It was a cold night but Annie barely felt it. She stumbled along beside Rufus, him lighting their way with the torch. She was cocooned in a soft blanket of booze. Then he dragged her off of a rough driveway and the light of the torch showed a stretch of grass. There was a misty rain falling. The smell of the sea was stronger out here, and she could hear the faint offshore tolling of a buoy. It was all like a dream. At any moment she was going to wake up in her bed in Holland Park.
But she knew she wasn’t.
Rufus came to a halt. As Annie stared down at the cone of light thrown out by the torch, a chill of fear began to penetrate the alcoholic haze. There was a spade thrust upright into newly turned soil. There was a mound of freshly dug dark earth. And there was a hole. The torch swung further over. The hole was deep. Four, maybe five feet.
Her heart froze in her chest.
This was what Rufus had been doing out here, when he’d come into the building with dirt on his hands and mud on his boots. He’d been digging.
Torchlight illuminated his face and she could see that he was grinning.
‘Yes, Mrs Carter. It’s a grave. Ah, let’s be more specific. It’s your grave.’
He shook her again. Annie gave a weak cry and fell to her knees in the dirt. The light was on her now, blinding her. She saw him move, fumble in his pocket. She saw the taser. She was right beside the grave he’d dug. She heard the horrible thing crackle and hum as he switched on the power.
He’s going to zap me and throw me into the grave, she thought in horror. Then he’ll fill it in.
Rufus was going to bury her alive.
‘Mum! That’s Mum, I heard her voice, he’s got her!’ cried Layla.
She broke free of Steve and stumbled forward in the dark, running towards where Annie and Rufus were, beside the grave.
With the benefit of the night-sight, Max saw Rufus stiffen. The beam of the torch swung their way. Annie was on her knees. Rufus was raising the device in his hand, pointing it down the torch’s white beam at Layla who was running straight at him, uncaring, thinking only of getting to her mother.
‘Mum!’ Layla ran to Annie.
‘Get back, get away from him,’ said Annie, her words slurring.
Shit, thought Max, and raised the gun, taking aim. But he couldn’t get a clear line of sight. Layla was between him and Rufus. And Rufus was about to shoot her dead.
‘Hey!’ shouted Alberto, off to the left, trying to draw fire.
Rufus paused. The light from the torch swung out to the left, then back. It was the moment Max needed. He moved aside, took aim. Then he became aware that there was something digging hard into his ribs: it felt like a gun.