End Game (The Game Series) (6 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Kyle had hardly
said a word since they’d left London and gotten on the freeway heading west. Sandy looked at his profile as he negotiated the traffic. His jaw was tightly set and she was surprised that the steering wheel didn’t snap, he was gripping it so tightly.

She had no idea if they were even heading to the right place. Tara could be anywhere and they really were
grasping at straws but it was worth a shot. If they didn’t find her there, though, she would have to talk him into going to the police. They wouldn’t have any other choice.

***

He knew full well what Sandy was thinking and he could feel her looking at him as he drove. His gut was telling him something, though, something he couldn’t ignore. He just
knew
that they were on the right track.

All the travelling and the lack of rest had made his shoulder throb with increasing severity and he focused on that now. He couldn’t allow himself to think that they may be too late.
He couldn’t lose her. He knew himself well enough to know that if he did, there would be no coming back from it for him this time.

They were lucky, they seemed to have managed to escape London just before the rush hour hit and the traffic
, while heavy, was moving well.
Hang on, darling, I’m coming.

***

They were getting close now. It was dark outside, and once they’d left the main roads, the street lighting had practically disappeared as they drove along the winding country roads. But they were nearly there according to the satnav. Only five more miles.

They’d passed a large supermarket a few miles back and had stopped to get food. Neither of them had eaten since before the flight and they were ravenous. They’d grabbed something to eat in the car, Kyle not wanting to
waste any time. While they were there they’d bought a set of kitchen knives. They both knew they were going into an unstable situation with no way of defending themselves, so they’d agreed it was probably a good idea to get something. Not ideal, but at least they would offer some form of protection. The public and the police did not carry guns in the UK, but they weren’t naïve enough to think that someone in Sergei’s line of work wouldn’t be armed.

Pulling up outside a house, they confirmed that the number on the gatepost was the same as on the letter they’d taken from Sergei’s office. This was it.

Leaving the car parked on the road they headed up the driveway on foot. There were two cars parked in the driveway.

“I told you he’d be here,” Kyle whispered excitedly to Sandy.

“You have no way of knowing who those cars belong to.” She replied, trying to stop him from getting his hopes up. She had to agree, though, it did look promising.

“Okay. Well, we can’t just go knocking on the front door so I suggest we go and take a look around the back, see if there’s another door or anything.”

Sandy happily agreed, pleased to see that some of his sense seemed to have returned.

Trying not to make any noise, they made their way around the side of the house which led to the large back garden. They could see light spilling from a room at the back. The windows were huge and the light illuminated a wide area. Creeping forward slightly, Kyle in front with Sandy close behind, they approached the glass.

Getting down onto his stomach, Kyle inched forward so he could see into the room. It was empty, but what he saw made his stomach sink.

Pulling his head back and standing up quickly he told Sandy what he’d seen.

“There’s no one in there, it’s empty. But there’s a poker table all set up in there and it looks like someone’s in the middle of a game.”

He didn’t have to tell Sandy what this meant. She knew all about Sergei’s special games and knew that this wasn’t a good sign.

“We have to get in there,” she said. “Now.”

“Let’s keep going and see if we can see a back door anywhere.”

Checking again that the room was empty, they both quickly ran past the windows, running until they’d gone the length of the back of the house. They were now at the other side of the house which would lead them back to the front. Peeking around the corner and seeing that there was no one about, they both crept forward.

“A back door!” Kyle whispered. “It’s solid, so I can’t tell if there are any lights on.”

“I don’t think we have much choice. It’s this or the front door.”

Nodding his agreement, they looked at each other, took a deep breath and turned the handle.

Chapter Fifteen

“Why didn’t you
call me, you stupid bitch?” Sergei was in the kitchen with Monika screaming at her, spittle flying across the room. Monika was crumpled in a heap on the floor from the backhand she’d just received.

She’d gone to find him when they’d gotten home and found him in his living room, the game in progress. He’d looked completely stunned when she’d walked in, and completely panicked. When she’d told him that Anna had gone straight up to her room, he’d run up the stairs and she’d heard the shouting.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here!”

He was pacing now, waving his hands around as he spoke. “What the fuck am I going to do? Anna’s seen her!”

“Seen who?”

“Tara! Who the fuck do you think!”

“Tara? She’s here?” Monika was stunned.
What was she doing here? What was this bastard up to now?

“Full of stupid questions tonight
, aren’t you,” he sneered. “Get upstairs and see to Anna, I’ve got to get rid of my guests.” Spinning on his heels he stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.

Thoughts swirling round her head
, Monika went up to Anna’s room. Knocking at the door, she let herself in. Anna was sitting on her bed, her legs crossed in front of her, crying. Feeling her heart clench for this poor girl, Monika climbed onto the bed next to her and took her in her arms.

“Don’t worry
, sweetheart. He’s not mad at you.”

Anna looked at her with a face streaked with tears, her eyes filled with questions. “Who is that woman
, Monika? What’s going on?”

She didn’t know what to say. She loved this child like she would have loved her own daughter, had she had one. She stayed and put up with Sergei and what he did to her only because of Anna. She had practically raised her by herself and wanted to protect her from pain, as any mother would.

But, for years, she’d wanted to tell her the truth about her parents. She hadn’t only because there had never been a right time. Never a time when it wouldn’t have done more harm than good. But could it be the right time now? She knew the truth would tear her apart but, in the long run, would she be better off knowing?

Sergei kept things very close to his chest and she’d never know
n where Tara had been, hadn’t even known if she still worked for Sergei. For her to turn up here tonight had to be fate, she had to believe that.

Taking a deep breath
, she held Anna’s face in her hands and looked into her eyes.

“I love you. You know that don’t you?”

Anna nodded. “Of course I do.”

“And you know that I would never want to hurt you?”

Anna nodded again. “You’re scaring me now. Please, just tell me what’s going on.”

Monika paused and then, with a final determined nod to herself
, decided to tell her everything. The chips would just have to fall where they may.

“I’m so sorry
, Anna. Your dad insisted that you never know the truth about your mother.” She took Anna’s hands in her own now and held them tightly. Anna looked completely confused.

“What’s this got to do with my mother?”

“She didn’t die darling. I’m so sorry.” Monika watched as Anna tried to process this, flinching when she jerked her hands away from her own.

“What the hell are you talking about? Of course she did!”

Monika shook her head. “No. I’m sorry darling, she didn’t. That woman in the room next door? That’s your mother.”

“You’re lying! Why are you doing this to me!”
Anna pulled away completely now and jumped up from the bed, standing as far away from Monika as she could get.

“I’m not lying
. I’m so sorry. Your dad took you away from her when you were born, told her you had died.” Monika’s heart was breaking watching the effect her words were having, the pain she was causing.

“Why would he
do
that?”

“You need to ask him about that
. I’m sorry. Anna, your dad is a bad man. The bit you see? That’s barely the tip of the iceberg.”

“No. No! This can’t be happening.” Anna ran to her bedroom door and
was out before Monika could react. Following her, she found her standing outside the guest room.

“Give me the key!” Monika had master keys for all the rooms in the house and she always kept them on a key ring in her pocket. With shaking hands
, she pulled them out now and handed them to Anna. She’d set her on this path and now she had to let her see it through.

She watched as Anna scra
mbled with the key, finally getting it into the lock and turning it, pushing the door open.

Chapter Sixteen

Everything was going wrong. He’d need to move fast or things were going to get out of hand. What on earth had Monika been thinking not telling him they were coming home? One simple phone call and all this would have been avoided. He would deal with her later
, he promised himself. Teach her a lesson she wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Right now, though, he had to get rid of his guests.

The game had carried on after Monika’s interruption and all the players were concentrating intensely as he walked back into the room. Joey was s
eated in the chair overseeing things and he raised an eyebrow as Sergei entered the room. Walking over to him, he brought him up to date in a low voice and told him what was going to have to happen.

Approaching the table Sergei
cleared his throat. “Gentlemen, I’m afraid I have some bad news. As you probably guessed from the interruption, I have some unexpected guests.” He paused to let the murmuring around the table die down. “The game is going to have to be postponed.” He raised his hands as the murmuring turned into loud protests. “I’m sorry. There is nothing I can do. I assure you the game is not being cancelled and we will pick it up again in a couple of days, probably in London.”

He gestured over to Joey. “Joey will make sure you all have your money returned to you and will drive you back to London immediately.”

Leaving Joey to deal with the disgruntled players
, he left the room and went to his office. He needed a minute to think, to decide how best to deal with this situation. Closing the door behind him, he poured himself a large whiskey and quickly drained the glass before pouring himself another.

He was painfully aware that if he hadn’t taken Tara’s betrayal so personally he wouldn’t be in this mess. He would have dealt with her the same way he dealt with all the others and no one would be any the wiser. Now
, though, Anna had seen her and he was going to have to think of something to explain what was going on. He couldn’t let her find out the truth.

Chapter
Seventeen

The room was dark as Kyle pushed open the door but the light from the moon lit up the room enough for them to see that they were in the kitchen. The sound of a car engine starting up stopped them in their tracks and they stood, stock still and trying not to breath, as they heard it drive away from the house. Someone had just left.

They looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.
Was it Sergei
?

There was only one way to find out. Moving slowly, they inched forward towards the kitchen door and slowly opened it.

The door opened onto the hallway connected to the front door and from which a central staircase rose up to the first floor. There was a light on here, but no sign of anyone.

“You check upstairs and I’ll check down here.” Kyle whispered to Sandy who nodded. This was just like being at work.

Pushing the door fully open they crept into the hall. They hadn’t gone more than a few steps before a door opposite the kitchen swung open. A man stood there and Kyle didn’t need an introduction to know that this was Sergei. Tara had described him perfectly.

The man spotted them immediately and the confusion on his face was rapidly replaced by anger.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked as he marched towards them. “How the hell did you get in my house?”

He didn’t have the chance to say anything more. All the anger, all the fear and hatred that Kyle felt for this man exploded out of him and, with his good arm, he swung a punch with all that power behind it and was rewarded with a satisfying crunch as his fist met bone. He was about to follow through with another when he heard a voice shout.

“Get off him!”

Shocked, he looked up to where the voice had come from and saw a young
girl standing at the top of the stairs. There was no mistaking Tara’s daughter.

***

She looked at Tara through new eyes now and she was surprised she hadn’t seen it before. The resemblance was there for all to see. But, then, why would she have noticed? She wasn’t expecting any of this.

“Anna.” She could see now that the pain in this woman’s eyes mirrored her own
, and her longing was obvious.

“Monika says you’re my mother. Is it true?”

With tears streaming down her face, almost blinding her, Tara nodded.

“Yes. Oh
, yes, Anna, my darling.”

She came towards
Anna then, opening her arms to her. As she did, Anna took a step back. This was too much. More than she could cope with. Her whole world had just been turned on its axis.

Holding up her hands to stop her coming any closer she asked
, “Is it true that my father told you I was dead?”

Tara
nodded through her tears.

“Yes
, darling. I only found out about you a few months ago. I’ve been trying to get to you ever since.”

Anna shook her head. “But it doesn’t make sense! Why would
Dad want to keep you away from me?”

She saw Tara look behind her then and lock eyes with Monika, who had followed her into the room.

“I’ve told her that her father is not a good man,” Monika said.

Tara nodded once. “He’s not
, Anna. Your father has done many, many terrible things. Things you should never know about at your age.”

Anna was getting hysterical now, her anger mingling with her confusion and doubt.

“I don’t believe you! You’re lying!” Turning, she pushed past Monika standing in the doorway and ran out of the room.
She had to find her father!

Reaching the top of the stairs
, she stopped in her tracks. She could hear raised voices from below and looking over the banister, saw her father and a man and a woman she had never seen before. They were arguing and as she watched, the man pulled back his right arm and punched her father in the face. The crack as his fist broke his nose sounded like a gunshot and her father cried out in pain as he staggered back.

“Get off him!”
she shouted at the top of her voice, running down the stairs. “Dad? Dad, are you okay?” she cried as she ran to him.

“Get off me!” He pushed her away as she tried to pull his hands away from his face.

“Anna?” Kyle said, staring at the girl who had appeared as if from nowhere.

She turned to look at the man who had just spoken her name. “Why did you do that? Who are you?”

Before she heard a response to this question, an arm snaked round her neck and she was grabbed from behind. In shock, she grabbed at it and tried to pull it away but it wouldn’t budge.

***

“We’ve got to go after her!” Tara cried as Anna ran out of the room. Monika grabbed her arm as she ran past her, pulling her up short. “Wait!”

“I’ve waited too long. I’ve got to go to her, make her see!”

“I know you have, but she’s scared. She’s got no idea what’s going on. And she’s going to go running straight to Sergei. Tara, I don’t have to tell you what he’s capable of. You need to be really careful.”

Tara placed her hand on Monika’s, which still rested on her arm. “I know but I’m not scared of him anymore. My baby knows the truth now, it’s out there and he can’t hide it from her anymore.”

Tara turned to the leave the room and then paused. Turning back to look at Monika, she asked, “Are you the one who’s been looking after her all these years?”

Monika
just nodded, tears in her eyes. “Yes. She’s my baby, too.”

Tara reached for her then
, hugging Monika tightly. “Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.” Knowing she had no time to lose, she quickly pulled away and left the room.

***

She heard the voices before she got to the top of the stairs. She could clearly make out Anna’s and Sergei’s, but a third voice made her heart still.
It couldn’t be!

“Kyle? Oh, Kyle!”

Rushing forward she look down.
It was!
Without a thought she ran down the stairs and straight into Kyle’s arms.

She’d barely felt his arms tighten around her though before she heard Anna cry out. Whipping around, what she saw horrified her. With his arm around her neck, Sergei was holding Anna tight against him. She was on her tiptoes and it was clear that she was struggling to breathe.

Shocked, she tried to keep her voice calm. “Let her go, Sergei.”

“Dad! Stop it!” Her daughter’s plea cut straight through her and to her heart.

“Sergei! You’re scaring her!” Tara pleaded with him.

“I told you I would make you pay. One way or another
,” he hissed, not releasing his grip.

“For God’s sake! She’s your daughter!”

Sergei smiled. “Yes, she is. But it’s obvious she means a lot more to you than she has ever meant to me.”

The look on Anna’s face at these words, coming from her own father, broke Tara’s heart.

“What are you going to do? Kill her? Then what?” Tara tried to reason with him. “You just walk away?”

“I think I’m past just walking away at this point
, anyway. If I’m going down, I’m going to make you suffer before I do.”

“No one’s taking you down
, Sergei. Let her go and we all get to walk away.” She didn’t believe what she was saying herself, but she needed Sergei to believe it.

“You must think I’m stupid. The only reason she’s around is to take over from me. If there’s nothing left to take over, there’s no reason to keep her alive.”

At this, he tightened his hold around Anna’s neck even more and Tara could see that she was starting to fade in and out of consciousness.

Kyle took a step forward
, ready to launch himself at Sergei but before he could move, Sergei reached behind his back and took something out of the waistband of his trousers. There was no mistaking the muzzle of a gun and they all stood still, frozen to the spot.

“Don’t any of you even think about moving.”

They could see that he was getting agitated as he started to wave the gun around. “This is all your doing Tara. You see that, don’t you?”

He’d relaxed his arm a bit and Anna was now taking deep breaths and looking at Tara, pleading with her eyes.

“If you hadn’t run off, none of this would have happened. You’ve only got yourself to blame for whatever happens next.”

He took the gun and placed it against Anna’s head.

“Dad!” she screamed.

“It’s ok
ay. You won’t suffer.” He started to pull his finger back on the trigger.

It was more than she could bear and Tara almost fell to her knees, her legs buckling beneath her.

“Sergei, no!”

Suddenly
, the arm that was curled around Anna’s neck let her go and she rushed towards Tara. Thinking that Sergei had seen sense at last, Tara opened her arms to her daughter and, for the first time in fourteen years, held her tight in her arms. “Oh, God, thank you!”

The gunshot took them all by surprise, making Tara scream. They’d been so focused on Anna they hadn’t been paying attention to Sergei
, who was now lying on the floor, bleeding heavily. On her knees next to him, Monika was clutching at her neck, blood pouring from between her fingers, a puzzled look on her face.

***

When Tara had run out of the room to find Anna, Monika had followed her and had seen the events unfold from the top of the stairs, out of sight of the others.

From the day that she had been placed in her arms as a tiny baby and she had been given the job of looking after her that is exactly what Monika had done. She loved her with all her heart and thought of her as her own daughter. She’d put up with so much from Sergei over the years because she could never have borne to be separated from her.

But now, seeing what he was doing to her, she felt like a mother bear and her instinct was to run down the stairs and rip out his throat with her bare hands.

Entering
Anna’s room, she closed the door softly behind her. Moving quickly, she pulled Anna’s dresser and positioned it under the window. Kicking off her shoes, she climbed on top of it and pushed the bedroom window open as far as it would go. With a bit of squeezing, she would be able to get through. Putting her feet outside first, there was just enough room for her to wriggle through the gap. When her hips and legs were on the outside, she turned herself around so that she was on her stomach, holding on to the window frame. The drop down to the flat roof below was only about six feet and, taking a deep breath, she let herself drop.

From there it was another short jump down to the grass of the back garden. Noiselessly
, she crept towards the French doors that led into Sergei’s private living room, empty now. Relief flooded through her as she tried the handle and the door opened.

Now what?
With a quick glance round the room she spotted what she was looking for. On a side table, ready for the players, Joey had set up drinks, including a couple of lemons and a knife to cut them with.

Picking up the knife
, she held it tightly in her hand as she opened the door.

Nobody noticed her as she crept, barefoot, up behind Sergei.

She watched as he pulled the gun from where it had been nestled in the waistband of his trousers at his back, and placed it against Anna’s head.

Moving at a speed she’d never known she possessed, she slid forward and without a moment’s hesita
tion thrust the knife into him as far as it would go.

For a moment she thought she’d missed or that the knife hadn’t gone in
as nothing happened. But then, without a word, she saw his arm drop and Anna run into Tara’s arms.

His mouth open in shock
, he turned slowly to face her, his hand feeling for the wound at his back.

Her
strength deserted her then as she watched, as if in slow motion, as he raised the gun and shot her before collapsing to the floor. She felt the bullet hit her in the neck, blood spurting immediately, and she dropped to her knees.

She expected to feel pain but there wasn’t any. Instead she was filled with a warm glow as
she looked over at Anna, held tight in her mother’s arms. It was over, at last. He wouldn’t be able to hurt them anymore and she had done the one thing she had always sworn to do. Protect the child she considered her own.

***

Anna let out a piercing scream and rushed forward
, reaching Monika’s side just as she fell to the floor.

“Call for help!”
she cried as she placed both her hands over the gushing wound trying to stop the blood. It barely made a difference and the blood kept coming, seeping through her fingers and soaking her hands. “Don’t leave me! You can’t! Oh God, please!” she sobbed.