Count to Ten by Mark Ayre

Author:Mark Ayre [Ayre, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AFS Publishing
Published: 2020-05-13T22:00:00+00:00

Thirty

At the top of the street, William twisted the wheel and almost lost his backend spinning left. Fifteen yards along this escape road he did the inexplicable and slammed the breaks, causing the whole car to jolt.

“What are you doing?” said Kayla. Shrill, on the verge of hysteria. In her arms, she clutched her baby. Xyla was quiet. Her mother’s tears dripped to her near bald head.

”Dad?”

From Kayla and Xyla in the rearview, Will looked beside him to Edie. Stroking her hair, he sought to appear positive. In the teenage smile, he saw her as a child, a toddler, a baby. From the minute of her birth, he knew a love so powerful it was overwhelming. Only one owned near as much space in his heart.

Gina.

Across the street, a path led onto a parallel road. If Kayla didn’t recognise it, Edie would.

“You both need to get out,” he said.

“What?” Kayla squealed.

“You need to go now. Through there. Find refuge. Kayla, is there anywhere you can go? Somewhere safe?”

“I want to go home.”

His heart broke to see her clutching her daughter. He couldn’t help but think of Gina holding Edie in those first few weeks. Sometimes laughing, sometimes crying. Occasionally, it had been so hard, raising a baby, they’d thought it undoable. Still, they always had each other, and they’d never faced anything like this.

“Kayla, I’m so sorry I got you involved.”

“My daughter almost died because of you.”

He wished he could refute her.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. Though it hurt to see her, he forced himself not to speak until he’d met her eye.

Lucky he did. Over Kayla’s shoulder, through the rear windscreen, Will watched Imran burst out of Paul’s street, almost slip to the tarmac as he turned, and race towards the car.

“Shit.”

William had never liked Yassin and Zainab’s children. Despite the kindly couple’s best efforts, the kids had been aloof, disinterested, often cruel. Between the two of them, they caused their parents much heartache. When they left home, Zainab cried. Yassin was unusually quiet. While comforting the couple, Will had wondered if it might not be for the best.

Zainab was dead. The words flashed through his mind. Who knew what had happened to Yassin? It was different from Gina. Will had watched Yassin order Paul’s murder and knew he would have killed Kayla and Xyla. Still, if Yassin had sprinted around the corner, approaching fast, Will wasn’t sure he could bring himself to action; to stop Yassin by any means necessary.

“Dad?” repeated Edie. “What are we going to do?”

In answer, Will put the car into reverse and hit the accelerator. Running faster than most humans could manage, and not in control; by the time Imran realised he was going to come off second-best in a head-on collision, it was too late.

Kayla bowed and whispered reassurances in her daughter’s ear. Edie and Will watched Imran. Saw the moment realisation hit and he tried to swerve.

Then he was gone. As efficiently as if teleporting.

Across the roof, heavy thuds. As though bricks rather than rain fell from the sky.

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