a left turn about three miles up.’
Abby pulled away from the petrol station. Within a couple of minutes they were back in the countryside, the street lighting gone. Her headlights picked up a rabbit bolting across the road and she was glad to have missed it. It vanished into the thick trees on the verge and was swallowed up into the woods.
The movement caught her eye at just about the same time Ellie screamed. Abby felt the car slide across the road and frantically swung the wheel back, while the hairs on the back of her neck tried to crawl into her scalp. She attempted to flick her head backwards, to see, but her eyes got no further than her sister in the seat next to her.
There was a knife at Ellie’s throat. Terror and confusion washed over Abby and she tried to turn, to understand, but—
‘Keep your fucking eyes on the road,’ snarled a man’s heavily accented voice from the back seat.
Petrified, Abby snapped her head back. She could hear Ellie whimpering next to her.
‘Don’t . . . don’t,’ stammered Abby.
‘Do as I say or I cut her.’
Ellie let out a sound, panic and terror mixed into one.
Abby fearfully flicked her eyes up to the mirror. In the shadows she saw long dark hair and a youthful face. It was the man from the petrol station.
FIFTY-TWO
‘I’ll give you the money,’ said Abby. Her voice didn’t sound like her own. It was weak, fearful.
‘Turn here,’ said the man, ignoring her.
Abby looked skittishly through the darkness, saw her headlights pick out a turning on the right. For a brief second she considered pulling the steering wheel so sharply it would fling him away but she realized the lean of the car and the position of the knife might kill Ellie instantly.
You have to keep calm! You have to think! Her mind was shouting instructions at her but she had no idea how to implement them. The turning got closer and she slowed the car. As she did, she felt a new sickening terror, that of her fight starting to leave her. She changed gear and with the slide of the stick, a penetrating disempowerment began to take hold. I’m doing what he wants. No, it was all wrong. Not again. A sense of urgency started up in the background of her mind: Stop! Don’t give up!
She turned into the road, sped the car up again. Ellie was statue-still on the seat beside her. Abby risked a glance across and saw her sister was white with terror. She was sitting rigid in the seat, her hands gripping the sides. The man’s arm was pinning back her right shoulder and his thumb knuckle pressed on her windpipe. The blade was resting on the skin of her neck. Ellie’s eyes were locked on some unknown place out of the windscreen; she didn’t look back at Abby.
Suddenly the man punched Abby in the face with his spare hand. She screamed and recoiled as far against the driver’s door as she could. She heard a mewling sound escape from her sister’s throat and understood that, in hitting her, the man had exerted more pressure on Ellie’s neck.
‘Keep driving,’ he snapped.
Abby’s face stung. Her jaw felt as if it had been pushed to the other side of her mouth and she tasted blood. She gripped the steering wheel, fighting back tears. She must do nothing to draw attention to herself. She continued onwards, seeing the trees grow denser as they drove further into the woods. Tall pines, thick with green. They were climbing, a sensation that made her sick with foreboding. It meant they were getting further from civilization, from any chance of someone passing them.
Think! Think! She clung to the notion of the money. He hadn’t said anything about her offer to take it. Wasn’t that what he wanted? Surely, if she could give him the money, then he’d leave them alone? She deliberated bringing it up again. He’d ignored her once but maybe she should say something, tell him how much there was. But she didn’t know if it was the right thing to do. She couldn’t judge him and she was afraid.
‘You can have the money,’ she stammered. ‘There’s a lot. Nearly ten thousand euros.’
He said nothing. The silence grew and in the dark she imagined him on the back seat, watching her. She withdrew into herself, expecting him to slam his fist into her again. She drove on some more. Still he said