The knife didn’t seem to bother him at all, and Jason soon found out why when he reached into his inside pocket and drew out a revolver.
Deano had been about to leap on him from behind, but he subsided immediately as soon as he saw the weapon pointed at Jason.
‘Get out of here,’ urged Deano. ‘Run.’
But Jason couldn’t move. He’d seen guns before, but he’d never had one pointed at him. Every ounce of sense drained out of his head. All he could do was stare at the thing.
Kayley whimpered and hid her face in Deano’s arm. He held her close, his own face white.
‘Where did you get that?’ It was all Jason could think of to say.
‘Never you mind,’ said Harville. ‘Drop the knife and get your hands up.’
Jason could only comply.
‘Now go and join your friends over there.’
He edged past Harville, but as he did so, he couldn’t help making a lunge for the gun. Harville eluded him, but in the process managed to let off a shot that went straight through the door.
‘You fucking fool,’ he snarled. ‘You could have got yourself killed. Sit down before I lose patience and put a bullet through you. At least that one wouldn’t go to waste.’
‘What are you going to do?’ asked Jason, sitting heavily on the small area of unoccupied bed.
‘I don’t know yet. I’ll have to find a use for you. If I can’t, I’ll take great pleasure in introducing you to a world of pain. Either way will suit me.’
He left, slamming the door behind him and locking it noisily.
‘Well,’ said Jason, as Kayley sobbed through her shock and Deano stared bleakly ahead. ‘This is nice.’
Chapter Fourteen
MIA CLAPPED A hand over her mouth and began to shudder uncontrollably.
That had been a gunshot. Surely it had been a gunshot. What else could it be?
Her mind raced through happier, but much less likely, scenarios. A party popper? A minor gas explosion? A …
No. It was a gunshot.
‘Fuck,’ she whispered, fumbling for her phone with shaking fingers. ‘Fuck this. I’m calling the police.’
She ran around from the back of the cottage and stayed out of sight while she watched the goons, having finished with Ross, swaggering back to the cottage, laughing and self-satisfied.
When they were safely inside, she ran to Ross, who was just a dark bundle lying on the ground near the gate post.
She swore again once she was close enough to see the state he was in. The goons had taken full advantage of the licence Harville had granted them to deal with him and he was a limp, bloody mess. She whispered his name, put a finger to his bleeding lip, but he was unconscious.
‘Oh Christ,’ she whispered, her fingers finally able to dial 999. ‘Don’t die on me, Ross. Yeah, police, please.’
She looked anxiously back at the cottage. In the lit front windows, she saw figures moving to and fro. She hid herself as well as she could in the hedge by the cottage entrance, unwilling to leave Ross alone.
The police operator picked up the call after what seemed like an eternity of ringing.
‘Yeah, please, I need help, I’ve heard a shot fired in this cottage on the Mansfield road … yes, that’s right, about eight, ten, miles out of Bledburn. It’s called …’ She squinted at the gate post, which held a name plate. ‘Something Lodge … Oak Tree Lodge, yeah. Yeah, a shot was fired, and can you send an ambulance anyway ’cos there’s a very seriously hurt man out front as well. Beaten up. Please.’
She answered all the operator’s requests for her to give a name with more Pleases, until she gave up and promised that the police were on their way.
Mia put her phone away and crawled back over to Ross, but she had to hide again very quickly when the living room lights went out and the front door opened.