The Passenger by Daniel Hurst

Author:Daniel Hurst [Hurst, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2021-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

25

AMANDA

The sound of the can being cracked open behind me snaps me out of my daydream, and I turn around to see a guy two rows behind me sipping a cheap lager. While I’m not a fan of his drink of choice, I don’t begrudge him a drink on his way home this evening. I went through a little spell where I used to have a can of gin and tonic on my way home every night, but I put a stop to it when one can turned into two and it became the only highlight of my day.

‘Thirsty?’

I turn back around and look at the man at my table.

‘No,’ I reply.

‘I am,’ he tells me. ‘I’m looking forward to a beer when all of this is over. Which reminds me, you’ve only got fifteen minutes left before time is up and Louise pays for your stubbornness.’

He taps his watch again, but it’s his phone I am looking at.

I am praying he lets go of it again.

‘If I’m honest, I’m surprised you have lasted this long,’ he says to me, sitting forward again. ‘I think most mums would have just given up the code the second they found out their child was in danger.’

‘Why should I give in so easily?’ I fire back, and the man shrugs.

‘I don’t know. Maybe because my partner is going to gut your daughter like a fish if you don’t.’

I know it’s a risky strategy, but I decide to try it. I’m going to call his bluff. At least if I can distract him, he might forget about his phone for a minute.

‘I don’t think he has it in him,’ I say, doing my best to stay calm as I speak. ‘I think the pair of you are all talk.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. I think you believed that me and my daughter would be easy marks and just roll over and give you what you wanted. But we aren’t like that. We’re fighters. We’ve never had anything given to us. We’ve had to scrap for everything we have. Our home. Our money. Our lives.’

‘Please,’ he says, waving his hand in the air dismissively. ‘If you’re going to try to convince me that you two are anything more than just a couple of average women living in an average town, then you can forget about it.’

I’m so angry, and I wish I could let him know who I really was and what I have done. Maybe then he would think twice about what he is doing. But I can’t. It would be too dangerous to do that. But then again, he’s going to find out anyway if I don’t do something soon.

‘I want you to listen to me now,’ I say, sitting forward in my seat. ‘I want you to realise that you are getting yourself involved in something much bigger than you realise. This isn’t just about money. It’s more than that.’

‘And I want you to realise that I don’t care,’ he replies with a shrug.

‘You will do. Trust me.

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