The Minders by John Marrs

Author:John Marrs [Marrs, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781473572201
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2020-07-22T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 40

EMILIA

Emilia screamed for help but there was no one in sight apart from the killer. The bitter tang of death cut through Lake Geneva’s salty air. It was a harsh, metallic aroma that once caught on the back of the tongue, stubbornly remained, like freshly set amalgam fillings. Each new breath became a battle to hold back waves of nausea, but such high levels of anxiety couldn’t be suppressed for long. It found an alternative release through trembling limbs and beads of sweat. She had been set up. Ted had been murdered and it was all her fault.

Then without warning, four figures – two male and two female – hurried forward and passed the woman and child who were now walking in the opposite direction. The casual attire of labelled baseball caps, T-shirts and jeans were at odds with their purposeful pace and deadpan expressions. And against the backdrop of the gentle waves lapping at the lake’s shore, the clean-up operation began.

One spoke in German into an earpiece and looked across the bay. A white speedboat, indistinguishable from others using the water for pleasure, appeared silently and pulled up close to the lighthouse at the end of the jetty where his colleagues waited in silence. Two more people exited it, jumping into the lake and landing knee deep: another remained at the wheel.

With the speed and precision of a Formula One pit stop, they lifted the body onto the boarding deck, boarded it again, reversed the boat and took off as quickly and as unassumingly as when they had arrived. Moments later, it was heading towards the white-capped Swiss Alps; the only trace that it had ever been there were the wide ripples left in its wake.

With a sharp turn of her head Emilia caught the remaining two figures pouring bottles of something across the ground to dissolve the blood into nothing. Another reconnected wires attached to a lamppost-mounted security camera.

Suddenly two pairs of hands tightly gripped her upper arms, hurrying her away from the murder scene and back towards the main road. Ahead, two four-by-four vehicles were parked by the side of the road, their windows as dark as their bodywork.

They’re going to kill me next, she thought.

It was enough to send a sudden jolt of adrenaline coursing through her body, bringing with it a fight-or-flight instinct. Drawing deep from a long-forgotten existence, her arms were the first to shake free before landing a punch square in the throat of the shorter of the two captors. As he gasped for air, both hands were wrapped around his neck and his head drawn downward, where a knee collided with his stomach. Preparing for the second assailant’s attack, the hunted was now the hunter. She dropped to the ground as the man lurched forward and thrust out a leg until her heel connected with his kneecap. It was swiftly followed by an agonising crack and a scream.

After scrambling back to her feet, Emilia ran at breakneck speed towards the two cars, now only about a hundred metres ahead.

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