Sisters - Michelle Frances Page 0,105

. . .’ He saw he wasn’t getting through. ‘She’s got a gun,’ he repeated.

Ellie slowly stepped away from him, the news still sinking in. She walked over to her bag, unzipped it.

‘I’ve got the gun,’ she said.

He flinched, eyes agog, and she put it away. Her shoulders fell.

‘We need to get out of here,’ said Abby. ‘Now.’

She grabbed the bags and, making sure Ellie was following, went to the door. Then she stopped. ‘They’re outside, aren’t they?’ she said to Fredrik.

He nodded.

‘Shit!’ She looked wildly around the room.

‘I can help,’ said Fredrik suddenly.

‘I think we can do without your help,’ snapped Abby.

‘No, seriously.’ Fredrik went over to the window, opened it. On the floor below was a balcony. Steps led from the balcony down to the gardens, beyond which was the car park. Abby could see the red Fiat from where she stood. It was tantalizingly close – but still a world away.

A loud scraping sound distracted her – she turned to see Fredrik heaving the bed over to the door. Then he ripped off the sheet and ran back over to the window.

‘Let me tie this around you,’ he said to Abby.

‘I don’t think so.’

‘It’s the only way.’

Abby narrowed her eyes. ‘You’d better not be messing me around.’

She let Fredrik tie one end of the sheet around her middle. Then, on his instruction, she climbed out of the window onto the sill, as he had the other end of the sheet wrapped around his waist to support her.

‘Use the drainpipe,’ said Fredrik, and Abby reached across and grabbed it with both hands and then lowered herself down. She untied the sheet and Fredrik hauled it back up.

‘Ready?’ he called, holding her bags at the window. Abby nodded and he dropped them onto the balcony.

‘Now you,’ Fredrik said to Ellie.

She hesitated.

‘Hurry,’ he pleaded.

A loud noise from behind made Ellie jump: a hammering at the door.

‘Open up! Police!’

Ellie knew she had no choice. She tied the sheet around her waist and looked down to see her sister urgently waiting.

‘Was any of it true?’ she asked Fredrik. ‘All that stuff about your dad?’

‘Every word,’ he said.

There was no time to say anything more as Ellie could hear a battering ram being hurled against the door. The last she saw of Fredrik’s face was as he pulled up the sheet. He gave her a small smile, then Abby was urging her down the steps and across the garden. They raced to the car, throwing their things in. Abby started the engine and they sped away out of the village.

In seconds, in the wing mirror, Ellie could see two unmarked cars chasing them, blue lights flashing, sirens wailing.

‘Shit,’ said Abby as they raced over a small bridge, landing hard.

Winded, Ellie grabbed the dashboard. This was it, surely.

‘They’re going to get us, Abs,’ she said.

‘Over my dead body,’ her sister replied.

‘Maybe we should just hand ourselves in. Deal with the consequences.’

Abby looked at her, aghast. ‘Are you joking? No. This is not how this ends.’

She pushed the car even faster and Ellie clung on. The country lanes were narrow and they hurtled around corners, blind as to what was coming on the other side. Spartan trees and bushes lined the road, beyond which fields stretched into the distance, dotted by the odd farmhouse. Abby had managed to gain a bit of distance and for a few seconds they lost the two cars behind them. They neared a turning and, without warning, Abby flung the car left, into an even narrower road. She continued at speed, both girls watching anxiously in their mirrors.

‘Have they gone?’ asked Ellie urgently.

‘I don’t know, I don’t know,’ cried Abby.

Then they saw the police cars hurtle past the turning.

‘Oh my God,’ said Abby, not quite believing what she’d witnessed. ‘We did it. We got away!’

Ellie broke into a smile. ‘They didn’t see us.’

Abby punched the air. ‘Yes! Yes!’

‘Maybe you could tell me next time you spin around a corner so I can make sure my stomach comes with me,’ said Ellie.

Abby was laughing, buoyed by their success.

‘Where did you learn to drive like that, anyway?’

‘Never driven like that before in my life. God, that was fun,’ Abby added, surprised at herself.

‘Fuck,’ said Ellie, suddenly sombre.

‘What?’ Alarmed, Abby glanced in her rear-view mirror. There was nothing.

‘I thought I saw—’ Ellie stopped abruptly as they both glimpsed a police car gaining on them.

‘Oh my God,’ wailed Abby, putting her foot down. ‘Where did he come from?’

Up ahead, a farmer was opening a