Chapter Sixty
Neville
‘You’re here—’ I begin.
But the man standing in front of me isn’t who I am expecting.
Instead, I’m facing a heavyweight with a hammer dangling from his right hand. Beads of sweat break out on my forehead.
‘Expecting someone else, were you?’ the man says, his voice deep and menacing.
I don’t even register his features. My eyes are fixed on the hammer. What the hell is going on?
‘Who are you? Where did you get that key?’
‘Now, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?’ he replies with a grin, and I notice his front tooth is broken.
He swings the hammer gently back and forth. Sweat trickles down my back. I have no idea what to do.
Trying to tackle him is pointless. He’s heavier than me, and armed. My first instinct is to race to the kitchen for a knife, but will I make it before he catches me?
‘Where’s the woman?’ he asks.
‘What woman?’ I ask, trying to sound innocent.
‘Is she in the basement?’
Realisation hits me like a bolt of lightning, knocking the breath from my lungs. ‘I don’t know what woman you’re talking about.’
From the corner of my eye, I spot where the carpet has been thrown back, exposing the hatch to the basement. I edge my foot over and nudge it closed.
He looks down, and I make a break for it and run towards the kitchen.
His heavy footsteps pound behind me on the oak floor. He doesn’t hurry, but I still don’t reach the knife block in time.
A searing pain explodes in my shoulder, and a sticky wetness trickles along my arm. I glance at it. My shirt sleeve is soaked in blood. The pain throbbing in my shoulder is unbearable, but I duck his next blow, which he aims at my head, and manage to stumble out of the kitchen.
I need to warn Joanna.
I open my mouth to shout a warning to her, when I see him coming at me again, hammer raised, grim determination carved into his face.
We don’t stand a chance.