31 Days of Autumn (37 page)

‘Goodwin, Burton, back up Chris,’ Andy ordered
as the two of us pounded towards the van side by side. They darted off to the
left, skirting it and disappearing around the corner. The flames were getting
higher. Jamieson had his foot on the side of the van, still trying to get it
open as the person in the front slowly started to lift their head. It wasn’t
Ellie, I could see dark hair, unless exhaustion was playing tricks on my eyes. ‘Jamieson,
get out of there, it’s about to blow.’

‘He’s still alive, I’ve got time,’ he yelled in
response. He? If it was a he, where was Ellie? The air in my lungs from running
so fast was burning as quickly as the van.

‘No,’ Andy roared. ‘Think of your wife.’

I saw Jamieson saying something to the guy in
the van, then he turned and started running back towards us. I screamed Ellie’s
name when Andy yanked on the back of my jumper, hauling me back and slamming me
down onto my backside. I lifted my head with tears in my eyes as the flames
engulfed the van and the man inside started to scream. It was the most awful
sound I’d ever heard, even worse than Moira’s screams as we’d been tossed
around in the rolling Landrover. My eyes finally locked with the man who’d once
been my friend, years before Ellie and I had even met. Seconds later, the van
exploded, along with my heart, and the blast knocked me onto my back.

I slowly came around coughing and choking, the
acrid black smoke filling the air around us as well as my lungs. I sat up, completely
numb and stunned, and stared at the wreckage in front of me. She was gone.
Everything I’d done, that everyone had done, to try and save her had all been
for nothing. I felt empty inside as I just listened to the loud ringing in my
ears and watched the smoke dancing around me. I was suddenly aware of movement on
either side of me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the carnage ahead. I
didn’t have to as Andy’s face appeared in front of mine, and he started shaking
me. I could see his lips moving, but I couldn’t hear what he was trying to say.
I felt myself being lifted under each arm and dragged to the side of the road,
then water being forced down my throat. How had this happened? How had it ended
when I was so close to saving her? After everything we’d been through, from the
moment we met to sitting here now? There’d been only metres between us, but it
may as well have been the Atlantic. Had she seen me from the back of the van?
The thought that her last images might have been of me running to save her wasn’t
even a tiny consolation to me. Not when she’d just been ripped from me and
taken my heart with her.

‘Sir … Sir … Dan! Snap out of it!’

I blinked as the sound of Andy’s voice saying
my actual name finally registered. ‘You shouldn’t have stopped me,’ I
whispered.

‘You’d have been killed if I hadn’t.’

‘At least I’d have been with her,’ I replied,
hearing the defeated tone in my voice.

‘She wasn’t in the vehicle. Whatever the hell
that Damien’s real name was, his last words to Jamieson were that he’d only
hired four men, and to tell you that he was sorry. He confirmed that Ellie
wasn’t in the vehicle. He thought she was, but when he looked, moments before
the explosion, apparently it was just a pile of sleeping bags and a blanket in
the back,’ he stated. I moved my eyes to find his, not sure I’d heard right. He
nodded. ‘She wasn’t in there, Sir. Chris has the driver, he shot him in the
back of both knees as he tried to take cover in the trees. He’s the last one of
them alive. He’s not talking yet, but if we can’t find her at the bunker, we’ll
damn well make him talk. Can you stand up and walk? We’re nearly there.’

‘If there’s a chance she’s still alive, yes,’ I
nodded. They both helped me up and gave me more water, but my emotions didn’t
change. I’d got my hopes up too many times in the last week, only to have them
dashed. Until we found her, I wasn’t going to allow myself to feel anything.

‘You defy my orders again and I’ll shoot
you
in the back of your knees. Wellings has found trip wires in the forest, so it
seems they set a perimeter to warn them if anyone approached. We need to move
slowly in case there are any booby traps, do you understand?’

‘I do.’

‘Walk behind me, try and step where I step,
Jamieson will follow you.’

‘Ok,’ I nodded and we made a start. We were
walking at Oliver’s pace, but now that I knew there were no men left to torture
Ellie, if she had made it, it was a pace I was comfortable with. I was steeling
myself for the worst, so the slower we went, the better. If she wasn’t in the
van, they’d realised that they didn’t need her anymore, which meant that she
was dead. I was sure of it.

‘Yes?’ Andy stated, pressing his ear. ‘I can
see it and I can see you up ahead … no, wait. Check Dean can land safely, then
radio him in.’

‘I’ve seen the smoke, too. He’s torched the
cottage?’ Jamieson asked. ‘That’s what I’d have done.’

‘Yes,’ Andy confirmed, ‘but luckily the bunker
itself wasn’t built underneath, it’s a few hundred yards away, the entrance is
hidden by undergrowth. I’d warrant it’s not the first time they’ve used this
site.’ He looked around at me, surprised when I said nothing and made no move
to race ahead. Everything was suddenly becoming very real.

When we made it to the site of the burning
cottage, I saw a guy in black combat gear tied to a tree. He looked evil, with
a thickset brow, broad jaw, glaring eyes, and a long, jagged red scar down his
right cheek. I walked over and squared my shoulders as we eyeballed each other.
Much as I wanted to kill him for everything he’d put us all through, and for my
promise to Dean to make him suffer, death was an easy way out for him. Andy
didn’t stop me as I clenched my fists and rained punch after punch down on him
silently. I didn’t feel anything, no pain in my knuckles at all, as I pulverised
his face into a bloody, bruised, and swollen mess. He didn’t make a sound
either, all he did was spit out blood and fragments of his broken teeth. He was
one tough son of a bitch. I had no idea how long I’d been hitting him when Andy
and Chris stepped in and pulled me back.

‘We could do with taking him back alive, Sir,
for answers,’ Andy advised. ‘And while I’m sensing that you don’t want to look
in that bunker in case your fears are realised, on the off chance that she’s
still alive, we need to. If she isn’t, then we’re bringing her home, where she
belongs.’

I swallowed the lump in my throat and steeled
myself for the worst. He led me to the top of the steep concrete stairs that
disappeared into the ground, swallowed up by the darkness below. Andy had
cracked some glow sticks and thrown them down, but they still couldn’t be seen,
so Chris went with him as they slowly made their way down, placing more sticks
on the steps for guidance and to check no more traps had been left. I started
thinking of the different ways I’d break the news that Ellie was dead to
everyone waiting back home. However I told them, everyone was going to cry. No one
was going to accept it. They were all going to grieve and feel her loss. I
didn’t want to. The moment I cried tears of sorrow again, I was going to be
dragged into a pit of despair that I knew only too well, one that I wasn’t sure
I’d ever be able to dig myself out of again. My children needed me, more than
ever.

‘Sir, get down here now. She’s here and she’s
alive,’ Chris’s voice echoed up the stairs, breaking the silence. I looked
around at Jamieson, who was standing with me, to see if I’d heard correctly.

‘Thank God,’ he smiled, patting me on the back.
He cracked a stick and handed it to me. ‘Go.’

My hands started shaking and my heart, which
had felt as if it had stopped beating for the last half hour, suddenly made its
presence known, hammering against my chest as I threw myself down the stairs,
not even registering how dangerous they’d be if I lost my footing. My world was
suddenly coming back into focus. All of those family celebrations, outings, and
holidays that I’d seen in our future were a possibility again. I’d be able to
hold her, make love to her, watch her turn grey as we grew old together.
Nothing had ever sounded more appealing. Chris was waiting at the bottom of the
stairs, a black corridor stretching ahead.

‘It’s not pleasant in there, don’t be
embarrassed if you’re sick. The bastard locked her in with the two dead
bodies.’

‘But she’s ok?’ I demanded.

‘Andy’s checking her over now to make sure it’s
safe to move her. She’s delirious, with a weak pulse, but she’s alive. Go.’

I ran down the corridor and approached a heavy
steel door that had been swung open. The smell that hit my nostrils as I
entered the cold and damp underground cell was the most foul odour I’d ever
experienced. I could see a faint light over on the right, and in focussing on
it, I nearly tripped over a body coated in blood on the floor. I swallowed the
bile that rose in my throat from the sights and smells that assaulted my
senses. Jesus, how could he have left her in here? Andy suddenly stepped
towards me and put a hand on my chest, stopping me from approaching the
mattress I could just make out in the corner.

‘She’s got a nasty infection in her leg from
the bullet wound, she’s filthy and severely dehydrated and may not even know
that you’re here. We need to move her and get her to a hospital as soon as Dean
lands. Are you up to carrying her out of here, because she’s fragile. If you
drop her ...’ He shook his head.

‘I’m up to it,’ I said forcefully, pushing him
out of the way and dropping to my knees. I shook my head as I scanned her lying
there. ‘Ellie, what have they
done
to you,’ I choked as I saw the state
of her. I pulled the frayed hat off her head and shook mine. Her normally lustrous
blonde hair looked dark with grease and blood from a cut on her temple. Her
porcelain skin was covered in even more grime than Oliver’s had been. Her full
heart-shaped lips were dry with deep ruby cracks. Yet in this moment, even when
we were surrounded by the stench of death and faeces, she’d never looked more
beautiful to me, because she was alive. I bent down and gently kissed her dirty,
dry lips. ‘I
love
you, Ellie. You’ve no idea how long I’ve been waiting
to tell you that again. I’m taking you home, baby. I’m so sorry it took me so
long to find you, but I need you to be strong for me just a bit longer, because
there’s no way I can lose you now.’

I wiped some overdue tears from my eyes,
fighting the urge to break down right here. I had my purpose again. She needed
me. I smiled and carefully lifted her into my arms and stood up. She’d lost
weight, she was as light as a feather. I smiled as I thought I heard her
whisper my name. I followed Andy as he led the way, moving slowly, leaving the
darkness behind and rising up towards the blinding sunlight, the noise of
Dean’s helicopter blades whirring above slicing through the air. I looked down
as I thought I heard her say something else, and saw tears trickling from her
eyes and what looked like a smile forming on her lips. She wasn’t out of danger
yet, but she had a fighting chance now.

As we left the last step and walked out onto
the grass, the other five men ran forwards to help me settle Ellie onto the
waiting stretcher. I was reluctant to let her go, but Andy urged me to allow
them to tend to her before we moved off. Letting go of her was so painful,
after searching for her for so long. I sat back on my heels and let them do
their jobs. They cut a sleeve off her jumper, then cleaned her arm with alcohol
to put in an IV to rehydrate her. They then cut one leg of her jeans away as
well to remove her soiled bandages. Not one of us was expecting the resonating
crack of a gun firing. Chris threw himself on top of Ellie, as I was knocked
onto my back and smothered by Andy while voices shouted. When he finally got
off me, I stood up and followed his astonished gaze to the tree where the team
leader had been tied. Half of his skull was missing, blood oozing down the
remains of his face. Dean was standing with a gun still held in his outstretched
hands, which were shaking. He slowly looked around at us, pale as a ghost, as
we all stared back stunned.

‘I’m sorry, but it was him. He gave the order.
He took her from me. I had no choice. I did it for Jenny. He
took her
from me,’ he repeated, shaking his head, pain etched all over his face. ‘I
swear to you now that I’ll turn myself in as soon as we land in London. I don’t
care what happens to me. He
deserved
to die.’

 No one said a word, but a look passed between
Andy and Chris and they nodded at each other and walked over to where Dean was
standing, the gun now dangling from his right hand. Andy took it from him,
wiped off his prints, then held it and fired it into the dead guy’s shoulder.
He then pulled out a knife and cut the ropes, letting the body slump to the
ground, while Chris tipped another gun out of a clear plastic bag to land on
the floor next to him. Dean and I just watched, silent, wondering what was
happening as Chris gathered up the rope.

‘When you’re eventually questioned by the
police for your part in this rescue mission, you arrived to extract us and he
was already dead. All that you know is that he was shot by me in self-defence
when he pulled his own gun on me, understood?’ Andy ordered.

‘I can’t let you do that,’ Dean replied,
shaking his head again.

‘You can and you will. You’ve already lost too
much, you’re not going to prison for doing something every single one of us
here wanted to do, but didn’t have the guts to. We never shoot to kill unless
we have to.’

‘You didn’t shoot an innocent man, Dean,’ Chris
urged, when Dean gave them a pained look of guilt. ‘You shot a traitor, a
murderer. God knows how many people he’s kidnapped, tortured, or murdered
before this week. He took Jenny from you and he left Mrs. Davenport in that
hellhole to die,’ he added, pointing over at the bunker.