Heathen/Nemesis

Fifty-Eight

‘Conductor,’ the voice outside called.

Ryker shot an angry glance at Donna and mouthed something she couldn’t make out. She held his gaze then called, ‘Just a minute.’

Ryker looked at her with sheer hatred. For one terrible second she thought he was reaching for the knife.

‘Open it,’ she whispered, nodding towards the door.

‘I’ll kill you and whoever’s outside that door,’ Ryker said.

‘You wanted me alive, you said,’ Donna told him defiantly. ‘Kill me and you don’t get your information. Now open the door.’ They glared at each other for a second longer, then Ryker turned the lock and pushed the door open.

The conductor looked in on them, eyebrows raised.

‘What the hell is this?’ he said irritably, seeing the two dishevelled occupants of the lavatory. ‘What’s going on?’ He saw the cuts and scratches on Donna’s legs. ‘I’ve heard about this sort of thing before,’ he said, as if realizing what he’d stumbled on, or at least what he thought he’d stumbled on. ‘Very funny. I know what you’ve been up to. Another couple tried it on one of my trains a month or so ago. I caught them, too.’

‘It isn’t what you think,’ Donna said, running a hand through her hair.

‘No, I’m sure it’s not,’ the conductor said disbelievingly.

‘I can explain,’ Donna assured him.

Ryker said nothing.

‘I fell, I hurt myself,’ she said. ‘This gentleman,’ she nodded towards Ryker, ‘he helped me. I needed to sit down for a minute. I must have fainted, I think. This was the nearest seat.’ She smiled and patted the toilet beneath her.

The conductor looked at Donna, then at Ryker.

‘Is this true?’ he asked the other man.

‘Yes,’ Ryker said sharply, trying to hide his anger.

‘Then why was the door locked?’ the uniformed man wanted to know.

‘I didn’t want anyone bursting in and getting the wrong idea, like you have,’ Donna said, smiling again.

‘Well,’ said the conductor, ‘it does look a bit suspicious, you’ll admit. Two people in one lavatory, I mean ...’ He allowed the sentence to tail off.

‘I agree,’ Donna echoed. ‘If I could just go back to my seat I’ll be okay. Could you help me, please?’ she asked the conductor.

Ryker regarded her furiously as the uniformed man extended a hand to help her up.

‘Are you two people not together, then?’ the conductor asked.

‘No,’ Donna told him, smiling. ‘It was just lucky for me this gentleman was passing.’ She looked at Ryker. ‘I hurt my ankle when I fell. The floor was harder than I thought.’ She looked down at her scratched and grazed legs.

‘Would you like me to see if there’s a doctor on the train?’ the conductor asked as he walked back through First Class with her. ‘I can get them to call it out over the loudspeaker.’

‘No thanks, I’ll be fine.’

Ryker trailed along behind, his expression one of growing agitation. His chance, it seemed, was gone. How the hell was he going to get the information he required from her with the conductor prattling about? He clenched his fists in frustration and annoyance. And fear?

What would Farrell do if he failed?

The conductor saw Donna to her seat and ensured she was comfortable.

Ryker sat down opposite her, his eyes still blazing.

‘Would you like a brandy?’ the conductor said. ‘It’ll calm your nerves. I can get you one from the buffet car.’ He winked. ‘On the house.’

‘That’s very kind of you,’ Donna told him. ‘Thank you.’

He scuttled off to fetch it, leaving them to face one another across the table.

‘I’m going to kill you,’ Ryker hissed.

‘You’re not going to do anything,’ Donna told him, anger in her voice. ‘You said you needed me alive, that you wanted some answers. Well, so do I. I want to know who you are and who you’re working for, and don’t fuck me around or I’ll have this train stopped. Tell the truth or the law will be here before you can make a move. I’ll tell them you pushed that other bastard out of the train and tried to kill me.’ She looked at him with a challenging stare. ‘Who’s Farrell? You said Farrell didn’t want me harmed. Who is he? The man who sent you?’

‘Fuck you,’ Ryker said.

She leaned closer.

‘No, fuck you. You’re scared of him, aren’t you, whoever he is? That’s why you didn’t want that other moron to hurt me. It’s why you pulled me back inside the train when you could have left me to die. You’re not going to get another chance to threaten me. This train doesn’t stop until it reaches London now, and I’m not moving from this seat. If you want to risk killing me, that’s fine, but you’re going to have to kill the conductor and the other passengers in this carriage, too. Have you got the stomach for that, or are you only brave when you’re threatening a woman?’ She sat back, smiling. ‘You blew it. You should have let me fall, like your friend. But you daren’t, dare you? You gutless piece of shit.’

Ryker leaned forward menacingly, anger colouring his face.

‘One brandy,’ the conductor announced, returning with the drink and handing it to Donna.

She thanked him.

‘Will you stay with me for a minute? This other gentleman is going back to his seat now,’ she said, smiling at Ryker.

‘I can stay,’ he said through clenched teeth.

‘No,’ said Donna, making a great show of concern for him. ‘I’ll be fine now. Besides, I just need to relax. I might even get a couple of hours sleep before we reach London. Thank you for your help.’

Ryker hesitated a moment, then got to his feet. He paused, looked at her then stalked off down the aisle.

Donna took a sip of the brandy, feeling it burn its way to her stomach.

Most of the chill had left her now and, with Ryker’s departure, she felt more comfortable. Nevertheless, she realized that she was only safe until the train reached King’s Cross. Once in the capital, she was fair game once more. She had to find a way to escape him.

‘Are there phones on board this train?’ she asked.

‘I’m afraid not,’ the conductor said.

Donna felt her heart sink.

‘I’ve got one of these bloody things, though, if you want to borrow it,’ the uniformed man said, pulling a portable phone from his pocket. ‘We use them for getting track information and arrival times, that sort of thing. I can speak to the driver on it if I want to,’ he said, smiling. ‘Not that I want to, miserable bugger.’

Donna felt her spirits rising again.

‘The reception’s a bit haywire sometimes, especially in tunnels, but it should be okay,’ he reassured her.

‘Thank you,’ she said, taking the phone from him. He checked that she was all right, then told her he’d be back in a while and wandered off down the aisle.

Donna called to him.

‘What time do we get to King’s Cross?’

He checked his watch, then pulled a timetable from his jacket pocket. He ran his finger down the list of times.

‘We’ve made up some time,’ he informed her. ‘As long as there’s no hold-ups, we should be in about 1.30 a.m.’

She thanked him, then turned her attention to the phone, punching in digits.

She glanced at her watch.

10.16 p.m.

At the other end, the phone was picked up.

‘Julie, it’s me.’

‘Where the hell are you? I ...’

The line crackled.

‘Just listen to me, I haven’t got time to explain. I’m on a train from Edinburgh, it arrives at King’s Cross at 1.30. Julie, you must be there to pick me up. Do you understand? You must be.’

‘Donna, what’s going on . . . ?’

‘I told you, I can’t explain now. I’ll tell you everything when I see you. Julie, we’ve got to go to the cottage in Sussex. I want you to drive me from King’s Cross down to the cottage, right? Just listen to me. Go into the wardrobe in our room, get the guns and the ammunition and bring them with you. Bring the letter from Chris’s solicitor, too. Please, just promise me you’ll do it.’

‘Why can’t you tell me . . .’

Donna cut her short angrily.

‘Just do it, Julie. King’s Cross at 1.30. For Christ’s sake, be there.’

‘I’ll be there,’ Julie told her.

Donna pressed the ‘End’ button on the phone and laid it on the table.

While she was on the train she was safe. Once they reached King’s Cross she had no idea what Ryker would do. She looked at her watch again.

In less than three hours she’d know.