Someone To Save you (46 page)

The door was open. He turned back to Marcus. ‘I’ve got to do this. Is that gun really loaded?’

‘Yes.’

Sam took the weapon from him and moved out into the corridor. The gun felt so alien in his hand, and he didn’t even know whether he’d be able to fire it. But he needed something. Marcus followed close behind, looking out at their rear. ‘Sam, it might be too late.’ But Sam continued undaunted, hoping to God that Vincent McGuire hadn’t carried out his horrific threat. They moved nervously from room to room, but saw no-one.

And then with one more door open there she was, facing them, tied to a chair. She tried to smile through the gag. ‘Anna, thank God.’ Sam quickly untied her as Marcus guarded the door. Sam gently cupped her face. He had never felt so overjoyed. The emotion was intoxicating. ‘Are you okay?’

Anna nodded. She looked exhausted, but smiled again. ‘I am now.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Marcus said from the door. ‘It looks like everybody’s left.’

‘They said something about a fire,’ Anna said. ‘About starting a fire.’

Sam turned to Anna. ‘What?’ Vincent intended to kill them all, as the final act in his vendetta. But he wasn’t going to succeed. He looked across at Marcus. ‘Let’s get out of here, now.’

The three of them fled the room and headed for the stairs. But as they neared the bottom, they realised that something was very wrong. You could feel the heat, radiating from along the downstairs corridor.

Marcus stopped and threw back a look of horror. ‘The place is already on fire. They’re trying to burn us alive in here.’

Sam smelled the air. ‘Petrol.’

He stepped past Marcus and reached the bottom of the stairs. As he turned the corner he was hit with a volcanic blast of hot air, and smoke billowed from further down the corridor. Behind it he could see the glow of the fire, which had already taken hold.

‘Back up the stairs,’ Sam ordered, shepherding everyone higher. ‘There’s no way out down there.’

Back onto the original level, Sam searched the rooms for an opening window. Most of the rooms were windowless or had no opening, but he finally found one. Moving to the window’s edge, he peered out at the ground below. They were too high up to escape this way.

He tried the window – it wasn’t locked, so he thrust it open as far as it could go and leaned out. ‘Help! Someone help!’

But the side road below was deserted and no-one responded.

‘What now?’ Marcus said.

‘You follow me,’ a voice said from behind them.

All three turned to see the teenage girl standing by the entrance to the room.

‘Come on, what are you waiting for? I know a way out.’

Without question they followed her along the corridor and through into what looked like a store room. Passing by piles of laundry they exited through a door at the back and down a metal stairwell.

‘He was using this route to get out,’ she said, as they descended. ‘So it’s clear.’

They reached the bottom and emerged onto the street, gulping in fresh air at the very moment that a fleet of emergency vehicles screamed into view, sirens wailing. Within seconds, the scene was transformed. Fire engines began tackling the blaze, while paramedics and police swarmed around. Sam made sure he stayed close to Anna as she was checked over by a paramedic. Marcus was talking to a uniformed officer. And then Cullen appeared at a distance, exchanging a nod with Sam. He must have got his message.

But in the melee, the girl had disappeared.

Jody watched the scene from her vantage point. Everyone looked to be okay. She spoke into her mobile then waited for the van to arrive.

Locky smiled as he pulled up alongside and stuck his head through the open window. ‘Hello young lady. Locky’s emergency taxi service. Where d’ ya want to go?’

‘Home,’ Jody smiled. ‘I want to go home.’

Locky glanced back nervously. ‘What about McGuire? Aren’t you worried what he might do?’

Jody shook her head, toying with the lighter in her pocket. ‘It’s over. He can’t hurt anyone now.’

Epilogue

Sam stood in the theatre, his world spinning around him. In all the years of his medical career, and the few months as a newly appointed Consultant, he had never felt so powerless. He did the only thing that seemed useful, and squeezed Anna’s hand, as the maternity team continued their work.

‘Almost there, Mrs Becker,’ the midwife encouraged, ‘almost there.’

Anna smiled at Sam through the pain and he returned the gesture, although in truth he felt sick to the stomach, hoping that everything went well. They were so close now. Marcus and Louisa, the godparents to be, were waiting outside.

‘If it’s a girl, we’ll call her Catherine,’ Anna said, grimacing as she pushed again, her hair slicked back with sweat.

‘But you wanted Elizabeth, after your grandmother. You always wanted...’

‘The baby’s here,’ the midwife announced. ‘Just about to come out.’

Anna smiled nervously and Sam squeezed her hand that bit harder. He turned just as their baby daughter emerged into the world. A quick check and Sam was handed the little girl, wrapped in white. She felt like the most precious, fragile and beautiful thing in the world.

‘Elizabeth Catherine Becker,’ Sam whispered into her ear, bringing her over to the bedside and into the arms of her mother.

Anna nodded, transfixed at the new arrival who had now revealed a pair of stunning, searching blue eyes. She placed her little finger into the baby’s tiny palm. ‘Elizabeth Catherine. I like it.’

Sam leant in to his family and wallowed in the joy of the moment.

Everything was going to be alright.

##

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