‘I’m not sure, my husband has something in the back with stuff in, but I’m not sure what he keeps.’

‘What d’you reckon, pull over and look for something to tie her with?

Johns eyes burned with hate as he looked in the mirror to see eyes filled with amusement and contempt staring back.

‘Good idea Mr Walsh. Be gentle with her now, I know you’d like to hurt her but when alls said and done, we’re not savages are we?’

John quickly pulled onto the hard shoulder and opened the back of the car. He was raging within himself for allowing Johnson’s taunts to get the better of him.

He opened a plastic box that was typical of a handyman’s and rummaged about. He quickly found the cable ties and gaffer tape that would serve his purpose. He moved to the front passenger side of the car and opened the door. He pulled the woman out roughly to keep up the pretence.

‘Face the car’ he barked at her ‘and put your hands behind your back.’

She was trembling once more and John leaned close to her left ear as he was fastening her hands with the black plastic tie. He felt her revulsion and fear as he whispered in her ear.

‘The other man in the back and me are police officers. We’ve been kidnapped.’

She began to push back and tried to turn round but he shoved her roughly forward again and said in a louder voice,

‘stop fucking struggling or you will get hurt.’ He whispered again, ‘I’m trying to save your life. Be quiet and listen. When you get found, tell them we’re heading back towards Liverpool. Okay?’

He roughly twisted her round so her face was looking towards him. She looked at him with bewilderment as he placed a large piece of tape over her mouth.

‘There, that will keep you quiet’ he said for the benefit of Johnson.

He took her by the arm and walked her several feet away from the car as Johnson watched intently from the back seat. The knee length skirt was a hindrance as he half lifted her and told her to climb over the Armco barrier to the relative safety of the grass verge beyond.

‘I’m so sorry I’ve had to treat you like this but believe me, it’s for your own good. You probably couldn’t see, but he’s holding a shotgun to my colleagues’ neck. Sit down on the grass and wait till we’ve gone okay?’

She couldn’t speak with the tape in place but she nodded and John thought he had gotten through to her that, although she was still completely shocked and frightened, he wasn’t such a bastard after all. He shoved her once more for the benefit of the watching psycho and moved quickly to the drivers’ seat and closed the door. He was trembling somewhat himself at the thought of how he had treated the woman and even though it was for her own good, it didn’t make him feel any better. He gripped the steering wheel hard to try and prevent his hands from shaking.

Their eyes met once more in the mirror as Johnson said, ‘Okay Mr Walsh, no point in hanging around.’

John’s foot was on the accelerator even before he had finished speaking. The wheels screeched and spun on the tarmac as he gathered speed and eased back into the traffic flow.

Chapter 19

It was completely dark now as John glanced at the clock on the dash. 7pm.

He saw the overhead signs as they approached the signs for Garston and the silence of the last 30 minutes was interrupted by the voice from the back.

‘Follow the Garston signs till I tell you different okay? Pass me back the two bags on the seat.’

John did as he was ordered, the plastic bag contained the sandwiches and drinks; the expensive leather handbag with the designer logo obviously contained the woman’s worldly goods.

Johnson put the knife alongside his right thigh. He could easily get to it if needed if his driver decided to piss about. He didn’t think there was much danger of that as he would have to pull up first and stop, then turn around, by which time he would have the knife back in his hand and plunging through the seat. True, this car was much more plush than the police car and the foam padding was a lot thicker, but the knife would still go through the fabric easy enough into the body sat in front. He put the plastic bag on the floor after taking out a bottle of coke. He still had hold of the shotgun in his left hand but his captive hadn’t stirred for the last half hour or so. He wasn’t dead, but there wasn’t much life left in him so he had no problem in putting the bottle between his knees and twisting the top off with his right hand. The sugar in the drink gave him a quick burst of energy as he swigged it down greedily. He emptied the contents of the handbag out on his knee and his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. The black shiny mobile phone almost winked at him.

John heard the tell tale ping, ping, ping as Johnson hit the keypad quickly.

‘Is that you Tony?’

‘Luke, where the fuck have you been all day. I thought you’d been locked up or dead or something. I’ve been watching the news every hour all day long trying to see if there was anything about a police incident anywhere. When the copper stopped the wagon going out of the gate this morning, I thought you’d do him. Next thing I know, he’s in the fuckin wagon with you goin up the road.’

‘It’s a long story little brother and I’ll have to knock the shite out of you when I see you. Who’s the soft bastard who didn’t charge the phones up last night like I told you to you fucking arsehole. When I needed to get you earlier, no fucking battery, twat!’

Tony knew better than to argue and just accepted the bollocking over the phone.

‘Where are you now Luke?’

‘We’re on the M6 just coming off at Garston.’

‘What d’you mean we? Who’s with you?’

‘We’ve got a couple of guests for dinner our Tony so you need to put the kettle on and make them a nice welcome cup of tea when we get there.’ The menace in the voice wasn’t lost on John as their eyes met in the mirror.

‘What do you mean a couple of guests, who are they?’

‘One’s the copper from this morning, the others a copper from this afternoon.’

‘Fuckin hell Luke, two coppers. Are you out of your skull, are you fuckin mad?’

Tony had said the words without thinking and instantly cursed himself as the volcano in the back seat erupted. He screamed down the phone at his younger brother, even Dave was brought out of his semi comatose condition and jumped in his seat.

‘Don’t you ever call me fuckin mad you little bastard, d’you hear me. I’ll take this fuckin shotgun and shove it up your arse you fuckin little shitbag.’

His face was contorted with rage. John hadn’t seen him this angry at any time during the day. Dave was all to well aware of the violence that bubbled below the surface as he saw the speckles of saliva spatter all over the back of John’s head.

‘Get your arse to the fuckin yard now. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’

Tony stammered down the phone.

‘Sorry, sorry Luke, I didn’t mean it like it sounded. I’m at the yard already. Just sound the horn when you’re outside and I’ll open the gates and you can drive straight in OK?’

‘“Please can I have a drink?’ Dave was stirring and feeling the effects of serious dehydration. Probably if he had thought about it, Johnson would have ignored him or fucked him off. As it was, he was too busy thinking about his little twat of a brother and tossed a full bottle of coke onto Dave’s lap. He couldn’t grip it with his left hand and, in much the same way as his captor earlier, grasped the plastic between his knees and twisted the top. He drank slowly and felt the sweetness and fluids bring him round a bit more. During the next five minutes or so he drank about three quarters of the bottle before he was alert enough to take in their surroundings. He caught John’s eye in the mirror and quickly glanced over at Johnson. He wasn’t paying him much attention as he was looking out of the window, more than likely contemplating bodily injury to his brother in a few minutes time. Dave passed the coke bottle between the seats to his colleague who tried not to draw attention to himself as he drained the remaining contents of the bottle.