinister smile spread across his face. “But I tell you what, I’ll take you up on your offer. I’ll let her move to the side and watch if you take her place. I want you handcuffed though. I can’t trust that you aren’t hiding any more weapons on you.”
I wasn’t, and the realisation of what that meant killed me, but I had a weapon much deadlier than any knife.
Me.
I just needed to plan this out correctly and not lose my head.
He nodded to where a backpack lay a little distance away from us on the ground and added, “In there, you’ll find a pair of handcuffs. Put them on, then walk over to the edge of the roof and kneel down, facing the town you love so much. It’ll be the last thing you see before I send you to hell.”
I didn’t stop to think. I’d run out of all options, and this was the only avenue I could see before me. Taking deep breaths to calm my demons who were howling for me to resist, I slowly walked over to that bag. Olivia begged me not to, but I took the handcuffs out.
“Move away from him, Olivia,” I demanded, holding the cuffs in my hand and staring at them both, waiting for him to release her.
“Not until the cuffs are on,” he said, keeping hold of her in his death-like grip and I gritted my teeth, securing them on one wrist before locking them onto the other. All the time, I was watching the door, waiting for the back-up.
“Now. Let. Her. Go,” I said in a low, demanding tone, every word spoken with conviction.
Cheslin glanced at Olivia, then back at me. I expected him to refuse and turn the tables, but he moved the gun from her head to point it at me and pushed her onto the ground in front of him, making her stumble and fall.
“Run away, and I’ll shoot you down. I’ll aim for the legs too, so you’ll still be conscious when I fuck you,” he said, winking at her as she lay on the ground, panting and glaring back up at him. Then he put the gun back on her and smirked. “Try me. I think you’ll find I keep my promises.”
“I have four friends who will kill to protect her,” I snarled. “Let’s not kid ourselves. You’re not getting off this roof alive.”
“Or I can just pull this trigger and send her to heaven now,” he added. “I doubt she’ll be joining you in hell, not with a face like that.” He grinned down at Olivia and then turned the gun back on me. “Now kneel on the ledge, Noble, like I fucking told you to.”
I had no choice. I walked over to ledge and kneeled, and Cheslin came over to me, pointing his gun at the back of my head. Time was running out and I scanned the streets below, looking for any sign of the soldiers, but I couldn’t see them. Where the fuck were they? Maybe they weren’t going to stop this after all? Maybe I had to think of another way out? Distract Cheslin so Olivia could run and get as far away as she could. I had to do something. I couldn’t let this play out how he wanted it to.
So, I took that split second to spin round on my knees and try to knock Cheslin down as I shouted, “Run, Olivia. Get out of here.”
But my attempts to overpower Cheslin didn’t go as I’d planned. He had better reflexes than I’d expected, and he swerved my attempts to barrel into him, leaving me writhing and lashing out on the floor as I tried to regain my balance. He managed to yank me back onto my knees and then shoved me back into position, kicking me as he growled out his anger.
“No more fucking about,” he snarled. “I’m tired of your games. Time’s up, Noble.”
I could hear Olivia crying and I clenched my jaw, squeezing my eyes shut and wishing that I’d done more to help her.
Why hadn’t she run?
Why hadn’t I been able saved her?
What else could I do to stop this?
“Looks like we have our very own Romeo and Juliet right here. I love a good tragedy,” Cheslin said mockingly and then leant down to speak in my ear. “Do you have any last words before you go?”
He pushed the gun into the back of my head, and I heard Olivia start to scream hysterically and cry out, “No, please, no.”
“Get out of here, Olivia. Please,” I begged, with tears trickling down my face. Tears I would never let her see.
But she didn’t listen, only sobbed, and kept repeating, “No, Adam. Please, no.”
“Are those your last words?” Cheslin said, pushing the gun further into my skull and cackling.
“I…” My throat felt raw like razor blades were lodged inside, trying to stop me from saying what I needed to say. My body trembled as I felt the sand in my timer trickling to the very last grain.
Where were they?
Where were the fucking soldiers?
“I love you, Olivia,” I spoke, my voice coarse and aching with all the emotions and the pain that was killing me.
I’d never told her I loved her. But I couldn’t die without letting her know. I didn’t want my last words or my last thoughts to be filled with hate. I wanted to die with her in my mind and my heart. Her name on my lips as I took my final breath.
My Olivia.
“No,” she wailed. “No. Not like this. I love you, Adam. I fucking love you. Don’t you dare give up! Don’t you fucking leave me...”
There were no soldiers by my side when the gunshot went off. Only Olivia’s screams and then…
Darkness.