"You mean she was worse than this? Jesus."
She noticed a plastic-wrapped pack of water bottles. At least they hadn"t intentionally dehydrated the woman, but she was too ill to move and could never have torn open the plastic.
"Let me go," Maggie said, lifting her hand to her hair and tugging it away from Samil"s fist. "Let me see to her. I won"t try to run."
To her amazement, he did what she asked.
"You won"t run. I know that. I"m standing here, not two metres from you. And anyway, somebody"s coming to see you."
"Who? What do you mean?"
He said nothing and Maggie couldn"t worry about that. She needed to help this woman. She took off her coat and suit jacket and untucked her silk blouse. Turning away from the man, she removed her blouse and quickly put her outer clothes back on, b.u.t.toning her coat tightly.
She wasn"t strong enough to rip the material so she poured some water onto a sleeve and bunched it up, placing it between the woman"s lips. She didn"t think it was wise to pour cold water directly into her mouth, and anyway she was lying on her side. Maggie dampened another part of the blouse and used it to gently wipe the woman"s face, trying to cool her.
She wanted to make her more comfortable, but then saw how her arm was stretched above her head and the sorry state of her wrist. The ma.s.sive swelling almost hid the sutures, but Maggie could see the other end of a plastic tie attached to a chain round one of the pillars.
She glanced up at Samil. "You animal." He was unmoved, and she tried not to think what he might have in store for her.
"Enough," he said, his face set into hard lines. Maggie would never forget this man"s face. His name didn"t matter. She was certain she was never getting out of here, but would find him if ever she got the chance.
He pulled Maggie up by her hair again. Extracting another long plastic cable tie from his coat pocket he pushed Maggie hard up against a metal pillar and told her to put her arms behind her. She did nothing. He lifted her off the floor by her hair, thousands of follicles screaming as they bore the weight of her body.
"Put your f.u.c.king arms around the pillar."
She would have liked to defy him again, but she was certain he wasn"t going to stop hurting her until she did what he said and she didn"t have the strength to resist.
He secured the plastic tie. "Now I would gag you, but you could scream forever here and n.o.body would hear you, so I won"t bother." He turned and walked back towards the doorway to the stairs.
Where was he going? Why was he leaving them?
Maggie tried to comfort the woman. "It"s okay. We"re going to get out of here. People are looking for you."
The woman didn"t move. Maggie could see her mottled face and knew she didn"t have long.
"There"s a policeman. They say he"s really clever. Tom Douglas, he"s called. He"ll find us."
Maggie was amazed to see the girl"s eyelids flutter open for a second, and she was certain that she saw hope in her eyes. Whether that was true or not, it was better that the girl died with hope in her heart.
Maggie stopped talking. She could hear voices. Samil was coming back, and he had somebody with him, somebody who clearly didn"t want to be there. And it was a voice she recognised.
Samil kicked the door open and pushed a man in front of him into the room, his hands also tied behind his back.
"Duncan!" Maggie gasped. How on earth had they found him? She must have been followed the previous night. Surely not? There had been n.o.body about the roads were empty but how else could they have known where he was?
Duncan looked at her, his face showing no surprise that she was there. His features were set into hard lines as if he was sucking in his cheeks. His eyes were dark and unreadable.
Samil pushed him across the room until he was standing a few feet from Maggie.
"Maggie, meet Michael. He"s a man of many names, aren"t you?" he said, prodding Duncan hard in the back. "I knew him as Senka online. I bet you didn"t know that, did you, Maggie? Senka means "shadow" in some foreign language or other. So to me he was Senka, then I saw him in the newspaper and discovered his name was Michael, and now it"s Duncan. I"m sure he must confuse himself with all these names."
Duncan continued to say nothing. He didn"t look at Maggie, but stared into an empty s.p.a.ce in the room, his eyes blank.
Samil lifted his right leg and put his foot against Duncan"s back. He pushed him towards Maggie and walked across to a bag in the corner. He pulled something out, and Maggie recognised it instantly. A taser. Samil could keep his distance and still control Duncan. Maggie and the girl Leo, he had said her name was were restrained by the pillars.
Samil pulled a mobile phone out of his pocket.
"I gather your husband gave you a flavour of what he set up all those years ago those a.s.sa.s.sinations. No doubt he told you how innocent he was. Do you want me to read you some of the messages he wrote on the website, Maggie? Do you want to know what he fantasised about doing to the girl who had betrayed him?"
Duncan turned his head. He said nothing, but the look he gave Samil was full of hatred. Samil ignored him and consulted the screen of his phone.
"Let me see." Samil flicked his finger up the screen a couple of times. "Ah, here we are. It appears your husband wanted his ex-girlfriend drowned. That was his method of choice. He wanted her head held under, then pulled out when she was almost unconscious, and then pushed under again. He wanted that repeated until finally her strength ebbed from her body. I didn"t do that. It was too messy and would have taken too long. But that was his fantasy. I would have slit her throat, like the first one, but in the end she was strangled. Bad, but not as bad as what your husband had planned."
Maggie felt hot tears streaming down her face. This wasn"t Duncan he was talking about; it was somebody else.
"You see, Maggie " Samil"s voice was tight as if he could only just resist the urge to shout and scream, " what that girl did to your husband was nothing. It was a blip in his life. His failure to stick to his side of the bargain, to kill my stepmother before she got her hands on my father"s money, has condemned me to a life of penury. Oh, I have enough to live on, but I should have been so very, very rich. And your husband ruined that for me. That"s why I"ve brought him here. I"m going to condemn him for the rest of his life to something that"s possibly even worse."
What could he mean? There was no point in asking. Samil seemed to be in a different place. His pupils had dilated and his eyes looked fierce and black, the words spat from his mouth with venom.
"He has to make a choice. He has to kill that"s only fair given what I did for him but I"m going to let him choose. He can kill you, Maggie, or he can kill Leo. That"s an easy choice, really. She"s almost dead anyway. But you see, you"re going to have to watch him do it. You"re going to have to listen to her scream. And then if you stay with him, every day for the rest of your lives you will picture him killing an innocent woman because she had the misfortune to look like you."
Still Duncan didn"t speak. He kept his hate-filled eyes on Samil, and never looked at Maggie.
"Don"t do it, Duncan," she begged. "He can"t make you."
"Of course I can make him." Samil spat the words out. "I"ll start carving chunks out of you until he agrees. It looks like an easy choice, but it"s not. Think about it."
He said no more. He didn"t need to, but Maggie had heard enough. She remembered one of the articles she had read about psychopaths. Control was everything, so she had to break it destroy Samil"s confidence. As a psychopath, he was a master manipulator of other people"s feelings, but was unable to experience emotions himself. She knew she wouldn"t be able to make him feel guilty, but she could belittle him. And psychopaths were planners and hated their plans to be upset or derailed. That was what she had to do. Maggie took a deep breath.
"What sort of a man are you, Samil? Oh, I know. The sort that has to hide behind a pathetic fake name. The Angel of Death?" She barked out a laugh, and hoped Samil didn"t hear the terror hovering just below the surface. "For G.o.d"s sake, you sound like a character out of a children"s comic. I"ve no doubt you"re an evil b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Let"s face it, you"ve killed enough innocent women. But what do you get off on? That"s what I can"t work out. From what I can gather you"re not getting any s.e.xual gratification out of your kills. Or is that it? Is thinking about the deaths of these women at your hands the only way you can get it up? Or is it the thrill of the kill? Well, I"ve got news for you. Your plans are going to fail. It"s all going to go wrong, Samil, and you will be exposed for the pathetic specimen you are."
She had to stop before her voice cracked with the strain of trying to sound strong. She swallowed and fought to hold her gaze steady. She had done her best, but her outburst hadn"t produced any signs of the confusion she had tried to create. All she saw was a slight narrowing of Samil"s eyes.
"Maybe I have a better idea," he said. "You"re a strong woman, Maggie, so maybe the choice of who dies should be yours. Duncan can kill Leo or kill you, or you can kill Duncan. But let"s make this your choice let Duncan see what h.e.l.l he has brought into your life. Remember, Maggie, your husband has fantasised about killing. Maybe he still does have you thought of that? Maybe if we search the site to find someone who fantasises about drowning people slowly that fantasist could be Duncan."
The back of Maggie"s neck tingled with a memory and she turned her head to look at Duncan. He didn"t return her stare, but the fury in his eyes as he looked at Samil was chilling.
"Don"t be ridiculous," he said, s.p.a.cing out each word. "I was never serious. You"re the psychopath, the thrill killer. Not me."
Samil turned back to his phone. "Well, we"ll see, shall we. There are some wild fantasists on this site and yes, the site"s still going, Maggie. The numbers swell year on year. This one that I"m looking at right now wants to kill all lesbians. A mission killer. They"re so interesting, like Peter Sutcliffe and the prost.i.tutes. Or Carroll Edward Cole his mission was to kill women who cheated on their partners. I think you would be a mission killer, Michael. But what would you want to rid the world of? Any ideas, wife? We can search the site, and see if we can find any more of your husband"s fantasies. What do you say?"
Maggie was silent. She wasn"t sure her legs would hold her up for much longer. Samil stared at her for a few seconds longer, waiting to see if she responded. She didn"t, and he appeared to become bored with the idea, sticking the phone back in his pocket.
He folded his arms and stared at Maggie, a small smile betraying his pleasure at the torment he was inflicting.
"Okay, Maggie, who"s going to die here today? You, your husband or that poor sc.r.a.p of a woman who hasn"t done a thing to hurt anybody?" He pointed his taser in Leo"s direction. "I want an answer. Or I"m going to start hurting people."
Maggie had no more ideas no other ways to deflect Samil from his goal. What was she going to say to him? Why hadn"t she absorbed more of those articles on psychopaths? She might have had a clue then.
Duncan moved towards Samil. The taser was immediately pointed and charged. "Don"t even think about it."
"So give me a knife," Duncan said.
Maggie was jolted from her thoughts of how to divert Samil.
"Duncan," Maggie gasped. "Don"t."
"He won"t be doing anything until you give him the word. I"ve told you, Maggie. The choice has to be yours. You, your husband or her."
Maggie put her head down.
"Give me the f.u.c.king knife," Duncan said, his jaw clenched. "Let"s get it done."
Samil waited a beat.
"I will free your hands, Duncan. And you can have the knife. But the decision is Maggie"s. If you as much as move before that decision has been made, I will bring you down with this." He waved the taser in the air. "Turn your back. The taser is right up against your heart, so nothing clever."
Maggie watched as Samil ran the knife quickly between Duncan"s hands and stepped back. He got well out of Duncan"s reach, dropped the knife on the floor and kicked it over to him, pointing the taser all the time.
Maggie watched her husband pick the knife up. He looked at her, but she couldn"t see any sign of her Duncan. His face was devoid of expression, his jawline rigid.
"What"s it to be, Maggie?" Samil asked. "If you choose Duncan, I"ll taser him first, and I"ll be only too happy to finish the job for you if you don"t have the stomach for it. That makes the choice easier, doesn"t it?"
Maggie"s head was spinning. This couldn"t be happening. How could she choose between herself, her husband and this poor defenceless woman who as far as she knew had nothing whatsoever to do with any of this.
Duncan started to walk across to where Leo lay on the floor.
"Maggie, it"s an easy choice, surely?" Duncan said. "She isn"t going to survive. Tell me to kill her, and then we"re done. He"s not going to stop until you choose, and what other choice is there?"
Maggie stared at her husband. He didn"t appear to have an ounce of reluctance about killing the girl. It was a solution to a problem for him, not a young woman"s life. What did that make him?
"Do you think he"s going to let us go after that? After everything we could tell the police about him?"
Duncan closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head slightly. "Don"t you get it? If we do this, he will have as much on us as we have on him. Rightly or wrongly, I can"t ever go to the police. You know that. So let him have his revenge, and let"s get out of here. Just don"t watch. Then you won"t ever have to think again about what I"m about to do."
"Shut it, Duncan," Samil said. "Maggie, it"s decision time."
Maggie knew that if she told Duncan to kill the girl, she would never be able to look at herself in a mirror again. And she would never let Duncan"s blood-covered hands near her. But she couldn"t kill her husband, the father of her children and he had always seemed such a good father. How would she ever live with herself if she condemned him to death?
She was about to open her mouth and give her answer when she heard a noise. It was the sound of running footsteps on the stairs.
The door burst open and a man stood in the open doorway. Maggie could see his chest heaving as he tried to regain his breath. His arms were at his side, but held away from his body, his legs taut. She recognised the voice.
"You f.u.c.king s.h.i.t." His voice was low, but there was no doubt about the fury.
It was the second man, the one who had been left to guard the pipe.
"You left me with no transport, no money nothing. You treat me like s.h.i.t, and yet none of this would have been possible without me."
"Stop being such a girl," Samil said. "You enjoyed the ride. You got off on killing people on Daddy"s property, didn"t you? Didn"t have the guts to do it yourself, though. You bottled that, didn"t you?"
The second man advanced into the room, and it was only then that Maggie noticed he was carrying what looked like a short metal pole in the hand that Samil couldn"t see. The two men were both well over six feet tall, Samil having the edge. The newcomer"s perfectly cut blond hair was at odds with his muddy jeans and boots, and the look of fury on his face in stark contrast with the controlled arrogant stare of Samil, whose chiselled features and thick bottom lip appeared to be set in concrete. Only his intense blue eyes showed that he was alive, burning every surface they touched.
"Invictus was right about you," the second man said. "You"re the real deal. The dark triad of personality disorders all combined in one person. Psychopath, narcissist, Machiavellian. You"ve got it all. But you"re a user. And I"m sick of being used."
He continued to advance. It wasn"t until he was about six feet away that Samil seemed to notice the metal bar. He didn"t hesitate. The taser came up, and Maggie saw the laser sight light up the other man"s chest. The two probes came flying out and there was a scream as the man fell to the floor.
Duncan flew across the room, the knife in his hand, running towards Maggie. She drew in a breath and closed her eyes. This was it. But then he was behind her, behind the pillar to which she was attached, and suddenly her hands were free.
"Go, Maggie. Go now," he whispered urgently.
Maggie wanted to ask what he was going to do, but she knew their best chance was for her to escape and raise the alarm. Samil would have to reload the taser, and Duncan might be able to get to him first. If they both made a run for it, he would be after them like a shot.
She couldn"t see Samil and the other man; the wide pillar she had been tied to shielded them from her view. She walked backwards across the vast expanse of open floor as slowly and silently as she could, keeping the pillar between her and the two men.
Duncan had moved to the far side of the room, and she knew he would distract Samil if he needed to. The man on the floor was groaning, which helped cover any sound Maggie made. Samil thought she was safely tied up, and he had enough to contend with, dealing with his partner and Duncan, who still had the knife.
Maggie made it to the far side of the room. Flattening herself against the bare brick walls and keeping to the shadows, she made her way on tiptoe across to the staircase. She wanted to run, but knew she mustn"t. Even if he didn"t hear her, the atmosphere in the room would change somehow and he would know. So she took it slow and steady. If he turned she would run. She was far enough away to make it. Duncan was goading Samil while the taser was useless and he had the knife. What he planned to do with it, Maggie didn"t know. Samil was a good five inches taller than Duncan, and he had the metal bar that the other man had brought with him. Even with the knife, she didn"t think her husband would come off the better of the two.
She reached the top of the stairs and turned to go down backwards. She didn"t want any surprises. This way, she could watch to see if Samil came after her. But there was nothing more than a yell from above. She thought it was Samil"s voice, but she couldn"t be certain.
With a sigh of relief she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned.
Outlined against the backdrop of the open loading bay door stood a man, arms by his side, legs apart, ready to catch her if she ran.
60.
Every nerve ending on Maggie"s body was p.r.i.c.kling with fear. Surely there wasn"t another one? But what about William the man Duncan had been chatting with all these years on the site, the man who Maggie was sure had led Samil back to Duncan.
The man in the entrance raised his hand, and she realised that he was putting a finger to his lips, as if to say "Shh."
Maggie stood still, not sure what to do. Suddenly and silently the empty loading bay filled with people dressed in black, moving stealthily towards her. All she could see were their dark silhouettes. The one she had seen first crept towards her. She bit back a scream.
"Maggie," he said, his voice so low that she could barely hear it, but not a hissing whisper that would travel further. "It"s okay. Police."
She wanted to run towards him, but he held up his hand, palm out, to stop her. She understood why. The floor was scattered with detritus acc.u.mulated over the years. She couldn"t afford to make a noise.
The man made his way silently across the floor, using the faint beam from a shielded torch to show the way without lighting up the room.
"Josh is safe, Maggie." With the first words he spoke to her she knew instantly who this was and how much he understood. She bit back a sob of relief.
"They"ve got a girl up there," she said, her mouth pressed against his ear. He nodded and she realised he already knew. That was why they wanted to be so quiet. If the two men heard them coming, they could use Leo as a bargaining tool to get out of there.